I get this question a lot, you know. Especially last year, when I made the switch, many friends were asking me: "I see you're no longer on Facebook, man. And on Twitter you just keep sharing these posts from this Steemit site. Is it really worth it?".
My initial approach was to start describing them the entire ecosystem: blockchain, witnesses, rewards pool, STEEM, SBD, Steem Power. The full monty. By the time I was at STEEM they were either asleep or checking their phones, politely.
So I'm not going this route anymore. Instead, I simply answer: "Yes, but..."
And if they keep asking me after the "but", I start to tell them the following bullet points one after another:
- when I joined Steemit, I decided to test it with a 30 days challenge, meaning posting each and every day, for 30 days in a row. So if you're not there yet, in terms of discipline and writing skills, then you'd probably be better of doing something else
- during the first 30 days challenge I had many days in which I didn't get anything. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Day after day. So if you're not prepared to invest a certain amount of time, don't bother
- after the first 30 days I realized I knew pretty much nothing about the ins and outs of the platform: from where the money comes, what are witnesses, what is a hardfork and so on and so forth. I read the white paper at least 3 times. So, if you're not open to learn a significant amount of stuff, then you probably should be doing something else
- at some point, the environment got so toxic here (long story, don't ask) that I decided I'll stop, until the air becomes breathable again. Fortunately, things got better and my hiatus only lasted a month and a half. So, if you're not prepared to lose everything you build (time spent, reputation, etc), if things are not consistent with your own values (which may happen again, who knows, I'm not controlling this thing, I'm just a part of it) then you shouldn't even think to join
- it took me about 6 months to figure out the exact amount of time I should invest and how should I split it: how much for technical support (I am, as many of you know, a witness in this ecosystem), how much writing, how much interacting with other members on chat, how much for commenting. 6 months. That's a lot of time. So if you're not prepared to make a lot of mistakes for at least 6 months and learn from them, then you shouldn't even bother
- last, but not least, during last year, I wrote more than 5000 posts (articles + comments). 5,000. Not 500, not 50. 5,000.
- I also built from the ground up a new tool, helping people to understand better when they are going to be paid (steem.supply)
Some of them are listening, some of them not, and a few are joining.
Lately, I've been hearing this kind of talk a lot:
"Hey, bro, I see now this SBD trading at $8, it's freaking insane. You're probably making a ton of money, right? Can you teach me how to do it? Do you think I can do it too?"
My usual answer is:
"Yes, but..."
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
If you're new to Steemit, you may find these articles relevant (that's also part of my witness activity to support new members of the platform):