I Made My First Dollaaaaa

it was incredibly.... easy

Ava Phoenix
June 08, 2024

I hear a lot of creators talking about the unbelievably exciting moment they make their first dollar.

Yesterday, I experienced it.

It’s not the same as landing your own client. With your client, you’re happy of the acquisition, but you know there’s a lot of work cut out for you.

This is different.

This is me writing for an hour a day— something I would be doing regardless— and earning money because people like what I write.

It feels surreal.

Feels like the first true stamp of validation that puts my doubt and insecurity (that idk what I’m doing) to rest.

I also couldn’t believe how easy it was.

On X, to even be eligible for ads revenue, you have to hit 5M impressions in 3 months.

That’s a lot.

It means tens of thousands of followers or top-notch engagement farming tweets.

I don’t do any of that.

I have 145 followers on Medium.

I write what wants to flow through me. Of course still keeping in mind my headlines, wording and things like that. But my stories stay whole.

I don’t have to chop them up into a hundred bite-sized triggering hooks in hope someone with the attention span of a goldfish will like it.

And I still earn.

If you are a writer who struggles on X because you have more to say than 160 characters, maybe you want to give Medium a try.

That’s news #1.

News #2 is that I finally started my YT channel. This is a long time coming. I like creating videos, but I have too much fear.

For the rest of this year, I commit myself to being bad. I’m going to be bad at everything and see where that takes me.

It would make me very happy if you subscribe and witness how bad I am at this, so I don’t feel so alone.

This spike in courage and productivity is not random.

This week I implemented a new routine and… it feels just right. I break it all down here.

But this is only the #2 contributor to my earning on Medium. I reserve the #1 spot for my friend, Vince Mao.

He not only inspired me to put a paywall on my writing, but held my hand through every step.

He’s a pretty badass creator and human. You should stalk him.