MEDIUM

My Second Month On Medium Made Me Go Full-Time

And the plans for my third month

The end of a month marks the end of a milestone that I almost reached.

Lessons are learned. Mistakes will be solved. New ideas will be applied.

Now, my stats are not that impressive as you can see. But I assure you they are great for the amount of time I spent writing and creating my brand. My articles lack the quality that I aim for. What did that teach me? That I have a voice that people enjoy hearing.

I started my writing journey on September 22. I wrote two stories. Both were listicles.

The first story was a guide for beginners on Medium and it was an effort of gathering all the tips I saw for beginners by other guides. Although it didn't gather views in September, a republish in ILLUMINATION helped boosting the story and making around a dollar out of it.

So, how did I end up improving my earnings by more than 10x? Yeah I know, $6.28 isn't much but Michelle Loucadoux, MBA quitted her job for $5.80. She is my idol and my inspiration.

The fact is, I don't have a job and I’m in a lockdown too! The signs are obvious and, I’m coming for you, Michelle!

Back to my case report. Let’s look at my three most successful stories.

Stats

My most successful story is the one above. It earned an amazing amount(don’t you laugh at me) of $1.11.

While it’s not formatted in the most optimal way, it shares something true. It shares a life experience that everyone can relate to. It’s a short piece so I didn't expect big reading time numbers.

I won’t go into so much detail about the other stories. But take a look at them and their context.

All three stories have something in common. They are about me.

I’m not saying that I’m something unique for the world to see. To be honest, I don’t have something extraordinary to share with the world. But people like to see other perspectives too.

Humans after all drain knowledge from other people’s experiences.

My stats so far are impressive to me. Why? Because I didn't take writing as seriously as I intended to.

Instead, I focused on learning what strategy to use in my next stories.

My Plans For My Third Month on Medium

This month happens to be December. What’s so special about it you may ask.

Well, it’s the last month of the year. We all tend to make New Year’s resolution plans. But I will create the foundations from December. I’ll cheat my way into 2021.

I know that 2021 will be my year because I will create my momentum before the year begins.

What you should expect from me in December, and what you should do too if you didn't already.

Newsletter

I’ve seen it a million times. I’ve ignored it a million times over. But it’s time to finally build that enormously important tool for a writer. I won’t go through all the benefits as many of you know about them.

For those who don’t, Tim Denning gave us a wonderful article on the importance of a newsletter.

Major Publication

I love posting my stories. I never post them without the help of a publication as I haven't built my own brand yet. ILLUMINATION has been here for me, along with other smaller publications and I love the community there.

I aim to make it to the big league though. I want at least one article to make it a great publication like P.S. I Love You, or Mind Cafe. Yes, as you can figure by the publications I aim for, my content will be primarily around life and improvement.

Volume of Stories

I will try to publish more than 15 stories this month. It’s enough time for me to do some research around the stories I will write and I can pull that off more easily.

SEO Optimization

I bought a new course on Udemy about SEO(along with a course about writing) to up my game.

SEO is important to create organic traffic for your stories and to make them better in the eyes of the Medium algorithm. Making your article great is your first priority if you want your numbers to improve. And I intend to do so!

Socializing

I did some basic socializing in November. And while it was basic, I managed to gain 232 followers. I’m around 350 people now.

Seeing claps from the same people around a variety of stories I posted, puts a smile on my face. Why? Because I have loyal fans. Even if they are 10, or even less, I don’t care. I’m building a fan base.

I tend to follow people around the context I’m writing for, I read some of their stories, clap them, comment on them and that’s all for now. I intend to invest more of my free time in that, in December.

I set a goal of 1000 followers by the end of the year. It’s a tough feat, but not impossible.

I will share all of my stories on my social media accounts too, and try to improve my connections there as well.

Blogging/Podcast

My best friend and I set the foundations for an idea of a blog/podcast. We will brainstorm a little bit more in December and set the goals to give flesh to it in 2021.

Blogging is a great source of income. We will try to give this one a more artistic view of ourselves, so expect the context to be around art.

Strategy

In order to give December meaning, I have to create a strategy. I use the application Notion to give a structure to my thoughts. I have an upcoming story about it(which I will then link to this story, yes linking is important). I have to stick to the routine I will build. If I don’t follow it 100%, it’s fine. December is a transition month for me, so I will be okay with 85%.

Final Thoughts

It’s important to always set the foundations for what will come.

My second month was a success in a way. It was raw and promising. I love writing and I am aiming to pursue this till the end.

I have made a strategy for December that will fuel my whole 2021 plans.

I made more than $6 and I still want to go full-time with this.

So what’s your excuse?