When I first joined Steem, the "get rich quickly" crowd was in full swing. You had people "marketing" Steem on social media how it was the place to come and earn hundreds of dollars per post. Of course, results tended to vary and many arrived with misguided expectations. After a few posts earning .001 as opposed to hundreds, our disillusioned newbies moved on.
Periodically, we see the same this concept arise. Recently, I noticed a number of posts pertaining to this. A few expressed frustration at not making tens of dollars (I guess we should be grateful for the improvement there) on their posts. For whatever reason, these people have it in their mindset that Steem is a "get rich quick" platform".
As one who does believe in the long-term view of Steem, I feel that anyone who is actively participating on Steem today will do very well financially. The problem with using a term like "Rich" is the term is relative. What is considered rich in Laos is different than San Francisco.
Nevertheless, if one wants to look at a long term trend that will have a nice payout, Steem potentially offers that.
We have no idea what the pricing action on the token will do in the future. If, however, history is any indication, we should see a massive jump in the next bull market. There is no question this will happen just a matter of when. The Crypto-Winter might still be in full swing. Either way, what happens if STEEM is worth $20? $50? $100? Suddenly, accounts with a 1000 SP, which there are 7,641, are worth a fair bit of money. Depending upon where one is, that could be life changing money.
The key to all of this is action.
So what is required to activate the "Get Rich Slowly" mechanism.
The Lottery system has a catchy saying: you have to be in it to win it.
With Steem, you need to be here and active to partake in the benefits. It is easy to get jealous, angry, and frustrated. Those who throw in the towel by powering down guarantee they will not benefit from any growth pertaining to Steem. Even if the token explodes, without holding it, there is nothing.
Steem, in many ways, can be looked at as a part-time job or side business. There is a time element that needs to be put forth. It is not an easy system to grasp meaning one needs to do what is required to understand it.
To understand Steem, an incredible amount of research is required. Without it, one will get overwhelmed with all the different aspects to this. To start, the world of cryptocurrency is completely different from anything most of us saw. Blockchain offers a different paradigm that is foreign to most of us. The idea that seemingly unrelated projects are all part of one makes little sense in the beginning.
There are many different layers to Steem. Peeling these back takes a great deal of effort. The information is available although the ecosystem is pretty poor in regards to search. Hence, sifting through posts of people who one thinks are knowledgeable is the starting point. After that, searching tags and other primitive Internet tactics need to be employed.
There is a social aspect to all of this although that should surprise nobody. If we look at things from a business perspective, companies need to brand and market. They need to gain followers somehow. This is done by creating a stir, somehow.
Even YouTubers who are successful employ these techniques. They often spend years building a following. Steem is no different. Part of the reason people get upvotes is because people are following them.
Interacting with others is key. Unless one has enough SP to self upvote to high financial rewards, it requires the help of others. It can be done, it is just a process.
From my observation, the most successful people on here are consistently posting. Some opt to post once per day; others two or three. Whatever the frequency, I can set a watch by their posts within a couple of hours. This is something that went on for years. A couple I am thinking about do not miss a day. Personally, the only time I missed was after the chaos after Hard Fork 20 when everyone's Resource Credits were set at zero.
Consistent activity allows people to begin to "trust" you. This is where some of the haphazard behavior is eliminated. If people know what to expect, they can opt to follow or not. I believe people will be more likely to partake if they know what to expect. Consistency helps to foster this.
Notice I did not say post "quality content". We are passed the days of this being only a blogging platform. Steem is an open system that should embrace all points of view and activity. The mega-social media sites are acting as gatekeeper to what content they feel is appropriate. Sadly, many on Steem feel a certain level of "quality" should be hit or else they are flagged, most often by a bot.
That said, to attract a following, people need to be interested in what you are posting. Provide stuff that people are interested in and they will start to follow. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different tags on this site. Each of those has many different topics underneath them. Likes and interests will vary across the entire platform. Post stuff that people are interested in and they will follow.
This is a big one. It is something that many are starting to lose. The mentality appears to be "I want it now" on Steem. This is not only in regards to personal accounts but the ecosystem in general. I understand it. We are all tired of the Crypto-Winter yet we must deal with it.
None of us knows when the world of cryptocurrency will explode. There are a lot of signs that we are closing in on the elbow of the exponential growth chart. That said, we only will know in hindsight. What appears to be a shift could simply be a temporary move. Things could go the other way quickly.
We are in a long-term development game. Forgetting price, we are light years ahead of January 2018 on Steem. The development is way ahead of where it was then. Yet the token price is way down. How can this be? It shows how little price action and what actually takes place are linked. Markets have a mind of their own. Cryptocurrency is no exception.
It is the development that will dictate where we end up. This is always the case with technology. We are always dealing with the "mousetrap". To enjoy long-term, disruptive success, a better one needs to be created. Once this happens, it required continual updating. The IPhone was a major disruptive force yet did not stick with the IPhone 2.
Steem is an opportunity; nothing more. There are many on here who are taking advantage of it because they believe in the long-term potential of what they see. Most others are not taking the same approach.
The question is which ones will be kicking themsleves in the future. If you are like me, you are doing all you can to ensure you are a part of this when it takes off.
Hopefully we are the ones without the boot to our hind ends.
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