My One Year on Medium

This post will kill my stats but will benefit you.

Rule number one is to never write on Medium about Medium unless you’re really providing value. This post won’t be curated, but I hope it helps those who want to know more about the platform. So here we go.

A little story time first.

Yes, perhaps we could call it how Medium changed my life.

In October 2020, I went for a holiday to the hills. I was speaking to a woman over tea who was staying next door and she quit her really fancy job at a leading FMCG company to bring up her kids.

She also went on about how tiring the corporate world was for her, and her role required her to travel to remote parts of India often which are deprived of basic amenities like electricity and sanitation.

I told her I completely relate to her, that I too don’t understand my corporate hustle. I wasn’t paid how much I’d want and my appraisal wasn’t motivating enough— and I was okay with it. Because I didn’t expect money to flow to me in my beginner years.

But the work just wasn’t me. It wasn’t shit or meaningless, but it just didn’t feel right for me. I felt out of place.

Here’s How Reading on Medium Screwed With My Head

I was demotivated to work hard and ace it. I didn’t want to stay up till midnight like the rest of my teammates and work round the clock. Work just didn’t feel important enough to deserve my 12 hours. I did whatever I could during work hours and would log off.

These feelings went up when I joined Medium in September 2020 and read about people living a fulfilling life. It wasn’t super inspirational where somebody is a millionaire or is living their dream life. So many quit high paying corporate jobs for lower-paying self-employment.

But there were some common themes. These people were:

• content
• motivated
• working on scaling their income
• aiming for multiple income sources
• okay with failing and trying all over again

This platform exposed me to real people doing things they love and getting paid for it, something I’d never heard of.

How Did Medium Improve My Life?

Okay, don’t laugh at the next sentence. Promise?

In my first month, I made a goal to make $10,000 in three months because I overdosed reading articles around this. Unrealistic goals, I know. I made less than $100 in total in my first 3 months!

Money aside, here’s how Medium improved my life:

• Confidence: I now know I’m an excellent writer. Getting published in top publications has proven it. Experimenting around various topics and writing styles has proven it. And of course, getting rewarded by nineteen different ‘top writer’ tags feels great.
• Catalogue: Whenever somebody asks me for samples, I open my Google Sheet that has all my articles hyperlinked. I have a vast catalogue that speaks for my skill.
• Community: I’ve cried to some people I’ve never met in real life about my personal life. The writing community is a warm place to be in. People are selfless about helping you, improving your work, and even showing you their client pitches. I once scored a gig by learning from a writing friend’s pitch.
• Creativity: I thought I’m creative, and that's why I’m a writer. Now I feel I’m creative because I’m a writer. The more I write, the more ideas I get.
• Cash: Now I know I said no money, but I wanted to add 5 C-words instead of four, so… Anyhoo, the cash has been yummy. Some articles are worth $0.20 while some are worth four digits. The internet is a crazy place.

All this led me to be a part of the boring inspirational stuff.

You know, the typical — believe in yourself, set goals, work hard, success.

Yeah, no fancy recipe there. Let’s jump right into what’s helped me on this platform.

7 Nuggets of Medium Advice

These seven things helped me get where I am. And to be honest, most results are in the second half of my journey because I only got consistent in March. Before that, I published 2–12 articles a month.

1. Publishing is a game-changer

Why are there so many drafts in your account? It’s normal to be scared to hit publish. Once it’s out there, the world can see it. You’re exposed. Your vulnerabilities are out there. Your opinions can be trolled. People will be ruthless.

Okay, exaggerated this a little, but it’s understandable to get nervous.

To do: Try to be okay with not being amazing. It’ll take time to become great. Zero to 50 published pieces is a growth journey on its own.

2. Publishing enough matters next

Now, when I published 2–12 articles, I earned less than $200 a month. It was quite difficult to publish 10 articles a month with my full-time job.

Starting March, I woke up an hour early to edit, and wrote in the evenings. That one hour really helped me edit with a fresh brain and create good quality articles.

To do: Find a way to publish 15x a month at least. Don’t get overwhelmed, gradually increase your pace. It gets easier and with time you’d be writing 20 articles a month with much lesser effort.

3. Forget all numbers

I know some people love analytics and like to see trends of their own stats, followers, money and track them meticulously. I find it BS.

You can only hack an algorithm for so long. If you’re in it for the long game, the only way to succeed is consistency and work.

Yes, luck may help and that’s why high school math tells us that more occurrences = higher probability = more chances to get ‘lucky’.

To do: Try to see your stats once a week and don’t get affected by any numbers. The outcome isn’t in your control. Work on what is.

4. Money will follow you eventually

If you’re being consistent and writing good stuff, money will follow. When you chase money instead of quality, you’d do whatever it takes to create a hit and ultimately burn out. But if you’re true to the process, then money will follow.

My first viral article was in March, and then there’s been one almost every month. There was also an article that took me really less time to write and earned significant money.

When you get there, you’ll be stunned by how articles you didn’t expect to perform at all do so well. It's not in your control, so direct your energies to the craft — writing.

To do: Constantly try to up your game. Submit to a publication that's difficult to enter. It took me 5 months to get an article approved in Postgrad Survival Guide and 8 months in Mind Cafe. I got rejected so often that the rejections stopped bothering me after a while. Just keep trying and get comfortable with frequent rejections because it's inevitable.

5. Try to make friends instead of dissing people

There are way too many people who diss top writers about how they don’t deserve to earn well and how they’re lying about their earnings. Where will this negative emotion eventually get you?

I was apprehensive about speaking to new people in the beginning, but when I saw how selfless people are, it got easier. A writer recommended me their old client and on the day of writing this article is when I’m starting my journey with them.

To do: Build relationships. It’ll take you a long way.

6. Invest in your learning

I took a Medium course that cost me nearly half my salary! I come from a developing country where we’re not paid crazily well, especially in our initial years. This course cost me a huge chunk, but my gut feeling told me to go for it.

I applied the tricks much later when I got consistent and serious, but the results came immediately. In fact, in March itself I got 90% of the money I spent on the course. Not a bad return on investment, is it?

I don’t recommend it if this is your hobby, but if you’re serious about making it on the platform, it’ll save you time and give you the information you need to write well.

(Disclaimer: link comprises an affiliate, so if you buy it I get paid a tiny fraction of it. But yes, I have taken it myself and hence I recommend it)

To do: Invest in what will help you go ahead. That could be YouTube tutorials learning about Mailchimp for your email list or free SEO courses on Hubspot or just reading books that will help you improve. Invest your time, energy, and maybe resources so you get better results.

7. Leave Medium if this one thing is missing

I’m often asked how do I keep up with the volume without affecting the quality of my work. Because of one thing — fun.

I genuinely enjoy writing often and end up writing 5 times a week. In the beginning, it was difficult to write so much. But with time, it got easier and now it feels blissful. I’m in love with the entire process and I’m only getting better at it!

If you’re under pressure and not enjoying writing, you need to figure out why you’re writing or what can you do differently. When you’re having fun, you’ll be more likely to produce some beautiful work.

To do: Enjoy the process, or make the process enjoyable. For the latter, I write in a split method — edit in the morning, write in the afternoon, ideate for the next day in the evening.

Finally

Writing on Medium has been a game-changer for me. You’re not too late to start your journey, and the best way to start is by reading on the platform!

Click here to subscribe to my weekly newsletter that leaves you healthier and happier.

You can also download my free ebook if you’re looking to upgrade your life with side hustles and make money online.

If you enjoyed reading this, you might relish: