Welcome @ lemondropsblue and all good luck to you.  

I am an Etsy seller and do enjoy that quite a bit.  Except for a few years I have been my own boss (for better or worse) for most of my life.  And I have a few years on you.  

I am a leather artist at the moment.  Pop on over to my little corner of the world and say Hi!

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbGXMwALuD4zZvtnzKLY2SRpjQJZzCYsFn1VLa1iPg4uH/image.png)<br> Welcome to Steemit @lemondropsblue!<br><br>  I wish you much success and hope you find Steemit to be as rewarding and informative as I have.<br><br> Here are some links you might find useful.<br> [Your stats on SteemNow](https://steemnow.com/@lemondropsblue)<br> [Your stats on SteemWorld](https://steemworld.org/@lemondropsblue)<br> [Your stats on SteemD](https://steemd.com/@lemondropsblue)<br> [How to use Minnow Booster](https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/a-post-of-much-greater-value-how-to-increase-your-vote-count-dramatically-just-like-the-big-fish-do)<br> [How does Steemit actually work?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/where-does-all-the-money-come-from-on-steemit-fully-answered-will-it-continue-yes)<br><br> Let me know if I can help.<br> Many blessings! @bycoleman<br><br> 

Hey. Welcome to Steemit! I have been writing a few articles to help out newbies. Feel free to come and check them out:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@conradt/should-you-be-using-an-upvote-bot-an-introduction-guide-for-minnows

https://steemit.com/steemit/@conradt/the-complete-newbies-guide-to-curation-rewards

https://steemit.com/steemit/@conradt/things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-joined-steemit

@Mountainwashere's Guide for New Users:

Welcome to Steemit! It's got a steep learning curve, but it's worth it in the long run if you keep putting in the time! Just know that it will take quite a while before you start getting attention and followers. The biggest secret to success? Keep posting high quality content regularly, and make sure to search out other people's posts, read them, and give relevant comments.

Tagging is extremely important. Always make sure to use all five possible tags, and to keep them relevant. You can always just tag something "blog" or "photography" or something else really general (so long as it's still relevant) to fill the quota if you need to- most of your tags should be established ones, though one or two less used ones are fine.

Posting more than four times a day can reduce your potential rewards, as well as turning off potential users. (I aim for one post per day most of the time.) Consistency is important, though, so you should try to post often.

Always make sure to attach a photo to your posts! You should also have a finished profile: Write a description, add a profile picture and a banner- neither needs to be a photo of you, necessarily, but you should have something- and set a website.

There are a lot of really good resources out there for plankton and minnows (new users). You should check out the following groups and services, they offer a lot of valuable resources:

@thesteemengine (Check this one out first- they're an extremely supportive group that can help out in a lot of ways.)
@qurator (These guys offer an excellent liftime upvote to accounts that post consistent quality content.)
@steembasicincome (Another lifetime upvote option.)
@steemstem (The biggest and best STEM curation group in the game. If you're interested in writing or reading about science, check these guys out!)
@geopolis (A fairly new science curation group, this one's dedicated to the study of the Earth.)
@ocd (A curation group that seeks out undervalued new writers.)

And, again, the biggest thing is just patience. Breakout successes are incredibly rare on Steemit- you've got to find your way to success through perseverance and hard work. It takes time, but you'll eventually succeed if you put in the work.

*Please feel free to repost this guide on the posts of other plankton & minnows you run into (though I'd appreciate it if you credit me.) If it was useful to you, feel free to check out my posts and give me a follow!*

Hello let's follow each other.. I'm  a newbie here! Xoxo!

Congratulations @lemondropsblue! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

[![](https://steemitimages.com/70x80/http://steemitboard.com/notifications/firstpayout.png)](http://steemitboard.com/@lemondropsblue) You got your First payout

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Congratulations @lemondropsblue! You received a personal award!

<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@lemondropsblue/birthday2.png</td><td>Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 2 years!</td></tr></table>

<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@lemondropsblue) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](http://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=lemondropsblue)_</sub>


###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!

It's great to see your introduction post! Welcome to Steemit! I couldn't be more appreciative of your support and comments on my content, I'll be keeping up with yours for sure.
Don't worry about impressing everyone, post things that mean something to you and there will always be an audience here to see it. Most of all, have fun with it! I wish you the best of luck here Sue!