The past three weeks have been a blur but also a great time as a writer. I won’t lie. This month was challenging as I saw my pay could have dropped by at least a thousand or more.

You see, I write full-time. Writing makes up part of my pay for the month. One company I write for canceled my base pay. You may already know what company I’m talking about.

If not, it’s NewsBreak. NewsBreak has broken the hearts of many writers this year.

When August came around, I was lucky to still see the base pay kicking in as other writers were dropped the month before. Then I received the email that I was going to lose base pay for September.

Fortunately, I have been in worse situations than this. After 20 years in the Army, living through the 2007-8 financial crisis, seeing people who are poorer than the people you see in the United States, life could not be that bad. It could actually be worse.

After I received the email, I was mad and sad at the same time. There was one thing I didn’t do, I didn’t complain.

Thinking to myself, I thought there was still a chance and I could make money. I saw others quit without trying.

With little thought, I did what I normally do. I analyzed my work.

No one knows your work better than you do.

You may have written some good articles. And you may have written some bad articles. You saw the results yourself.

Critical thinking is your answer

This is when you need to analyze your work.

Analyze the metrics of the headline, image, and even the topic.

There is no secret. Everything is right before your eyes.

You can apply this technique to any of your work. Whether you write on NewsBreak or any other platform.

You may not see the answers immediately, so you need to take the time and do some critical thinking. This will help you see the answer rather than looking at what you see on the surface. You need to do some analysis.

If you are writing the same thing you were writing a month or two ago. The game has changed. People are tired of the same old thing. You need to get creative and get out of your comfort zone.

What you write on one platform won’t always work on another platform. For some writers, this worked for a bit. But then companies get wiser. They change the rules again.

Complaining gets you nowhere

“If you can’t control every aspect of your company, you’re not driving! And if you can’t drive, you set yourself up for sudden, unexpected crashes.”

M.J. DeMarco

You can complain but complaining gets you nowhere. Companies owe you nothing. You work for them and that’s how you get paid. Don’t fall into the habit of thinking that a company owes you something. They’re a business and can do as they please.

Companies are like your haters online. They can change the rules to make you mad. You can let them win, or you can try to beat them at their game. Writing is a game.

Unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, you are at the mercy of the company you work for. You don’t write the rules, the company does.

You’re in a business just as these writing companies are in business.

As a writer, you are at the mercy of the company so don’t forget that. Writers think companies owe them something. Honestly, they owe you nothing.

The companies are a business. Just as you have a budget, they have a budget as well. Companies see where they are making money and where they’re not.

To them, you are expendable. You’re just a number. If you aren’t making money, the company doesn’t care. You either figure it out or you don’t. The company will go out and hire another writer which won’t be a problem.

They have done this before and will do it again.

What you need to do

This is why you need to hone your craft. Improve your own writing game. You need to take it to the next level.

Spend more time analyzing your writing.

Look at articles that have exploded on your platform. Spend time to analyze these other articles that are doing well.

Take a hard look at the title, image, and topic.

What was unique about the article?

Can you write something similar?

Writing is only hard if you make it hard.

This only means you need to spend more time on your article. Time can be your best friend or your biggest enemy.

Putting an article together in 30 minutes to an hour will earn you some money. If you spent an extra hour, your work could go up another level. This next-level is where you need to go.

You can’t be satisfied with where you are. You need to take this next step.

The company changed the rules. So what? You can’t let them get an easy win. That’s what they want you to do. They want you to quit.

Most writers will quit. They won’t challenge or push themself. They’ll give up and let the company win. I’ve seen several writers call it quits. You may have as well.

A lot of writing is mental. It’s no different than sports. You can be a good player or you can be a great player.

As a writer, you can be a good writer or a great writer. You need to push yourself and do things that other writers won’t do.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Jim Collins the author of Good to Great.

“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

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