How I Earned $100 000 With Steemit

in steemit •  8 years ago  (edited)

For the last 2 months I have been posting on Steemit and learned a lot about what it takes to be successful. In this essay I explain some of the lessons I have learned from the hundreds of hours I have spent on this platform and in the Steem community.

But first let me say, most of my earnings have come from capital appreciation, i.e. the Steem Power I have earned has gone up in value. In the long run investing in the future is the only way to make big money. Steemit not only facilitates our transition from mere consumers to active producers, but also allows us to transition from being workers to being investors, giving us a stake in the project we are working for and helping to make successful.

I still cringe when I remember the fundraising of Oculus, where they crowdfunded 2 million dollars from everyday people, and then Oculus was bought up by Facebook for 2 billion dollars, and the crowd was left with their perks, t-shirts and an alpha product, instead of getting a stake in the success of the company. Steemit changes this. If Steemit is someday worth billions of dollars like Facebook is now, we will all have a stake in its success, just by working and earning Steem Power.

With that being said, here are the five most important things I have learned so far:

1. Write About What You Know

There is a lot of content passing through Steem now, and it’s hard to know whether to cater to the topics that get upvoted or to stay on your own path. I recommend writing about what you know. For each post that succeeds with a generic topic there are hundreds that never get upvoted, so whereas most successful posts are in that category, the most unsuccessful ones are as well.

Personally I write a lot about crypto, since that is a hobby of mine and I am involved in a company called BitSpace. But my education is in philosophy, and much of my interests are in spirituality, so I have also been writing a lot about that. By writing about issues that you know and are passionate about you create actual value instead of trying to copy someone else.

2. Be Open and Honest

It is important to be open and honest. It is often easy to hide things from oneself and be dishonest, but in one way or another it will shine through, and people can sense it. It is therefore best to be completely transparent and write in the light of your inner truth.

In my introduction post I tried to sum up my life story as it relates to how I reached the point of joining Steemit. Just by being honest about your journey people will learn a lot and realize how it is to have an entirely different perspective, and how it is to take what is maybe a completely different path in life.

3. Be Creative and Original

To get noticed it is important to break with the trend, not fitting into the pattern of all the other posts. If you can produce something of value that is still creative and original, you have a chance to make it big. Most people follow the template set by other successful posts, and dare not take a chance on a new concept. I would urge you to find your inner creativity, and think completely from scratch with how you can provide value in a post.

In the beginning I tried to be creative and original with the format and type of content I posted. To some extent, Steemit was like a new game, and everyone was learning the rules and how to do new things. For instance, I posted a post on How to do gambling, Prediction Markets, and Charity on Steemit. I also created a post called Top Wanted Features for Steem. Both of these use the self-referential nature of Steemit to create value by the interplay of post and comments.

Also think about how your interests may combine into original content suited for Steemit. For instance, while cryptocurrency related content tends to do well on Steemit, my education is in philosophy and my interests are in spirituality, so I created a post that combined all three elements in Decentralize Your Self! that sees links between decentralization in crypto and ego-death in spirituality.

4. Experiment and Iterate

Try out new things and figure out what works. On Steemit, you get instant feedback from votes and comments, so you need to learn and adapt according to how the audience responds to you content. For instance, most of the time, posting a link with little or no text gets no upvotes, and you may notice the more time you spend on a post and the more original content it contains, the easier it is to get upvoted.

For each of my successful posts I have five that have failed. It is not easy to predict in advance what will get really popular, so just keep posting, keep trying, and adjust your strategy underway. Persistence and passion is the key to be successful at anything.

5. Start Right Now!

Finally, I would advice anyone trying to make it big on Steem to start right now. As I said in the introduction, Steem Power is an investment in the future, and the earlier you get in, and the more successful the platform is, the more you get for your investment. In addition, as the competition heats up it will be more difficult to get noticed and establish a presence.

This means that you shouldn’t save your best content for last. It also means don’t let perfectionism be the enemy of your productivity. The post-payouts are still topping from last weeks increase in Steem price, so get to it, this is still a golden opportunity!

Follow me if you like Crypto, Philosophy and Spirituality!
Follow my experimental account if you like Transhumanism, Psychedelics - Crazy Stuff!

#steem-tutorial #steem #creativity #life

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  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Thank you for what you are doing for Steemit and for everything you've done for Bitshares
YOU DESERVE IT ◕‿◕

I so agrees. Your story could influence a lot of young individual to bring great impact in society.

true

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Steemit, the only platform that pays you when you say "Thank you"
Thanks mates ❤

I have not seen it anywhere either

Thank you?

Awesome ◕‿◕

  ·  8 years ago Reveal Comment

Awesome ◕‿◕

could not say it better!

I think he only got this popular because of his girlish looks ...girls cant resist his face...

I have learned that you must upvote already popular content like this and add comments..

and i also have learned to not get mad when I see six thousand dollars on a single post that at irst doesnt seem so special.....doesnt even have original images...but it doesnt have to! And this guy is obviously an early adopter and is now a fucking millioanaire! Basically there were oly a few slots open for the first group of steemit millioanires, and then he ended up being one of the 100,000 aire but now hes worth over (well i checked hes only got 80,000 but its cuz im sure he already spent or moved alot of his steem to other crypto im sure hes still amillionaire ;) and hes bound to turn his almost 100,000 now into another million as steem goes to 10 doollars!

I realize now this post is 10 months old and has almost 1000 upvotes and he is an EARLy adopter! he got all the followers from being here early and accumulating lots of steempower!

I feel he deserves MORE! I want @clains to become so wealthy he can ffund all SORTS of steemit u[grades and deve;opment of NEW steemit features! and i KNOW he will give back!

I will be sharing is content on my facebook like I do with @craig-grant now because its important people see the steemit leaders who prove how possible it is to make thouands of dolars off a SINGLE post with te ppwer of social media numbers and crypto currency!!!!

all of us who ahve joined this year so far and late last year are ALL basicaly going to be lie teh whales here NOW but in ew months we wil be the experienced steemitw hales and we will be helping new minnows, seeing promise innew users, sorting the trash users from the talent!

i CANT WAIT to be a steemit whale and will try to invest mony i earn with rideshare into steemit! I already try to keep as much steempoer as i can and have beengoing all in steempower recently!

Steemit logos now on my car and i printed up steemit logo flyers atelling peole "wana amke money online with bitcoin and other crypto currency singup for steemit get PAID to blog!"

here is the thng i made i taped inside my car windows and ima post these all around my neighbroood in legal areas to post fliers!!

im putting these all up around my house all over telephone poles, at the cofee shops, omg i have ALREADY brought in OVER 30 people into steemit so far! some of which are still waiting for registration application waiting list or havent singed up yet but will (i ahve told at LEAST 30 local san diegans to singup for steemit and i know theres around 10 gere so far whove singed up because of my craigslist add asking people to call me or text or email for free help getting started with bitcoin, altcoins, steemit etc

Thank you very much for your post, this will be very helpful for everyone who started in the world of steemit.

You are right Bro we should always be our self ,we should don't copy or follow some other person.

Hello there fellow steemer. I was watching your presentation video titled "Introduction to steemit" on youtube. Something you said stuck out to me...how one of the main differences from facebook and steemit is the content of the posts....posts on f.b "surface stuff"

Its true....I had wondered about it but didn't really meditate on it until you mentioned it. Then I asked myself..."But why?" Why is it that when on f.b I....and many others avoid posting how they truly feel? Why do we only post "surface stuff".....when the majority of people on facebook are people that we know intimately or socially? Shouldn't it be easier to tell people whom we know how we feel?
Then it hit me like a steem train: It isn't. You see....we are afraid that those same people that we know will judge us for how we truly feel. So we write things depending on how we want others to view us.
So why is the opposite true for steemit?
Think of a psychiatrist.....a complete stranger yet people pour out how their feelings and thoughts to him or her...Why? Well because they are a stranger. Despite Steemits transperancy....most of us don't really know eachother and so we have removed that FEAR of what others may think of us and this has allowed us to express ourselves freely.
I am going to write a post on this soon which really drives my point home and how this lack of fear will affect not just steemers but the entire world....but I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this matter. Thank you all for your time

Excellent point! I hadn't thought about that :D

Yes, this is such a good point, @danny71st! You should do that post!

Facebook seems to be about constructing and feeding a false image of your "self," which of course is total bullshit, and not about real communication. I agree that fear is the main reason for this.

Personally, I have family members who simply won't consider some of my more unorthodox ideas and get extremely upset whenever I mention them. I don't think I'm going to change their minds, and I don't want to hurt them by bringing things up over and over, to no avail.

If it weren't for these few people, I'd blog about important stuff on Facebook too and just let the 'friends' list adjust itself.

Makes sense to me!

I thought so too

Yes !

In addition, as the competition heats up it will be more difficult to get noticed and establish a presence.

This is so true. craig-grant was talking about how he likes to continually power down. I warned him about doing that, and I think you agree!

I'm glad it wasn't just me that recommended against powering down often.

See my comment:
https://steemit.com/steem/@craig-grant/my-steem-power-down-payment-is-infinite#@intelliguy/re-craig-grant-my-steem-power-down-payment-is-infinite-20160717t162757798z

Good advice! It's nice to read success stories!

Thank you!

Спасибо большое! Буду пользоваться вашими советами. Thanks a lot! I will take your advices.

Братушка

great, i followed you im also interessted in spirituality, psycedelics, bitcoin development and i believe in steem, so you suggest investing in steem power and hold for the long run??

Don't invest what you cannot afford to lose. I wouldn't invest in Steem Power with cash now, I would invest by creating content!

Agreed! Write your own and find your voice. I joined to get feedback and begin some conversations. This is my most recent response to the Steemit community's trends https://steemit.com/steem/@hmfoucault/steemit-community-cryptocurrency-hacking-and-making-a-profit-increase-your-steem

Honesty and quality content are essential to succeed in this network. But beyond that, what primoridal in life it is to do things that we like, be good and professional, and work. The content we love, well worked, is a success here or elsewhere. The interesting thing about Steemit is that some paradigms are broken, and there is a lot of experiment. Be creative and experience things, writing quality, it is the way.

Thanks for the guidelines. Will make sure to follow them! :)

You deserve success for your great contribution. very interestnye posts from you. I follow you!

No better advice than to start NOW!

Practice. As you post more, especially about what you like, you'll see how you can make any topic more fun to read.

You can learn the art in a day, but it takes a lifetime to master.

Exactly, the sooner you start, the better. There will be a big difference when we will be 10 millions users posting our stuff all at the same time. I told here about my 10000$ on metacafe and timing was super important: https://steemit.com/easymoney/@sictransitgloria/how-i-made-10000-dollars-for-filming-2-multiplications

Great article! I would also add "Be optimistic"!

Good info, thanks for sharing man :)

Well written. I like all of those things - crypto, philosophy and spirituality. Will be following. Cheers!

Good motivation. Thanks for posting!

Good day!
Inspirational post. An amazing example

Thanks for the advice , i like how you compare steemit and occulus.

If the Oculus crowdfunders had got 20% stake for their 2 million dollars, they could have cashed out 200x return on their investment at a 2 billion dollar valuation!

Thank you so much because you're one of the first stories I read on steemit! It has been nothing but AMAZING! Namaste~!

excuse me .. allow me to show my post here. may be useful

Understanding Steemit For Beginners
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rahmat/understanding-steemit-for-beginners-fundamentals-of-economics

Another good and helpful post. Your video presentation to the room of people was helpful and good. This one ITERATES upon that as you say and has a lot of good information in it.

Following doesn't seem to do anything yet... though I will mark you to be followed. :)

Keep doing what your doing. It's working and if it makes you feel good about writing it, keep doing it. A trend only last as long as the NEXT trend. Great post. Good luck.

Thank you!

This type of story will make people come to Steemit! I also started to do what I know to do and I can already see the results! Every Steemit user will find the good path if will be honest and will show the community sincere respect!

Thanks For Upvote/ Reply
New Followers get 0.001 SBD$ and an upvote for free!!
Just follow @abkktk and

we follow back
send you 0.005 SBD to your wallet
Resteemed to 4k+ followers and upvoted heavier job done
@abkktk

Hello Clains, nice post . Agrees most of it's content. Wich i like the most is that of talking about you know and being original and creative but i would also add : 'be simple' .
Best wishes to you and my vote of course.

Thanks. I agree, "be simple" is a great one!

Very informative and very well written content. Will be great help for me as i recently starting exploring steemit. Thanks

I like that you're really into crypto AND spirituality. There has to be more of us out there..

Yes, I think there are! Did you check out the "decentralize yourself" post? :)

I have it ready for my after hours reading tonight, thanks!

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Locking up an investment for two years is a huge risk and should only be considered if you're willing to lose that investment. Many things could happen which would render the SP worthless.

The only value I see right now in storing a lot in storing SP is to have influence over the content that becomes popular on the platform, and more importantly to earn money from voting for your own stuff.

When people see a whale voting on his own posts/comments they jump in expecting other votes. Hence you make money.

If you want to go all in for a chance to become extremely wealthy like one of the early bitcoin pioneers, however, It is indeed worth considering holding SP, and good luck to you :)

Yeah, 2 years is a long time! Especially in something that can move as quickly as Steemit. Hopefully it can sustain itself

When people see a whale voting on his own posts/comments they jump in expecting other votes. Hence you make money.

Whale or no whale, everyone should always upvote their post. If you write sometihng I think it's fair to say that you approve of it and therefore find it worthy of an upvote.

I agree! Buying Steem and powering up is a risky investment. But half of what you get for posting you get in Steem Power, so you might as well hold that. :)

Steem power is the future investment. Now it is very clear. There was a time that steem was less than $1 but recently it soared exceeding $4. If you had lot of steem power, it is a huge investment.

Thanks for reassuring me to be myself.. I get overwhelmed on this platform to succeed and I do look at what others put on here and feel stretched to reproduce something popular.. I know I need to relax and continue being myself and take chances!

Thanks for the pointers! Good post!

Thank you for such a useful and sincere posting!

It's nice reading success stories like this. Keep on keeping on!

Thank you so much for the info! Will say this, I personally like watching videos more than reading. However, I do enjoy reading your blog. :)
I am following you , but how do I get informed that you put out a new blog post? And I can't seem to find the people that I have followed anywhere. Still trying to figure the Blog platform out.
Have a wonderful day!

If you like video I posted an introduction to Steem the other day, check it out:

@clains This was a very good post. I look forward to reading more of your future posts!

Very well said, a great piece of motivation for newcomers and begginers! Thank you @clains

Really interesting post, thanks.

I literally discovered Steemit today, have been exploring, trying to figure out how to incorporate this cool tool into my projects and this is the best, most useful piece I've seen yet...it REALLY spoke to me and gave me comfort in the face of my trepidation in cutting my chops at developing content. I've been encouraged to blog for awhile, but this platform seems worthy of cutting my chops in. Thanks clains!

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. I am since three days on Steemit and have today my first over 260 Steem Dollar post so I guess I feel the same happiness as you- I am smiling the whole day long.

Yes, grats! :)

Thank you very much for the tips! Even if I will never make it big, Steemit allows me to explore interesting topics that I would never have dived into before and improve my writing and presentation skills.

Very thanks, very good post and thank for advices!

I want to make only $10-$30 a day by writing ............. is it possible ???

Start now! This is your chance. I don't think anywhere else you will have a better chance. Find something, collaborate with friends, think creatively, just do it, try it, experiment, iterate! Good luck, have fun writing!

Shit that is amazing! Keep it up!

This is a great post. I am not sure how open to be as this is a new platform and I am wary, but I do hope to create content that educates, inspires and differs from the rest. Thanks for your tips and story.

that's nice man you deserve it

Great read to follow up the last video.Such good information and im sure to follow.It is so important that the community provides as much support and knowledge as possible to create a well informed user base.Keep up the incredible work;the future looks so bright

I loved your post, since I am new to the site, and still don't know what to blog about, but I'll follow the last advice to begin with, and start as soon as possible, thanks for the motivation!!

The future belongs to those, who believe of their dreams.

Yup dream big to succeed!

Practice makes perfect

Thank you! I'll make my first post tomorrow. I guess it should be the introduceyourself post? Wish me luck!

And if you can do something unique and original with it, even better. Good luck! :)

Well, as I promised you my first post is up now. For everyone's benefit I'm certainly trying to be unique and original. I would be honored if you took a look. Thanks! https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@valencgarcia/the-doctor-is-in-for-steemit-physician-scientist-lecturer-lifelong-learner-valentino-garcia-m-d-at-your-service

This is a tremendously inspiring post!!

I found out about Steem about a week ago and pondered the possibilities of the site - A social media platform that rewards its users for content AND curation - Quite intriguing!!!

Then, I decided to hop on board and make my first post and comments. I received my first few cents of Steem dollars and more Steem power.

Next, I'll be sharing this with my social media circle on YouTube (92,000 Subscribers)!!! I wanted to observe for a few days and understand how all of the comments and upvoting worked , and how to explain the 'Long Term Awesomeness' of what is going on here.

This post helped me immensely!!! Thanks Clains!!!! YEAH BUDDAYY!!

-bigedude

Happy you enjoyed it! :)

Wow what an awesome read....I'm new to Steemit and really didn't get it until reading your article...Thanks

I've been thinking about this too and have decided to follow what you outlined here in this post. I've been indecisive about what to post and realized that all I have to do is to write about topics that matter to me. There's nothing better than connecting with the minds of people around the world by being genuine.

Awesome! Exactly what I wanted to get across. :)

Such an amazing article that really helps. Would recommend everyone take time out of their day to read this!

Thanks for the tips. I also saw your presentation about the platform on YouTube. Really helped me to understand both the positive potential and risks of the platform. For me, I think it's worth it as it shifts the bulk of the reward to where any creative person wants it to be: in the hands of the content creators.

Yes, we all gotta take a risk on a better future :D

Very helpful post for someone just starting out

These are the kinds of posts I'm loving right now because I'm still learning. I'm pumped, but uneducated. It's nice to see that other Steemiters are so ready and willing to hand over this knowledge to the public like this. Not only is it beneficial financially for the author, but also to those who actually READ the content rather than just replying to it to try to make a quick buck.

Very inspirative ,, your idea and your experience very motivation especially for me , Great Job

@clains, thanks for the good advice!

Steemit not only facilitates our transition from mere consumers to active producers, but also allows us to transition from being workers to being investors, giving us a stake in the project we are working for and helping to make successful.

This is one of the most inspiring qualities of Steemit, and you express it so well here. As a new writer, I'm noticing a transition like this happening in my brain and experiencing such an increase in creative energy.

this is great advice man, especially the part about writing what you know. Since we all have different areas of expertise and passions, the best and most honest/open forms of advice will come sourced from that type of intent. It seems very clear that is one of the core concepts of making steem successful...that organic growth will come and flourish simply because of the reality of what you said being true.

You are doing big things bro !

Well written. Thank you.

Tis the white whale!

the number one is actually hard specially if you know nothing lol.. or even when you know everything. but thanks very inspiring.

maybe you know who you are! then you can write an introduction-post! if you know everything you can write about knowing everything. if you know nothing you can write about knowing nothing! :D

great blog dude, interessting

thank u for ur share.

awesome post! helped me a lot, thank you :)

Great Dear. You are doing wonderful. I am following you since long and it has been always great to read about your day to day life and I am learning new things out of it.
Amazing story.

hello greetings from Coatzacoalcos Veracruz, awesome, thanks for the tips, this will help me a lot to put a content more wealth.

del mero puerto!!!!

Hi clains, I am just joining steemit today. This post is the first post I read. I am very delighted about the concept of steemit and yours.

Wishing to be like you sometime. I just never figured it out on what topic I'm good at

Usually something you are interested in and passionate about, over time you will be good at it. :)

Very helpful post, especially that last point about starting today :)

Your ability to recall random factoids at just the right time is impressive.

LETS PARTY STEEMIT !!!

ITS COOL ARTICLE

wonderful

Nice post....

i am a beginer, its my first day, i will evaluate your article and advice after some time. hope in good times

Good post. I especially liked the part in which you advise to not give up and iterate.

Great info, thanks for sharing.

Are you getting a"long tail" on your old content, seeing new income on it when new content gets popular ? For instance, here you link to the Decentralize Yourself piece, did that bump it up?

Edit: also, thanks for this. Seeing my intro post make $7, and go down to 4 and counting, was pretty discouraging.

I don't think there is much value in bumps in that way. More to get people to read what I wrote aside from the upvote hysteria :D Although.. The pending payout on my decentralization post, 0.01$ :P

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

awesome looking forward :D

Good recipe you have made, a great info for newbies.
I hope a lot of peaple gonna join steemit, i se it has a big potencial.
Welcomme on board :)

Good article. I'm still a novice , but I would like to make .

I would even recommend using updated posts from other blogs you have written. I have updated several posts here for Steemit and done very well with that approach.

Craig i tried my best I've wrote a post here not sure ill try again as i think I'm rubbish see what you think
https://steemit.com/trending/@ph111p/5jvnhk-yes-you-can-spend-money-from-steemit-it-is-real-we-have-paid-our-trip-to-disney-usa-part-1-the-big-countdown

it s not dificult to lie,
we must to be skeptics?

its all good, noone is perfect, to me its a good read, keep on

No matter what you believe about your writing or your thoughts as they pertain to others, keep on going. the only true defeat is self-defeat. If you quit now then you won't improve and find that one thing that works for you. Keep writing and see what happens. You need to do it for 30 days and then reevaluate. Just my opinion though.

Thank you for what you are doing for Steemit

hey clains im wondering if you think this idea is do-able atm lol?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@ma3/i-m-going-to-live-off-only-steem-for-30-days-and-see-how-it-goes-advice

maybe to ambitious?

It's good, but you need picture of yourself, your plans, details on what you are going to do, and why, otherwise people won't quite believe it ;)

this is the best post i ever seen..
and motivational..

I would be grateful if you like my posts))

Thanks @clains for sharing this Article. Actually got confused how and where to start but now I am pretty much clear. What to do now!

How can I improve my blog to get more vote?
Can you give me some advice?

I also tried posting motivational stuff, but didn't go too well. Usually motivational writing is just old cliches in new ways. Try to post something personal, picture of you, story, some experience you have, whatever makes you unique, create original content. Good luck!

Thank you for the help

All jokes aside, awesome tutorial. Well written and a lot of useful advice.

Amazing i know its a year old but your post still helping newbies like me hopefully one day i will earn same bucks like u.cheers and thank you

Outstanding

Thank you for posting this. It is encouraging. I have articles that are not moving as fast as I would like to but I am still happy I wrote them. For instance https://steemit.com/life/@iamwne/fostering-the-guru-within-whole-life-yoga is perhaps not perfect content but I think it fits the sort of things that like to write. So that is what I did.

THANK YOU. This helping me alot as a new steemit user. But to remind people that it is better to start now than later, thats the most important part, because people love to delay.

Can i see some kinda proof? You have a statement... that you earned $100000... but have you?
https://steemit.com/@clains/transfers this shows value... not steem...
have you made anything into cash? that you can show?
I am not questioning if it is possible, I just don't think you have made 100,000$....

Steem Power Up and GO!
Image of steemish