Member-only story
This isn’t the first time I’ve earned money from Medium. I actually made around $5 between 2021 and 2022, before their monetization rules changed. However, for the first quarter of 2024, it’s a modest amount: a laughably small $0.60. It isn’t even enough to cover my Medium membership, but I’m still happy with this small step forward.
As Michael Lim says in his post: If I could make $1 online, what’s stopping me from making $10, $100 or even $1,000?
This perfectly captures my motivation. For now, I’ll focus on making $10.
But first, I need to overcome my biggest content creation challenge: I am not consistent !
Let’s be honest: I cannot write one post per day as many writers recommend. I have a 9–5 job, and my ADHD does not help me.
The second roadblock is reader preference. People are attracted to stories of success, perfect lives, etc. However, my writing tends to be very realistic. I focus on failures, real-life struggles, and the obstacles we encounter.
Yesterday, I watched a satirical TV series where a social media coach tried to help a character become popular. Here’s what he said: “You need to give the people a high-end dream. Make them dream and project themselves into your life.”
Okay, I won’t take that literally. But I do need to work on creating a more varied mix of content. This includes talking about the successful side of my life as well.
So now what ?
Here’s my plan
Start small
I aim to write one story per week. This is a challenge for me. Finding topics and time is not evident. But I need to challenge my self.
Write a mix of popular topics, but not only that…
I’ll write some posts that attract readers, but I’ll also write posts that I enjoy. As I mentioned earlier, my personal taste doesn’t always align with what gets clicks. Readers are mostly attracted by topics like “making passive income” and “being more productive/doing more.” The first topic interests me, but I haven’t yet reached a point where I feel comfortable giving advice. And clickbait titles aren’t my style.
My unfair advantages
I might have some roadblocks, but I also have some assets or “”unfair advantages,” as Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba call them in their book ‘The Unfair Advantage’. One, perhaps unexpected, is my ADHD. It’s a daily struggle, but it can also be an advantage. I can write about my experiences with ADHD and how I deal with it in my daily life. Additionally, I work at a big company (Google) — that’s another potential topic for exploration.
That’s it! Time to put this plan into action. I’ll check back in three months to see how it’s going.
