<center>![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYgZRcfyVaymwersVX9WE6dgks8pkm9gfDNm3WFCtyDNa/image.png)</center>

Steemit has had its share of ups and downs, but I think many of us are starting to see a bright future. To mark my major milestone of 200 followers, here is my story through humble beginnings three months ago to the booms of today using simply the written word and nothing more. Hopefully it can help others gain some perspective on what it's like to dedicate their blogging efforts to Steemit and the countless advantages it brings with it.

In the course of these three months I have written 135 blog posts, 548 comments and attained a reputation score of 64. These posts earned a grand total of 3,200.99 Steem and an additional $36.40 SBD (Note: A vast majority of my posts have been Powered Up). Thus, with comments excluded, my main blog posts have yielded over 23 Steem per post (about $18 USD by today's price of $0.775 per Steem)

Compare this to my first 30 days where I wrote 61 posts and around 200 comments earning around 2,500 worth of Steem in total. The price of Steem then was around $0.207 per Steem which came out to about 42.4 Steem (then $8.48) per post. 

One might notice that while my number of blog posts remained consistent, my reputation increased and my number of followers consistently grew, Steem payouts sharply declined in March and April with "The Experiment" in addition to Hardfork 18. I imagine this was common pretty much completely throughout Steemit, and for many these would be considered the "dark times". 

During this period my average payout was well less than $1.00 USD per post, so I might have been inclined to agree. However, also during this time I produced some of my *best* posts. Why? 

I took this time to test and experiment with the abilities of Steemit and learned a lot more about the community than I had ever done previously. I began talking with others I hadn't previously opened up to, cross-posted to platforms I hadn't used before and even performed my first real cryptocurrency trades in order to curb the effects of Steem's falling prices. 

I wasn't deterred. Instead I was determined.

While the first payouts since the Steem boom haven't been completed yet, I think many will agree that it's looking *a lot* less bleak than things did a month or two ago. With that in mind, however, don't forget to stay humble. Remember your struggles and your beginnings well and never lose site of what made Steemit great in the first place: you!

Keep on Steemin' on!

<center>[![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZdc3j1d8esKzsjDKENkgPmyxLbZDX8vvpzgAwKF5xp4f/image.png)](http://www.patreon.com/rebelskum)</center>

<center>[![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXPizxd946TwH3xkTiuWH7Xm6iDum12WT8ZCdTEP3fv9H/image.png)](https://medium.com/@PizzagateWiki)</center>