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It was a Monday morning. I was seated in front of my laptop, trying to put together for an article for a client when my phone rang. It was my brother calling. The time was 6am. I wondered why he was calling so early. “It must be something important,” I thought. I answered the phone, trying so hard to conceal my anxiousness about why he was calling so early. “Do you know about Steemit?” he asked after we exchanged pleasantries. I didn’t hear the word he mentioned clearly, so we spent the next few seconds with him trying to pronounce it as clearly as possible for my comprehension. It was to no avail as network was bad. Finally, he spelt it letter after letter before I made out the word STEEMIT. He took me on a crash course about how the system works. I thought it was a great platform for me to showcase my works as a writer and also earn some money on the side.
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Can do spirit
Shortly after, I was on the computer writing what was going to be my first post on steemit. I had it all figured out. After publishing a couple of articles, I’d have a wide audience read my works and more money would be deposited in my bank account. I remember the excitement as I arranged my article, eager to press the “publish.” I had no clue of how to insert pictures and the sources of images in my post. I was tempted to go ahead with the post without any pictures or sources but on second thoughts, I figured it was better to do it right. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to learn how to do these things. And finally, I got it right. How happy I was!
I published my first post. And in two days, I had published more. I had expected the number of views, upvotes and steems to increase greatly, but sadly, the number was low. Days passed and there was no improvement. My excitement was nowhere to be found and I started feeling bad for wasted effort. I managed to publish one or two more posts but there was no improvement. I gave up. I was done. If I wouldn’t get any rewards for working so hard to post articles on steemit, why bother? For days I abandoned the site. If it was working for others, perhaps it wasn’t for me.
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Perseverance
A few days later, I was beginning to have a re-think. Despite the absence of results, the passion to continue writing was still in me. For some reason, I was convinced that there was something for me in steemit. I made up my mind to keep trying. I may not get instant results, but surely, if I continued to write and post content of good quality, I’d get the results that I desired. I wrote more and participated in more contests, this time, for the fun of it.
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Financial empowerment
My perseverance did pay! Steemit has made me more financially empowered. With earnings from my articles and contests, I have been able to make some money that have improved my standard of living. Steemit is a platform of hope and empowerment. Steemit empowers that little boy or girl who has no source of livelihood to earn a living. It gives them the power to become financially independent to earn a living and take care of their bills without being enslaved by anyone.
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Improved writing skill
Having published more articles on steemit, I feel more confident about my writing. From reading other people’s works and writing a lot more, my writing has greatly improved. I’m no longer the same writer I used to be. I have changed for better. I have no doubt that, just like me, the skill of other writers have improved too, thanks to this platform. I’m inspired to write constantly. And every article I write, reads better than the last one.