I've been at this for over a year now, and I've just passed 2,400 followers. I still remember making my first purchase with money I earned here, it was a shrimp burrito. Nothing's ever tasted so good, let me tell you. Hard work and hunger are the best spices.
I've come a long way since then, in large part by busting my ass, putting out a full 4 articles/stories/videos per day. That's exhausting but I'm motivated by the desire to escape the rat race and support myself by doing what I love, entertaining all you beauties.
I've worked out that if I average $20 per post and keep doing 4 per day, that's $40 per day (since half goes into steem power) which is about what I'd be making if I worked retail. That's $280 per week, $1120 per month. Let's take off $20 to account for Coinbase transfer fees.
So now I have $1,100 per month, assuming SBD is at 1:1 with USD (it's at .94 right now). Not too shabby! I can live on that. Subtract $550 for rent and utilities, $120 for car insurance, $125 for student loan payments, $250 for food (incl. cat food), $50 for games to make VR Let's Play videos of, and what's left? A humble fiver. Five big, fat dollars. Still, this level of income is entirely adequate for my needs.
I mean, I never asked for more than the ability to support myself and my cat so I can write. I don't write in order to live, I live in order to write. If I make a reliable $20 per post, then I'm making enough to live comfortably while also putting away 50% of my earnings as savings.
That's quite good! Most people don't sock away 50% of their paycheck, at least that I know of. But then I've been broke a long time and have started saving relatively late in life, so I need to make up for lost time if I'm ever going to buy a house, or retire for that matter.
What I need to keep doing this full time as my main focus is to continue averaging $20 per post. If you see some of my recent posts that haven't paid out yet aren't at or above $20 and you have the voting power to spare, it would help me out big time if you'd get it up to where it needs to be.
At the same time I'm well aware people who started later than I did are struggling even to make burrito money from Steemit. Trust me, I know what that's like, I was there too not so long ago.
I've recently helped @lcollazo57 get started here, resteeming and full upvoting his every post as well as my normal upvoting routine on posts in my feed which catch my eye. I also got two other friends to join Steemit, though one recently left due to harassment.
I'm doing about as much as I can for other Steemians. If there's more I could be doing that I don't know about, by all means, let me know. Providing I can make as much as I need to pay my bills on here, I can definitely spare the time and energy to go the extra mile for the community.
That's my thinly veiled "pls gibe monies" appeal. Sorry about that. Either way, expect the content to keep coming and please accept my fullest appreciation for the support you've given me thus far.
Wow your post touched me 😑. I don't have the steem power to push this current payout to anywhere. ( But I'm gonna still upvote it ,follow you and resteem)
I just came back to it a month Ago . I'm really working it hard here , my reputation has been building from 25 now to 46 but my payout per post don't even make $1
I have a long way to go .
Good stuff, have a follow. My only advice is to stubbornly stick at it. I made $0 for a long time after I started, that's the period during which most people give up.
😇 oh yea , the starting point is the thoughest here .🙌 Thanks for the follow . I will be looking for to more of your updates
For sure, I'm starting to get a feel for that. It also seems "volatile" posting here. Never know what's a hit and what's a miss with other steemians!
Youtube is the same way. Feels kind of like gambling sometimes, doesn't it.
Very much so. I'm posting chapters in a larger story. Sometimes a chapter that I feel amazing about makes less than 0.08, another time a chapter that I feel might not be quite up there with the rest ends up making more than 80,0. A factor of over a thousand for very much similar content.
Your post motivates me. You have an upvote and a follower. All the best!
Great post, imppressive .In the way beginning you achieved less, but you know I have here for six months and my reward is fluctuate all the time. Some times I get good but sometimes it is very little. I don't understand what to do?can I aske you to upvote my posts ?
Bad idea, it's considered poor etiquette and will have the opposite of the effect you want. Instead, do what I did: Just keep making quality content. Be stubborn and persistent, just keep at it and eventually success will come (with a little luck). Also there actually is one place it's ok to promote your work and ask for upvotes, the post promotion section of Steemit chat which can be found here.
Thanks for the nice suggestions. Yes I agree with you that to request for upvote is bad idea, but I asked it only with you, but why do you behave like a strict teacher ?Joking, I am become fade up some time, when I did not achieve $1 too. I only express my feelings friend, thanks for sweet suggest, have a great time ahead.
Nice little read man.
While I'm here I might as well ask what you guys think of my new post style? Let me know if you dig it! Cheers.
https://steemit.com/blog/@kaliju/step-up-your-steemit-photography-with-ease-rogue-magazine-vol-1
Thanks, but heed my advice: Advertising your own articles in other peoples' comments sections is considered poor etiquette. You also gave a legit reply with it, so I will look the other way, but most people on this site are not so forgiving. Use Steemit Chat to promote your posts instead!
@alexbeyman , I have been following your posts closely, and I appreciqte the support you are fiving to the STEEMIT community. This is a great quality post and just upvoted with full power. Hope we can continue this support for eqch other.
By the way, I thought you would be interested in checking out the latest post I made about STEEMIT, about 7 strong reasons why it will climb: https://steemit.com/steem/@gold84/7-great-reasons-why-we-should-buy-at-least-100-or-1000-steem-today-and-power-up
Looking forward to your thoughts on it.
Regards, @gold84
Some advice: Most people will not be as chill as I am if you post advertisements for your own articles in their comments section. That is a bad strategy in the long term that will often cause people to flag you. Use Steemit Chat to promote your posts instead!
@alexbeyman thanks for this comment. I definitely know this, and do not post it as advertisement. Just share it with people we support each other. In this case it was with no advertising intention. Just bringing steemit on the top, and show you I am on the same page as you with steemit. You mentioned you are doing a living with it, and I wanted to inforce that with how I believe it will climb.
Thanks for your support. Upvoted your comment with full power. @gold84
Even if you don't call it advertisement, do not link your own articles in other people's comments sections. Whatever you call that, it is considered bad etiquette and is likely to backfire on you if you keep doing it. Many people on this site are quicker to flag than I am, and will not explain what you did wrong first or give advice.
@alexbeyman I definitely understand your point, and will follow your advice. @gold84
Thanks for your support @alexbeyman ! Hope your car is ready for use soon. @gold84
I have been wondering if someone can make a fair amount of money and I'm glad to see that you have found a way to do it. Thanks for the post and I upvoted and followed you. Take it easy. :)
Wow that is fantastic💪 You really made it with 24/7 hustle💲
hello @alexbeyman,
Yep starting out is hard here, still at it myself day 75, and planning on sticking it out. I came to steemit, because of my wife and her friend, and am staying because there are just so many fascinating writers on here, with a heck of a lot of good stories. I have really enjoyed some of your stories, and will be around upvoting and reading when I can, and continuing to promote the writers on steemit in my little mag. I am sorry to hear about one of your friends being harassed off, I had a harasser or two. One was a busted down whale, the other a wanna be whale. I had to edit out my opposing point of view comments on a rant post he made, and then I muted and never looked back. It sucks when shit like that happens, but people just need to stand and push onward. Thank you again for the wonderful stories, and Whittier Story really was a hoot to read.
It's not over yet, that was just part 1. It will become much stranger soon. }:^)
As a fellow appreciator of these two seasonings, I uttered an audible "Heck ya!" as I read your endeavor epistle. I admire people that put the work in, and I threw what support I have in your direction!
Thanks! You have some fine content yourself by the looks of it, have a follow.
Wow steemit can really help you get your living earning. But we have to struggle a lot. Of course not only in steemit we have to struggle in everything that we do. You are doing a great work, hope one day i will also be able to post something good like you. I dont have a good steem power but i will still upvote you on every post. Thanx for the inspiration.
Your support still counts big time to me.
I'm glad that I discovered your story =)
It's giving people hope and motivation to continue and out-perform themselves.
I'm one of them and indeed it is not easy to build strong and reliable relationships here on Steemit. I guess staying honest and true through all your post helped you build those kind of relationships =). Thanks for that
Yes i will always support you cuz you are a great blogger. You can make a person laugh so loud, make them cry, and make people feel terror just by your writings. Always supporting you.
Haha hope so =). I will keep an eye on your journey. See you around my friend
Your article is very inspiring. I joined Steemit about 2 weeks ago, I have been having several conversations with steemians. But I seem to have a problem, no matter how good my post are it's difficult to get an upvote most times. I wish I had friends who were already doing well on steemit, but I don't so it's even difficult to introduce the site to my friends. Thanks for sharing, your story was inspiring, I had to follow to stick close. Just hope I grow better on the network.
There is no trick to it, it just takes a long time and stubbornness. Also a bit of luck admittedly, it comes down to being noticed by whales and making types of content they happen to enjoy.
Thanks for the tip, I'll just wait and see how it goes. From what you said, I think patience would really be important. I'll appreciate if you check out my post to see if the contents are appealing.
That is awesome man. You are definitely one of the best contributors on this platform and I wish you all the success you deserve. Sorry for my late message, travelling again.
@alexbeyman,
Your post touched my heart, so here I am opening a little about my self! I am a software engineer in my profession! Now this field seems totally messed and my earnings are not enough to handle the entire monthly cost! I mean I have a wife and 2 years old son! Wife (housewife and look after my son, it's harder than a job) So, life based on a single income is not worthy enough! I had lots of crypto investments and some are failed gravely! So now STEEMIT is the back up process of mine!
I can't write long stories! Actually I have no times for that! So, I choose commenting, upvoting, and sometimes I am writing small articles as well! Most of times I am avoiding your posts! Because I hate to type some kind of funny comments! I know your style! And I have no time to watch videos! At the office no way, at home no way (data is the precious)!
After all, as you said STEEMIT helps me to come out of my current crisis time! I don't know how long I can do this! But I will do my best! And my upvote is not worthy enough! So, I will try my best to give you a reward as well!
Wish you a great luck friend! Having a back up income can make our lives easier and safer!
Cheers~
Where do you live? Perhaps there is an excess of software engineers in your country, driving down the cost of their labor. You might be able to command a much larger income in countries where software engineers are in higher demand.
@alexbeyman,
I am from Sri Lanka, yeah now I am trying to migrate! This is very useless! Totally fed up by this profession!
Maybe try programming blockchain related applications? The highest paid posts I have ever seen on Steemit were for stuff like that.
@alexbeyman,
I am planning for that! Already talked with a friend of mine who can assit me to do such a job! I am still new to this platform! So, way to connect with DB stuffs needs to figure out! If I could capture it I think I can do a lot! Thanks friend!
Cheers~
Have you seen this? https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-this-is-now-getting-serious
It's a site where you get rewarded in Steem for contributing to Open Source projects.
@rebelmeow,
Thanks friend! I will check it!
Cheers~
Good to hear it. Pursue that strongly, it's a way to leverage your expertise in a direction many of your competing software engineer peers won't be aware of. We've both seen it be extremely profitable on Steemit, that profit can be yours soon if you create that kind of programming value for the blockchain community.
@alexbeyman,
Yeah that what I am thinking! Need to plan something new and SMT token will be here too! If I get the mechanism then I can draw the picture well! Thanks for the motivation friend! I hope to do something best!
Cheers~
nice post my friend, i like your approach towards life, your story tells that you have a very strong belief on never give up and you also believe on hard works always pays off that's great approach my friend and this is fantastic course just stick to it and you surely see great results in the end, if it's not good yet then it's not the end, Stay blessed my friend and thanks for sharing
I've been doing similar calculations for myself recently. Sadly, my posts hardly ever seem to gain many big votes (it's been way better in the past...), but I'll keep on sharing. My work for curie has been much more successful, so I'm trying to keep that up. If I manage that, it'll be atleast a part-time income for me and I'll be able to support my plans of expanding in the self-employed food and health department. Got many plans indeed, so I need to keep myself funded through Steemit!
I wish you the best of luck in keeping up your earnings here! Let's hope prices rise again after the next bitcoin fork thingy...
Yeah, I remember the bonanza last Summer when I was making several hundred per post. It's hard to recognize a bubble when you want so desperately for it not to be one.
Yeah definitely! I don't think I've ever gotten a 100+ post, but there were times where I gained around 10-20+ on most. Oh well, there might always be new bubbles to take advantage of :-)
Don't forget about your curation rewards!
But in all seriousness, happy that I have a bot 100% upvote all your posts. You put more effort into writing thought provoking content each day than anyone else I've seen. $1100 ($2200 including SP) is not enough for your efforts, but at least it covers your bills. Hope some bigger whales start noticing your posts, or that you have some BTC to allow you to continue to follow your passion for writing.
Have you had any thoughts at collecting your stories or longer series into books to sell on amazon?
I have an Amazon page here and have been slowly going about the process of having an artist friend of mine make covers for the stories long enough to sell as novels.
He works very slowly but we have a relationship as friends and artists, so I don't want to go to anybody else. Thank you for your encouragement and ongoing support, but I'd probably keep writing even if it was on scraps of paper in a cardboard box in an alley somewhere, haha.
I like your concept. The fact is you have given yourself a $20 target per post and this however tends to be working for you, but being a minnow, i gave myself a $2 target per post, sometimes it doesnt work out for me,
You really have it going for you buddy, i'll see you at the top, i love this, and im following you 👍👍👍👍
A minnow is only what you are for the time being. Redouble your efforts and be amazed at the growth which results. Just don't expect it to happen overnight. Maybe gauge how far you've come once a year, for example. In a year's time you may be a whale whose upvotes I hope for.
Yeah of course, so one day we could recognise you ans remember today, thank you for the advice. Im indebted to you
I'd rather just have you as a fan of my work than for you to feel any sort of debt to me.
Of course i meant money cant repay this awesome, post so indebted in the sense that, your post is priceless
Man that is really great work you have done ,coming from this point and getting on i can tell how much am i giving to steemit and how much steemit is giving me ,it is really tough but i am kinda enjoying it and your success story really touched the heart buddy .Hope I will get there someday and you are doing very great till now ,Wish you get more from Steemit :)
Hi @alexbeyman, Steemit is a great platform and it's providing many users with good money. However, these users are doing some other online activities as well. So, depending merely on Steemit can/can't help you get your bread and butter based on what your monthly expenses are. What you mentioned is a good earning keeping in view where I am living:
What you're doing for other users and for Steemit is really appreciable. We grow by helping others and it gives us the real happiness as well.
Writing continuously is a professional job that requires a lots of focus. I'm trying to resume writing here at Steemit so I started with some fun posts hoping to get my MOJO back. Wish me luck.
Keep sharing, caring, educating and inspiring more. Stay awesome. You got my unconditional support.
Steem On!
I have been reading some of your stories and recently the Virtual reality posts. I am pretty sure, there more steem you have the better your chances to build a large community around you. like in real life money makes money. but the most important thing is your posts have a principal message and you do them constantly.
Thanks for sharing your goals for your Steemit profile and your outlook on a simpler way of living. I wish you the best in your endeavor and you're certainly doing a great job: posting interesting posts multiple times a day is impressive. I'm new to Steemit and desire to post original, creative content here. I can't hit the frequency or volume you're achieving, having a family and full time job, but I have a mental minimum for myself to have a minimum of two root posts a week and I comment A LOT to interact with the community. That's one of the best parts of Steemit I've found in my time here so far: the community. I'm not much into other social media platforms, so I don't know what experiences I would have there, but its been rewarding to have my writing recognized here and have positive, meaningful interaction with readers and publishers of content I enjoy reading.
I know my upvote isn't worth much yet, but I'll continue building Steem Power (and am considering buying some with USD) and this new follower will be supporting your work if it continues to be a good as it has been.
Keep it up!
Honestly it's a paltry sum for the amount of effort you put into your stuff - I'd love to see you pursue trad publishing or get more recognition for your work.
I need an agent, for sure. I'm honored that a writer of your calibre thinks so highly of my work.
You deserve all the compensation you get, your writing is awesome. Some of the best content on the site.
You flatterer. :3
I really like this statement of yours "I don't write in order to live, I live in order to write"
That's the spirit my friend. I always like to read your articles. I am still young in Steemit and not earning much, long way to go for me, but reading stories like yours inspired me to continue my journey in Steemit.
Hope your will achieve your target every day, wish you all the best!
Cheers!
@alexbeyman.
I into in june this year and am still struggling to make money on my post, if there is anyway you can open my blog to more views, i would appreciate it. I like your hard work and it has paid off for you. Congratulations on your increase in followers. Peace @yaanivapeji.
No, I don't have that power. I can resteem, but currently do one resteem article per day, and that's taken up by the posts of people I am already helping to get started on Steemit. There is no shortcut to success on Steemit, only posting quality content every day until more people notice you.
This post is such a great motivational post .
The saying is that hard work brings color And you buddy,proved it.
This type of post inspire peoples, to not to give up and work hard till you get success.
I am one of them who get inspration from you or your posts and thats why i love your posts and following you for more.
Thanks for the post.
Great
Wow that's the way of getting success very good job but continue was most compulsory for this achivement best of luck
I like this post so do
Upvote and resteem
Damn, man. $1100 is not too bad at all, if I could make around $500-600 a month I'd be able to live off of it since that covers my bills. Hopefully I'll get there with some time! Though, I hope soon you'll have more than just $5 after your expenses, lol. I'm glad half of what I'm making is going into a savings like account though, so I at least know should an emergency pop up I have some spare funds sitting there. (Though, I might power down here soon for a few weeks so I can afford to buy my girlfriend an engagement ring.)
That's pretty shitty that one of your friends had to bail off the sit due to harassment though. Was it from a bigger person on the site? Or, just some random assholes floating around?
Just keep at it by the way and who knows where you'll be in another few months. You might see your income has doubled or even tripled by then since your content is great. It definitely shows that you put a lot of hard work into your stories and posts, bro.
If you'd like, I could make an article about your situation. You're quite right that you need the support more than I do and I'm happy to do whatever I can. You know I've been rooting for you for a while now.
A violent ex that she took out a restraining order against.
Thanks, you're not kidding. I have the dream of living off my writing in my head, and I'm putting everything I've got into making it a reality.
Oh, no. I don't think I'm worth an article or anything, bud. I appreciate the thought and sentiment though, means a lot that you'd even offer :)
Ohhh. Man, that's a lot worse of a situation. I just thought you meant bullied off the site or something. I hope she's doing okay, dealing with that shit is stressful. My sister ended up having a kid with a fucking psychopath who assaulted her and tried killing her several times. I was just a kid at the time, but the amount of stress, anxiety, and fear that it caused her made me feel fucking terrible, even when I was that young.
Yeah, you're slowly but surely making your dream happen, bro! Just keep chugging along and you'll be making more and more. I'm glad Steemit has been so receptive for you, honestly. I've seen a lot of talented writers over the years on reddit and other social media sites who couldn't get much of any recognition, and it's always pretty sad to see.
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STOPThis post has received a 100% upvote worth $0.07 from @minnowspower thanks to: @theguruasia
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Hello! Congrats on your 2400 followers. I only have 13 but i have only been here 15 days so far. I want to also pursue my dream of self supporting myself rather than foing a dead end job. I just got made redundant through no fault of my own so any help or advice on a noob starting out would be immensely appreaciated? Cheers drew :) @alexbeyman
Put out at least one thing per day, and make it good. No low effort reposts of memes for example. Always at least a paragraph or more of text. Then keep doing that day after day until people notice.
You will despair for a long time while you're making very little. But you can't win if you don't play, and the winners are mostly just the few who didn't give up during their time of despair like everyone else did.
Awesome thank you so much fpr your help!
Congratulations @alexbeyman!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Someday I will have the power to make a difference when I read such an inspirational and original post coming from someone who's content I have been reading the past few days, and has definitely caught my attention... love the way you write. So raw, so real and captivating.
However, in the words of Djimon Hounsou in Gladiator... "Not yet... not yet."
Cheers!