It took me almost 3 years to start making money online.

I was always stuck in a chicken and egg dilemma.

“Do I learn how to build an audience first or do I monetize early?”

“Should I double down on writing or creating my offer?”

“Is it better to start with a narrow niche or should I keep writing until I can be more specific?”

And so on..

The result? Three years of slow growth.

If I had to do it over again, here’s the plan I would follow:

Validate ideas on Twitter

Why Twitter?

Because that’s where people are and it’s the fastest way to validate ideas.

My biggest mistake was starting a blog. I spent hours writing about something that people don’t care to read. 

Don’t make the same mistake I did. You can find out what people resonate with by publishing 5-10 tweets daily. Write about anything that fascinates you. You can do this by listing 10 topics of your interest.

At this point, you don’t have to worry about anything. You’re not trying to get viral. You’re not trying to attract clients. And you’re certainly not trying to earn money.

Your goal is to find the one topic you can’t stop talking about.

Engage with others

While tweeting daily, you also want to find people interested in the same topics as you. 

You can do this by:

• Looking for big creator

• Going through the comments

• Talking to small accounts

Commenting under big accounts also helps you get discovered. 

Make friends and be genuine. 

Check your weekly analytics

Here comes the fun part.

After a week, you’ll have 35 to 70 tweets you could analyze.

Go to your analytics, and check which ones have the most number of likes and impressions.

This is how you discover the topic you want to write about and what resonates with others. 

It’s important not to overcomplicate or overdo this process in your early stage. The answer should be obvious. 

And the answer becomes your temporary niche. (Don’t worry because you can always change this later on).

Identify a problem

Once you know what topic you need to double down on, find a problem related to this topic.

You can do this by reading through comments on:

• Twitter

• Reddit

• Youtube

If you have time, I also recommend hopping on calls. Again, find people on Twitter comments then make friends with them on DM. Record your conversations and study the way they talk to you. Most of the time, you’ll find a burning pain that you can solve.

For example, if your topic is self-improvement, here are potential problems:

• How to let go of toxic trait

• How to develop good habi

• How to find resources that can help you

Then, you can continue writing tweets about the problem. 

In the beginning, you’ll think that you can’t write about the same thing again and again. But that’s a big mistake.

That’s exactly what you should do – iterate.

This is how you make people think you are an “expert” on this topic. And this gives you credibility. (At this point, you want to update your bio and create a pinned tweet related to the problem you are solving).

Some ways you can iterate:

1. Rewrite best-performing tweets. There’s always a better way of saying them

2. Attack from a different angle. For example: Instead of lessons, use mistakes. Instead of tips, use stories, etc.

3. Curate other experts. What do big creators say about the same topic?

Expand best-performing tweets

At least once a week, write a long-form content or Twitter thread.

Go through your analytics again and expand the best-performing tweets. This is how you give more value and show people they need to follow you. 

Monetize

You will never be confident enough to monetize.

I was there once. I felt guilty and terrified to charge money. But I figured I’d never be ready to start. 

Here are some ways you can monetize:

• Find ghostwriting clients. Hopefully, you followed the steps above and learned how to write long-form posts. If so, find potential clients on Twitter and DM them if they need help ghostwriting. Tell them you can send them your writing samples and they can use them for free. This way, you don’t feel bad that you can’t deliver. If they say yes, then write the tweets. Then, charge them for the next projects. If they say no, move on to the next prospect. The key is to send more DMs.

• Join Medium Partner Program. This is a great way to learn while getting paid directly. Since you are already writing on Twitter, you can repurpose your content. You can make the format Medium-friendly and add images. Publish 2-3x per week and watch the money come in. 

• Coaching/Consulting. This is how you earn more than your 9-5. You will trade your time for money so I recommend charging 2-3x your regular hourly rate. I used to feel bad about this. Then I realized I shouldn't. Charging a few bucks can help others transform their lives. Using your experience in the previous months, you can teach others to do the same. It will save them plenty of time. You can teach them your mistakes and provide them with a blueprint or framework that works. Some ideas you can have from your few months of experience (if you have achieved the outcomes):

  • How to go from 0-1000 followers

  • How to earn your first $ on Medium

  • How to land your first ghostwriting client

Of course, you can also teach things not related to building a side hustle.

List out your personal and professional skills. Then, brainstorm what it is that you know better than others.

There are plenty of goals you have achieved in the past that seem obvious to you now. But remember, there are people two steps behind you that are willing to pay.

And that’s it!

If you need help learning the fundamentals of writing online, check out this FREE guide.

Catch you next week.

-M