Summary

The author emphasizes the importance of patience in writing, sharing personal experiences of delayed success and the necessity of consistent effort over time to achieve results in blogging.

Abstract

The article, titled "The Most Brutal Writing Advice You’ll Ever Hear From Me," serves as the 12th lesson in a 150-lesson blogging series. The author, Tom Kuegler, acknowledges the challenges of maintaining faith and consistency in writing without immediate results. He recounts his own journey, highlighting that it took a year of blogging on Medium before he made any money, despite numerous mistakes such as investing two months in creating free digital magazines. Kuegler reassures readers that significant results, like getting rich, are not instantaneous and require more than a few posts to build trust and convert readers into customers. He encourages writers to be patient, reminding them that success in blogging and content creation is a long-term endeavor. The article also promotes Kuegler's newsletter, "150 days to blogging mastery," and a free course on writing daily on LinkedIn.

Opinions

Impatience is identified as a major hurdle for writers, who often expect quicker success than the field typically allows.
The author sympathizes with the feeling of wasting time, having experienced it himself with endeavors like the digital magazines that did not yield financial returns.
Kuegler stresses that building a relationship with an audience through content takes time, similar to real-life interactions before making a financial commitment.
He advises against feeling discouraged by a lack of immediate results, using his own experience of a year without income from Medium articles to illustrate the journey's length.
The author suggests that readers should adjust their expectations, understanding that significant achievements in blogging come from sustained effort over months or even years.
Kuegler's message is one of hope and perseverance, encouraging writers to continue producing content consistently and to subscribe to his newsletter for more guidance on the path to blogging mastery.

The Most Brutal Writing Advice You’ll Ever Hear From Me

Blogging lesson 12 of 150

Impatience is your biggest problem, writers.

I get it, too.

I get that it takes so much time to write an article or post and to NOT lose faith.

To do it consistently for days, weeks, months, and possibly even years before seeing results.

I get it.

In short, this sh*t can be a real grind.

Before you think you’re a bad creator or you’re making some big mistake, I wanted to give you some perspective that’ll hopefully fill you with hope.

Here we go..

It Took Me A Year To Make Money Blogging

I started blogging on Medium six years ago in October of 2016.

I didn’t make money on Medium until a year later.

That’s when I sold my first course.

And guess what?

I made so many freaking mistakes along the way.

Guys+Girls, get this — I made two digital magazines to sell to readers of my publication.

A week before I sent them out, I got cold feet and decided to offer them for free.

I wouldn’t have made any money on them anyway, so I made the right choice.

Problem is, I wasted two months of my life putting these magazines together — doing interviews, designing pages, and marketing the damn thing.

So I get it when people tell me “Tom, I feel like I’m wasting my time.”

I wasted 8 full 40 hour weeks on two stupid magazines.

It also took me 12 months to make a cent from my Medium articles.

Remember, the Medium Partner Program didn’t really come out until late 2017.

So I just blogged for free.

You’re Not Going To Get Rich In A Week

I was working with someone on one of my LinkedIn Sprints and she told me something like:

“Tom, I’m seeing great results on my posts, but I just haven’t been able to close that deal yet and get customers for my business and I’m kind of losing a little motivation right now.”

I got what she said immediately.

Maybe she’s reading this right now so I’ll tell you (and her) what I told her in that moment..

I said that it’s day 9 of my program. Even the best marketers would be hard-pressed to see results after just 9 days of posting. We just need more time.

You need to get to know somebody before you give them your money, right?

The same is true with online content.

9 posts = about 1,500 words on LinkedIn.

It’s hard to convert somebody after they’ve only read 1,500 of your words. That’s like a five minute read.

All we need is patience.

You need to be more patient, writers.

It took me a year to see success, so catch yourself next time you feel bad about not seeing success after 9 days, 9 weeks, or even 9 months.

It takes time.

It’s going to get better.

Welcome to my newsletter, 150 days to blogging mastery. This is the 12th of 150 lessons, which we’ll publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the end of the year. Please subscribe (above).

If you want to learn how to write every day on LinkedIn for 30 days, consider signing up for my free course.