AJULU

The year was 2017

I had discovered a writing platform that pays you based on how valuable your content was to readers.

It provided a huge opportunity for me because for the five years that preceded 2017 I had learned quite a lot about blogging.

95% of the knowledge that I had about blogging then was as a result of Jon Morrow, and even if you have no interest in learning how to blog, I urge you to read this article on being unstoppable.

So back in 2017, I was already primed to blog, five years of preparation was more than enough.

I practically had a Bachelor’s degree in blogging by then.

However, I hit a roadblock.

I didn’t know what to blog about. I found it very funny then because I am someone that had read all sorts of things.

Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Signboards, if it had ink or paint on it, I have read it.

But in the multitude of that wisdom, there was still uncertainty.

So I took the next logical step.

For some people, it would be pondering or doing further research, but for me, the next logical step was writing short stories.

Action beats meditation and doing further research would drown me in more confusion.

And that brings me to the first lesson about writing.

 

Achieving Understanding

 

My students or anyone who has been privileged to join my Twitter spaces or Google Meet sessions would tell you that I am very vocal about note-taking.

You need to write more.

When I tell you to write more, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is that “Is he telling me to start a blog”

But writing is something that everyone on Earth needs to do, and no I am not telling you to blog.

I am trying to get you to the point where you understand that anytime you find yourself in a learning environment you need to write.

You have probably joined various Twitter Spaces or other forms of live sessions this year.

How many of those sessions did you take notes in, or were you just scrolling through Twitter while the session was going on.

There are two types of content and we even see provisions for them on social media.

Ephemeral content – These are content that disappears after a while ( WhatsApp status updates, Instagram stories, Snapchat stories etc)
Static Content – These are content that lasts for as long as the creator wants ( All forms of Feed posts)

Twitter Space is a kind of a hybrid because while it is Ephemeral in a way, there are recordings available for 30 days after each session.

But the thing about recordings is that it is hard for you to go back and listen to them.

I say this because you probably join LIVE sessions, then let something trivial distract you with the hopes of coming back later to listen to the recording.

Or you stay on the session but let content on your feed distract you.

Content which you can easily go back to view by just scrolling through your feed later on.

You are robbing yourself of the insight that is going on in that LIVE session, it is better that you didn’t join at all.

I am very intentional about how I use my time, so If I am committing to a learning environment, I need to take notes.

Those notes would carry you for a long and it would be easy to reference back to them.

I remember an acquaintance telling me how notes he took from a session he attended Five years ago are helping him in his business today.

Imagine if he didn’t take notes then because he felt there was no place to apply what was being taught, he would have nothing to use at this current stage.

Now back to my first point about writing.

Taking notes primes you for taking action.

Creation becomes easier because you have built up a kind of internal momentum.

So yes, I was confused about what to blog about at that initial stage, but I still needed to create something and I tapped into that creative energy and started writing stories.

That also enabled become active on the platform and I started interacting with the content of others.

As I read the post of other bloggers on the platform, I began to notice a pattern.

A lot of people were just there for the earnings and had zero ideas of what it took to create content or grow a blog.

Once that clicked for me, I knew what I would build my blog around.

I needed to start teaching people how to blog.

I already had all the knowledge required and was even leveraging it to grow my blog when writing short stories.

So I made a switch and started writing about how to grow a blog.

How to pick a niche…

How to format content…

How to grow by meeting readers where they are…

I also started running a contest for writers on the platform with some prizes as a way to encourage upcoming writers.

My initiative became popular with some top bloggers on the platform and I got a grant to start running the contest.

What I started and was willing to fund myself became an income source for me.

Three Months Later I hit 1 Million Naira in earnings.

And all this wouldn’t have been possible if I sat on my hands pondering what to blog about.

I started from the known and discovered a more solid direction along the way.

Some of my old stories (I gave Chimamanda competition 🤪)

April 

Delayed Restoration (I was very proud of this one then, I nailed the imagery, anyone reading could picture the scenes as they read)

Paradise Lost

Apply Apply Apply

Writing is something that changed my life.

It is something that I urge you to adopt, whether you are writing for yourself (Note Taking) or writing for the public (Blogging)

I do both and I can assure you that it is immensely fulfilling.

It would also help you grow a reading habit because the level of your writing is directly tied to the level of your reading.

So when I write about writing, understand that I am trying to get as many people as possible to pick the one foundational skill that sets the pace for everything else.

The more you do it, the more understanding comes and you grow a bias for action.

Until you wake up one day and realize that you have become the best in the world at what you do.

Now go out there.

And Write.

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Image Source: Visualize Value