Started from the Bottom: One Steemian's journey through the good, the bad and the glorious
Steemit has had its share of ups and downs, but I think many of us are starting to see a bright future. To mark my major milestone of 200 followers, here is my story through humble beginnings three months ago to the booms of today using simply the written word and nothing more. Hopefully it can help others gain some perspective on what it's like to dedicate their blogging efforts to Steemit and the countless advantages it brings with it.
In the course of these three months I have written 135 blog posts, 548 comments and attained a reputation score of 64. These posts earned a grand total of 3,200.99 Steem and an additional $36.40 SBD (Note: A vast majority of my posts have been Powered Up). Thus, with comments excluded, my main blog posts have yielded over 23 Steem per post (about $18 USD by today's price of $0.775 per Steem)
Compare this to my first 30 days where I wrote 61 posts and around 200 comments earning around 2,500 worth of Steem in total. The price of Steem then was around $0.207 per Steem which came out to about 42.4 Steem (then $8.48) per post.
One might notice that while my number of blog posts remained consistent, my reputation increased and my number of followers consistently grew, Steem payouts sharply declined in March and April with "The Experiment" in addition to Hardfork 18. I imagine this was common pretty much completely throughout Steemit, and for many these would be considered the "dark times".
During this period my average payout was well less than $1.00 USD per post, so I might have been inclined to agree. However, also during this time I produced some of my best posts. Why?
I took this time to test and experiment with the abilities of Steemit and learned a lot more about the community than I had ever done previously. I began talking with others I hadn't previously opened up to, cross-posted to platforms I hadn't used before and even performed my first real cryptocurrency trades in order to curb the effects of Steem's falling prices.
I wasn't deterred. Instead I was determined.
While the first payouts since the Steem boom haven't been completed yet, I think many will agree that it's looking a lot less bleak than things did a month or two ago. With that in mind, however, don't forget to stay humble. Remember your struggles and your beginnings well and never lose site of what made Steemit great in the first place: you!
Keep on Steemin' on!
Don't worry bud. You'll make it huge.
I've been here for 9 months. You can say Steemit is my baby. There have been so many changes, which is good for a ground breaking initiative. The only time I didn't enjoy was a period of acrimonious mud slinging.I can't wait to see what the future holds!
HF18 sucking away payouts definitely got people punchy too, but all my favorites stuck around so it helped stay focused.
It definitely helps not to take anything too seriously!
I registered the account last year but only started posting this month and I somehow still want instant results.
I am afraid of writing good long posts and have very few people see them. So I prefer to keep it short and sweet.
Do what works for you of course, but victory goes to the bold! I started crossposting more to Reddit, Twitter, Medium, etc. when I thought views were dropping and I think it definitely helped keep things more consistent. Plus every now and then I'll have posts get 10K+ views which is good exposure even if those don't all convert to upvotes.
I always share on Twitter about 24 hours after posting on Steemit.
It's a good strategy to keep it somewhere in between I think.
Very well said and great post @rebelskum. Appreciate all you do.
Thanks so much and much appreciation right back at ya! You were one of the first accounts here I followed!
Great post. I'm new here and still learning the ropes but I see great potential for the future! Add one more follower to that list, keep it up!
The research into what people like and what they don't is one of the most interesting parts of Steemit. I'm a seriously nobody newb, and this post really helps in terms of understanding the curve. I'd like Steemit to become part of the regular rotation of my writing. Knowing how the factory runs--seeing other people's results--shortens the learning of how to do that. Many thanks.
Vey inspiring post @rebelskum! I'm having a great time with the community and feel very motivated to continue working on my post and comments to make this place as good as it can be for everyone.
Thank you for sharing your experience!