Building Success on Steemit: Commitment, Perseverance and Patience!
Something noteworthy — at least on the scale of my personal log of life events — happened yesterday: I realized that in the 4 ½ years I have been part of this community, I have now made the second highest number of posts of any of the dozens of blogs I have kept since 1998: 1415 posts!
The only blog/journal with more posts is my private and personal ”notes to myself” blog that I have been adding to since 2002… since it has more than 8,000 posts (and counting), it’s doubtful it’ll ever be surpassed. But let us remember that that one is not for ”public consumption.”
To be honest, I am usually not the greatest at maintaining blogs over the long run.
Most of my blogging adventures have been focused on ”niche topics,” and I will end up exploring something for a while, and then basically develop new interests… after which it grinds to a halt. Or an almost halt.
To be fair, though… there have also been plenty of times where I was doing really well with a blog and then the hosting service decided to shut down. Diary-X, WrittenByMe, Xanga, LiveJournal, Squidoo, Gather, Helium…
So why THIS particular success?
Commitment
One of the people I started following early on in my Steemit experience was @stephenkendal and he was always talking about ”the long run.”
After reading a good bit of his content 4-5 years ago, I made a pact with myself that I would ”give it five years.” That was a commitment I made to myself.
I was definitely skeptical because so many other content venues that had offered rewards had folded up their tents and gone away in much less than five years.
I’m staying true to that commitment; by January 2022 it will have been five years. And I’m glad I did make that commitment, because there have certainly been plenty of bumps in the road (from posts that earned $0.00 to Steem dropping to under 7 cents, at one point) that might have caused a person to quit in disgust.
And no, I'm not going to quite just because five years is up! That was only in case "it just wasn't happening."
Lesson learned: You HAVE to give what you get involved in a fair chance!” Setting a goal and then sticking to it... even if things aren't going as well as you had hoped... may turn out to stand you in very good stead!
Perseverance
From my perspective, commitment is a decision; perseverance is an action you take.
Once you have made a commitment to something, the next step to success is showing up. And doesn’t mean just showing up when you feel like it or only showing up ”when things are good.”
In retrospect, some of my best base building here happened while Steem was at 7-8 cents. You, at that point, even a post with a $10.00 reward might end up with the author’s share being 60-70 Steem. That was very little at the time but 70 Steem when the token rose to $5 and more was a small fortune!
Lesson learned: You have to be willing and ready to show up, regardless of whether the forecast is brilliant or awful! In the end, you’ll be glad you did!
Patience
Patience is a difficult attribute for many people to handle and manage.
Patience is also not something people are generally used to in the cryptosphere where people are so often focused on ”When Moon?” and which coin will go 5x next week. Patience flies in the face of the whole "instant riches" image that seems to follow cryptocurrency... sadly.
But if you sincerely want to build something — a following, a body of work, a base for online content — you have to have patience!
Patience is also about being ready to stick to your own plan. It’s very tempting to look at the people who are earning big bucks and have big followings and feel discouraged because you can’t seem to get going.
Heck, I sometimes look at some of "those posts" that are are earning $300+ in rewards and wonder what I am doing wrong. But it's not going to stop me!
In addition, remember that those "$300 earners" may have already put in several years of work… and you only have a couple of months! To use a simple example, you don’t just buy a set of golf clubs this week and expect to go on the PGA Pro Tour six months later. It’s not how this community works, and it’s not how life works!
So be patient, and be willing to learn and adjust your ”formula” if things aren’t working so well.
In the end, this community is a very big ”stage,” and there’s room for a lot of people to shine!
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? What do you think it takes to succeed on Steemit? And what is your "definition" of success? Do you have a long term objective here? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210602 23:08 PDT
x187
Nice work! You just got yourself a $3.53 upvote. Enjoy! Check us out at acom.uno or swing by for a chat at ACOM Discord
I can relate to these experiences.
It's a difficullt but long journey and I intent to walk it all
Thanks for your support, I appreciate it!
aaahhh I remember you when i was joining the curation and engagement league by abh12345 yeaaarrss ago. there's something missing around here now.. the engagement is a bit challenging.
i have no idea what's successes on steemit mean, I saw something that I wrote in the past with little appreciation but now the same thing others post and they got big payout... while mine, it's still the same. But I'm fine... I take a long vacation (8-10 months ) from steemit, so all I need to do is to catch up and keep doing what I like.
I like steemit and I missed its best time, so.. this time I'll be around, whatever happens, success or not, I have my own reason to keep active and enjoy the community.
i haven't learn about the whole thing related to cryptocurrency anyway.. so I have my reason
It's nice to "see" you again @cicisaja; I do remember you from Asher's engagement leagues... and yes, that was a great tool to keep people more active.
I'm one of the few who didn't immediately cash out and leave in March last year... I had a feeling things would slowly return to a "new normal" here, and they seem to have done just that.
I wish I could host the same kind of league too .but I'm not good on counting and patience enough to collect the information🤭 but I tried in my own way, at least a few of my fellows now do comment and curate actively amongst the community. All they have to do just mention me in any comment and I'll be there to make fun and gets more attention.
I did followed the former community to the other side, just because splinterlands for sure. But I didn't power down and let my account here dormant for 10 months before I come back and found my new niche.
Thanks God, @steemchiller still here and I found how wonderful his tools now.
Thank you for the respond😉
Good piece of advice!
Gracias
Thank you; glad you got something from it!
I can relate to these expenses
It is a difficullt but long journey. A journey I am willing to walk to the end.
Just stay with it and have patience... it takes time and effort to build success!
You're a great artist with a camera!
Thanks for the kind words; I do really enjoy my nature photography.
Nice post! And beautiful photos. Thank you for sharing.😄
Thanks for stopping by; I appreciate it!
I feel some strange sort of symbiosis with you, because it feels like we are quite similar in so many ways! I think it was a year ago, when Steem was still around $0.2 and I was thinking to myself and visualizing the value of Steem to be around $1. In other words, even though the payout of a post would be $0.5, I still considered it to be worth way more.
And not only that... I have a clear perspective about growing on the platform. It might be tempting to cash out, but I am committed to building and to be in it for the long run! I don't think I will reach my goals in a few years, but as my goal is to have at least 100,000 SP (and growing), then I am powering up whenever I can and build and work hard to see it happen. So, when I show up every day, it is a part of my commitment to the platform and the vision in my heart of growing on this platform, and hopefully one day, it will create enough to make a living for me, and those who I support and vote for! :)
Once again, thank you for an inspiring article, and congratulations with your upcoming five year anniversary!
@denmarkguy what an inspirational piece of advice. I was wondering how the guys are managed to get this many rewards here. Just joined two months back and willing to go for the long run at steemit.
@weneka. Impressed at your achievements and thus far your years of duration at steemit, Bravo's. I just joined recently and to be ernest it's not being so easy to getting used to the entire ecosystems. But, having went through your encouraging words am not gonna go anywhere, I will rather stay more active. because i see all it will take me to reaching the future and keep growing,... Although I will really wish to go this far as you. Steemit here, I come to stay. Bravo's 👍🏻 once again.
I'm new, and it's good to read from someone who has been around a while. I plan on sticking around too. I'm posting a Daily Mandala now, and more different works later. Peace!