Quality Writing on Medium: Devouring the Brilliance of Others

Greetings!

I thought this time around I'd share a few articles from Medium that I found inspirational for different reasons.

One came from a woman that hadn't been on the platform that long but was clearly doing something right:

Celebrating One Year and $16,000 on Medium: How I Did It, What I Learned, and What’s Next

One came from a runner that puts the Boston Marathon into perspective:

I Won the 1968 Boston Marathon. And Ran Many More. After the Bombs, Everything Changed

And one was about life in general:

How to Stop Giving a Fuck

There's a ton of great stuff on Medium, and it's always worth investing time in reading about others' experiences and their insights. 

If you'd like to write on Medium, one of the best ways to build a following is to become a member. This gives you unlimited access to high-quality writers and tips on how to monetize. 

 You can join through this membership link: 

• Medium Membership

The same link also lets you unlock thousands of excellent articles. Click here for more details.

Also, take a look at this Etsy shop for career/ money/personal development inspiration:

https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/shop/Work4Cash

Medium: Ever Thought About Freelance Writing as a Side Hustle?

As we prepare ourselves to enter into a recession, we should all consider ways in which to improve our financial situation. Freelance writing is one area to consider.

Medium is a great platform if you've ever thought about trying out freelance writing. At the very least, you can get good practice with plenty of eyeballs on your work

Here are two pieces that talk about freelance writing in general:

• My Best and Worst Freelance Writing Side Hustles

• How to Start as a Freelance Writer

Read, write and join

If you'd like to write on Medium, one of the best ways to build a following would be to become a member. This gives you unlimited access to high-quality writers and tips on how to monetize. 

You can join through this membership link: 

• Medium Membership

The same link also lets you unlock thousands of excellent articles. Click here for more details.

As a taster of what's on offer, below is a recent Medium article by none other than Barack Obama:

• My 2022 End of Year List

Enjoy.

Online Income Challenge: Slowly Does It...

So October has kicked in and so has my online challenge: shift from lower-end online income opportunities to higher-end ones and see what the world brings me.

Well, so far the world hasn't brought me a whole lot... The good thing about dwelling in the low-end world is that there's very often a lot to go around. Yes, those bits may be scraps rather than caviar, but they are bits nonetheless.

Principle tools for online income

And so I've got to really wean myself off the false economy of earning pennies here and there. Or rather, wean myself off of focusing only on this space at the expense of better opportunities. It's all too easy to take the path of least resistance.

The thing is, we'd all like to have prime quality steak served up to us on a platter but sometimes you just have to accept that there's only Burger King on offer. In small doses that's fine. It's a guilty pleasure.

The trouble comes when you start looking at a Whooper in the same light as you would a rib eye. That's why I'm doing this exercise. And to stretch this metaphor just a little further, hopefully some of the freelance work that I'm viewing as rib eye right now will feel like Whoppers to me further down the road and I'll be ready to move up another level...

So this last week I've been pitching proposals on PeoplePerHour, Elance and Freelancer. They're not Vogue or Harpers and Queens but they're a start. Some of the proposals relate to article writing, others relate to CV/resume reformatting.

While I think I have a reasonable chance of winning one or two of the writing bids (I'd like to think), a couple of the others are pretty fanciful. For example, I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with the gig asking to write up someone's Finance PhD dissertation...Let's see, shall we?!

But until I pick up traction on any of these sites (i.e. get accepted for jobs and get decent ratings for people to want to work with me again) I'm just going to have to keep putting myself out there. It's a pretty competitive world so it may take time. Ultimately, though, I simply see it as an investment now for greater returns later (hopefully). And it's all about having the right perspective.

The joys of the freelance world... 

PeoplePerHour Review: Another Marketplace

I've recently tried my luck with PeoplePerHour, so while my interest is still hot I thought it would be worth putting down a few thoughts.

The interesting thing about all of these marketplace-type of sites for freelance talent is that they reflect the new world we live in. Companies and individuals simply want to outsource whatever they can, and rest assured there is someone out there willing and very able to provide the service. As a result, if you don't get lucky on this site, there are plenty of others out there to help you out.

Well, this site is another provider of this kind of service. You’ve seen it before: buyers looking for sellers, sellers looking for buyers, you get rated for the job you do, payment is done via PayPal.

So what do I like?

Targeting quality. One good thing about this site from the perspective of the buyer and the seller is that you have to be approved to join and I’m guessing the filter system is far more stringent than, say, Fiverr. That in turn means that (in theory) a buyer of a service will get better quality service providers, while service providers can charge a little more.

There are plenty of jobs. It’s maybe not exclusive to this site at all, but having fished around in categories that I’m not very familiar with it does look like there’s a wide availability of tasks to do across the board.   

Options of fixed prices or hourly rates. Depending on what type of tasks you want to undertake, you can sell your services on a fixed price basis or base it on an hourly rate. It’s great to have this flexibility. So far I’ve only looked into the fixed rates.

Affiliate program. You can earn $45 each time you invite a friend and they start their first project on the site. Along with that your friend will get a 5% discount voucher too. This has to be done via providing email details as opposed to using an affiliate link. 

What is more of a challenge?

It’s competitive. Getting rid of some of the lesser-quality service providers is a good thing in many ways. Unfortunately, that means you’re likely to be competing against some individuals with decent quality portfolios and lots of experience. That said, it’s probably not a bad thing or anything different to a lot of other marketplace sites.

Not everyone gets accepted. As mentioned before, PeoplePerHour does have a filter system which ensures that not everyone is accepted as a seller on it. In fact, once you have signed up you are also given a set period of time in which you can “qualify as a trusted member of our community”. To achieve that goal you need to make two sales receiving an average 4+ rating over the period. I’m currently on one 5-rating sale (which is why I thought I’d get this comment in now in case I don’t make my second sale…).

Anyway, I’m going to keep this review brief because: 1) I haven’t really worked hard on building any business on the site so far and haven't navigated around a great deal, even though I intend to; 2) If I don’t sort something out in coming weeks I’ll fail my probation period and I’ll be gone anyway…

Watch this space.