Who here has whiplash? Two weeks ago, @mada and I exchanged pleasantries by the salad bar at The Wedge co-op in uptown Minneapolis. It went something like this “…I think Bitcoin is going to hit $2000!”. “Yeah, that would be crazy!”, he replied. Four days later, we were wrapping our heads around the possibility of $3000 Bitcoin! It seemed pretty obvious there was soon to be a consequence for this unrealistic, across the board, gain in value. And last night, that consequence dick slapped the entire crypto-economy.

So, you’re new to Steemit. You’ve had a few posts that’ve made bank, and your newfound friends with reputations 60+ are shitting their pants because STEEM is below $1. You’re asking yourself “…what is life?!”. Well, let me hold your hand through this troublesome storm. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.

Like you, I’m a regular person. I’m not a savant programmer single-handedly steering the world of cryptocurrency in to the next frontier. I’m a regular guy; freelance artist, that stumbled across Steemit last August. I had a crazy successful introduction post. Once I cashed some of my rewards for USD, I committed to Steemit on principle alone that this was the answer to the growing resentment I’ve had towards Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! The money was an extra incentive, but the community was what kept me posting.

I’ve since become a woke crypto-enthusiast, and that will happen to you if you stay in the fold. It just “happens”. If you’re ambling through the doom and gloom comments, and the contrastingly optimistic posts […to be fair and impartial, there is a lot to be optimistic about] looking for some footing, let’s speak truth to the subtleties of Steemit during STEEM shake ups.

Find mentors that know Steemit and cryptocurrency! 

There are some model Steemians. My friends @mada and @lovejoy have been invaluable in navigating me through the intricacies of this place. @thecryptofiend was one of the first friends I made on here and has since become an active force of the community for curating new and exceptional content and authors. I also stumbled across @jerrybanfield on YouTube while trying to learn how to trade on Poloniex. @jerrybanfield’s videos were great because he seemed to have discovered alt coin trading just a few months earlier. He’s been really up front about what’s worked for him. These people may not but your short list of Steemit mentors, but you’ll come across them. When you do, bookmark them, observe what makes their posts and insights memorable. Allow yourself to be inspired by others.

Cultivate a following through consistent, quality blogs!

Months ago, @lovejoy mentioned that “…this is the most important number on your whole site!”, pointing to the followers on my Steemit profile. That is absolutely true. These are the people that will see your blogs, each and every time you post one. The quality of your posts needs to be exceptional to stand out from the explosion of new users to the platform, and those calibre of posts must be consistent. If STEEM takes a dip, you shouldn’t be deterred by shrinking rewards. Head down and work hard. When I first joined Steemit, I remember minnows transferring 1.000 STEEM to @berniesanders and other whales, hoping to get upvotes. The whales and big investors on Steemit are just as incentivized to reward outstanding authors as we are to turn out great content, projects and initiatives. When Steemit does well, they do well. Throwing STEEM tokens at whales isn’t going to get you noticed […well, it might, but not likely how you’re intending]. Authoring world class writing, music, art, poetry or photography during the lulls, however; that’s how you show your commitment to Steemit and get noticed.

Lower STEEM is the opportunity of a lifetime!

During the lulls, I continued posting several times a week. My payouts for posts were hit and miss, but again, I’m here because I believe in this platform, I love this community and I’m always trying to reach a new audience with my work. There was silver lining to $0.08 STEEM that I hadn’t full realized until it went back up to $1.30 recently. During the slow times, I bought STEEM at almost nothing with virtually all of my SBD! Even a payout reward of 20.000 would fetch me 250.000 STEEM on the open market, so I did that, and did that, reinvesting in what I knew would be an inevitable resurgence the currency. Here we are today, and even at $0.92 STEEM […currently at time of writing], I have $10,765 of account value all earned on sweat equity. Most of that small fortune made when STEEM was down.

Advice for your Steemit roadmap!

I’m a few months shy of a year on Steemit. Here’s my advice for new Steemians hoping to change their lives. It sounds counter-productive, but I’d stop thinking about all the money you’re going to make. Be zen about this shit! On your journey to enlightenment in hopes of reaching Nirvana, you must abandon all desires…including that of reaching Nirvana. Only then can you fucking reach Nirvana! I’d apply that to Steemit as well. Only when you shed the hopes of giant payout rewards will you be free to make the quality content that’ll actually move Steemit forward. From there, the rewards will follow! If you’re thinking, “…easy for your to say, @kommienezuspadt. You make between $50 - $100 per post.”, please read above about cultivating a following and being steady through the lulls. Also, I do still whiff like my hilarious POGS post “The hottest new investment alt coin is actually an old classic!”. Those kind of blogs […and this one, if I’m being honest], take substantially more brain power to write than the beautiful pinup models I regularly photograph, and these typically do half as well. I do them, though, because I think they’re either funny, or meaningful. They show I offer more to Steemit than just photos of girls in lingerie.

I’d advise you to let your audience find you. I recently had this conservation with my girlfriend @vermillionfox. She loves anime, manga and Kawaii culture. She’s been inspired to start a comic strip, and I’m encouraging her to do it. I can tell she worried that Steemit doesn’t have a big enough manga/anime community to justify the time and work to draw it. The thing is, I catch her laughing at her own ideas, finding ways to incorporate our friends on Steemit like @tarotbyfergus and @mada. I have no doubt it’ll gain a following here if she’s consistent. In the coming iterations of Steemit, communities are going to be a feature on the site, allowing you to either start, or join manga, anime, K-drama or whatever crazy shit you’re in to. Once the pieces fall in to place and she’s making decent rewards for a serialized comic strip, that becomes a job you can do forever. She’ll wake up excited just to go to work. I know this to be true because that’s exactly how I feel about my job.

The last piece of advice I have for you is to bring your friends here. Nothing is going enrich your experience like sharing this phenomenon with friends. Friends that are going to have the same disbelief you had when they make a post, participate in a technological revolution and actually earn money for it. You’ll make new friends as you use Steemit, but you’ll have civilian friends from “the real world” as well. One of my favorite things is crossing paths with @mada or @lovejoy at Caffetto coffee shop and do the quick run down of crypto-events […no shortage of them lately].

And with that, go off young minnows, in to the Steemit ocean and become the whales you were meant to be. Follow me here @kommienezuspadt for more thoughts on life and crypto, art, illustration and photography.