Awhile ago, I read...

Steemit is

a social media platform
- where everyone gets paid for
  - creating content
  - curating content

✋ That sounds too good to be true. ✋

Come to find out
- it's actually
  - 😎 Too good to be ignored! 😎

7 days ago, I got registered with Steemit.

Poked around a bit.
- Searched for posts on how to get started.
  - Consensus was, I needed to make my #introduceyourself post.
- So, I ✍ created my first post.
✌ Today, I earned my first reward here on Steemit. ✌

My Wallet before and after

The post showed pending payout of $0.15, (0.08 SBD, 0.02 SP)

	Before	After
STEEM	0.000 STEEM	0.000 STEEM
STEEM POWER	0.500 STEEM (+14.524 STEEM)	0.517 STEEM (+14.524 STEEM)
STEEM DOLLARS	$0.000	$0.062
SAVINGS	0.000	0.000 STEEM
STEEM	$0.000	$0.000
Estimated Account Value	$1.95	$2.07

That proved...
* * * you CAN earn money ... on Steemit
- - - - - - - - - - simply by posting original content!

Let me tell you,

if you click on the carat by the money on the post
- it tells you how much it will pay out and when.
  - watching it click down the last few minutes was wowzer super exciting!!!
It did take it a few minutes to show up in my wallet...
It showed up first at https://steemnow.com/@wizardave
- OK, maybe not, there was a button at the top of my wallet to add it.
  - I might not have noticed that the first 100 times (haha) I refreshed the page...

Now when I click on that carat, it says...

Past Payouts $0.15
- - Author $0.13
    +(0.06 SBD, 0.02 SP)
- - Curators $0.02

That post got:

6 upvotes, including one from me
3 comments
- 2 may be bots ???

I don't guess I can retire, yet.

I cannot live out my life on $0.15
- But, now I have learned one key
  - I can get paid for creating content!

All I have to do to retire...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PSA (Public Service Announcement):
You don't have to be a certain age to retire.
You can retire as soon as you earn enough income to live the rest of your life without working.

I've been involved with a few Network Marketing companies.
- When I asked, when do you plan on retiring?
  - The typical answer was "at age suchandsuch."
    Some people could retire at 65, when social security kicked in for them.
    Some people could retire at 55, when they could 80 and out through their company.
    Sadly, perhaps one of the most common answers was,
    🙄 "I'll have to work until I die." 🙄

Never Forget
You don't have to be a certain age to retire.
You can retire as soon as you earn enough income to live the rest of your life without working.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I've just learned the first key... how to make money by creating content.
I still have to learn the second key... how to make money by curating content.

Then all I will have to do is...

Source

psst ... Hey Buddy ...
you want to make some money on Steemit?

Start reading this post from the very top.

Do what I did.
- Do it again.
  - Keep on Truckin'

Source

NOTES:

I have no clue of any of this made any difference,
but in the past week I:

gained 30 followers
- I started following anyone who started following me.
wrote 38 posts
- I posted once a day.
  - The rest are comments and replies to other people's votes.
started following 73 users
upvoted several posts and comments
- I did upvote a few posts, just because they had a lot of payout.
  - but mostly, I upvoted posts and comments I read and liked.
read a few dozen posts a day
- not just how to get started or how to make money
  - things I'm interested in...
- I used search to find posts about: #gardening, #homesteading, #hunting, #fishing, #politics, #ideas, #technology
  ... my hobbies and interests
Clicked on LOTS of @ usernames
- Read some of their posts.
  - Looked for their introductory post
  - I read several posts where they said they were making enough to go full time. #QuitYourDayJob
- Checked out their wallets.
  - This little 🐟 minnow was excited to find...
  - I saw several Estimated value of over $1000 🐬
    - I saw a few Estimated value of $1,000,000+ 🐋 🐋 🐋
I learned a few keys to success on #Steemit
- #persistance
  - post daily
- It does look like you can use bots to make money.
  - Nope, I haven't done that yet. I don't understand them, yet...
I've been a webmaster for over 20 years,
- so using HTML and Markdown was 2nd nature to me.
- Check these pages if you need to learn:
  - Markdown Cheat Sheet by @mono
  - Pimp Your Post (Formatting with HTML & Markdown) by @scrooger
  - Steemit emojis master list by @blueorgy
I even started an "old school" web site
- to help
  - share some knowledge
  - build some groups of like minded people
- It has a wiki, forums, links directory, chat, blogs & News Articles, Downloads, Galleries & a FAQ
  - You are welcome come join us.
- My Steemit post introducing jabi4Steemit
  It's just been created, so it's basically just a framework without much content yet.