Why did I bother spending 5+ hours writing an article for Steemit?
A couple days ago, I spent more than 5 hours working on this article. I spent 2+ hours interviewing more than 8 people, another 2 hours writing the article itself, and at least 1 more hour doing research and collecting statistics to make sure my work was sound.
Do you want to know how much I earned for all that effort? Here, I'll show you.
A little over 0.20 USD. Or if you want the math, about 4 US Cents per hour.
Why?
Why did I do this? Why did it do so poorly? Why is Steemit so unfair? What's the point of me spending so much time on an article only to have it hardly even be read? What on earth am I doing working for 4 cents an hour? People in third-world countries working child labor get paid more than that. So why am I doing this? What's the motivation? Why am I even on Steemit?
I'll tell you why.
It's not about the money.
Steemit is not a job, you don't get paid for 9 to 5 shifts every other Friday after you turn in your paystubs. Steemit is not going to make you an overnight success, it's not a ponzi scheme, it's not a penny stock, and it's not a "get rich quick" scheme. It's not about the money. I mean, it is, sort of, lots of people flooded here with high hopes of earning top dollar on their posts, but take a step back for a second. Think about this:
Steemit wasn't created with the idea in mind of "Hey let's come up with a way to make everyone rich.".
Steemit was created with "Hey let's come up with a way for people to share their ideas and interests and entertain each other, but let's put a twist on it and tie a cryptocurrency to the system, so people can do all of those things and maybe even get rewarded on top of it.".
It's about dedication.
Dedication to your work, dedication to who you are, and dedication to supporting the idea of Steemit, even if you profit from none of those. Most people that made themselves rich in life will tell you to never give up, to always stay dedicated to your true self, and to follow your aspirations. I don't care if my post made me less than a child making Nike shoes in a third-world country sweatshop makes, because I write my posts to entertain people, to educate people, and to, if at all possible, make a difference in the lives of the few people that do read them.
It's about faith.
I'm not talking about faith in God, or faith in anything religious. I'm talking about faith in the system, and faith in yourself. If you keep working hard and writing posts you are passionate about, if you have faith in yourself, you will eventually be that person that you see that made a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars on their post. It mike take you one day, a week, or even a year, but somewhere along the line you will succeed. I know a guy that made over $700 writing an post about fucking doorstoppers. Who even writes about that? Him, evidently. But I bet you he didn't do it because he thought it'd make him rich, he did it because he thought doorstoppers were fuckin' cool.
As always, thanks for reading! For more interesting content, please Follow me @voltarius!
Great attitude. As I've said before, Steemit is about relationships. If you also want to make money, you have to connect with people and build relationships. I hope you find (or bring along with you) the community that will value your efforts in the future.
This is exactly how I feel too @lukestokes. I keep on coming back here, interacting, and posting because of how awesome this place is as a community. The diversity and breadth of work is just amazing.
Haha of course @lukestokes would have the same to say about attitude as I, even though I just saw your comment after I clicked post. People like @voltarious are here for the long run, and hopefully those that bring negative energy and blame everyone else will change their ways and keep grinding or remove themselves from this environment. It's such a cool place that what some may take as "circle jerking," I find hard to say why it isn't as great as I made it sound.
Free - Great Content - Interesting Comments - Invisible Trolls - Rewards - Great people. If that makes me a circle jerker, then i will gladly wear that title.
Hahaha, I agree 100%. Thanks for the feedback and the laughs. :)
Its very true, treat others with respect, discuss their content with them. Maybe they will find the time to discuss yours with you. Slowly over time, people who produce good content will gain a following of like minded people, it is out of this that true value will show its head. Right now things are a bit disjointed, but that is a product of the extreme youth stage that this platform is in. We have not had sufficient time for strong communities to form, that doesn't happen in days, or even months. It takes years.
In the crypto world everyone has a mentality that things happen fast, and they get upset when they don't. Unfortunately things happen fast in the crypto world for a reason, because it is rife with scams and get rich quick schemes. Everyone has gotten so accustomed to these happenings, that when an opportunity for real, sustained growth comes along, nobody knows what to do with it. Real, sustained growth also takes time, it doesn't happen over days, or months. It takes years. As the platform grows and communities form, so too will value grow. It takes time, and its something new in the crypto world. A real opportunity built on a bedrock of utility. This is cryptos first killer app. We are all fortunate to be apart of it.
That's very true! Thanks for the feedback!
this is exactly the attitude we need to see more of here. if i wanted to write just to make a more reliable income writing i go through people per hour but i'd rather create and read content i find interesting.
Exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only person thinking this way. Thanks for the feedback. :)
It is a tough situation to deal with but new people getting on YouTube have the same issue. I have had success there and have a pretty profitable channel from the Adsense and Affiliate marketing revenue from there but I see it all the time where people startup and they are never profitable or able to make it consistantly. I have a friend that has 1500 subscribers now on his channel and he still hasn't gotten to the $100 payout threshold for Adsense. On here we are going to have to grind it out Gulag style for 6 - 12 months to get to decent average payouts. I'm saying if a whale doesn't put you on their autovote list. We just have to assume we aren't going to be liked or seen by the whales and just build a following of other people on our level and then if everything goes right we will be in a solid consistent payout situation in a years time. At least that is the way I'm looking at this.
Yeah, sometimes it can take a while. Just have to make sure that while you're grinding your way up you remember why you're doing it, aside from the money. :)
I have exactly the same attitude - if you're only after the money on steemit, you will not get very far. You can't worry about what the people will like, or what will make the money. You have to write about what really drives you, your passion, and thats the only way you can continue posting !!
Awesome post, I think everyone should read this and think about it! keep it up man
Exactly, thanks for the feedback! You have to stay true to yourself or you won't be successful or remember your motivation!
Love your post. While I did join Steemit in the hope of some financial reward for my writing, I also saw the platform as a fun place to share and learn. You have captured the non-monetary value of Steemit very well. Cheers. Stuart :-)
Thanks for the feedback I'm glad you loved it. :)
This is the right attitude to have! I'm proud of the hard work you did on your gaming article!
Awww. Thanks for the kind words. :)
Agreed. I don't anticipate getting rich from posting on here. I post about things that interest me. If others find that interesting then great, if not then oh well. I'm going to post it anyway. Some of the things that seem to be most popular don't really interest me or come from those with huge followings anyway. That's just how it is.
Exactly! You're the kind of people we need on Steemit; you're going to post your content regardless of it makes you money or not, because you're here for the content, not the money. The money may follow at some point, but it shouldn't be the main reason someone is here.
Good sentiments but what I like even more is you use of empty white space. This is awesome formatting. It makes it like a high end magazine.
Thanks! I was trying to make it easy to read and follow. :)
I really liked the twist. Didn't see that coming in the first 2 paras. Thought I was gonna be listening to another "whiner" about how life isn't fair blah blah.
So, great! LOL. Yeah. My philosophy too.
I will take care of me first to take care of you, if you will take care of you first, to take care of me. Make sense? Can't help anyone else if we don't help ourselves first is how I look at it.
In the same way, if I dont or am not willing to invest in myself - time, education, learning, study, money, energy, effort - then why the heck should anyone else??
Not a big fan of "entitlement" as you can probably figure. Upvoted and followed. Keep 'em coming.
Wow, thanks for the awesome feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed the twist, thats why I tossed it in there. I agree with you 100%. Thanks for the support and Follow as well!
More power to you, voltarius! I discovered Steemit soon after deciding I was going to blog regardless of whether it did anything for me. The idea of posting to a website (my own) that would rarely be visited seemed sad but totally safe. Steemit has showed me that I need to grow as well as share. That alone has me totally hooked. It can be sad that even great posts still go unread, but you sure have got the right attitude about it. To dedication!
Thanks for the compliment and support! Cheers!