To Be Great At Writing, You Need To Be Great At These Things Too

I used to think writers made money because they were great with words.

“If only I could be great with words — like them — I could be famous too!”

I used to think that.

But it’s not true.

As I dug deeper into this game and met a lot of other writers, I realized something.

Some of them don’t really like writing.

*GASP* 😵

In fact, some of the people we call “writers” should really be called something else.

Like entrepreneurs, or copywriters, etc.

But then I got to thinking and realized something even bigger.

Writers Are Not Just Writers

To make a full-time income from writing, you really need skills in a variety of areas.

It’s not fair to boil writers down to just “writers.”

They’re:

• Salespeople

• Copywriters

• Social Media Managers

• Content Writers

• Branding Experts

• WordPress Engineers

• Email Marketers

• Sales Funnel Creators

• SEO Experts

• And so, so much more..

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s extremely difficult to become an expert in one thing, much less 10–15 other things.

I think this is the real reason most writers don’t make a full-time income.

They’re not great at selling, or branding, or email marketing, or SEO, or social media marketing.

And that’s okay, but it’s still a reality.

How To Become Good At 10–15 Things

The reason writing is hyper stressful is because we’re constantly being pulled in 30 different directions.

Should we spend time building our email list? Or bolstering SEO efforts? Or branching out into social media?

How do we figure out what the most important thing is?

Well, by doing research.

So we go on Google and search for something like.

“What are the top 10 things all writers need to do?”

Then we spend 2 hours sifting through differing opinions, 20+ posts, and mountains of advice only to feel like our eyes are about to burst by the end of it.

This sucks.

Then we have to do it the next day. And the next day.

Then after about 10–20 hours of solid research, we have a basic understanding of what matters, what doesn’t, and what we need to do now.

Then you gotta pick a topic and do it all over again.

So let me get this crystal clear for you.

First you have to research writing online until your eyes fall out of your skull. Then you have to pick a topic and research that until your blood pressure goes through the roof. Then you have to start IMPLEMENTING what you’ve learned, fail tons of times, and muster the groin to keep coming back despite absolutely sucking at it.

THAT’S writing.

Don’t even mind the time it takes to write posts, or respond to comments, or any of that.

Just getting good at 1 THING, like Instagram, can take months.

My friends, writing is difficult. Like my good friend Enrique Fiallo likes to say, blogging is NOT easy, despite what every blogging expert would like you to believe.

It’s not as simple as being patient and staying consistent.

To make a full-time income, you have to sift through mountains of information about topics and platforms that are constantly changing every single day. Then you have to implement it, fail, then research, implement, and fail some more.

It’s like trying to figure out horse-back riding while RACING in the Preakness.

You’re trying to hit a moving target. That’s why it’s hard.

This Part Will Make You Feel Better

If you go down this path and don’t get to where you want to, you’ll still have developed so many tangible skills along the way.

I bet I could write for any company in America (and rock it, by the way). I bet I could run social media accounts for a living as well.

What about email marketing? I could do that, too.

What I’m saying is, all the time you spend researching certain topics is time well spent. Just because you don’t hit a dollar marker doesn’t mean it was a waste. You’re still learning new, valuable skills that can easily be transferred over to the workplace.

How To Not Get Overwhelmed With Writing

I’m ALWAYS thinking about what I could be learning. Like, I’m borderline OCD about learning new things.

This is bad.

If you don’t want to get overwhelmed by all the writing topics they tell you to be proficient in, then focus on 1–2 at a time and call it a day.

It’s fine to not know something for a while. It’s also fine to suck at something for a good bit while you figure it out.

Celebrate the little wins. Celebrate the fact that you even sent your first blast email instead of worrying about open rates and click-through rates.

Got it?

There’s a LOT of information out there for you to consume. Be okay with consuming a little bit at a time, and enjoy the little wins you encounter on your way to proficiency.