From Never Writing An Article To 750k Views, 11.8k Followers, & $40,000+ in 1.5 Years.

After receiving over 150 job rejections, I needed a side hustle. It turned out to be a life changing decision.

Image From Midjourney

A few years ago, I got over 150 job rejections

Not a single interview.
But then I decided to get off my ass and go for a run to clear my mind.

Instead of 3 miles, I ran 5. It felt like I was running from something. Then, it started to make sense. I realized that I was running from my internal fear of failure. I was afraid that Google’s rejection meant that I couldn’t achieve what I wanted in life.

It’s as if an expert looked me in the eyes and told me that I wouldn’t make it.

Then, something else happened that changed the course of my work life – I was tired of running those 5 miles.

→ I decided that my internal compass was flawed.
→ Those companies might be looking for someone else.
→ The world does not revolve around me.

I started writing a blog and spread the word that I’m freelancing again in what I love (business & finance.)

A year later:

• $40,000 of earnings from blog writing.

• $40,000 of earnings from freelancing.

• $5,000 of profit from my investments.

But here’s what is interesting: Before earning $40,000 from blog writing, I had never written a single blog. I was not one of those “naturally talented” writers.

Like you, though, I liked a certain topic. I’m sure you like reading or writing about something. That could be sports or food. In my case, it was entrepreneurship.

I loved entrepreneurship. In fact, let me just tell you a few book titles that I can see on my shelf right now (I won’t stand up, though.)

• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.

• The Everything Store by Brad Stone.

• Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

• Lean Startup by Eric Reyes.

That’s what I read in my spare time. So, it makes sense that I love this topic.

Here’s what I did — I transformed this love into earnings. Although, when I started, I was doing it because I just loved writing about entrepreneurship. It didn’t matter to me that much whether I’ll earn or not.

I started on a platform called Medium. At this moment, here are my stats:

• $40k earnings

• 750k views

• 11.8k followers

This did not happen overnight. It consisted of three main stages.

Stage 1 — Exploring

I began by looking at every platform that I could monetize from.

• There are freelancing ones like Upwork and Fiver.

• There are content creation ones like YouTube and X

The latter is more dependent on quantity, which I liked after twelve years of working with clients. Hence, I started exploring all content creation platforms and experimented with the two that I found the most appropriate: YouTube and Medium.

Stage 2 — Testing

I had to focus on being realistic. I was not going to earn $5k per month on Medium instantly. Fast forward a year, and I was already doing that. But the mentality I had when I started had low expectations.

One article after the other led to a successful month and then a successful year. But you know what? I’ve had many failed articles. The only way I could move on is by learning and testing.

Once I’ve developed theories, I go try them out. But the most critical element of online content creation is never to stop.

Stage 3 — Consistency

I would abide by my writing schedule no matter what. This was my only job. If someone would ask me what I do for a living, I would say I consistently write.

Baby steps, and I reached where I am today. You might be in step 0 or in a better place than I am. Regardless, just keep moving forward.

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I’m AL, a business consultant in Zurich, Switzerland. I believe in the power of delivering value to you, the reader.