I saw Steemit about a year before I actually signed up.

It was being offered up as an alternative to Facebook. I looked at the ads in my Facebook feed and never gave it a second thought. It didn't quite make much sense to me at the time. Fast forward to a year later and I am learning about cryptocurrencies and about how to earn some of it myself. It was through this endeavor that I came across Steemit again - not realizing at the time I had already snubbed it the previous year. Now that my head was in the crypto space - things were starting to make more sense to me.

Like 99% of everyone who joins Steemit - I saw it as an opportunity to earn some sweet sweet cryptocurrency for posting blogs and interacting with others. And .... like many others - I stared at my screen wondering where all the money was as I spent hours writing posts only to find out that they were only earning roughly .05 or less.

I was still so new , that my blogs weren't getting much traction and I had very little reach. Even now, with 500 followers, I still don't a huge amount of votes , responses or SBD - but it's a lot better than when I first started. A couple of times I've gotten curried and had really good payouts. I was very grateful for this and really appreciated the recognition. I continued pumping out blogs - mostly about real estate and increasingly more about cryptocurrency. It's not like I know a lot about crypto - in fact , I know very little. Still, I would read up about things happening in the crypto world and would report on them - trying to learn along the way.

Then I discovered contests - and starting coming up with my own contest and had some fun running a weekly one called Block'Em Sock'Em Crypto Cage match where I pit two cryptocurrencies against each other over the next week and contestants guess which one will be the winner by gaining the most value. It was slow at first but started gaining some momentum. It was through these contests that I started to meet some really cool people like @beeyou and @davemccoy that brought me into their fold and invited me to join them in their NewbieResteem Initiative. It's a group of Steemians that look for opportunities to reward Newbies and encourage promising new bloggers in the Steemit community.

 

Before I joined the Newbie Resteem Initiative - I was more focused on trying to earn as much SBD as possible. I wasn't reaching out to as many people - I wasn't trying to help promote other peoples posts. I also wasn't getting s lot of hits on my blog either. Once I let go of the pressure of trying to earn more SBD and started looking for ways to help out others - things started to turn around for me. My experience on Steemit became much richer. Admittedly, my SBD did not start growing and my posts didn't earn to much more than they already were already. But when I say richer - I mean the experience itself was better. I started forming friendships with others and that made it a lot more enjoyable. I got to know people and started reading their blogs and found out that they have really great ideas and share their passions with the world in a away that makes me want to do more myself. I see some of the things they are doing and I get inspired. When we discuss ways to make contests better , more interactive , and reach more people - it really gets my brain going and brainstorming with others has always been so much fun for me. So the focus has shifted from trying to earn SBD to creating a great experience and helping others to do the same - the Steem Dollars will come with time.

What I've Learned about Steemit

Just like real life

Some of the big takeaways from Steemit is that being successful at it is a like being successful in real life. Mind , you - I am not saying I am successful at either of these. But - I can see what it takes to be successful and I am trying my best to attain that. But much like in real life - it is about serving others first. Those who build successful business over the long term tend to center around being a resource for others. By putting others first and profits second , income becomes a side effect of your other efforts. When people can trust in your product and know that you go above and beyond to provide the best products or service they will keep coming back. In Steemit - when you are helpful to others by providing great information you are rewarded for it. Blogs that provide helpful information or useful tips are what really catches people attention. Most of the highest voted and highest earning posts are all articles that either bring some kind of perspective to situation through detailed analysis and explanation or they are step by step instructions on how to do something or get better at something. That's because people find these useful. Other blogs can be useful by being entertaining or making people laugh - that's great too if you have the flair for it. The point is that all these Steemians are serving up something that readers want to gobble up.

Creativity Abounds

Steemit encourages people to be more creative - I've seen many articles and blogs from people who have a passion for writing or photos , but haven't found an outlet to express it in till they found Steemit - mostly because this is such a friendly community that timid artists can feel more comfortable sharing their work here in an welcoming and nurturing environment. Many people use this as an opportunity to learn a new skill like drawing , playing guitar or taking up photography.

Moving up the food chain

Let's not beat around the bush - becoming a whale is hard work. It takes a lot of dedication or a lot of investing. Either way - they have to earn their way into it one way or another and for minnows and red fish - it's long road to the top. That path is going to require dedication to the platform by being consistent - most people who joined did so because they DON'T have money and are looking for a way to earn some - so investing anything other time is not an option for many. That means that to rise to the top in Steemit - you need to be posting on a regular basis and the post need to be quality post that inform or entertain or both. And just when it seems like your getting nowhere - it's time to double down and keep cranking out what you can.

More than just a good story

It takes more than writing quality posts. Networking is important. Getting to know people in Discord ( a chat application) has been a big help for me. - I started meeting people that have similar interests and checked out their blogs. Meeting the right people can connect you to others who would be interested in the same subjects you write about Make relevant comments and inquire more about the things that excite them. Normally they will follow up with your blog to see what your writing about and if you've put out good work then they will take notice. Interact with the people that leave comments - I always thank them for their comments and engage them in conversation. As you are doing this , your quietly earning Steem power for all your comments and upvotes too, so it makes good sense no matter how you look at it. Plus, you are garnering a following and encouraging interaction with you and your blog.

WILL BEG 4 VOTES

No one likes beggars. The vote beggar is the lowest form of life on Steemit - if there was a classification , it might be Bottom feeders. Most of the time however , it;s not their fault as they usually don't know any better because they are still so new. The big giveaway is that their reputation is usually 25. However, it doesn't take long for people to correct them and they usually stop after realize that it's considered in poor taste. Most of the positive repsonses they get come from other newbies who don't know any better either so it can perpetuate and get out of control and this is why we continue to see people begging for votes and offering to r trade " follow for follow " even though it makes up roll our eyes shake our heads.

To Hot to Handle

Flame wars happen here. People get burnt. I've seen some pissing matches between whales and I steer clear of them. I've read about the damage that can manifest from these angry downvoters if you find yourself on the wrong side of an issue. They can pull you right into the muck and drop your reputation like a thermometer in Siberia. While I hate the idea censorship through fear - I haven't seen them get into it over anything I have enough passion ( or knowledge) to stick my neck out over so I don't get involved myself. It's a shame that even on Steemit we're we are supposed to have shared interests - there is still turmoil. I hope we can get to point where these issues can be resolved peacefully.

New Perspective

Steemit makes me look at things from a different perspective. There are so many sides to every story and Steemit is full of human interest stories that come from all over the world. The insight I get from the stories is breathtaking - I'm watching people vacations, learning how people cook their native food , learning how homesteaders are raising their animals, seeing people learn to play musical instruments for the first time, appreciating artwork from new and seasoned artists that like to share their work - there is just so much to see and discuss it's hard to get to everything that I want to.

Thank You to everyone supporting me

What I really want to say is THANK YOU. Thank you reading me. Thank you for following me. Thank you for the comments . Thank you for the re-steems and for the curries . To all of you that have helped encourage me and supported my efforts. Thank you.

I 'd like to give a big shout out to #beeyou for introducing me to the Newbie Resteem Initiative and to #davemccoy for bringing into his circle and allowing me to be part of a really cool team. I also want to mention @themanwithnoname for helping to inspire me to pick up creative writing again and by the way check out his blog- if you love a great story - he really knows how to weave a tale. To #bitdollar and #reazuliqbal for supporting my posts and really reading them and upvoting them and commenting - I have always enjoyed dialog with you guys.

Other Steemians really contributed to helping me with contest ideas and helping to curate my work and gave me some great advice and feedback - people like #royaleagle, #mudcat36, #plushzilla, #amariespeaks, #simplymike, #coolguy123

Thank you to all of you for helping to really make my time here enjoyable.

 
 

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Please be sure to check out my others articles on real estate, investing , and cryptocurrency ( and some other random dog stuff)

I always upvote comments to my blog posts

 

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Destroying the Countertops in my Rental Apartment

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Anatomy of an Awesome Real Estate Meetup