Cover Photo source: sputniknews.com
In a world filled with an obsession over money, it’s hard to even think about not setting a high goal for money.
When you tell people that you’re a writer, an artist or a musician, the first thing that comes to mind for people is this question:
“How do you make a living?”
Truth is, I know a bunch of writers who make a living writing. Heck, I “make a living” writing and I don’t even consider myself a writer!
I don’t know about you but if all I’m thinking about when writing is how I’m going to make a shit-ton of money with it, I think I’m missing the whole point. Writing, like any artistic field, is passion work. You do it because you have something to say to your audience.
Money is nice but it shouldn’t stop you from doing what you love to do, write.
I never aimed to make money with my writing. Writing for me was just a skill I was practicing for a month. I wanted to get better at it. When people responded positively about what I wrote, I got the drive to write more. I write for my reader. I believe this should always be the top priority.
Money, it turns out, is a side-effect to doing work that your audience appreciates.
We get plastered all over with advice on how to make a shit-ton of money by doing x, y, z. Frankly, that idea makes me a little sad. Why the need for greed?
Not everyone needs a rock star salary (not saying 5K/month is). But if I made 5K a month from my writing in Colombia, Thailand or India, I’d be “rich”. In New York or LA, that might be a different story.
When your top priority in life is love, health, and happiness, usually “wealth” comes with it. That’s what most self-help articles and books are about and why I love writing on the subject.
I’d rather make 2K a month writing things that make other people and I happy than make 5K a month writing things that simply make me money. And I know there are others like me out there.
Now, I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to make 5K a month, just that I’d want to make it as a result of time spent crafting quality content over tactics to sell more things, and frankly, I’m not that far off without them.
For me, these tactics actually make me more miserable than happy.
Now, some may call me a hypocrite since I’m selling books, tools, and services. To that, I say that I stand by what I said earlier: money is a side-effect to doing work that your audience appreciates.
What are your thoughts on this?
Let me know in the comments below!
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