What a whirlwind its been.

After I logged out of my webinar yesterday, 6 notification emails sat in my inbox saying my new course had just been purchased.

It was official: I just made more in 1 hour from blogging than I had in the past 24 months.

And you know what?

It wasn’t even close.

Throughout the day today I had a couple more people sign up for that course — bringing the profit up to $2,000 (so far). More will come, I believe.

I don’t do this to wave numbers in front of your face.

I say this because 2 years ago, when I started this blogging journey, I never could’ve dreamed to ACTUALLY make money writing online.

In all reality, my blogging “career” was leading to yesterday’s moment.

That monstrously nerve-racking moment where you put something of incredible value out into the world and ask if people ACTUALLY want it.

What if they don’t?

What if this whole thing has been for nothing?

My heart raced before my webinar, but I had so much fun anyway.

So, how did I do this? How did I make this money in 24 hours?

Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?

Refresh…..refresh….

The light from my laptop sliced through my friend’s dark room in Orlando. My eyes were bloodshot.

I just spent all day freelancing for a couple clients, now with a heavy heart I obsessively kept refreshing my screen… waiting for a heartbeat to read my latest blog post.

It never came.

I slammed my computer shut and went to bed.

Sometimes it’s just not your day.

The next day I made a b-line right for my closed laptop. How many views did I get overnight? 3, 5, 8?

Damn, I was really getting ambitious with the 8.

After a whole lot of grinding, fan noises, and DUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNN (my MacBook Pro booting up), I went straight to Wordpress to check.

1 view.

Cue dancing.

Celebrate the little wins.

Three months later.

All I saw was a graph.

A baby blue line shot to the middle of the white abyss. My eyes dragged left..

“1,000”

I just got more views from one article than my entire fleet of previous blog posts (24) combined.

“Unreal,” I literally said. OUT LOUD.

Writing for such a big site like The Inquisitr had its perks.

Persevere.

I can’t believe she left me…Why is San Francisco constantly foggy?..UGH, I HATE sleeping on my left side.

My mind on a sleepless night.

This one happened last year in San Francisco after a really shitty date. She mistook my quietness for indifference.

Nobody was hearing my side of it — then it hit me.

WRITE.

I DUNNNNNNNNNNN’d my MacBook Pro right up and wrote a doozy about being introverted for The Huffington Post. It took me 45 minutes to write.

This was my title:

11 Things You Need To Know About Introverts

Happy with myself, and a lot less stressed, I went to bed at 4 am.

I woke up to 30 red notifications waiting for me on Facebook. I had messages crammed in my inbox. I got 100 Facebook likes in under 3 hours.

That’s when it hit me..

MY ARTICLE.

I checked my blog stats. 500 visits in 3 hours. A MEAN looking red stack towered over the months of May, June, and July on the backend of Wordpress.

I went back to the Huffington Post. There it was. My article featured on the front page.

“Unreal,” I said, AGAIN.

I received somewhere near 25,000 views for that post on Huffington.

Turn bad situations into GREAT ones.

It was a quiet night back home in Maryland.

I decided to try out this new blogging platform..

Medium.

Something about it felt right. My “publication” was up in 30 minutes (still crazy to call it that), and I wrote my first post in 20.

With hardly any followers, I didn’t expect to get many views.

How many would I get?

3? 5? 14?

I was really getting ambitious with the 14..

I woke up to 42.

Cue slightly less animated dancing.

Try new things.

A message I received in late July…

My life has been hell, though I am 15, still, it hasn’t been a great lot till now.

I have become the laughing stock among friends and my short height and popped out belly doesn’t help a lot.

But I want to change. For good. I want peace in my life.

How should I beat all this?

My heart ached for this boy from India.

My heart whisked me away to the keyboard. I needed to write a post to him.

I told my new (anonymous) friend we won’t always be the way we are right now.

I told him about a teacher of mine who pulled me aside just to ask if I was OKAY one day.

I was failing her class.

I broke down in the hallway after she asked me.

Tears hit my keyboard.

Care for others with your words. Care a whole, whole lot.

That pizza looked so good.

I ate those three greasy pieces with no regrets, crying on the inside the entire time.

My life’s plan for the next three months was just ruined.

I’d go broke if I didn’t figure something out — or worse: I’d have to start freelancing again.

SERIOUS EYE ROLL.

There I sat alone. In that restaurant. Downing delicious slabs of baked wheat with tomato sauce and cheese poured overtop.

0 views.

Was it worth it?

To write online?

To do any of this?

I wanted to make money so I could continue writing to people like V from India, and inspire those who felt trapped.

Oddly enough there I was — feeling more trapped than I’ve ever felt.

Then I got an idea. A serious idea.

And I swiped my keys off that counter to drive home like a madman.

My landing page was up in 1 day. My webinar was created in 3 days. My course was brainstormed, planned, and semi-created in 7 days.

I had no choice, I had to

Jump.

You were probably expecting me to tell you how I made my landing page, attracted webinar registrations (got 141 by the way), and finally put on a show for the people that did show up live (33), right?

Sure, I actually MADE that money by doing those things and executing on them…

But the REAL way I made that money goes back to two years ago.

To the 1 view articles. To the Inquisitr. To the sleepless nights. To Medium. To a scared soul living halfway around the world..

I love writing. I actually love it. It helps me sleep, comfort others, teach me lessons, and yes, it makes me money sometimes.

Enjoy this process. Enjoy doing this every day, and the money WILL come.

Remember these lessons. Champion them, and you will accomplish your dreams.

1. Sometimes it’s just not your night.

2. Celebrate little wins.

3. Persevere.

4. Turn bad situations into GREAT ones.

5. Try new things.

6. Care for others with your words. Care a whole, whole lot.

7. Jump.

I pray you all jump, just like I did, but most of all, care.

Care for others.