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When I first stumbled upon Steemit I did not think much of it all. I was at my computer desk. Just another day in the life. Registered and waited for my confirmation. The day came and and I was finally able to log in. Being at my desk most of t my free time I would be browsing the web, playing games, eating whatever I want and normally have a beer or 4 near me. I know quite a bit about crypto this Steemit thing should be easy.

I was already a little bit buzzed and felt quite motivated with all the liquid courage in my veins. Let's make some bank!! This intro will go viral YO! I wrote and just blurted out so many crap of how we are going to change it all and make the world a better place. It was honestly the worst intro ever. You could feel the greed in every word. Give me the money!

When I finished my sh!tpost ,I closed my browser, played some more games. Drank some more and then went to bed. This might have been a Wednesday, or a Monday. Most of my days were mostly blended into the same routine. The weekend being the exception. I will actually go do something productive... Just to come home and say: " Hey mate! You walked a sh!tload today, let's have a beer as a reward!"

The next day after my post I opened my browser, I checked the balance. WTF is this? Where is my money!? I was only a few cents. I felt cheated and wronged. Even though I got a comment or three welcoming me to the community. I read my post one more time, laughed at myself for writing all the crap I did. Thinking to myself what a piece of sh!t site, closed it and did not look at it again for a few days.

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When I returned It was maybe a week or so later, guess I was bored with my games or binge watching series. Let's go check that Steemit site out again. I started reading a few posts and once again got hooked by looking at some of the payouts some of these users were making. I read some more sipping on beer as I go I realized my intro must have pictures and details instead of the horse manure I wrote. I told myself okay, let's do this. Tomorrow when I get home I will write a better intro post. Keep in mind I am no writer. When I finished writing what I thought was a good post I hit the POST button and waited... Nothing. F@#k... The post eventually went to a whopping 24 cents. I thought I might as well just post random manure and make some quick money. Let's post that new trailer from Game of Thrones! Yes, people love Game of Thrones! Almost a dollar. Well that went better than my intro. But I can't always just post random junk. Too boring for me.. Back to the drawing board...

I came back with this idea of a 100 Day challenge. I will stop drinking, stop smoking, stop eating like a pig and just try to live a healthy life. I will document it all on here and little trucks full of upvotes will be delivered to my post. That's a k!cka$$ plan .I have been wanting to do this for a while and maybe if I say day one I want one vote, day tow, two votes etc, etc. Yes, people will eat that up like crazy! I will get paid and I will get into better shape! Damn, I am smart. Got this Steemit thing under control! Let's make bank! I made a post suggesting my plan. 1 Vote 1 day. 2 Votes 2 days. People did not react the way I expected. Instead they told me to not do it for the votes, do it for myself. What? Why would I do that? I'm here to make money, not to write because it's fun. I ignored them and started with my Journey.

Day 0 was around $5, I was going to become so rich!
Day 1 and 2 was pretty much a dud. Dammit
Day 3 I made $11 and thought oh yeah, I am going to make it! Riches here I come!

THE CHANGE

So by day 4 I was really sober. F#$k me, I haven't had a drink in 4 days. It was rough. Wow, this feels pretty good. I am bored as hell but hey, at least I am starting to enjoy what I am doing. Writing these posts are turning out to be kind of fun. I was putting more and more effort in every post and started to enjoy it more. I also reached 25 Followers around that time and that felt pretty good.

Day 5 I remember like it was yesterday. I made my post and then decided to go to bed. I have been up most of the night editing away and reading stuff. It was at this time that @darthnava got his medical results. I was quite concerned and saw how the community responded. I was amazed by this. Some of these people are genuinely nice people. @papa-pepper made a huge donation and then and there I realized this is not Facebook. Steemit is a different. I couldn't sleep, I was thinking of how I can make better posts. Since day 4 and 5 didn't make much at all. I was a bit bummed because I really put more and more effort into every post. I eventually got out of bed at around 5:30AM. I went for a cycle and morning hike, can't sleep,can't drink, let's not waste the day then... Here was my mind blown moment.

I came back from my morning activities. Tired but okay, I went to to the loo. Got my phone out (as we all do when we are on the pooper)not expecting much I opened Steemit. My day 5 post had a 191 upvotes. $150 WHHAAAAAAAT!!! I though it must have been a mistake! I cut my poop short to run to my computer. It is not a mistake. The post got a massive amount of votes. How? Why? WTF is going on? Am I famous now? Have I made it? I remember picking up my phone and messaging my friend saying: "My post went viral" (What a noob I was) I soon realized I was picked up by @curie. I read about their project and l almost had a little breakdown. I got noticed. This feeling overwhelmed me. I felt so thankful. I wrote a thank you post right there and then. I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone and everything. I was overjoyed. I eventually went to bed, the happiest and most peaceful sleep I had in a long time.

The following days I made more posts about my challenge. I still liked to post about my challenge, but I felt something was a tad bit off balance. I need to give back a bit. I have made some money and I need to give back. How? I am not the best writer, so what can I give back? Hmmmm... I started to write little guides about Steemit, just from my point of view. Something that is easy to understand and can help others.

The 1st one did pretty good and I was amazed at how many people reacted and thanked me for my point of view. It was a pretty cool feeling.

I decided to write a post that I know will help many users. I like to make things as easy as possible. I made a markdown editing posts, this was with a cheat sheet that could be downloaded. This was as simple as I could make it. I got great feedback from it and decided I will make more posts like these. I started to really like helping and the response from giving someone some knowledge just give me butterflies in my stomach. The post did really well and I was fortunate enough that the post did not get paid out yet before the HF19. So in the end the value of the post made almost double after HF19. Lucky me.

Realizing what HF19 will do to our Voting Power I immediately warned my followers to stop voting until we know exactly how to approach it. My next post that I wrote was probably the post I was most proud of, BUT it also caused me the most frustration:

I made this post especially for all the new users. I made it as simple as I could. Using an analogy of a boxer to explain Voting Power. Not to upvote everything and take care of your voting power. I realized I am writing a post about not upvoting posts. Haha, shooting myself in the foot here but the new users has to learn about these things. I can safely say this post was spreading really well with at least 20 resteems! A big shoutout to @joanaltres for resteeming it to her 7000+ followers. The message was spread far and wide with over 850 views.

The frustration for me here was why on earth help the minnows! I am not getting paid, their votes count for sooooo little. I know the information was only relevant to the new users, but still a whale vote here or there would be amazing and boost my spirits for the next post to help the minnows.

After much thought I came to the conclusion that I am just being a bit greedy and negative because some posts that took maybe 2 minutes to write and is not really helping anyone is making more than mine. I try my best to reply to every comment and even that takes a lot of time. I help the new users because they are the future Steemians and need some pointers from time to time, they need help too. Yes they aren't going to make me a boat load of money but, helping out and knowing I am making a difference. It is enough for me. I set out to help them and help I will. Replying to comments and answering questions is fun for me, even though the rewards are small. I don't have all the answers, I'm still new here as well. Sharing what I have learned though has never hurt anyone. I WILL NOT STOP HELPING THOUGH.

My followers need to understand that even though I make guides, I need to push out some other content too. Just to get some more valuable upvotes every now and then. Doesn't mean I love you guys less. Just means I want to play with my other friends as well. =)

Still I find it funny that my most popular post has a very low payout vs upvote rate. Future posts will do better though. It goes up and down. Patience is key. This is the last time I will rant about a post like this... It just is not worth it.

When we fast forward to right now where I am sitting at my desk. I ate a healthy meal. I made my day 25 challenge post that made me a good $50 so far, life here on Steemit is good. I just launched my second season of the Knockout Series Game. I have been sober for a good 27 days! Omg, somehow Steemit has taken over my life. I am more productive than I have ever been. I sleep less but, I don't waste my time on stupid sh!t anymore. I still enjoy doing nothing from time to time. I mean who doesn't, right? I have lost around 5kg, joined a gym and I am helping wherever I can.

I am grateful to be here. I have made some really good friends, I have had some really helpful experiences where users have helped me. It is a great community and I truly am happy to be here. I have invited some friends to join, 4 has joined already and they too will learn to have a good time here.

Steemit has changed me for the good, I am more patient now and know that this is not a site to make fat cash. I am here for the long run. I power up all my Steem and have even bought some Steem myself. I want to thank this platform for what it has done for me. It's not all about the money but the friendships and interaction of others. They motivate me and drive me to be a better me and to help out more. Every thank you I get makes me stronger and better wit ha bigger force and drive to write things that might be of use to someone. Thank you friends and Steemians. Life is better for me. I will keep writing posts that I think the community can benefit from. I like it. The non-helpful posts will pop up from time to time when it comes to just sharing some thoughts or experiences.

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If I can give any advice for new users it is this:

This is not a get rich quick scene. No, all your posts won't be successful. Some of them is a bit of a hit and a miss, deal with it and move on. Be nice to others, help them, they might help you someday. Educate yourself and become better. Slow is fast and fast is smooth. Make friends and have fun here.

Well that't the end of that. Got it all of my chest and I feel good. My apologies for the bit of a rant... Wanted to just write what I think here. My 1st month on Steemit. Let's see what the next month holds A big thank you to all my followers and friends. You know who you are. Thank you for the support.

Scrooger out

To another great month here on Steemit.