Guilt!
When I worked in the evening, I felt guilty. When I played games on my day off, I felt guilty.
Thankfully, at one point I realized that I needed rest just as much as work.
And I did it by using what I learned in the game about making gold to make money in real life. It gave me “permission” to relax and play because I could also use what I learned in business.
What I learned is surprisingly simple.
YouTubers will show you tactics that made them millions of gold.
For example, craft a ring and disenchant it. Or make an illusion with cheap materials and sell it to the vendor for more than you paid.
You watch how they do it in the video and how much they make.
But they have thousands of followers, and by the time you watch the video, the tactic is no longer working. The price of materials has gone up.
I wasted so much time hunting those tips for making quick gold.
And I wasted more time by trying them out.
You’ll find plenty of such tactics on YouTube for making real money.
Check the comments. When I do, most of the comments are from people eager to try out the tip. I never see anyone write, “Woah, that worked. It’s now been three months, and I’m still making money with that method.”
In most cases I’ve found that the method either didn’t work, or by the time thousands of people watched the video, it stopped working.
Stop hunting the quick wins.
In World of Warcraft, I started crafting.
Every day, I would log into some of my characters. I would buy materials and start to craft magical potions or sterling alloys to sell on the in-game auction house.
Every day the same routine.
Log in, buy, craft, sell, log out.
This would take me an hour a day. And I wouldn’t have to hunt the latest tricks on YouTube.
Steady gold beat the “millions of gold” tips by far.
It’s the same thing with money in real life.
Every morning I get up, walk my dog, Nefnef, brew my coffee and sit down to write emails to my list.
Every day the same routine.
Get up, walk Nefnef, brew coffee, write emails.
This takes me an hour every morning.
And ha, this by far beats hunting the easy money, which doesn’t exist, by the way.
Before I had this realization in World of Warcraft, I struggled to make 20K gold per day. Now it’s 75K per day on average.
Here’s a tip for you:
Track what you do and what you have now.
Then pick the thing that really makes you money and double down on that.
For me, it was daily emails (for now-money) and writing content to grow my list (for later-money).
Keep tracking – time and money.
Evaluate after three months or longer, depending on what you’re creating.
I see it again and again online: Consistency is what makes the difference between struggling and making money.
Just like it was with my World of Warcraft gold-making.
What do you think it could do for your writing business?
Courses & guides by Britt Malka.
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