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Abstract

he horizon is passing 1,000 Followers on Medium before April 1, 2023. Along with entering the Medium $100 club before the summer.</p><p id="d18a">If current growth rates hold or even shrink by half, I should have no trouble reaching 1,000 by April 1. I have over 6 weeks to get there.</p><p id="4a04">I have some work to do to reach the$ 100 club on Medium.</p><h1 id="ff5d">Other goals for 2023</h1><p id="96e5">April 2023 is a momentous month as that will mark one year since I walked away from full-time employment, a six-figure salary, and full benefits.</p><div id="8f43" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/why-i-returned-to-being-a-solopreneur-and-started-creating-and-writing-digitally-96ba73bdb032"> <div> <div> <h2>Why I returned to being a Solopreneur and started creating and writing digitally</h2> <div><h3>And left a six-figure salary on the table</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*SThsiCZfFsrgiPBulL7eAw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="a40d">My wife and I agreed to a 12-month schedule for me to build a solopreneur business focussed on digital writing and digital creation. As part of that goal, I have been writing online daily since April 2022. Up until mid-December that was largely on LinkedIn.</p><p id="a9c1">In October 2022, I started a free weekly newsletter. I also secured a small contract for that month to do some ghostwriting. That carried over into November and December — about $1,000 per month.</p><p id="8222">In a Medium story in mid-December 2022, I named some 2023 goals for my digital writing business, which included other social media platforms.</p><p id="0f89">When I started posting daily on LinkedIn in April 2022, I was at a little over 1,000 Connections.</p><p id="3b8b">By mid-December when I made my 2023 goals public, I was at 2,400 Connections/Followers on LinkedIn. My goal is to double that by April 1, 2023. A lofty goal.</p><ul><li>Last week I went over 2,700 on LinkedIn. I have some work ahead.</li></ul><p id="1577">For Twitter, I was at 140 Followers in mid-December 2022. Similar to Medium, I decided to up my game on Twitter. I got busier and more social, and I set the goal to reach over 1,000 followers by Jan. 1, 2024.</p><ul><li>I am currently at 438. I’ve had excellent growth on Twitter over the last month.</li></ul><p id="f738">My free weekly newsletter on Substack has doubled in subscribers in the last 4 weeks. I have gone from 20 to over 40.</p><ul><li>By the end of 2023, I intend to be over 1,000 and be well into paid subscriptions for a related newsletter.</li></ul><p id="dad9">Back

Options

in the summer of 2022, I set the goal of securing $5,000 per month in contracts by April 2023. I re-asserted this goal in mid-December 2023. I met that three months early, by signing a contract in early January for a ghostwriting contract — at$ 5,000 per month. That was quite a synchronous occurrence.</p><p id="5f35">I am currently working on two other proposals for small ghostwriting contracts. Largely focussed on LinkedIn content and newsletters. I am now hoping to be closer to $10,000 per month in ghostwriting contracts by the summer of this year.</p><h1 id="da6b">Final thoughts</h1><p id="5d95">Setting intentions and goals can be a powerful exercise. For the last nine months, I have been largely building in public. My goal is to have a digital writing and digital creation solopreneur business fully sustainable at the 1-year mark of walking away from a six-figure salary.</p><p id="b473">It has required a lot of trust, persistence, and consistency. There are no quick roads to riches in this work. Yet, there are fantastic opportunities in the growing world of digital media and digital writing. There is also a wealth of free resources online.</p><p id="6a9e">Similar to the many articles on Medium that describe strategies for success — building a digital writing business requires similar. These are not complex to say, but they require showing up nearly daily.</p><ul><li>Be social and engage. It’s not called anti-social media.</li><li>Press ‘publish’. Every day if possible. Building and sharing content is the only way to pick up signal and see what gains traction and what people want to read.</li><li>Collaborate and connect with others. Ignore the trolls and naysayers. There are a lot of great people building in the digital world. Find some kindred souls.</li><li>Write. Publish. Write. Publish. Write. Publish.</li></ul><p id="2a0a">If you love to write and create — this is an absolutely fascinating world. Almost ten months in and publishing daily, I am still absolutely loving it. I wake up early every day with no alarm. Cutting the box of offices and cubicles has probably saved my life — or at least extended it significantly.</p><p id="59d9">I share my system and processes for building a Solopreneur digital writing business in my free weekly newsletter (link below). This includes what posts and topics are doing well and on what platforms.</p><p id="6fd3">It is possible.</p><p id="3e48">How about you — what are you, or have you learned in the world of digital writing?</p><p id="1275"><b>David Loewen </b>is a writer and researcher building a solopreneur digital writing business. He writes daily on Twitter and LinkedIn and posts illustrations on Instagram (<i>thedavidloewen </i>is handle). He publishes a free weekly newsletter: <a href="https://theboxcutter.substack.com/"><b>Box Cutter.</b></a></p></article></body>

Writing on Medium

Medium Earnings and Followers Still Rocketing Through January

A monthly update on digital writing business-building

Author’s image. Fat biking across the lake with 1-yr old puppy.

In early January I shared a story with a similar title updating my progress on Medium. It was published in the New Writer’s Welcome publication.

I’ve been on Medium since mid-June 2022. Things were very slow in the beginning. I posted sporadically and got one or two followers per week.

In mid-December 2022, I decided to change my approach. I was at about 40 Followers. I began reading a lot of articles on Medium growth and success. One common principle is Get Social. It’s not called Anti-Social Media.

Another common principle is publishing stories in Medium publications. I applied to various publications, stories were published, and things started to move. Quickly.

About a week before Christmas I was accepted into the Medium Partner Program, with 100 Followers.

I reported in that early January 2023 article that my earnings on Medium were up 314%. But that is misleading, as I went from $0 to $3.14 for the month. 🙃

By the first week of January, I was up to 230 Followers. Today, in early February, I have just hit 450 Followers today. This is almost 2x growth in less than 4 weeks.

Earnings Update

In the month of January, I made $17.24 on Medium. This is over 5x growth for the month; however, in December I was only eligible for earnings over less than two weeks.

image by Author of January 2023 Medium earnings

In the January article, I shared some updates on goals I set before Christmas and shared them publicly in a Medium story. One of those was to pass 100 Followers by Jan. 1, 2023. This is a quote from that article:

There it is. Some Medium goals for early 2023. I crushed the first one already, passing 100 before Christmas.

Can I reach 1,000 by April 1, or, will I be the dancing Fool?

I recently upped the tempo — I have set a goal of $150 🇨🇦 in a month by summer 2023, and with some $ consistency month-to-month.

The next goal on the horizon is passing 1,000 Followers on Medium before April 1, 2023. Along with entering the Medium $100 club before the summer.

If current growth rates hold or even shrink by half, I should have no trouble reaching 1,000 by April 1. I have over 6 weeks to get there.

I have some work to do to reach the $100 club on Medium.

Other goals for 2023

April 2023 is a momentous month as that will mark one year since I walked away from full-time employment, a six-figure salary, and full benefits.

Why I returned to being a Solopreneur and started creating and writing digitally

And left a six-figure salary on the table

medium.com

My wife and I agreed to a 12-month schedule for me to build a solopreneur business focussed on digital writing and digital creation. As part of that goal, I have been writing online daily since April 2022. Up until mid-December that was largely on LinkedIn.

In October 2022, I started a free weekly newsletter. I also secured a small contract for that month to do some ghostwriting. That carried over into November and December — about $1,000 per month.

In a Medium story in mid-December 2022, I named some 2023 goals for my digital writing business, which included other social media platforms.

When I started posting daily on LinkedIn in April 2022, I was at a little over 1,000 Connections.

By mid-December when I made my 2023 goals public, I was at 2,400 Connections/Followers on LinkedIn. My goal is to double that by April 1, 2023. A lofty goal.

Last week I went over 2,700 on LinkedIn. I have some work ahead.

For Twitter, I was at 140 Followers in mid-December 2022. Similar to Medium, I decided to up my game on Twitter. I got busier and more social, and I set the goal to reach over 1,000 followers by Jan. 1, 2024.

I am currently at 438. I’ve had excellent growth on Twitter over the last month.

My free weekly newsletter on Substack has doubled in subscribers in the last 4 weeks. I have gone from 20 to over 40.

By the end of 2023, I intend to be over 1,000 and be well into paid subscriptions for a related newsletter.

Back in the summer of 2022, I set the goal of securing $5,000 per month in contracts by April 2023. I re-asserted this goal in mid-December 2023. I met that three months early, by signing a contract in early January for a ghostwriting contract — at $5,000 per month. That was quite a synchronous occurrence.

I am currently working on two other proposals for small ghostwriting contracts. Largely focussed on LinkedIn content and newsletters. I am now hoping to be closer to $10,000 per month in ghostwriting contracts by the summer of this year.

Final thoughts

Setting intentions and goals can be a powerful exercise. For the last nine months, I have been largely building in public. My goal is to have a digital writing and digital creation solopreneur business fully sustainable at the 1-year mark of walking away from a six-figure salary.

It has required a lot of trust, persistence, and consistency. There are no quick roads to riches in this work. Yet, there are fantastic opportunities in the growing world of digital media and digital writing. There is also a wealth of free resources online.

Similar to the many articles on Medium that describe strategies for success — building a digital writing business requires similar. These are not complex to say, but they require showing up nearly daily.

Be social and engage. It’s not called anti-social media.
Press ‘publish’. Every day if possible. Building and sharing content is the only way to pick up signal and see what gains traction and what people want to read.
Collaborate and connect with others. Ignore the trolls and naysayers. There are a lot of great people building in the digital world. Find some kindred souls.
Write. Publish. Write. Publish. Write. Publish.

If you love to write and create — this is an absolutely fascinating world. Almost ten months in and publishing daily, I am still absolutely loving it. I wake up early every day with no alarm. Cutting the box of offices and cubicles has probably saved my life — or at least extended it significantly.

I share my system and processes for building a Solopreneur digital writing business in my free weekly newsletter (link below). This includes what posts and topics are doing well and on what platforms.

It is possible.

How about you — what are you, or have you learned in the world of digital writing?

David Loewen is a writer and researcher building a solopreneur digital writing business. He writes daily on Twitter and LinkedIn and posts illustrations on Instagram (thedavidloewen is handle). He publishes a free weekly newsletter: Box Cutter.