My new mission in Steem
So, I get that with all the political turbulence going on these days the bigger stakeholders are more concerned with that than helping out the little fish in the pond. But unlike them, the small fish depend a lot more on the votes than they do, while they "make money" on Steem, we try to survive and aid our economy a bit.
I am realizing I've been clinging on too hard to the hope that I will thrive on Steem, but now those hopes are dying as I'm all out of money and all the growth I was experiencing is gone to crap.
Now I was caught in the dilemma between taking the time to write good posts (with hours of research and compiling that into something somewhat pleasant to read) only to catch some scraps of a reward - 4 hours of work just isn't worth the 1 USD of liquid Steem you finally receive taking away the SP and curators share - or to just write many heartfelt posts that come from my desire of a better world and try to make up for quality in quantity.
Just in case you go to my blog to check my content and see if my whining is justified, I'll put links to posts that took many hours to create only but received rewards that don't justify the time invested because I know the latest posts don't fit into that description:
Restoring the Soil in a Drought Stricken Terrain
A big plant ally we should know more of: Echium Plantagineum
The Causes of Climate Change and What We Should Be Doing About It - @upmewhale Contest Entry - By the way this one went completely ignored by @upmewhale.
Purslane, the die-hard plant that has more Omega-3 than fish
Datura plants (Jimsonweed, Devil’s Trumpet): Poison or Medicine?
There are more, but you get the point.
Unfortunately it would seem that my content isn't highly appreciated by the whales (there are many who have appreciated it and I'm grateful to them) and I would have to write hundreds of these soul-inspired posts to get anything worth my time. Meanwhile, the older people here write a few lines about the political scenario and receive rewards that go over the 100 USD total, because you know... they're all respectable investors with a big amount of SP and therefore deserve to get more while we small fish rot away.
The thing is, I've seen I'm not the only one struggling to get a decent reward here these days so I've decided to do something about that. I'll be hunting for decent posts that are under 1 USD total rewards and upvote as well as call TRENDO on their post. I'll be focused on posts that are about:
- Art
- Poetry
- Photography
- Veganism
- Spirituality
- Self-development
- Permaculture
- Creativity
- Psychology
- Traveling
- Blogs and vlogs
- Anarchy
- DIY
I'm probably going to make even less money this way, but it feels more correct than brainstorming about why the hell I should waste my time in creating undervalued content. Loyalty to Steem can only stretch so far when you see someone get enough money for you to live an entire week by posting a few words. But I am invested into this community, and tempted as I am to power down, I will better dedicate my time and energy to support others and hope I contribute at least a bit to their situation.
I will be leaving all the curation trails I currently partake in as their votes usually go to the same people. My interest is to support those that are struggling to get any attention.
If any of this appeals to you, please consider joining my curation trail and/or delegating some SP.
Check out these great communities:
Perhaps it is time to start investing your time in researching tribes and tags to use, and then invest in posts?
Also, are you active on discord and shilling your posts?
Keep going, it is a game and we eventually learn how to play it.
Right now, my posts are all low earning, but I found that for every 5-10 posts, I end up getting "big" upvotes from certain accounts. It makes the average of my earnings much higher.
Posted via Steemleo
I've been active on tribes and using communities now, but my complaint isn't just about how much I make. It's about the attitude of the whales that upvote themselves for every little thing they do, getting massive rewards while others work hard to bring actual value into the blockchain and go ignored by them. It just doesn't seem right to me because I never agreed to work for them and I end up feeling we all do.
If I'm going to spend time here it's because I find the community to be awesome and doing elaborate posts wears down the mind, takes away energy I could be using to do more enjoyable things (or more lucrative things if I need the money). I find supporting others drains less energy and involves less thought, so that's why it seems more appealing at this moment.
Thanks for stopping by!
I get it. I used to do more research oriented posts regarding depression, and parenting. The "problem" with that is that we are a worldwide market of readers, and our posts sometimes get lost. Especially, because say how a Southern California Mom deals with her problem of excess clothes that makes it hard to keep up with laundry, is NOT exactly what many here are dealing with. Even in my specific group of steemitmamas... I have found that those who have a consistent following have pretty specific niche - that many here can relate to.
I think the answer there is to write your long, detailed posts, and then wait for the right opportunity to share them, like when there is a contest or a call to action. If not, you can turn them into an e-book and upload them to the steemleo store, and advertise them on the bottom of your short posts.
Currently, I am stringing a lot of my posts together, and putting a few ebooks together. I have been writing here for years, so I have some fiction, and some niche posts that can easily be put towards an e-book. Of course, all this excitement has me watching the feeds instead of tweaking my work. Or. Maybe I am just a procrastinator... lol.
As far as the whales... it is hard to be mad at them, since you don't become a whale by writing great posts, you had to have put $$$ in here. Many of them put money in here during times when they money could have easily been lost (if steem fails, their money goes) or when steem prices were high, and they lost a lot of investment. If I had put whale amounts of money in here, you bet i'd be going for investment growth of my personal funds before helping out "the little guys" that said. There are some whales, who have helped me grow my account. My posts have never really paid more than $30.00 STEEM - and those were rare, but their $1.00 votes here and there, really keep things going.
Yeah, I'm not really mad at them, just stating a situation which I believe should be improved. I feel it got a bit out of hand with the hostile takeover as I saw too much of whales voting for whales, and too many small accounts with less than 1 USD rewards in their posts.
You are right that they are taking big risks with their money and that is something to be thanked for. Nonetheless, this has to be mutual for their money is also lost without the community and the thousands of small accounts that make it happen.
Anyway, this little rant got me into doing something enjoyable that has been already appreciated by some so that's cool :)
Be very careful.... I tried sharing a few links to posts on Discord and it Backfired spectacularly for me. Leads to Downvotes and getting blacklisted by Big Whales.
Helping support others is my strategy too. Not that it is a manipulative strategy. .. more I like to lift others up. Grateful for your support of Natural Medicine. How much LOTUS do you have? I can delegate more to help with your curation x
Hey, you're back! How are you?? Can't wait to hear of your travels :)
I have 2400 LOTUS, though I have 500 delegated to NatMed lol, leaves me with 1900. Guess I'll remove the delegation to increase my efforts on this and grateful for your support!
Much love, I hope you're doing great and enjoying the Ganges!!
I hear you brother. I put hours and hours into my posts and I am very lucky if I receive $2 in Author Rewards. There are a Few Whales and Witnesses that are very generous with struggling artists. Although I myself am a small fry dolphin I will try to upVote and support your posts. I have many ideas to help Artists too - especially those that make videos.
How about we Discord on that and see if we can join forces in some way?
Ok .... I am Offgrid#3292 there ....
Here is a Secret Tip for you .....
Join the Starwars and Funny Communities and share original Star Wars and Funny Content. The Founder @steemyoda is a an awesome Whale .... and Witness ....
Who is @steemyoda ???
I have no idea but he seems to want to make Steem fun again ...
STEEM FUD Destroyer, making STEEM great again! ~~
Vote @steemyoda for witness~~ Join his Curated Communites !
Star Wars Community : https://steemit.com/trending/hive-106158
Funny Community : https://steemit.com/created/hive-168689
Vote here : https://steemitwallet.com/~witnesses
You need to scroll to bottom and type in the Name "steemyoda" and click Vote.
Good advice! I could certainly do with more lightheaded content in my feed! Thanks for the super tip, I appreciate it.
Steemit is definitely a game.... And I really don't understand the rules. Some Artists make huge amounts of Steem / post ... I make 48 cents ..... https://steemit.com/hive-156509/@offgridlife/ink-drawing-of-lola-our-english-cream-golden-retriever
That definitely deserves way more, as many of the posts I've seen from you!
Thanks ...
I was pretty much ready to give up on Steemit a few weeks ago .... until I found these 2 great Communities.....
That is life for you. The rich get richer and the poor struggle to get a penny to survive. But when you get up to there, believe me, you would hardly drop because you will definitely mingle with like minded.
Joining communities of your interest - and relating to what you post - will also help.
Keep creating and saving that little until you get there or you buy to skyrock...that's the only way out.
Best of regard.
Hadn't seen your comment, thanks for the advice! I am doing precisely that, even if sometimes the amount is small, the account keeps growing and the best thing is to persevere. I got more serious about helping small fish, perhaps you already so my post about how I intend to do that, but if not check it out here.
Best to you as well!
That's cool. How about creating a special community for that with a related name and suggesting one or more whales to the community so they could often check it out and support their post which they make in that community? It would really be great.
Good idea, I'll be sure to do that. Right now I'm getting used to the process of curating and trying to get the habit of doing a curation post twice a week. Once I've mastered that I'll go with your suggestion, thanks for putting that out!
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this is a great idea, it really takes time before you get noticed on here and a lot of the time it is all about building up a network, but it would be great to see the wealth distributed out more for sure. I can delegate a bit to you xxx
Thanks @trucklife-family!! I appreciate your support! I structured an idea for a trail to work this out and it has had a positive reception. Check it out here and perhaps join if you like it.