I’ve Quit Working Full-Time – 5 Simple Steps That Set Me Free

This week is a huge milestone for me

photo: Derek Hughes and Kristina God, made in Canva

My writing earns enough so I can go part-time in my main job. It’s so exciting to be in control of what I do.

This hasn’t been easy. It took 18 months of hard work. And a zillion mistakes. But my little writing business is flourishing.

I started on Medium with nothing. No followers. No writing experience. No knowledge of social media. My only advantage was my curiosity and willingness to learn.

So if I can do this. Anyone can.

Let me show you the 5 steps that worked for me.

Step 1 — Start to write

The start is supposed to suck.

In my 1st month on Medium, I wrote 7 articles. And they had 18 reads. Not each. In total. But this doesn’t matter in this stage.

What matters is writing. Anything will do. Conquer your fear. Overcome your perfectionist. Beat your procrastination. These hold you back.

You think writing is about words. But step 1 is conquering yourself. One of my subscribers has paid for a coaching session, bought all my courses. But hasn’t published his first piece yet. He’s struggling to take that first step.

Define success as pressing that publish button. Ignore the numbers. They are irrelevant. Set the goal of publishing 10 pieces. And when you do celebrate like a crazy party animal. You’re ahead of 90% of people who never take action on their dreams.

Congratulations you’re on your way. 

Step 2 — Write more

After 3 months find a way to write more.

Online creation is a volume game. More is always better. Few things are certain. Except this — success comes from writing more. Most find this tough to do.

So here’s some tips on increasing your output:

Find your golden hour

Creating is mentally tiring.

Write when you’re at your best. And free from external demands. You want the sweet spot of feeling most energised and least needed. This might mean getting up 1 hour earlier. Or writing when the kids go to bed. Or 7–11 am on weekends.

These are your golden hours. Defend them ruthlessly. Block them on your calendar. Choose the right place. Leave your phone in another room. Put on music. Do whatever it takes.

Then write.

Make some efficiency gains

You can boost your output without using more time.

Set up systems. They’ll supercharge your writing. My favourite two are batching and checklists.

Instead of writing one article at a time rotate your tasks. Write one day. Edit the next day. Don’t write and edit in the same session. They’re different mental activities. Leaving a gap between tasks gives the brain time to work in the background.

Checklists are an underrated hack. It makes your writing faster. Create an editing checklist. And one for crafting headlines.

The goal for step 2 is to write more. Once you’ve done this. You’re ready for step 3.

And it’s time to dial up the clarity

Step 3 — Clarify what your offer

No one finds success without a focus.

Writers argue with me about this. I get it. It feels scary to narrow your focus. But every writer who has made it big. Did it on the back of a specific topic.

When you’re a big name people will listen to whatever you say. But until then readers need to know what they’ll get from you.

Two fears hold writers back from developing a focus:

Will I run out of ideas?

When you get a writing focus. You’ll have more ideas, not less.

Constraints release creativity. When you focus you tell your brain what to look for. Ideas appear when walking, showering, and waking up. When you are stuck you know what to research.

Will I lose readers?

I admit I worried about this.

I thought if I wrote about multiple topics I was casting my net wider. And could catch more readers. But a niche gives you tasty bait to attract people. My growth exploded when I focused on 1 theme.

If you don’t know what your niche is. Here’s how to find it. Write for 6+ months then look at your metrics. Identify what is most popular. And focus on that.

But don’t panic. You don’t marry your niche. It grows with you.

Step 4 — Discover what works

You’ve got your focus. So now it’s time to become an effective writer.

Writing is the process of running experiments. 80% of what you write will fail. This is normal. It’s a volume game. So keep writing. But when something works. Work out why and find a way to do more of it.

For example, I write an article with 5 points. The point about outlines gets a ton of comments. I notice this and write a full article on outlines. Or say content for ‘new writers’ does well. I write for articles aimed at new writers.

Your writing strategy has 2 parts:

• Exploration — Try out new ideas. Test fresh content. Experiment with different approaches.

• Harness what works. Repeat what connects with readers.

Combine these 2 elements. And your growth will explode.

Step 5 — Start to fly

Once you’ve built this solid foundation. Everything becomes possible.

• Michael Lim
  earns $5k/month giving him the freedom to travel around Asia for 10 months.

• Scott Stockdale earns $60k working 3 hours a day.

• Eve Arnold
  will hit $100k this year.

You can charge group coaching. Launch a paid course. Start a paid newsletter.

At this stage — it’s up to you.

So build for the long term:

• set input goals

• learn from the metrics

• celebrate every success

And trust good things will happen.

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🥳Derek Hughes is a dear friend of mine and a community member. He has grown to 14,000 Medium members and 3,500 subscribers. Today he earns $2.5K/month. You can subscribe to his weekly writing tips here or on Medium. If you need help you can access all his resources here.🥳

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🥳Derek Hughes is a dear friend of mine and a community member. He has grown to 14,000 Medium members and 3,400 subscribers. Today he earns $2.5K/month. You can subscribe to his weekly writing tips here or on Medium. If you need help you can access all his resources here.🥳

You can also watch our interview here. Your support makes a HUGE difference for Derek🥰

Thanks, Derek for this refreshing summer guest post. Keep rocking Medium, my friend. Your kids are big now and I hope you’ll soon be able to lead the life of freedom with your wife you desire.