It started off like it does for most people on here.

To hit the ground running.

The only way to do that is bring your own following or know people already on here, having a whale for a friend maybe a dolphin or orca would help also, I like most of you had none of the above.
The door picture is the way I liken the start on here, think of door 1 as frustration and door 7 as success, with each door being a stepping stone to the next - I write this as I still have many new members on my following list, and want you to know it can and does get easier. (I still have not reached door 7 myself)

Networking.

Without even realising what I was doing weeks 1 to 4, I spent a lot of time looking for people I wanted to read, and talked to them as I followed along, from perceptualflaws to v4vapid, meesterboom, pappa-pepper, tremendospercy and many many more.
My writing style when I arrived is best described as poor to dismal, though looking at how these people wrote and added gifs, pictures also links made me strive to want to do better. There are groups on here that will mentor, sadly I failed to see them. So I set about exploring markdown via duckduckgo and spent 2 weeks or more filling my head with "how to" - you can too, it is free and only takes time, not money.
Sourcing relevant photos was also a priority and www.pixabay.com filled this role for me, for gifs I used www.giphy.com and for emojis a free guide from a steemian here https://steemit.com/emojis/@blueorgy/steemit-emojis-master-list.

Find your niche.

Some people have made a lot of $ and steem power on here simply blogging about life, for this you will require a rather exceptional one, others write 1 knockout article per week, and some like me like to mix it up as best I can, with a little bit of everything, so you know I am real.

Plan.

I tend to plan a day ahead what I would like to write, it gives me time to formulate how I want to write it and how in-depth I want to go. Most articles I write are short to medium in length, so people do not have to spend 30 minutes on my articles, as I write daily or more.
I must admit though, this article came out of the blue, and for 2 reasons I will outline below.

Surprise!

I awoke yesterday to 127 extra sp via #freebornsociety and my vote increased 2 cents, then midway through the day @krnel delegated me 1000sp, so in 1 day I went up 1127 sp for free, I could never have imagined this in my first months, and the fact is it took me by surprise now.
Most of this new found influence power will be used for newcomers in #introduceyourself for as long as I have it.

Freedom!

Another great way to set yourself free and get motivated is via competitions, either hosting or joining in, here is a few to try, IFC #informationfindingchampionship via https://steemit.com/@apolymask.
#contests #competitions both tags on the left will lead you to many that you can join in with.

Finding out where you belong and who values your writing. I have been lucky in finding the folks at #newsagg and #informationwar, and this is where you need to spend that effort on YOU, finding that group that you fit nicely into, without having to change you, writing from the heart will always be better than just making it up, to fit someone else's narrative.
Also running around commenting on things you have no interest in will serve as a negative, so keep it real. If you can avoid spamming peoples comments and follow the above, I guarantee you some small to medium success, as for the big time? well I do not know about that, I would have to be there for you to quote me or for me to write about it, all the same, I guarantee you it gets more fun on here in time.

Keep it real, and have fun, also have a fantastic week everyone.

Deliberator = Definition of deliberator
plural -s
: one that deliberates



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