MY JOURNEY SO FAR ON STEEMIT; VERY CHALLENGING BUT SO INTERESTING

Hello steemians, today marks my 12 days of membership in the steemit community. I am glad to be part of this great community, that has unlocked certain talents and virtues in me, which have remained hidden or underused for so long.
To be honest, i have found steemit more challenging than i expected and the challenges are in fact what have been making it competitive, social oriented and interesting for me.

I promise to spare no words in sharing with you my experience here on steemit, the difficult challenges i have encountered so far, how i tackled the ones i could and also the lessons i was able to get.

A journey of 12 days might appear not be long enough for one to gather enough experience worth sharing out BUT for someone who came into steemit with high expectations of making serious cash, and instead of his expections, met a more challenging system; let's face it, the experience could be overwhelming.

For my readers to understand better, I'll start from the begging and then work my way up.

WHAT I EXPECTED FROM STEEMIT vs WHAT I MET

I was introduced into the steemit community through a friend @ukwuanitochi. His words were, "...here in steemit, you get paid for the likes you get on your post and comments under your post... " Wow! This is awesome for me, who has passion for writing and can boast of writing well.

Before now, I was an active user on facebook. I devote most of my time socializing and writing good articles on great topics. I often get recommendation from friends, but unfortunately 80% of my audience on facebook hate long speeches, to them it's boring and uninteresting, so i had to adjust my tactics of writting so as to retain and maintain the interest of my readers: my first mistake

After i was introduced to steemit by @ukwuanitochi, i was reluctant at first but then a thought came to me, "If my write-ups can actually fetch some cash for me, why waste talents here on facebook. If i can be rewarded for the hundred likes i get on my facebook post, Why am i hesistating to join steemit?!"
With these thoughts i stormed steemit, fueled with high hopes of earning so much within my first week.

But I came and I saw monumental challenges and i was beaten.

SOME OF MY CHALLENGES HERE ON STEEMIT

The first challenge that hit me so hard is "Low recognition" my blog posts use to get.

Low recognition however may not be an uncommon experience especially when you are new to a platform but it posed challenge for me because the essence of content creation is to add value to the community in which you belong and the rate of value you add can be measured by size of the crowd your write-up was able to pull, and the acknowledgement it got.

Again steemit unlike facebook is more of blogging than social media. What i mean is, steemit motivates the best in you and also brings to light the best of you.
When i started visiting users' blogs, reading their posts, how good and qualified their write-ups are, it was obvious that i am in competition with some of the Bests writters, so to get that recognition i seek, i have to upgrade my writting skills. Remember, i have already adjusted down my writting skils so as to impress my readers on facebook, it was a hell of a challenge for me.

HOW I TAKCLED THE ABOVE CHALLENGES AND MY LESSONS

Like i said before, my journey so far on steemit has not been so easy and rewarding as i anticipated, but I've always been guided in life by a Mantra, "If it is not hard, it's not worth it."

I started drvoting more time in reading guideline posts made by users with more reputation and great writting skills (Whales). I read and learn new skills, upvote and leave wonderful comments. I said to myself, "Romeo you are new here, you have tried your possible best in wrtting good stuffs but end up getting little or no recognition, MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN!" So i decided to indulge in curation more than creation.

Then it happend one day, i saw a post made by one of the users i respect so much here on steemit @papa-peppers, he wrote on How to make your presence known, i shouted BINGO!! "The topic am looking for, written by one of the bests", i went straight and read it down to the finishing line—it was so interesting and mostly provided a guide as to how i can tackle my challenges. Thanks @papa-peppers for the wonderful tip.

Apart from providing guide, papa's post gave me a very wonderful insight.
I'll share below, a screengrab of some users' comments under his post and papa's replies to them. 👇

You may not believe it but the comments cracked me up and i laughed so well..lol. I was amazed at how much fun one can get from steemit. It is not all about making earnings but also socialising, making friends and reaching out.
When you make a friend on steemit, you can find yourself every now and then curating on their posts, dropping comments and interacting and having fun, it must not be all about earning money all the time.

Honestly am happy. I may not have mastered the secrets to great steeming skills, but i can say am now better than i was 11 days ago. Am grateful to steem and fellow steemians, whose works have in a way or another motivated me and provided me with utility tools in upgrading my skills. You guys added value to my life, BIG Thanks!

I was hoping, this write-up will boost the confidence of some newbies who might be experiencing similar challenges here on steemit, and as well provide strategy on how to handle the challenges and turn them into promoters.

Happy Reading...

Follow me @romeo-chimezie for quality writeups and contents

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MY CHALENGES LATER BECAME MY PROMOTER!