Here’s The Most Likely Reason You’re Not Making Money as a Writer
The fix is completely free
Have you ever worked a job that drained the life out of you?
When you end up in a job that does, it generally doesn't take long to figure it out. A large employer in my hometown has a similar problem. The work culture is poor, and to their credit, they hired someone I know to improve it.
They want to fix it.
After some meetings with the leadership team, the reason became pretty clear: The leadership team is the problem. Easy-to-solve issues go unaddressed, they allow poor employees to drag down good employees, and the leadership team seems overwhelmed and stressed out.
That, in turn, creates a culture where the employees are overwhelmed and stressed out.
They'll spend thousands of dollars fixing the culture issue, but they will never be open to the idea that the right path forward is simply to adjust their leadership styles.
The fix is entirely free but requires self-awareness, humility, and effort.
If you have yet to find success as a writer, are you unlucky, or are being dishonest with yourself?
If the leadership team I mentioned above valued their teams more than they valued keeping their egos intact, the problems would get fixed. But because they’d prefer to let themselves off the hook, creating a great work culture is likely going to remain elusive. It doesn’t matter how much money they spend on the problem.
Here's an honest self-analysis of my writing from the last two months:
My Medium earnings are down…a lot.
I have failed to prioritize Medium and haven't engaged with other writers nearly as much as I should. I haven't set aside an appropriate amount of time to write; when I do, the stories haven't been there. I've also wasted too much time on my phone.
My earnings aren't down because I've had lousy luck or because Medium's algorithm worked against me. No, they are down because I got comfortable and haven't put in the effort. I am holding myself back.
My last five articles haven’t been boosted because they either didn’t get in front of the right people or they weren’t good enough. Either way, I have work to do.
I can fix it, and I will fix it.
If you can learn to give yourself blunt, honest feedback and then act on that feedback, you will become unstoppable—not just as a writer, but with anything you choose to do.