At the risk of sounding like a crummy person, I'm gonna be VERY blunt: When I first came to Steemit, the reality of my experience did NOT match my expectation...like...AT ALL! I was, quite frankly, lured here by greed initially....hey...just bein' honest.
I kept seeing things floating around on the internet about this platform called "Steemit." For about a month before I joined, others kept telling me, "Dude, you're stellar at YouTube, you gotta put some of your channel stuff up on Steemit; you'll be a whale for sure." I was getting text messages and phone calls from people who were inquiring as to why I hadn't joined the "blockchain community," and encouraging me to do so.
First of all, I didn't know what the heck a blockchain was. (Thank God for YouTube tutorials).
And cryptocurrency? I'd heard about it, seen some videos and even talked about it some...but I really didn't understand it. YouTube to the rescue on that one as well:
So, at the time, what I didn't understand, I initially ignored. So I ignored Steemit.
But then I saw the post that REALLY caught my eye. It said that Jeff @dollarvigilante made 15 GRAND on his first Steemit post in like, 12 hours! I had been a subscriber to his YT channel and had seen a LOT of his podcasts, so I was familiar with who Jeff was. I even sent him a message one time about a year ago asking him if he wanted to do an interview for my channel (back then, I only have about 70,000 subscribers). (Hey @dollarvigilante I'm still game for that if you are, btw).
Anyway, making the ungodly amount of money he had made in just 12 hours is what grabbed my attention! I did some digging and saw that, at the time, Jeff only had about 17K YouTube subscribers. Needless to say I got dollar signs in my eyes; I ain't gonna lie! Cause at the time I had just achieved 200k Subscribers on my own channel. So, of course, I reasoned that I'd have a pretty good shot at pulling down some serious crypto-cash.
I saw Steemit as an opportunity to quickly lift myself out of my circumstances and gain the financial freedom to do what I REALLY loved -- FULL TIME! That is, creating content people learn from and enjoy watching.
So I set out to make my Steemit fortune!
With my first Steemit story listed, I closed my computer and walked away just KNOWING that when I came back, I'd have a couple thousand dollars in my account. I was so excited thinking about all the upgrades I could put that money toward as I create more content for my channel. You can image in how disappointed I was when 12 hours had come and gone and I managed to pull in only 3 lousy CENTS! All the air immediately escaped from my sail.
Disheartened, but not utterly discouraged...I posted my second story....ZERO
Third - .45 cents
Fourth - 0.29
Fifth - .00
Sixth - .06
EIGHT stories into this thing and I'm sitting on a healthy .80 CENTS! What the heck? I couldn't even by a cheap cup of McDonald's coffee for that!!
I was accustomed to launching YouTube videos and getting THOUSANDS...sometimes TENS of THOUSANDS of views and likes in a matter of hours. What the Heck did I do wrong?
I didn't wanna admit it at the time, but my ego took a HUGE hit and I'm SO THANKFUL for it! It taught me something about myself...something VERY valuable. I was chasing a stupid dollar amount (something I know not to do and tell OTHERS not to do). I was focused on the wrong damn thing! My worth as a human being was diminished because I allowed myself to be ruled for a moment by greed.
Don't get me wrong; being monetarily rewarded for hard work and well-crafted content is nice....VERY nice. But it is a shallow endeavor when one focuses on that alone. Money makes people comfortable, allows for more options in life, creates a measure of security and grants a little bit of freedom. But money does not endow anyone with TRUE happiness. Yes...money can make you happy. But NOT TRULY happy.
And, I did not skimp on my content when I posted to Steemit...it's just that, for one reason or another, I wasn't able to attract the attention of whales, dolphins....heck, for that matter, I didn't attract many micro-plankton either. In fact, I was and still am, a small fish in the Steemit sea.
So, now, I say to you who may be discouraged, as I was at not making much on this platform. Hang in there....post things that you're passionate about and do it with EXCELLENCE. Give to people what you want to see from others; something they'll enjoy reading, watching, listening to or looking at! Give them something that's share-worthy! Your reward will come. Your reputation score will increase. People will start to notice. But make sure you get your cart before your horse.
I'm still not making very much money as of this writing. But that's cool. I'm doing what I love and I'm meeting some really cool people I would have NEVER met outside of this platform. And there is NO WAY you can put a price on THAT!!
I'm Brian, the owner and creator of the YouTube Channel HighImpactFlix and the HighImpactFlix Facebook page. My aim is to create useful, relevant, exciting and engaging content that will inform and IMPACT those who take the time to view it. Bottom line: I strive to make it worth your while to check out my videos!
Thanks for watching/reading. If you enjoyed this or, if it impacted you in any positive way, consider sharing and commenting. And, if you want, Upvote and
It's MUCH appreciated! Revenue generated goes back into creating even more "in-your-face" content. Peace!