The New Wave
So you're a talented content creator and you hit Steemit with a splash! Whether its your 1st or your 15th post, one of them resonates and lands you thousands of dollars (as well as a bucket load of STEEM Power).
Awesome.
You think you've found the magic sauce so you go again. Bingo! Another hit. You're in your element. You have a few more hits then all of a sudden....
The Drought
The dollars start to dry up.
You post... the upvotes are still there but the dollars aren't. You start second guessing yourself. Was it something I said. You search through the post that began the decline looking for clues. None to be found.
You feel abandoned and you see new posts trending. The whales are still out there. But they are not upvoting your content. You compare what you're doing to what they are upvoting. You KNOW your new stuff is better than that. Your new stuff is even better than your old stuff.
This is bullshit! You tell yourself.
And that is what it is.... No not bullshit. It is a story you tell yourself.
The stories we tell ourselves
You see, two months ago I was exactly where you are. Riding high off of my Blowing Of Some Steem blog posts, I felt on top of the world. I had it all mapped out. A few good posts and I immediately started extrapolating... $2000 per post... a post a day... over $700k a year...
A handful of dry posts later and I was despondent. In my mind's eye I was already a millionaire! I just needed to come to Steemit each day to collect my cheque. I'd sold myself a delusion and when it was beginning to unravel I blamed Steemit and the whales for colluding in my self-delusion.
It was then I checked myself. I needed perspective:
Perspective is the most important thing to have in life and the easiest thing to lose.
I needed to tell myself a different story. Like Fif' rebounding from nine shots... I needed to dig deep and come again. Stronger and harder. And in a moment of clarity, I wrote this:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@nanzo-scoop/no-upvotes-no-problem-you-will-be-king-makers
If you haven't read it, I suggest you read it.
The Prelude...
The key tenant of that piece is that today's incarnation of Steemit is not the end of the story. It's not even Chapter 1. It's the Prelude.
The era of blockchain based blogging/ social media rewards is just beginning. This site will only get bigger and better. There will be other sites like this one. The only job we have, as content creators, is to 'sharpen our tools' and be ready.
Don't let the big payouts fool you into believing the finish line is nigh. The big payouts are an illusion. A quirk of the system. Some of my best work has received next to nothing. Yet a comment knocked up on a Monday morning during breakfast before work, has earned me over a thousand dollars. I may as well have not gone to work this week. But I did, as I recognised that the massive payouts are a bit of a lottery.
What matters is how your gains average out. Each month, I ask myself how much effort did I put into Steemit and what was my rewards? I ask myself was it worth it. So far I consider myself lucky enough to say, "yes it is very much worth it" each time.
The opening stanza
The reason I see myself as lucky is because I've only been Steeming three months. Three months is nothing. This is how I now look at my Steemit experience to date:
• The first month I can chalk up to beginners luck. The fresh face with a fresh perspective. Maybe the founders and whales were being overly generous on a few of my posts.
• After the second month okay, maybe I have a knack. However most jobs have a 3 month probation period... I've only been here a few weeks.
• By the end of the third month, oh alright... this might be something I can pursue, the training wheels are off.
I'm barely out of probation in my mind. Yet I've already bagged a hatful of cash for a part-time gig. On top of that I've been awarded tens of thousands of dollars worth of 'shares' in the company (STEEM Power). I haven't even had to quit my day job. Yet my side business is looking extremely healthy. I'm blessed. Pulling in serious money for something that I love doing, in a sector that is just getting off the ground. It's exciting times that a few "down" days... hell a few down weeks cannot dampen!
I'm still working it out.... working out how to write for the platform, how to curate on the plaform, how to enable others and more, my head is a whirlpool of ideas... The routes to success in this field are endless. We are only just scratching the surface.
We are trailblazers. Most trailblazers see little or no rewards as they forge new paths. Usually it is others that follow after that reap the benefits. We get to be trailblazers and profit from our endeavours without having to 'bet the farm' whilst doing it. That's a sweet position to be in.
So my advice to all you wonderful content creators that are now suffering a dip is this,
Keep writing, keep making videos or keep doing exactly what it was that made you money. You have a talent for it!
Stay hungry, dig in and come again... because (to steal another 50 cent-ism), there is a massive opportunity here to Get Rich without having to Die Trying.