Start Now. Never quit.

So you want to create content and get paid for it? Let me tell you, it’s harder than it looks.

I’ve written fairly consistently for the last five years, and I’ve posted most of my content here on?LinkedIn. I’ve garnered about 8,700 followers and it’s not unrealistic for an average post of mine to gain about 100 or more engagements. So nothing special, but also some stats I’m proud of as a guy who pushes some content out every few days.

A few months back, I set out to write consistently on Patreon. In my head I thought, how hard can this be? I'm writing anyways, might as well get paid for it.

I priced my site at $5 a month, and my serious assumption was, if I can get just 10% of my LinkedIn followers to subscribe then I’ll be happy as a starting point.

Well here we are, three months later, and I have 22 subscribers. Two of those accounts belong to my parents, two more my closest friends, and just last week I lost my first paying subscriber.

Perhaps I was delusional as to how much effort it would take.

There are few things as humbling as watching someone unsubscribe to your paid site! It's one thing for someone to not engage with your content, but to push a button that says "cancel" feels like a knife in your heart. (I know, it's not personal, it's business.....I think they used that line in the first John Wick)

I’ve managed to post on average of 5 times a week between quotes, references, and full articles. I’ve tried to find the balance between engaging and not annoying my Patrons. I've also started producing career management guides that are downloadable and easy to reference so I can add more value than just the written word in your inbox.

I’ve also created a?YouTube?channel in which I’m pushing people back to subscribe, and I’m posting content on LinkedIn to bring awareness to my Patreon. I've also been writing on Medium as a way to extend the brand.

But wow, creating content on YouTube is a full time job that I don't have even a few hours to dedicate to, not to mention I'm not a digital video producer!

Even with all this effort, my views on Patreon have reached a max of 100 a day.

It’s humbling to say the least, but it’s also a good reminder of how hard it can be out there. Many of you see the podcasters, writers, and people earning on the side. But they didn’t do it overnight.

The best advice I have for you? Don’t stop. Or perhaps that’s the advice I’m giving myself?

I see a world in which I have 1,000 subscribers; which at $5 a month is cool with me as a little side hustle. The writing is therapeutic, and the payments just validate the effort.

It's not about the money, it's about the recognition of the work or the effort.

So if you’re thinking about starting something, start now. You’ll enjoy the challenge, and you’ll feel the rewards in little moments. Just don’t give up. Keep putting in the effort, because it’s much harder than you thought, but it’s also so much more rewarding than you anticipated.

Oh yeah, and subscribe to my?Patreon here!

by Scott Bond