I bet you're going to tell me that money trees don't really exist! In a way, you are correct, but I'm going to tell you how you CAN actually grow money from practically nothing!

The first thing you need is a seed. The seed is the idea that I am presenting to you now.

The next step is to find a suitable place to grow your tree. That place is Steemit.com .

You will need to prepare a spot to place your seed. That place is your very own blog page. To get that, you will need to register for an account. Registration involves choosing a username. This name cannot be altered, so choose carefully. You will also be required to supply an e-mail address. There will be a message sent to that address and you will be required to click a link to confirm the message was received. Then you will be asked for a phone number that is able to receive a text message. Once the text message is received and confirmed on-line at the registration page, your account must be approved. This part can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks, so be patient. After receiving an e-mail message saying that your account has been approved, you will need to re-enter your username and e-mail address and continue the registration process by generating a password. The password is re-entered to confirm it and your account is now ready to use.

WARNING:

There is no password recovery system, so DO NOT lose your password! Write it down on paper and keep it in a safety deposit box or other secure place. This is your MASTER PASSWORD.

Once logged into steemit.com with your MASTER PASSWORD, click on the link that says "wallet". This is where your money will go once you start earning it. Now click the link "permissions". You will see something like this:

The strings of what look like random numbers and letters you see are your public keys. These public keys are not used by you, but are associated to your private keys. Click on the links "show private key" and a new set of letters and numbers is displayed. These ARE used by you, so copy each of them into a text editor and label them with the appropriate titles (posting and active).

I wasn't logged in with my MASTER KEY when I grabbed the image, so the active key has no "show private key" link. Instead it shows "login to show". This is exactly why you should NOT regularly use your MASTER KEY to log in. This wallet is your private bank account and you want to keep it as secure as possible!

Save your text file on a USB stick and preferably make another copy of the file on a 2nd USB stick and keep that with your MASTER PASSWORD. Now log out.

Copy your POSTING KEY from the USB stick and paste that into another text file and save that on your computer hard drive if you want the convenience of not having to always use the USB drive; otherwise, simply log into your account using that POSTING KEY. The posting key will allow you to make posts, comments and vote, but it will NOT allow access to your money. When you want to move some money around, you will need to log in using your ACTIVE KEY. The active key lets you do practically everything, but it is not your MASTER KEY. The MASTER KEY is used (if someone manages to somehow steal your account) to get your account back and change all the other keys.

Now that you know how to securely access your account, lets get back to growing that money tree:

In order to successfully grow any plant, you need to understand what conditions that plant will grow best under. This generally takes some research. If you are waiting to have your account approved, this would be a good time to do some research. Clicking on the 3 horizontal lines at the top right side of the page opens up a side menu. The Quick Start Guide is a great place to start, however some of the information in it may be a bit outdated. Steemit is still in beta, so things are changing all the time. In the FAQ link, under the heading COMMUNITY, you can find out about steemit's etiquette. There are lots of people who have posted things they learned about steemit (including me), so you can continue your research by checking out what others are saying on their blog pages.

Now that you have planted your seed and done your research, you need to nurture your seedling so that it will grow strong and healthy. Start by encouraging root growth. Although root growth is not something that is readily visible, it is vially important to the health of your plant. Begin by finding authors that post on topics that you are interested in. After reading their posting, try to say something that adds to the value of the post. At the bottom of every post is a bar with a reply button. Use that button to suggest something new or a different perspective or a personal situation that you experienced that is similar to what the post is about. Engage with authors and their followers. Keep doing this for a number of authors and eventually you will find people will start to follow you. If you enjoy some of the things people have written, you should click the upvote icon. Be aware, however, that you can vote only 10 times per day without depleting your vote power. You can vote more, but your votes will be worth less and less. You should also know that by voting, you actually earn a portion of what the author earns for their post. Posts only earn rewards for 7 days, so don't bother voting on posts older than 7 days.

Once you have roughly 50 followers, it is time to make some articles of your own. To give the seedling a good start, people with large reputations (Whales and Dolphins) often look at the categories of INTRODUCEYOURSELF, INTRODUCEMYSELF and INTRODUCTION and will use their huge voting power to give the REDFISH (new members) and Minnows an extra boost in earnings (voting power determines the amount of reward). Knowing this, it is a really good idea to do a little more research before making your own introduction. From the list of tags on the right-hand side of the page (when looking at any of the HOME, NEW, HOT, TRENDING or PROMOTED links), click on INTRODUCEYOURSELF, INTRODUCEMYSELF and INTRODUCTION. Look at the numbers that represent the estimated value of the post rewards and compare those with low rewards against those with high rewards. Study what kinds of posts receive greater rewards and do something unique that should get you those larger rewards. You get one chance at introducing yourself, so make it a good one!

After making your introductory post, your sapling should have enjoyed a small growth spurt and your wallet will contain some money (after a week has passed from the posting date). Continue to engage with authors, vote (curate) on their content and comments/replies and write some of your own articles and post them to your own blog for others to vote on. Relax now and enjoy the experience of interacting on this platform. Keep feeding your sapling by writing and posting articles, enjoying the companionship of your followers and those who you follow and soon enough your sapling will begin to look somewhat like a tree. The hard part is over and you can cruise along as your tree slowly but surely grows into a mature tree.

And THAT, my friends, is how to grow your own money tree!