I’ve Jumped From $20 To $2300 In 5 Months — 5 Things I’ve Learnt
No, it isn’t easy, but is surely attainable
First, I admit I’m not a born author. Proof? My crappy articles on random topics when I started.
But today, after 22 months on Medium, it’s my first $2000 month! And that’s even before I had a $1000 month. I really don’t know how this happened. Coz I never micro-analysed my writing and performance.
However, when I lately regurgitated all that happened these 22 months — my late-night writings, burnouts, stat addiction, disappointments, why-aren’t-anyone-reading-my-stories’s,
I came up with few lessons I unknowingly learnt. Can’t wait to share those with you.
#1. Stat addiction might kill your creativity
I’ve got obsessed with stats many times — both when my articles hit and flop. I just couldn’t stop unlocking my easily accessible iPhone and typing “stats” to open the first suggested page.
And then, I never felt happy.
- I got 3,000 views a day, I was not happy.
- I got 30 views a day, I was not happy.
Numbers don’t keep you happy. They’re infinite. Every number has a bigger number that mocks you that you didn’t reach it. — And no mathematician could help you, except yourself.
So here’s what I suggest — Strictly limit your stats checking to once a day, preferably at the time your MPP earnings get updated (11:30 AM here in India) so you could check both your stats and earnings at a single go, thereby avoiding checking them multiple times a day.
#2. Have a niche, yes, you must
I’ve did this mistake on Medium for 19 months — I didn’t have a niche. I thought having a niche would be boring as I’d be confined to a limited space and I couldn’t explore further.
I repent. <crying emoji>
It’s when I got my first viral article, I decided I’d write all my next articles on the same topic: Apple. And, let me say this — Every article I wrote since then got semi-viral or viral. No article got less than 3K views, on average.
Such is the power of having a niche.
Having a niche:
- Helps you research deeper into a topic.
- Gets you niche and loyal fans.
- Impresses the algorithm.
- Helps you interlink your articles.
If you haven’t got a niche yet, try experimenting with yourself on various topics. Then stick with one or two, at most.
#3. Respect yourself
Many a times, I didn’t respect my physical and mental health. I ended up skipping workouts for the sake of completing my current story. Staring for long hours at the white Medium screen got me burned out.
Getting burned out is the worst thing you could experience on your Medium journey. This could make you fed up with writing. Still continuing writing could drastically lower your writing quality.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. — Unknown
I’m no exception. I’ve did the same mistake too. The stories I’ve written with a burned out mind weren’t actually good. They lacked creativity and readability.
On the other side, the stories I’ve written with a fresh mind, after a workout and a bath, and were self-proofread the next day, were my most successful ones.
#4. At a point, you lose the need the impress people
At the early days of my blog, I tried to impress people — with complex words, obsessive formatting, futile humour, and unwanted perfection.
Best example: I once used the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for super, just to impress people.
But at a point, after I started to gain loyal followers, I lost the need to impress my readers. My voice has already been established, which they probably loved. And they’ve come to my blog for it, only.
This might be why even Tim Denning’s latest post, even if it isn’t that great, will have at least 100 fans. He lost the need to impress people.
#5. Your acquaintances won’t be your fans
I’ve written over 120 blogs, 45 are curated, 8 have over $100 of earnings, and 1 has over $1,000. Yet, my family and friends haven’t read at least one blog of mine. They never cared about my views, earnings, and my happiness from them.
Earlier, I used to annoyingly cajole them to read my blogs — for external validation. Now, I’ve lost the need for it too. And this doesn’t mean they’re bad. They love me.
It’s because I’m still that old, friendly, nice guy to them. And so they can’t become my “fans”.
Your first fans will be the people who haven’t seen you in-person, but have gone crazy for your content. So they mostly won’t be from your friends and family. This is the harsh truth of content creation.
Conclusion
After a successful month on Medium, I don’t preach new writers that making 1000s of dollars here would be easy, because it isn’t. It requires a lot of ground work.
You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. — Gordon B. Hinckley
Every flop article here made me disappointed, but it unknowingly taught me how not to write an article. That’s my foundation, and it should be so for you too.
The foundation should always be bulkier than the actual skyscraper right?
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