Why my Medium money is about to crash but a larger victory awaits

I’ve now crossed the $1,000 threshold in two consecutive months writing on Medium, but there are storm clouds on the horizon.

That’s because I drastically reduced the number of articles I published in January.

You see, I’ve been working my butt off to build a YouTube channel and two websites, one about content creation (including writing on Medium and YouTube), and another about dividend investing and passive income.

Grand total in earnings from those ventures: zero dollars.

Now, why would I give up a bunch of Medium earnings when I’ve said on numerous occasions that, in the past, I wasted too much time on side hustles that didn’t immediately provide income?

As I’ve written before: as a rule, you should focus solely on what gets you paid.

Earnings crash incoming (Credit: James Gordon/Dall-E 2)

Never stop growing

At some point, however, you cross a threshold where you can no longer limit your opportunities to one platform and the whims of those who run it.

You also come to realize that some content that flies on one platform can faceplant on another.

As you grow as a creator, you need to expand and grow your opportunities to make money.

Don’t get me wrong, Medium is INCREDIBLE and I’m not going anywhere.

However, Medium is limiting in a few of ways:

1. There’s a big internet out there, and Medium only captures a small fraction of it (especially behind the paywall)

2. You are at the mercy of the Distribution Gods

3. Not every niche makes money on Medium (this isn’t bad, it’s just a reason to explore other avenues)

In the past, I would have used these as a distraction, a reason not to do the work of actual content creation.

Now? Now I’m focused on one goal: building out what I’ve begun on Medium so that I never have to go to an office and answer to a boss again.

Multiple revenue streams

That means I need more revenue streams and more options for publishing to a wider audience.

Right now, I have four revenue streams, ranked by the amount of side hustle income generated:

1. Medium: my biggest contributor by far, my baby

2. Dividend Investing: Truly passive income — all my Medium earnings go directly into the market

3. Ko-fi tips: A small amount to be sure, but perhaps the most appreciated by me!

4. Amazon Associates: A tiny contributor right now, but loaded with opportunity as I expand my reach

Within six months, I intend to add three more:

5. YouTube: I’m grinding through my monetization quest as we speak, and I’m more than 1/3 of the way toward the 1,000 required subscribers and almost 1/4 of the way toward the 4,000 public watch hours I need

6. Adsense: I’ll put ads on my two websites, plusevpublishing.com and puredividends.com to generate income as traffic increases (I’m currently waiting for those two sites to be approved by Google)

7. Email newsletter: I’ve done some groundwork researching options for this, but I’m just at the start (trying to decide between Substack and Ghost) — not much to report yet

A necessary evil

Because the potential of earning via AdSense is so immense, I decided to pump the brakes on Medium in January and take care of building two websites.

I also wanted to ensure a steadier stream of content on YouTube.

So while my Medium earnings are due to crash hard in February as a result, it was a necessary evil.

Now that I’ve got the legwork done on those endeavors, every piece of content I create has a much bigger potential audience.

In my opinion, Medium is the best place to start your side hustle. I’ll never leave this place, it’s too awesome.

But as an entrepreneur, you should always leave a little space in the back of your head to think about what comes next.

The latest from me:

• 6 lessons from my $825 Medium story

• YouTube is really screwing me

• You can now get monetized with YouTube Shorts instead of watch hours

My most-read Medium articles:

1. I made hundreds on Medium in my first month

2. You’re depressed about low views on Medium — this is how to fix it

3. Why Medium is the most underrated way to make money online

4. My Medium earnings finally exploded in my fourth month

5. How I became a top 6% writer on Medium in 23 days

6. I tripled my hourly wage on Medium in my second month — you can too

7. My Medium earnings dipped in my third month and it’s all my fault

8. Avoid the mistake I make every time my story goes viral

9. My first viral story taught me not to chase viral stories

10. Why writing on Medium is far superior to freelancing

11. Can you have more than one Medium Partner Program account?

12. How to get ignored as a writer on Medium

13. If you want to succeed on Medium, ask yourself this question