Hi Cyn! I upvoted to all comments to my post and people answers to my comments and noticed that people rarely upvote my comments. So I tried to upvote my own comments to see what happens and people unfollow me. I guess if our account is big, we would be flagged if we self-upvote. So we need to be careful to protect our reputation I think.

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Don't worry about it too much. Almost everyone upvotes their own posts. If you start making a lot of comments and upvoting those too some people might get mad, but they're unlikely to do anything about it unless you have enough Steem Power that it seems like you're stealing funds or spammy or something. Frankly, I tend to think there are perfectly reasonable times to self upvote. For example, I'll upvote this comment, because I took the time to help you out, and time is money! :)

Hi @cyncarlton. I'm a minnow myself and pretty much a novice on all of this, but here are some things I've learned:

1. Earning money is not necessarily a good indicator of the quality of the content. 

2. Whatever goal you have for your post, make that a separate effort from your money-making goal. 

3. Post consistently. Try to post at least once a day, but at the same time, don't post just to post. Actually, avoid posting just to post, but if you have to, that's probably better than not posting. Just don't let it happen too often. 

4. Support other people. Do this  by upvoting **AND** commenting. Make thoughtful comments related to the post. Don't ask them to follow or upvote you. But it is fine if you ask them to check out some if your stuff (IMHO).

5. Treasure the connections you make with other people. That is the true value of steemit. We form strong bonds with each other. 

6. Seek out established steemians and see if you like their content. If you do, upvote and comment on it.

7.  Seek out new steemians and see if you like their content. If you do, upvote and comment on it.

8. Say what you want, but be respectful. Just because steemit is uncensored doesn't mean that there aren't repercussions from the way you act. 

I hope this helps. If any other steemians have anything to add or contradict, feel free.

Hey @cyncarlton, welcome to the community! Do checkout the Steemit.chat, you’ll find all the help you need over there.