An Interview with Pappa-pepper: Succeeding On Steemit[updated 2]

I would like to thank Hive account@papa-pepper for his generosity in taking the time to answer my questions regarding his journey on steemit and for providing us clues as to how one might become successful on steemit. He was one of the first people to reach out to me when I had difficulties with the platform in my first 24hours thus providing a supportive community feel, so again I am extremely grateful......
In my conclusion at the bottom I have provided my suggestions for those that hate to write/blog and also for those that find blogging pleasurable and addictive.
First and foremost, I would like to thank you Hive account@budgiebee for asking to interview me. This is the first time anyone has interviewed me on steemit and I think that it will be a great opportunity for me to answer some questions that I would not have otherwise considered.

Question 1: How long have I been on steemit?

I started on steemit just over 2 months ago. My friend Hive account@noganoo, who has been into cryptocurrencies for years and spends a lot of time online introduced me to the platform. He had become aware of steemit, and though we wasn't entirely sure exactly what it was or how it worked, he knew that it ad some real value and great potential, so he started telling a lot of the people that he knew, including me. Since my introduction post about two months ago, I have been busy putting out content on a daily basis. It's taken a lot of my time, but I consider it to be an investment, and it has some great side-effects, like being inspired to create things and document my life.

Question 2: Do you still use other media sites?

Technically, I've never spent much time online at all. Perhaps a little craigslist or sending some emails, and watching some stuff on YouTube, but I've never had much of an interest in social media. Honestly, if it were not for the potential payout that blogging on steemit offers, I would not be here either. I've got a lot to do in life and my time is limited, so I prefer not to waste it or spend it. I like to invest it, and steemit gives me that opportunity. Honestly, steemit was the "spider" that finally got me caught in the worldwide web. This is where I go when I go online now, and this is where I stay. A lot of the skills that I now need to use to be successful on steemit, like styling with markdown or linking images, are all new skills that I had to learn in the past two months, and I'm still learning. Also, since I have no background in cryptocurrencies, I'm having to learn that whole process too. Steemit has certainly given the opportunity to not only create and document, but to learn new skills too. For that, I will be forever grateful.

Question 3: What do you blog about and what inspires your blog?

To make it simple, I'd say that "life" is the answer to both. To go a little deeper, though, there are a few main subjects. I'm trying to reorganize my life in a way that allows me to spend more time with my family. As a husband and a father, that is important to me. I do not want to spend the next 40 years in an office across town. I want to be on my land with my family growing our food and proving for our needs. Just taking something like our food into our own hands is a great example of this. Gardening drastically reduces the grocery bill. Each dollar that I do not have to spend is one less dollar that I need to leave my family to go earn. That lifestyle transition is presented in some of my posts, and gardening is a big one too. For a while, I was all over the gardening page. It seems that when I am home more, I post more about gardening and such, but when I'm traveling for work, I write more. Steemit has given me an opportunity to try new things too. I've done some great photography posts, and if it weren't for steemit, I probably wouldn't have even taken a lot of the pictures that I recently have. In fact, I can guarantee that! It has also given me the opportunity to release some previously unreleased material that I have created and been working on over the years. My "THE DAILY ADVENTURES OF THE LAST BIGFOOT" comic and my fiction story "LOVE LIKE HIS" are both great examples of this. I started the story in 2011 or 2012, and still have not finished it, but I'm now releasing it chapter by chapter on steemit, so I will be forced to finally finish it."Bigfoot" was a comic that I made back in 2008, but I never had an outlet. Now I do. I also started a series on "THE EDIBLE OUTDOORS" which shares about various wild edibles and "papa-peppers guide to plant propagation" which covers various ways to get free plants for food. Those are part of the self-sufficient lifestyle posts that I mentioned. Both of those series are desperately in need of another issue, so I'll have to do that soon.

Question 4: How to be successful on steemit.

Since I cannot reproduce my own results, I can only offer the best advice that I can muster. Obviously, none of us can head back in time two months, create an account, and then post like crazy for the next few months. Personally, I am a very rare case too. I have no real background in blogging or social media, though I do write a lot and even speak at some conferences. In my time here, I've recently reached a reputation of 66, broken into the top 100 steemians who have the most followers, been in the top 20 for users who the whales up vote most frequently, been the "4th most grateful" user based on the frequency of my "thank yous" and have gotten over 400 followers. Yet, many have been incredibly more successful than me. My total account value has never been over $5000, I've never gotten a post that paid out more that triple digits and my up vote, by itself, has never been over a cent. I think that this is important when I am compared to others like say Hive account@dollarvigilante (who has a rep of 68 and has made way more than me in less time- for some specific reasons). To start with, I must share the advice that steemit has made no promise to anyone. There is no guarantee that you will ever get paid for anything that you post on steemit. That is a reality. If you are okay with that reality, then you should be able to move forward on this platform without having unrealistic goals or disappointments. Actually earning something is apossibility but not a guarantee. Simply put, the guys who created steemit chose to do so, and therefore we all have theopportunity to be blessed by it. Once that is completely understood, here are a few simple things to consider. 1) Be original and be yourself - Do not copy/paste the work of others 2) Put forth your best effort and proofread - I know that we do not all speak English as our primary language and that there can be language barriers. That is a fact. However, it should not become an excuse for being lazy. If we can all make time to post, then we can all make time to proofread. 3) Images - Use images, people like pictures, even if it is just one so something shows up on the main screen. I take or make all of my pictures myself, but there are many free image sites on the internet. 4) Make sure to cite sources - Whether it is for images, videos, or information, cite your source. There are many individuals, groups, and bots that are making sure things like plagiarism are stopped on steemit, so don't bother even trying in the first place. You'll only end up ruining your reputation. 5) Things are hit and miss on steemit - No whale can be aware of every post. Sometimes incredible articles never get seen and other times what many people consider to "junk" gets an excellent payout. Have no real expectations and do not discouraged. The only way I can guarantee that you will fail is if you quit. As long as you try, there is a chance you'll succeed. 6) Interact - Make friends, follow people, up vote articles that you like and comment on posts. Unless you interact with others, your time will not be very fulfilling here, and you most likely will not succeed, even if you do get some great payouts somehow. 7) Tags - When publishing a post, remember that tags. Tags are important. If you are hoping to get a good payout for your post full of cute pictures of your kitten, make sure to tag it in category that people actually look at. If you tag it as "kitten" "outside" "yard" "orange" and "meow", you really have no chance at getting the same exposure as you would by tagging that post with tags like "photography" or "animals". Be very careful to tag appropriately. If you see that certain tags like "food" or "anarchy" are paying out good, you would do well not to post the story of how your niece is turning 6 tomorrow and you just bought her a beautiful dress to wear. The tags and the post would not match. 8) Followers - I cannot stress how important gaining a following is. If a whale is unfamiliar with Hive account@papa-pepper and notices a new post with 100 votes on it, they may be more inclined to check out what I am up to. Schools of minnows can attract dolphins and whales. Check out this recent post I made on that subject for some more great advice on how to gain followers. Be sure to read the comments too, as some more ideas came up in the discussions.

https://steemit.com/howto/@papa-pepper/400-followers-really-some-quick-advice-from-papa-pepper

Papa-pepper also holds competitions from time to time which one can get involved with

https://steemit.com/hotpepperchallenge/@matthewtiii/papa-pepper-hot-pepper-challenge

Question 5: Other than steem, are you into any other cryptocurrency,like bitcoin?

I also have no background in cryptocurrencies. If it wasn't for steemit, I wouldn't be involved at all. I now use Bittrex and Coinbase to convert my Steem Backed Dollars into bitcoin so I can use my Shift Card, but it was never an interest of mine before, as I generally spend a lot more time out in the woods or swamps than I do online. I like that it challenges me to enter a new realm and that I now have to understand new information to make it all work, as I'm always up for exploration in this world and within my own capabilities. When I do withdraw my SBD, Hive account@noganoo has always had to walk me through the process so far. It can be a lot to risk with a simple error, so I am very cautious! I don't want to lose my investment.

I'd like to thank you for your questions and for giving me the opportunity to answer them. Hopefully this will help some others out, and encourage them as they continue on their steemit adventure! Thanks Hive account@budgiebee!

A MESSAGE TO WHALES
personally i think papa-pepper has the right idea-in terms of support he gives to others, if noobies get frustrated and leave before they can see any real progress then we all lose. I call on all whales to lend a helping hand where they can, we want this to be a supportive prosperous community. They have the most leverage in the system which can be used to either reward or bury!! I am hoping that they will use the “rod” wisely if at all whilst instead be on the lookout for rising stars to promote/upvote? I understand that this does not happen overnight and those new to the platform including myself will need to be patient. The concept of steemit is still new and has magnificent legs to it—if a fraction of facebook users will move over that would be a win for the little guy/average guy where we have a personal stake in something that can be huge

Conclusion

My conclusion falls into two camps depending on your personality type. That is not to say that with determination you cannot become Personality type 2 if you really wish too!!!

Personality Type 1: This is my personal category. It is for people who are NOT natural bloggers and struggle to find things to write about or who have no real interest in becoming a blogger/writer but they would still like to harness the potential of steemit. My advice is to BUY STEEM with SPARE money you can afford to invest. Steemit share price appears to be at an all time low. If you invested this would increase your LEVERAGE on the platform when/if you do OCCASSIONALLY write! There is no point in forcing yourself to be a square peg if you are a circle peg. This only increases frustration when results are only a few pence per post. Use that leverage you buy to upvote/comment and perhaps write at your leisure/convenience whilst earning small amounts for small amount of time. Blogging is a very time consuming affair and if it is not natural with you, it can quickly turn into frustration. Decide at the outset you will only spend max 20minutes writing a post/posting pics/upvoting/following and leave it at that!

Personality Type 2: This platform was potentially made for you! You can easily find things to blog about, you may have a book that you can publish –piecemeal to garner followers and votes. You have a craft/skill that you regularly work on that you can share each day with fellow steemer to garner followers. You are determined to work at it daily and set aside an amount of time each day towards doing this. There is no reason why you too should not buy steem whilst the price is low.

There needs to be a part 11 to this, as there are clearly trending topics that one can piggy back when/if you are
stuck for material and can posit your own point of view. Popular topics at the moment are bitcoin/crypto currencies steemit, anarchy, ...stay tuned and have a great day.....