Part Two · 15 of 19

What Compounding Looks Like

I noticed one day that my Medium account had passed ten thousand followers.

It was funny, because for years it felt like I was writing into the void. But I kept publishing anyway.

1 to 100 followers: three years and seven months.

100 to 1,000 followers: seven months.

1,000 to 10,000 followers: five months.

This is what time can do.

I’ve grown from 0 to 100, then 100 to 1,000, then 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers. I’ve also grown from $0 to $100, then $1,000, then $10,000, then $100,000. Both taught me the same lesson.

From 0 to 100 is always the hardest.

During that stretch, it’s hard to see any hope. It’s easy to quit. It’s easy to doubt yourself.

But once you’re past it, a lot of the work is just keeping the momentum and repeating what worked.