200 + Followers and 10,000 SP

---

For me, every hundred followers is a major milestone. I have virtually no online presence, I don’t post my content anywhere outside of Steemit, and I don’t spend much time networking, so it takes me time to acquire followers and build an audience. Recently, though, I am very happy to say that I have crossed the 200-follower mark and, in addition to that, I have also reached my first base goal of accumulating 10,000 SP, all of which has been earned solely from curating and posting content.

To those of you who regularly read my content, follow me, and support me with your votes, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can’t thank you enough!

---

---

For anybody out there who thinks that they can’t begin from nothing on Steemit, believe me, you can.

---

When I first joined Steemit last August, I only knew two people who were using the platform--@kafkanarchy84 and his wife (I now personally know three). For most of July and half of August, I read many of the Steemit posts that @kafkanarchy84 linked to on his Facebook page. At the end of every post, I saw fabulous amounts of money being attributed them. After a few weeks of reading these posts, I sent @kafkanarchy84 a message asking him if Steemit was for real. When he said it was, I thought,

If this platform is legitimate, I want in.

After hearing that the money was real, I joined. Just like everyone else, I was intrigued by the possibility of making money through writing and posting original content. I still am.

When talking about Steemit, many people over the past few months have tossed around the slogan, Come for the money, stay for the community. I think that’s a great slogan, and I’m sure there are a lot of great communities forming within the ranks of Steemit members, but if I’m completely honest about it, community is not what has kept me here. I have stayed because I really enjoy being paid to write, and Steemit is the easiest place that I know of to do this.

Yes, I enjoy a lot of the content that I find on Steemit. Yes, I have connected with some great people on Steemit. Yes, the positive attitude of many other Steemians has helped to make the last six months very enjoyable. But what really keeps me creating content and posting on Steemit is the incentive of being paid to do something that I love and having direct access to a potential audience that is growing every day.

---

So how have I gone from the 5 SP I got when I signed up to 10,000 SP and from 0 followers to over 200 followers in six months without having any previous blogging experience, without having much free time, without doing much networking, without cross-posting on other platforms, and without having an online following to bring to Steemit?

---

Well, before I started writing, I thought about what I could write about. I thought about what was interesting to me, what I was knowledgeable of, and what there might be a market for. After brainstorming for a few days, I narrowed my focus down to parenting (I am a parent), raising bilingual children (something that I am trying to do), and everyday life in Japan (the place that I live and work, and a country that many people want to know more about).

While writing my very first post, I recognized that an important part of a platform like Steemit is catching people’s attention, so I worked really hard on creating a title that I thought would be intriguing. Then, I worked really hard on writing a post that I thought would not only be interesting, but would also provide valuable first-hand experience and worthwhile information to its readers. Perhaps it was just good timing and pure luck, but my first post was upvoted by a whale and gained me a few followers. Shortly after that, I was fortunate enough to be featured in a newsletter written by @kafkanarchy 84, who had over a hundred followers at that time. Being featured in this newsletter gave me a few more followers and from there, I was off to what I think was a pretty good and fortunate start.

Since then, I have worked very hard to write almost every day with the time that I have available. This has meant writing at work whenever I have ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes of free time. It has meant writing notes on the memo pad of my phone when walking, eating, and going to the bathroom. It has meant working on four or five posts at a time—quickly giving up one for another whenever I feel stuck. In short, it has meant being very conscious of the time that I have to write and doing my best to make use of every minute of it so that I can post original content with mostly original images at least three or four times a week.

When I first started writing for Steemit, I fumbled for a bit, as is natural. I had a number of zero payout posts. Quite a few of my first posts, posts that I worked very hard on, only garnered ten or fifteen votes. It was discouraging. But, I felt confident in my ability to write and I kept honing my product until I arrived at what has become a long-running serial post for me—This Is Japan (Explore everyday life in Japan).

I would guess that over eighty percent of my posts are dedicated to what I have found to be everyday aspects of living in Japan, aspects of life here that I assume many people probably don’t know much about. It is a niche topic, yes, so I don’t expect it to grow very quickly, but it is a topic that many people have an interest in, so I know that it is something that can provide value.

---

In any market, you either need a name or a product.

---

I’m not famous. I don’t have a personal name that I can use to sell my content, but over the past six months I have created what I think can be considered something of a product. The titles of over eighty percent of my posts are purposely the same (This Is Japan) so that people see my product and immediately recognize it.

I could be wrong, but I think that this is something that helped me get noticed by the curators involved with the Curie Project. That, and possibly the original photos that I use in an attempt to draw potential readers in. Whatever the case, after a month or so of struggling on Steemit, the Curie Project began featuring a number of my posts. This led to higher payouts and a slowly growing number of followers. It opened doors to many other things (being supported by other guilds, receiving the powerful votes of whales, and being placed on voting trails). Now, I find myself where I am today, with a little over 10,000 SP and more than 200 followers.

To some, these numbers may not seem like much, but to me, a person who doesn’t have much time to spend on blogging and networking, a person who started out with 5 SP and 1 follower, they are very significant.

I’ve worked hard and I’ve gotten lucky. And in some cases, I’ve gotten lucky because I’ve worked hard.

To those of you who are just getting started and are struggling to get your footing, I am here to tell you,

Don’t give up! You can do it! Believe me. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

Write daily. Produce content that is honest and that you enjoy. Reach out to others. Use Steemit chat. Help others get started. Help others get noticed by your readers and by the guilds and by doing so, you, too, will get noticed in return.

---

Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me over the past six months. I really appreciate all of your help!

---

---

Lastly: If anyone has any advice for me on how to improve my writing and move toward becoming a full-time writer, I’m all ears. Thank you!

Image Credits: Pixabay