Hey friends and Steemians, I am glad to celebrate my 25th post today.
I am lying a bit here because I already made 26, but I thought it is a perfect moment to review what happened during the last exciting month.

After a couple of posts, I honestly have to say I was a bit discouraged in the beginning. Seeing people making over 100$ per post by comparing it to myself with approx. 3 likes was not easy. But I did not want to quit right in the beginning and searched the web for hidden gems to accelerate my Steemit career.

I found a post somewhere in the dark chambers of Steemit where a person recommended to make an experience balance sheet after the first 25 posts. That means just create 25 posts and after that you can do a review with the good and bad things. Moreover, I found another post, which stated to set yourself goals in order to be successful.

I thought this is a really brilliant idea and came up with my own goals. Those aims should not be to high to achieve the goals step by step. Mine were the following:

1. 25 posts
2. Earning 10 dollars

Now I am here with over 25 posts, happy that I made it. I didn’t reach 10 dollars yet, but I am on my way 😊

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So what were my experiences on this journey?

People

I had really nice encounters on Steemit. Comparing it to other social media platforms I am overwhelmed by the kindness, inspirational and social atmosphere and the feeling to belong to a community of Steemit. In the next paragraphs I want to highlight some Steemians who had a major impact:

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The first one I want to mention is Hive account@thedarkhorse. He is the founder of the pay it forward curation contest (at least I guess so). Quite early I joined this community because I got selected as one of the featured bloggers. Via that contest I got aware of a sponsorship he did for people with low RC credits.

I applied for an extra delegation and this grateful person lent me 50 SP to actively participate on Steemit. Once again, thank you very much Hive account@thedarkhorse. This person has an extraordinary community support, which I highly appreciate. From that point on I was able to actively particpate on Steemit, not worrying that this comment might be the last for today.

Another great person on Steemit is Hive account@crypto.piotr, who also delegated me 40 SP in order to grow my influence. Impressing right? I love the community aspect of Steemit very much. Besides the kind delegation of Hive account@crypto.piotr he also sends me memos with links that I should consider to read, comment and upvote. Since we have the same kind of interests, I am always excited when I see that he forwarded me another link.

@Chbartist, a person who you migh already saw in the trending section of Steemit, is another Steemian who I really like. Although he receives a lot of comments for his inspiring content, he still checks every single one and responds to everyone who adds valuable content to the discussion.

There are many more Steemians that made my experience a blast: Hive account@insight-out; Hive account@justjoy; Hive account@aggamun; Hive account@roleerob; Hive account@pifc and Hive account@trincowski

I know it is a small list but it will keep on growing 😊. If you are not on the list, I am sorry, I will update it.

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Posts

I never blogged in my life before and thought it would not make as much fun as it does. Since I am new to the whole topic, I just blog what comes to my mind. From posting pictures, personal experiences, work insights to recommendations for Steemit improvements I shoot out everything which appeals to me.

I lately started to participate in contests where you can earn some extra Steem when you provide good content. The one I want to highlight the most and already mentioned is the pay it forward contest. It is a weekly challenge from Hive account@thedarkhorse & Hive account@pifc featuring good content. It’s my fifth week now participating as a curator and a blogger and the people around here are just amazing.

Tips & Tricks I learned

I know I am quite new but I can provide some insights that worked for me in order to get started here on this platform.

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1. Read the information provided for the newcomers
2. Engage with the community by leaving comments on posts you like (sometimes you earn more by a comment than a post :P)
3. If you new to blogging: try yourself out with different topics
4. Take part in contests
5. Learn to format your posts (I know mine are still not superb, but compared to the very first ones it did improve)
6. Enjoy what you write and do not aim for big pay-outs
7. Think about what was good on your last post and where is room for improvement and apply these thoughts on your next one

What I learned through Steemit

I already pointed that out in my review of 2018 (One contest I was talking about :P)

Although, I recently became active, I like the vibe around Steemit. Not convinced of my own creativity and writing skills, I started to blog on a frequent basis. I never believed that I would appreciate it that much.

Besides that, I improved my writing skills. In high school my English teachers got frustrated and my average grades were a 4. Continuously engaging with wonderful people on this platform let me master the language each day a little bit better. When I am looking back to my first entries, I am proud of the process I made in that short time frame.

Above all, Steemit enhanced my productivity. I set myself the goal to actively participate in this community. This drill brought me to the point that I start to believe in myself trying the things I like. I am currently thinking about trying myself in making videos, pictures and experimenting with some kind of music.
Basically I want to experience all the things I was afraid of because I thought I am not a crative person.

Add on’s I use

So far, I just use two Steemit add ons. The first one is steemworld. It provides you with a perfect overview of your balances. Moreover, you have an excellent overview who reacted and engaged on your posts. The second tool I use is steeve. I recently found this application via Hive account@crypto.piotr and it helps the user to find posts with value. It is basically an ai based recommendation engine in which you can also create posts.

Looking forward

I did not set goals yet, since I did not reach 10$. Considering the step by step approach I would like to achieve 50 posts next. Improve my writing and formatting skills and encourage other people to try things they like are also goals I keep in mind.

Maybe one day I earned so much SP that I can also delegate some like Hive account@crypto.piotr & Hive account@thedarkhorse to newbies, supporting them on their way to grow.

I hope I will meet many more interesting Steemians the further this journey goes.

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I would to stay active on this platform and interact with new person from all around the world. I came here to earn some extra bucks, but I have to say this is not that important anymore. Sure, I appreciate upvotes and comments because it strengthens my ego and helps me in times, I am fully discouraged to get back on track.

But for me that became less important. It is fun to help other people out, interact with different people around the globe and read interesting posts. I can highlight once again the great community aspect of this platform.

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If you liked this post, make sure to upvote and follow for more awesome content. Also, please share this with anybody you know who might think this worth reading. Make sure to express any questions, comments or feedback you may have down below.

I also want to share a song to round things up: Suprise Yourself -Jack Garratt. It underlines the process I made by posting blogs in the last month :P

One last word: A big thanks to ALL of you :)

Cheers
M