Writing stale and unprofitable? You need to fix 2 things now

One of the saddest things about all the “get rich quick” content out there is that it’s actually completely backward.

It starts at the end.

What do I mean by that?

I mean, it presents the sole purpose of creating something as “making money”.

And while most people want to make a lot of money as independent writers, video creators, artists, etc. — myself included — approaching it from a money-first direction guarantees you will lose.

Allow me to explain the mindset you need to embrace if you want to make actual money, and then I’ll tell you how to avoid the sad fate of all these money-first losers.

Is your writing stale and unprofitable? You might just be coming at it the wrong way. (Licensed under the Unsplash+ License)

Why you’re losing

Most people who watch “30 WAYS TO GET RICH IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS” videos won’t make it to 3 days.

That’s because they’re trying to cheat in 1 important way:

They’re trying to get money without exchanging value

And as a result, their work will inevitably suck.

They won’t succeed because what they’re putting out into the world is stale, boring, fake and totally lame.

Let me give you some advice.

I can’t promise it’ll make you a star creator overnight (nothing happens overnight, after all).

But I think it can provide two quick fixes that will get you pointed in the right direction.

The first way to fix your stale writing

These issues came to mind recently after a discussion I had with reader VarshiniGanesan in the comment section of my post about 1 critical reason it’s never too late to start writing online.

Here’s what Varshini said:

“I like that … the stuff you write about focuses on the struggles of the average human being. You know how to capture a pain point. That’s a huge strength when it comes to writing”

Here’s what I responded:

“Think of problems you yourself are facing and it’s a goldmine of content and opportunities to improve your life and the lives of others.”

I don’t want that to come off as cynical.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the “goldmine” of content.

It’s the part about solving problems — yours, and those of people just like you.

My therapeutic process of writing about quitting alcohol, for example, will always be more valuable than any money I’ve made telling my story.

That’s how you bring value.

Payment should be an offshoot of value and good Karma, not your raison d’etre.

Put another way, if you’re failing, if your writing is dull and uninteresting, ask: how is this work improving someone’s life today?

What are your pain points right now?

Pretty much everything I write stems from wanting to solve problems in my own life and business — problems I know a lot of other people are probably facing too.

A WARNING:

Do not manufacture fake problems because you think you can make money off them

If you’re pretending to have financial or mental health or addiction or any other type of serious problem just to drum up AI content you think you can profit from, not only are you going to fail (because everyone will quickly identify you as a phony and a loser) … you’re a bad person.

Go look in the mirror and figure out what kind of life you want to lead.

I believe you can do better.

Be a good person and good things will happen for you. (Licensed by the author under the Unsplash+ License)

The second way to fix your stale writing

If you think your work is better than ever but it’s garnering fewer and fewer views, take a moment to reset your lens to ‘beginner’.

When you’ve been creating content for a long time, you tend to get so deep into a topic that your work stops appealing to those who need it most — beginners!

I’ve made this mistake many times.

Once you get deeper and deeper into a niche, your potential audience narrows more and more.

At some point you’ll be talking to yourself and, like, three other people.

At this point, you want to reset and speak again to the people starting their journey (whatever that is), not people who are deep into it and may actually already know more than you.

Here’s an example of something I’m starting to figure out with my finance writing.

Most people with massive dividend portfolios don’t give a crap about my dividend holdings because they’re already successful.

Recently I wrote a piece about passive income and dividends and then I wondered … why am I assuming a reader interested in passive income even knows what a dividend is?

So I explained it and why it’s an important concept.

Once you’ve gained some expertise in whatever your niches are (and your work is of higher quality as a result of all the reps), you can now go back and explain things in an even better and more effective way.

You might even discover new angles you never thought of again by taking a fresh look with a beginner’s mindset!

Change focus if you want to win

Again, if you want to make money online, stop thinking about making money online.

Start thinking about:

What you already know or want to learn about
How you can help others
Who needs your help the most

And then help them!

Dollars are dollars … if you do good work, they’ll take care of themselves.

The appreciation you’ll get from people whose lives you’ve improved?

That’ll be priceless.

Publish Every Day project update: Day 135

I’m working on an experiment to see if I can make enough money to quit commuter life within a year by publishing every day on various platforms and putting my earnings into passive income investments.

How much I need to retire: $250 CAD per day

What I earned on Day 135: $35.52 (writing) + $1.90 (YouTube) + 4.50 (stock dividends) + $223.55 (capital gains from stock sale) = $265.47 total

Publish Every Day project update: Day 135

Publish Every Day project update: Day-by-day

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