My Steem Journey #4 - The First Month Part Two
My Steem Journey #4
This is the second post where I’m talking about my first month of Steem since I feel that’s a critical period of any Steemian’s life since that’s when we pick models when we learn the most and develop behaviors. I met some fantastic people that directly taught how this space is working, you can read more about that here, but in the same period, I learned indirectly from the Steemians I was interacting with on a daily basis.
![Guy break.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXbKPNNwkg9c3JvqxX5nUZ13ChLeiaDiFCUdC4nFVPtto/Guy%20break.png)
The Poker Tables
A crucial period of my beginning on Steem was the time I spent at the poker tables from @SPL. Right, when I started the SBD I was winning there made it feel like it was worth investing most of my spare time in Steem even if I wasn’t making much directly from posts.
But besides all that, maybe the most important thing I have gained from SPL in that period was friends. I wasn’t playing to make “connections” that was not my goal, we just bonded with each other naturally, and we weren’t just spending time playing but often just having fun on the chats.
To give you an example, thanks to someone I met at the poker tables I found out about @OCD and applied to be a curator, on the spot, and thankfully I got in since that was very great and helpful but more on that in another post. Also, from the tables, I found out about Sndbox, and I applied there, and even if I didn’t get in then, I was nominated by someone else later. These are the two major projects that I got in, directly or indirectly thanks to the poker tables and many more opportunities followed as the result of being part of them.
Steem, at its core, it’s still a Social Media based on communities, and the communities are based on people and friendships, but most people just forget about these aspects and focus all of their energy on making money or “hacking” the system by all kinds of shitty ways.
![Guy break.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXbKPNNwkg9c3JvqxX5nUZ13ChLeiaDiFCUdC4nFVPtto/Guy%20break.png)
Commenting
Also, in the same period, thanks to @papa-pepper’s advice, I started commenting, giving value to people and gaining a couple of followers in the process and I soon realized that I could even earn some rewards too by doing that.
I wasn’t doing it just for the rewards, even if I was earning way more from comments than from posts most of the times, but the main reason I was engaging with the community, besides the fact that I liked doing it, it was because I wanted to create a base of followers and spread my ideas.
Imagine how hard it will be a few years from now, when Steem will be huge, to build a follower’s base since everybody would be battling over the same thing. Even if you don’t get rewarded that much now, think about the long-term potential and that your followers and constant engagement will pay you tremendously in the future.
It wasn’t easy, but for the first months, since I had more spare time, I was commenting, playing poker and talking to people on Discord/Steemit.chat on a daily basis, even up to more than ten hours sometimes, and I can tell you that all my efforts are well worth it.
![Guy break.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXbKPNNwkg9c3JvqxX5nUZ13ChLeiaDiFCUdC4nFVPtto/Guy%20break.png)
Conclusion
Engaging with the people back then is what allows me now to earn some sweet rewards and have an amazing audience that allows me to spread my views and maybe even help others. One thing you have to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t try to be friends with people because you want something from them but just because you like to have a chat and brainstorm some ideas now and then, to genuinely engage with human beings.
Always try to focus on providing value to others and even if you don’t win on the short run, you will probably be paid in the future. This Blockchain Technology is still very new; we are too big to fall and at the same time, big enough to be a threat to the system in place, anything could happen from this point on but I do firmly believe that this whole new world is here to stay. By just not giving up on this ecosystem and investing your time and resources into making it here and providing value, you will eventually get to where you want to be.
Also, if you need help with anything or you have questions, if you need some advice feel free to send me a message on discord at GuyFawkes4-20#4502 and I will make sure to get back to you as fast as possible because I want to help as many people as I can. I already spent some time talking to @artizm today; I hope I was able to help her if not at least give her a boost in mood, make sure to check out her work because she’s an OG hustler that deserves it.
The pictures are from Pixabay: 1, 2, 3, 4.
![guyfawkes4-20.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcMZVVTA8ayd8vvufULvFoKdA6MdYBYdNX37H7BA5VkFH/guyfawkes4-20.gif)
Engaging with people, commenting on other people post is golden especially on the long run.
From what I have seen, a lot of minnows try to focus on getting engaged and having the attentions of the dolphins and whales. But the attentions of the minnows are easy to get and can be your gift on steemit.
Because the ones 'lower' than you on the hierarchy are those that keep your posts bursting with activities...which means you will get noticed by others too especially if you are constantly creating values.
There are definitely great lessons to learn from your steemit journey. I will take time to follow bumper to bumper.
My first curation award came from upvoting someone's introduce yourself post. So yeah that's a good point about not having to only engage with the whales. A new poster seems excited to follow people who engage with them.
Is it ironic that succeeding on Steemit is basically just a matter of 'being human' ?!
Somehow it feels ironic!
Not only that but that's probably one of the most important things, but still, many people forget about this, sadly. We're still early here, so I suppose people will improve more as time goes by, but we'll see about that. :)
As far as I'm seeing steemit is promoting the human connection side of things and I think that is very special about this platform, besides being able to earn money.
It took me a while to get a positive attitude about this platform, as when i first started, nobody seemed to check my blog.
I was so pissed seeing crap on trending, crap that had no sense, being moon-ed to the sky because of some self-jerking upvotes. Soon i made some friends, and money wasn't a priority anymore.
I had a positive attitude about Steem when I joined since everybody seemed nice, most people are acting fake here just to get some upvotes. But, as time went by and I dived deeper, I realized that it's not all just fine and dandy.
To be honest, I don't even go on Trending anymore, too much overvalued shit over there.
This post has been upvoted and picked by Daily Picked #5! Thank you for the cool and quality content. Keep going!
Don’t forget I’m not a robot. I explore, read, upvote and share manually :)
Whao, I guess I gotta find me a poker table real fast, lol.
So the great art of steemit commenting is older than time itself. I know how that is for myself, truly. I can say I've made ten times what I made on post in commenting! Plus I meant a lot of great people, too, many of who support me immensely even on my posts. Plus there's always a bond.
I know, right? I always have this in mind with whatever I do at the moment. Even if my posts aren't making much or getting interactions, I know it's a sort of investment, cos I'm definitely in it for the long run.
And ya definitely right about the interactions. I've met a lot of people that I very much look forward to meeting F2F in the future. Thanks for this series, really. It's really comforting to read all this.
Haha, yeah, get on that poker table.
Yeah man, you got this right, I bet you'll be big a few months from now, it's just a matter of time because you're all over it. Anyway, a few years from now, we'll all be some known people on the platform for sure.
Thank you bud. :)
This is what I like steemit. I have to exercise the "human" in me to involve in a huge humanity. Cant wait to talk to you @guyfawkes4-20.
Thanks for sharing your story.
At first, I started to comment for the rewards but now, the interaction and conversations in the comment section have gotten me.
It's always fun and engaging
Yes, so far to me has also been an adventure on really getting to know interesting people and ideas dwelling on the platform.