A year ago, today, I’d made less than $10 writing. A month later, Medium sent me a $1000 check.
Last December, I was hastily working on a post for my Medium. By this time, I had firmly established the habit of writing every day. I also had been publishing every other day (a practice that took the pressure away from needing to write something “good” every time I wrote).
This piece flowed a little more than they usually do. I had been reading Principles by Ray Dalio and the connections with my own experience and past readings felt natural. So, I wrote a piece on When to Quit. I love this piece. I think it offers realistic and clear guidelines that help you escape from the insidious “never give up mentality” we hear so often.
Was it my best piece of writing? No way. But it was solid.
Within the next month, I reached 30x the number of people I had ever reached and made 99% of my income from Medium. The piece blew up. I felt validated. So many people were telling me that my writing had helped them. It also gave me the hope that I could make money doing something I love.
It was a tipping point.
Tipping Points
The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto is the originator of the 80/20 rule — a basic principle that, in many things in life…
