Could Steem be a way to fund my art? Article: 1st month STEEM RECAP

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It's been over a month since I joined Steemit and I wanted to write down my impressions and feedback. My name is Priscilla Hernandez, singer, composer and illustrator. I am still learning about Steem but I have now a better idea and there are things I would have done differently, and things I think I have been doing right. Still this is not an advice but my personal experience on this new platform. After this while I have a positive impression but I will do likely another recap some time from now. So far, starting to be aware that this could be a way to fund my art.

So a few days ago I got the the dreadful email from youtube that my channel is no longer a partner because I did not reach 4k hours played they demanded out of the blue. It did not affect me now the way I thought it would be... why?

Some doors close, others open. How I found about Steemit

I confess it, I made a mistake, after a while rather inactive, last September I started to upload content again regularly to my youtube channel. I invested a great effort to build up and it was just taking off again(had lots of plans) when I received a notice of their decision to halt partnership with small channels. I am not ranting about it, not complaining either of changing algorithms in other networks, after all they are companies and those are "their" websites. Their sites, their rules, fair enough!. They remain as platforms where I can showcase my work but I should have known better especially when I've seen already sites like mp3.com and myspace rise and fall. It feels frustrating though, to invest time to build a following and then find out it's pretty much useless because of the lack of reach, change of rules and algorithms, but worst even (and this really did upset me) when they try to mask it as encouragement to content creators to create "more content, longer, better, often" without any reward so maybe one day we can reach an status where we can be considered "worth" as partners again. It's not that I was making money of it, most of my music is managed by a third party and id tracks to me still, but the disregard of a long lasting partnership is also a way to make us feel undervalued. Our contents also provide those sites value and they should be taken into account, no matter how "big or small" you are. I don't speak for others, but It made me feel frustrated and I still believe their decision is wrong and unfair. I hope they realize and I am not abandoning neither youtube (more than a decade active there) nor my external networks where I still have my following, also out of respect to my followers there, but I felt the urge to **work again for myself *, rescue my official website and find alternatives... . * One door closes, another one opens... thus on the bright side, this situation led to the discovery of STEEM block-chain.

How I ended up here

My partner @hedac first knew of it and talked enthusiastically about it during our breakfasts, lunch, hikes... LOL I buffed, and said... another site? I do not have the time! So he pat my back and just told me soon "trust me, you'll understand, you just do what you do best, which is sharing your work and connecting with people".
So I was ABSOLUTELY clueless about the block-chain and crypto currencies... He added what I thought then super menacing and it stays forever and I panicked, lots of doubts assaulted me, what if I want to delete something in the future? what if someone post something that is mine? What if someone trolls you? He reassured me. It self regulates, if people does that they lose reputation don't worry, don't fear, the block chains are the future. So I was still beset by concern but we both applied for the account and it took a good week before being approved.

Looking back in time (one month, still a newbie) I would have done two things differently already:

Try to draft your first posts while you wait for approval. Read the rules, the FAQs, surf around... I missed that precious time to know how this all worked better. It took me another week to make my first post, so the first out of this month four weeks I was "inactive".

Starting to post consistently on Steemit

I first joined @steepshot and made a shy "hey there". It echoed on silent halls lol but I did not get discouraged, how could be any other way? I had zero followers ;-)! By the way I like steepshot and I like to visit my steepshot gallery now and see how it builds up now :). So below you can see the "Hello" picture that was my first post (yes, nerdy, musician, naturelover here)

Above: My first ever post "Is any one there?"

Then I made my introduction post... Another thing I would do differently now, honestly, I would have hold it until a few posts after starting to write. But in that first introduction I started to feel the first signs of warmth and also made my first steemian friends :). Some have encouraged me since (thank you! they know who they are :)) So I started to get to know people and started to surf around. Lots of reading, lots and lots!.

Thanks @alexpmorris for the welcome and support and guidance sending me homework to study when I joined.

I found unexpected features from groups supporting minnows like

• @ocd
• @minnowsupport http://minnowsupportproject.org/
• @officialfuzzy http://whaleshares.net/
• @curie http://curiesteem.com/

Thank you so much for helping me to start my journey here. ❤️

So a little list with my own conclusions

So as a recap list of things I believe I have done right, which does not mean it is what you should do but what I've experienced. I am STILL a newbie around and I don't pretend to be a "know-it-all", far from it, still lots of learning ahead so this is something I told to MYSELF that is working for me. In no way it is a set of guidelines, just my self-reminders.

• Be humble, you have just landed! :) And yes you are just a minnow in a vast ocean. Don't get overwhelmed.

• Read as many articles written for newbies as you can. Learn the rules, what you have to do and more especially what you should not do. Good behavior will increase your newbie reputation in no time.

• Check the DISCORD channels Steemians have created so you can start to network with others but also have a helping hand if you need. They are like little gatherings, pick the one that is suitable for your art, photography, visual artists, musicians. Find your "family" according with what you do.

• Post consistently and things that are meaningful and representative of your work. Don't rush it. If you scroll back your feed make it something that stands out or at least that represents what you want to share here (in my case, music, art and photography). Don't over post or abuse the system out of greediness. Plot your work and share accordingly. Desperation shows. Be honest with yourself.

• Follow other users that make things you like (and understand) so you can provide meaningful feedback and support. You want to build a real audience and community... give and you shall receive, and being practical I think this is the only way I could do it. Be honest with others. I particularly like to support minnows like me, even if my upvote is just symbolic I hope it's encouraging.

• Until you have some steem power on your account check regularly your voting power and bandwidth. Power up your first earnings and avoid "high traffic hours". I want to mention here that when I found I had run it out (twice) some generous fellow Steemians delegated me power to cope with these transient moments where you are unable to post, another example of generosity I've found here.

• Be patient! This was a tough one... You have spent a long time on an article that made zero or a few cents... Don't get discouraged, it happens to everybody. It can't be helped, but remember after that week has passed your feed stays and will always represent the quality of your work. Your post does not "expire", it still has a meaning and a purpose and its quality is not necessarily measured by the amount of rewards it got which leads to the next point.

• Forget about the numbers when you start... Forget the number of followers, you want to build a real audience, a few significant followers really liking what you do can make a difference. Forget about the rewards your post makes, some posts make little but they have many upvotes or feedback, be grateful for them.

• It's easy to be carried away...remember you are a creator of content. Networking is a pivotal part of this community but do not neglect your role as creator. Try to make your posts worth the time to be read/listened/watched

• Enjoy the experience, it's free to try new things if you have the will to do it! :) and It could become a way to fund your work in the future.

DLive is fun

As a musician @Dlive was a discovery! :) I have been a musician for two decades now, and when I lived in a big city I used to do concerts with a full band. Recently I moved to a smaller place, closer to Nature, but also makes performances less frequent and I love to connect with public. I am broadcasting live regularly, and I am making great plans for future broadcasts... I'm even considering to buy a "smoke machine" now ;) I want to show more instruments and also have ideas to broadcasting while I am working on my paintings too !! DLive is so great!

Go here to watch the replay of my latest broadcast! : https://www.dlive.io/#/video/yidneth/26b20a4c-199c-11e8-a852-0242ac110002

There are tools like DLivelabs that will help you to include the chat, vote alerts and more... And just two words: friendly, fun! Thank you!

What's up next?

Well I have already tried Steepshot, DTube and DLive and will still make them work to interact with my main Steemit account. I have still to try DSound. So far I'm only sharing my original songs here, covers are still deep-linked from youtube as they have agreements with the writers to pay them when being covered. I believe that some issues like "copyright" have still some blank holes and I've always been cautious and respectful about these things. But I'm pretty sure these issues will be fixed on these platforms in due time and I have plenty of my own original work to share here. So I add this also as remaining concern trusting it will be reviewed over time.

I want to post more on DTube though I'm not ready still to post daily, and making this video somehow still makes me shy to just speak in front of a camera. But expect music, songs, live recordings, and yes, just like today, sometimes my opinion about things.

I want to share more of my art as illustrator too, and maybe create tutorials. Thinking about things I can also SHARE that might be useful for others besides my own work.

I'm also determined to participate in the #openmic contest for artists. I heard of it right at the beginning but I've still not managed to enter the contest myself. It looks like a good way to connect with other musicians and it looks like an encouraging and fun activity.

Everyone is welcome to post their feedback in their comments. I am nothing but a newbie and these are my "impressions". I would be interested in knowing yours too.
There is a "motif" that often appears in my song lyrics. Go through the Long Way, no shortcuts are safe. :). In fact the background music of the video above is my song "Through the Long way" from my album The Underliving.

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▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS

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Priscilla Hernandez
singer-songwriter & illustrator
http://yidneth.com