The Medium Partner Program Accepted Me
Gosh, that Tax Form Was a bit of an Ordeal
I have been a reader of Medium for years, and I never actually thought I could write for Medium.
Okay, hear me out here. I see the likes of President Obama, Deepak Chopra, and Ryan Holiday on here, and of course, one thinks, it is for the famous and super writers, can’t be for little ole me. Clueless me, from the United Kingdom.
The backstory.
I am a hobby writer and I have my own website, which I started “cluelessly” as a blogger wanting to share my thoughts. I did not know what a blogger was, and I am unsure if I do now. Anyway, that is not important.
But one thing I know is I like to write, and I love the topic of “thoughts”.
This year I took a blogging break from 30th December 2022 to 8th February 2023 to slow down, do some housekeeping on my website, delete old posts, tidy up, and the like.
I divided my newsletter into two. I run it on Mailchimp (free plan), and I have no plans to Substack it this year.
I did some courses on marketing (self-paced, which I brought a year ago), and the plan was to grow my YouTube Channel (again, I embarked on this cluelessly — it is totally amateur). Clueless seems to be the theme — well, if I don’t jump in, I get stuck with overthinking and planning.
One of the themes for 2023 is to earn some money smartly and safely and to slow down and listen to the guidance the Universe is sending me.
The biggest plan for 2023 is to be slow and smart, with no hustle (I know!)
On my blogging break, I still connected with the Wordpress.com community and learned about Medium and that we can write for Medium and earn money.
Anyway, I took this as a sign, plus Medium allows you to have a one-month free trial — et Volia, I am here writing on Medium.
Medium is a different platform from Wordpress.com. I love both platforms and communities. Medium offers me the potential to earn money, and it is okay to talk about money here.
In terms of my 2023 plans and goals, I am on target, but Medium was not part of the plan; I didn’t want to take on another platform, but it meets the goal of earning money. So, I will adjust and flex it into my life and make it work.
My Medium Partnership Journey.
I wrote my first post on 10th January 2023 (as a non-member). Then on 12th January 2023, I decided to take the free months trial. I decided to grow my 100 organically; I joined a few publications. I am still finding my feet.
It was late Friday, 3rd February 2023 I made 100 followers. Late, meaning it was 12 pm, and I was supposedly sleeping (mobile phone in hand, reading Medium articles and looking at Stats).
I decided it is the weekend. I won’t bother applying for the Medium Partnership Program (MPP); nothing will start until Monday, and if I am accepted, it will be Wednesday or Thursday. So Chill!
Then on Saturday, 4th February 2023, I made the application so that it would sit there waiting for action for Monday as I could see myself being busy this week, and I felt a cold coming on.
And here we are Monday 6th February 2023, 9 pm UK time; I am an MPP.
But, OMG, that W-8BEN for individuals is a scary tax form and utterly unhelpful. You can’t move forward until you tick all the boxes, even if they don’t apply (I feel uncomfortable, but what keeps me going is that I am not the first one to fill this out from the UK!). I did some research to help me fill out the form, and the advice is slim. Have your NI number ready, as this is your tax reference number, and the UK has a Tax treaty with the USA.
This post marks the historical event in my life of making MPP. It is almost 11 pm UK time, and I am off to sleep, praying I filled that form out correctly.
Parting Thought…
I am excited to be on this journey, and the community on Medium is really lovely. I am glad I went for it; even though Medium was not part of the 2023 plan, I was supposed to be growing YouTube — but there is still time for that too.
A Journey of a thousand steps beginnings with one — Lao Tzu (I think)
Want to Join Medium and read more great stories? Use my referral link here — it’s free at no cost to you.
Important: I did not write this post to show-off or to follow for follow. I have grown organically, and I wanted just to mark this day for my records. I added this note after this was published.