Stuck In STEEM Growth.
A Never-ending Race.
This post was brought to life due to the recent posts of anomadsoul and cwow2.
People often struggle with consistency. They might struggle with writer's block, but the main reason seems to be that people lack motivation. It's extremely stressful and difficult to produce content frequently if you can't see a positive trend. Content creators needs motivation, and rewards are what boosts the motivation level the most.
Content creators needs 'green numbers' to produce regularly. They need to see that their audience grows, that more people engage with their content or that the rewards they earn are increasing.
This is logical, but it is also an issue. The more you earn, the more you will produce. It's the exact same thing on the other side of the coin too. If you don't see your numbers going up, you'll ultimately produce less.
Some authors are producing 4 posts per day and others struggles to produce 1. Some authors struggles to come up with 1 post per week. Now, these people might come from different places, having different backgrounds and whatever, but, the rewards are a huge reason for this.
Like I said in my comment on @anomadsoul's post:
"It would be fairly easy to post 2-4 times per day with rewards of 50-100 Steem(+SP) on each of the posts. That would boost confidence and it gives you tremendous motivation to grind. However, when you earn 5-10 Steem it's not easy to find that same level of motivation (at these low prices), which also makes it difficult to grind. Hence, less content being published."
In my comment on @cwow2's post I wrote this:
"The tricky part, for me personally, is to grow my audience further and to get more continuous support than I have today. It didn't work when I was posting 2-3 times per day and it didn't work when I published once per day either. I seem to be stuck where I am, in terms of growth."
Here's the thing, I am satisfied with the results I have, and I have been here for a longer period than most. I have seen all the ups and downs and I have produced content in various ways. I have tried literally everything during my time on STEEM.
My hard work, my effort and what I have done is what has brought me to where I am today. I can honestly say that it feels that I am no longer being rewarded for the things I do as much as I am rewarded for the things I have done. I have established myself to a degree so that I have started to receive auto-votes, much like many others. The difference is the level of support. I am not being rewarded as much as many others, and this is where this whole "being stuck"-issue evolves.
What I also said in my comment on anomadsoul's post is this:
"I can easily say that my latest article is better than 50% of the content I've read during the last few hours, but the rewards doesn't seem to agree. Instead, I see the same authors earning 200-500% more rewards than me, just like it has always been. Regardless of the content they publish."
I continued to say this:
"I don't complain about my article being rewarded just above $5 at the moment I write this. In fact, I am satisfied, like I have always been. Earning $5 though, when you've spent an hour, two or three..."
"And you see others out there spending ~15 minutes only to get 500% more than you. Well, that doesn't really boost the confidence of any content creator. Especially not when you see that exact thing happen multiple times per day, 7 days per week."
I don't know about you specifically, but I know that many users would find it easier to produce more content if they saw a positive trend. I am not talking about getting $10 instead of $1. I am talking about the little things. One or two votes extra. A few more comments. - But, regularly. I am talking about a steady positive trend.
- That turns into true motivation.
The Same For Everyone.
I could argue that this is the case for most content creators on STEEM. To feel stuck. Even well-rewarded authors are struggling with this, but people ignores to see this because well-rewarded authors earns 5, 10 or even 50 times more than others.
The only thing I noticed when I published more frequently than I do today, was the total amount of rewards I earned. Not because I was lucky enough to receive upvotes from more people, or because I was able to grow my audience. The total amount was different because the supporters I already had continued to support me on multiple articles.
(Another word for that would be to milk the auto-votes.)
I have seen the same authors earn the same amount for a long period of time. A year. Two. It is very rare to see them hit something more than what they do regularly, just like it is for me, and for many others out there.
- Growth is a problem.
We would need to change our entire voting habits to see any real changes and even though I am happy with #newsteem and what it has brought us so far, I doubt it will ever solve this.
I know that we have these rare situations were we can see how one author becomes established and generates more rewards than during his early days, but that is how STEEM is supposed to be. You are supposed to prove yourself. You are supposed to work hard, put in tons of effort and push yourself. You are supposed to build your own brand.
- But, it only works to some extent.
There seems to be a underlying limit to how much you are allowed to grow. We obviously have downvotes to adjust things, but I am not talking about that.
If we look at YouTube for instance, we can actually see the growth. You can easily see that a person had 100 views and how that started to increase rapidly. You can see each step on the way. You can see how they go from 100 views to 500. You can see how they go from 500 to 1000 and ultimately how they go from that to 100000+ views.
On STEEM, you can see how someone goes from $0.1 to about $1. You can see older users go from $1 to about $5, like in my case. You can see the more fortunate authors go from $10 to ~$30...
But that seems to be it. That seems to be the limit. Why can't we see a newcomer who've been grinding for 2 months reach $10 and continue to reach $10 on each of their articles after that?
Why can't I reach $25 and continue to rake in $25 on each of my posts after that? Something seems to be missing and I don't know why...
How come that well-rewarded author, who publish 3-5 times per day with earnings of $20-$30 on each post never seems to surpass that? They've been there for months, perhaps even years. Why haven't they been able to break that limit yet?
Many users are fishing for whale-votes because they seem to believe that it will change their lives, and sure, it might have a huge impact, but I would rather grow my daily support. I would rather generate $1 extra on each post, than to have a $50 vote from a whale once per year, or every two years. I want to see a positive trend. A steady growth.
That is to think long term and that is to build your brand. That is dedication with sound values, but how are we supposed to get there? How am I supposed to get there, when well-rewarded users doesn't seem to pass the threshold?
Everyone seems to have a limit to how much they can grow. The limits are different from one person to the next, but there's still a limit. There's a threshold at some point.
If being consistent and producing 4 posts per day can't break that limit, neither can 1 post per day. The subject doesn't seem to matter, and neither will the quality of the post.
- So, growth is a problem.
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I cant really relate, I am growing slowly now that I produce more and better content than just actifit. But I really haven't proven myself yet.
I would say that unless you need steem to help you survive the $ isn't that impontant, it plays a role, no doubt, I would rather have more comments.
Because I used dpoll I had way more comments than I get. Besides from the auto genereted ones x)
So comments would be way more motivatially for me :d
But yes, you do hit 5$ and not anymore :/
What gives motivation can be different, but money or rewards has always been a huge factor on STEEM. I know there are dozens of people out there claiming that they would be here regardless of what they make, but everyone wants money, and it's easy to spot.
I promise, out of these 5 or 10 authors I think of right now, none of them would continue to produce content in the same fashion they do today, if they started to earn only a fraction of what they do. They've been working hard and they deserve it, I don't question that at all.
However, I am still curious to know why they can't surpass the level they've been sitting on for a very long time. Just like myself and many others out there. That's also why I decided to talk about rewards as $ instead of STEEM. I thought it would be easier.
That being said, you can go with STEEM instead. Roughly speaking, I earn 10-20 STEEM (steem + sp) per post. The same authors I thought of above makes anything between 50 and 100 STEEM per post. They produce 2-4 posts per day and they are more motivated to continue in the same pace, because of the results they have.
But, none of them seems to be able to earn 100-150 Steem per post, even though they've been earning 50-100 steem for months. It seems to be impossible for any of them to break that limit and surpass it. Just like it seems to be impossible for myself to grow my audience enough to break my limits, or like it seems to be impossible for the newcomers to reach $1 or $5 as well.
Ofcause. I would not make content if there was a progress such as SP or Steem or building a brand to sell stuff or have ads.
But since my rewards are so low, I will rathee be forcing on being movitivated by engagement :D
This used to be a problem for me, but now when I randomly think about a topic to write about during the day I just write it down. Now I always have 20+ things to write about.
The growth that Steem requires isn't one than can be measured in dollars and cents. Earning $5 today could actually be $500 in two years if that's when you cash it out.
When we look at how the platform works from a scaling standpoint things start to come into perspective. 20 Steem is a lot and more than enough to currently post information to the blockchain and have it saved by every node for all time. This will come into play when Steem blocks actually start filling up and we begin to reach the limits of our scaling ability.
If we onboard a million new users everyone that's complaining today is going to be sitting very pretty. It will be all the new users that have these same complaints, and some of them won't even be able to acquire enough SP to even post on the chain. RC pools are going to be very key.
The economy is about to collapse. The world is about to be filled with much more desperate people looking to generate an income to matter what. In the face of both the economy going into crisis and Bitcoin spiking to the moon, Steem is going to receive a hell of a lot of attention.
gah... and I even forgot to mention my own journey...
I've been making the same rewards for the last year... but the price of Steem has declined by a factor of 6. This is a big win for me, it shows I've made a ton of progress in my second year here.
If Steem moves back up the rankings and an alt market returns I could probably quit my day job (although I wouldn't due to crypto's volatility).
I'm glad you're having that much success. It's wonderful when you come to the point were you don't struggle with things to write about.
I don't have any real accurate numbers of my earnings, but it feels like I am at more or less the same as before #newsteem, so that's a good thing. I wouldn't mind if the price of STEEM increased, but I don't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.
I should probably have mentioned the rewards as STEEM instead of $. I know the difference, but these low prices have been going on for a while now, so I figured it would be easier to mentioned them as $.
The point I was trying to make is that it seems like there's a limit to how much you can grow, and that there seems to be some sort of limit regardless if you are a newcomer who earns cents or if you are a well-rewarded author.
I do agree with the things you have said though, and I wish everyone would see it like this. It's easier to keep your motivation high when you see the rewards as STEEM instead of $, but it feels like the majority of people are still seeing $.
I’ve been forcing myself to stop thinking in terms of $ and to think more in terms of crypto. It’s very liberating to do so.
Yeah, I can imagine. I still think in both STEEM and in $, and I mostly do that because it makes it easier for me to relate to certain things people brings up.
I should probably have mentioned STEEM instead of $ in this article though, but I figured it would be easier to talk about $, as we've had these low prices for a while now.
I still see this as a problem though, regardless of if we're talking about STEEM or $. It seems to be some sort of limit to how much you are able to earn. Both newcomers, myself and well-rewarded authors seems to struggle with a limit, even though the amount is different for everyone.
Well-rewarded authors sits at 50-100 steem per post for months, regardless of the quantity they produce, others at 5 Steem or 20. No matter how much they put in, it seems to be extremely rare that anyone manages to surpass those limits.
I can relate a lot with what you've said,..however the only thing that changed for me is the quality of my audience, I've been able to add one or two serious like minded friends.