Growing a witness account on Steem is not easy at all. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. The costs of running a node are way too high and the rewards are way too little.

To have a server and not miss blocks you need not just to have a server that has the minimum requirements (64GB of ram and an NVMe SSD), but you need a very reliable bare metal server. If you go cheap with the server what happens is that you will miss blocks.

Seriously, take a moment to check the statistics at
https://steemian.info/witnesses

Almost all witnesses have at least 1 missed block (7th column). I did not cheap out on my server, trust me, it is a beefy piece of hardware, and for the blockchain it pays off because I have never missed a single block, my machine is running day and night and differently from even bigger witnesses than me, I still have a ZERO MISS RATE!

That said, I think you can no understand why us, small witnesses, have to work hard to grow, it is not easy to get new votes.

But I am glad to know that I am not alone on this walk. In this post I would like to take a little bit of your time to show you two amazing people that have helped me a lot.

What do they do that I am so glad for their help? They mention me on their posts and help me asking for votes.
Those two amazing people are @wagnertamanaha and @clixmoney

Mentioning me on their posts and asking people to vote for me does not sound like a lot, but over time the small promotion they do help me a lot. I am just one person, and I do not have a huge follower base. Their simple mention followed by their short message explaining that I am a Steem witness and asking for a vote have already got me a few votes and help me increase my reach beyond my follower base, and for that I am deeply grateful.

@wagnertamanaha is a brazilian guy, I have met him on a brazilian group about Steem. He also has a project that is very cool, it is @blockchaincat
On the @blockchaincat profile he posts cartoons related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies and the main character is a cat with the face of Bitcoin. I don't want to spoil his work, but here is a screenshot of a few posts, go to his profile and see his work, it is fun!

@clixmoney is a russian friend I have found on DTube, he posts videos almost daily and have supported me with many tips on how to improve my DTube channel, thanks to him I am managing to make better content.
He also has a project of his own called @dcooperation
His work is immensely helpful for the DTube community because he helps connect DTubers and audience, thanks to him I have found very good content to follow on DTube, and by finding good content I can have a better vision on how to develop my DTube channel

I won't spoil his content either but here are a few of his latest videos on @dcooperation

@wagnertamanaha and @clixmoney thank you guys very very much for the help. Your "simple" act of helping me ask new votes not just help me by possibly getting a few new voters for my witness campaign, but it also helps me to stay my motivation up, knowing that I am not on this alone.

Thank you guys very much and I wish you two great success both on personal level and on your projects!

I AM A STEEM WITNESS

To vote for me, simply use the SteemConnect link below
https://steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=igormuba&approve=1

or go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses

(note, it is /~witnesses, not /witness)
Scroll all the way down to "If you would like to vote for a witness outside of the top 100, enter the account name below to cast a vote."

type igormuba and click vote