Thank you for the big hug; felt better. XD

I can understand that many people really need the money, but the biggest mistake is to become dependent on the Steem. Nothing good can come out of that.

Dependency on Steem doesn't let you focus on the needs of a successful community. Instead, you start obsessing over votes because you gotta earn a living.

I always tell people to have a career outside Steemit if they want to keep themselves sane. Otherwise, they will always stay in misery because sc01 is not giving enough attention.

The fact that many people think this way is unfortunately due to the false advertising that many people (including "country representatives") do for the Steem: There you earn money by blogging.
This is a big, big mistake!

This is where we go wrong and lure people with (as you said) false advertising. I myself realized it after doing some promotion last year and it immediately hit me that I made a big mistake. I talked to those people again and cleared out everything so that they don't get any false impression. Twelve people signed up and only one stayed after I popped the bubble of easy money.

Since then, I haven't done any online promotion. I occasionally and carefully mention Steemit to people who I believe have some caliber.

You get the chance to earn rewards (money) if you do well. But nobody gives you money for nothing. That's not how the world works, not even Steem.

Absolutely and I will add that nowhere in the world does blogging directly generate money. It's always the traffic to a blog that helps in making money. ;) On Steem, we get incentives with/without the traffic that's just a bonus and nothing to obsess about.

Btw... the sheep are sheared... 😉

Coming to see them beauties. ;)