Write of Passage Weekly - Write Your Way to Freedom

Write of Passage is now open for enrollment. If you’ve been wanting to write online, but scared to take the leap, there’s never been a better time. 

On Tuesday, I hosted How to Start Writing Online, a workshop where attendees learned how to break through three common barriers of writing online. You can watch the recording here. In the workshop, I shared the story of alum Michael Ashcroft. And that’s the story I want to share with you today. 

Hey writers,

You see it all over Twitter. Side hustles turned six-figure businesses. Followers becoming customers. Viral tweets attracting new clients and job offers. 

People everywhere are finding freedom by writing online. The thing is, freedom looks different for all of us.

What does it look like for you? 

Maybe it’s leaving your current role and going all in on that side project. Maybe it’s getting promoted to the position you’ve been eyeing for years. Maybe it’s attracting so much demand to your business that you get to choose the clients you want and set your own schedule. 

Whatever your vision of freedom looks like, you can achieve it by writing online. 

Just ask Michael Ashcroft. 

Michael’s idea of freedom was living a self-directed lifestyle. He dreamed of becoming a financially free entrepreneur owning his time. While this had always been his vision, he didn’t achieve it until he started writing online. 

For a decade, Michael worked in corporate consulting for low carbon energy innovation. He worked at companies like KPMG, and led projects like the National Grid Electricity System Operator. In other words, his resume was impressive. His paycheck was steady. But he wasn’t living the life he knew he was made for. Working 80-hour weeks was far from his idea of freedom. 

His job was to build a better future for the planet. But what about for himself?

One morning, something snapped. When he sat down to read his emails, he didn’t see words on the screen; he saw random shapes that didn’t make any sense. The colors and lines blurred into nothingness. When he went to the doctor, he was told he was having some sort of breakdown.  

He realized: “I can’t do this for 30 more years.” 

Michael longed for to have more freedom in his life. That’s when he enrolled in Write of Passage. 

Michael was a certified teacher in the Alexander Technique, a movement practice that helps people gain freedom and control in their lives by becoming consciously aware (fitting, wouldn’t you say?). During Write of Passage, he started sharing his expertise online. Suddenly, strangers were flooding his Twitter DMs: “How much do you charge?” 

As an experiment, he began hosting workshops to teach people about the Alexander Technique, using a “pay what you want” model. To his astonishment, people paid thousands.

Michael was officially making money online — but his time was more restricted than ever. He still wasn’t “free.” So, he decided to launch a training program. 

Can you guess what happened next? 

Notifications pinged on his phone. Direct deposits hit his account. He was making money while going for a post-dinner walk. Freedom, at its finest. 

That was in 2021. By 2022, Michael had quit his job, built a six-figure business online, and left the UK to travel the world with his partner. He traded in his suit and tie for a tank top and poolside workdays in Bali. He was living the self-directed lifestyle he’d always dreamed of. 

One week ago, Michael Tweeted these stats:

Three years. 1,328 students. $269,846.77 in revenue. 

Still think finding freedom online is an illusion? 

Don’t get me wrong. Your fears surrounding your career are valid. Even for Michael, the days leading up to quitting his job were filled with terror and self-doubt. But at some point, his “Why” became more important than the mystery of “How?”.

Michael wrote his way to freedom. And you can, too. 

“The journey I’ve been on since taking Write of Passage has been profoundly transformational for me,” Michael wrote. “It happened through a series of serendipities facilitated by putting into practice the principles I learned during Write of Passage.” 

But here’s my favorite thing Michael said about the benefits of writing online: “It’s not just that I have more; I’ve become more.” 

Is this something you want for yourself? If so, you can enroll in Write of Passage today. 

We make three core commitments to our students. You will:

• Publish five quality articles
• Meet a lifelong friend
• And 2x your potential.

Cohort 11 will run from October 2 to November 8. Enrollment closes on September 25, or when seats fill up. Don’t wait. Start finding freedom by writing online. 

Happy writing, 

David 

P.S. This cohort, we are offering two full-ride scholarships through the Write of Passage Grant. If we would be crazy not to include you in the Cohort 11, apply to one of our scholarships today.