One week in steemit! Some advice for those who just joined
I'm always inclined to believe things happen for a good reason, and its up to us to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. It was only two weeks ago when I discovered @jerrybanfield and his loud but entertaining youtube channel and learned about Steemit for the first time.
![steemtrainedited.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNqDsGq8UFqW9icZGjtF17jiz2b2kwLgvk2Ca4fgGE1gh/steemtrainedited.jpg)
If you are new to the platform the concept of Steem, Steempower and Steem Dollars might be confusing but I promise that if you open your head to the concept it will start to make sense very quickly.
![sideliness.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmZUZAuSWdwztV5ZsQ65VuTm5fTn4sBNARLQfgHYwEcLjd/sideliness.png)
If you are standing on the sidelines simply because it just looks to good to be true you should know that in a way you are correct in your assertion. Its not so uncommon that some people on this platform sell the idea of steemit as something that everyone can make easy crazy money on but the truth is that to become a whale (someone that holds a lot of currency and influence) you have to put in a lot and I do mean a lot of work.
However I did not wake up this morning with the idea of scaring people away from joining, quite the opposite actually. Its a good thing that you have to work hard to be someone in this community, this guarantees value and a healthy growth of the steemit economy.
If you don't understand exactly how the whole money aspect works, let me share with you a short video that cleared it up for me.
I would like also to invite you to comment on this post if you have questions regarding anything I'm talking about, the whole idea behind this community is to share knowledge and grow together and If I can help in any way I will be more than happy to do so.
Now if the concept sounds good to you, and you understand where the money comes from the next natural question how can you grow your account and become a whale?
This is exactly when we get to the fork in the road, many users on Steemit might not agree with my thoughts and observations and I'm completely OK with that. I'm also confident that as I grow within this community some of my ideas might change completely. But in no particular order these might be some good tips to get you started.
Comment, Comment, Comment
Most of your time should be spent reading other people's blogs and commenting on them. This might seem annoying to some and its reasonable to see why... but the idea behind this is not for you to spam everyone with a generic post, but to build relationships with other users on this platform.
I've found some great thinkers on here who's posts have made me reconsider some of my own ideas on relationships, finance and politics. So even If I was never make a penny out of this platform I've already receive a lot of value from it.
Don't simply copy content
I've noticed lots of new users simply find old posts or youtube videos and copy pasting them into their blogs.
![dont copy.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmQGx9wsTQAYFVT9bnxNe7o16u9Q82en3WQbWza3UaR5fr/dont%20copy.jpg)
What value does this user bring to the community? Are new ideas being shared, is there a reason for me or you to follow him? If you take a minute to look into these copy past accounts you would quickly notice that most of them are short lived and make little to no money.
Its time to practice patience
The negative reviews I've found about Steemit have a certain theme to them. Many of the ex users of Steemit complain that they posted for weeks and never got more than a few cents out of it. I've gone as far as to find a few of those users who left Steemit and they all had one thing in common. They never developed relationships and never focused on bringing value to the community. In other words they wanted to win the first place trophy but not run the marathon.
Steemit as a community and more so as a revolutionary idea for social media is a long term investment. There might be a few users on here who within weeks were making some serious money but they are the exception and not the rule, many of them are bringing over a large group of followers from other platforms and that is an advantage that many of us simply don't have.
To think that everyone is entitled to overnight success on steemit would be like someone buying lotto tickets at a gas station and yelling at the clerk because they've won nothing with their investment.
In conclusion....
Steemit is not a quick sprint, or a get rich quick "thing" you found online... It's a growing community that will pay you back if you are willing to add value to it, and that is the best thing about it.
Steem on my friends
MenO
One of the reasons I joined Steem was because of the money involved. That's not what keeps me coming back though. I use Steem for a great deal of my daily reading; learning about cryptocurrency and world events. I'm impressed with the quality of posts, but it does take some effort to sift through the posts that are just made for a quick buck. In a few years when Steemit is more mature and developed I think it will take a large chunk of Reddit's users and we'll start to see people posting just for their and other peoples entertainment, with the monetary reward being a side thought.
All that said, great post and I totally agree that if you come here looking to make money you need to network and add value to the site. It's social media, be social!
I think you are spot on there... when it matures and the reddit community specially goes.. oh wait, this is so much better Steemit will see a great boost... in that sense we are lucky to be involved in this early on. Cheers Mate
I've been on steemit for almost three weeks, and it is slow, and patience is key, but regardless of the money made, it's a great platform to express oneself, and that makes it worth it!
Thanks for the post.
Thank you for reading new friend, i just started following you!! Steem on!
Thanks bro, same here!
Killer advice to the newly initiated. I just read a great post on the difference between the currencies
I'm going to give it a good read, thanks for sharing it with me