You're a little minnow. Someone has just thrown you into a magnificent ocean full of riches. Although you're super excited to explore, you don't know what's hiding in here so you go careful. After looking around you can only see some cute dolphins, a few gigantic whales and lots and lots of other minnows; no dangers. So you embark on the adventure with confidence, but shortly discover that between all these wonderful creatures, you have no friends! Everyone is swimming past without even noticing you!!
Disappointment settles in and you have no desire to keep going. You settle into a corner and quietly watch the other fish swimming around enthusiastically, wondering what keeps them so excited.
You wrote a lot of brilliant posts that received no attention and you start losing interest. At this point you have two options: either give up and start doing something else, or fight hard to stay motivated.
If you chose option 2, fantastic! But now, how do you do that?
Method 1: Get to know the ocean!
Have a look over the FAQ page, there's lots of information about how Steemit works. There are also many wonderful people who post advice and info about the platform everyday, but the first thing you need to stay sane on Steemit, is to understand why your post may not be successful. You will be inclined to start wondering whether your article was good enough, maybe you're not as skilled as you thought.
The truth is that even though your post was brilliant, there are high chances that it simply got lost. There are thousand and thousand of other minnows swimming around you so try not to fall into the trap of doubting yourself, because you will quickly lose confidence in your abilities and that's pretty hard to get back.
To improve your chances of being noticed, start commenting! Good comments will bring lots of people to your blog.
Method 2: Give up the greed before you begin
The reward system is one of the reasons we're here and not on Reddit, so it's gonna be pretty hard to overlook it. But if you try no to focus on it and enjoy the experience of writing and sharing, it will be easier to keep writing even if your articles don't have success at first.
Method 3: Keep getting better
This is where Steemit can help you grow. You've written a great piece, but after you give it a second look you can think of more improvements you could make. Your next post will be even better. If you can keep this up and constantly improve yourself, after a while you will be so good that your posts will be pretty unmissable!
If you chose option 1
Even if you have lost all interest in writing and there's no way to get it back, don't worry. You're still part of the ocean, so stick around and curate. You can have your say and make a difference from your hide place by supporting (or silently judging) everyone else. Comments are a great way to grow your reputation and you can earn quite a bit without writing your own posts.
Steemit is amazing and full of wonderful people, so however you choose to be a part of it, you will have tons of fun and make life-long friends on here!
Thank you for reading and I hope you found this post useful.
Corina
Now that that's over, if you actually want to know how it works on this platform, you should read these:
@corina - don't mislead new people. Without money, they have no chance of building a powerful account. Even with money it's slow going and risky because STEEM price is volatile and vote bots don't always produce a profit.
I don't mean to come down on you hard because I'm pretty sure you have good intentions. But if people read shit like this and it makes them feel better, they'll never do anything to improve the situation. They'll stay satisfied with the status quo and nothing will ever change.
If, on the other hand, new users and a majority of the current userbase are upset at the way things are going, then things are more likely to change. If we have to lose a few people along the way, fine. But it will be worth it in the long run if there is a system that properly rewards people for their contributions instead of what we have now.
Otherwise, this site will be made up of 99% "minnows" who are basically people with nothing better to do than write blog posts and interact with each other in the comments section of the Trending page. Sure, people will form friendships etc etc and that's great, but why settle for that?
This could be a place where people actually create good content and get paid for it. Isn't that the point? Yes community blah blah blah, but we're here to make money and participate in a system that at least has some semblance of fairness.
Why "encourage" people to grin and bear it instead of trying to change things? If everyone plays nice and pretends to be happy with their $0.10 posts and a COMPLETE lack of options for earning reliable income on this platform, what incentive do the developers and/or executive team have to implement anything that will change how things work?
I don't agree with some of the more "vocal" users on this platform regarding how to improve this place, but I respect that they are willing to get on stage and yell into their megaphone.
Sometimes people need to hear that things are not ok, that they're not fair and that unless something is added to the system then they are laboring under false pretenses and most likely wasting their time.
Though we have n argue in other thread I generally agree with you @yallapapi
The post is a pretending that all is great and we have some kind of meritocracy here where reward is proportional to one efforts and quality of the material. It is not.
Our job right now is to make steemit better and welcoming place. ANd it is a hard job.
I've been trying to do a lot of training especially about the .02 earnings threshold. I REALLY wish I had known about that sooner. I think it should be lowered to .01.
Can I ask what the .02 threshold is?
If your blog post or comment earns .00-.0199 you will get paid nothing. If I upvote your comment all by myself you get paid nothing. .015 to .0199 does show up as .02 but you still do not get paid.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@mysearchisover/steemit-steem-fraud-i-got-robbed
so i am a new user should i prefer to do comments or upvote for earning ?
Comments and bots and you can also upvote people like me 30 minutes after I post and before my bot arrives for curation awards.
Thank you for your detailed comment. Steemit isn’t perfect, but let’s not forget that it’s still pretty young. It has a lot of time to grow and improve and become fairer for everyone. In order for it to grow it needs people interested in making a difference, in writing actual good stuff.
Moreover, it isn’t a money-making paltform, it’s a social media platform, a blogging platform. And social media is about getting to know people and making friends. Just like the other blogging websites, you don’t earn until you’ve worked hard to build your reputation, to get people to read what you write!
I hate seeing wasted votes. I think you should upvote your own comment and maybe help give out some curation rewards.
Other than the .02 earnings threshold which I think should be .01 I'd say it's pretty damn good.
Still, it is useful for minnows to implement the tips in the post, they make a difference.
@yallapapi so in your opinion, does it mean that in order to earn in steemit, you have to "invest" ? What kind of investment that you are referring to ? i believe that people in this community, who in actual fact, besides sharing good content is to make come income where, where you get "Paid for content".
What should we be doing to better gain better exposures of our posts ?
Yes. You have to learn to invest especially when you are coming in newly. You need the SP and the Steem to get quality money and comments. Having followers without good SP is a waste of time . When people see your posts, they want to know who thae guy is because people want to make connections.
Read the two posts at the top of this comment chain.
This post has received a 20.05 % upvote from @boomerang.
$10.00 steem
We are absolutely in agreement here. This is why QORA will have a totally new way of incentive being built in Generation 2. Not to mention that QORA is ACTUALLY decentralized (unlike steemit being a .com, you can get to QORA blogs by going to your localhost, which connects you to the QORA network.)
Right now, in Gen 1, blogs, websites, etc. exist and can be hosted on the QORAnet. We're not quite finished with the Gen 1 fixes and upgrades, then we'll be working on Gen 2, but you might wanna come check out our Discord...
https://discord.gg/3HYYz5r
Click the Play button below and start listening to the audio version of this article.
Steemit is a vast oceans so we need to feed ourselves with knowledge for us to survive. When I started things out on Steemit the mindset I am carry on is if I earn its a bonus. This ocean has so much to learn from,about crypto,bitcoin,investing,life... Almost all of the post are trying to add values to their audience and for that reason why I so much in love in this wonderful community. Great post @corina encouraging everyone to not to lose hope sharing values with others. I remeber a saying "Sharing time with others is not wasting time". There is a good blessings coming back for people who add value to others.
Right you are :)
Yes it's very encouraging I confirm that. I'm a Minnow ready to give up running giveaway contests just to basically gain .01 sp a day. Hopefully I can make it but it feels hopeless.
Thank you so much for your beautiful words. Yes, the best part of Steemit is the wonderful people, working hard to make a difference.
Hmm, great mindset!
Greetings, sweet corina
Great post. When I came in here, I was totally lost in how to do things. However, I started to read a lot, to see several tutorials of people passing on information about how the site worked after a while, I learned how things inside work. My first post had 0 reward hahaha.
In addition, I received help from the Brazilian community here. We have a channel on the discord and telegram, plus some curatorial projects that help us both get upvotes and have more visibility here.
I recommend to everyone that they enter, that they look for the projects that are done in their original language, because it helps a lot.
Very frigid by the tutorial.
Good afternoon!!!
It does take a while to learn to be a 'proper steemian' but its' more than worth the time. Thank you so much for your comment and the advice!
(I say this respectfully) But then why do you use Bots @corina ?? I made a vowel to not do it from the git go.I started using Resteem services but now I decided to even cut that out anymore .
It's just against the principles of what Steemit is about or at least what it should be about.
Sorry , but I will bust my butt ( like I've been doing for over 3 months) and it may take 3 or 4 more times as long to make it to Trending page someday, but I feel it is the best way to act like a "proper steemian" and set that example for others :)
Again, I do not want to cut into you as I think your intentions are good and what you say in your Post has some valid and sound points.
But I think Bots were really never intended to be a part of the Equation here from the Founders.
I use bots because I think my posts are good quality and I want you guys to be able to see them. Thank you for your comment.
And don't you think I and hundreds of others also produce high quality Content? But do we do it ?? No, because of Principle and the bad example to others and it ends up perpetuating the abuse of them !!
There are other ways to get visible.
One way I have been doing is joining groups of high quality Curators.
Btw, I haven't always been this vocal in the beginning. But as I begin to analyze it more and more I came to the Conclusion we need to completely Ban them because of the abuse.
And we need to be vigilant about it.
if you're just a small fish, you cant beat the whales, what you do is to team-up with them, small fish can survive if you were together with whales to get rid of predator, The same thing in steemit, if you're a minnow you have to understands the way the whales are thinking, and create a post that will target them in their vulnerable spots, i know whales have some vulnerable spots. :)
That's a good idea but what about the upvote bots? Most whales play with upvote bots and really they don't care they can always upvote their own stuff. They'd probably make more upvoting themselves than farting around with minnows like me.
There are whales who care about Steemit and helping it grow!
That's true but it seems few and far between. Just my opinion from down here
Very good article. It's very encouraging.
I found this post suuuuuuper helpful thankyou!!! I am that little minnow swimming aroun feeling excited and searching for her place in the ocean!!!! Thankyou for your helpful tips, they were just what I needed right now. Much appreciated!
#introduceyourself/#introducemyself
The “introduceyourself/introducemyself” tag is for creating one introductory post that tells us about you. Users are encouraged to use this tag exclusively for that, and not to reuse it.
I think this post deserves an exception.
I think the first goal of minnows must be creating some kind of a network, by commenting and curating others' posts rather than posting much ourselves. There is no point in posting high-quality posts on first days after joining steemit, since no one will see them, but on the other a good comment under the popular post may do much more :)
Very well put @corina. Especially method 2! And that, to my mind is the problem which 99% of new members struggle to overcome, because when joining they actually had zero intention of getting to know anyone, all they saw were dollar signs.... which as more seasoned members here on Steemit will know well... that approach will never get you anywhere.
So true!! The most exciting part of this platform is being able to get to know everyone! I love that Steemit values those who read/watch/respond to content too. That's what makes a community, a community :)
Well said @willowrayn :)
Thank you for your comment Jaynie. When I first joined I was the same: ''Give me the moneeeey!'' A few months later I stopped blogging altogether because obviously, it didn't work out!
Yeah, persistence is a massive player here if you want to succeed financially, but again... as we have both said, it should not be your fundamental goal, before much like in the real world, if all you want is the money, you will most likely never get it.
It's true! Plus there are lots of other reasons to be here other than money! so many amazing people to get to know and really good posts!
Absolutely!!!
I am not a big writer but I do enjoy sharing my dark sky photography on Steemit. I did get frustrated with steemit for a while and took some time off, and learned that taking a break sometimes is the best course of action. I agree with you though about steemit being full of wonderful people. When I returned to steemit after the time off, I was pleasantly surprised by everyone that welcomed me back.
welcome to the community
Posts like this will help Steemit grow HUGE!!
Simple but yet powerful advice. Yes, Steemit is a big ocean. If minnows get too greedy, as in the case why we we all here you said, then they could get disappointed and could potentially give up. I think studying the FAQ page and making consistent efforts are the keys to success here. Also, I might add low expectations. Tell yourself you'll make nothing your first 5,10, or 50 posts, but you will write great content and slowly accumulate an audience. Great post. Cheers.
That's true! Don't expect to write one post and become rich, that doesn't happen very often. But being present and constant and writing good content can slowly build your reputation and SP. Thank you for dropping by.
There is a .02 earnings threshold so if you solo upvote you basically wasted your vote.
Thanks for the tips! I'm so excited to get started!!
I have already chosen option 2. I know currently my writing may not be up to the point but still trying to write everyday what my heart feels. May be one day my writing will be more skillful and people will get benefits by reading that. Optimistic for those days to come. Thanks for the nice article.
Thank you for reading. Option 2 is really good. To be honest, when you first start it's easier to earn by curating and commenting. Do keep writing though, even if it's just to improve your skills!
Yes, thanks.
Thanks for writing this @corina. I pray my friends who recently joined Steemit will be encouraged and nudged to continue writing and not give up.
A day will come when it's no longer about the money but the JOY of writing and sharing one's thoughts and experiences that may benefit others.
In addition, the photos and jokes that may brighten someone's day that makes it all worthwhile to steem on. :)
That should be the ultimate motivation! Writing to make other smile! Thank you for your great comment.
My pleasure @corina! Steem on! :)
Thank you for posting this information. It is important that established people like yourself are willing to take the time to guide less knowledgeable people in the community. I have read many posts that say exactly what this post says but sometimes it is hard advice to follow. I try to find posts that spark my interest and incite me to share my view but there are so many posts on Steemit that have nothing relevant to offer. They are just photos without content or copied news articles and things of that nature. I do appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge with the community.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment. That’s why it’s important to take the time to currate, to make sure we get rid of the bad posts and posters.
I noticed you used bots to upvote this - so you should have included that as an option - Method 4: pay to play.
@corina Thanks for the advice, Method 1 is golden in my opinion, knowing the ocean = clearer perspective on an individual's roadmap to the ultimate goal
Steemit is an investment that needs time, effort and contribution
Exactly. It takes a lot of hard work to succeed. Thank you for reading.
Some of the best advice that I got from @paradise-found :
I'm not too good with this last instruction. I'm still working on my formula. Just passing on some advice from a solid steemian.
When this post is at $420 and it's 2018/4/20 (in the UK at least (actually in the UK it's 20/4/2018 but whatever))
EDIT: My vote made it $421 :/
@jaynie interesting point of view especially the persistence part because success on Steemit is not promised but it's possible if we are persistent.
As with everything in life :)
100%
Very useful article! Thanks, Corina!
Congratulations @corina!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following categories:
Thanks @corina for the post. It's always helpful to keep your head high and your eye on the prize: writing about what you love and bringing it to the public. I've only been on the platform for a few weeks and find it liberating to have one platform where everyone writes on different subjects. Getting lost is a big issue on Steemit. I'm hopeful more curation and dicovery methods will be deployed on @steemit over time. I've seen a few beta apps that make it easier to discover content based on those you follow.
Thank you for this encouragement @corina! Truly motivated!
Thanks for your word and encouragement.
Always keep it one more push before giving up :)
I'm happy it gave you a little motivation. Thank you for dropping by.
Yup, not easy in the beginning. We all do have a urge to interact with others but I understand it is not easy for a newbie~
Your message comes right at perfect timing.
Thanks for this, you just motivated me!!!!
I’m so glad I did! Thank you so much for your comment.
Her insan yeteneklerle donatılmıştır, bu yetenekleri keşfetmekse kendimizi tanımaktan geçmektedir. Gözleri görmeyen biri resim çizemez diyemeyiz çünkü bir çok görme özürlü insan olağan üstü resimler çizer. iyi olmak daha kötü seçeneği eleyerek başlıyor. Sanırım daha çok kötü seçeneklerim var elemem gereken.
Paylaşım için Teşekkür ederim, oldukça ilham verici olmuş
Excelente publicacion
Gracias!
I like this post. I am fairly new to steemit and have made a varied array of posts. Some with little effort or just sharing others information that I liked or believed other steemians would like.
Then there are my posts (such as the one linked below) that really were quite extensive, thought provoking and embrace the Ethos of bettering things for all of us. I am very much a believer that we created many of the worlds problems so we can solve them if we work together. Together being the key word here. Once we stop thinking of ourselves and simply getting paid to amass our own pot of treasure, but instead put in work with the reward being of benefit to others then the system can begin to change. We have been conditioned into a way of life that is fundamentally wrong and has to change. Relentless consumerism, dirty energy, devastation of the environment all need to stop and stop soon.
When writing posts such as this they come from my heart and are things that until recently I haven't spoken about too publicly as people tend to mock or make fun of my "non mainstream views". A few years ago though I chose to stop just speaking to friends and family or work colleagues about my thoughts on the world and instead took the bold move to post in various places online. As I thought many people laughed, poked fun, hurled abuse at me for questioning all the things that if changed, would mean people having to actually change. People dont want to change, they dont want to move outside of their comfort zone. That is, until the problems begin to land on their door step. We are all guilty of too little too late, blaming others, waiting for someone else to devise a solution.
It really is going to take a group effort and some forward thinking, if we think governments and large corporations with profit as their number one dedication are going to help before we totally ruin society and the environment then we are sadly mistaken. It is therefore very hard to take when I am trying to do good but met with such adversity.
I thought steemit would be different and the people here would immediately flock to my posts and contact me in their droves with masses of appreciation or even better ideas. I thought that immediately I would grow a new community of like minded people and begin to make some ideas take shape. That was a silly way of thinking, as with anything in life most things of great substance take a lot of work. People pass my posts by, very little interaction takes place BUT the initial disapointment has now been replaced with new enthusiasm. I know that eventually people will see them and when the time is right the people who resonate will connect with me. The universe does things the same way it always has, we are all slowly drifting toward an inevitable destination and if the things I dream of are to become reality then at the right time it will all fall in to place.
Stay patient people, keep putting in effort, keep doing the right things and lead by example. Steemit has the potential to help forge new communities and great changes and it will only get better over time.
Feel free to read one of my recent posts here:
https://steemit.com/permaculture/@juicyvegandwarf/can-blockchain-crypto-permaculture-and-nature-be-integrated
Great post @corina . We also at @userhelp will help minnows with any questions they may have. We are organizing a crowdsourced group to answer questions . Stay tune!
Thank you so much for this post. I am new here compared to so many people. But I try to do my part to help the other new people that are coming in. That is actually how I found you. I spent a lot of time in the introduce yourself new feed. trying to find new friends. At my place I do games Monday Wednesday and Friday that are super easy. And quick, they all take less than a minute. Plus if you play my games you will win. I feel that it gives new people a place to go to play games meet people and are in a little money. The reason I decided to do this is because of how tough it was for me in the beginning and then also because I had read a few places that our retention rate for new friends is kind of low. So I figured by giving them a chance to meet friends and doing my contest 3 times a week along with the possibility of winning money, it would give our new friends a good incentive to come back on a regular basis and engage the community. I think it's important that we all do our part with what it is that we are good at. So once again thank you so much for helping the new guys. I hope you have a great day and that I'll see you around some more. Sending you all of my love until we meet again. And may our creator bless you and yours.
Thank you so much for your kind comment! What you’re doing is awesome! It can be a bit lonely for new steemians, and quite hard to find their way so well done for helping out!
It seen like good for our information and i hope it help us to know about that.
This is all new for me and yeah, this does seem like an ocean. I'm learning things very slowly. It's a little overwhelming at times because there is so much to learn about steemit. It's kinda hard to make out what steemit is suppose to be. What content is allowed and whatnot. If I don't have anything original to say am I not allowed to post anything or it'll get flagged? For not I'm sticking to the reply section until I understand more. Thanks for the post.
This helps a lot @corina! Thank you for sharing this content :)
Thank you for dropping by!
I wake up early in the morning for pray prayer in 4:00 am time, then i am so excited to see my steemit blog. because i join steemit yesterday. today me second day in steemit. i see my blog and nothing earn.... suddenly i upvote to the people and check introduce yourself tag in trending page. when i see your post about how to motivate yourself mean myself for working. so its amazing post for me and for every one. when i read method 1 i am excited for working. then i follow second method for keep writing but Sir @corina i have some issue my English is not good. I am not interest in writing but i can try for writing and improving my writing skill. thanks sir.
I have been on Steemit just a few days and I am not sure if I will stay or not. I have noticed that there are so many negitive attitudes toward Steemit right now, I wonder if that is way Steemit is the way it is.
Beautiful post corina, thank you for such insightful motivation :)
Thank you!
Nice content up there.
It's been a long journey here and I have made sure I thread carefully.
Thank you!
Keep getting better - great tip :). Sometimes even that can be a bit difficult, if response to new posts where you tried to do better isn't really bigger than the response before. But best top of all: making new friends! :)
Yes! That is the most important thing! Get to know people and have fun! Thank you for your comment!
Timely post. I have been seeing my posts get a handful of viewers but nothing more. My content isn't stellar but not crap either. Just keep plugging away trying to help the platform. Thanks for the post.
Yes, get involved in the community and make friends! Thank you for your comment!
Welcome to Steem Community @corina! As a gentle reminder, please keep your master password safe. The best practise is to use your private posting key to login to Steemit when posting; and the private active key for wallet related transactions.
In the New Steemians project, we help new members of steem by education and resteeeming their articles. Get your articles resteemed too for maximum exposure. You can learn more about it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gaman/new-steemians-project-launch
I still need to get to know the ocean:(
Please anyone guide me.
Please ask away! I’m here for any question you may have! Thank you for your comment.
This is so sweet, i learnt so much here, it cannot be better explain and this post is for me. I just made my first post and i am seeing this at the right time.
God bless you
Thank you so much and good luck!