How I Hit 1,000+ Views In My First 13 Days On Medium

That’s the mantra I repeated to myself as I began writing my first Medium post on July 31st. Last night, just 13 (business) days into my daily experiment, my posts hit a cumulative 1,000+ views and 650+ full-length reads.

So, what’s the secret to my early traction? Consistency.

See, part of my new job running Content & Community at FirstMark is to, well, write content. In the world of venture capital, writing is somewhat of a rite of passage. In addition to partners Matt Turck and Catherine (Kit) Ulrich from FirstMark who both write very frequently, many of the most influential and highly-regarded VCs like Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, Chris Dixon, and others are notoriously prolific and articulate writers.

Fred even writes daily and I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t part of my inspiration for this daily endeavor of mine. I knew that if I ever wanted to make a dent in venture capital, I’d have to improve my writing both in quality and in quantity. But I wasn’t sure exactly how to do it and I wanted to make sure that I was as efficient as I could be in improving my skill.

After reading a few articles here on Medium (like this one from Nicolas Cole) that talked about how forcing oneself to share work publicly can hold you more accountable to commitments, I decided to give it a shot. And let’s be honest, that logic makes complete sense. Ever told a friend you were going to work out and then felt more inclined to do so? Or how about a coworker you told about that new diet you planned to try and then held yourself to a higher standard because you knew that they now knew? That’s the general idea.

Increased publicity = increased personal accountability. So I began to write.. and write… and write.

Now, every day, I wake up about an hour earlier than I used to. I open my laptop and I let it flow. I keep a running list of ideas in my Reminders app on my iPhone. Some topics are complex. Others are fairly straightforward. I don’t restrict the categories of curiosity–as I may find unexpected inspiration from anywhere. The main thing I focus on now is staying consistent. No matter how much I‘d prefer to sleep in or how cozy my bed may be, I’ve committed to the consistency. I don’t stress myself out about the posts being perfect–that’s not the point.

And here’s the part that most people miss: Just the act of consistently producing something will inevitably attract habitual engagement from an audience. There’s a quality component to it–sure–but in the end, what you’re really doing is iterating on your public voice and allowing an audience to grab a front row seat to your self-betterment.

Content is not meant to be a one-hit wonder. Very rarely is that the case. Even if you only create weekly, by the end of the year you’ll look back on 52 unique pieces of content. My challenge to you is this: Try to think about that collection *now. *Think about what you can build in aggregate, not in isolation. Think of each piece as a brick that’s building a larger house. Unless you’re Ty Pennington, your house will take some time to build–and that’s okay.

Think about what you can build in aggregate, not in isolation. As for the 1,000+ views–sure, that’s a nice indicator that something I’m communicating is resonating with people, but if I can continue this consistent cadence, that’ll truly be all the reward I need. And who knows, maybe I’ll even improve my writing after all.

See you on Monday.