A Friendly Reminder to All Those Struggling or Just Starting Out
Yes
This platform makes it easy to begin producing content that could potentially pay off.
That doesn't mean it's easy to produce content and make money.
This has never been easy. I don't see why so many sign up thinking they can now quit their jobs and work online full time.
Steemit, Dtube, everything else running on this blockchain; it's the same as anywhere else.
There are Youtubers out there who have been working hard, consistently producing new content almost daily for five years. They've yet to earn a dime.
I see people signing up, publishing their first introductory post here, then earning a dime, usually more. In many cases that post was their first ever attempt at publishing anything online that could potentially earn money.
It's Never Enough
For some...
Set reasonable expectations for yourself.
Please don't feel like a failure for working your butt off for a few weeks, gaining one hundred followers, and earning a few dollars. That's only called progress. You're slowly getting somewhere and if you seek a career in producing content in this fashion, you've already got your foot in the door. One must start somewhere and you're already past that point. You're doing better than you think. Keep going if you've not yet reached your destination.
Where you're headed is up to you and nobody else.
If it's not enough; good! That means you're still hungry.
If it's not enough because you're looking over at so-and-so, noticing they're earning more, then feeling like you're being left out or worse, jealous; not good!
If you published your first book, would you be jealous of Stephen King's accomplishments on release day because you only sold ten copies? Would you think the publishing platform is broken and working against you because you only sold ten copies?
If you interviewed Joe Blow from Mexico, then uploaded your video to Youtube, would you be jealous of Joe Rogan's interview with Elon Musk getting millions of views while yours only gets one view? Would you be up in arms and decide to tell anyone who will listen how you think that platform is broken because you only received one view and no money?
People act like that here.
All the time.
What were they expecting?
That negativity is contagious. Before many have a chance to even think things through and develop a game plan for themselves, they're allowing others to hold them back.
Those feeling defeated would prefer it if others stay down at the bottom with them. Don't let that infectious attitude get in your way. This place is not a free lunch and people must work their way up just like everywhere else.
Also, if you're unhappy with the rewards you're receiving, give yourself a raise. Simply hold on to your tokens until they are worth more.
Some of my older posts with a few dollars beside them are worth ten times more today than they were on payday. Try to hold off as long as you can, hoard Steem power. You can hand out more with your vote and earn more curation rewards if you hoard Steem power. This isn't rocket science and if more of you out there did it, then actually voted for each other instead of wasting your votes on trending posts, your chances of finding success would be much higher.
Thousands of minnows and thousands of minnow posts going without votes tells me one thing. You're not helping each other.
I see so many complaining and waiting for handouts while the opportunity to move up sits there, waiting for them, staring them directly in the face.
In the end though, the choice is all yours.
This recent hardfork brought out the worst in some people.
I'm still unsure about something.
What did more damage? The hardfork or the reaction to it?
So many lost minds willing to turn their backs on everything and everyone because of the actions of a few, and those actions weren't even intentional.
Just know not everyone here is so fast to judge, give up, or give in. If you're one of these new folks or feel like you're struggling; the world didn't end. Rise above all of that doom and gloom. To be honest with you, this is a perfect opportunity. The dust will settle and those left standing come out on top. Isn't that how life goes? The happy ending to any good movie?
You're still hungry, right?
Don't allow them to take your food away.
To Conclude
I don't really enjoy writing this kind of stuff.
Some things needed to be said and I could say a whole lot more if I wanted to.
I would like to take a moment to give my friends, fans and following a virtual high five. For many of us, it has been business as usual as of late. You're a tough crowd, in a good way; a resilient bunch, and I respect that.
To those of you who may have said a few nasty things or vowed to quit, just know the door is still open, you're still welcome here. Forgive and forget. It's time to move on.
So much of satisfaction comes down to expectations. If you expect to make lots of money on here right away (which some people promote this platform as offering) then unless you can start by putting $100k into STEEM, you're going to be disappointed.
But if you come expecting to gradually grow a community of people who really like your content creation, and finding others you appreciate too, and also having the potential to earn something within those interactions, then you stand a chance.
You're still going to have to do an awful lot of work to learn the rules of this platform. It's not simple to just wing it. I mean there are 3 different currencies alone! And then there's VP/mana, now RCs, and so on. So there is a lot of work to put in up front just learning, and no customer service department.
And then there are the unclear paths to success. My path was waiting to post for a couple weeks and just commenting on the posts of others, since that's where the people were. I commented probably 20 times a day, substantial comments. Once I started posting I already had followers ready to comment on my material as I had on theirs.
That's not the best approach right now if you can't start by buying STEEM, because you just can't comment enough to take that approach. So maybe a mixed approach, where you split the commenting between here and Discord groups. Or maybe start posting a bit sooner and share the posts to Discord groups. Or SteemChat.
One way or the other, you have to find where the people are then regularly communicate with them. Preferably 7 days a week.
It's a big investment, but over time you can get traction on here and start becoming a part of powerful communities. Even with my fairly substantial SP and my personal relationships on here, I would still be earning only about $1 per post if I didn't have community relationships.
Investing in becoming a part of communities on here is the best investment of your time.
This is an excellent addition to this post. Thank you very much for spending the time to share that with everyone.
It took four months and three times trying to get an account on here. I actually lost interest so I just started posting this week. Since it took so long, I haven't really mustered up the energy to learn about all of the inner workings. All this bot this, bot that, buy this, join that is confusing me.
I'm sure it's simple if I took the time to learn more. It probably would be worth it to take an afternoon to get more acquainted but I'm just going to write and comment when I feel like it. I'll see what happens. Thank you for this encouraging post.
Just be cautious and try not to burn through your Resource Credits. New members are limited to how much they can interact with the platform. That's why it's now a ridiculous idea to use bots. You need more Steem Power in your wallet. Try to power up everything you earn off the start. That way you won't run out of Resource Credits.
I'll offer you this link:
https://steemd.com/@qtourmaline
Near the top left, you'll see two bars. Voting mana and Resource Credits. Those charge up over time. If the Resource Credits bar drops down to 0%, it could take quite a few days to fully charge and you won't be able to vote or leave comments.
I'll also give you this vote of $1.00. Please put that towards Steem Power when you receive in seven days time. That will help get you started.
Welcome to Steemit. It's not that hard. Just ignore everyone who wants to take your money. LOL!
To save on resource credits, I already know you're thanking me. No need to say it because that will cost you Resource Credits. That link shows you how many comments you're able to leave. There's no need to respond to this. Please don't vote for this comment either. Save those for posts.
Have a great day!
I'm sorry the process to get on the platform was such a struggle for you, I've heard that from a number of people. It's definitely worth it to get more acquainted, I can't even tell you how incredible my journey here has been, the people I've met from all over the world, the friends I've made. The money is a bonus but the community is what made me stick with it to get to the point where I was making any.
Welcome to the steemit sea, I'll drop by your page when I leave this one :)
And don't forget to crush your enemies. That is the advice I wish I had starting out.
You really do have a way with words, this is exactly what should be said- the perspective every new person needs to see :)
I think being honest is important. Too many try to sell this place as a get rich quick scheme, creating problems, and offering their bogus solutions for a fee. Let's be realistic here. I still struggle, daily, like nearly everyone who gives it their all. Struggle isn't a bad word though. Look how far so many of us have come. Twas worth it.
Definitely worth it! This post is a winner, I resteemed to get some more eyes on it.
I appreciate that. And since you're in the helpful mood, do you see that noob comment slightly above this one? Hint-hint.
Above and beyond I'll go for you. lol.
Wow, how many comments to newbies get in a 24 hour period? I can see how this system might completely eliminate spam which is good, but it also kind of punishes new people with the right intentions. I hope it's more of an incentivizing thing then a discouraging one.
Not many, so if people want this place to go places now, all they have to do is push that button. The incentive to curate and power up is there and far more important than ever before. This is what people wanted. Now they have it so all they need to do is put their money where their mouth was.
I can only do so much, little by little. I hope more people can do the same. That's how we counter punch the problems some may experience.
They might not be able to comment much, but look how far that one comment has already gone for that new member up there. I'll be watching for these people. If they visit me and pass the background check, I'll do everything I can to help. If people decide to take advantage of the generosity, I'll simply move on and offer it to a better candidate. The ball is in their park. People can complain and act helpless or they can grab life by the balls and make something out of an opportunity.
You have a gift for talent scouting on this platform :) I even made a meme out of your meme about it once LOL. I'm happy to do my part too, definitely continue to let me know when you spot someone. Sorry that @brandt seems to have fallen off the earth, I really enjoyed his stuff. He took your advice and ran full tilt with it.
Hey- so a friend of mine on here- @clayboyn- is making an RPG game based on steemmonsters. I thought of you because I just played the Demo and it totally reminded me of Oregon Trail, it's that style. Here's the youtube clip of the demo:
The link for the download: https://mega.nz/#F!frpy1AJD!5OlO629AZVNwxiaeZ_9jIw
And check this out too- https://fundition.io/#!/@clayboyn/la034n1fx look at the packages, I am totally going to be a NPC in it haha!
Yup, Brandt's pretty cool. I'll never forget Kevin the mountain goat. I think that was his name. Maybe I did forget, a little bit, but not much!
That game looks cool. Kind of like Final Fantasy. I love those games.
Such wise words and good advice. I think often people just want instant gratification. We certainly live in a time that encourages us to think that way and also we live in culture of looking over the fence too see how much better it is for our 'virtual neighbour' probably aided a lot by instagram and facebook. People want the curated make belive lives that don't exist and then want them instantly so thus are always chasing a vague dream or ideal which can only lead to constant unhappiness. Most likely why so much 'complaining' exists in the virtual world, people just mad and not even knowing why.
When I see people who started after me surpass me, I think 'good on them' not 'hey give me that, it's mine' because if you can't enjoy other's success and joy how will you know how to enjoy your own?
For me, the toughest part was repaying that first delegated 15 Steem. Once it was gone - wow! The next part was figuring out how much effort to use and how often to post. Pace yourself. Try to keep a predictable schedule. Don't start out all gung ho and run out of energy and topics. I made sure I didn't use all my best topics before I had some audience. Powering up is good. It raises your share of curation rewards. Just do a bit on Steemit every day, meet people, and have fun!
I'd say it's wise to avoid focusing on only one topic. People can talk about anything as long as they add their own personality to each post and make it a unique experience that way. Nobody wants to follow a tree, but if one decides to talk about their experiences with trees, it's a whole new ball game. The simplest things can be personalized, then it's hard to run out of material and ideas.
I agree unless you're really into it like you go birding daily but I would have trouble limiting myself to one topic. Your different topics are tied together nicely with an underlying theme of your art. I would also suggest experimenting with tags with the view of helping people find your posts.
"This platform makes it easy to begin producing content that could potentially pay off."
Potentially is really the important word in that sentence. It is not impossible to start earning money on the first day but that is far from the norm.
"This isn't rocket science and if more of you out there did it, then actually voted for each other instead of wasting your votes on trending posts, your chances of finding success would be much higher."
I would agree with that. I stopped trying to chase curation rewards and started just voting on things that I like (which was the probably the idea to begin with). To me, giving someone with good content the penny (I think I might actually be able to give two now so hurrah) is more "rewarding" than the little curation reward that I might get off of voting on on a trending post.
I think you are right about putting things into perspective. Even someone who is struggling is really progressing much faster and more freely than they would elsewhere. I could read my rants and weird opinions to a camera on YouTube and no one would ever care. Here I might make a dollar or two worth of Steem for my effort.
If you're sharing a tiny vote's worth of curation rewards among 500 people, and vote hours after the post was published, you're guaranteed to leave with nothing. If you vote between around 10-15 minutes after a post was published, before all of the big votes come in, all while not sharing the curation rewards among hundreds of other voters, you'll come out with more. That's how the curation game works. Most don't know that.
I think Steem is like anything else; you get out what you put in. And that includes risking some of your own capital! Unless you are just so damn cool that all the whales swarm to you and upvote everything you write.
I think that happened with people who all joined at the same time when the platform first came out, but now you gotta put in the extra legwork and power that steem up.
Some folks are lucky enough to have attracted a steady stream of income. In most cases, those legit content producers do a fine job and they deserve their success.
We all have to work. I also recognize the fact even a simple meme is work, it's an effort and if you earn 10 cents sharing a meme, you've already made far more than millions of users who share memes on Facebook, combined.
Very true, my friend. It is all a learning process for me. I know that I'm not a stellar writer myself, so I don't expect to get tons of love. At the moment I am trying to improve my craft and build up some followers while I continue to invest/power up.
I do use bid bots, but I don't go crazy with them. I'm not even using them for the purpose of making money; it's more to get exposure so that people will follow me and engage. In fact, I've already started to use them less because I get more up-votes from readers. I plan to stop using them completely after I get a decent enough following.
I guess that's why I say that you have to invest a little bit in the system if you want to get something out of it. And yes! For sure, 10c for a meme is more than you'd get anywhere else.
I am mostly amazed by the huge number of people here who seem to have come to Steemit because they heard "you can get rewarded for creating content" (fact!) but interpreted "I'm OWED the equivalent of a full-time income for posting a couple of shitty video clips!"
And then they end up all butthurt because that doesn't happen.
But that doesn't happen anywhere.
Social media is work, people! Mostly I get sick of hearing the eternal "yeah but we're on the BLOCKCHAIN here!" like it's some sort of magic pill panacea that renders all other laws of the universe null and void.
My little non-profit organization has 6700 followers on twitter. It took six years to build that. We didn't just show up one day and shout "Gee, we're SPECIAL!" and expect instant fame and riches.
Blessings to all!
Some folks have been on Facebook for ten years and can't even get a like on the selfie where they're standing in front of the new Honda they bought.
LOL, I used to cringe so hard when the signup link said "get paid to post," it felt so clickbait. Managing expectations with the garbage that people put into trending with bidbots is just... infinitely harder than it used to be... Solid advice though, hopefully people will manage their own expectations and realize that it isn't just "come work online shitposting." I've been surviving off crypto income for a year now and it's certainly not as pretty or glamorous as people think it is.
It would be nice if that facade of a trending page wasn't there. We had those two days or so of organic content hitting that page recently. That was such a nice treat and those who saw the $10-$20 posts for the first time would easily conclude: I can do that.
sigh
Now it's back to the lowest earners with the most rewards beside their posts offering ways to take money away from people again. Oh well! The rest of the place, which is the majority, is still pretty damn cool.