I started seriously publishing my writing online about a year and a half ago.

And by seriously I mean I started my own blog about how to make money online, dabbled with writing on Medium, and completed a spattering of freelance writing gigs whenever they happened to cross my path.

In that time, things have gone alright.

I’ve managed to grow a blog that reaches 15–20K readers a month, reached nearly a million people on platforms like Quora, and have finally started to supplement my income with my writing.

It’s been a wild journey for This Online World; thank you to all who have checked it out!

However, in this time, I’ve also had my shares of failures and moments of doubt.

I’ve been slammed by Google algorithm updates, published (and later deleted) work I wasn’t proud of, and grappled with the relentless question pretty much any writer faces: is any of the shit I’m writing even worth reading?

I mean, we’ve all been there.

After all, social media and the internet has made us incredibly attuned to the success of others.

This isn’t inherently bad (in fact, I think it is great), but it can certainly be hard to come home from a long day of work to grind out an article when some of your writing superstars are sipping coffee on a beach in Thailand or being featured in Forbes.

However, after 1.5 years of writing, I have come to the conclusion that you don’t need to live an extraordinary life or reject any semblance of societal norms to be a successful writer.

You also don’t need to hit home runs all night long and experience an explosive path to success.

Sometimes, all you need is some honesty (and hard work, of course).

Honesty Rationale #1 — People Are Tired Of Bullshit:

I recently looked back on my most successful Medium/blog posts, and they all had one thing in common: I actually shared transparent results from something I had really accomplished.

For context, I write predominantly about ways to make money online, side hustles, and writing; niches that are notorious for promoting get-rich-quick schemes or false promises to those eager to better their financial situation.

When I stopped publishing generic bullshit listicles every other personal finance blogger was writing and published transparent posts like “How I Made $600+ By Writing On Medium,” I started to see results:

Shoutout to when I was actually active on Medium! Trying to get back there ;)

See, people aren’t stupid.

They know when something is too good to be true, and even if their emotions betray them enough to cause them to buy or subscribe, writing misleading content isn’t a long term strategy for success.

You don’t need to pretend you live a certain kind of life, or that you are the latest and greatest freelance writer to ever grace the internet.

Write about topics you are knowledgeable in and about what excites you, and you will be far better off than writing what you think people want to read.

Honesty Rationale #2 — Your Marketing Efforts Will Improve:

I used to do what many aspiring writers do to try and grow an audience… I’d pump out ‘evergreen’ content and plaster it over any godforsaken corner of the internet I possibly could.

But, if you’ve ever tried to market something you don’t believe in, you’ll know how abysmal the entire process can be.

All my marketing work inevitably resulted in a justifiable mix of bans (sorry Hacker News), flaming, and no meaningful impact.

The second I ditched my fake Reddit accounts and actually started creating content that I truly enjoyed, I suddenly found my marketing efforts were that much easier.

See, honest content actually creates value for the reader, and anyone being served something of value is far more receptive than someone being spammed (shocking, I know).

I started to see my Reddit posts hit the top of the page for various communities, and my Quora answers were getting featured in digest emails every single month:

I used to be more active on Quora as well, but 850K views has been a fun milestone to reach!

People eventually started flowing from Quora or social media to my blog, converting into subscribers that were eager to see what content was coming out next.

If you remain 100% transparent and are genuine, I guarantee this will appeal to more readers than if you pretend to be something you are not.

Honesty Rational #3 — It Will Keep You Sane:

One bad habit I used to have (and still do, honestly) was to publish a certain kind of content because everyone else was doing it.

In the personal finance space, this meant writing long and dry articles like ‘the top 15 ways to save money at the grocery store’ or lists about cash back credit cards…the kind of shit people have read a thousand times over.

If you want to experience writer burnout, do exactly that.

There’s nothing wrong with copying the competition, but if you are doing it for the wrong reasons or don’t even realize why you are doing it, take a step back.

Now pause, and plan.

You will never be able to copy your way into success because the writers at the top of their industries are already writing honest content that provides value to their readers.

Unless you can do the same, you’re better off looking for an angle where you can be 100% genuine and enjoy what you’re doing.

To reiterate, living an extraordinary life is not a prerequisite for becoming a successful writer or growing your craft.

Rather, creating content that is actually valuable and worth something to someone out there should be the standard you set for yourself.

It can be easy to look up to our writing idols or celebrities and to think that anything mundane or ordinary isn’t worth talking about, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Now, I’m no major writing success by any means, nor do I claim to be.

However, I have realized that the times I have grown as a writer or expanded my reach most significantly have been the times I played to my strengths and shared real stories from my life.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel or write content that has never been discussed before.

You just need to have integrity, work hard, and focus on giving people a reason to remember your stories.

About Tom:

Tom is a 22 year old recent college graduate from Canada with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and marketing. His blog, This Online World, covers honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!