Hello fellow Steemians,
I AM @theessential
I’m going to reintroduce myself today..
And make it a little bit fun with a contest!
My name is Zach. I am a husband, father, nurse, musician, artist, horticulturist, home brewer, juggler, gamer, skateboarder, physics nerd, crypto enthusiasts, thinker/philosopher, and just a good listener...
I’ve only been here part time as of late and I wanted to give people a chance to get to know my better.
I joined Steemit in December 2017. I had no idea what Steemit was- I only stumbled upon it on google. I had been reading articles for months without knowing that they were all written by Steemians.
Unbeknownst to me, these articles had been written on the platform called Steemit- a place whether people can actually make money writing decent blog posts.
One day I decided that it made sense for me to make an account here, to make reading articles more accessible to me.
After a few days my email contained a message from Steemit that said my account had been verified and was ready for use.
I attempted to follow Steemit protocol and make an introduction post. I hit the post button at midnight-ish and fell asleep. The next morning I awoke to see that my first Steemit post had made $30.00. Little did I know, this number didn’t actually mean 30 US dollars.
A made a few more posts and then 7 days later, my wallet had a payout. I had made 10-15 SBD and a few Steem Power. Since I already had knowledge of cryptocurrecy, (but had never heard of Steem or SBD)I didn’t take long to figure out that I had been paid in Steemit’s version of a crypto “utility” token. I looked up the value of my earnings and realized that my first post had made me over 100 US Dollars.
Whoops... I didn’t mean to do that.
It felt good to see that my post was valued by the people and I was rewarded for my effort.
Natrually, I continued to post day after day. Let me add that I also never cashed out my earnings. Every dollar that I made was invested in Steem Power or the occasional upvote bot.
I wasn’t taking over the Steemit platform but I was certainly making a few dollars here and there.
I had my first big break when I entered the Supernatural Writting Contest...
I spent hours (as I often do) writing about a “supernatural” event that occurred in my past. It took me a few days to complete it but after I did- I received a large upvote courtesy of @gmichelbkk- along with a very kind message at the bottom of my post.
A couple days later my post was viewed by @jerrybanfield. Much like @gmichelbkk, Jerry flooded my post with upvotes.. I was very grateful!
My payout for that post was about 91 SBD and about 27 Steem Power- after the curators percentage was taken out.
This was huge. Not only had my post made 100s dollars but I felt great that my work was being valued. At the end of the day, everybody wants to feel like they are valued and appreciated. Steemit has given me and lots of others the ability to do just that.
I joined Steemit for the content and soon realized that I had a place here. I have lots of interests and hobbies but I’ve never had an outlet to express them and interact with others with commonalities.
I have much to offer this platform but I have struggled with what to focus on...or maybe I needn’t focus on just one thing. Maybe a jack of all trades shouldn’t settle for a single trade...
I will admit, the last few weeks have been a bit hard for me. I have not had the time to post everyday like I was doing before. I’m working to get back to that point... but life happens sometimes. My wife has recently decided to make a very dramatic career change and we have as a family decided to move. I’m not talking about moving across the country to anytime you change homes or careers, life gets hectic.
With that being said, I think I’m going to start Vlogging. I love writing and putting my words on paper but I think it’s time for me to start showing my face a little more here on Steemit. I want people to know who I am and what I’m about. Plus- it will give me the ability to express myself a little more directly.
On another note- I promised you all a contest.
I’m going to start doing a contest every single week but this one is special!!
Here is what I’m proposing. For those of you who have been doing this for a while, or had some moderate success, I would like to hear some basic tips for developing yourself here on Steemit.
Feel free to look at a few of my past blog posts if you are unfamiliar with my page...
And then..
Whoever can give me the most insightful tips/ constructive criticisms.. I will give away up to 10 SBD!!
I’m trying to become the best Steemian I can be- but I’m still feeling a little bit out of touch. I could use your thoughtful advice!!
Here is the official rules of this week’s contest:
• Upvote this post
• Look over my other blog posts
• Give me your best tips or constructive criticisms of my blog.
• If you like what I have to offer- follow me for future posts and contests! (Not required)
The most thoughtful comment will win up to 10 SBD. If there are multiple great answers- I may split the prize between more than one person. If one person trumps all other comments- they will get everything. If there is only a few somewhat decent responses I may only give out a couple SBD.
Give it your best and I will be more than fair!!!
Thank you to everyone who read my posts and for all that will take the time to participate in my contest..
Pictures courtesy of pexels.com (royalty free)
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Want to support my blog?
Buy me a coffee for Monday morning!
Here is my Bitcoin Address: 19QGb9MYmqqECa1fZmkMqBYZEdFNfJLAeB
Hello brother!
This is my first day off steemit for the last 2 months, meaning i spent every day of my life posting on steemit since the 15th of January .
And as you can see I am not really as "off" as I would like to be !
I have already done all of what you asked for, prior to the contest haha , so i don't know If I am elligible, and maybe that's a good thing !
When I had my first payout on Steemit, I cried a little and took a picture of the reward, sent it to my wife and she cried too. I guess we're a bit too emotional, but I think it was because it meant that finally someone was giving me a hand, in my musical career, or at least that's how it felt like after the first massive payout.
My advice to you , is directed to you , and won't be a generic one like "believe in yourself" or "dream big" .
What I will say to you my dear friend, is to embrace the person that you have started to become since you poured your story out there.
You noticed that people love your stories because they come from the heart, and somehow , I can't explain how or why (you lucky bastard), you have the gift of reaching people with your words, sharing your life, even if it means showing off your scars and the tragedies that life brings.
So my advice is to embrace it , embrace the pain, embrace what makes us all imperfect and flawed.
And the second advice would be to myself and other that started getting a taste of success from steemit: Don't think of the outcome once your created something, and don't be over critical with yourself if you didn't "get paid" as much as you would have liked to.
Don't look at how much "this guy"or "this one" is making, because it will just drive you crazy and drag you down in a downward spiral of negativity , be just thankful of what you have and start giving back like our friend @theessential is doing, IT FEELS GOOD
My advice for bigger visibility on the post reverse the title:
Win Up to 10 SBD by Reading my introduction or you will figure out something you're a smart dude haha
So people see the SBD , when you scroll down the feeds half of the title is cut sometimes
I really value your words Ed. For some reason I’m feeling out of touch with my blog and my followers and I want to reconnect myself. Your right though- I need to just do what I’m doing..
Im just
I have no problem writing once I get started but finding actual “topics” is where I struggle. I’d long to post my music too- but have limited equipment.
I’m not as much focused on the pay as I am the views. I want to reach an audience and connect with them. Build more relationships with likeminded individuals.
Thanks for the time you spend making thoughtful comments... they always give me that extra encouragement I need.
Sorry for the late reply btw. I changed my title earlier but I was actually at work and didn’t get a chance to read your comment in full till I got home.
Much love my friend.
Much Love friend! The title is perfect !!! Quite frankly I think you underestimate how much stuffs you can write about, and try to make it a challenge !!! Like make a schedule of what you could write and stick to it
It's not much and very messy but it helps me keep track and especially be consistent.
I made a video 15 days ago about how you start creating today with pretty much nothing.
Check my terrible computer and equipment
Now I have a full office and 2 pc running (with one mining Monero) all of this paid with steemit money so you see things evolve very quickly, just start creating music today!
I think your background can make you a great person, not all posts that may be big according to us will be great according to others.
I am a lawyer, author, legal observer and all matters relating to the law, but after I try to write about what I know the rewards I get are very few even hardly exist. then I went over to write about what's most written in steemit and that post is pretty much better. but in time when I am in your achievement I will try to write what I really want to write in my mind, not to see the market of public desire but I will write about the things that are important to me to write.
I think there are two things, first with the background that you write on your profile many things that can be written, for example you as a nurse, successful medical service to serve patients with high success rate is important to be conveyed and publicly known, your satisfaction in working also inspires other workers who are similar to you to be the best.
because in my opinion steemit is not only looking for money but the information we submit it can be useful for the crowd is up to whatever value we get.
secondly, with your good capital, it may be little to contribute to the beginner's steemian in order to keep improving his creativity is a good thing, giving it no money but ideas and motivations are part of the gift.
as you do in this post is a form of our responsibility so that everyone can be happy even just by reading your inspiration through your writing. and in general the best thought is in my opinion "give lots to others then god will reply more to you" it does not matter what value we get but it is important how much benefit we give to others
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my post. I don’t want to sound like I’m only seeking money here- that’s not the case.
As I mentioned in @edprivat’s comment, I just want to connect with my followers and find an audience who appreciates what I do. I felt like I’ve seen others do that better than myself. I tend to be a bit scattered..I am working on consistency...
I think that it’s important to be yourself here..that’s what we should be selling
Ourselves that it.
Not that I call you about greed. but being what we are and being an inspiration to many people that life balance will happen.
I loved this post, you're an interesting person, I can't participate because I
suck lol I just came here to learn something. Thank you for this, I'll keep my eyes open for future stuff from you. Good luck with everything and your Vlogs!
Haha this made me laugh! I’m glad you stopped by..stick around for sure!
Thank you, I'm glad! :D Making people laugh is one of my main life objectives, but it's really hard 'cause I'm not funny lol
I may be too new or inexperienced to give you some advice, but what I feel is you resteem a lot of posts. It makes me difficult as a new follower or a potential follower to understand you as an individual.
I visit your profile to see what you blog about more that what you read or enjoy.
Additionally I had read that resteeming eats up some part of your bandwidth too. Not sure how though.
I had resteemed three in a row yes...but they were spread out quite a bit. I have no problems with bandwidth at all because I’m pretty careful with how I use it.
Also, when you scroll through a post you can see which are resteems and which are the persons actuall posts. Just look in the corner and see who the author is. I typically resteem only one per day- unless I really want to promote another post.
I have quite a few posts that only take seconds to find when scrolling through my page. Steemit becomes easier to navigate as you spend time here.
Was just a suggestion. As long as you have good reasons for doing what you do, all good.
Anyways you are older than me here. You understand the platform better than I do.
Subscribe to the Ki channel subscription to your channel
nice post @
Thank for this initiative and generosity, it'll surely go a long way. I have a lot to write too to join the contest. Remain blessed mentor.💖💕💞