Trawling around Steemit and the various chatrooms I have seen an increasing number of newer adopters complaining about how well the Whale and dolphin population do financially here at Steemit, seems to me that the jealousy levels are ramping up somewhat.
First I'll say I hate jealousy, it is the most pointless and destructive emotion. I'm lucky I'm not made that way but for those who are it must be hell. I don't see what it achieves. For some I guess it drives them to success, but at what cost to themselves or others?
https://steemit.com/life/@tremendospercy/two-months-on-steemit-what-have-i-learned-and-how-can-it-help-newbies
I wrote the above post yesterday about the importance of making real friends here, not focusing on the number of followers but rather the quality. The Whale's have done that and are now benefitting from it. I don't see anything wrong with that, yes there are those who invested huge amounts and subsequently became all powerful as a result but I don't see anything wrong with that either. They've either been successful or lucky somewhere else prior to arriving here and that's ok too, isn't it?
Think about it, you're a minnow with minnow friends, you're probably upvoting each other 3 or 4 cents a post and making less than a buck for your efforts, feels pretty shitty but coveting the big payouts and moaning that you worked hard on a piece for nothing won't help or get you noticed. I know I've been there, makes you want to pull your hair out.
It can take one post to get you noticed, I wrote the piece below a while ago, spent hours researching and putting it together and had high hopes.....it made just over $4! I was crushed but entered it into a minnowsupportproject contest being run by @aggroed and it got 2nd place and I won 20$BD.
https://steemit.com/story/@tremendospercy/the-clintons-natural-born-killers
It gave me the confidence that I was on the right track so I wrote the piece below about the minnowsupportproject and the great work Whales are doing to help the minnows, he resteemed it. Bingo! He had around 1800 followers at the time and I had about 150 and the exposure was what made the difference for me, the payout was great and I got real followers looking at my work.
https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@tremendospercy/5-4-3-2-1-minnowsupportproject-is-a-go
Around the same time a whale in the making @gmuxx wrote me into a piece called hidden gems, bigging up my work and asking folks to check out my thread. I have no doubt that has helped too. The point is guys that there really is no such thing as a free lunch, you've got to work hard, not be afraid to promote yourself to others in comments if the work you are doing is relevant to the comment but beware not to be a spammer pushing garbage posts on to people in the hope of a few cents upvote. Ask successful writers for advice and tips to improve your work and payouts, I don't really consider myself a success yet but I do try to advise people based on my experiences in one2one chats in discord in the hope I can inspire a fellow minnow to go to be successful.
Getting back to the jealousy thing. Every Whale I have engaged with is desperate for Steemit to be a success and so many are hugely supportive of minnows, a lot of the time their support goes unheralded. I regularly see whale & dolphin votes on my posts I've never engaged with who never comment. The support is there if you add value to the platform, just write interesting, funny or informative posts and your time will come. So coveting their success or wallet is ridiculous and won't make you happy or wealthy. One of the things I've heard said is "Whale's vote for each other to make each other rich" So what if that's true, doesn't mean they don't share the wealth with the little guys and are you telling me you wouldn't do that with your mates if it was you. They were minnows too and have grown together over time supporting each other on their journeys so it would be weird if they didn't vote for each other, wouldn't it? They're friends they have respect and love for each other.
Aggroed and Ausbitbank showing the love.
Some Whales have been incredibly generous to the minnow community with giant donations to the minnowsupportproject to help people like you and me get a foothold here. @benjojo is a case in point as he donated a whopping 110,000sp to the cause but chooses not to be out front and center like other Whale's. What a great guy.
Others are more out there supporting in many different ways giving votes, help and advice such as @aggroed @ausbitbank @canadian-coconut @steemteam @neoxian @papa-pepper @sykochica @frystikken and many more that deserve credit for their efforts.
So guys, drop the jealousy bit and go out and be better at what you do here, make friends, engage the whales, learn from them, support each other and most importantly have fun. Life's to short to allow toxic emotions to rule over it.
If you are struggling to get a foothold here the best place to learn the ropes and get a following is discord, many of us are there everyday trying our best to help newbies find their feet. Do it, do it now by clicking this link https://discord.gg/HYj4yvw
Trust me you won't regret it.
If this post makes 50c ignore everything I said. 😂😂
Thank you for visiting @tremendospercy
Gifs courtesy of @justcallmemyth
Teamgb banner by @bearone and blinged by @nickdavison
Images and hair pulling gif courtesy of Google images https://images.google.co.uk/
TremendosPercy avatar by @epicdesigns
Another tremendous post @TremendosPercy - hur hur see what I did there?
Thanks for the mention. You are on point with everything you wrote. Don't be jealous of whales, let their success inspire you to better your own blog and put out quality content. After all, they were minnows once too
The support has inspired me and you for sure.
Too many are whinging about $$$ while contributing nothing of value.
Hopefully that will change.
Thx again dude
Sweet my upvotes are now 0.06 not 0.00 :D Progress!
(Love the pun)
Hey you're getting there. I remember giving 1c Upvotes,, it's the thought that counts.
Thank you for this @tremendospercy
It is true, whales are not whales out of nothing. Wether they had the money to spend or they had a lot of effort to become one. Just keep up the great work!
Thank you for saying so. You are right.
And try this one I wrote yesterday in the hope people would learn from my mistakes
https://steemit.com/life/@tremendospercy/two-months-on-steemit-what-have-i-learned-and-how-can-it-help-newbies
I'm not jealous of whales, just disgusted by the ones who abuse their VP to drain the rewards pool and also by the sycophants that follow them, hoping to find a few seeds in the droppings.
Yes, well that's what you get with freedom of choice. Sadly you will always get the greedy and the creepy. I say let it go and have nothing to do with that kind of behaviour yourself and try to educate those coming through on decent etiquette. Feel good about that and let the negative thoughts go. They just make you bitter and twisted, not you personally just in general.
Thanks for your passion and for reading my stuff.
Oh, I was bitter and twisted long before I got here.
Steemit has made me more sweet and linear.
I can't hold more than 2 at a time, one in each hand.
lol...there's no there there...so please...don't touch me there...I'm super sensitive.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by TremendosPercy from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
Another good post, oh wise one.
Cheers you lovely Bugger.
Thanks for reading it I hope it helps the newbies get on the right path.
Was just sort of saying the same thing on my post. I feel the whales have been swimming together for a while, theyre friends. I think its normal for them to vote for each other cos lets face it. They were here swimming the waters before we even got a whiff theres a new pond out.
That said I cant complain and be jealous because I've been recipient of a dolphin/whale vote and youre right they dont even comment. They just drop dollars on you randomly like dolphin/whale angels. They inspire me and I want to be able to do that for someone one day.
So I suppose people can either get jealous or be inspired.
Personally, I think being inspired will take us further than jealousy ever could.
Want a vote from a whale? Hit up old mate rando :D Feels just as good even though you paid for it lol
Hopefully we'll be in that position one day and I won't feel bad upvoting another whale. If I never get there that's ok it's about enjoying what you do here. If you are so focused on cash you become bitter about the payouts others get you should go elsewhere, IMHO.
Thanks for reading and commenting
Ohh we will be, I'm sure of it :)
I have had a couple few shows of love @bearone and yes it is very encouraging. I do prefer they are not random and more for your content...which really goes without saying...but I said it anyway. ~smiles~ I guess for me is having a small chat in the comments section of someone else's blog with a dolphin, a whale that has awarded you some SP to help push you along. That to me is more encouraging than the actually upvote. imo
Haven't even used MSP $upvote...let alone rando. My writing is still not ready for "the minors" yet...let alone "the show" I'll just keep leap'n a dive'n around in my feed and other's feeds...so many wonderful little tributaries to the Steemit ocean. ~smiles~ just a little back water guppy...I
grin well I dont discriminate. I'll take anything. Comment upvote follow - it's all stepping stones to where I want to be. All of it is encouragement to me. Even the rando and minnow bot :D
I used to think about wether people are ready for my content, then I thought isnt that for them to decide? After that I just write whatever I feel like. If it gets votes it gets votes, if it doesn't thats ok I didnt write it for the money. I wrote it for me.
Yeah...step'n stones...good way to look at it. For now I'm not in for the money, that will come eventually so it's all about the experience atm...someone said I need to find my "tribe"...hahaha...first I heard I even had one. :)
Thanks for this post. I'm new around here and I've thrown a few posts to the wind, and it feels like it all gets lost in the noise. I'm not jealous at all...just trying to figure out how to stand out or stand up.
This post also cleared up the minnow/whale stuff which I wasn't clear on what it meant before. There is much to learn and much to know to be a good Steemian.
It's posts like this that make the journey easier.
I'm glad to be of help. Join the minnowsupportproject in discord as it really does help get you on the right path.
And check in at @tremendospercy for more help, funny stories & truth.
Thx for reading and commenting.
I did! All kinds of cool things happened in like 10 minutes! Thanks again. I will definitely be paying it forward to help other minnows. =)
Want a boost? Click here to read more!
Amazing idea.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.
Try this one I wrote yesterday.
https://steemit.com/life/@tremendospercy/two-months-on-steemit-what-have-i-learned-and-how-can-it-help-newbies
Great post @tremendospercy
Thanks buddy. To much moaning going on sadly, needs to stop.