MINNOW SURVIVAL KIT: HOW TO MAKE IT ON STEEMIT

1. The Gospel of The Three C's. 

These are proverbial for a reason. 

• create
• comment
• curate

When I started Steeming a couple months ago, I was a friendless minnow. I swam around, flitting from blog to blog, watching what other people were doing to earn SBD and get attention. I really felt overwhelmed. I tried "click-bait" titles to see if I could get attention too. 

It didn't work. And I felt disgusted with myself for selling out. 

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I only have time to post and curate about twice a week, which is NOT a lot. But I'm doing really well considering my slow pace. I've got nearly 100 followers and have started to earn consistently on my posts. If I were doing this all day long, I know I'd amass a lot more success. But I currently have a full time job, 3 kids, a husband, and a busy life! So I Steem only on the nights I'm available. 

The thing is, I have always followed the three C's to the hilt--and not because I knew it was the formula, but because it seemed like the natural thing to do. 

CREATE:

When I create content, I do ONLY those things I can really get behind. I post stuff that I can feel good about, that represents who I am, and that I have genuine conviction for. Even if it's funny or dumb, it's me. 

At the same time, I am attracted to users who do the same. I follow people who are not only authentic, but who are courteous, respectful, professional, and interesting. I have quite a few people I follow who could not be MORE different in interests and perspective, and they are my favorite friends on here. (y'all know who you are). This is because they behave and curate the same way I do. Like attracts like, I think. 

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Other users will sense your authenticity and see your personality come through. If you are plunking down content that you don't really feel totally sold on, it will show. If you haven't found your "thing" yet, give it a few weeks to develop. You don't need to know exactly what you are about or what you want on here. Just post things you are interested in until you find your groove. You WILL find it. And in unlikely ways. 

It could be you connect up with another user who embodies something you feel strongly about, and you hit it off on steemchat. It could be you are inspired by a novelist and feel the urge to start posting your short stories (but don't expect them to make money unless you've got a substantial following. Or you'll fall flat and your dreams to write will be crushed). 

Some users are really great at photography, poetry, and art. Others are superb technical writers. Others have excellent anarchist content that gets their followers thinking. Some people are great at sports analyzing. Others are good musicians. Some are fabulous video bloggers and know how to get the attention of their followers with clever chat clips on random stuff. 

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Try all of it out. You'll see what fits and what doesn't. You will fall flat sometimes. And that's OK. The main thing is not to focus on cash generation, but to focus on generating something of a niche for yourself. In EVERY case I have seen, with few exceptions (such as with accounts that jump in with whale connections--as will happen in REAL life too!), the users who make it on here from scratch, starting with nothing (no followers, no investment, no connections, etc.), have found a niche for themselves, and it works because it is WHO they are. 

Examples of my favorite follows who fit this description, from large minnows to decent sized dolphins, are:

@merej99

@ats-david

@roelandp

@whatsup

@steve-walschot

@williambanks

Another really great article on the subject of starting out was written by one of my favorite humor peeps, @supergoodliving. He tells the story of how he started out on here. He frankly has done remarkably well in a SHORT period of time. But I would consider it totally doable--especially if you have time to dedicate. Here's his post: One Month on Steemit and I Could Not Be Happier.  

Just remember, DO NOT WRITE EXPRESSLY TO MAKE MONEY. That cannot be your focus, or you will be expressly disappointed and you'll quit. Write because you love it. Go take a look at these user's posts, and you'll see at the beginning of their time here, they had to struggle for awhile too. 

You've got to write to express something you feel something about. This way, whatever you do, it was not a waste of time, you have a really cool log of you for future posterity, and you can always feel proud of what you did. So post things that matter to you. Take time to check your grammar and syntax, and really clarify what it is you're talking about. Get some good images to support what you are saying. I spend a couple hours on a good post. 

As a sidebar--THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD NOT INVEST. 

There are plenty of reasons to invest, sell, trade, buy up, power up, and contribute - to the platform. But I am not the expert in this. Use your "steemshovel" app to search the terms and you'll find great content there.  

FORMATTING

There are several articles on how to format your content for a good post. This is key. Don't just slap it on there. Make short, concise paragraphs, add images, bold some words, make subtitles, catch my eye! Make it interesting! 

You will get followers. You will make money. You will do fine. But give it time. And don't compare yourself to others as though life is unfair. See what it is they are doing that you are not. Go to chat rooms. Get mentorship. Be a minnow we want to rally behind! 

Do NOT spend too much time griping about how unfair the wealth distribution is. Life is not fair, your highness. Steem may be great and all, but people are people, economy is economy, and any situation where you have an economy, and people, you are going to have unfairness. 

Rather than kick against the pricks, make yourself a little niche with your own little minnows, and together you will rise and take over the world with the rest of us. 

But until then, you're NOT going to get there by whining. I mean, you can whine if you want. And maybe you'll earn a little cash on a whine post. And those actually do well on here from time to time--if they are well written and thought out. But that can't be your main thing. You still need to work hard by creating, curating, and commenting. 

Meanwhile, keep it clean and more people will respect you. 

CURATE AND COMMENT

I cannot emphasize this enough. Not only will voting and commenting help others (even if your vote doesn't "count" monetarily yet...), but it will earn you reputation points. You will also potentially earn SBD on those votes if they end up trending. 

Additionally, when you take the time to comment--meaningfully--others will notice, follow, and appreciate you. Say things you mean. Just act the way you would in real life. If you like someone's beard, you tell them so. If you think they have a cool car, you tell them so. If you agree (or disagree) with something they've said, tell them so. And be courteous about it. And don't sound like an idiot while doing it. And you'll get votes. 

Your curation points are going to come from your comments. People will vote on your comments. People will follow you from your comments. They will say, "Hey, this guy said something smart. I'll go check him out. Oooh. Look at his pretty posts. I will vote on him. We will be friends." 

How do I know this? Because that is what I do! I follow people based on their comments, not always because of their posts. 

2. Learn the apps. and tools! 

Steemit is still in beta--developers are cranking out changes and improvements around the clock. Some of the devs are employees of Steem. Others are users like you and me who came up with apps and features to help us have a better user-friendly experience. There are over 90 different apps at steemtools.com. Take a gander and bookmark a few of them. 

Here are some of my favorite apps and Steem links: 

• steemprentice: If you are a new (or frustrated) user, this group helps you iron out some issues for you. All you do is fill out a quick questionnaire to help identify what your concerns are, and volunteer "mentors" will help you get going on the right foot with proof reading, content development, networking and generating followers. It's a great way to get your feet wet as well as make some great connections on here. 
• peerhub: You can use it to buy and sell stuff using Steem dollars. 
• SteemitGoToBlog: One of my top favs. Within Steem, it's impossible to find and search another user's blog due to channel rules. With this app, you CAN do it. Just paste a user's name in the field, and it opens up their Steem blog--the same way you'd search for another user in FB or Twitter. To download this app, all you do is click on the link they provide. It will take you to a page that provides "RAW PASTE DATA". Just copy and paste that data into a new bookmark, and voila! New tool. 
• steemshovel: The search engine on Steem sucks. There really isn't one. This one is better. Be sure to bookmark it. 
• steemQ: A "youtube" for Steem--still under development (and looking for people who are interested in the project, as of September 2016). 
• steemiteasyedit: Keeps the "edit" bar always right at page level with the content you are writing so you don't have to keep scrolling up and down to access the tools. This simple code will likely get adopted by Steemit, as will many others. 
• steemitpond: This one is just a really great screensaver. It shows all the activity on Steemit via animated fish and whales. You can actually click on the title and open up the page that was "splashed" across the screen. 
• radiosteem: A consencus-based radio. You can add or request tracks to be played here. 
• steemcleaners: "A group of Steemians concerned with the plague of plagiarism, copy paste, spam, scams, and other forms of abuse that keeps cropping up on our site." The group was formed in response to the cry for more organic growth. Whales and dolphins like @anix, @smooth and @berniesanders dump their own time (and curation, and I believe SBD) into this to help reward users for their "finds." 
• cheetah: A bot developed in the earliest stages of Steem. The original cheat-checker. A reliable source for finding plagiarism, spam, and abuse. It's a bot, so not 100% accurate. And does not always vote down. Just points out and gives you the opportunity to explain. Often works in conjunction with steemcleaners. 
•  steemsports: users can guess which of their favorite sports teams will win. There is no cost to play--you simply get Steem Power payouts if you guess correctly. Rewards are divvied up from the earnings of the post. 

3. Follow people who create good content 

This is important. You need to know who to emulate. You need to vote on their content to contribute to their success. This will in turn bolster your reputation points. If you are a "25" and want to be a "60," then follow people who have a "60" and see what they were doing early on when they began. 

You also need to comment on them (and their followers' posts) so you can build a network. Others will in turn vote for and curate your posts--especially if your posts are good. 

That's how it's done. 

There is no other way. 

Get to work and quit whining. 

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If you need advice on Steem, just ask in the comments below!