How I Went from $0 to a Life I Love in 6 Months with Writing and Creating

10 months ago, I jumped into the world of online writing with no prior experience and a big dream: build a business that could sustain me financially.

I’ve had this dream for over 5 years (can you believe it?!) but never acted on it. Sigh. I wish I had started sooner.

Just after 6 months, I’ve reached my initial goal of making $1,000+ per month. And it all started with writing online. From 0.

The path wasn’t as passive or easy as I thought. It involves a lot of ups and downs, almost throwing the towel in, with no motivation to continue going.

Trust me, I felt it all.

This is why I’m even more excited to share my journey with you. Because I know it’s possible. Even when you start with nothing in 2025.

The Start of a Dream

I began in March 2024, drawn in by the idea of passive income.

For a long time, like 5–10 years, I have only been the quiet reader, obsessing over passive income articles online.

Until one day in March, I decided to finally get started. Back then, I made a plan and set my initial goal to $5,000 a month by the end of the year. Not quite there yet, but on a good path to it.

The Dream of Passive Income

I always thought building passive income would be as easy as making something once and just watching the money roll in. But I quickly learned that what’s often called “passive income” is anything but passive.

In reality, I’ve built my income by:

• Writing consistently across platforms (Medium and Substack)
• Engaging with my audience
• Creating digital products that solve specific problems
• Investing time in community building

None of this happens passively. It requires constant input, attention, and iteration.

The Income Breakdown

Six months into my writing journey, my income streams break down as follows:

• 15% from Medium
• 33% from Substack
• 52% from digital products (online courses and guides)

This income was generated almost entirely through my Substack audience (which bought the digital products), meaning that about 85% of my earnings are thanks to Substack. Medium only accounts for 15% of the total.

This was not a straight process of creating income streams. I started writing on Medium, did a detour to creating other passive income streams such as print-on-demand and AI-created coloring books for Amazon KDP, only to realize that those two streams did not feel right for me.

What did feel right was my writing online journey.

After having started on Medium in March, I branched out to Substack in May. I read so much about Substack on Medium that I decided to give it a go. Frankly, it took me two tries to get started on Substack as the platform definitely is more complicated than Medium.

If you want to know more about how to get started on Substack ⬇️

In October another big revenue stream was added to my portfolio. People started reaching out to 1:1 calls and private coaching. And while I know it is time-consuming, I created a good pricing system where it makes sense for me to offer it.

The 1:1 coaching calls shifted my income distribution as follows (expected):

• 13% Medium
• 26% Substack paid subscribers
• 22% Digital products (online courses)
• 1% Digital products (PDF guides)
• 37% 1:1 coaching calls

It’s incredible to see how much my business has evolved from the simple act of writing online.

My 3 Steps to Earning Online

If you’re looking to build an online business around writing, here are three steps that helped me get there:

1. Diversify Your Platforms

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Medium got me my first dollar, but Substack ended up being my main source of income. If you really want to make a living online, try out different platforms and see what works for you. Many of my subscribers are also on Twitter and LinkedIn.

2. Start a Newsletter

Starting a newsletter was a game-changer (great starting point if you are here on Substack). It gave me a direct line to my audience. With this, I am not dependent on publications or algorithms. Nopes. I can decide when to send out which article to whom. Not only does it help grow my community, but it’s a powerful tool for promoting my products, too.

3. Create Digital Products

Once you understand your audience’s needs, create digital products that solve their problems. This doesn’t mean rushing to create something, but rather paying attention to the challenges your readers are facing.

It’s okay to try things out here too. The first digital product I developed was a huge flop. I paid a designer to make it look pretty and wasted a lot of money in the process, only to find out that it wasn’t wanted by my community. It didn’t offer them enough value.

I pivoted then to create something a lot of people asked me about. How to grow on Substack. That’s when I developed my first online course based on my Substack success, and though I wasn’t a long-time expert, I priced it affordably and it has consistently generated income.

Listen to your audience and create something that can help them.

Trust the Process

If I could leave you with one piece of advice, it’s to trust the process.

Trust it, but also be smart about it. Pivot when you need to, be tough when you have to. When you realize things don’t work or simply don’t bring you as much joy as expected, it’s totally fine to pivot and change direction. Be intentional with those decisions, make them data-driven, and give them enough time to be tossed out.

The hardest part isn’t starting, it’s sticking with when you are still building it up and don’t have anything to show. I still remember the feeling when people asked me how it was going in these first initial months. Those are tough.

It’s in that moment where you need to trust yourself and the process the most.

6 months into my journey, I’m making a living from it, and the future looks exciting.

Follow along to see where online writing can bring you starting from 0 in 2025.