So, I routinely follow @penguinpablo. He keeps some great stats. Recently he showed how Steem had 8,000+ signups in just one day.
Now, mind you, many of these folks are paying $70 USD to get an account. I find this is pretty mind blowing!
New Users
So, if you don't know me. I'm Aggroed. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm a PhD Chemist by formal training. I just quit my job and I'm working in Cryptoland full time. My major responsibility is fulfilling the charter of the Minnow Support Project (@minnowsupport) which I helped found with @teamsteem, @ausbitbank, and @canadian-coconut. The goals of the project are to spread the values of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty, to grow the Steem ecosystem, and to help train and retain minnows (new users).
At the moment the primary account @minnowsupport sits at 85k Steem Power. We use that to provide free upvotes to users. Come join us in Discord and after you register we let anyone use the community account to upvote their posts twice a day. It's not a ton of money since more than 1,000 people use it every day, but it's a great start on the platform and can help you get off on the right foot.
Community
More important than a little bit of money on your posts is the community that you can find in the PALnet Discord Channel. We're over 7,000 Steemians now. These are people that can be your friend, your translator, your teacher, your business partner, your makeout partner, your w/e. It's a lot of people tied to the Steem community and crypto in general. That's crucial because it's the number one thing that will determine your success here.
Don't start authoring when you're brand new
Tons of people spend hours on a post when they start expecting to get handed a lambo, and are upset to find no one gives a shit. Maybe you're lucky and catch some nice upvote or something, but largely when you're a brand new user your content has less than 1% chance of standing out. So, if you like writing go ahead. If it's fun WOOT, but don't expect to get loaded from it if that's how you're starting.
Comment and make friends
What you need is loyal followers who will upvote your post and comment on it and help you grow. The best way to have that happen is to start by commenting on other people's posts and making friends in Discord. I'm not talking about f4f or that sorta shit. I'm talking about leaving good comments, starting healthy conversation, maybe even helping other people with your special skills, and gaining a loyal following from that.
The single most useful thing on the platform is a high SP account that really values your content, but it's hard to get noticed, so you have to build up your following over time. The best way to do that is actually through commenting. if you're brand new here write up some really short form content and make some introductions, but 80% of your time should be finding content that you like and writing authentic comments on it. First, the upvotes you get are likely to be worth more than than you get on your posts, and second it's likely you'll get a follower. This is especially true if you stick with it a little bit. @spendorhub is a good example of this on my previous posts and as you might notice it might just get you a nice mention in the middle of a post.
Comment a lot, author briefly... what else?
Be patient. It takes time to start a new business and make it into something. If you're not bringing in an audience or following or fame from something else. You're just some dude or lady on the platform then you have to be patient. This place takes time. Folks are interested in supporting good people, and there's definately some feeling of "you have to pay your dues." So, don't expect it all to come right away.
Growth here is non linear. It happens in spurts. So, you're posting away and no one cares for a while. You make less than a buck, but somehow a whale happens to catch it and you get hit with an upvote or resteem. Then you catch some followers and have a little spurt. That doesn't happen if you aren't consistant.
Don't be an asshole
The urge of everyone is to be as selfish as possible when they get to Steem. I'd highly encourage you not to be. Try to think about how you can help other people. Do that a lot and you'll earn a lot. If you spend most of your time thinking about how you can simply enrich yourself it likely won't get you far. There are some notable examples otherwise... but if you're going to be an asshole you better be really fucking entertaining cause this platform doesn't respond well to it in general.
Find a model
Honestly, after 1.5 years here I still think that @kaylinart is the gold bitcoin standard of what a good Steemian looks like. She posts well. It's thoughtful. It looks pretty. She's charming as hell. She interacts with her followers really well. She's my goto. There are some other good examples of this and others will have more specific interests or are more camera happy, but the point is find someone doing something that's working and try to mimic it to the best of your ability with your own flare.
Don't rage and do ask for help
Lastly, don't go full rage quit when things don't work out. That usually happens cause you catch a flag and your first instinct is to go ballistic. Don't be like that. Try to avoid being an asshole for a while and you should be able to dodge most of that, but if you do happen to get embroiled like this then don't get lost in a fight here. Just chill, try to deescalate, and find something else to talk about.
If you are stuck find some people to help you. You may need language help. Tech help. IDK, this place is complicated so there's lots that you might need. Ask for help. If you're feeling frustrated then try to relax and let's see if some folks can help. Anyway(s), it's nice to meet you. It took me 8 months to get anywhere on this platform and now my goal is to help new people do it faster than that. Here's wishing you many blessings of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty and much success on the platform!
PS
This may be neat and cool and brand new for you, but Steem and Discord is home for a lot of people. It may end up being your home too. It's hard to see that on day 1, but Steem is a pretty incredible place. Try to treat it with some respect. We've built something pretty awesome that you're now stepping into. If you want the community to embrace you then it's best if you honor the space you're in.