Entrepreneurship vs. Job
One of the biggest reasons why people get disappointed of the small rewards here, me included when starting, is that since most people have jobs, they are treating Steemit like a job also. I don't mean people are coming here thinking "this is my job now", but what they have is the implicitly learned mindset: "when I do work, I get guaranteed pay for it". Emphasis on "guarantee" because as you know, nothing is guaranteed here, hence why the expectation of guarantees leads only to a disappointment here.
I don't know you, you might be an entrepreneur, and I can only say that I admire you, but most of us still have had regular jobs throughout our lives so those are the main audience I'm now talking to: I want to you to think yourself as an entrepreneur and try figure how you would start to build a business. Because if you'd ask me, I would have no fucking clue how to go on with that. I mean sure, I could buy and sell shit online and make profit with it, but honestly that just sounds stupid and waste of time to me, even if it profited well – fucking boring as hell.
Ok, so with business first and foremost you have to have something to actually deliver, whether it's a skill, service, product, whatever – people ain't giving money for free, not a lot at least (you could try begging if you're into that). Then you need to figure out how to get people to pay you. Then you also need to know how to deal with all the bureaucracy (ugh) and all kind of shit I'm ignorant of because entrepreneurship has never sounded attractive to me; work, work and more work, no guarantees of anything, potential failure, debt and restructuring of it. Though Internet today enables business opportunities where you don't even need any capital to start, it sure helps but it's no way necessary – all you need is knowledge and some work ethic. Well, a lot of work ethic still.
Any other social medias then? Maybe earn some from those? Yeah, it's no way as easy to start earning there as is here. Here's a comment I received from @insaneworks in a post where I discussed this topic more in depth:
This has been easier that I thought. Although my expectations weren't so high to begin with. I have one semi popular website where I have google AdSense code and ads in it. Not too much or too big ads, but nevertheless someone every day views and clicks the ads. I've started it about a year and a half ago and now I have almost reached the first payment limit. 70€. About 5€ short. :D
YouTube, you have to have, what... (million... no...) 1000 followers there and then you can monetize your videos. I have three YouTube accounts and the most popular of those has almost 10 followers. I might have double that amount if I had worked hard, but who cares? If I had 1000 followers, how many cents would one like, one click bring me? How long would it take to reach the same amount as I have reached here?
I think Steemit is easy. Coming here was easy, being here is easy and getting few cents from every post is pretty easy,
And when thinking about the quality content and people upvoting what the heck they want. In my experience for instance people in Facebook comment way more personal crap... sorry, stuff like selfies, what-did-I-eat-today, vacation photos, home decor, look-at-me, feel-sorry-for-me, envy-me updates than for instance great writings about the whole world dying because we humans are so selfish. People like happy and easy stuff, not the kind of news that makes one think more. So if those people come here, we are all doomed.
That being said I think that nothing in here should be made any easier than it already is!
70€ – In year and a half!?
From ad revenue
I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure you can beat that with posting in Steemit or other mediums on Steem blockchain, especially with consistent posting every day. If you can't top that in a year and a half, there's seriously something wrong with your content.
When you start a business, or an "entrepreneurial endeavor" as I would describe Steem(it) being as, it'll be hard, simply because nobody will give you anything for free. Not even here on Steem even though upvoting is technically free; you have to either produce great content and/or create relationships here so that people think you would be worth investing in.
Like I said, entrepreneurship hasn't sounded attractive to me, especially the traditional style of it. But I still have some entrepreneurial blood in me: my grandfather was one, although his business eventually failed and he had to go through the debt restructuring and all that, unfortunately. But he used to invent all kinds of shit – like an electric sled powered by drill's battery – and he has multiple patents. He's kinda known as the local mad scientist where he lives – he's been featured in a local newspaper many times for his inventions and tricks, like building a plastic windshield for his electric rollator to protect against the cold wind during winter. Now his recent idea is a wind-powered boat with cylinder-shaped wind turbine to power the propeller.
So, there comes a lot of creativity – from my father's side, where all the cool people come from. Though right now it feels a bit suppressed. I know I have a lot of potential on that, but at least I've found writing which I've succeeded to be fairly consistent with – probably the only thing I've reached such a magnitude of.
Having some reference from people of other mediums is extremely valuable because it gives some sense on how hard it really is to start making income from business – online or not – and how easy it really is in Steem(it) compared to anything else. There are even numerous curation groups and curators rewarding the best creators and content! Of course there are those too, who are only after quick maximization of profits, but what I find remarkable is that there's a lot of people, curation and content creation-wise, who actually are not only trying to rake the quick buck, but are also making their best to make a healthy environment here for long term. Knowing how easily Internet makes people engage with the act of shouting into the void, it is quite impressive that we have something that is not a complete shitfest with everyone upvoting their own comments 100%, even though our human tendencies make us notice only the worst of it – you don't notice it until it stops working.
Markets are down, and it might make you unmotivated to post. But to remind you: entrepreneurs might have to work years for their businesses to turn profitable so, whoever you are, you are quite fortunate not having to necessarily invest anything else but your time here.