Writing Online

What You Should Be Doing Instead of Worrying About Your Medium Earnings

This is much more important.

Articles about Medium's impending doom continue to populate our feeds.

We've seen what's going on. Reads are in the toilet. The summer slump in Medium earnings is still upon us, even though it's fall already.

Medium is dying, if not dead. Woe to us.

Time to leave, right?

Well, yes, you could. But if you're planning to leave, PLEASE don't make it about your Medium Partner Program earnings.

I mean, where are you going to move to?

Twitter?

Sure, Twitter's awesome. I've been spending a whole lot of time there lately. But how often does Twitter cut any creators a check? Elon might change that, but that's not the point.

What about LinkedIn?

Sure, you'll find great business contacts there. Or a bunch of annoying recruiters sending untargeted messages. But I doubt LinkedIn has ever paid you anything, either. Maybe you got a piece of their $25 million creator fund. Maybe not. Most likely not.

What else is there?

Facebook? LOL.

Instagram? Influencers are pissed.

Even if you go for what's hot (i.e., Tiktok, YouTube), how long do you think they'll stay hot?

My point is simple.

Social media platforms change. They change just as quickly as Elon fired those poor employees.

As a "social blogging" platform, Medium is not immune to these split-second changes. There is absolutely nothing you and I can do.

And what you can't control, you should not be worried about. It's bad for your health.

Be happy that there's even a Medium Partner Program because other platforms don't even bother to pay.

So What Should You Do?

There is only one way to social-media proof yourself.

To protect yourself as a creator, you need to build something independent of algorithms, larger-than-life CEOs, and dying platforms.

The lifeblood of your creator enterprise is your email list.

So start collecting emails ASAP. Start telling your readers that you have an email list and that they should sign up.

The great thing about emails is that they're portable. They are the only way to make sure you don't lose your audience and start from scratch if a platform you're on suddenly burns down.

In other words, your email list is your insurance policy against the fickleness of social media. An email list is what helps fuel more profitable business ventures like creating digital products, selling coaching and writing services, promoting affiliate links, and so much more.

No matter what social media platform you choose to be on, enjoy it with a grain of salt. Don't get too comfortable. Milk it's organic reach for what it's worth.

In the case of Medium, have fun with it while it lasts. It's still a pretty awesome place to be if you think about it.

It certainly beats squeezing keywords into your WordPress blog posts in hopes you'll rank on page 65 of Google's search results.

And depending on what Coach Tony has in store for the future, things might actually get better around here. Who knows?

Instead of seeing the Partner Program as a dying side hustle, look at it from a glass-half-full perspective.

You are on a platform that PAYS YOU while you build your email list, your business, and your brand. Even if the pay is peanuts, that’s still a pretty darn good deal.

Where else can you get that?

Just think of Medium and all social media platforms as the public square where you can make noise and make yourself known. That's it.

Your email list, on the other hand, is your house. That's where you should have your party. Take people to your party.

Don't party in public squares. They're not your space.

Here's A Good Reason To Leave Medium

Organic reach isn't as good here on Medium compared to other platforms. At least not anymore.

And if you're like me and you only have time to grow on one or two platforms, then moving somewhere that has better reach (for now) is a valid excuse to leave.

Don't pack up simply because you are mad about your Medium earnings.

Pack up because you're aiming for growth.

Pack up because you have bigger plans for the thing that matters more for your business: your email subscriber list.

If you liked this article, please sign up for my email list, so I can still get in touch with you in the event Medium shuts down.