How Does Writing Actually Make You Money?
It's better to have tried than to live in regret
Growing up I have always heard of the idea that yes you can make money on the internet but somehow it seemed like a far-fetched idea. After all, there aren’t too many people that I know personally that can make money on the Internet, other than the exceptional few celebrities that already have a broad audience, to begin with.
However, since writing on “Medium” and “Vocal” I realised that yes it is possible, even for someone as unknown as myself who does not have a PhD in writing. If you are wondering, I’m just a regular writer.
Here is the reality
- It takes time. For me, it took over 1–2 years before I saw any decent income on “Medium”.
- For “Vocal”, it was a little harder since the platform is designed for you to already have a wide follower base to generate income. However, I think it is still possible in the long run, depending on which stage you are in your writing journey.
I had a lot of these fears starting in my writing journey which held me back early on:
- First was the fear around writing online in the first place.
It was things like “What the heck am I going to write about?”. “Why would anyone want to read what I have to say?” Surely if my family and friends found my blog they will make fun of me and think much less of me.
- For me, the barrier was having the idea to write about something.
I mean, there are many ideas out there about finance, entrepreneurship, e-commerce and many more well-known blogs in the market, what can I, a 20-something millennial contribute to this world or even how can I ever compete with these industry experts?
- There was also the idea of perfectionism.
What if I couldn’t write well enough or if people thought that I couldn’t string 2 proper sentences? Writing articles isn’t the same as giving a few opinions offhand.
Myself, growing up my English teacher did praise me for my English essay which was well written. But could I write articles? There was self-doubt.
What I have learned?
I had all these stupid fears in my mind for a few years which held me back from putting myself out there online and blogging.
But then Kevin David (Amazon FBA guru), said something that resonated with me, he said just put content out there, even if it's not showing your face on Youtube, just start because what is the worst that can happen? Your friends and family might laugh at you, or you may be made fun of for your blog but at least you would have tried and see if it was something that worked for you or not.
You only fail if you never learn from it
If you failed, it would have been done and dusted. You tried your best and took it as far as you could. No harm no foul. You gained from the experience. Heck, it could even be a good experience.
But what if things work out, maybe you begin to have a creative outlet to share your thoughts and channel your energy. Who knows you may even start making connections with other like-minded driven individuals that would have been impossible otherwise had you never shown your work online through your blog, Youtube channel, podcast, etc. Who knows you may even be able to generate an income passively. Having done it firsthand I can tell you it's possible.
Thankfully, things didn’t turn out so bad for me, I'm still at it daily and I am thankful I get to be an author and content creator. I’m excited about the future as well as I continue this journey.
There is this book “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon, which is recommended in Ali Abdaal's reading list and is pretty helpful for anyone who is still hesitant about getting started online and needs a little push to take the plunge.
“Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” — Jack Canfield
Final thoughts
What is the worst that can happen if you show your work online? You make a fool of yourself, perhaps. But what if it helps you grow and improve over time? When you consistently show up, stay humble and add value to other people it's hard not to succeed.
