When I discovered Steemit, I got super excited and started posting like a madwoman.

![DSCN0308.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmULNLohN5hxPMzC5i7AtoKfxFbsNNVWKf3UEBQY4RdNJX/DSCN0308.JPG)

Of course the first thing I wanted to do, was to share my discovery with friends and family.  _Oh great, we’ll join right away_ is what I thought my friends would say, but to my great surprise, convincing them to join Steemit is not that easy.

# Why is it so hard to convince people to join the Steemit platform?

I’m trying to analyze it, starting with my own initial reaction several months ago. I’m a YouTube blogger, and I remember @finnian telling me _you should join Steemit, you could make decent money there_. 

He wrote this in the comments section of one of my videos. I did actually listen, and checked out the Steemit website back then. When I saw the term “steem dollars” and “token”, and that they weren’t “real” dollars, I quickly gave up and forgot all about it until October this year. My husband @el-cr got into crypto trading, and somehow the topic of Steemit resurfaced in a conversation. Now I know a lot more about this topic, and I’m kicking myself in the butt for not joining earlier. 

But that’s how it works. 

## Promoting Steemit to newcomers works in 2 phases, according to my personal experience:

### Phase 1
Introducing the name and concept to people. Most people have __NEVER__ heard of it, and will not believe that there is a social media platform that allows you to make money, even with as little as 5 followers. I've been posting my blog entries on Twitter and Facebook, to get people used to seeing the name and logo. I firmly believe in cognitive psychology, so if someone sees the name or logo often enough, it will become real to them.

### Phase 2
Getting people to actually sign up. This means endless repeating _did you create your account already ?_ At the risk of becoming extremely annoying to your friends who make fun of you for being obsessed.

During these 2 phases, usually a lot of questions pop up about how Steemit works, and the ones I hear the most are:

### Can you cash out and earn "real" money with this?

The answer is YES, of course you can. You can convert your Steem Dollars (SBD) to Bitcoin on an exchange platform like Bittrex , Binance or Coinbase, and then sell your Bitcoin for USD on a trading platform like [coinbase](https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2488658-how-do-i-sell-or-%22cash-out%22-my-digital-currency-) or [CEX](https://cex.io/sell-bitcoins). 

You can read a great tutorial about this posted by @rodeo670 [here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@rodeo670/steemit-tutorials-how-you-can-withdraw-your-steemit-earnings-into-usd-and-why-you-should-only-do-it-if-you-re-truly-strapped-for)

You can also pay with Bitcoin in certain businesses.

### This sounds too good to be true. How do you know it actually works?

 Well I did the above, and thanks to the really high price of SBD these days (1 SBD = 11.54 USD as I’m writing this), I did exchange my small amount of SBD to BTC last week, when its value was even higher. It was my first “real” payout which made my vacation in Colombia more enjoyable, and I can guarantee that it works!

### I don’t have time for this... 

OK, so here I get a bit frustrated when someone tells me that. Why? Well, how much time do we all spend on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (or all 3)? A LOT. If you spent the equivalent on Steemit for written posts, [dTube](https://alpha.steepshot.io) for videos or [Steepshot](https://alpha.steepshot.io/feed) for pictures (it’s the equivalent of Instagram) you could actually earn something for your time and content on a daily basis, without extra work!

### It’s a bubble and it won’t last!

People have been saying this for years about Bitcoin, and look at it’s value today! Let’s assume it is indeed a bubble. In the meantime I'm earning money with it, so until that “bubble” bursts, I will take advantage of it.

## Some people join, but don't stay

There may be a 3rd phase, of joining Steemit, but getting discouraged easily. According to @futurethinker, newbies leaving the platform shortly after joining may be because their posts, even though they may be of decent quality, are not getting enough attention and thus only small payouts. 

Please know that there is a great group in the community which I’m privileged to be a part of (the #Promo-STEEM Community on Discord), who mentors newcomers and coaches them to get feedback on posts, and allows them to get introduced to other members. Joining communities in chat rooms like Discord is vital, so go and socialize with mentors  there. It will also allow you to promote your own posts in Post-Promotion rooms.

I’ve been on Steemit for 2 months already, and I’m extremely happy about the results. I’ve met a great group of people (even though only virtually!), but I like it so much that I’m committed to getting more people to join.

If you didn’t know about www.steemit.com before reading this article, I’ve accomplished phase 1 =). 

### Now get ready for me to annoy the crap out of you until you actually join =)

Cheers!