avatarWalter Rhein

Summary

The author recounts the personal satisfaction and financial journey of earning initial, modest amounts of money from various online writing platforms.

Abstract

The article narrates the author's experiences with monetizing their writing through different online platforms, starting with earning 0.25 from Google Adwords on their blog "Streets of Lima." The author emphasizes the significance of these small earnings as they represent the potential for future income and the realization of making money from one's passion. The piece also touches on the author's subsequent success with Adbeans, where they earned over 1,000 a month, and their first paid article in a local magazine. The author reflects on the importance of celebrating these small victories, as they can lead to greater achievements and serve as motivation to continue pursuing one's writing career despite initial discouragements.

Opinions

  • The author views the first earnings from writing, no matter how small, as a cause for celebration and a sign of potential future success.
  • There is a sense of pride and validation in earning money from one's creative work, as evidenced by the author's excitement over making $0.25 and their wife's less enthusiastic response.
  • The author is skeptical of new opportunities, initially considering Adbeans a potential scam, but remains open to experimentation, which leads to significant earnings.
  • The author values their work and does not shy away from charging for the removal of previously placed links, demonstrating a belief in fair compensation for their efforts.
  • The article conveys the author's lifelong commitment to writing and the joy derived from it, as seen in their continued engagement with various writing platforms and the publication of numerous articles.
  • The author advises against suppressing excitement over small achievements, suggesting that this energy should be transformed into motivation for further work.
  • A cautionary note is included, warning writers to be aware of scams in the writing industry, emphasizing the importance of due diligence before accepting contracts, such as ghostwriting agreements.

The Simple Joy of Making $0.25 Writing

From seed money, a forest can spring

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

In the old days, it used to be common for a business to take the first dollar exchanged by a customer for goods or services and hang it in a frame on the wall. A single dollar has minimal buying power, but framing the dollar celebrates the business transaction and not the value of the bill. The first earned dollar means that your business concept has stepped out of your dreams and into the world of reality.

Today, it’s rare that we receive a physical dollar. More often our transactions are conducted online with digital currency. However, the exhilaration remains the first time you manage to pull money out of a new concept. It’s exciting to land a new job, but you can’t really celebrate until the first time currency is deposited in your account as compensation for your hard work.

I remember every time I’ve made money on a new platform, and though the first amounts were always minimal, each and every one of them represented the chance to develop a new and valuable source of income.

My first quarter on Google Adwords

I started blogging back in 2007 when I was living in Peru. My page was called Streets of Lima and it contained humorous anecdotes and photos that detailed Expat life in a bustling South American city. I still maintain the page, but these days I only do an article every few months.

A friend told me that I could monetize the page with Google Adwords, so I signed up for an account, installed the necessary code, and waited. A few days later, I was excited to see that $0.25 had been added to my account.

“Hey honey!” I said to my wife, “I just made twenty-five cents on my web page!”

“So what?” She replied, “You can’t even buy ten cents for twenty-five cents.”

She was actually right, but that didn’t alter my excitement level. As the years went by, I’d occasionally get my direct deposits for something over $100 from Google Adwords. It was never enough to live on, but it was always good for a nice evening of dining out when the money came in.

My first dollar on Adbeans

The first place I really started to make money writing was with a platform called Adbeans. I received an email out of the blue that informed my my web page had been selected for their program. As always, I was skeptical that it was a scam, but they only required me to send them a Paypal email so I thought they couldn’t do much with that.

The platform required me to place keywords in my articles and insert a required link. They paid $65 per link. After the first actual payment arrived, I began working for Adbeans in earnest and cleared well over $1,000 a month.

At the time, I had just started a new business, so the extra income with minimal work was much appreciated. I worked with them for about two years before Google changed their algorithm and Adbeans informed me my web page no longer suited their purposes.

I began to receive requests to take down the links I’d put up, so I charged them $15 for every one I removed. They grumbled about it, but I got paid. I’ve never been a fan of doing work for free.

My first check for an article

I sold my first article to a magazine when I was around twenty years old. It was an article on starting a ski club that I placed in a local publication. Back in those days, you used to send a printed version of the article in an envelope.

I remember getting the reply a few weeks later, along with a check. It seemed like easy money, and I would be hooked on the concept for the rest of my life.

I’d go on to write dozens of stories for them, like this one about doing a 100 mile bike ride:

My first pennies on Medium

I’d dabbled on Medium for about ten months and then in June of 2020, I decided to give it a serious effort. I put up a couple articles that I knew were good quality, but which I hadn’t been able to place anywhere.

The next day when I clicked on the ‘Media Partner Program’ I saw I’d earned $0.08. Again, the money doesn’t matter, it’s just proof of concept, and if anything is trickling in, the bucket will fill up eventually.

Little starts lead to big things

The world is full of reasons to get discouraged. It’s really up to us to find ways to interpret events so that we can maintain the necessary energy to carry on. A few pennies does not help you pay your mortgage or bills, but you can’t build a house out of a seed either.

Sometimes people get in the habit of suppressing their excitement out of fear that it will only lead to disappointment. However, that is the wrong impulse to have. Don’t suppress your excitement, instead, transform it into motivation and do some work! (Don’t waste your time on Facebook for example):

When you make your first quarter on any platform, allow yourself a moment to smile and laugh. Congratulations! You’ve made money doing what you love! Give yourself a pat on the back, and use the surge of adrenaline to get back to work. Success is a long road, and you only fail if you stop walking it.

Keep at it, and good luck with all your endeavors!

However, here’s a note of caution, because there are some scams out there you need to be aware of:

Writing
This Happened To Me
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