How I Made $.93 in my First Two Months on Medium
Most of us have to start small before we hit it big.
After reading the 17th “How I Made (insert bonkers amount of money here) on Medium in 1 Month” article, I had an epiphany.
This is ridiculous.
A very small percentage of writers here make over $100 per month, much less thousands. And if they do, odds are they’re writing every single day, for hours, about popular topics like self improvement and technology.
They show up to do their thing, day in and day out, whether they feel like it or not.
They grab your attention with catchy headlines and hopefully, genuinely interesting content to back it up.
They build a following of loyal readers who anxiously await their next piece.
They get published in big publications like The Startup, Human Parts and Elemental.
They market themselves and post their content regularly on social media.
Write, publish, share, repeat.
I fully admire that kind of dedication, and I will get there one day, but I’m still at the beginning of the road to success.
I’m still adjusting to a part-time work schedule after being unemployed due to illness for most of last year. For right now, the two “regular” part-time jobs I have take most of my energy each day.
I’m also trying to read as much as I can and learn about the freelancing world in order to get started on Upwork and Fiverr and, you know, put my $30,000 of student loan debt to good use.
There’s so much to learn: about marketing, writing, networking, business — it’s exciting, if not a little overwhelming.
And then there are plenty of days — and this is the real kicker — where I still just don’t feel well enough to write a captivating, thought-provoking, well-articulated Medium article — or do anything besides collapse on the couch.
I have to be mindful about my healing process and give myself the space to relax when my body needs it.
Prior to my health crisis last year, I pushed myself too hard and worried too much and didn’t pay attention to what my body needed, and that’s a significant part of the reason I got so sick.
Learning to take it easy, working smarter and not harder, and paying close attention to my physical and mental health are things I have to be very conscious of now if I don’t want get thrown back into the disaster zone I came from.
If you’re in a similar boat, whether you have other daily responsibilities that make it impossible to work your ass off on Medium every single day, or you are also recovering from something that means you have to take it easy for a while, I’m with ya.
But I’m still trying to make progress every day.
Maybe I can’t write for a solid 3 hours every single day, but 20 minutes or 10 minutes or 5 minutes is better than no minutes.
I’m soaking up other Medium writers’ (Mediumers? Mediumists?) articles, clapping and commenting when I’m inspired by their work. (Y’all are so talented, by the way.)
I’m learning all the time; from great publications like Freelance Filter, Better Marketing, The Ascent and tons more.
On the days when I’m too tired to write, reading and learning help me feel like I’m still accomplishing something, even if I’m not producing any work.
I’m also trying to…
Celebrate the little wins.
Maybe I haven’t made (insert bonkers amount of money here), but I have made 93 cents, and you know what that is? 93 cents I didn’t have before. Woo hoo!
If you start from the bottom, the only way to go is up.
Another little win I had recently was that one of my articles was added to a new publication, The Road to Wellness.
This is a publication that really speaks to me and my journey to health, so I’m so glad I can be a part of it, and I’m excited to publish future articles there!
(This one article has made 56 of my 93 cents by the way, so it must be doing something right. 😊)
So what if I’m not raking in the dough on Medium…yet.
I think it’s important to remember that most of us writing in the Partner Program aren’t rollin in the green; it can feel like everyone else is more successful than you, but don’t let anyone else’s numbers get you down.
If you have to take things slower than the mega-successful Medium writers, there’s no shame in that. Just keep going!
The most important things are to keep writing, keep reading, keep connecting with others, and to be mindful of your limits. It’s not helping you or anyone else if you’re burning yourself out trying to quickly reach some higher status. Create great work but treat yourself with compassion, and you’ll get there in time.
Thanks for reading!
