My Plans to Earn Without The Medium Partner Program
The Medium Partner Program is not the only way to leverage your presence on Medium.
MPP would have been a great way to earn money by writing on this platform, but it’s not available in my country; the Philippines.
That’s okay, though.
In the first place, I went into Medium thinking that it was going to be a sort of hobby that I could use to indirectly benefit my career.
I didn’t start it intending to make money directly
Instead, I was going to use it as more of a side project, a testing ground for my skills in writing and growing an audience.
These are the other ways I’m planning to make money with my Medium presence.
My Plans
Use Medium as a writing sample or project sample
I’ve been a ghostwriter for quite some time, but I’ve always struggled with showing a unified portfolio.
I find it difficult to determine which pieces to feature, and which to ignore. The time thinking about it and curating it seemed like something better spent working on current deliverables.
And when I’m applying for new jobs and projects, it seems like none of my featured posts fit the bill exactly.
Starting a website seems like a big hassle and expense as well. I know it’s relatively simple and cost-effective, but I’ll have to spend time and money to navigate the learning curve, and the benefits aren’t clear to me yet.
(I’m probably doing something wrong there, so I’d appreciate any advice.)
But instead of starting a website and posting articles I’ve ghostwritten before, I thought I’d just start a Medium account instead.
It’s a great place to showcase my ability to write. I get to choose my topic, voice, and style. I can show not just my ability to write, but also how I think and act.
Plus, it also shows my ability to engage with a community, gather an audience, and self-motivate myself for a project.
For my next wave of job and project applications, I’m planning to feature some articles from this Medium account as a reference for my skills. I’m still going to give some topic-specific write-ups upon request, but my Medium account will be my main reference.
Build a niche, discover my voice, and find my community
It’s not all about career and money. Growth by trial and error is the ultimate goal, Medium is the fertile soil.
It’s the perfect place to discover new interests, blaze new trails for growth, and interact with a diverse and helpful community.
I’m already starting to explore philosophy and writing, sharing impactful personal experiences, talking about my personal public speaking interest, and discussing technical interests in content marketing. I will explore more interests, industries, and channels.
By discovering new niches that my specific experience and skills align with, I can better think of value-generating ways to interact with them.
That’s how I’ll find my niche.
I also want to discover my unique voice in Medium.
Although I’ve been using my ghostwriting skills to write in my client’s voice and brand, I haven’t had much choice but to find the core of what truly makes my writing unique.
I know it’s there, I just have to find it — and Medium will help me do so. I’ll get interactions, comments, and feedback. These things will help me pare away what’s ineffective and undesirable.
That’s how I’ll find my voice.
By discovering my niche and finding my voice, I’m also hoping to connect with people with the same interests and attitudes as I do. I want to befriend those people and make lasting bonds.
I want to find them and help them find each other: a tribe of people who resonate with and help each other.
That’s how I’ll build my community.
Deliver impactful and valuable digital products
Medium will be a valuable project sample that I can show to potential employers and clients.
It’s also a valuable place to find my niche, develop my voice, and build my community.
Once I have those in place, I can then think of ways to:
- Save time, and
- Solve a problem.
I don’t know what products I’ll make yet, much less how to make them. Because of inexperience, I’ll likely fumble around for a bit. I’ll make a ton of things for free first, seeing which helps and which does not.
I don’t want to charge people for my inexperience. Instead, I want to get feedback and information for my troubles.
Once I know what people want to buy and how they want to get it, I’ll make the perfect digital product for them.
It might be a downloadable product, an information package, or a course. Whatever it is, it will save them time. It will solve their problems. Maybe it will do both, and more.
But it will be impactful and valuable. It will be something that will make people say: wow, I can’t believe I get this just for this much!
That’s still in the future, but I’m working towards it.
Medium is a powerful platform
I’ve got to admit, I got a bit bummed out when I discovered that MPP is still not available in the Ph. It was an easy thing to aim for.
But I have other plans, other ways to earn from Medium. These could be your plans too.
It can also be better, I’m sure. For that, I need your help.
How are you planning to earn from Medium? What do you think will work in my plans? What do you think will fail?
And, more importantly, how are you doing with your plans?
Hey, I’m writing a book!
Wow, it’s finally happened. I’m creating my first digital product! I did exactly what I was planning on this humble article: I published a lot of free stuff.
And one thing that a lot of people really seemed to like is how I use AI in my writing process.
So, my book is going to solve one specific problem: editing AI content.
It’s going to help:
- Writers who want to start implementing AI to speed up their writing process (without losing their voice!)
- Content creators using AI tools to make high-quality branded articles, blog posts, or social media content.
- Non-writers who want to lessen the learning curve of implementing AI-augmented writing.
This book will remove all the fluff from using AI.
Stripping all the hero-worship and fear mongering, Large Language Models actually have a place in the writing process, even for the most die-hard AI hater. And no, you don’t need special prompts, or technical knowledge.
You just need to know how to use what it gives you. Just like most of writing.
There are things I’m planning and discovering for this book still, but one thing I know for sure is that …
It’s going to be free for early supporters.
I’m going to post the complete contents of the book in my Buy Me a Coffee page. Supporters can buy a $5 coffee once, and read everything for free once it’s done.
This mechanism is to ensure that I publicly commit to this project, so you will be helping me publish my very first digital product.
Or, you know, you can not buy it and not support, it’s totally fine. I’m going to keep posting stuff you (hopefully) find useful anyway.
More updates soon.
ONE LAST THING
Before you leave, can you do me a quick favor? If writing with AI is for you (it might not be, and that’s 100% fine) I want to ensure this product actually help YOU solve your problem, in the best way possible.
So, can you tell me the single biggest issue you face when working with AI content?
I will read every single response, and you will have my heartfelt gratitude.
Talk soon,
James.
