My Growth On Medium Skyrocketed After I Made These 6 Subtle Changes

How I grew my followers by 19,880 in less than 26 weeks.

I grew my Medium followers by 19,880 in six months.

Here’s proof:

These are the changes that I made.

#1: I offered painkillers, not vitamins.

I write about transformations.

People are only interested in your writing for the problems that it can solve in their lives. They don’t care about how long you took to write the article, or how hard you tried.

It’s a bitter pill to realize that people don’t care about you, only themselves.

So, start with the end in mind.

Whenever I write anything, I fill out this formula:

“I’m helping X person achieve Y outcome through Z solution.”

This one sentence helps to frame my entire article.

Look at this article as an example. I am helping writers on Medium grow their followers and income through my online writing experience. It’s clear and concise and I understand who my audience is.

You don't have an article if you can’t finish that sentence.

Understand people’s self-interest, and then write to satisfy that interest.

Remember: Your writing is a guide. Your reader is the hero.

#2: Write with emotional storytelling

I was terrified of telling my personal stories.

I always felt embarrassed about the mistakes I’ve made, or the silly thought process that went behind them. But that’s what resonates the most with audiences. People don’t want to hear how perfect you are.

They want to know that you understand them.

My best-performing articles are about my business failures, rather than successes.

• How I got myself into a bad cash flow position.
• How I almost crashed my one-person business.
• How I underpriced myself and took on toxic clients.

It resonated because it was a real and relatable experience.

You have experiences and stories that would help other people.

• Got bullied as a kid? Use it.
• Worked a job you hated? Write about it.
• Have you been in a toxic relationship? Unpack what you did to leave it.

Imperfection is relatable. Perfection alienates.

#3: Headlines are not something, they are everything.

Headlines are 80% of the battle.

If I had 3 hours to write an article, I would spend 2.5 hours refining the headline. That’s how important headlines are. I recently did an audit of my top-performing headlines that made me over $100.

They all have this in common:

• Use numbers.
• Action-based.
• Create a curiosity gap.
• Offer a transformation.

A viral headline is nothing more than a proven formula you can copy.

Collectively, my 42 top-performing headlines have made me more than $16,000 (USD)+ and generated more than 1,000,000 views and reads on Medium. Once proven, I can reuse, recycle, and repurpose.

These headlines can become:

• Hooks for Reels, YouTube videos, or TikTok.
• Inspiration for other article headlines.
• Email subject lines.

I will use this data to keep refining my headlines to see what works.

Make your headlines so good readers can’t ignore it.

#4: I write once, and edit three times.

I write drunk but edit sober.

I write with no filter.

I don’t judge what comes out. I don’t stress if it doesn’t make any sense. I just focus on getting words onto a page. I aim for a minimum of 250 words every day. On a good day, I’ll get close to 1,500 words. On a bad day, I struggle to get close to 300 words.

But when it comes to editing, I’ll wear a different hat.

I become ruthless. Every word has to fight for its place in the article.

Every sentence has to flow onto the next. Every paragraph needs to give the reader something new. Each section needs to break a limiting belief, or myth or give readers a new perspective.

I get rid of:

• Filler words like: ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’.
• Complex sentences.
• Jargon or big words.

Do this:

• Record yourself reading your article out loud. Reply it back and cut any poor phrasing.
• Constantly ask yourself: What problem does this solve?
• Can you use a simpler word or sentence structure?
• Does this solve the problem of the audience?

If no, cut.

Be clear, not clever.

#5: I’ve stopped doing it alone.

Writing is lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.

The fastest way I improved my writing was joining a creator community.

Surround yourself with people on the same journey as you. Create a shared channel to give feedback and share wins. Jump on a weekly call to troubleshoot problems and create new ideas.

It sounds so simple, but it’s the most effective way to grow.

Invest in your community group. Don’t join free ones.

Free communities are a cesspool of complainers and self-promoters who only want to extract value and nothing else. I rather pay upfront for a curated community of people who have been vetted for commitment.

This year I’m investing in a coach and online courses.

I’ve spent more than $10,000 and plan to invest more.

Your writing ability will never exceed your level of investment. I’ll never understand people who want to grow on Medium, but will never invest time or money in doing so.

Don’t just talk about improving, show me your bank account and calendar.

#6: Alongside community, I make time to network with writers.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve jumped on calls with Sarina Chiu, Ayo, Matt Giaro, and Neeramitra and have exchanged DMs with Kurtis Pyke, Jari Roomer, and Eve Arnold.

We’ve shared tips and knowledge about what’s changed, what’s working, and our plans for the next 3–6 months.

Networking gives you knowledge that you can’t get publicly.

There are some things we talked about that can’t fit into a Medium article, nor do we want to express publicly to an audience.

Don’t start randomly DMing every writer asking for their time.

Add value first. Read their articles. Download or buy their products. Leave testimonials or feedback.

Network like your life depends on it because it does.

Here’s the biggest secret to growing on Medium:

Never quitting.

It took me close to 4.5 years before I started to see real growth on Medium.

There were many times I felt like quitting. But I was obsessed with the growth. Some people did it faster. Others took longer. Your journey will take longer than you think but the payoff will feel incredible.

Stack those small, subtle, 1% improvements over a long enough time and you’re guaranteed some level of success.

You can walk slowly, just don’t walk backward.

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