There is this book, called “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. I didn’t read it, but from what people told me, it’s a good one. It dwells in the fact that all we have is the present moment and that present moment is the seed of all our life. Past is gone, future was not born yet, so here we are.
I’m not gonna talk about Eckhart Tolle today, but something in the title of the post has a slight resemblance to that book, so I wanted to start with a short disambiguation.
I’m going to talk about social media, in fact, and how everything changed into this present moment. Whatever we do now, right now, is more important than everything we already did or everything we set ourselves up to do in the future. The entire energy is concentrated in this very moment, including any reward or financial compensation.
The Money Is (Was?) In The List
Any veteran blogger or internet marketer will tell you that “money is in the list”. Namely, your email list, the one that you build using your blog. If you blog for money (and I urge you to read @dantheman's post on this topic as soon as you can) then the revenue comes not from the blog (surprisingly) but from your email list. Of course, you can make some cash from advertising or sponsored content, but that’s just peanuts, the real revenue comes from your email list. Or so they say.
This approach is based on a few assumptions and on a certain set of verified procedures. Let’s talk about the assumptions first:
- people need time to build a relationship, hence, they won’t buy anything from you on the first encounter, or when they first read some blog of yours
- people live in an information overload chaos, hence you need to repeat the same thing at lest 7 times until they make a note of it in their thoughts flow
- email survived text messages, WhatsApp and SnapChat and, by all means, email is not dead. Yet.
Now let’s see a standard procedure for actually selling something (the complexity varies a lot among different markets, niches and audiences, this is a simplified example)
- first you send an email with a link to a video in which you give significant value to your subscribers
- second, you track those who clicked and saw the video and then you send them another link, with another video in which you give significant value
- third, you track those who clicked and saw the second video and send them another link, with another video in which you give significant value
- fourth, you send a sales letter and actually pitch your product.
- fifth, you cross your fingers and wait
The process is extremely lengthy, energy consuming and unreliable. Please keep in mind that during all this process you still have to provide content for free on your blog, in order to grow your email list.
The Money Is (Will Be?) In The Blockchain
Introducing Steemit. Instead of this long, tedious process, one can see the revenue for a certain blog post in a few hours. No email, no videos, no sequences of stories, no sales pitch. Just write and get money for it.
Say what? Hmmm… What kind of sorcery is that?
Steemit changes the rules of the game in a way which is yet to be understood by the major players in the field. Unfortunately, even the smartest and most intelligent people in the world have their own biases and they will follow the natural human tendency of “going with what works”. In other words, if they know they built a fortune by creating a list of 50.000 subscribers and hammering the hell out of that list with sales pitches, they won’t be interested to look in other areas. If you tell them they can make a lot of money just by writing, they will not believe you. In their world, this is impossible.
But, in a parallel world, this is already happening. Right now, as you read this, we’re both witnessing the same process. There will be real money out of this interaction. I will get an author reward, you will get (if you upvote this article) a curation reward. That money is - for now - in the blockchain, but is as real as any other money in any other bank.
There are many things to be said about why this is possible and why the assumptions on which the old, “email list” based approach, are simply not true anymore, but the most important seems to be for me the “immediocracy”. Or the power of being “in the now”.
The value of any process is dramatically augmented if it happens now. As you read this, your entire attention is focused on this article, and you are in the now. If you want to express your appreciation, you do it now. By knowing the rules of the platform, if you upvote this now, you redirect a part of the reward pool, proportional with your shares in this platform, to this article.
You don’t need to give me your email anymore, I don’t have to make 3 videos, a sales letter and send you a sequence of 4 messages. That will take time. And time is the only currency that we cannot replenish. We cannot print more time. We cannot mint, mine, or generate more time, as we generate coins in the blockchain. Time is a limited resource. The better you use it, the higher its value.
Steemit is the first platform which bridges this huge gap between content providers and their audience. It brings both parties on a territory where they can instantly exchange value. And that territory is “in the now”.
There are many processes yet to be improved in the way Steemit works, and I’m happy to be a part of some of them, but the initial proof of concept has been done. We are part of something so fresh and surprising, that a big part of the established blogosphere can’t even comprehend it right now. Mostly because we, as humans, are wired in such a way that we unconsciously reject what we don’t know.
But as the platform gains more and more momentum, a new field of writers and readers will emerge.
Sometimes, I like to think that they are part of a brand new form of social structure: the immediocracy.
image source - Pixabay
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
A possible reason why many can not grasp the prospect of being compensated for blogging may be the fact that it is not so much the post that earns revenue, but how well the content is received by the reader of the posting. If one has only complaint, accusation, or ridicule to write about (which seems to be the case for many people on other social media sites) their income prospect will likely be shallow, as is their content.
I think you have hit one of the main reasons!
That's a very, very profound observation. I see this phenomenon way too often in my FB feed, for instance, which is why I spend so much less time there and I moved here. Very good point!
Interesting that you provide the email example, currently I do a similar thing by reposting articles from Steemit to previous social media outlets I used in the past. It has taken several posts to 'gain' the interest of my fellows. 👍
I don't say the "old" way doesn't work anymore. As a matter of fact, it works a bit better than Steemit, if you already have a list. I'm saying that this "old" way is rapidly becoming obsolete. It's like chariots and cars at the dawn of the 20th century. Very few saw the potential of cars, because chariots and horses were kind of the main thing.
Seeing as I've only just started using the "old" way, I can really relate to your post. It is so hard to get a lot of followers or even views in such a saturated blogging market like Wordpress, let alone earn any kind of profit from it. And what about selling photographs on Deviantart? With the sheer amount of things already there, it's near impossible to even get noticed. If you do get noticed, you won't actually find any kind of reward really.
Steemit does reward you directly if you publish good content. Sure, it's still hard to really get noticed between the amount of posts, but whenever you do get noticed (and you share a good post), you'll actually see people appreciating you and you earn from it!
This last week I've really seen the benefit of Steemit, as opposed to things like Wordpress. I will still be using both platforms, but Steemit will be where I spend most of my time. The additional benefit here is the amount of interaction you get with others.
Congrats for already seeing benefits from Steemit! As for being hard to get noticed on Steemit, I will tell you one thing; right now, because the platform is incredibly new (less than a year on the market) the number of users is very small - there are around 2500 posts / day. Compare that with any other established social media.
On top of that, Steemit has this SteemPower thing which rewards commitment and gives you benefits as you grow.
Yes, you are absolutely right! I think everyone just starting out will just have to be a bit patient. I'm positive that people with potential and great posts will rise to the top eventually.
I'm still finding my way with the SteemPower, Steem and Steem Dollars thing. I think I'm starting to get a handle on it, but being a complete newbie on all things crypto, it's a lot to take in!
Very well said sir! When you put it that way it sounds so simple, be we all know how much more remains to be done to attract mainstream bloggers to steemit.
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will steemit be. Here's to a productive and game changing new year. Namaste!
Yeap, it takes time. But it's time well spent. Namaste!
You should read this book. It's the kind of investment in time that you will never regret. It has the ability to improve hugely your life without operating any material change in it. One of the best books I have ever read, maybe the best !
Ok, I will, it was on my list anyway :)
I wrote this blog on the book, you may enjoy the reading before starting the book : https://steemit.com/life/@glitterfart/the-key-to-happiness-and-the-purpose-of-life-is-not-in-religions-it-s-in-this-beautiful-book
Thanks, I'll have a look at it :)
You are either ready to read it or your not. You will know in the first few pages if it speaks to you and if it does congratulations. You will find yourself growing in ways that benefit yourself and those around you. ( hmmm that sounds like steemit!)
Your article is encouraging to this neewbie and informative. The Power of Now is a great book as well as a New Earth by eckhart tolle also . similar but personally meaningful and life changing. Great re- reads.also thank you for dans link - everyone should read it and without your directing me to it that wouldn't have happened.
You have a new follower :-)
The value is the people you will meet, first virtually and then possibly in real life. But this takes time!
Very nice reading :)
Thanks! :)
Great post. I'll have to research the book. I'm new to Steemit, just a week
I am new to Steemit. I could tell right away this place was different. I recognized better quality posts right away. I felt the warmth of the community within moments of surfing the site. This post helps me see the even bigger picture.