Today I'm going to talk to you about one of the things that is closer to my heart.

I'm a blogger, and let me tell you something - Steemit is easy compared to the world of centralized blogging.

You lose a lot of money to everyone involved in the blogging world, being it ad networks, product providers, payment systems and whatever.

Through all of my blogging life I never saw something as easy as Steemit, and getting an audience here is a lot easier than anywhere else:

• By all means, if I'm wrong, tell me about the alternative;

Now, the issue is there's a HUGE pitfall here.

Steemit is easy... but it's HARD!

What do I mean with this? Read below and find out.

The Way to Growth: Persistence, Hard Work, Smart Work!

The thing I'm going to discuss is the thing a lot of people fail to realize.
My growth has been quite fast, and as my audience are mainly new STEEMIT users, they end up asking me about the secret to my growth.

Well, the secret is I avoided one of the main pitfalls of Steemit, and what makes Steemit - even though it's easy - hard!

That pitfall is... it's yourself!

People usually start blogging on STEEMIT with a lot of steam (pun intended) but they get really frustrated when they think they're not making progress, and eventually they stop caring.

Another common pitfall is that people want to get job level rewards and fail to treat it as a job.
It's all right for people to use Steemit as a regular blog, talking about everything they want... but don't expect to have a professional level brand or professional level results if you're not into putting some professional level work into it.

You'll see that my posts are consistent and they cater to the same audience mostly.

You'll also see that my resteems aren't that much.

Finally, you'll see that I mention I love memes, animals, food, drink and all that but yet I never publish a meme, a selfie with a dish or something like that.

This happens because I treat my blog as a brand - a personal brand with a personal touch but a brand nonetheless.

The reason my posts are consistent and cater to the same audience is because I don't want to alienate my followers.

The reason I don't resteem very much is because people follow me to see my content and I feel responsible for them getting that, instead of my friend's content.

Finally, you must work hard every day, so add that to the smart work required and you got yourself a winner.

Steemit is easy... but you get and you put in.

Add low effort for low rewards, add high effort for bountiful ones.

The Golden Rule: Don't Make Exceptions!

Finally - Don't make exceptions.

The branding, the marketing, the networking... all of these elements are vital variables if you want your blog to succeed. But there's something even more vital:

• Hard Work!

The number one reason people fail to work hard consistently is that they make exceptions.

Let me illustrate that by telling you just how I almost fell victim to this.

I'm a University Teacher and it's the end of the semester. I have a lot of exams and assignments to correct.

Turns out I finished work for today at 2 AM.

I felt exhausted and needed to get some sleep. I was preparing to go to bed when it dawned on me:

Shit! I didn't publish a post today!

Then I thought: Oh heck, I'll just publish it tomorrow.

NO! - I froze and thought - this is how it starts.

And indeed it is... you open a precedent, you make an exception, and all of a sudden you are no longer fulfilling your goals.

I have to publish something everyday, and so even if now the clock marks 3 AM, I'm still writing.

I need to produce!

I need to work!

Because I need to SUCCEED!

Think about it this way the next time you think about opening up a precedent or making an exception.

Don't fall for it.

Don't Resign, Don't Give Up: It's Easy... It's Hard!

Finally, to conclude this post, know that it all comes down to this:

Are you willing to work hard and work smart in a consistent way without shortcuts, excuses or giving up?

If you answered with yes - Congratulations.

YOU'RE JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

Because the real test doesn't happen while you're reading this post or working... the real test happens at 2:30 AM when you finish a hard day of work and see the laptop tucked away staring at you.

Will you go to bed, hug your wife, kiss her and go to sleep?

Or will you drink a glass of water, wash your face, turn on the computer and begin writing a new post?

A NEW TESTAMENT TO YOUR DETERMINATION?

This is the real test.

Yours will come... are you ready?

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