How I Made $11,000 From Writing in 30 Days

And what it took to get there

Photo by Austin Poon on Unsplash

If you asked me whether I would ever make money from writing, I would have said no. I have no special skill, gift, or even a writer to mentor me.

In the last 30 days, I’ve made more than $11,000 from writing.

It was after doing an audit of my expenses for the month that I realized, “Holy shit, there’s $11,000 of income just from writing!”

So here’s the deal: If I can make money from writing, you definitely can too. The reason for this article is that the most common questions I still get are:

1. How do I get started?
2. How does typing words actually make money?

So without any fluff, BS, broken promises, dreams of Ferraris and selfies with Richard Branson, I’m going to tell you the answer to these two questions after doing it successfully for more than a year.

Ready? Let’s go.

From 2014–2017

Not a single dollar was made from blogging during these years.

Let’s be clear that the start is a slow burn. But the good news is that I wasn’t just a shit writer to begin with—I was a really shit writer, and a lot of time was wasted. You can definitely do better than me by avoiding a few of the pitfalls.

The pitfalls:

• Don’t start your own blog, as it wastes your time and people won’t find it
• Write everywhere in the beginning (Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram)
• Do not ask for help from other writers until you have a library of work (no one will help you if you have three published articles to your name)
• Pitch major publications once you have found your lane, not in the first week of starting
• Don’t take too long to pitch major publications, though
• Do not spend a dollar on logos, paying to boost articles, or portrait photos

By avoiding these pitfalls, you can build momentum quicker than I did.

Getting Started

I want to make this so easy that you can’t screw it up.