Lessons From An $8K Month On Medium
This is the month I’ve been waiting for.
Two weeks into February, I knew it was going to be a big month for me on Medium. When that second week of earnings reached more than $2,000, I realized I had a chance to reach the $8,000 I’ve long been dreaming about.
Back when I was still a newbie here, I noticed that per the Medium Partner Program updates, the highest paid writer usually made about 8 thousand dollars. So every month, I would read the update and think, “Someday, that could be me too.”
And it’s been my mission to get there, eventually, by writing about the things that matter most to me.
To be really honest, I have been debating how to write about my earnings this time around. The earnings which posted yesterday for the pay period that ended on Sunday. The earnings which finally were a large as I first dreamed about 10 months ago.
Some people are going to be upset that a fat single mom writing opinionated stories about life earned so much cash. I am on some folks' “hit lists,” so they groan every time they see my name on Medium.
Other people are going to find it unsavory that I am writing about money at all, because they believe that “writing isn’t supposed to be about money.”
That, of course, is bullshit. Paying the bills and establishing savings is something we should be happy to see single moms and creative people do. And I wouldn’t even be in this position writing this post if other writers’ success had not inspired me first.
Writing honestly about money is damn hard.
I’ve got all of these fears that writing about my earnings will cause people to unfollow me. That they’ll quit reading and clapping on my work because they’re annoyed by me for earning too much. Or that they’ll think I don’t need the support anymore.
To be honest, making good money and writing about making good money is much harder than I ever expected it to be. There’s a awkward vulnerability about it that I never expected to be there.
I was raised in a single mother household on welfare. We lived in subsidized housing until I had to support myself at eighteen. I've been homeless and pregnant at the same time.
Eight thousand dollar months have never been a possibility for me until now.
I am learning to accept that writing is a valuable service.
Many writers (myself included), look at our work as something of a burden. We feel guilty asking people to read or support us. We see our readers as doing us a huge favor.
The real challenge lies in accepting that it’s not only okay to be well-compensated for our work, but that writing is worth that money. It’s hard to accept that our writing could be a valuable service to readers. Sometimes it feels like if we write for ourselves and write to make a living, it's somehow less honorable than being a starving artist.
Perhaps part of my value lies in inspiring you.
Mastin Kipp writes a lot about how "your trauma informs your purpose." I love that and think he’s absolutely right. Since I've been writing so much over these past 10 months, I have repeatedly seen firsthand that my trauma informs my writing, and that in turn resonates with readers.
As I work through my trauma, that healing resonates too. I used to feel so useless, and I used to believe that I had squandered any chance for success in adulthood long ago. But I'm not alone in that feeling. Many of you have been there too.
It's inspiring to see the underdog turn things around, right? Well, I have begun to surprise and inspire myself. I used to be a pretty melancholy and negative person, but writing regularly on Medium has changed my outlook by leaps and bounds.
My hope for you when you read this, is that you'll be inspired to keep working for whatever it is that you want most.
I doubled my income the old-fashioned way.
Back in December, I hit a new average of earning $1,000 a week. It was pretty exciting, and I wound up quitting my dead end job to focus on Medium full-time.
Then January came and the earnings went south although my stats went up. I struggled to hit $1,000 a week and wound up having to write much more just to keep up.
By the time February rolled around, I was already writing like crazy, but the earnings suddenly picked up to be more on track with what they were in December. As I published more stories, fan engagement kept increasing, and I found myself not earning $1,000 a week, but more than $2,000.
I didn't do anything crazy to double my money. My writing didn't change--though it's (hopefully) getting better. The only thing I did to make so much money was... work harder.
The big catch about hard work is that it usually pays off in the long-run.
Last summer, I wrote about my early experiences with the Medium Partner Program, and a few folks were quick to point out that I wasn't making much money per piece. And they were right. Some months I publish upwards of 60 stories. Making $700 to $1500 isn't so incredible when you write 60 pieces to get there.
That's no livable wage.
But I kept believing that if I didn't give up, my hard work would eventually pay off. Last summer, it was a big deal when most new stories earned $20 a month. I kept working at it, and now my earnings look like this:
Some of those stories were published before February, but have continued to keep earning. And I certainly still have stories that flop and make very little money. But the point is that I haven't given up even when it's hard. In fact, I kept working hard when I could have relaxed and taken a week or two off.
I'm working this hard for a reason--so many reasons.
Over these past 10 months, I have repeatedly discussed why I'm here. I'm a single mom trying to write a better future for herself and her daughter. I need to pay for professional driver's lessons and buy my first car. I need to finish up some expensive dental work.
I need to build a life. I'm trying to write myself into a career I love. Buy health insurance. Have a savings account that isn't constantly depleted with each emergency. All things you struggle to do when you've been living paycheck to paycheck.
It's all very surreal and precarious. I don't know if this success will last or lead to the next great thing for me, but I'm choosing to believe it could. This whole time I've operated under the notion that if I do the work, big things might happen.
So I'm proud of myself for keeping the faith.
Here's my takeaway...
Pretty soon, I'll be hitting my first anniversary on Medium. I'm still not sure what to expect from writing here, but I do plan to keep hitting it hard to see if I can't reach another big month like this.
Whatever happens down the road, I'm so happy that I took the plunge to start writing on Medium. It's been a wild investment in me and my abilities. It's inspired a hope within me that I never knew I had.
I'll be 37-years-old this summer, and for the first time in decades, I no longer feel like my life is over. It feels like it's just begun.
That’s the most important thing I've learned from writing on Medium and finally having my own $8K month--it's never too late to begin a new chapter. As long as I'm alive, my story isn't over, and the same thing goes for you.
As long as you're alive, your story isn't over either. What are you going to do about it?
