1 Medium ‘Fan’ Is A Miracle — Start Acting Like It
You’re about to call me a hypocrite in a second..
I hate when I think about how many views I “should” be getting on my Medium posts.
The other day I did this (okay, yesterday), and it really threw me through a loop of ungratefulness.
Yes, ungratefulness.
I started wondering..
‘Why am I not getting 2,000–3,000 views per post? What’s happening? What am I doing wrong as a creator?’
Then it hit me today..
1 Medium “fan” is a miracle. Let me explain..
What Am I Doing Wrong, Anyway?
First off, my views are down, but that’s probably because the lionshare of my followers follow me for my articles about Medium.
The last few weeks I’ve posted more life lesson-esque articles.
That’s just not what most of my audience is into.
If I wrote about Baseball, naturally I’d build an audience who wanted to know more about baseball. But then if I started writing about filmmaking, basically none of those people would care because they want more baseball articles.
This would drive my views down.
Get it?
Okay, What Am I REALLY Doing Wrong?
You know what it is?
I’ve forgotten the purpose of creating content in the first place. Forgotten the whole thing.
I STARTED thinking that creating content was about getting more email subscribers and views and fans and all of that stuff.
It turns out this is the dumbest freaking thing to write content for.
It also turns out I’ve been doing absolutely nothing wrong at all — I just thought I was.
Your Time Isn’t Wasted If “Just” 1 Person Reads
Look, if literally one person read one of my articles, I’d feel pretty crappy.
I would feel like a crappy content creator — that’s all. I’d feel sort of ashamed about my talents and wonder if I should keep creating in the first place..
But think of it this way..
Medium measures things like “views” and “fans” and “reads,” but they’re not measuring things like emotional impact, or helpfulness, or stuff like that.
What if there was a way to see if your article put somebody in a better mood?
What if you could see if your article made a big impact on someone’s day or week or even life?
I’d be willing to wager if you could see your article made a significant impact on JUST one person, you’d be completely okay with that.
But that’s not how it is. That’s not how platforms work (yet).
There is no way to measure impact — but we SURE can measure claps though because — damn — we really needed to do that.
What an amazing feature.
Okay, it’s nice but could be better.
Don’t Forget Why You Started Creating Content In The First Place
People generally start blogging for one (or a combination) of three reasons..
- As a way to build popularity/make money.
- As a way to express themselves.
- As a way to connect with other human beings.
Number one is the worst reason to get into this for. Number two is a good reason, but also a selfish one. Number three is the most FULFILLING reason.
If you want to make money blogging, that’s fantastic — there’s nothing wrong with that. It ONLY becomes a problem when you don’t find value in expressing yourself or connecting with other human beings.
Most writers are good apples, though. They got into this to express themselves. They got into this to make an impact on others.
I actually asked my Facebook Group of 650 members to answer why they blog. Here’s what they said..
A whopping 36 of 75 people said they blog to add value to others.
Nearly half.
Okay, so if you get one person to read or comment on your article, aren’t you adding value?
That’s what you got in this for anyway, right?
Be happy with yourself. Don’t stress. Besides, I haven’t even given you the grand finale yet..
You Honestly Don’t Know How Much Your Posts Could Be Impacting People
My good friend Ana Guerra commented on a recent YouTube video of mine yesterday..
This single comment made the whole video worth it (and all of last week’s videos worth it to be honest).
I recently made the switch to YouTube, and am now uploading 5 new videos every single week.
It’s fun, but it’s also taking me a super long time to create all these videos (it’s cutting into my writing time).
I could’ve easily looked at all of this YouTube stuff as a waste of time (even though I already have 278 subscribers or something).
But the thing is, after Ana threw that comment underneath my video, it made everything worth it to me.
In fact, it’s making every YouTube video worth it for me moving forward as well.
You see, it’s not just about how one post does, or how a few posts do — it’s about what a continuum of posts can do to make one single person feel like they know you better.
You got me?
1 post is good. 2 posts is better. 3+ posts can REALLY make someone feel like they know you.
Videos are a means to an end. They’re a means for me to express myself, but they’re moreso a means for me to show everybody my face instead of just my words.
AKA, a way for me to connect with people more.
Ana is one person who feels a little bit more connected to me. There’s a billion things you can pick up about someone by seeing them instead of just reading them.
And to be honest, Ana Guerra is the one who has made my first posts on YouTube worth it.
One person, and one person only.
And that’s the biggest lesson I learned today.
Want to get started writing online? I actually have a free 5-day email course called “Your First 1,000 Medium Followers” that will teach you how to build an audience here on Medium! Sign up for it right here. I’d love to teach you a couple things.
