First off all ,let me preface this by saying I am not the kind of guy who whines or likes to throw a pity party for himself. I truly am not. I always put my nose to the grindstone and have worked my ass off for anything that I wanted to be successful at in Life. If I failed it was because of me and no one else to blame. Matter of fact I have NEVER liked to surround myself with complainers or 'whoa is me' type of people. PERIOD !!
That Being said....
I am beginning to see the reality of this all , and I just do not think Steemit is for me. Or more precisely I am just not cut out for Steemit, I guess.
This first in Week in May...
It will be five straight months on working here at Steemit. And folks I am literally talking about 5 straight months with a Post and Commenting and Curating EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yes even Saturdays and Sundays since Jan. 8th ( usually through the night when my family is asleep ) But I love this, and it is truly not work for me ;)
I Know My Content..
may not be Pulitzer prize winning material. But I do know relatively speaking it's pretty decent. I have been doing it for quite some time. And just always have had a knack and genuine passion for writing and finding interesting material to write about ( this is key)
But...
Anymore I have trouble clearing $1 for Rewards on a original, unique blog post. O-n- e FREAKING dollar. I have actually regressed and gone backwards from the first couple of months in January and February. Wait a second, wait just one freaking second it's not supposed to work that way, right? ...as I slap my hand on my forehead in amazement just thinking about that lol. Well it has.
And Please Don't Bother Asking...
because I know damn well that Steemit is more than just about producing Content. Even great Content.
It's a social media platform :
- It's getting to know people.
- It's going on others' blogs and interacting with them .
- And it's supporting them and encouraging them.
Check.
Check.
and Check.
Conclusion...
I am a pretty humble guy. I am not wanting to have $500 payouts and never have expected that. At all !! And it's really not the particular dollar amount ( or SBD and SP amount) . But it's actually just the progression of it all. I worked on my last blog post for a couple of hours yesterday . It was a pretty interesting , provocative, and revealing Post. Although I have not done it in months, I decided to do a Resteem for this post for 1 SBD to get a little more visibility. And guess what ?? After the cost of the Resteem , I came out with a BIG $.30 profit. Whoopeee :>)
Needless to say, If I saw some hope where I broke out of the $1-$2 range I would definitely have a different mindset than what I have now. My gosh, I was doing that the first couple months as I said earlier. And i would be beyond thrilled to see even getting $3 consistently over time for my posts. Or heck if I was earning $.75 back in February and could see now that was averaging $1.30 now. Just something where I could see a little 'forward movement' as I am not asking or expecting much. Really !
But now it's just regressed rather than progressed here for me.
And Listen ,I know it sounds arrogant and all. Trust me I am not trying to be when I say this. But my blog posts that I have put a lot of thought and time in everyday is worth more than $.35 or $.83 . ( And that's taking into account the social aspect here which I have passionately committed myself to) Sorry, it just is !! That's not a complaint rather it's just being totally honest and frank !
But apparently that seems to be the ongoing ''Rate" for good ole @robertandrew here at Steemit ;) lol ( Yes, even though it's frustrating I do have a sense of humor about it all :) )
Who knows in the end maybe that's all I'm really worth.
Peace out and I really do wish you all the very best,
Robert :)
Hey guys thank you for the Comments It means so much to me :). I have never had so many. So instead of responding to each one ( because I would be writing a couple of paragraphs to each one considering this somewhat 'deep' topic lol) I will just write this one reply.
First of all I must admit that having engagement on my Blog like this is such an inspiring thing. I rarely ever get this much. And I think having such discussion really motivates me that much more here. As it really means more than me than any dollar amount... so thankyou. I did not realize until it happened today what a big rush and thrill it is:)
Also as far as worrying about " makine income here" or "worrying about the money" like so of you said in your Comments ??
Well in all due respect, Iam not concerned about any dollar amount ( or SBD or SP amount) as I said. My point was the Regression I had seen in the last couple of months with my account payouts. That was really my concern and frustration. And yesterday it just hit me with my latest post.
But I do understand about following your Passion and letting the money take care of itself later on.
Quite honestly this is the first time I have ever experienced that with any endeavor in the last 28 years since gradutaing from College and being in the business world..I honestly y say that I love jumping on here and interacting and writing blog posts as much as I love watching my fav tv show or going to play my fav sport now...disc golf.
I never thought that would ever be possible in my Life :) And to get a little money on top of it...well that's like a Dream !!
Anyway, I guess this was more of a "vent" than a throwing in the towel.
Just to hear many of you good folks take the time to listen to me and then Coomment and acknowledge me..well that means so much to me.
And it inspires me that much more. I guess I just needed to be listened too. Which every once in awhile we all do.
So as Sir Cork said " it's back to work for me " :)
thank you good people of Steemit. You're wonderful ..and "full powered drinks" on the House for everyone !
Best Regards,
Robert
Hey @robertandrew! I (@ericwilson) created this account to help bring disc golfers together, I get notifications whenever someone mentions disc golf and that's how I found this comment! Although it isnt't disc golf related post I found out you like disc golf! I will upvote amd resteem this post as well as follow it from both my accounts to help other disc golfers find your account.
Steem on!
*edit I see you like curating videos... Do you do that on dlive.io? It is both a streaming service and video platform.. If you wanted to know more swing by the @dlive24hour (also my project) discord server at https://discord.me/dlive24hour.
Anything I could say has probably already been said several times over in the comments here so will just say, keep at it, you have lots of friends here that are here for you when you need us! #thealliance :)
Glad to hear that! I read this post earlier today but was in a rush and was just getting round to commenting but decided I would read the others first and then of course I came across your comment. I just want to say I understand. I’ve been there, hell even tho I’m over $2 on my latest post for someone who Will be celebrating 1 year on steemit I have seen ups and downs and regressions. Even now my earnings are fairly low on average even tho I know I am even on a bunch of people’s autovoters and apparently on a curation trail (which has also changed my earnings). It can be disheartening even when you don’t focus on money (which like you, I am not here for), but to see so many make so much and most are due to bot purchases. I thoroughly enjoy coming across your comments on my posts and get to yours as often as I can, but I would miss those if you left.
We all need to rant and it’s great that you did. If this place doesn’t work out there will always be a great social media type of site coming built on EOS to look forward to as well 😉
So glad you're not throwing in the towel @robertandrew! I tagged you as one of the people I appreciate most here on Steemit yesterday, and the same day I hear you're quitting! It broke my heart! Hope you get the payouts you deserve soon. ❤
Hey!
Chin up!
It took me almost a year, August 2017 here, to be able to make $1
When Steem is low, I am still getting less than $1
And I dont post shits, IMO, and my I have more than 1000 followers 🤣
I have my own recipe sites, Youtube account, Twitter and IG. I post everywhere with no rewards but my happy heart obv. So I dont see why I should stop posting here just because I dont make $$. I just love sharing my cookings and bakings 🤣
Engagement is shit sprinkled with rainbow dust, I hear ya. I keep visiting people that dont visit me. Sometime thats okay, I follow them because I do like their postings.
But stay, Robert! I stop hoping for big SP people to see me, instead engaging with the noobs because I dont want them to give up at all. If all these sameboat people like I do, stop being active on Steemit, it would make it lonelier for people like us, I think 😉
Sending positive vibes to you, my friend 🤗
Love your positive attitude.
Thank you! I AM loveable 🤣✌🤣✌
Just went on your page and started following you. Hope to learn some great recipes from you.
Ramadan Mubarak 🌷🌷🌷
Ramadan Mubarak! 💓
Well said the WITNESS everyone should VOTE FOR @thekitchenfairy 🤗
Indeed well said @thekitchenfairy. 💖💗💕💓
💓💓💓💓
I heart you Mr. CAFFEINE 🧚♂️🧚♀️🧚♂️🧚♀️ (these are faeries, I wonder if they would show as faeries as well on your end, as they showed up as gende signs on my husband's screen 🤣)
Just in case! They look like this
Do you post your videos on @dlive?
Dlive and dtube dont work for me. I'm so bummed. And yes, I have fast internet, in case you are wondering.
Oh no!!!!! I used to have trouble dtube... Never issues with dlive (only when they have updates)
I hope you can get that figured out... Im all in on dlive.
I was able to attend the DLive meet up this past weekend and met Kent the founder!
This is a tough platform for sure, and I am sure your own feelings are repeated 100's of time throughout accounts on here. It's frustrating for me to keep finding what are excellent quality posts, informative, interesting, loads of pictures and writing - still getting very little.
I know you comment a great deal - mainly because I find quite often you have been to posts and commented before I have. It helps for sure to get yourself about, commenting works but quite often I think the social side of discord helps get your name around and make sure people remember you. But of course it's who you know as well, because you can have more then 100 upvotes and still get very little - or one big vote from a whale if you can find a friendly one.
And of course the discouragement is you look around and see people getting 100's of dollar reward posts, but honestly everyone getting what seems like big rewards for posts is doing the exact same thing I do on every single one of my posts - bid bot the hell out of them. I've done it since the Bid Bot's came out, and in reality that was how my $0.2 posts started turning to $2, and then every time I got rewards they got fed back into posts using everything I gained back into the bid bot's and slowly it all built up. In fact a few weeks back I feel asleep after creating a post without hitting a single bot on it, woke up and it had reached $4 - I was amazed, I couldn't believe I really had so many people who would upvote my mediocre content. Then I bid bot the hell out of it lol.
The other thing about this hobby of mine is it's REALLY expensive, and I go Snowboarding! But between all the bid botting and paying out for Steem Power delegations to increase my upvote - I have to keep buying extra Steem to fund my decadence. It's costing me 8 Steem a week per 1000 Steem Power delegation to increase my upvote a bit, they go up and down as I keep forgetting to renew them and it's a right pain to get a new lease when you drop one. Of course my own Steem Power has value, and if I cashed it all out I would effectively have made something out of this even after what I have bought in - although knowing my luck the value will drop out before I ever think of trying to cash out!
You have put a great deal of effort in, and sometimes it is ups and downs especially as everything post reward follows the value of Steem - it would be a shame to give up on what you have already worked hard to build. I know I was a little late putting in my #HappyPlace post but it seems to have been a really inspiring tag and I think you will see it grow more and more if you keep at it - because it doesn't have to be a one use tag - holidays, days out - a #HappyPlace could be many places and promote so many posts.
You should of course only do what you feel is right for you, but I personally think it would be a big shame if you gave up and left - and certainly I would miss your posts - I might not see every one but I'm trying to read alot of posts - and then when sometimes my comments can take 30 to 40 minutes to do as well - it's a hard juggle!
#thealliance
The way I see it, I was gonna do what. Play a video game? Dick around on facebook? Go outside? Eat? Sleep?
Meh
Here after a year of 120-140 hour weeks (no exaggeration ,ask anybody, in any time zone, i'm around) I make 4 or 5 steem on any given post, unless it's a big deal one and even coming from me, charity founder, two time 24/7 streaming station builder, witness #64... just a few bucks on a typical post.
And you know what?
That's a hell of a lot more than I got for shitposting stolen political memes at facebook, only over there, I came home from work pissed off every day.
Over here, I come home from work, never, because the people are so damn fam, and the atmosphere is more cerebral, even at it's most toxic, and there is less toxic than people let on. It's just busy, getting cool shit done, collaboratively, creatively, consecutively, consistently. Okay, let's forget I said consistently and just go with the rest.
I think you get the point.
Anyway, I dare you to leave. You've tasted the apple now, had the first hit. You can't leave.
And you know it.
Encouragement time is over. Get back to work! :P
I feel your frustration but I hope you reconsider. Are you doing other blogging and utilizing other social media sites? I share my posts from here to twitter and FB, and if appropriate - to linkedin. Remember that Steemit has an Alexa rating which is hard to come by on your own website.
Also, for my podcast account, I publish to the website and a plugin publishes it to Steemit at the same time.
Maybe start playing with the different apps and stay for the fun. I look at it this way - I have written and posted on other platforms for a long time and made zero money.
So, everything here could be considered a bonus.
Hope you stay...
Let's have fun!!!
It can get painful when you've put the time and effort into something and it receives very little recognition, it sucks. The truth is that you can always adapt and change technique.
Don't see it as a failure buddy, consider it an experiment.
The relationships you form are more valuable and potent than the payouts and although they don't add to your SP stake in the platform directly, they apply to the overall stake you've got in life. In time you'll see the growth in yourself and the people around you, but you have to take it day by day.
None of us know exactly where this platform will be in a year or two, but a lot of us know who we will be surrounded by.
Keep your head up and carry on putting out the content you want to look back on in a years time :)
I think your comments are more than fair and understandable also. Recently only very recently have mine started going over the 1sbd mark and thats been since jun, I feel that I have worked very hard to get that, and sometimes i wonder if its worth it. But when you look at how many people have signed up for this, compared to how many are active, its apparent forget most whales and dolphins, but my opinion is if you have been doing this for five months you can't stop now you have keep going and see where it leads you too, can you honestly say that the amount of interesting people on the platform alone is not enough to keep you here let alone the possible and I say possible future rewards.
I hear you. It can be so discouraging when posts don't make much. And you've been commenting like a champ! I don't get over to your blog near enough—trying to juggle life and Steemit isn't easy. But I do think it's worth it. I've had a few bigger posts lately, and gotten some love from people willing to throw some heftier votes my way, but that's a new thing for me. A lot of it is networking, and persistence, both of which I see you doing.
However, the friendships I've made and the interaction I've had here is so much more meaningful than anything I've found with other social media. For that alone, I value this platform. Plus, even making a $1 is more than I got paid anywhere else to blog. It adds up, and when Steem goes up, so does my wallet. The trick is not letting my emotions do the crypto roller coaster.
Hope you stay. You're one of us. 💖
I find myself conflicted because I agree with everything you've said here about the causes of your frustration, and I feel it too much of the time, but I also see the potential of this platform and am more interested in the social aspect than post payouts. You have been a part of changing the world for the better. I hope you will stick around and continue to be a part of that change. Whatever you decide, I wish you good fortune. <3
@robertanddrew
I might be late to the party but you can NOT leave.
I make maybe 1.50 on most of my posts.....every once and a while I do make more but not very often. The only reason I have what I have is I was doing DTube video's before they started going after all the YouTube people.
But You have met so many people and I know I love seeing your comments and would miss you so much if you were gone.
But you are the only one to be able to make that choice.......for me, yes, need the money but the laughter and joy I get mean so much to me...... You being one of those people.
The thing is.........and I all think we do it, is we think that person is okay and read their stuff and don't always comment like we should to let the person know how much they are ...............and I can not spell the word......... how yoru comments DO lighten my day and make me smile because I know you read what you comment on.....
If you are writing stuff that makes you happy....that is all you can do.......if you are not then you need to.........write about things YOU really care about.....not saying you don't ........but then at least you have memories to look back at ........
sorry.......just idea's.........
but wish you wouldn't go hugs
here is what it's like....
This is a cliquey and aggressive place, people play a lot nicer than many are...it's a biz at the end of the day, unfortunately you can bet that those with higher reps fought tooth and nail and /or paid a lot to get there,
It's easy to get mad on here, I almost rage quit on a weekly basis from bullshit but don't because of working too hard and dealing with drama and power plays
Stand your ground! If this is taking more than adding then I'll be the first to say, do what you need to do, I've taken breaks, hopefully you stick around, I think you are a nice person, but I get it :(
No! Dont give it all up!! I know its a roller coaster and can be very frustrating... i think EVERYONE here has those moments when then just want to throw it all away.. i addmit- I have them many times myself but i know how much i love posting about what i love and i especially love getting the feedbacks and comments:) tjink about what makes you love about it here. You dont have to feel like its a time consuming job, try to enjoy the ride and the engagement with people and post whenever suits you. Look how much love and support youre already getting here in these comments😊❤ I hope you reconsider @robertandrew :)
A lot of great comments and advice here. Steemit is difficult, especially if you spend most of your day working another job.
Chatting daily in Discord communities is extremely helpful.
PYPT in the Steemit Ramble Discord on Thursdays is a great place to hang out!
There are also a bunch of great radio shows on MSP-waves and the Steemstar network where you can hang out in the audience chat.
So, whenever you are feeling discouraged....just remember this quote from a wise person (you!):
"But I love this, and it is truly not work for me ;)"
Hi @robertandrew, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Join us on Thursdays for Pimp Your Post Thursday at 11am EDT or 7PM EDT in the Steemit Ramble Discord or:
If you’d like to nominate someone’s post just visit the Steemit Ramble Discord. If I use the post, you earn a portion of the rewards.
Pimp Your Post Thursday is a live curation show where you get to know others and they you. You can promote your post or someone you think needs more notice.
Thank you so much @steemitramble. I went to check it out and left a Comment. Again, thanks :)
I've loved our talks!!! and I'd hate to see you go (though it sounds like you're staying now hehehehe)
It is. it's so much work @robertandrew. And the list of people that you meet and connect with only grows with time!!!! and the pull to have that connection with everyone becomes so difficult to maintain - because you WANT it.... but time! Time doesn't stretch as our connections increase hehehehe
I promise... it does get better. but.... if you do reconsider and feel the need to leave, please just let it be for a break :)
I reached my breaking point (like. real physical end of the rope) and needed to leave until I could come back with joy - regardless of the financial outcome. I didn't come back to write a word!!!! not until I was happy to write again.
but i did come back :) so please stay... but if you go... please return :)
I feel you man. Same way most of us would feel if we looked at it from a monetary point of view.
And I do, I'm african, I need every buck I can get. >Insert nervous laughter<
But I just have to look at the larger picture. Joined in January and I'm sure that in no time the site will pick up. There's so much in the works now. Everyone from @utopian-io to the SMT guys are looking to take steemit to the next level soon. So keep doing your thing bro. Your just rewards are on their way and I'm sure in the end you will have a heck of a story to tell.
For what it's worth I appreciate you.
Just followed!
Your posts make more than mine do and I have been here since August. It is frustrating, I agree. I just got back from vacation and it was hard to convince myself to get back on here and start blogging again but I did... and I am already wondering why. I spent HOURS yesterday waiting to "pimp my post" and it got me an extra 25 cents. I have tried doing the "post promotion" on discord but people will skip past my post to go upvote their friends. Understandable, but I do not see how I will ever get followers when it seems you have to know the people already to get them to look at your blog. I dunno what I am getting at, just sympathizing.
Same is happening with me here on Steemit. I did create some real quality content, with a lot of thought and hours of work put into it, but received close to nothing in return. All of the posts with more $1, were purchased votes, hence they don’t count as real progress/achievement. All Those posts, I didn’t pay for to the bidding bots, stayed below 50 cents.
Now I have decided to use steemit as a secondary platform. I ll create quality content. Put it on YouTube and then put it on steemit and Facebook and my own website. I think that is the best way to use steemit for now.
@robertandrew - I know how you feel, as do many others.
Actually I got no notice here until I made one post that got some attention, and paid out < $3.
I entered some contests and won one of them. Then one of my posts got Curied, and that paid out nicely.
With that SBD, I used bots on my last post - not particularily proud of that, but I wanted to understand bots on Steemit.
I have upvoted and commented on the posts of others, often with no response. Ouch!
As far as community building here, I have to admit it confuses me. I'm on more than a few discord channels, and for the life of me I'm still not sure how to engage people. Random hellos? It doesn't help that I have had to sign up with half a dozen Steemit-related apps just to do things here.
Decentralization may be the way to go, but sometimes I feel like Steemit has taken this a bit too far. It can be confusing and energy draining.
One of the issues on Steemit, as I see it, is that it can be very difficult to find well written posts. Just a constant streem of posts. Shakespeare would sink soon on Steemit.
Like you, there have been days where I spent hours writing a post, commenting on others, upvoting etc. Then you wake up in the morning and see nothing. Frustrating sure. (mind you, many of my earlier posts were shit.
Investing in Steemit with fiat seems to help, and using bots. But then using bots just makes it harder for others to grow organically.
I think Steemit needs better filtering of content into sub-categories, and a much better serch function.
Anyway, for what it's worth, I upvoted and followed you. Good luck!
Well, I'm not going to pretend that I don't know how you feel because I do and have had the same thoughts myself as of late. I've put off posting some stories because sometimes I don't see the point. It does get me down and I get real quiet or more quiet. It seems every time I start to feel this way that a couple people that have stuck by me since the beginning sense it and encourage me to continue even though they don't realize it so here I am still..lol! Hang in there @robertandrew and I wish you all the best!! ❤
I know exactly how you feel and how frustrating it can be. Interacting, supporting I ve done it all but seems I can't catch a break, the big bucks aren't really coming and even when they do they go MIA for a few weeks. To make up for it, I do sometimes indulge with bots but then I cant really check my organic growth, It can be so stressful! Maybe it's that I dont do enough networking or my content isn't good enough or maybe it's not for me too.
I don't know yet as of now, what I know is that I've gained so much knowledge that range from everything to myself while making some new friends. Aso I probably would have never been able to enter the cryptoverse without steemit. So I still kind of owe it that too. What I've decided is that I'll keep going at it for a few more months, to only post what/when when I feel that its organically ready, heck sometimes I even "shitpost".(from which I sometimes earn more lol)
Yes its stressful AF but I've decided to kind of treat it like an adventure and stick around for a bit and I think you should too :)
Plus I think steem might be getting big in the future and if so, then those 0.0$'s of ours will have been worth it :)
One of the things you'll realize pretty quickly is that it's rare for a post to breach $1SBD in potential payout. Most of mine don't go past $0.5SBD. My upvotes are largely worthless (I just cleared the $0.02SBD mark the other day), too.
But let me fill you in on something I realized when I was on another site called Tsu. When I focused on earnings, I was miserable. I hated what I was doing. When I stopped caring about that, my overall earnings picked up. Let the money happen how it happens, and everything will (eventually) fall into place. I'm still not there, but I did get lucky once or twice. Those two bumps definitely helped my overall SP, but I didn't set out to get noticed. I just made something I thought was cool and wanted to share.
And to be honest, I always loved your little rants. They were a fun diversion from the rest of the posts out there.
Hi fellow Tsu!
I was there as well 😂 and Canadians did not get to monetize our posting there 😔 All my cake decorators friends left and right were earning nicely, as they were in the USA 😁 But I was happy, as famous bakers, cakers and Tsu celebrities noticed my works 🤣
I hope Steemit wont be Tsu tho 😂🤪😂🤪
Steemit will not go the way of Tsu, namely because of the way it handles its funding. Tsu failed because it could not secure advertising revenue. Steemit monetizes through the blockchain. Very different method, but the same collaborative spirit is there.
Don't quit now man, you've come way too far.
maybe you should change strategy : care less about income and more about what you really bring to the community. This is my first time to read your article, i found it on the trending feed and i read it till the end which i usually don't do because most of the time contents are not good. I enjoyed reading your article, you are talented and maybe if you find the good audience, you will probably be more successful than now.
Hey @robertandrew do not loose hope....currentlly i feel steemit is just getting into business money making module rather than a social platform.....stay positive you never know wgen you get chance to win...though i do not want to loose a friend in you👍🍻
A lot of people face this!!!
I tell them to join a community that interest them.
Certain tags get curated. So I use those tags as well, making sure my post relates.
You’ll make it. Don’t give up!
Sorry that you are feeling this way, but I think it is really a common feeling. The difficulty of finding posts is really a problem without some sort of engaged community. I have the occasional post that I pour a lot of time and effort into, and after posting, I sit around waiting and hoping that someone will notice and comment. It can be pretty depressing, but on the plus side, I've found that I just enjoy writing about stuff in general!
Totally know were your coming from buddy but try and stick with it , i do it because i love to share everyday events and knowledge with people and some day we will get rewarded but for now i will keep steeming on :)
that seems kind of early to throw in the towel. There are people who spend almost 2 years doing what you are doing every single day, and they are still persisting. Steemit and all internet businesses take a long time to become recognized. However, if you hasten the pace, you could pump some fiat into steem and boost your return on the platform. Otherwise, you'll have to grind it out like everyone else.
Steem lacks the concept of trailing commissions. Imagine instead of a single doller you earnt instead 1c for every post you posted in the past year.
FIRST OFF, Let me say this (and I know I am late to the party!)
Whatever you do, do it 1000% and don't look back, at least for a month, if you decide to leave. You can have One Million Dollars or maybe just One Dollar in SP, but it still takes 13 weeks. So you have all that time to reconsider. And you prolly will every week, if you send your re-converted STEEM out on a weekly basis, to avoid hacking possibilities.
Just make up your mind, and like you said, don't whine. It is unbecoming! ;) BUT, these prices are going to reverse here soon, and anyone getting out NOW will regret it. Might take a week, might be the rest of the year. No one knows, but I suspect it will be too soon for me, cuz once I get some Fiat Ca$h… MORE STEEM!!! :)
C-ya Man, take care