Steemit: Recognizing, Changing And Helping Artists On A Legit Level

In case you don't know, I write at Steemit.

What's that?

It's a blogging, social network running on blockchain technology. People can sign up to make the cryptocurrency called Steem.

Sounds too complicated?

Okay, it's basically a website where people can sign up, blog about anything and make money.

That'd be the layman definition, which in today's world works pretty well for advertising.

And as a user myself, I can assure you that it works that way.

As a sole writer, artist at heart and a single dude doing his own thing at home, I want to talk about Steemit on an intimate level, a level which steers away from jargon, technical shit and more technical shit. I can't go deep on technical shit anyway since I am not very savvy in it all.

Why listen to me then? 

Because I've real fucking value to add here. Again, I am single writer doing his own thing. I love creating art more than anything, but yet, I manage to find myself in the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

All thanks to Steemit, which taught me valuable lessons in a legit way.

The enticement, the lure and the advertisement

I joined Steemit back in 2016.

Back then, I was struggling as a blogger. I wouldn't exactly call myself a writer back then because my mindset was out of whack. I was pretty much only always chasing money as I indulged in internet marketing. After a handful of years, I grew to hate internet marketing because I felt it was scammy as fuck.

I eventually rejected everything I learnt. I just wanted to write.

Steemit was a curious thing to me back then. Blog anything you want and make money? Let's see!

I dived in. It worked. I was happy. Boom! Success! Yay! No more stupid list building, affiliate marketing, social media marketing, guest posting or whatever!

Right?

Nah, not really. Not yet at least.

At this point, I was merely taken in by the allure of the ease of making money online again. I was lucky enough to be validated as I saw it work so fast, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg of what's to come.

Steemit works by community, market forces and its own economy, all of which is flawed

Steemit has been around for two years now. And it is still in beta.

It is also a very flawed platform.

The gist: To make actual money on Steemit, you've blog and then be upvoted by other users.

But it isn't exactly a matter of getting as many votes as possible. It's about being voted by users with strong accounts. A account gets stronger when its Steem Power get stronger. You get more Steem Power by either buying in to invest or blogging more over the long term. I didn't buy in at all initially.

Some users inside argue about this system. Alas, the quality of one's content doesn't always translate to good votes. It's clearly unfair to many.

After you get these votes and make some Steem, you've to trade them in the open market for Bitcoin or Ethereum, then cash out.

And as crytocurrency is still so new, the market is volatile as fuck. Controversy in the news don't help for its appeal either.

See how it's all a clusterfuck? It's scary huh? Why take up Steemit when it's so clearly flawed and imperfect?

It is through struggle, taking risks and things being imperfect that you learn real shit

Let me just lay it out in point form:

• In the internet marketing world, everything was about quick, easy solutions.

I saw that people wanted easy money. People wanted to do minimal work and get big results. People always had the next big thing that promised the world.

It was all a lie. They were just pretty packages. They offered easy solutions and easy solutions are for losers only. Sadly, this is how it is mostly in the business world.

When I worked like that, I felt uneasy most of the time.

Steemit cannot offer this to you. If you spend some time in the platform you'd see that you're going to have to put in a lot of work to be consistent with your blogging and also getting to know others on a genuine level. With Steemit still being in beta and working out its kinks, it's not something easy to use, but that means that it's here for the long-term to help people and change the way we work.

Trust me when I say this: When you stop looking for easy solutions, you become smarter than most people today. Make the right choice and start playing the long-term game.

• Steemit has a real community with real people who are nice and cool

The people I've gotten to know in Steemit have been amazing. We chat about cool shit we care about.

Pictured here are a couple of Steemit friends I made. I met them in Chiang Mai. It was a lovely meetup with genuine conversations.

I've never found a more sincere community with real people.

Other communities I've been to mostly consist of people who want to network and see how they can benefit from each other. The conversations are always transactional in nature.

If you really want to succeed through making powerful connections, you must be sincere. You must be genuine. If it's all about transactions in terms of money, work and tangible benefits, you will not succeed. Period. No, I don't care if you know someone who is a pro networker or salesperson who is super successful. I am willing to bet that they don't care about you at all. Acting in a contrived manner is what everyone is doing today and following suit won't make you stand out.

Steemit has taught me to be genuine. Period.

• There's a balance of real art and marketing here

You want to succeed in life? Then be authentic and create your best shit ever.

Then learn proper marketing to get it out there.

Steemit teaches that.

I don't see that in the business world or at work, at least, for the experience I had which I deemed acceptable back then.

Again, no easy solutions in Steemit here. If that scares you, then sorry, it's not for you. If you want to learn real shit though, come on in.

Steemit, a revolution for real?

As blockchain and crytocurrency is new and always fresh in the news, rife with controversy at that, it's something to ponder about to know if the technology will change the way society works.

I believe it will. But I don't believe in hype.

From learning about the industry through Steemit and earning new, lifelong values and principles from it, I've grown patient and smart enough to know what is real or not.

The industry today is filled with bullshit ICOs (initial coin offering), false promises and hype. I believe 2018 is the year where all the bullshit gets sifted out and eliminated altogether.

Steemit has been surviving, and it works. It has a real community with real people.

Do not underestimate this. Do you know how many ICOs out there have, despite raising a ton of money, disappeared? Do you know how many of them don't even reach their beta stage? Do you know how many of these beta suck total balls?

(Oh and if you want to learn how to trade, then there's only one principle to adhere to: Buy low and sell high. That's it.)

Hype is what misleads people into thinking some new shit will work; will stay.

Only real work put in by real people will make something work; stay for the long-term.

Steemit is that.

You may not like or even care about it, but you have to respect that it is working.

And this isn't just about Steemit.

It's about life.

I don't know who you are, where you're from or what you work in. Just take a look around and ask yourself what is real to you.

Is it all hype? Is it all easy solutions? Are you surrounded by shallow assholes who want something out each other only? Are you merely surviving only while leading an unhappy life?

This may sound dramatic, but from all my struggles in trying to make a living doing what I love and staying true to myself, Steemit is what helped change the way I see things and work.

If you want to be happy, do real shit and meet genuine people, I sincerely hope you can find a place that teaches you all of that. Stop with the easy solutions. Stop with the hype.

image credit from the user @LimeSoda!

Check out my profile here on Steemit!