How I gained 20,677 followers in 8 weeks

Growing an audience on Medium is an asset to anybody — whether you’re thinking of going solo or wanting to get more exposure to like-minded people.

Promotions, clients, and new job opportunities are all on the table if you consistently post great content on the internet (all of those things have happened to me).

I’ve recently hit 54,000 followers on Medium. It’s now become the platform that powers most of my traffic to my website, my newsletter, and my paid products. In the last 8 weeks, I’ve added 20,677 followers to my Medium audience.

I have over 20 ways of coming up with ideas for content but today I want to share with you a writing process I find useful that leverages my day job.

1. Find your unique experience(s)

If you work 9–5 you’re sitting on a treasure trove of content. Why? Part of writing great content is about being relatable and working a 9–5 is a highly relatable topic.

So it’s your job to figure out the stories worth telling. I love thinking about my career and filtering out the moments that have stood out to me. On reflection, these moments were seeds for ideas that ultimately led me on a different path.

The best way I’ve found is by asking myself questions and allowing my mind to run back through the events of my life. Stopping every time I find something that sticks.

The idea? If it’s stopping me, it likely will stop someone else.

If you need a starting point, here’s something to spark some thoughts:

• Think about the moments at work that stick with you, ask why.
• Ask yourself what moments in your career taught you the most.
• Sift through your mind, ask yourself who taught you the most, and when.

You’ll have loads (I mean loads) of useful stuff to offer the world, it’s just a case of teasing it out and believing that it’s worthy of showing the world.

And believe me, your stories are worth telling.

2. Build your story (don’t just give the lesson)

Storytelling demands attention.

But so many writers rush into the main event. They miss the suspense. So even though they might have an incredible story on their hands, they’ve given away the opportunity by telling the story all wrong.

It’s not just ‘I decided to do this’ it’s ‘I was here, doing this, feeling this, then this happened, and after I thought this’…

Here’s a snippet from a recent story I wrote:

What I’m trying to do here is build.

People won’t feel the emotion of your story if you don’t think about the context of it, if you don’t paint the picture for them before going into the main lesson.

Part of the story (a big part) is explaining where you were, how you got there, and how you felt.

You don’t want people just to read your work, you want them to feel your work.

3. Share your vulnerability

Writing is about sharing the human experience.

The best writing gets as close to the human experience as possible, how? By telling the truth about how you feel. Being honest, really honest allows you to connect with others.

Here’s what I think about when I write:

• What am I struggling with?
• What problems haven’t I solved?
• How do I feel and how do I want to feel?

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows so pretending it is will attract the wrong type of reader. Sharing your real vulnerability helps you stand out when the world is sharing Instagram reels.

4. Distill the ‘big thought’ into the headline

One of the biggest mistakes writers make is not revising their headlines.

In my early days, I wouldn’t think too much about the headline, it didn’t matter I’d think, it’s just 10–15 words. The thing that matters is the writing.

Wrong-o.

I learned this the hard way. Now I always start with a headline to anchor my thinking but as I write, things change and then I go back to the headline and ask myself: is this the best way to spark intrigue without giving too much away?

Just look at the example below.

The article was exactly the same but the headline resulted in a 3101.97% increase in revenue. It would be easy to go with the headline I started but it’s the headline that makes all the difference.

The more time you spend on your headline, the more likely you are to get the views you want. Write the headline then write it again and again.

I’d recommend writing your headline at least 7 times before committing to it.

The ending thought

The beauty of writing on Medium is it’s a platform that allows you to develop deep relationships with your readers (long-form content does that). But it also pays you to write.

Every month I make $2–4k writing on Medium. Not many other platforms (if any) offer that kind of opportunity. But it takes a lot of effort (I’ve written 1,080 articles on the platform at this point).

It’s a platform that has changed my life.

I use a number of writing techniques but one of my favorites is writing from my 9–5 experience. I do that by:

• Locating my unique experiences
• Building the story around the main idea
• Sharing my unique vulnerabilities (even though it’s tough)
• Distilling your big idea (with as much curiosity) into your headline

If you want to learn to write compelling, non-obvious articles that are already in you, check out: ​https://www.theparttimecreatorclub.com/the-medium-blueprint​​ (for a limited time only it’s back at launch price, after Cyber Monday it will go back to the original price).

Much love,