From Minnow to Minnow, My 1st Month on Steemit

This is my 1st month on Steemit.

When I finally receive an email from Steemit, I was so excited. Too excited maybe, I started to post without a proper writing effort. I use my phone to post. I wrote on the bus. I wrote on the train. My post was all so shitty.

Photo by yu tang on Unsplash

I published the post. And I waited for people to commenting, or upvote my post. I stumbled upon other steemian posts. Following them. Leaving comments here and there. Seems like nobody cares about what I wrote. My reputation was only 25.

But there were always great steemians with a higher reputation who kindly enough to mention me, and upvote my comments. My reputation numbers start to grow.

It took a week for me to realize that as a Minnow, I need support to grow. I found it from my feeds. There are some communities that could help. I noticed a few: @thesteemengine, @curie, @minnowbooster, and @minnowsupport.

The Steem Engine was my first encounter. I try to join their discord server, only to get rejected immediately. The admin said that I need to put more effort into my writing. Rejection may feels sucks, but I keep moving. I join Minnowbooster, Minnowsupport, and Curie. They are all great as a community! Silently I follow what's is the hot topic to discuss. I do saying hi to the members of course.

I always try to be active and involved in those groups. I'd say any postpromotion channel won't be too effective if we're only dropping links and run. It's almost the same as leaving "nice post", or "great photos" comments. It won't take you anywhere. You're just wasting your time.

My funniest moment was when I found an article by @gooddream, he rants about the bad publications of so-called beautiful beach in Thailand. It was a serious issue. And the commenters were commenting something like "Great photos!", "Beautiful pic", etc. I was like, what?! Do they even read the post?! So I just put my thought in the comment box, just to make more discussion. The author was so kind. He gave me 100% vote on my comment, worth $2.5. Superb!

That was the moment that I want to write more with serious effort. The upvote with big $$ does feel good.

I start to write more, with proper preparation, putting a big effort on it. My goal was simple. I want Curie curator to upvote my post. I want to be on Minnowbooster whitelist. I try my best. I keep writing, tackle issues that I really know of. While still looking at my feeds for the great post for inspirations.

I found other Steemian initiative called @steemitworldmap. I love their idea so I start to use their services. One of my post about Baliem Festival was featured on their daily digest. Thanks, guys!

Minnowsupport is really good for me. Their upvote service is quite helpful.

But I keep doing what minnows should do: be active, be involved, be respectful to other authors. Then good things start to happens. The first surprise was when curie curators commenting and upvoting my post! I knew this because there was a sudden increase in my upvote numbers. They were so kind. Telling me some aspects that would make my articles better.

The 2nd surprise was when admin of Minnowbooster accept me as one of their whitelists. Maaan, I'm so happy!

And then.. my post was curated by Curie! I was selected! It feels so great! To see big $$ numbers on our post is so motivating. I hope this is not my last Curie. For Minnow like me, they are really helpful.

I guess that's it. There are too many things I want to share about this 1st month. To conclude in one word: it is so exciting!

If you're a minnow just like me, don't worry. You're not alone, there are many people to help you. Just keep steemin!