What mentality have you come here with? What dream was sold to you? What fantasy world has your mind conjured? What do you hope to achieve? When do you hope to achieve these things?

There are three basic things that lead to success universally. No matter where on earth you are, if you get these things right, then you're on your way to bliss. They are basic concepts from life and branding and we'll like to apply them to Steemit.

Idea, Patience, and Branding.

Idea.

To succeed in a crowded environment, you have to standout. You have to be different. As a newbie, you need to bring something different to the table for you to be recognized. Sometimes you need to swim against the tide for people to recognize you. They might call you crazy but at least now they know who you are.

To standout here on Steemit, you have to decide what you're going to do differently. What new perspective are you bringing to the community? In what way would the community benefit from your presence here. How will people notice you? What are the things you need to do?

All these questions help you form and develop your idea. This idea is practically the reason why you're on Steemit and it's a lot like your "brand story".

Your Steemit Blog Is Your Brand

This is a mentality you should imbibe. A brand is a well thought out entity, with all its aspects carefully developed down to the tiniest detail.

The best brands carefully and meticulously pick out the appropriate colors, fonts, and words to correctly represent the emotions and feelings they hope to portray. They take the time out to craft their USP (Unique Selling Point) just so they can stand out from the crowd.

How Does This Apply To You?

Focus on building the best possible business. If you are great, people will notice and opportunities will appear. - Mark Cuban

Now once you've realized that your Steemit blog is your business/brand, then the above quote by the Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, should be engraved in every part of your mind!

Everyone on Steemit wants to be successful and make hundreds of dollars on every post but they key according to the above quote is to focus on building the best possible business; in this case, your Steemit blog. Developing the idea of who you are and how you plan to stand out from the crowd is your first step to answering the question "How can I be successful on Steemit".

Patience.

Building a brand to the point where it is easily recognizable and loved by people doesn't happen overnight. Nowadays, when you tell people this, they are quick to scream "Yes I know it doesn't happen overnight" yet they want to see success after one or two trials.

New things, no matter how great, need time to penetrate and then circulate. The amazing story of Coca-Cola's early days is a good enough case study.

Many Steemians listen to and follow the advice of writing quality content and then they expect this content to blow up just because it's of good quality. Things don't work that way. Your duty is to continue on that path of making quality content regardless of what the reward is at the time. Like the quote from Mark Cuban, if you're great, people will notice - eventually!

A brand is a living entity - and is enriched or determined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures. - Michael Eisner of Disney

The keywords here being "...cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures. And this leads to the final point.

Persistence

Do you know the words patience and persistence mean different things?

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

Persistence is the fact of continuing in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

After you've had an idea to stand out from the crowd, you've diligently developed it and you're waiting for your brand to blow up in popularity, there's a huge tendency to get discouraged and give up. This is where persistence comes to play.

You need to keep at what you've been doing. Keep at churning out quality content every day, not because you hope to have a huge payout but because it's what you should be doing. It is what you want people to associate you with.

If your brand is the happy, jovial and friendly one, keep at it. If yours is about personal stories or adventures, keep at it. If you're sharing recipes you love, continue in this course of action in spite of the low rewards or engagement you might be receiving.

We'll end this with this quote by Don McDonald

We're not going to have brand traction within three months. Building a brand takes many years. - Don McDonald

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Here are some interesting reads from our members

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• An initiative to help out street kids in Nigeria

• A reminder of the obvious; on racial segregation

• More love for children on this special day

• This will help you to survive in Lagos traffic

Support #onequality and help grow the presence of a diverse group on here as Steemit becomes a community for all.

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