SOCIAL MEDIA

Why My Full Portfolio Is More Important Than a Single Story

My journey to success as a niche writer in non-popular topics

Some people say to me: “Just write about the topics that are hot!” But I don’t want to. Those stories don’t have my passion. I’m not a personal development coach. And I don’t want to be.

Yes, I did the work on myself to live the best life I can ever live. And it works for me. After my divorce in 2014, I went freelance. I embraced uncertainty. Dealt with my fear of not having enough. My fear of landing in the gutter. I learned deep listening skills and found big love again.

I work the law of attraction. Manifestation. But there are so many people writing about that. Some even without having found the keys themselves. Well, that’s their story. Mine is different.

I have a passionate job to do.

I have to inspire people to co-create a better future. Gaia wants us to change our ways. We are facing climate change, biodiversity loss, huge fires, viruses, political oppression, and a collapsing economy. And I have some keys to this better future.

She wants me to tell you about that.

She wants me to inspire entrepreneurs to create products from local, abundantly available resources. She wants me to inspire consumers to simplify their lives and stop shopping for silly, non-essential goodies. She wants me to inspire architects, and designers, and financial people.

So I don’t go for the obvious topics. Such as becoming rich. Or having a great sex-life. Finding big love and learning how to be calm and happy.

But I am successful with my writing. So how do I do it? How do I become a well-cited influencer for change? And what can you learn from that for promoting your personal passions?

That’s what this story is about. I’m convinced you can also become an influencer for whatever YOU feel passionate about. And earn a decent living in the process.

How do I become an successful influencer for change?

Earlier, I wrote about my journey into becoming a marketeer for Gaia. It’s a cool job to have. I don’t sell any products. And it’s not about me. I can go loose on rewilding souls, on connecting to nature and I can write poetry about Fibonacci’s wonders.

I just love it!

And you might like to have a right-livelihood following your passions, too.

Writing and combine it with actual doing. Making change happen.

Facts of My Journey

Let me first give you some facts about my journey.

• I started in May 2019
• I wrote 205 stories and 1,000 comments so far
• I now have 3.1K followers on Medium
• and 2.8K connections on LinkedIn
• half a year ago I entered the top 6.2% earners on Medium who earn more than $100 a month
• total reach is 80.60K views as this cute tool by Tomas Trajan shows me. My next milestone is 100,000 views. Let’s go for it!

Success Factors

So, what are my success factors so far? And where did I fail?

1. How do I earn my money?

My money comes only in part from Medium. But Medium helps me tremendously to get out there and find other sources of income. My main social media are Medium and LinkedIn, assisted by Twitter. And via those routes, I’m asked to get involved in paid projects.

Offers get broader and broader since I had the guts to become visible. Because I’m always collaborating, I don’t have to do all the work myself. I’m a team player. And I love variation. It helps me get away from behind my computer, have colleagues, and broaden my scope big time.

I don’t have to do all the work myself. I’m a team player.

2. Connecting to writers and readers

Connecting is the best tip I can give you on broadening and strengthening your fan-base. When I started out as a freelancer in 2014, I reached out often to people I admired.

I asked them for a short call. Most often they obliged. When they didn’t, I saw it as disappointment-training and moved on.

Some of them are still good friends and worthy collaborators.

And now, I’m paying it forward. I get a lot of requests from people who admire me now. And I schedule one or two conversations into my week’s work. I meet the most amazing people like this!

On Medium, connecting really helped me build a fan base.

I comment on the stories of others. I include writers I admire into my stories whenever it’s appropriate and valid. I do it mindfully. With the best intentions, to give them exposure and credit.

Of course, I have to write my very best writing every day. But it resulted in becoming the #59 on the list of inspiring writers. Before many people with lots more followers.

And recently, I even got mentioned by one of my heroes writing about a new economy. He’s very big on Medium too, Umair Haque.

3. Broadening My Scope

For me, it has worked that I’m all of me in my writing. My portfolio is a mixture, a blend. Everything is connected. That’s what the title of this story is about. One story’s success or failure doesn’t matter so much to me. I don’t have a viral story (yet), but the sum of all my stories is my secret weapon.

I write rational stories about nature-based solutions and my travels.

I write about business and marketing for a better future.

I write sensual, suspenseful fiction and poetry.

And sometimes, I add a little flavor by sharing about my personal development journey.

Building a portfolio is like cooking. You start with the basic ingredients. They have to be solid, nutritious, quality ingredients. Then you add the spices for flavor. And they are what makes your full portfolio yummy.

Feedback from dinner-guests is very important to sharpen my skills and cook a better dish next time. It’s the same with writing. I take the comments of you, my readers, very seriously. I know what you like by now. But I don’t give you that per se. I have my own agenda, my own creativity.

I don’t want to become a bread writer, I want to become successful by breaking the rules and going my own way. Like Paolo Coelho did. And Daphne du Maurier. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have to study the rules. They are the basics. And when I master them, I can break them big time!

Medium is a great platform for learning and experimenting.

4. Social Media and SEO

The best marketing tip ever: don’t limit yourself to Medium. My success comes from a combination of social media and search engine optimization (SEO). And the further we go in time, the more the algorithms will work for me.

They build value upon value upon value. So the more quality stories I add, the more big data recognizes me and brings me on the path of new people who might be interested in my stories. And those people I tell very fiercely to look beyond algorithms and be curious themselves! Always!

For me, the combination of Medium and LinkedIn works wonders. For other writers, it might be Twitter, Quora, Instagram, or Pinterest. But also here, I can only tell you to experiment and find out what works for you.

Don’t post only a link to your story. Give your followers some triggering words that make them want to read your story. An emotional sentence. A quote of yourself. A question. A surprising fact.

I use Medium for the layered stories. Full of facts, emotions, and links to deeper reading. And I use the other social media to frame one fact out of the layers.

Be true to your values whenever you frame something. Lying and putting on masks will make my life much too difficult. There will be too much to remember! So I go for being real. Being consistent in my values.

Lying and putting on masks will make my life much too difficult. There will be too much to remember!

One of my values is that I promote a peaceful life. That means I have to take care with words like battle and fight. I’m a grower, a builder, a farmer of life. Always promoting actions that support the life of all species.

It doesn’t mean I’m always soft, though. I do write about my struggles with being a hypocrite in our Western society. About shame. And guilt. Or about peaceful protests that are mighty impactful.

I always fill in the tags and SEO settings of a story. The latter you can find behind the … at the top of the page. Click on More settings/SEO settings. Make sure your SEO description is a flowing sentence full of search words.

Recently, I found out that one of my first stories is becoming successful now. The algorithms of Google have discovered it. One year after writing. Success is definitely a matter of perseverance. Keep going! And keep writing quality stuff.

Fail Factors

Of course, when you are experimenting, not everything is successful. And I’m no exception to the rule here.

Some of my stories were rejected by publications I really wanted them featured in. Some other dear stories just received a few readers.

I tried to get into GEN and OneZero. And I didn’t succeed (yet).

In the beginning, I felt horrible when these moments of disappointment happened. Now I don’t really spend much time on it anymore. There are new dear stories to tell. New exciting people to meet. New adventures around the corner.

And I’ll stick now to the publications that have been with me on my journey. It might be nicer to shine my light with them than to go for the big other ones.

When people didn’t want to speak to me, I saw it as disappointment-training and I moved on.

And my portfolio builds and builds.

The algorithms of Medium and Google find me more easily by the day. And as long as I keep persevering, success will build up. Value upon value upon value. Gems of success for me, the people around me, and all other species.

What’s Next for Me?

They say you should always have a plan. Well, mine is not so fleshed out and rational any more. I just take life as it comes. But of course, I do have plans for the near future.

First of all, I would like to work away from home. I’d love to be near the ocean. And my online business makes it possible. Also, the winter is coming and it will be cold in our caravan.

We received invitations from projects in Indonesia, Greece, and Ibiza. The first is not an option. The borders are closed. But we hope to rent a little apartment somewhere in the south of Europe and work from there for a bit. Collaborating with local communities to help their regenerative projects become successful.

I’d love to be near the ocean. And my online business makes it possible.

There are some subjects that really attract a lot of attention from my readers. So I might make my next leap and create some small, affordable courses.

• The first subject is obvious: sustainability, Blue Economy, and my view on nature-based solutions
• Then there are professional women reaching out to me, wanting to learn. About sustainable entrepreneurship, feminine leadership, and ethical economies of the future
• And I receive a lot of requests for authentic storytelling lately. I’ve always been a writer, storyteller in my professional Dutch life, but my experiments on Medium make me confident in the English language now as well.

Of course, I’ll have to adapt my website for that. Or use Substack perhaps? I’ll study and find out. The fact that I’m having so many international acquaintances now, helps. Whenever I reach out, someone will answer with some wise advice.

Well, my friends, this is my journey until now.

I hope you’ll be having as much fun as I do. Creating inspirational words and sentences and paragraphs on our pages.

My main advice? Start cooking. Build on your main ingredients and add spices. Stick to the subjects you care deeply about. And blend them together to become a blueprint of you. Authentically, beautifully, all of you.

And then keep at it. Building, blending, finding creative new ways.

“Her character is known through her writing.” — text on Felicia Hemans’ tombstone in St. Asaph cathedral, Wales

And if you want to reach out, just do so in the comments. I’ll be happy to answer any questions. Here are my social media links. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, ManyStories.

Some of my more active friends here on Medium might like reading this, so I’ll tag a few. Henery X (long) Amy Marley Tree Langdon, CPA, CGA Martine Weber Dennett Paul Myers MBA Dr John Rose Sinem Günel Keno Ogbo Marlane Ainsworth Infiniti 🦋 Livia Dabs FILZA CHAUDHRY Aurora Eliam, CMP Elisabeth Khan Rasheed Hooda Gurpreet Dhariwal Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. Timothy Key Joe Luca Charlotte Zobeir Ali I’ve been reflective for a week and now slowly picking up the writing again. Sometimes a bit of slowing down works wonders.

© Désirée Driesenaar