You've Got the Hustle, But What About the Flow? Developing Workflow on Steemit for Huge Growth and Profits!
Among my many talents, I swung a hammer professionally for over 20 years.
I started out when I was 18, working on a window installation crew, then came back to it at 24, in a high volume millwork building cabinets.
And that experience, has been one of the single strongest factors in my success as a writer, both in freelance and here on Steemit. I'll tell you what I mean in a minute.
Turns out, I was really, really good at building boxes!
We were about to have our first kid, had been working about five hours a day for a company that delivered lunches to offices, and realized, Hey, baby, you can't keep doing this once the kid comes, so I gotta get a real job!
My father-in-law was the foreman of a local cabinet shop, and needed a sweep up guy. I started at $7 an hour.
This was in 1995, when that wasn't a terrible starting wage here in Okc. So, I grabbed my broom and went to work. From the very beginning, I sat a pattern for sweeping the shop. My work flow made it so that I'd have the whole place clean twice a day, in under three hours.
When the boss saw I was serious, he asked if I could "Read a tape" which is carpenter code for, "not an idiot" and also means you know how to use a tape measure.
This may sound like a silly question, after all, any moron can stretch out a tape measure, right? But, it also involves doing fractions in your head, and making those calculations quickly and accurately enough to "Measure twice, cut once" as the old saying goes, to make sure you don't waste expensive material.
I could. I'd learned to do it right spending almost two years on the window crew.So, they put me on a saw and within a week, they handed me a nail gun and showed me how to assemble boxes.
As I went, I'd develop a unique work flow for each task, to maximize time and minimize mistakes.
In case you're wondering, this has a lot to do with what I want to share about steemit. Keep reading, I'll show you what I mean.
After about a month, Phil, one of the install chiefs noticed how many boxes I was building, and since I was the new kid, took it upon himself to scrutinize my work. No one could build that fast, without screwing something up.
But they were all perfect!
Word spread, and it painted a target on my back, that I didn't know at the time, would cause the boss's douche bag brother to get me fired eventually. But, in the meantime, I had a challenger.
Our project designer was a carpenter by the name of, no lies, Will Rogers. (there's a lot of those in Oklahoma) And he'd been the fastest assembly man in the shop for years. In fact, he'd challenged them all to build offs to prove it.
So, the day was decided when he'd have time to come out to the shop and the parts were set up. I was given a half dozen sets of parts for identical upper cabinets, and he had the same.
Mike pulled out a dusty stop watch (my father-in-law, and EVERYTHING in a cabine shop is dusty) and we were off.
In 18 minutes, I'd glued, nailed and screwed the 6 boxes together. Will, had managed 3. He dropped his nail gun in frustration, and went to the office, didn't talk to me for three days, when he took me out for lunch to say congrats.
So, what does this have to do with Steemit?
Everything. If you'd like to see your audience grow and move up through the ranks to dolphin, or even whale, you need to develop a work flow. If you don't, you'll waste time and lose followers and upvotes.
- You need to complete all of the checklist points (found here) for every piece!
- Making sure you engage with your audience is also a key factor.
- Missing even one step can drag your views down for an entire day.
- Not having a plan to get this done is a great way to fail.
Did you hear the one about the guy that shot an arrow at the sky? He missed!
Every shot you take without a defined target is nearly destined to hit what you're aiming at, nothing! So, here's a plan I'm instituting here on @dolphinschool and with my content on @markrmorrisjr
1. First, reply, reply, reply!
Audience engagement is free, and it's the single biggest thing you can do, next to writing solid content, to attract an audience!
The first thing I do when I login to work at Steemit, is check replies.
There are two easy ways to do this:
1. Use the nav button in the nav bar at the top, marked "replies"
Or, Leftt Click Your Profile Image
Clicking either of these will bring up any replies to your posts, or comments, or replies, in the order they were received, newest first. Even here, have a process in place or you'll waste a lot of time.
2 Scan the list for replies that haven't been replied to. If the title of the reply is dark, you haven't clicked on it. Under the reply, is a small dialog balloon, if the number next to it, is 1, or more, there has been a reply made.
3 Click on any replies that have not been answered. (trick for getting right to the comment, under this bullet list)
4 Read the reply and respond thoughtfully.
But going through comment threads is a pain in my A$$!!
Yep, but here's a tip that will kill it!
Right click on the title of the comment and choose "open link in new tab"!
You'll be delivered right to the comment, in a new tab! You're welcome!!
2. Next Post your content!
I should add a caveat here. If you can produce your content a day before, using an editor, to copy and paste it in, content building will go a lot smoother!
Once you've answered replies, it's time to add more content. Like your mother said, you've got two ears and one mouth, listening is twice as important. Besides, depending on what kind of content you post, it may inform your content for the day!
Be sure to optimize your content, using the checklist.
3. It's time to promote!
Unless you are already averaging 50 votes per post, do this!
You can look at the checklist for tips on this, but whatever your chosen method, it's time. As soon as you finish posts, do one round. Then, if you've got time, do it again! You might also add some other posts that haven't paid out to the list for additional promotion! You never know who will see it.
4. Curate those you support!
If you'd like a great method for finding out who your supporters are to return the favor, check out this post here!
Using the Upvoters tool in the Steemit Apps, is the single best way to track who you should be thanking! (read the link above for a complete explanation)
Here are some personal rules of thumb that I use!
- Manually curate your voting power. If you delegate it, keep enough to do some manual upvotes.
- Unless you are complaining, or correcting, never comment on anything you wouldn't upvote!
- Never comment on things you didn't read. Period.
- Use the resteem sparingly,unless your blog is a resteem blog.But, do use it for great posts!
Once you've visited the blogs you read regularly, or at least checked for new articles, it's time to branch out!
6. Make at least one new friend!
If you read the article linked in step five, you'll know how to do this. It's up to you. Do you want to find another follower, or someone to follow. Would you like to go after a whale for attention? Or help a new Plankton. All of these are great ideas, but if you want to grown on Steemit, make at least one new friend per day!
I highly suggest keeping these conversations on steemit, in the comments!
- When you approach someone in an open forum, be complimentary.
- Remember, others are watching and may follow up!
- Always, always, always, be prepared to add the @ tag, like this, @markrmorrisjr to every single comment, to create a link straight to your blog if they like your comment!
- Don't spam links. Period. Ever. If one of your pieces of content fits, share it, politely. Build a hyperlink, to keep it neat.
- Better yet, find one of the people you support and share their work! It will be seen as helpful, and may impress both the recipient of the comment, and the writer you're promoting!
7. Finally, check your mentions!
If you use this tip, from @lahvista, you can see every time you're mentioned on steemit, in categories that make it easy to respond!
From here, the world is your oyster! I recommend trying to learn a new trick at least a few times a week. There are so many wonderful tools on steemit and you'll never learn them all!
That's all for today! THANKS!
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/SYeHL3I.jpg)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/s5MkEHR.jpg)
I am more of an observer then a participant I feel, that's ok tho I'm good with that for now. In following a few and learning my way around I begin to find some prejudice to my voting and in some cases a downright resentment of a minor sort.
I not only follow, those I do follow I now look into them before I click to follow. I check if they make comments on others posts and I check their wallet,
Maybe I should of turned this reply into a Blog. hehe But I expect it might gain more views here anyway.
My rewards back to the community and small I only comment as yet, (my defense, I reap minimal reward).
Question for you here, in the sentence above is it the bracket goes on the outside or inside of the full stop?
In Checking the comments others have made, indicates to me if a user is engaging in the site/project or Just grabbing the returns. those not replying to comments I decide not to follow.
Then I check the wallet If the steem power is no showing any effort on the part of the user to grow, I do not follow these posts either.
I view these two types of user and selfish, offering nothing to a community while willing to take everything a community offers.
This, My view on voting I think affirms what has been wrote and that engaging with others works. Sometimes it is wise to look beyond just the reply you give, know why you give a comment too.
I want to respond to you as politely as I can. I think your second criteria is misguided. Since day one, I've given a lot to this community (18 mos) in training and helping. But, if I can't earn real world money here, I'm out. I'm a professional writer. This is what I do for a living. To expect every content creator to be able to invest 100% in the platform is a pipe dream,for one, second, the biggest whales on here cash out tons! And, if no one ever did, steem would be listed on $zero exchanges, since they don't list coins that aren't traded widely. There is more to it than simply keeping steem in steem. I think this is something the big fish tout to keep their investment healthy. Also, the witnesses take a salary, on top of their steemit earnings,of over $200k a piece. So, there's that. But, you are free to set your own criteria. Thanks for the comment, and I hope you don't think less of me for needing to get paid for my time here.
What I mention is not about cash outs. while content is created, and content such as your own offer value, guidance to new and a sharing of knowledge with others. Yourself engages in the community a fair amount and put time into your account and posts. I too am here to possibly find a manner to gain more finance.
I am about to get my first Steem dollar or piece of, with .08 steem :) I will trade with the dollar worth I get until a time I can increase my voting power to higher then 16. Long road.
My comment was reflecting to users who have practically 0 comments made for the 500 posts they placed, which implies to me. They do not go back and read. If the steem is at the same beginner level for an account months old, this person also returns nothing to the site.
Rewards for work done I do not think any have an issue with. I also believe if you do well from something, they is value in returning some good favor.
Hope this lightens my post to your view of reading, I was not speaking against you, and have no negative of your opinions.
I followed you here from MarkMorrisjr
Well, you might be surprised. On my main account, I've had people specifically stop supporting me because I cashed out a sizable amount of my stake last summer to get my daughter married and go to Paris. Sorry if I misspoke. but, it's a common misconception that investing here means only one thing.
Not surprised at all, People generally look at the actions of another from a perspective of their view, without pondering a question why. More often the reason why is no one else business.
If you read my comment as against you at anytime, I assure you, Devil's advocate is the depth of my debate. Other then this, I probably have not versed my opinion accurately.
You're fine. I just didn't want to have any misunderstanding. LOL I've probably overstated my case.
How could I not upvote this? You mentioned me by name! I followed your advice and shared one of my deep dark secrets.
Got my best responses yet. Thank you for that final assignment. @Lahvista
Being new to the steemit world, I find all tips and tricks great info and very much appreciate it 🙂
Stay tuned, I'll be launching a new Dolphinschool bootcamp in the next couple of weeks.