What seems like eons ago, I was told by @winstonwolfe about this new social media site Steemit. Unfortunately this was just before the short period the site wasn't allowing new users, but sure enough, a week later, I got my account created on here.

Way to go Steemit, you got me talking and haven't shut up since!

More seriously though, it didn't take me long to see the massive potential a platform like this has as it scales up into the future. While many view it merely as a social media site or a way to make money, I view it as a proto-society that can fully bloom if nurtured well. In ten years from now I expect people to be looking at Steemit as a GAMECHANGER of many peoples lives! Because of this I have not cashed out a penny over these two months...everything has been powered up. (I do plan to use about 50 SD soon to be able to play online poker again.)

I'd never set any specific mid or long term goal on here and honestly, by the time it even crossed my mind, reasonable expectations had already been surpassed. I can on here knowing only one user (@winstonwolfe), invested no money, yet here I am today closing in on 250 followers, 1000 SP and have seen the Steemprentice Mentor Initiative group take off. It's hard to believe this mind-blowing ride, that feels like years, has all been over just two months.

What I've Learned

Not being involved in any social media or online interaction for about a decade or more, I really had to get used to putting my voice out there again. I'm typically the one who is happy to get into discussions when they are brought up, but rarely the one actually bringing them up. Part of this was due to the topics I found important and was passionate about to it infrequently reciprocated...not everyone cares about what I do, which is understandable.

I Had to Start the Discussions

At my core I've always been an introvert. I go to a bar or social function to see people I already know, not to meet new people. If I'm not comfortable, I don't talk (beyond small-talk) and usually just watch, listen and take in whatever information I can. This is a big part of why I've not been a part of online communities for a long time, but after starting here...that had to change.

Learning the functionality of Steemit was one thing (the various tools to view things, how to navigate around when buttons weren't available, formatting, how the economic system worked, etc.) but what was way more fun for me was gaining an understanding of the marketing itself on here. I love watching for previous and current trends (and ideally guessing right on future ones) to somewhat shape the topics I chose, what channels are the most effective (steemit.chat, steemspeak, followers, etc..).

What I Could Contribute

Now-a-days my posts are about 1/3 lgbt oriented, 1/3 minnow/steemprentice, 1/3 whatever I feel like and the 1-2 posts a week for Steemit Talk Podcast posts (which I really never imagined myself being a part of a podcast.) Looking back to that time long long ago (July) this was not my approach at all. I've never been the lgbt spokesperson, I didn't know what a minnow was let alone know how to help them. My first posts were on a conceptual Utopia, predominantly with the goal of finding what other peoples ideals were. To me, if someone doesn't have an ideal in mind, how do they know if they're going in the right direction or not.

Anyway, it didn't take long to find all those posts that just blew mine out of the water. I didn't feel my work was bad or wrong, but merely inadequate with the dense, fine grained level of details others provided. If I felt like voting for someone else's post over my own (on the same topic) why would I expect others to vote on mine. I ran into the same issue when reading comments on a great post before making my own, only to feel that every I could contribute had already been said.

Some of My Mistakes

I Don't Have to be the Best or Most Knowledgeable, Just Unique

After a few weeks it dawned on me that I was approach to choosing topics and making comments were somewhat flawed. As an example, the work put out by @dana-edwards blew my mind. I fell down rabbit hole after rabbit hole of pure genius. How could I compete with that? So I didn't. The fallacy here is that not everybody is interconnected on here, there are pockets of people who you follow, have been exposed to, and have branded as having something meaningful to say. I realized that many of my of my followers had probably never seen or heard of @dana-edwards work. Between reaching different groups of people as well as having completely different writing styles and somewhat target audience, I had the ability to write on these topics successfully. To me it's about getting a message that is important to me out there, if through my work great, if directing readers to a place it's spelled out more in depth, great...so long as the point gets across somehow.

For some years I've been completely open to talk about trans issues and give personal accounts, but again, someone else had to bring it up. I didn't want to be that person who just pushes issues like that in peoples faces non-stop, including on Steemit. My mistake at first was not noticing that there was a demand for such information on here. It may not be for everybody, but those interested I honestly feel had a beneficial takeaway from what I put out there. I've had to get over the idea that by creating and marketing a post is by no means 'putting a topic in someones face.' If they're uninterested they just move down the list, it's not like I'm sending everyone DM's with the link. I had to get used to just putting stuff out there to see what attention it got, no longer inhibiting myself. I honestly feel that I've done credit and humanized the lgbt topics that I've talked about and plan to continue, even though I'm by no means a poster child for the whole community.

My Greatest Steemit Achievements to Date

Steemit Talk Podcast

First I have to mention the Steemit Talk Podcast as a high point for me. This was nothing I'd ever done before and it started one night after countless hours of talking about Steemit with @winstonwolfe with the words coming out that 'we should record this.' So we went to his office and recorded a twenty something minute pilot podcast onto his iPhone. Since then we've added two other co-hosts, @quantumanomaly and @giftedgaia, improved our production quality immensely with podcast earnings, and just finished episode 9 plus a post cast (which is pretty hilarious this week.) Regardless of payouts this has been an incredibly fun experience that I'm glad to of been a part of.

Launch of Steemprentice Mentoring Initiative

While making posts and seeing payouts are great, I've always been gotten immense gratification by helping others. So since my start here, I've made a few guides on how to market yourself and posts to help other users stand out better in the crowd. For a handful of people I'd even created FREE personalized write-ups with marketing suggestions to make things more eye catchy or just better ways to get yourself in front of people. It's been great seeing those users get more votes/better payouts as well as just seem happier being a part of this community.

Not long after this I took on a few people to give one on one mentoring too and/or just be a friendly face for those new to the site. It didn't take long for this to get somewhat overwhelming while still trying to post/market my own stuff as well as other activities (life, boyfriend, etc.) Between reading posts of others about mentoring and speaking with some in DM it seemed that often veteran users could only do so take on so much before risking negative effects like burnout or not getting what they needed done themselves. So, I came up with the idea to start a Steemit Mentoring Group that new, frustrated or any other user could go to ask any questions or get constructive feedback.

To prevent mentors from getting burnt out or lacking time on their own work, it only made sense to allow the many mentors to hop into the steemprentice channel when they were willing and able to help. At only two weeks old the steemit.chat channel has had 123 users join, dozens of unique users helped, seen success start coming for many that had felt lacking, as well as an overall feeling of joy seeing nothing but people helping people. After all, we're trying to build a society here, not just a site.

Conclusion

Anyway, it's been a wild two months (that's felt like years) since I've first signed up and have high hopes for where things will go from here. Steemit has become an important part of my life I have high hopes for where things are going to go from here. Thanks to the amazing community for having me and letting contribute back. This really is truly a special time and place to be a part of something as innovative as Steemit.

Keep Smiling and Steem On! :D

Image Sources:
Before/After Pic of Me
Goal
Start Conversation Quote
Contribution Quote
Learn From Mistakes Quote
Steemit Talk Podcast Tape
Original Image, Steemprentice Logo
Mentor Flowchart