This Is The New 2018 Version.
This is the Old Version:
Some Facts About My Steemit Journey So Far. The Real Steemit Truth.
Let Me Explain The Reasons For This Article.
I joined Steemit 21 months ago, and became something we call: "Steemian". As a full time freelancer providing affordable quality solutions for my clients, I decided to dip my toes into this whole "blogging" atmosphere.
I was number 15,150 to ever join Steemit and when I joined, there were already a great deal of competition. One cannot compare the competition nowadays with the competition back then though, as we have more than 61,100+ active Steemians at this point.
I had an insane start on Steemit, and it was without a doubt the best experience I've ever had online. Period. I did what others did and started to write articles in hopes of great rewards and to earn an extra income. As a freelancer, I've always been all about extra incomes, no matter how much I can make, because each cent will add up into larger amounts. That's the real reason I joined Steemit in the first place. I was looking for a way to earn a decent extra income. I had no prior experience of crytocurrencies and sure, I had heard about Bitcoin, but I was never interested because I loved the smell of real money. I loved FIAT, because I knew FIAT was working for me.
I also never saw myself as a blogger, because bloggers to me at the time, was posting pure garbage on their blogs, telling us all about their breakfast and their boring makeup crap they've bought. Seriously, I'm a guy. I'm straight. I don't waste money or time on makeup and I couldn't care less about what someone I don't even know eats for breakfast.
That is why I never saw myself as a blogger... And that's also why I still struggle with that "title" today. However, due to the existence of Steemit, I was pretty soon caught up in the whole blog-thing and I started to realize that Steemit allowed us to become bloggers, without the necessity to post garbage.
Also, before I continue this article, I want to tell you that the old version of this post still brings new people to Steemit. They join due to my old article and they even comment on that article from time to time.
The old version is published 20 months ago... And it still brings me new followers and it still functions as a stepping stone for people to join Steemit. - That's pretty amazing if you ask me.
Each article you publish on Steemit can benefit everyone on Steemit. In the long haul. First, you have the potential to earn rewards and to grow your audience in terms of followers. But even months or years later, it can still benefit everyone. Just like a handful of my own articles does. - Keep Long Term in mind and you'll find success.
Before we dive deeper into this, I just want to show you the rewards I made from this old article.
Note that this was long before bid-bots. I made $9.45 with 88 votes. During this time, it was also rather common for established authors to feature others in one way of another, and as you can see in the screenshot above, dragonslayer liked the article so much so he decided to feature it within his "hidden gems".
This is how much he earned:
With 3 times more votes he earned $500+ more than me. For sharing other people's articles. That basically means, slim to none effort on his part, meanwhile he was able to rake in tons of rewards for other people's work.
- Fair?
Not at all. But this has been going on ever since the start of Steemit.
Steemit has never been "fair" in the sense that most people wants it to be. And no, I did not get anything from his rewards, because splitting rewards was not common during this time.
Let's Continue Shall We?
I dipped my toes, I started to publish whatever I could think of and even though I wasn't too comfortable, I did what I could to earn something...
I earned a few cents here and there and I earned a dollar or two for my introduction post. Nothing life changing at all but I was satisfied with whatever I made because it was more than I had before.
I am still to this day, satisfied with each cent I earn because it's more than I would ever earn from Facecrap, Twatter or Youboob.
Suddenly I was struck by lightning!
The co-founder of Steemit, @dan ( @dantheman ), found one of my articles and decided to upvote it. I cannot tell you the reason for it, but I guess he either liked the article I published or that he saw potential in me or my content.
This was the best experience I've ever had online. This was the time when I started to truly believe in myself as a "blogger" and it felt like I had finally found something that could change my life for the better.
I cannot remember the exact value from his upvote but I earned $300+, $500+ and the highest ever paid out article I have written got as high as $986 (if I remember correctly).
All of that started with @dan. His act of kindness gave me loads of exposure. He did not only give me a ton of money for his upvote, he also put my articles on trending due to this... And my articles started to get exposure in a way I never experienced prior to this. Other dolphins and whales started to vote for my content from time to time and I was so happy and grateful so I was literally laughing all the way "to the bank".
More than a handful of articles I have written and published have seen rewards of more than $300. Both @dan and @blocktrades gave me lots of support in the beginning of my Steemit career... But it stopped eventually.
I took a long pause from Steemit. Not only due to the loss of support, but from the day I signed up to Steemit I was bascially on Steemit for 20 hours per day, reading and learning. - I wanted Steemit to be what I believed it could be... A true life changing opportunity for me and I wanted it so bad, so I had a mental breakdown.
- I drained myself and I had zero energy left.
Due to me being a freelancer, I obviously had to keep enough energy to work, and I truly struggled with that for almost 3 months so I had to put Steemit on hold.
During my break, the price of Steem and SBD dropped down to ~$0.10 or whatever... So it was basically impossible to earn anything from Steemit when I did my comeback so to speak. I have been here, on Steemit since that day, with just a few minor breaks.
I lost a ton of support during my breaks. I even lost @thejohalfiles which I was fortunate enough to have as a supporter in the early days. In all honesty, even though whale support would be awesome, that's just icing on the cake.
- Steemit is so much more than dollar signs.
Due to all the incredible authors on Steemit, all the compassion and all the talent around us, I have also been fortunate enough to become a better person. Not so much in terms of personality or behaviour, because that wouldn't change. I have always been rather humble and supportive. However, what I have been able to change is my personal mindset on certain things.
I have proven to myself that I can write and discuss about topics I have so long tried to ignore or stay away from. My anxiety, my depression or my panic attacks for instance. My father's death has also been something I never have even tried to talk about, because I have never felt comfortable doing that... And even though I still struggle with certain things today, I have noticed that it is okay to be different. Never have someone laughed at me or my personal struggles here on Steemit. Even though I know that this place is filled with trolls just like on any other platform out there...
They have never been able to affect me. They have never bothered me. I have never been called bad things and I personally believe that is most likely due to my personality and my honesty. I am an open minded, rather humble random guy from Sweden. I am definitely not better than anyone around me, but I am also not worse than others... Even though I might struggle with certain things.
I am not native in English and that's obviously an obstacle each time I'm writing something... But I haven't been "bullied" or anything for that either. If something, it's the other way around actually.
Most of my readers have always been supportive and encouraged me to continue to do what I do, because they like me, my content or they see some sort of potential. Often when I struggle to see this myself, I always remember other Steemians like @teamsteem and many other Steemians who've always been there for me. Recently, during the last couple of weeks, another awesome Steemian started to encourage me. @fulltimegeek. He delegated me Steem Power, he inspired me to do the same to others and he has been supportive ever since.
This is what makes me a better person in the long haul. This is what I want to do for others. And that is why I started @asapers. To encourage, inspire and motivate those around me and to help newcomers to dip their feets. The whole #asapers team wants to help them make a difference on Steemit. And even though we've just started, we've already came to many conclusions and we're all working towards the same goals which is truly amazing.
None of that would've been possible without @fulltimegeek and his generous delegations... But it wouldn't have been possible without the continuous support I've had from @teamsteem either. These two Steemians are by far my personal favorites on Steemit, but they are my favorites for different reasons. There's obviously a bunch of other incredible Steemians out there who've been supportive and Steemians I truly like, but these two I've mentioned are without a doubt the two who've given me the most inspiration and encouragement.
They both give me an opportunity many others would never have given me... And for that, I will always be grateful.
I don't like everything I see on Steemit, but I try to not drain my energy on things I cannot change. I am not afraid to admit that I don't have any major impact on Steemit, and due to that, it's unnecessary for me to try to change things I cannot change. Instead, I try to make the best of what I've got and focus on things I can change or affect in one way or another. And I encourage others to do the same.
- Be you, because no one will ever be a better you than yourself.
I am truly thankful for everything I have been given so far and I am thankful for the opportunity Steemit gives me to change my own life and also to have an affect in others lives too. Once people realize the true, inner strength of Steemit, and how it can affect us all to the better... Steemit will flourish, and so will we.
