There are a lot of rumors floating around that Steemit payouts accrue to people for no other reason than that they have large audiences on other social media platforms, as though a large audience is the only thing anyone needs to bring to the table to do well here.
I'd like to dispel that myth.
Large audience = instant success?
I recently sat down with Brian of @highimpactflix for a discussion about the basics of Steemit. Brian's social media audience is MUCH larger than mine. Brian's YouTube channel HighImpactFlix is rapidly approaching a quarter of a million subscribers, and Brian reaches several thousand other people on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Part one of this discussion is available here.
Brian's social media reach is ten times greater than that of the @dollarvigilante, Jeff Berwick, but he hasn't experienced a windfall of cryptocurrency on the same magnitude. In fact, I've personally been a bit more fortunate with Steemit than Brian despite the fact that my total audience is less than a few thousand people.
Well... that's awkward. According to skeptics and conspiracy theorists, Brian should be a whale and I should be broke. What gives?
Perhaps the game isn't really rigged, as complainers and skeptics would have everyone believe.
Don't be discouraged.
Brian certainly isn't discouraged. Why would he be? His content is great. He's spreading the word about anarchism and voluntaryism among an extremely large audience through his own original work and through video interpretations of work by myself and other anarchists like @larkenrose. He isn't worried about not getting paid ten grand for every Steemit post. People like Brian and I would be doing this even if Steemit wasn't a thing; we'd be doing it even if we weren't getting paid.
For those alarmists who think that this platform only benefits those with large audiences elsewhere - think again.
And for those who are still waiting to see returns: keep your chin up. CURATE. More than 25% of a post's payout goes to curators. Also: consistency is key. Refine your product; refine your message. Learning the basic of HTML wouldn't hurt either, and it would only take you an afternoon. To some degree, market success on Steemit is a matter of "right place, right time".
Pay attention to the signals the market is sending, and you'll do just fine.
Part two of my discussion with Brian:
Please feel free to share this article and discussion with new or potential Steemit users who may be apprehensive about posting content on Steemit due to concerns that they need to have a large preexisting audience to do well.
Also, feel free to let me know if Brian and I got anything wrong in the video. We're both still learning!
About the Author
I'm Jared Howe! I'm a Voluntaryist hip hop artist and professional technical editor/writer with a passion for Austrian economics and universal ethics. You can catch my podcast every Friday on the Seeds of Liberty Podcast Network.
