Steemit Training Reflections: What I learned running a month of Steemit Bootcamps & Masterclass

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The 100degrees events (intro to Steemit events) were easy, because it’s like me doing a “live” explainer video to recruit more new Steemians. These intro events are usually free, and the expectations are low. @bitrocker2020 and I had been running a few since mid of 2017 (he started first before I tagged along), and I believe the growth of #teammalaysia is a result of that.

However, signing up new Steemians is one thing; getting them actively engaging on the platform is another.

Which was why the idea of the Steemit Bootcamp and Masterclass came about.

Since beginning of the year, we had ran a few of them:

• Steemit Bootcamp for Underprivileged Kids
• Steemit Bootcamp for Ladies
• Steemit Bootcamp for Trainers, Speakers & Coaches
• Steemit Masterclass for TeamMalaysia members of Kota Kinabalu

With a few more lined up, I thought I’ll share some thoughts I have about these workshops, so maybe if you want to run one in your community, you’ll have a nice little guide.

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TRAINING HIGHLIGHTS

#1. There are generally three challenges/problems when it comes to achieving success at Steemit.

• Problem #1 - Don’t know what to write about
• Problem #2 - Writer’s Block
• Problem #3 - Not enough followers

#2. For Problem #1 - Don’t know what to write about.

The solutions was simple. I’ve covered in detailed the different techniques, but let me give you a nutshell here.

• Identify your interest - Always write in your areas of interest, that what most successful bloggers will tell you. Here’s a list of questions to get you started.

  

• Use Chunking Technique to breakdown each of your interest into different areas you can write about

• Use AnswerThePublic.com to identify questions people have about your topic

• Use the 29 Steemit Post Types to brainstorm different angles to approach your interests

• Study profitable and trending tags and see if it aligns with your interest

• Detail blogposts for you to refer:

  • How to generate at least 365 post ideas for your Steemit Life (and possibly never run out of ideas again!)
  • 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 1)
  • 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 2)
  • A case study on how I created a morning post for 21 days, with just 21 minutes spent in the morning.
  • Daily Profitable Tag Reports

#3. For Problem #2 - Writer's Block.

Usually in class, I would say writer's block is just BS we tell ourselves. The truth is, all of us can write, it's just the matter of it's good stuff or bad stuff. And the only way to eliminate the bad stuff and write more good stuff, is by practice.

The way to beat writer's block, is free flow writing, and the tool for that is none other than TheMostDangerousWritingApp.com. Refer to this post for a walk through.

If you want to take it up to the next level, play some white noise/nature sounds to boost your focus more. For this, I would recommend Noisli.

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I believe with these two tools, combined with regular writing, you will be able to overcome writer's block too, and write whenever you want, wherever you want.

#4. For Problem #3 - Not enough followers.

No escaping this; Steemit is a social blogging platform, so to get more friends and followers, you have to network. A few key pointers I gave during the class are:

• Comment on posts under your areas of interest
• The Triple H Method - leave Honest, Helpful and Humble comments
• Get on Discord - a lot of prominent Steemians are active there, so it's a good place to make new friends

#5. Security Issues.

Any Steemians are not familiar with Posting, Active and Owner Key, and often use the latter for everything, which is very dangerous. I have since added this into every workshop to make sure they use the right keys.

I usually cover Lastpass and Authy as well, as means to secure their passkeys. At this point, I also show them where they can remove cached copies of their passwords from within the browser.

The lesson here is simple. By not paying transaction fees as they would in a bank, participants must not be responsible for the security of their own accounts. With the banks, stuff like security guards, IT systems, CCTV cameras and customer service staffs are included. The moment your finances is decentralised, the responsibly is on you to safeguard your (digital) money.

#6. Lose Momentum

The initial hook for most Steemians is the ability to earn income. However, with Steemit, it's not just about producing good content, as networking is equally, if not more important. Most Steemians lose steam because they do not make enough from the post, or they set a very high expectations. Over time, they are less inclined to be active on Steemit, and goes back to the familiarity of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

@bitrocker2020 and I are actively looking for to keep the momentum going, and we realised by running contests and a variety of offline events are great ways to keep the spirits up.

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With the Boiler Room Initiative coming up in March, where Steemians can come together to create contents, it's gonna be like a gym for them to produce quality content within a short time.

#7. Steemit is an easy way to learn about other cryptos & the blockchain technology

This, I can testify for myself, because prior to Steemit, I just couldn't brain the blockchain and cryptocurrencies. But after getting myself, and the participants of the bootcamp on it, it's good incentive to learn more about the technology supporting this amazing "web app".

When we walk participants through the withdrawal process, it's a great education opportunity because they will learn about exchanges, wallets, marketplaces and other crypto coins. And you know how they say learning is in the doing? Because the participants are actively transferring their own hard-earn money into their hands, they have first hand experience how the whole sequence of process works.

Overtime, we notice that participants started diverting their portfolio into other coins as well, which further expands their knowledge in cryptocurrencies.

We also encourage them to look at other applications built on the blockchain that they can be a part of. Like it or not, just like how the coming of the internet was unfamiliar and uncomfortable, blockchain will be a revolution of that sort as well.

Either embrace the change, or be left out.

Without Steemit, those participants may never get a chance to participate in this wave, and be totally left out.

#8. People learn best from their points of familiarity

In the process of teaching Steemit, I realised that showing participants the platform as it is won't yield much results. Instead, I had to resort to either relating it to current apps they are using (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc), using analogies and metaphors.

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For example, with the underprivileged kids, explaining bid bots and vote cycles wasn't easy, because they do not have much experience in betting (Well, they are kids!). I had to use pizzas to explain. Check out the report here (scroll down as it was a long report).

#9. Some Will. Some Won't. So What?

In the beginning, I do get disappointed when I see participants not as excited as I was about Steemit. Sometimes, after engaging with the platform for a while, they just die off, leaving their account and postings unattended.

Yes, I was pretty sad, mainly because I have benefited so much from it, I kinda assume other would too.

It's during this time that I'm reminded of an advice given to me by my previous business partner:

SW, SW, SW - Some Will, Some Won't, So What?

The message was simple: I should let the action of a few stop me from progressing forward, from introducing the opportunity to more people. Even if it's one person at a time, I can never know what impact that one person can create. It's a good lesson to focus on what's important, rather than let myself get over run by my negative emotions.

CONCLUSION

@bitrocker2020, @davidke20 and I always joked about "the good ol' days of Steemit", and then realised the good ol' days, are just a month or two ago. Such is the perception of time when it comes to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Sometimes I feel that I've trained on Steemit for a long while, but then when I look through my notes, it's barely a little more than a month.

Oh, and boy have I learned a lot too. As I approach each class with high expectation of myself, I realised I did spend a lot of time on the contents, trying to breakdown complicated processes into easy to follow steps. That's one thing my Mom, a teacher of over 30 years, had taught me too - a good teacher is one who takes something complicated and simplifies it.

Well, Ma, still have a long way to go (even if it's only 2 months…)

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Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?

Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD7, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:

• Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
• Upvote (like) other people contents
• Comment on other people's posts
• Have discussions, share opinions etc!

Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!

The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!

Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome