ORGANIC GROWTH IN STEEMIT: Is this the right strategy for me?
Hello Steemians,
First off, I hope this post doesn't receive violent reactions, or worse, flags. I'm putting this out there because I'm confused with the way I try to grow in Steemit and I would like to start a discussion about this.
ORGANIC Growth
I have been struggling to grow organically here. By organic, I mean without the use of bid bots. I have joined communities, talk to a lot of people and involve myself in "offsite" Steemit activities. Sometimes the socialization part takes most of my time. I do enjoy it but sometimes I don't get enough time to sleep. I was hoping to get real connections and real followers too if I'm lucky.
This takes a lot of time and effort. Most days I don't sleep enough and it's already hurting my health. I haven't had a thyroid ultrasound since joining Steemit because I can feel that that the tumors on my neck has grown. I am stressed so I don't expect good results from an ultrasound anyway.
Sometimes I feel that trying to grow organically here is what would kill me. I mean that literally because I currently have a non-aggressive type of papillary thyroid cancer. But it's there and may transform to something else if I don't take care of myself. I have also noticed that my eyesight has become poorer from looking at my computer at work and then Steemit. The only time I don't look at a computer or phone screen is when I'm sleeping or in the bathroom!
Is it worth it?
That leads me to think if it's worth putting my health aside so that I can possibly have real success here. That means real followers and real readers of blogs I have worked on for hours. Especially my travel blogs which I take days to draft because I want it to be special (my Wander Blog series and not the Wander Snaps).
Today, I was supposed to join a Steemit meet up in my home province, Bulacan, but I am not feeling well. It's easy to look like I'm well in chats but I have been feeling exhausted easily the past days.
I took this photo at Lokal Hostel in MakatiUpvote Bid Bots
This leads me to think of Upvote Bid Bots. I'm not referring to those bots where you just register so you can get a small vote somehow, I'm referring to those you can send big amounts of SBD so your post can get hundreds of dollars.
I have thought about them several times and debated with myself against it. I have also talked to some people I look up to who don't use them so I get encouraged to continue growing organically.
We have different strategies on how to grow here in Steemit. Some use these upvote bid bots, and some don't. It's something so subjective that I can't even say which is right or wrong but is just a matter of choice.
I have chosen not to use them BUT here I am debating with myself again and here are my reasons why:
I am not a famous person who could naturally get followers because of my name
I don't have a special talent. My specialty is travel blogging and almost everyone here travel blogs
Getting curated feels like winning a lottery
I don't have a whale friend who can send in some support from time to time
I am not sure if whales care about planktons like me :'(
Hundreds of pay out produced from bidding would help me reach my dreams to become a digital nomad and would help me cure myself faster since I can buy the best alternative medicine for my illness.
But I still don't feel like using them
I have strong arguments against myself but I still cling to the reasons why I am not using them. I have tried using them in my first month on 3 posts. It didn't feel good. And I still go back to these reasons:
I want real followers and readers of my posts
I am not sure if it's sustainable to always bid (but then my sleeplessness is becoming unsustainable for my health)
Growing organically will make me try harder to improve every post
I don't want to become greedy later on because of the want to get more dollars on a post. Now this is just a possible effect and not always the case.
So right now, my conclusion is NOT to use them. But it makes me sad because I know I will be left behind while everyone else who uses bid bots are now enjoying the reward for their hard work.
What's your strategy to grow in Steemit?
Which way?PS. I hope you don't flag me because I am not using the same strategy as yours. This post is meant to start a discussion. And if you do flag me then you have just killed me for all the health sacrifices I have done to work on my blogs.
UPDATE: I appreciate the concern I have received regarding my health. Thank you! Please don't worry about me. Whether or not in Steemit, I still have to work hard because reality is that it's a high maintenance illness. And I know that we all have our own struggles here. I didn't mean to highlight my illness but I just wanted to provide a background as to why I'm feeling this way.
And I have more hope in Steemit than my current day job and failing career so I have more reasons to work harder here.
@wanderlass my heart goes out to you my dear friend! Your health is the most important thing so please stay conscious of it and take time when you need to!
With that said, I totally know the feeling (although not as pressing as you) I have chronic health problems too that I work on and some days are better. I was making a ton of headway but over the last 6 months or so- more this last month and a half it's been flaring back up which is aggravating when you want to put all your spare time into Steemit but you feel like crap and can't. Then you miss out on things and get behind on here and it's discouraging..
I don't use bots either and I don't understand them much. I'm 100% on the same page with you - where I want real followers and real readers but at the same time making $1.65 on a post I spent 6 hours on seems a little deterrent from what I'm trying to do on here. I'd love to do this full time or even just more heavily but when it comes down to making it work in the real world with jobs and bills and all that you have to start weighing your options..
I hope you will stick with it as I really enjoy your posts as well as your company on here. I consider you one of my good friends on here and I'd do anything in my means to help you succeed <3 <3
take care of your health though my friend. I'm sending you loving, positive vibes!!
Hi @amariespeaks thank you for your heartwarming message and support. Whatever your health problem is, I wish you get better. Change in diet would help. And we need to be less stressed. It's just a challenging season for me but I will stay strong to stay here. I am so happy to have met you here as well and I can feel that you're a genuine person. Tbh, I don't have much friends anymore in real life because I'm difficult to understand. It's ironic how I can seem to connect better with people who are so far. I'm happy to have you as a friend :)
I believe that if we want it long term then the harder and slower way/ organic is the best. But I do acknowledge that others have different strategies. It just involves a lot of hardwork not just here but off Steemit like discord. I know that your average $1.65 will get to $3 then $5 and so on. I wish you success here and yo have my support! <3
I have to say that if you're preferring to grow without the bid bots then choose it because it's your own decision to do so but I would like to add that each and everyone of us in this platform is responsible of whatever we choose and willing to accept the consequences as a result of the said choice.
As for your health that you should not overexert yourself too much and in case that you have work beside from Steemit then you should lessen your time on the platform because it's unwise of you that you're making it worse while you're currently diagnosed with a certain illness.
Hi @kuminga, very well said!:
I wish most Steemians would think this way and would have the heart for what would benefit this platform and community long term.
Thanks for your concern for my health as well. I see clearly that health comes first but I have reasons why I can't prioritize it, although I'm trying. I don't want to give too much info about it but one reason is I don't have a family anymore and I only have myself to depend on for my present needs and my future. But yes, I will look for ways to manage it.
I see, that there is a reason why you need to work and I respect that but please that be mindful with your health as well.
Regarding about earlier that it also applies to bid bot users as well such as myself which I felt that when ever I used these bots that I have to make sure that the content that I'm showing are in good quality since I treat my account as a business.
Thank you again for the friendly reminder about my health. And I agree, quality post must be ensured if someone will use the bot services. I understand that it's one way to market quality content.
Hi @wanderlass, I hope you find time to get more sleep, so you can rest better and be able to continue at what you are doing now.
How ever you choose to grow and no matter how fast or slow the growth will be, Im sure that with your persistence and consistency, YOU WILL GET THERE. Just take good care of yourself more so you can also continue inspiring us!🤗
Thanks for the concern @superstarxtala. I appreciate it. I agree that persistence and consistency are what really would help us here. Although the method (to bid bot or not to bid bot) is where my dilemma is because almost everyone is using these bid bots.
I was not sure about robots when I began posting my content. Then I quickly realized that it would take tons of effort and time to get paid what I feel like I deserve. So I started using Minnowsupport (I received an upvote of .15 which is nearly nothing) and I'm looking at the Universal Basic Income too. I Don't know if these are the bots you are talking about, and I have used it only once. To me, I would say I would use these just to push myself off. In the future, I will probably use a lot sbd to promote my content, anyways. Plus, whatever money I make, some part, maybe most of it will go into making more projects and more content to make this a better world (so why not?).
I really dislike having to learn about using bots.. I have spent a lot more time in researching how to use them, which sucks because I could be using this time to grow more food, spend time with my family and friends, creating more art or writing up more articles. Or heck just even living my life, you know? Instead, I have been running around trying to get myself noticed (and trying to do it quickly because of the 6-day payment period). Many would argue that "it's not about the money", but I don't even have a job right now. So putting out a lung (organic growth) to grow here, could and should be the way to get going, right? It makes me wonder about the introverted people because they would have zero chance here. I'm for sure not an extrovert, and have just recently begun to share my thoughts through the platform because I have to (survival of the fittest?).
This is the first article I read from you, but hearing that you sleep less to build up your success just makes me feel so identified with you, because I put TONS of effort into production and have been sleeping less since I joined (I bet you too), to go through the learning curve and also produce content. I'm not good at marketing.. never have been.. So basically we have to take the learning curve on the platform, bots and/or some other projects, produce (I take time), and also market, which is an insane amount of work (you know!) My intro post made $ .03 and I spent nearly a week and a half making the illustrations and writing it. That sucks..
I think that a "random" category of posts could at least give a little random chance to newbies.
Please take care of your health. I really recommend that you look into Dr. Sebi. He was a doctor from Honduras, who cured cancer, diabetes, AIDS, HIV and a lot more stuff. Unfortunately, he died last year in a jail cell where he was put in after they found him carrying $15k at an airport, without a fair trial. I think they did this on purpose. He came out clean. His legacy remains, but I really advice you to research a lot and move carefully if you try to reach them, because I have read that there's been dispute between his family and the people who he worked with (all for the money, as usual).
Sorry for the mess I wrote, I had too many things to say. I really hope we can succeed here. Hey and by the way, I see that you HAVE made some progress since you joined. I don't know if I'm just doing it wrong or what.. but I feel like a slug. Maybe slower that a slug jajaja Perhaps I'm becoming a plant already and haven't realize it yet? ._.
Thank you for supporting me!
I forgot to tell you that I have been really stressed with all this. My jaw has been really tight, my neck and back are stiff, and I have been anxious about it all..
I feel so overwhelmed with all the content that I have to read to follow through and make connections, to go through the learning curves even about other systems like @earthnation. I have 35-50 tabs open on my browser with all sorts of different things that I have on queue (cryptocoins, tutorials, videos, articles). I'm going crazy. And I have tons of work to do on my garden too.
I really want to be able to earn some good money to make my dreams of a greener world come true. We can make it together! :)
Thanks so much for checking out this blog @doodledanga. And thank you for the health tip, I will check on the works of Dr. Sebi.
Regarding the bots, I also use minnowsupport. I'm referring to the bid bots which are prone to abuse because anyone can bid any amount regardless of quality. It's supposed to be a marketing tool but with I'm seeing, it's more like a gamble. You may want to read @lynncoyle1's recent post about this and check out the survey post she has linked there so you can see the opinion of the community.
https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@lynncoyle1/upvote-bots-use-or-abuse
And I saw your intro, you make great gif/art! You will do well here. It's a matter of using the right tags to. I suggest you look for good artists here and see how they tag their posts and use the tag if appropriate to your subject.
I don't think being introvert would be an issue too because I'm semi introverted I think. And the fact that you replied to me with all these thoughts show that you can connect with other Steemians.
And be careful too not to get drained. The learning will come as you go here. I'm still learning here as well. But yes it takes a lot of time and I have yet to find a way of managing it. Good luck to us!
I'm sorry about my little rant there.. A while after posting that comment, I read about @dorbatim and his perseverence in the platform since August 2017 and I was like :O I really have to stop complaining and just keep up working! lol :) In the lilttle time I have seen my work starting to get a tiny bit of momentum, with some resteems and other mentions, like yours.
Don't worry about it @doodledanga. We all have our own rant moments and it's normal to feel a bit down sometimes. I guess it's part of the process. And it's great that you recognize those achievements you have in a short time. I'll be checking out @dorbatim :)
I am saddened for what you feel about your disease @wanderlass, you do not have to worry about followers in your post, it all takes a long process.
and certainly you have found one of your followers Yes it's me, although I can not give much value to you, but I always appreciate your writing, although I am not very good at English, but I try hard to understand the contents of each of your posts, with how to translate it. I'm sure someday you will succeed, because you are a person who likes to help in this steemit.
I used to agree with you by not using upvote boots, but sometimes I'm desperate with the results I get, I try hard to a serves cuisine.but sometimes the results are also less than you get.
and one more thing, do not ever sacrifice your health with whatever it is, because health is very expensive to surpass anything. then I hope you can use your time wisely.
Thank you for your concern, @ami92. I truly appreciate your effort in reading and replying in English. I have been following you since my first month (or maybe even the first week) here and I can see improvements. Daily practice helps and I see that you do this everyday on your posts.
Actually, you are not using the upvote bid bots that I'm talking about. I'm referring to the big ones where you send in big amounts of SBD to get hundreds of dollars in return. I actually use the same "small time" bots that you use and I think we still need those - like minnowsupport. And I also use qurator because there's a chance to be seen by a real curator. I believe in these and as minnows we need them. With that, you are still growing organically, I can see you post consistently everyday even if some posts don't earn much. And I admire you for that. Keep it up!
ooo .., I guess you are talking about upvote qurator bots and mainowsupport, are the bots you are talking about like upme and whalepower?
I'm not familiar with whalepower but I'm referring to the big ones like upme, minnowbooster, etc. that you have to "bid" to. Because I have observed that they can make you earn a lot and even get you to trending.
Oh, yes? How many SBD should be sent to a large bot? And will it be profitable?
Actually, I am not sure because I'm trying not to use them. As to whether it's profitable, I also can't answer. You have to study how each of the bots work so you don't lose money. And someone told me this has an effect on curation rewards but haven't checked on what that means.
Hi @wanderlass, I so sorry I didn't see this sooner! And I see your update on your health, so I am very happy about that:) Sometimes things do get discouraging on here, but I have to believe that like any business, it takes time to grow and flourish. I've stopped comparing myself to other people on here because I've decided it just doesn't matter. I'll continue doing my best in the hopes that I will continue to grow. You are very talented and I'm sure you will continue to do well here also; just give it time, and take care of yourself. That's more important than any of this my friend.
Please don't say sorry @lynncoyle1 I myself cannot regularly check on those I follow here because there's just a lot going on, and include the fact that our upvotes per day is limited.
Thanks for the encouragement and that's a good perspective of Steemit as a business. Realistically, most business would even take years before you earn. I am also glad I saw your post about the use of upvote bots. It's a great affirmation to the strategy that I have chosen. :)
It's really hard checking in with everyone all of the time, isn't it? Wish we all had more voting power:) I'm glad my suggestion to look at this as a business was helpful; it made me re-think the way I was initially feeling about it all. I'm going to look at my replies now at my 'bot blog'...glad you found it!
Hello @wanderlass!
I saw you today the first time and I'm very worried about your health... No saeemit and no money at the whole world is it worth, that you'll risk you're health more and more...
So please: Take care of you in first step... the second one could be something else... Imagine: you have a lot of success and become a digital nomad.But you feel ill all the time... I think that's not what you want, am I right?
It's nice to meet you @rebeccaontheroof. Please don't worry about me. I agree that health should be top priority although it's something difficult for me to focus on now. I have been working as an employee for over a decade and I know that the stressful work life has caused me this illness. When I found Steemit, I found an opportunity to change my life . But it's really hard work having to do that day job and Steemit.
I have no more hope in my current career that I tried to work on for years that's why I'm trying again here in Steemit. This illness is also a reason I have to work hard because the meds are expensive. It feels like a cycle though - work hard - get sick - work hard to pay for the meds - and so on. But I'm still lucky, I get to travel from time to time and have a decent life.
Thank you again for your concern. Little by little, I will try to take care of myself again.
I think you should go the other way around: Try to take care of yourself FIRST... Than everything else...
it's a pity, that you need so much money for your medicine.. but I'm sure you'll find a healthy way for your own... 😉
Thank you @rebeccaontheroof! That is a really difficult way but I will try :)
@wanderlass: Answering your first question: It's NOT worth it to put your health aside to have possible real success on Steemit. In fact, that will be a failure. Your health comes first!
Consider Steemit like a Gaming platform where content creators are playing. Every player has his/her own choice and strategy (as you've mentioned too). He/she can start with a basic power or can invest to buy more power. A player can power up through multiple ways (organic or inorganic).
The gaming platform has one objective: Making players invest so as to sustain itself. It has no moral values in itself but players and the community may have.
All players on gaming platform have one objective: To win the game.
Answering your second question: Different players will play with their own style, strategy to 'win the game'. I haven't decided mine yet and still learning.
Coming back to the main point: You don't want to lose your health while playing a GAME!
PS: @girlinchief discussed your post with me and suggested I should share my thoughts with you.
I appreciate your concern @kwlvarun and @girlinchief. Thank you! I agree that health comes first although I would still need to work harder even if it's not in Steemit to sustain the meds or get better alternative treatment. I'm into alternative meds because I don't want my thyroid removed and get radiation. The surgery can be covered by my health benefits but because I chose alternative treatment, most are out of my pocket and it can be an expensive lifestyle (organic food etc). But yes, I'm failing because stress and sleep are factors I should also take care of in alternative treatment. I will slow down a bit in the coming days.
Thank you also for your take on my question about strategy. It does feel like a game with the power ups and metrics. Quoting you:
This is a great insight! I think we decide what are considered moral values in Steemit and this is largely influenced by whales. I have chosen the organic strategy but with what I'm seeing in this platform, it looks like the inorganic way is very much supported by the whales. That worries me that I might fail because I am not some famous person who'd naturally have followers (which prompted me to make this post). But I am still observing. As @tanishqveyerma replied here, I shouldn't restrict myself.