6 Mindset Shifts That’ll Help You Make More Money As A Writer

There are more opportunities to make money writing online than ever before.

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There are two types of writers: Those who starve and those who figured out how to turn their words into a reliable income.

With more opportunities to make money by writing online than ever before, now might be the best time to develop a strong mindset that’ll help you monetize your passion with confidence.

Treat your writing as “service”

Regardless of what exactly you write, your writing is a form of service for your reader.

This mindset shift forces you to think about creating the best possible service.

If you’re writing technical articles, you want to make them as easy to understand as possible, so they’re actionable.

If you’re writing personal essays, you want them to be as raw and honest as possible, so they truly touch readers.

If you’re writing about business or self-improvement, you want to come up with fresh angles to stay relevant and useful.

If you want to get paid, your writing isn’t about you. It’s about the person on the other end of your screen.

Become a “writepreneur” and stop being afraid of money

The essence of entrepreneurship is turning an idea into something valuable and worth paying for.

If you write for a living, you’re doing exactly that: You’re turning your ideas, knowledge, or experiences into value for your readers.

Your writing could change someone’s life, provide the solution to a problem, or help them take a break from a bad day.

Either way, you’re creating value.

And value is worth paying for.

I see so many writers who say they hate marketing and sales. And I get it. I felt the same way when I started.

But the harsh truth is, without marketing, you’ll likely end up in the category of starving writers who genuinely love what they do but can’t properly monetize their work.

To make (more) money through your writing, you need to start thinking like an entrepreneur.

You need to be so confident about your work that you love talking about it.

And most importantly, you need to stop belittling marketing and sales. If you can’t promote your work, you can’t make money. Nobody will find you. You need to get out there and show your work.

Instead of writing and hoping, look for ways to scale your reach and income.

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Understand the concept of scalable income (and get obsessed with it)

If you trade your time for money, you’re earning non-scalable income because your time is limited.

A typical example of non-scalable income is a freelance writing gig that pays per article.

The number of articles you can write is finite, and so is your time. As a result, you can’t scale.

Scalable income means that you create an asset once and monetize it multiple times.

As an example, think of a book you write once but can sell millions of times in various formats: print, ebook, audiobook, different languages,…

There’s no limit to scalable income because the nature of the product you’re selling isn’t limited.

Similarly, you can think of scalable marketing and create assets that can be discovered millions of times. This could be a Youtube video or blog post optimized to reach your target audience for years.

Most writers create their own hamster wheel, which forces them to constantly write new content.

And even though there’s nothing wrong with writing a lot if you’re enjoying it, you don’t want to feel the constant pressure to monetize everything you do.

Instead, you want to build assets that help you detach your income from your working hours, so you can make money even if you’re not actively writing.

Set up systems and processes that work for you.

If you’re new to the online world, get help from people who’ve been there and done that, so you can skip beginner’s mistakes and save time.

Find peace in detachment

Writing is an infinite game.

You won’t write a few stories (or books), make millions, and retire.

Instead, writing for a living usually means that you’ll write for decades. That’s why you want to enjoy the process as much as the results.

You’ll need to detach from the outcome, so you can focus on creating your best work.

If you’re obsessed with every single article you write, you might soon lose motivation and stamina.

Once you’ve set up systems that help you treat your writing as a business instead of a hobby, detaching from vanity metrics, hate, and results will feel a lot easier anyway.

If you’re working towards building scalable income and an actual writing business, you can’t be obsessed with every single piece you write.

Instead, you have a big-picture vision in your mind and keep going without freaking out over daily statistics and progress.

Don’t play the quantity game (for too long)

Would you ever follow a writer just because she’s publishing frequently?

Yeah, me neither.

New writers often believe that quantity will solve all their problems.

And even though it might solve some, it’s certainly not the magic fix to successfully monetizing your work.

By writing often, you’ll inevitably become a better writer. And if you’re writing online, each repetition will help you better understand the landscape and the platforms you’re using.

However, we can’t ignore that the online writing world is noisy.

Quantity alone won’t help you stand out.

Plus, it’s not a sustainable “business model” anyway.

Whenever I make a business decision, I ask myself how long I’d be willing to stick with it.

Let’s say you aim to publish a new blog post every single day.

For how long will you do that? A few days? A month? Forever?

I wouldn’t want to commit to publishing every single day for the rest of my life. Instead, I’d like to build a business that allows me to detach from work.

However, I did write and publish almost every day for nearly three months when I decided to become a full-time writer.

Those three months were crucial because they allowed me to gain lots of experience quickly. Plus, I was able to collect data, which I used to make informed decisions afterward.

As a new writer, you might need to write a lot to learn how to write stories worth reading. But that’s not a business strategy. It’s just your starting point.

Once you see some initial success and get positive feedback, you might want to ask yourself how to tap out of that hamster wheel and create a more peaceful routine that’s aligned with your lifestyle goals.

You don’t have to do any of that on your own

When I started to write online in 2018, I didn’t know any other writers. I had nobody to ask for advice or feedback for the first 2.5 years of my journey.

Over time, I’ve built a wonderful community of tens of thousands of writers and connected with dozens of like-minded creators.

Writing is a lonely job anyway because you have to do the majority of the work by yourself. But you can still build a strong support network and get help when you feel stuck.

My writing buddies connected me with clients, promoted my work, helped me grow my audience, and shared mind-blowing ideas.

You are the centerpiece of your writing business, but you’re allowed to surround yourself with like-minded people who’re on a similar journey.

Just because someone has similar goals doesn’t mean you’re competing. You can make use of synergies by supporting each other and collaborating in various ways.

Final thoughts

A few decades ago, writing a bestselling book was one of the few ways to make money through your words.

Today, you can write for a living without ever leaving your home, pitching big publishers, or signing unfavorable contracts.

It’s easier than ever.

You can reach millions of readers by writing on platforms like Substack and Medium, grow an email list of people who love to read your words, confidently sell your writing in various formats, and make money doing what you love.

But you might need to start by getting rid of limiting beliefs, so you can move full-steam ahead instead of being stuck.

You got this!