Introduction

This is all for the minnows. It is for those who find within themselves the raging spirit to keep moving forwards on this platform. It is equally for those who find the spirit receding or lost.
This is also the story of my experiences, my triumphs and my failures. It is presented in the format of advice and suggestions. I am nearly 1000 steem. It is not much but it is far from zero where I once was. At 20% of my path to a dolphin, I can see my path more clearly. I wish to help others get to this 20% way faster than I did. Here we go.

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The platform: Your first ingredients.

Understand the platform.

Read the Steem white paper, blue paper, app center, API docs. Read all you can. Understand why the last Hard fork happened, understand the supply of steem, understand the SBD peg etc. it is very frustrating when you come to the platform without basic understanding. You can look at some my early idiotic, angry posts. I did not do my homework and thus lost time and other value that I could have gained.

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Love and Admiration for the platform. It changes you.

I have a real job and likely you do as well. Keep it. You are not going to make money for months to years. Not real money. Maybe a few thousand dollars but that’s it. You may not see the wisdom of this now but imagine you want to build a team. There are certain qualities you will look for in your recruits. The active ones who prevailed on this platform are people made of a different cloth compared to those who gave up early. Just in a few months I have noticed the quality of material exponentially get better. These are the people who strived to improve themselves and prevailed. Don’t you want to be a part of that group? Life has a way of weeding out the weak from the strong. The design of this system is bound to make it stronger and stronger.
What I am saying is that before you get a ton of rewards, the system asks you to prevail, produce good content and do it consistently. It also expects you to produce good interactions and discussions.
Trust me on this : if you get serious about Steemit, you will invariably go through a lot of personal growth. I will tell you how. When you truly attempt to produce a good blog, you have to read and research a tremendous amount. You get back to reading in depth which is a lost art. Then you have to put it all together and produce a writing piece. It will make you see perspectives that you didn’t imagine. Perspectives that would not have existed for you. When you understand something to the depth of being able to explain it to a general audience, then you really understood the subject. It will surprise you betond that moment. Your newly found neural connections start helping you in general life. You will actually get smarter.
You will learn how to accept failure after failure. In your head you may think, you produced a masterpiece. 5 people read it and your payout stands at 5 cents. If you want to succeed, take a moment or many of those moments to analyze how to do better next time. If next time you make it to 7 cents, congratulate yourself and aim higher. You will learn patience. You will understand what it takes to be successful at anything in life. It truly is 99% perspiration. When somebody said that 90% of life is showing up, there is truth to that. Whether you make 4 posts a day or write once a week, do it consistently. Practice makes perfect. Just show up and keep showing up.
There is more to this than money. You will build character, you will get smarter and you will live a better life. Do it just to become a better human being. If you can see this platform as a bridge to a new and improved you, you will love it.
So get beyond payouts and develop love and admiration for Steemit. You will not succeed if you get frustrated with it and dislike it. I have given you plenty of reasons to start loving it once you recognize the inner beauty and benefits that most fail to see in the beginning. Honestly, if you can’t love this place, leave because you will just waste your time.

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Notice your 5 cent payout vs posts making hundreds.

First understand that your 5 cents probably have a worth 100-1000 times in due time but that is not the point. Just know that we all started at 1 cent. People who got up there needed time just like you and I, but more importantly think of them as anchors of this platform. Without them your 5 cents will always be only 5 cents. Great content makes Steemit rise in Google rankings. The platform becomes more and more valuable. It brings in more people. Be thankful for great producers that stuck with this platform. This gives you a chance to rise up on a platform that has tremendous intrinsic value. Never be jealous, always know that we all owe these guys. Be grateful for the marvelous posts that generate tremendous value. if you see some getting paid a whole lot and you don’t find the content worthwhile, move on. There are reasons for such things that are not worth discussing. Stay focused on the good stuff and analyze why they do so well. Incorporate what you learn from them. Let me give you a few examples. I love reading @arbitrarykitten posts. She can engage an audience. You learn a writing style. I love reading @mobbs posts. This is how complex science should be presented to a general audience. I love reading @lemouth posts. I can actually report that a particle physicist actually once responded to my comment on his post. Yes a Particle physicist. I am probably no better than a zoo monkey to him. I mean this guy knows what happens beyond Planck length. I dearly enjoy my interactions with @drdave. We see things very differently in politics. I admire President Trump and he does not. He does present his arguments and opinions very coherently and with great sense. You learn great points of view. I enjoy posts from @everittdmickey. He is wiser than Gandalf. The list is long. The point is that when you choose to follow people, do it because you enjoy their posts but also follow some for selfish reasons. You want to learn from them. You will see the difference between your payout and their payouts decrease.

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants. (Newton)

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There is really no place for negativity here.

When you are miserable and angry, find another outlet. Maybe Facebook or YouTube. Here you will find a few votes in the short term but it will stunt your growth in the long term. There is much positive stuff in this world. There is some ESPN reporter Nolan, who called the president F....ing stupid. For 30 seconds, I contemplated writing a post about it. Her incident is so negative and worthless that I dropped the idea. Look at the successful posts. Very very positive stuff. When you write, imagine yourself as the reader of your posts. Will your post bring feelings of happiness and joy and positivity to the reader? Will it add knowledge? Will it be worth their time? Respect other’s time. Feed your reader positive things. Add to their life. If you do that, then success awaits you.

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Learn Markdown and learn how to not lose an audience.

The process of conveying your thoughts to somebody else is a complex art. It is most difficult when done as a blog post. There are no second chances. There is no Q&A session and your are competing with thousands of posts. Make it worth their time. Be clear, be concise and be pleasing to the senses. You cannot do it without learning markdown and formatting your post well.
If you write a very long post, you will lose many reader before they get to the end. If it is visually unpleasant, they will go away. If your thoughts are not coherent, audience disappears.
Always source your pictures and always cite your references. This brings authenticity to the post. It is imperative for a good blog post.
Always write and reassess it from a busy readers perspective.

I have a lot more to say but it is important to know when to stop.
I wish you great success on this platform and in life.