Hello guys, this is @hermannsol and today i will like to stretch a hand of help to newbies here from my practical steemit life so far. I know i am only 2 month on steemit and might have not made much progress as compared to others here but atleast i am happy i've made progress thus far and i continue to excel day after day. So, i believe i can help newbies out there with what i have grabbed so far from experienced people here on steemit, and with my additional challenges, overcoming strategies and solutions.

source
I remember joining steemit some 2months ago, and like most newbies i was intrigued by the news of being paid for participating on a social media platform, so i joined immediately to start my own money-making journey but i was soon to realize that it was not as easy as i thought. So lets start the adventure.
1.Mentality Change.
Most newbies join steemit in order to earn which is not a bad thing since it is something steemit offers but as long as your head is all about the money, then trust me you will not enjoy this platform and your wallet will not speak good too. Don't focus so much on the money part, but look at the amazing opportunities that lie within the platform. Steemit is a great place to meet, network, communicate and create connections with people all over the world. You never know where life will take you. That is what i always tell myelf when i am opportuned to meet new people and explains my love to network with them. With this mentality, your mind is set at pace for a great steemit experience not like that of one who goes immediately to check their wallet first thing when they log in. NO, that should not be the case.
2.Patience and Hardwork.
For starters, you can't succeed at anything unless you are determined to succeed and how do you achieve it? Hardwork.
You need to work hard in developing good content if you want to get upvotes, comments, resteems and followers. I see a lot of newbies more interested in making a post everyday of a few lines and a picture and earn nothing at the end instead of taking say 3days and develop good content that is worth reading and helpful. As a newbie, it is not about numbers but the quality in your content. That is what will draw people to your account not numerous short lines of words. Even at times with a well developed post, it still fails to get the attention it deserves. That is no problem, be patient and consistent in your work and sooner than you know it, your hardwork will payoff in a dramatic fashion. Like i always read from an amazing person here on steemit "steemit is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes time, hardwork, consistency and patience".

3.Gaining followers.
Many newbies always fall into the trap of making multiple posts because it increases their followers etc. You get excited when the number grows but do you ask yourself where these followers are when you work so hard to create posts at times and the earn 0.00SBD. Yeah that's right. Here on steemit, it is not all about the number of followers but the kind of followers. I name followers as passive or active followers.
Active followers: These are followers that truly love your content and they follow you to get a more of your content and they are the ones that will always curiate your content. They are always few for example someone with 500followers might have less than 100 active followers. One important issue is that you don't get most of these followers by creating posts but rather commenting on posts, curiatinh others' posts. Get people to know you and what you're all about. This is how you get most 80% of your active followers. So it is quite funny to see that newbies always focus more on creating posts that go unnoticed, yield nothing to very minimal income etc. I did not get my first upvote or SBD through post creation but rather i got an upvote which yielded 0.03SBD through a comment upvote. Before that i had posts that yielded me 0.00SBD. So you see the drill and how nebies get it all wrong.
Passive followers: These are people/bots that follow you for some reasons but fail to curiate your content. Hundreds of them will add very minimal value to your account or anything and people who follow for follow are in this category. Quite sad when you create a post and suddenly get maybe 20 new followers, most of them are passive followers.
So don't focus so much on creating numerous posts that earn very little or nothing and only gives you more passive followers but rather go into commenting on posts. Make people aware of your presence by you checking their posts and commenting. That will not only get you comment upvotes but active followers as well.
4.Tags.
Newbies always face this main problem of which tag to use in their posts. So addressing this issue i will say tags encompass the main idea behind your post. Sometimes you can pick out a tag as a oneword heading to your post. It is as simple as that and tags have a great influence on your post payouts so you want to get them right at all cost. Tags can be changed after posting by editing the post but the main tag (first tag) is unchangeable after posting.
5.Make use of opportunities.
I see so many successful steemians creating games, contests and posts that promotes newbies here on the platform. They range from little to very much in value but most newbies fail to make use of the opportunities. We have communities like @newbieresteemday, @minnowsupport, @greetersguild and individuals who have contests, programs that are all about promoting newbies. Don't give up on your attempts to participate always in them because of multiple failures. Keep participating and giving it your best shot. We have @johndoer123 games where everyone who plays wins, @oleg123 who also awards his followers with weekly payouts through his #MinnowsFeed post, @danielsaori comment challenge. Even though i am still to win this one, despite participating so many times, i have not given up on it. I see myself winning it soon.
That is the successful spirit for the strong are not those that don't fail but those who stand up to try again every time they fail. That is the mind you need here on steemit.
6.Communities.
There are a good number of communities here on steemit that are out to help and support newbies. I mentionned a good number above. Link up with these communities and utilize the discord platform to meet members in these communities and discuss, network with them at a personal level. This is a great tool to make those active followers, promote your content and widen your territory here on steemit.

N/B: I will say right now a minnow i see great potential in is @princess.rebekah and i think she will make a great steemian and a whale soon.
Just to encourage all others, put in more efforts and success is just around the corner waiting.

Quote: pursue excellence and success will follow you.
Thanks to all who have supported me and all others out there so far and continue to support all other newbies and minnows out there.
Cheers.