How I Make $421 per Day as an Online Writer While Traveling The World
Without publishing every day.
I wrote online for 3+ years. Wrote 150+ articles. 0 traction.
Suddenly, in my 4th year, everything changed.
In those 12 months, I gained 50k+ followers. Made $1K+ p/m on Medium. After that, I built a funnel and business that allowed me to quit my 9–5.
I went from being ignored for years to being called an ‘overnight success’.
But here’s what people don’t understand:
I was ignored for 3 years. That’s over 1,090+ days.
People laughed at me.
Colleagues wondered what I was doing.
Friends and family just thought this was a cute hobby.
But if I had quit after 3 years, I wouldn’t have:
89k+ Medium followers.
A publishing deal with Earnshaw Books
A multi-six-figure one-person business.
And a life where I travel every month, and write every day.
Feeling ignored?
Good. Just don’t stop.
Because:
First they ignore you.
And then they ask how you did it.
Here’s how you can do it for yourself.
Writing is STILL the highest value skill you can learn.
Why?
Because when you learn to write, you learn to:
Think.
Influence.
Persuade.
When I tell people I’m a writer, they ask:
“Don’t you think ChatGPT will replace you?”
Nope.
ChatGPT can’t replace higher-order thinking… yet.
But the day it replaces human thinking, we will have bigger problems than just writing online.
Even then, writing is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
You can get a robot to exercise for you. But that defeats the purpose of exercise. You can get a robot to write for you. But that defeats the purpose of writing.
Without writing, I don’t know what I think.
Without writing, I don’t know how I feel.
Without writing, I don’t feel human.
I can clearly see when someone has used ChatGPT to outsource their thinking. They don’t even believe that they wrote. And they robbed themselves of learning.
If you outsource your thinking, you’re dead.
The best thinkers and speakers are writers.
I write every day to reinforce my learning, understand books I’ve read, and process difficult emotions. It’s the most powerful thing I do for my mental wellbeing.
Everything else is an upside.
Learn more than just writing.
Most online writers suck at sales and marketing.
They’ve adopted a mindset of ‘write it and they will come.’
Wrong.
This mindset kills dreams. That’s why most writers never make more than six figures. They foolishly believe writing is about writing.
Stack your writing skills alongside:
Sales.
Marketing.
Positioning.
Public speaking.
Content creation.
These are the evergreen skills of money-making.
You will never go broke if you learn these skills. It’s almost impossible. Every job, business, and creator needs these skills.
When you stack writing alongside the evergreen skills of money-making, you will become unstoppable.
Remember:
It’s not the best writing author.
It’s the best-selling author.
Writing means nothing if you can’t convince someone to buy your work.
Extreme people get extreme results.
I’m utterly obsessed with writing.
I wake up every day and write.
Even on holidays, birthdays, and Christmas morning. I sacrifice time with friends and family. Even exercise. I do everything I can to save my mornings to write. When I tell people this, they call me extreme.
But how do you expect to achieve anything without being extreme?
Would you call Cristiano Ronaldo extreme?
Would you call Sam Altman extreme?
Yes. They are all crazy (in a good way)
To do anything worthwhile in life, you need to be extreme about it. Everyone in the world wants to be a paid online writer and travel.
But only very few will make it.
I celebrated my 30th birthday, and all I wanted to do was wake up and write. There was nothing else in the world that would have made me happier.
But 99% of people have a ‘meh’ approach to their goals.
I started writing on Medium 6 years ago. 99.99% of people who started at the same time as me have stopped writing.
There was a person whom I looked up to.
She was growing so fast. At the time, she had double my followers. But she quit. Stopped growing at 3.6k. I now have 89,000+ followers.
The same is true on Substack.
I started writing here in July 2024.
10 months later, 80% of the people I was chatting with have stopped writing. They haven’t published anything in months. Or have given up completely.
Most of the people who quit are much smarter than me. More talented. But there is a graveyard of smart and talented people who lack any resilience and persistence.
Average actions get average results.
If you want to get paid. You need to be the best. And the great thing is, it’s not that hard to be the best.
Writing isn’t an IQ test. It’s an endurance test.
Writing = solving problems.
Solve the universal human problems of:
Health.
Wealth.
Relationships.
If your writing is not doing one or more of these things, you’re wasting time. You’re writing a journal entry.
Stop boring them. Start solving their problems.
“But I’m not an expert.”
You don’t need to be.
You only need to have solved that problem for yourself. Write to solve the problems you had 3–4 years ago.
If you solve a problem in private, it’s called self-improvement.
If you solve a problem in public, it’s called business.
I don’t understand people who say:
“You’re just selling something that you’ve achieved for yourself. That’s a scam.”
No sh*t.
How else would you expect to learn anything? Would you want to learn from someone who hasn’t achieved what they are teaching?
That’s the business model of most universities.
People learn from people they can relate to. With most of my clients, I’m only 2–3 years ahead of where they are.
People will pay you large amounts of money to solve their painful problems.
And then solve problems for others.
Proof always beats promise.
If you can do anything for 1,000+ days, you’ll win.
The number #1 writing hack?
Not quitting.
The best writing strategy is the one you can stick to every day.
You can become a successful online writer just by showing up. Ignore shiny object syndrome. Avoid distractions. Get up and write for 30–60 minutes per day.
Easy to say, much harder to do.
But if you can stick with it for 1,000+ days, your success is nearly guaranteed. Consistency neutralizes talent.
Does talent matter? Of course.
But people quit far before talent ever becomes a factor.
I’ll never stop writing.
👉 Learn how to WEAPONIZE your writing to make more money, build a magnetic personal brand, and grow an online audience that loves your every word. I’ve created a FREE email course to help you turn your words into dollars:
In my opinion your article is concise , blunt, and yet extremely accessible. It is an ideal form of writing for what you are trying to achieve and for that which gives you pleasure. Well done. Persistence overcomes talent every time. You have obviously aligned passion and pursuit into profit. I shall check your other posts. The joy in your commitment is infectious.
This is very motivating! Thank you!