Hi there. This is me, Iain West, and this is a little about me, and how I make money from writing. For you to know if I’m worth listening to, and for you to trust any advice and recommendations, you need to know my journey, and how I got to where I am today.
My Original Goal – Make Money From Writing, No Matter How Little
I have had a varied career, to say the least. I have been in the police, worked at senior levels in retail, owned my own bricks and mortar shop, and even been a bed salesman! The latter position came about following a downturn with my shop, and while the money was good, the work life balance certainly wasn’t.
I’d spent a lot of time reading, and looking at how people were making money from home, and writing cropped up again and again. I’d always been fairly decent English wise and thought “If they can all do it, so can I”. So, I started just trying to earn my first pennies from writing online.
A Slow Start and Little Reward
When I first looked at how to make money from writing, I didn’t immediately jump to the world of blogging. Instead, I entered the world of copywriting and content creation. It has to be said, these spaces are very competitive, and getting someone to give a newcomer, with no portfolio, a chance was almost impossible.
Instead, I found myself turning to agencies. I wrote a test piece, got accepted and my writing career began. The reward? The grand sum of 1p (yes, that’s one pence) per word. So, for every 500 word blog post I was writing, I was earning the princely sum of £5.
I often check my stats on Grammarly, and when I see that I have now had over 4 million words checked, it hurts to think that so many of them earned me 1p each!
A Step in the Right Direction
I soon grew tried of earning so little. In truth, the agency writing had its benefits though. I never knew from one day to the next what I would be writing about. I found myself covering diets, fintech, casinos, and so much more. It really helped me to learn my craft, but the financial rewards were less than great.
I soon started to put out feelers and managed to attract my own clients. This saw me being able to earn far more and I was happy with how my efforts paid off. Being able to make money from writing meant that I could come away from my sales job and I could earn a fulltime living from my computer (tip – a laptop will soon destroy your hands and wrists so go for a desktop!).
A Move to My Own Blogs
I soon realised that while I was making money from writing, I was making so much more for other people. I also realised that there were only so many words I could write in a day and that this was limiting my income. So, I decided at that point that I was only going to write for me!
I invested in courses on SEO. I paid to educate myself in relation to all things blogging, then I went for it. My first blog was all about the Keto diet, and while I’d love to say it was a resounding success, the truth is it flopped and ultimately died a slow death!!
I learnt a lot from this failure, and went on to establish a new blog. This time the focus was on managing finances. This one reached the stage of earning me around £2,000 per month. Once it reached this level, I went and created 2 new blogs. With the lessons I’d taken on board, and my recent success, things were much easier, and faster, the next time around.
Let Me Help You to Make Money From Writing
If you want to make money from writing, the best way is to write for your own blog. Why make other people rich when you can work exclusively on your own wealth? Take the time to read the posts here. Feel free to get in touch. Take a look at some of the products and tools that I recommend.
If I can achieve what I have from writing, I am sure that you can too. It just takes a little patience and a willingness to learn.
Here’s to your future success!
Iain G West