When your account is approved, it comes with reputation 25. And then it is up to you to either grow it or make it drop. Period.
I am not an expert at how, but after 61 days, i have some experiences i want to share with you. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
So without much ado, lets get to the gist of the matter. How do you increase your reputation? What can easily cause it to drop? How can you earn sustainably?
This will ensure that you earn daily! And every day will be a 7th day of redeeming rewards. Yes. Start a 7-day circle of redeeming, maybe pennies at first, but what is the harm?
Or better, what is he alternative? Giving up? Now of course that is not an option, so why not? And then of course one plus one makes a bundle!
Steemit is such a global brand, and phenomenon! I have met friends from Europe, they seem the majority. I could be wrong though, but heck, they are the majority of my few friends as yet.
Then there are also those from the Asias, and then of course from my homeland Africa.
It is, one can conclude, cross-continental. And this observed, posting at various times of the day seems to work. You know about this time-zone thing.
You don’t want to keep posting at a time when the majority of your followers are sleeping! Varying the times, ensures that you are able to reach the steem palms of your different time-zone friends, I think. No, not think, testify!
24 hours after making my introductory post, my reputation was languishing at 25. Now that sucks, no? Seeing everyone high up and thinking, how will I even break out of this lowest common multiplier (LCM). Every newbie stats at 25, just in case you still don’t know.
That figure next to your profile name matters, so increasing it (how, I am still trying to figure out) is important. Why? Because it makes you ‘visible’, I think.
,br>I was, just before I stray, at reputation 25 despite posting my introduction, and another post or two, until I made one single comment on another person’s post, 
That was when my breakout came. He upvoted my comment, and boom, the reputation climbed off above the 25.
Your own story might be different, but mine, well.
I have until now, found commenting more profitable than even posting. Above else because it really engages me. I mean, there are so many wonderful posts out there and authors you can’t afford not to converse with.
This is where to take conversations and making acquaintances to another level! I found, and still do, discords to be the backroom for making connections. You can’t imagine how many friends you make once you actively get involved.
Plus there are several post promotion channels therein. So again, you also get to promote your posts.
There are several discords all purposed to building community, even if they may each prioritize different genres.
Are you a newbie, there is @newsbieresteemday and 
Okay, so you are all out trying to gain as many followers as possible. That is a big deal, right? It is. And I will say it again, it is!
But I will leave the reasons, the importance, or for interest purposes, the merits for having a large following to those more experienced and better placed to speak about them.
But if I may say what I think, one of the reasons you want followers is so that they may upvote, comment and resteem your posts, no? Yes. I am right. And you know it. We all want the same thing.
That is what you expect of them, to upvote, to comment and to resteem your posts. But the question is: are doing the same for those you are following?
You should. Besides expecting with example, you build a sense of community with those you are following, putting them in debt to reciprocate, may even follow you back.
One thing I make sure to do, the first thing to be specific, that I do the moment I log in t my steemit account, is head off to the feed, and read through the posts by those I follow, and there upvote (optional) and comment (compulsory!) and occasionally resteem (optional). Now that is what I call fellowship.
This is your short-cut to earning big while at the same time increasing your reputation and above else, making friends. Contests give you a direct and ready audience, of both the host and the several fellow contestants.
It is the fastest path to getting exposure, and audience. And the even better news is that there are several contests out there.
Choose the ones that are in line with your passions, in line with the genres of your interest, and get in. I did, and it worked wonders for me.
Honorable mention goes to the daily meme contest by 
