I still remember the feeling of being able to earn money the first time through my writing. It was April of 2020 and I earned exactly $2.53.
Believe it or not, I was drowning in happiness! $2.53 is all that it took to make my day that day. It wasn’t even the money, but it’s the feeling of being able to achieve something unprecedented.
The following month, $17.29. The next one, an exponential jump to $574.76.
Happiness lies in the beauty of measuring your own progress and not comparing yourself to other people because of course, that’s stupid.
Today, I witnessed yet again another viral story. Hundreds of people on Twitter and Facebook have shared it. So far, it’s my highest-earning story ever. Let me tell you how.
The Story
My niche is in technology and entrepreneurship and I’ve discovered it just this year when I noticed that number of my stories about Elon Musk, Startups, and Technology went viral.
So, I decided to put more focus on it. Just this August of this year, I wrote about the one of most hyped new social media platforms this year, Clubhouse. I called it, What Happened To Clubhouse?
My approach to writing is similar to how I approach starting projects and startups. Start small and focus on very few things.
The story is filled with an analysis of the massive success of Clubhouse and also its sudden downfall. The idea of it came to me like a thunderstorm, sudden and strong.
I knew I had to put my words into it and see what other people think of it. Don’t get me wrong, I believe Clubhouse will find its way back to the top again because they have a massive amount of funding which gives them just time.
So I wrote it with the goal of catalyzing the conversation. Then it happens.
What happens next
After self-publishing it, tIt didn’t really do anything for a few weeks, but then an invisible force got it going.
It took off. People start viewing, reading, and commenting on it. As you can see in the graph, the first week was flat, then it jumped.
At some point, my highest daily views were 4000 then 10,000.
In all honesty, I didn’t have any expectations from the beginning, I just wanted to express my thoughts about the app’s progress and why people seem to dislike it.
There’s no way to know exactly what caused the jump. It could be because a renowned celebrity or a famous entrepreneur shared it on Twitter or Facebook or TikTok.
At the moment of this writing, I’ve got more than 5000 claps from over 1000 people, which were viewed 90,000 times.
Surprisingly, I achieved what I wanted to achieve from the beginning, to get people’s opinions about Clubhouse. More than 100 people have commented on the story already just on this platform alone!
This made me realize that I’m not alone after all and that I shared similar viewpoints and observations along with other thousands of people from all over the globe.
So, How Much I Earned?
The beauty of the age of the internet we live in is that anyone could make a living out of everyone’s passions or hobbies. In my case, writing. Be that a blog, a tweet, or a case study.
I’ve now successfully monetized my knowledge, my ability to write, and in consequence, I have connected with thousands of people!
Here’s a screenshot of the earnings on the day I’m writing this.
Yes, that’s right and it’s still going up! By end of October, it could reach $3000, which would be another milestone for me being the highest monthly earnings.
It’s important to also note that in this platform, you earn more when your readers have subscriptions. I have another story that has more than 300,000 views, but only earned me half of this one.
As you can see here, 81% of my views are internal, meaning it was discovered inside this platform. If you can achieve this with your story, you have higher earning potential.
How long did it take me to write it?
If I remember it right, it took me 15 mins to write and share my analysis about Clubhouse. However, I added more content as it grow based on my new research and findings.
Of course, I know that the earnings and views will drop back down, but it’s fascinating to witness what’s possible with content nowadays.
Key Takeaways
I have three takeaways from this viral story.
Being a great writer with great ideas can make you a living
Writing is a powerful way to reach everyone on this planet
You have to keep writing, consistently to succeed
If something intrigues you — and you believe others will find it interesting — just write it
Write about what you’re interested in. In my case, technology
The original story can be found here.