Expand Summary
The author shares his journey of going from feeling like a failure to earning $3000 a month by writing online in just three months, emphasizing the importance of persistence and the role of luck in success.
Abstract
The author describes their feelings of failure after returning from London, where they had hoped to start a better life but ended up in a daily struggle with little money and no spare time. Despite feeling like a loser, the author discovered their passion for writing and decided to try making a living from it. They share the business lesson they learned in London: “There’s no ‘no’ in recruitment,” which helped them overcome rejection and keep trying. The author then describes how they sent out 30 proposals on Upwork and finally landed a bad-paying, repetitive writing job. However, this job gave them hope and showed them that it was possible to make a living from writing online. The author acknowledges the role of luck in their success but emphasizes that hard work increases the probability of being lucky. They encourage readers to keep trying and not give up, as success often happens when one least expects it.
Bullet points
- The author felt like a failure after returning from London, where they had hoped to start a better life but ended up struggling with little money and no spare time.
- The author discovered their passion for writing and decided to try making a living from it.
- The author learned an important business lesson in London: “There’s no ‘no’ in recruitment,” which helped them overcome rejection and keep trying.
- The author sent out 30 proposals on Upwork and finally landed a bad-paying, repetitive writing job, which gave them hope and showed them that it was possible to make a living from writing online.
- The author acknowledges the role of luck in their success but emphasizes that hard work increases the probability of being lucky.
- The author encourages readers to keep trying and not give up, as success often happens when one least expects it.
Coming back from London, I felt like a complete loser.
London should have been my start to a better life, full of hope. Yet, it was another dull daily struggle with lots of work, little money, and even less spare time.
While my parents were happy they got me back, during COVID, I felt like I had just concluded another lousy chapter in my life.
And although I liked writing, I didn’t feel like I could write an amazing chapter in my life.
It turned out I was wrong.
Instead, I wrote the best chapter of my still young life online to earn $3000 monthly.
The best business lesson I’ve learned in London
Of course, and seen in retrospect, London wasn’t a complete waste of time.
I met amazing people, had fun, and learned powerful business lessons. One of them was the puzzle piece I needed.
There’s no “no” in recruitment.
In the beginning, I had a hard time applying it. I don’t like convincing people of something they don’t want. It turned out I didn’t need to.
I learned to try again.
“No” wasn’t final anymore.
While I wasn’t a good recruiter because I lacked the conviction needed, this lesson still serves me well up to this day.
A “no” is never final.
Remember that.
Putting 1+1 together
I was sitting with my iPad at my parent’s dinner table.
In the background, the TV showed news reports of cities being shut down; I scrolled through corporate jobs and wondered:
What should I do with my life?
I didn’t want to return to working corporate, but I also didn’t want to stock up shelves in a grocery store to earn money.
Then, I remembered: I still had my Upwork account, which I hadn’t deleted before, although I was about to do it.
Back then, for once in my life, I listened to my intuition, and I shouldn’t have done it.
I fired it up, improved my profile, and sent out proposals.
30 proposals until one stuck.
Because I didn’t take a “no”.
I got a bad-paying, repetitive writing job.
But back then, it wasn’t about the pay.
It was about hope.
Because this gig showed me something I’ve never believed before:
You can make a living from writing online.
Even better: you don’t have to be a J.K. Rowling, Tim Denning, or Eve Arnold for it.
Since then, life has never been the same.
The one helping factor, you can’t force
I want to be honest with you here.
Every writer/creator who says luck doesn’t play a key role is a liar.
Yes, a liar.
Read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and you’ll understand.
While luck itself can’t be forced, your chances can be improved.
Because here’s the thing: hard work leads to being luckier.
It’s a probability game.
The more stories you write, the higher the chance your writing will become good.
The more proposals you send out, the higher the chance you connect to this one person who needs you.
That’s what I did.
I sent out 30 proposals to get my first full-time writing gig.
Most would have stopped at 3, maybe even 10.
But as cliche as it sounds: “As long as you don’t stop, you can’t lose.”
And that’s the exact place where luck happens.
I went from 0 to $3000 a month by writing online in three months because I:
- didn’t take a “no” as the final answer
- sat down, improved my profile, and sent out 30 proposals
- got lucky because I kept trying, although I didn’t feel like it
You can do the same.
Thank you for reading!