I’ll tell you a secret:

I’m not a writer. I’m not a YouTuber. I’m not a designer.

If anything I’m a blogger, I’m average at using simple video editing software, and I can work my way around a simple design project.

That’s it.

Yet, I make money with all these 3 types of content creation mentioned above.

Here’s how.

Writing on Medium

This is number 1. In my heart and recently also in terms of earnings.

To be honest, I still can’t quite believe that a German kid that has never been confident and proficient in English is now making money with writing… in English.

All thanks to Medium and the two people who brought me here, Shelby Church with her video about Medium and Tim Denning with his stories which were the first ones I read when I came here.

This platform is the best place for bloggers and online writers, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million times again.

What’s more important than formal training in writing and even native proficiency? Mindset!

How am I making money on Medium? Repetition.

I write, publish, write, and publish. 5–7 days a week. There’s no secret. That’s it. Consistency.

YouTube

A traditional YouTuber (funny to call it that) has to be in front of the camera, talk, shoot, take B-roll, then edit all video and audio clips, add music, and share it.

That’s a tough job. A full-time job that, in the worst-case scenario, won’t get paid for quite a while on YouTube.

I don’t do that. I’m not in front of the camera, I don’t talk. I only know basic editing and I merely use free tools.

Within the last two years, I was still able to build two faceless YouTube channels and earn a nice side income with them.

If you’re curious, I use iMovie (for basic editing), Apple Keynote (for slides & animations), and flourish.studio (for data visualization) to create videos. I wrote a detailed post about that here.

Design work

I’ll tell you another secret: I have no idea how to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. Or similar apps for that matter.

I have no formal training in design, I never learned anything related to that. I used to build websites, first with HTML and CSS, then with WordPress. I self-learned that.

Now, I offer digital products that I designed. Those sell quite well on Gumroad.

How did I create them?

Well, I’m good at repurposing free tools for different projects.

To design, I use Apple Keynote again. In case you don’t know, Keynote is Apple‘s competitor to Microsoft PowerPoint. But you can do a lot more than create presentation slides. Keynote is easy to use, surprisingly capable, and free.

I design most of my products with Keynote. One day I will learn Adobe or something similar but until then, I’m fine with free simple tools.

The bottom line

I have no formal education in writing, video editing, or design work.

Yet, I make money online doing these 3 things. It’s neither my full-time job, nor my main source of income, but it is a viable side income and a source of fun and pleasure.

If I can do it, you can too!

Making money online is easier than it sounds. With the right mindset. That’s more important than skills or formal training.

How do you want to make money online?