$1,311.07 USD. That’s how much I made this September from blogging alone, and the results are definitely replicable.
September was a busy, breakthrough month.
It’s the first time in a long time that I have felt, “Wow, I really got a lot done.”
A big reason was that I had lit a fire underneath me. I was fed up with my job and decided that something had to change.
At the start of July, I told myself and a few others that I would go to Asia for a year-long trip to train in September. Life didn’t go as planned, though.
I gambled on starting an e-commerce store that failed, but it opened my eyes to building a YouTube channel that has quickly grown in popularity.
As I worked on the YouTube channel, however, my situation as a coach and badminton player continued to deteriorate until, at the end of August, I decided enough was enough.
I planned to leave for Asia this October and committed to making that happen. I cut my coaching hours, stopped joining the training, and focused my efforts on all my side hustles.
In the middle of September, I pulled the trigger and booked a flight to Malaysia. Now I’m preparing to leave in less than a week.
Here’s how I went from making $150 last month to $1300 from blogging.
The Platform That Made It Happen
I’d say I’m pretty bold, but there was no way I would risk going on an 11-month trip to Asia without thinking I could repeat my success.
This $1K month was not powered by one or two articles I wrote on Medium that went extremely viral. In fact, most of it didn’t come from Medium at all.
I wrote ten articles this month on Medium and only made $159.03.
Screenshot From Author
The other $1,152.04 came from the 14 articles I wrote on Seeking Alpha.
Screenshot From Author
As some of you may have read from my recent articles about making money on Seeking Alpha, the platform offers both fixed and variable (based on viewership) payments for articles I write covering certain investments.
This Site Pays $45+ per Article With No Viewers for Your Articles on Investing
These payments generally range between $45–65 and are part of why I am confident initiating my life as a digital nomad.
Whenever I write an article for Seeking Alpha, I generally know the minimum amount I’ll receive. For example, if I write five articles in one week, each with a fixed payment of $50, I’ll know that I’ll earn $250.
Thus, I can reverse engineer the process by making financial plans based on the minimum payments I’ll receive for the number of articles I can realistically write. All the extra earnings I get from views will be the icing on the cake.
How I Became More Productive In September
Just switching platforms isn’t enough to suddenly increase my income by tenfold, I had to increase my productivity as well.
In August, I wrote three blog posts. In September, I wrote 24.
Granted, I did make more videos in August—five versus two in September—but that’s eight pieces of content in August versus 26 in September.
Apart from the extra motivation from booking a non-refundable plane ticket in the middle of the month, I also made adjustments that helped me stay on track.
My biggest problem working as a solopreneur has always been staying on track. At the start of every month, it would be great. I would publish multiple articles often within a single day.
By the middle of the month, however, I had lost my focus, forgotten my goals, and ended up lying in bed, not doing anything for many days.
I changed that in September by tracking my progress weekly.
Every Sunday morning or Saturday night, I counted my numbers and wrote them in my iPhone Journal app. It was the number of articles or videos I had accumulated against my original goal.
My last journal entry looked like this:
- 14/10 Seeking Alpha Articles
- 9/25 Medium Articles
- 2/10 YouTube Videos
Some of my goals were clearly too ambitious. But compared to other months, I’ve been able to stay on track and consistently get stuff done every week.
Goals and Plans For October
Speaking of goals, I intend to use the same productivity strategy in October. It’s the new month, and the numbers need to be reset.
My three content creation goals are:
- 8 Seeking Alpha Articles
- 25 Medium Articles
- 12 YouTube Videos
You might be shocked to see these numbers. After all, wasn’t Seeking Alpha my highest-earning revenue stream this month? Isn’t it the only target I had hit as well?
And yes, that is the case.
My changes are due to October being a significantly different month. Likely, the goals I set now could completely pivot by the middle of this month.
On October 7th, I will start my journey as a digital nomad. The plan is to begin in Malaysia for three months before traveling to Thailand next.
The thing is, I’m not going to be your typical digital nomad who spends their “leisure” time sightseeing or chilling on a beach.
I will be training, intending to go pro in badminton. Based on the schedule I have gotten from the club I will train at in Malaysia, I will be playing six days a week in generally two 2–3 hour sessions per day.
In my personal experience, ideas come to me based on my actions. If I play badminton five hours a day, I will have way more ideas for badminton-related content.
Thus, making badminton YouTube videos should come more naturally. Making these videos helps me improve, too, which is a must if I plan to compete internationally next year.
Of course, I’m not going to stop writing Seeking Alpha articles. Deep down, I still hope to write more than I did in September, but I anticipate the month to be a little more of a learning month.
The truth is, I burned out slightly when writing these Seeking Alpha articles. At some point, I felt I was repeating the same points without offering unique, compelling value.
I want to spend more time learning and sharpening investment analyst skills to increase my value.
Learning is also why my Medium article goal remains at 25. Seeking Alpha is where I share the results of my learning, but Medium is where I’m willing to share the progress of my learning.
I also anticipate a lot of ideas coming from my travel experiences. It’s the first time I’m doing something like traveling Asia for almost an entire year, not to mention all the new countries I’ll visit.
I’m super excited to see what this month brings!
Originally published on Medium.com. Get a Medium membership and read articles like this one ad-free.
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