After the pandemic hit in early Spring of 2020, I found myself (like more than half the population in the U.S. at the time) in a U.S. State that involved a heavy lockdown. In short, we were not allowed to leave the house unless absolutely necessary — and I was by myself, in a tiny apartment, away from family and friends.

And by “away” I mean… thousands of miles away.

Looking for quick ways to make money online, I stumbled upon Medium. I began to fantasize dreams of going viral with one single article, making millions, and retiring at 25. How much effort did I really have to make to earn decent money online?

How Easy Is That?

After writing 8 articles, I became overwhelmed with marketing.

How should I market my services and writing content at the same time? Should I put them on social media?
What will friends think?
Are they even reading this? They told me they would…
What will my employer think?

Racing thoughts on future events (that will probably never happen) kept me from releasing more articles. What’s more, I was using a pen name at the time because I wanted to keep my online identity anonymous.

I did not sign up for any “take my course to upscale your business” newsletters and had zero knowledge of e-commerce. If anything, I’m just a psychology nerd who likes to geek about Myers-Briggs trivia and Enneagram personality types.

Still, every month I would get an e-mail from Medium stating they were paying me for the articles that I wrote. I never looked at them.

Defeated, I gave up on Medium and continued to live life the ordinary way; that is, looking for “real” jobs in the area, tolerating the 9–5 grind, and making my parents and tax accountants proud by receiving the coveted W-2 that everyone else gets. Hanging on to what I know, and afraid of the unknown, I came back to the workforce in the Fall of 2020.

In short, I promise I’m just an ordinary person. Perhaps just like you or in a similar boat to you. With zero knowledge of anything business.

Surprise, Surprise

These are the 8 articles that I wrote over that time. Three of them were published in publications, the rest were not.

The 8 Stories published between May 15–19, 2020

In writing them, I borrowed from my own knowledge of career and mental health. If you’re curious about my writing style, I would say it’s mixed: I combine hard facts, data, research, and evidence-based approaches with my own personal experiences, theories, and opinions. As such, some pieces are more opinionated than others and vice versa.

My 8 Stories and their Stats

Finally, here’s the breakdown of reads for each story. As you can see, the one which was NOT published in a publication (and the one which I wrote from the heart), actually ended up doing the best. In addition, I used a lot of SEO for that article, because it ranks high on Google with a similar article on the same subject.

In Total, I Made $22.18

Money overtime (1 year)

After letting these stories sit for over a year, with zero self-promotion, I made just about 4 free cups of coffee at Starbucks.

But the real winner, is this one.

The Story with the most earnings (NOT in a publication, but heavy on SEO)

Logically, it can be deduced that if I want to earn $500 a month of extra income (and 8 articles produced about $20 a year), then I would need to write 2,400 articles (around 2 years of work) to produce $6,000 a year. This is assuming zero self-promotion and not spending money on a website or selling products online. Purely from Medium and purely from writing online, with a passive income stream that will continue to exist for years to come!

Takeaways: What I Learned on How to Earn More

Excited about the implications and the potential to earn more, I’ve decided to come back to the platform again and write even more articles. What’s more, it has given me the motivation I needed to revamp my website and add Upwork, in order to provide direct contract services to people outside of the U.S. State I reside in.

“Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t be afraid to stand firm on the decisions that you make. Trust yourself. Believe in your instincts. Do what works best for YOU. Stay true to yourself and be good to yourself. Allow every decision that you make to empower, enrich, and add value to your life!”

― Stephanie Lahart

In short, you really only have 2 options to earn money on Medium:

Option 1: Write from the heart, then publish your story on a publication (either your own, or an established one)

Option 2: Write from the heart, then add a ton of SEO

Although both options require a specialized strategy — the best strategy is to write like “no one’s reading.” From the heart, like you mean it. That way, if you can’t reach someone to empower with your writing, at least you empowered yourself in the process.