Introduction
Hello steemians! I'm back with the third part to the "If I was a minnow" series. So far I've covered a few aspects of what I would be doing if I had to start from square one. You can find part 1 here and part 2 here.
I've decided to really dedicate myself to help the minnows get off the ground. I do this partially by upvoting good comments as well as writing what I believe one must do to get started right.
I want to clarify something beforehand. I am writing this article for someone "who want to accumulate a lot of SP and become a dolphin or a small whale". I am not writing this for the person who just want to post pictures of their cats and have fun. What I talk about requires work, patience and perseverance.
If I was a minnow I would...build a network the right way
Now, this is really important and I hope that people just don't read the header. Networking is the thing that most people do wrong...incredibly wrong. When I was younger, I was in direct sales for a bit and I went to a lot of networking meeting. I've seen my share of good and bad networking.
The classical "bad" networker would be the one having a conversation only in the hope of giving you their business card. His goal would be to distribute their business cards to as many people as possible in the hope that someone call them in the future. I tried that at the very beginning and it was a miserable failure.
The great networkers would do something completely different. They tried to find someone they could genuinely help either with a referral, a connections or sometimes just a good advice. Then, they would keep in touch with them, building a relationship until the other person got interested in what they did.
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care...
So one thing that I would do for sure if I was a minnow is to find a project that I'm interested in and get involved. So if you are a scientist, you should contact the @steemstem and participate. If you want to help curate good content, get in touch with @curie. You know a language that is not english? Participate in helping apps such as @zappl, @esteem and others to have your language supported.
There are more project than I could list at this point. Find one that has good backing and start getting involved.
Find a way to be useful then tell other about it
Something that I've seen devs do is record what they have done on their blog for the projects they participate in. There is nothing that withhold you from doing that! Let's say you decide to help curate content for project @curie, how about documenting how you went about doing that, tell about your experience. What makes you consider a piece of content "noteworthy"?
Connecting and Building Your Network
Basically, you want to connect one on one with the movers and shakers on the Steem Network, by being useful and bring more value than the other minnows who just write comments and write blogs about their pets.
Get around whales and talk to them, find a way to help them and solve their problems. You will be rewarded.
If you have a good idea...start your own project
This is a great way to get attention and klout. FIND A PROBLEM and solve it with either a process, a system or a software. You will attract of a lot eyeballs...especially if the problem you are solving helps a lot of people.
There are also problems that only whales are facing. Here is an example. Some whales may not have time to write articles anymore but they have a good following and fans. If you are a good writer, you can go to them directly on discord or steemit.chat and propose to them to be a ghostwriter for them.
Conclusion
I've given you a bunch of ideas you can pursuit right now and there are much more that I didn't cover. The basic principle is this: solve other people's problems and people will reward you. The bigger the problem, the bigger the reward.
Helpful as always, there will be a 4th part?!?
of course!
Absolutely!! This is what I'm trying to do with my SteemSQL Analyses.. Although my time is quite limited between traveling for work 80%+ of my one, then trying to have a relationship with my wife and son on the days when I'm actually at home.. all while keeping up with house chores and attempting to have a social life and keep up with current events.
Anyway, that's a long-winded way of saying I will have more analyses in the future! I just need to find the time to be able to finish them.
Also, great post!
I am trying to build one with great people out here lets see how it goes :) anyways a big thanks for the 3rd part of this series :)
My pleasure. Keep on blazin!
I agree wholeheartedly with you @cryptoctopus and really appreciate this entire series. I'm new here and looking for a way to contribute so what you talked about here really has lit a fire under me. Thanks for your advice.
I'm glad I can help. Keep on keeping on!
that's very helpful post!!
thank you ;)
Very sound advice and much the path I am trying to take. I find the "caring" point to be an often missed because many aren't concerned about the value they themselves are providing to the "network" and are only worried about what they can get out of it.
I also have launched a small project myself that is about the steemit community by providing trading cards to members. I am working on my 10th one right now! The 9th one I posted below.
Good to read this post and see I have many of the same thoughts
you will do well, my friend, because you care about others
These cards are sick. Great work!
Hello @cryptoctopus, welcome back , i hope you really had a relaxing weekend! I was really looking forward to this part 3 of the series.
Again some great advises you pen down there, I will take my own case as example; i am really fully interested in food blogs mainly. So since I joined 2 months back, my focus has mainly been looking for great food content creator, original ones of course. By engaging with them daily, these people finally came to my blogs and it became a habit for them.
Now everyday the come to check what i've posted and it's just a great feeling.
I've also participated in various cooking contest and been really very successful till now, I won 8 contest prizes in all since i am here.
Now on top of that I have also launched my own cooking contest which will be live as from 01.09.17, and when i see the amount of interest it is getting, i feel like the hard work i have been doing all these days will start paying soon.
I am someone who want to accumulate a lot of SP and become a dolphin or a small whale as you said! Will work for it and for sure put your advises in practice!
Thanks so much again mate!
@progressivechef
Amen! That's the way to go. Soon a community feature is coming and we'll be able to hangout with people of our niche. It's going to be epic!
I'm really looking forward to that man! Looks so exciting! Btw thanks a lot for the vote earlier on my post, really means a lot and is a great support to my forthcoming contest!
Make new friends and keep engage with them is really first to success.Thank you for such a nice series "If i was a minnow" @cryptoctopus I am regular reader and learn precious ideas from your blog.
Best series of posts going on Steemit. I really appreciate the advice and great ideas @cryptoctopus.
Thanks @bigpanda :-)
This series is so helpful. They have all been bookmarked for ideas down the line. Building a community here works in all our favors.
There is a community feature coming soon...it's going to be epic.
Absolutely. Organizing the political content creators here would do wonders. The only creators in that realm that have any influence came with their follower base from elsewhere. A lot of good minds here that deserve a community to discuss their views with.
Yes, I agree with you. If you solve other people's problems then people will definitely reward you.
Thanks for these good ideas.
I'm lovin this minnow series! :)
This part is more informative and have some advanced stuff. Now want more help from you:)
you said "Get around whales and talk to them" - is there any way to find whales? I know only way is : find trending posts and then go to each of profile and check their wallet.
Lets say i have passion for writing technology things and some photography , i dont think i can solve any problem of whales, so i should just focus of that i can do ? Or i need to move to something i dont like but it can solve problems of others?
It isn't always necessary to solve a problem. Simply contributing to a conversation is often good enough. I would suggest that if you really have a passion for technology and photography then stick to those topics and your passion will show. Generally, if someone has a passion for something, they will have a lot to say about the topic. Use that to your advantage. Add something to the articles written by others. Become part of their community. After a while, you will become a regular fixture on their walls and your profile will be easily recognized and remembered. When you continually add something that makes their pages/articles more interesting and valuable, you will get rewarded for your contribution. I make over 70% of my earnings not from my own articles, but from things I write on other people's posts. They come up with the topics; I read them; If I'm interested in the topic, I respond. If I'm not interested in the topic, I move on to another topic.
I enjoy helping people, so topics like this interest me. You asked good questions, so I offered an opinion.
As for where to find whales: there are many ways such as looking into steemdb for the top earners. Or at the trending pages. But I don't bother to chase the whales. I prefer to have meaningful relationships with those who I can relate to. If you are just chasing money, then best to simply invest and reap the monetary rewards. This platform is more than just making money; it allows for making friends and learning things. Become part of the community and the money will come naturally as everyone grows together.
I've noticed this is the best way to gain influence and $ here. My highest payouts are from starting conversation in the comment section of a whale's post.
https://steemwhales.com/ find some who have similar interests to yours, and don't stalk them lol
I can't say this enough but it boils down to good customer service, and it's all customer service. I'm still super new and not that tech savvy - I know horrible...lol so, where does one go to find the different projects that are currently running? Thank you for your advice and your continued support of the minnow community.
go to the link mentioned above, @curie... and also @OCD, @accelerator , if you express interest in curation and write some good posts you'll get noticed by others soon enough
Gotcha. I thought maybe there was a master list of projects and I sometimes miss things. ADD and all :( Thanks!
I am checking those links out too @molovelly :) And thank you @clumsysilverdad :))
I signed up with @curie. I enjoy reading so curating is probably going to be my best bet ;)
That's great! Sounds like you've got a plan! I'm working on mine. Bump in the road with my mom ill but I'm hanging in there and jumping back on the track! :))
Hope everything is okay with Mom!
Thank you so much! One day at a time.... she has her moments but as tough as the surgery was and the therapy is for her, she still wants to put her lipstick on and worries about her appearance! :)
I am gonna master steem js ;)
ok ok ok :P lol :P
Having a network/community of like minded people is key to building steemit. I almost wish their was a community part of the site where you could go and connect and find others with the same interest as you have. Who the whales, dolphins and minnows of those communities where etc.
probably coming this week as a feature :-)
Now that would be awesome feel free to ping me in it or something so I don't miss it :D
Idea of networking is right but in steemit its hard to build network , than in any other social network , because we havent got personal contact like private message,chat. How you recommend to communicate only through comments? or discord? what you use personally? So as i get main thing is to find a problem and either do your own project how to solve that problem or help whale to solve that problem? I didnt find will you write 4 part of minnow on steemit or not? i hope you continue this series
You can do so much in comments.
Prove that you have read what the poster has taken the time to write, and make a personal connection.
For instance, in this post @cryptoctopus talked about starting projects. So you might ask what projects they have been involved in personally. Although the OP does talk about some projects to check out, they don't note if they are personally involved in it.
If you can start a conversation in the comments, then maybe the original poster will be interested in checking out your blog and see what you are writing about. Then maybe you get some big upvotes from them.
bingo
Well said cryptoctopus. The more I spend my time on Steemit, the more I find new people from whom I learn a lot.
I think that building a new network is very important, but it is also quite essential to improve your knowledge and expertise in your field.
Another point I would like to highlight is that some people might interpret your advice in a wrong way. I talk about finding whales and talking to them. I saw a lot of minnows who just stalk whales, try to appear in the same articles as whales in order to pay their attention to themselves or they just spam. Of course, all of that is considered bad faith and minnows should be very careful about it.
Amen to that @flowily and your example made me smile :D
Networking is highly advisable in all walks of life, and sometimes gets a bad name to it, but i've found building some relationships here on steemit fairly easy as there are a lot of interesting bloggers. Even for someone pretty antisocial like myself, it's simpler to be yourself and speak your mind (in a respectful way) around people with authentic ideas. Ghostwriting, ooh, that always has a sophisticated ring to it, very cool. (-:
Thank you for explaining in details. In fact, I have not started properly blogging yet, but after I read your first 2 parts, I started to think on how can I be useful for this community. I have passion in several niches and now I finally figured out where I can start.
Regarding idea of building network, I think Steemit is no different from real life. You cannot start a proper business without building new connections, finding better offers and finally researching the business itself as deep as possible. So yes, researching, researching, connecting to people and connecting to people once more - this is my Steemit credo.
As you grow in the field in which you have skill. But if you do well, you will start having followers. Which in any field is important, some of them will have more connections and it will be easier for you. The work to be developed. And in the end the recognition will be your prize
I was in without defining any expectations and plans. Thank you for draging me back to the starting line to think what actually I would like to achieve here so I can think about my golas and plan how to reach them! Thank you!
One main problem behind bad networking is the assumption that more followers will get you more upvotes automatically. But this is fortunately not the case at all.
Just watch some resteem-services. I don't want to call out any names - but I guess most of the active users will know what accounts I am referring to. For a small SBD amount they resteem your post to 10,000+ followers. But guess what - thats 10,000$+ people who do not care about your posts. Maybe most of them are even bots (I don't have any proof for this).
I tried this service once. Even though my post got resteemed to dozens of thousands, it only got a few more upvotes than it already had. So the huge amount of followers doesn't mean anything.
As nearly always in life --> Quality goes over quantity!
I once read a really good blog post about how 1000 good fans/customers can be everything you need in order to be successful. Maybe I will have time to summarize this text in the next days.
Greets from Austria ;)
so true. Thanks for that input.
I've run into this also. You need to focus on the followers that follow you for the content you put out. Find your avenue and put your effort into it.
Yeah - followers just count if they really honor what you post and like the stuff. Even better if they also make some input which helps a good discussion growing :)
I believe Minnows can still do a lot on Steemit, sure, but you have to admit that opportunities are a lot more scarce for them now.
I had the good fortune to join Steemit just a week before the first payout, and I don't know that I could get as far as I am right now if I were to start over today.
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago...the next best time is now". Opportunities will be much scarcer in 5 years from now.
Touche.
Couldn't agree more. I look at this as the tip of the iceberg.
@cryptoctopus Thank you for these tips. A lot of the points you mentioned are so obvious, but when you are new to a platform like this, you are not sure where to begin or which approach would be most natural and authentic to you. So thank you for breaking things down and sharing with us the possibilities available to us. In part 2, I got a really good idea about what I wanted to, but in part 3, you gave me another idea that might be more sustainable and valuable. Merci, thanks, gracias!!
Thanks for all the series,i refer this series to all the new people i personally sign up so that they understand the truth and learn what to do.
When i first started i was a bad networker(i would tell people to upvote and follow me!!!! ).
After intensive reading and this series i now help people out with the little knowledge i have on Steemit chat and it also gives me a feeling of accomplishment.
Is there anything smaller than a minnow? if there is, I 'm probably in that category right now.
A very informative post.
One thing I noticed is the up voting for yourself, that you mentioned .
I was under the assumption this was frowned upon, and that it might even receive a negative response.
Or have I misunderstood?
Can some one not in the pre-minnow stage, clarify it for me? cheers
Its all about context. I upvote my own blogpost, because I believe they are good. Now, if I would upvote every single one of my own comments...that's not so good. I don't upvote my comments. But, it's all up in the air in my opinion.
Ok, cheers for the information.
-does a reputation of 72 make you, like, a wise one, in the steemit hierarchy?
If so (oh wise one), did you see my comment in your other post (part 2)
I would really appreciate someone's input/perspective on it.
Thanks again, matey !
@cryptoctopus,
The best Minnows guidance is here! That would be a great great help a whale could provide for others! Really appreciate your effort and thank you very much for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us!
(My voting power is still regenerating, therefore please allow me four more days to provide 100% upvotes for your posts)
Cheers~
Thank you! I am following for more tips. I appreciate you doing this, I am also trying to help the Minnows just getting started. I hope you consider my request for a delegation, I want to hit Dolphin ( 5000 SP) !
hit me up on skype: renaudgagne3x3x3
You forgot one thing follow for follow is not a good networking 😂
I figured that I didn't have to point it out :-)
I'll really paid attention to this series and am eager to learn, but a moment of humor interjected itself in my mind as I was reading part 3. I said to myself, I need to find my special purpose and then that lead to a scene from the movie, The Jerk and him finding his special purpose.
The dogs just looked up to see what was going on as I sit here laughing out loud. What's life, if not for little moments of joy? Now, on to find my special purpose, cuz I'm gonna make this work.
"Solve other people's problems and people will reward you" I think this is the crux of the article, I am trying to adapt this principle in my real life, not just for steem or for business but I believe that humans deserve to be treated like that. Thanks for reminding.
Was checking your blog all these while tp know when you will post the part 3
Suprised you have posted it
Thanks for these advice
Solve others people problem and people will reward you
Will love to have a chat with you
Yes for sure. I'm really busy at work and right now I'm only able to squeeze comment replies. I think @zappl will have a private messaging included in their app. That could be fun to have a chat together then.
No problem
We wait till then
Or chat you up on steemitchat
Wow. I Neva knew a minnow could be this useful in the steemit community, I now understand how it all work, thanks for this eye opener and I am already working on identifying a problem and preferring solutions.. Thank you very much for this post
I have been able to meet new people here , that turned into great friends who help and guide you through anything . I learn from top people like you and many others that help me improve everyday . Networking is very important , it leads us to build not only a connection , but a bond as well .
I always comment comment comment , interaction is a 🔑
Thank you so much got your advices @cryptoctopus
The longer I'm here, the more I realize the importance of networking on Steemit. Unfortunately, I'm not good at it and I'm not smooth in carrying out a conversation..
I found that if you entirely focus on the other rather than yourself. It is much easier. Also, learning how to ask good questions is key.
Thanks for the advice. :)
Great info and series for us newbies! You've given me a lot to think about regarding building a network and solving problems. Thank you.
I've just finished reading all three of your posts in this series. I must say, there's a wealth of good, solid information here, and I fully appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective and advice to folks like me. I want to succeed, and I want my work to touch people in some way. Thank you for making your experience and knowledge available. :)
Thanks, this has really given me something to think about.
I feel some of the issues come from the fact that the projects you're mentioning are not known by people starting here. At least for me they were new.
The strength of steemit is it's open character and the fact that there is a lot of info.
It's also it's weakness, sticking to the nautical theme, it's easy to drown.
Will read parts 1&2 as well.
I am enjoying Steemit, but I think that I experience it differently because I don't actively participate in popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Do you think you could write an article that is an introduction to Steemit for Twitter wizards?
I get the sense that some of the conventions that work on Twitter or Reddit don't translate to the Steemit platform and it might be helpful for new users to get that up front.
In fact I don't need get that far to have my project. In my community were I living in, there are school epecially primary public school who cant afford to buy a computer, good books for their library, and visual aids for the kids. In fact I am living in a third world country.
As a concern human being, I want to help my community in that small things out of steem. If I earn some few dollars on the future, I want to gave this little angels a TV for there visual aids, a computer set for there library and some books to fill the space on the shelves.
Besides, I also want to spread awareness about steem to my community, to help them earning some cash. The more red fish I invite to signup to the more help from them for me to grow as a little minnow.
The best project I ever heard! Helping the community in the real world out of steem is the most meaningful deed for a steemians.
I agree with you @cloudspyder! You nailed it son!
Taaa..... :)
Let me introduce myself: assayer. I wrote 5 long elaborated posts in 2 languages and almost 50 comments. My account is worth $1,89. (Just so you really know how hard it is to begin today :)
But I'm not sure that going after whales right after arriving on Steemit is a good idea. How many of them are like you? How many care for minnows?
I'm thinking about commenting and making connections on MANY financial levels. I will simply look for people who honestly share my passion. I wanna gather many of them. Build up. Write. Debate. Grow.
Only after having a net - a small community of one passion - I may ask for help from above. To make my small 'thematic society' even bigger and upgrade the quality.
May it work? Is it naive?
It is a long and windy road. You have just begun. Keep at it and it will slowly get better and better. It is taking me much longer than I had anticipated, but now instead of growing by 1 cent per day I'm growing by $1 per day. Soon it will be $2, then $3 and so on. Once in a while you get lucky too. Just don't give up.
Thank you for the encouragement and for your advice. I'm not worried so much about timing and money for now. I love my subject and I may go up slowly. A long road is alright.
What I need to know is that Steemit will be around after two and after five years. What are the chances? Any way to assess it? May BMCHAIN kill Steemit?
I don't think anyone can know what any crypto-currency will do in the long run. Ultimately it all comes down to what people believe in. As long as people have faith in Steem, it will stick around. It is when people lose faith that they move on to something else. If most people move along, then the currency dies.
Right.
Let's have faith in Steem then :)
And thank you again.
I'm glad I stumbled upon this, also read part 1 and part 2. Though I've been doing some of the items you listed, you definitely have some ideas that never crossed my mind. Thank you!
Connecting and building your network is probably the most important thing on Steemit. I am convinced that once the communities feature is released this will become even more important. With communities we will be able to harness the power of many users interested in similar topics. Solving problems is always a good way to add value and organizing a community helps people focus their attention on things that matter to them. Do not underestimate the power of a Shar-Pei owners community posting pictures and sharing health/care info about their pets.
I have followed your advice in post 1 and 2. I was just thinking last night of a project I want to do that will help minnows and newbies. I am still in my network building stage and have started my "I am the Tin Hat wearer" series. Doesn't get a lot of hits yet. When I am ready to launch my idea I want it to get views, resteems and replies, so I will hold off a little longer. I know I have a following because I went from 70's something followers to 109 quickly after starting my series. I have also hooked up with some fb friends that I was lucky enough to find here in steemit. With the help I have gotten from people like you, I have been able to built my account in a steady fashion. It would have been a lot harder without your help. I want to thank you for your advice and help. I am looking forward to the day I can say, I passed it on.
as you said :
I am not writing this for the person who just want to post pictures of their cats and have fun
what about photographers ? who post pictures ? dont you support photographer newbies ? like us ? :'( sad news :(
I don't think that is what the original post is referring to. There is photography because you have a camera phone and you want to post what you eat every day, and there is photography that is art.
Also, as a photographer, you can post about where the picture was taken, and what the subject matter means to you.
Don't be plain and boring is kind of the point.
i dont think you understand buddy photography can be done on anything there is no limmit for photography and a person who watches picture will feel the beauty whether its about food flowers nature sunrise sunset. let me know your review about my photographs dont upvote just check it and let me know ok ?
read: "People who JUST want to post" aka "JUST here for fun" instead of wanting to make money and accumulate SP.
Networking can definitely help to move things along. I also saw some bad networking by some steemians, like beg for follow and upvote. I would usually disregard this whenever I see it. You are absolutely right, think about others before thinking rewards. it not only works in Steemit, but real life too.
Right now as a minnow I'm just swimming around seeing what gets my attention & not forcing it to happen. I want to love the platform, but I'm still not completely hooked yet because there are a few drawbacks that I'm waiting to see how/if they resolve themselves. That's a crypto in general kind of thing though.
I'm looking for people that I genuinely want to spend my life's time reading what they have to say & not caring if they are whales or not. I'm mostly here for the entertainment, education & community because that's the element that interests me & a lot of the social dynamics are just beyond me.
I'm down to support people I dig, or help each other get a come up, but I don't want to have to spend my time being a kiss ass to people with stature to advance my career, so I avoided going the Whale Hunting route unless my natural reading style led me to some.
I'm trying to get into Steemit but it's a lot like being volunteered to do work.
I'm curious to see who/what will get my attention & sell me on the format.
Don't get me wrong, I'm feeling it, but ultimately the whales have to have some draw beyond flashing money if they want their investment to pay out. They've proven they are ahead of the pack by adopting a cool platform early, but...
I don't know what my point is, I smoked a lot of weed, but there's got to be a symbiotic relationship in all this to thrive.
Your advice is good, but I just can't get excited about being an unpaid intern kissing ass & spending the same 4 plus hours looking for content that makes me to decide to vest my time & money.
I guess I'm curious how Whales in turn will draw minnows when I can't even lure talented friends into it enough to check it out.
(This is one of those replies where I'm like...I probably shouldn't hit post, but eh...)
Hope your day is good, great advice despite my old lady tangent reply :p
This is such a good series as it reminds us to look for ways to be helpful and contribute to the platform. Steemit has many very talented people and their gifts can help this platform draw more people that enjoy being able to express themselves honestly and honorably while creating many new friendships.