In my last post, I shared about some of the doubts that I go through in believing in my creative work. It's easy for me to think, wow, this isn't hard enough, it must not be real work, even though I know this simply is not true. 

![enter image description here](http://i.imgsafe.org/2bb52488ff.jpg)

**So, I talked to my business coach about it. Here's what we came up with.** 

⦁	I need to focus on this as my primary project, at least in the short term
⦁	I need to set some realistic goals to fine tune my process. 
⦁	I need to set aside a large block of time for content creation each week that is uninterrupted

I thought I'd share my thinking and goal setting process with you here, instead of hiding it away in a file no one will ever see, in the back corner of my new hard drive. 

*Here are my Steemit goals!*

1.	Post 4 times a day, as close as possible to 12, 2, 4 and 6 pm CST US (study Catchawhale.com to make sure these are strong times)
2.	Prepare enough material to be 2 days ahead, to cope with days when I don't have enough time to prep four posts. 
3.	Free up my time to spend it interacting and helping build the Steem community in whatever form that takes
4.	Start working towards phase two of my program, building saleable merchandise out of the content that I produce here. 
5.	Intentionally build relationships with whales and dolphins that can lend larger payouts to my posts. Be helpful to them in whatever way possible. 

**Then, here are goals I would like to achieve  on the platform in general.** 

⦁	Get over 1000 followers
⦁	Average 100 comments from readers between my four posts daily
⦁	Get a solid average of over $1000 in payouts daily between the four posts

**I'm thinking about how my time breaks down in preparing the posts and here are my realizations.** 

⦁	The writing is probably the quickest and easiest part for me, I need to streamline the image production process. 
⦁	I think a subscription to a stock image site will be my best bet for speeding things up, a catalog of ready made, high quality images to manipulate is something I really need.
⦁	Having posts ready to plug in at least two days in advance is the only way I can realistically produce quality content and still meet my posting times goals. 
⦁	If preparing my posts takes up the best interaction time, I'm missing one of the biggest parts of building audience on a platform like Steemit. 


So, I am giving myself permission to not feel guilty about how much fun I'm having, while making money here on Steemit. Sounds weird, for a guy that taught theater for a living, but that was hard work, too. This, for me, is almost pure bliss. (except for the technical side of setting up good posts, which is blech)

**Here is my new posting strategy, for each post:** 

⦁	Make sure there is time to thoroughly edit each piece, I've noticed a few typos, especially in my headlines, which get added last. (this is bad, because it's the first impression and might stop savvy readers from clicking. )
⦁	Create 4 or more custom illustrations and have enough time to make them the images I want and not just a "good enough" image. 
⦁	Launch posts about two to three hours apart (experimenting for optimum times still) 
⦁	Promote to chat channels and Facebook groups coming after two or three hours, to allow organic votes to come in, then boost the post a bitat the time they typically lag. 
⦁	Respond to every comment ASAP so that real time conversations happen. This is a great audience builder, and it's fun!
⦁	Incorporate that post into the appropriate after Steemit content (novel, non-fic report, or short story collection)
⦁	Promo the after Steemit books here in my posts. 

**Now for a few observations from the past couple of days.** 

> It seems that posting frequency has a lot to do with getting decent
> payouts. Whether this is a mechanical factor of keeping my name in the
> feed, so it feels inevitable to vote for me eventually, or whether
> it's more about the law of averages (you're bound to get lucky
> occasionally, right?) 4 posts each day gets more votes and better
> payouts.

Several of my posts recently have received bigger money votes in the early morning, after sitting overnight. Not sure if this is one or two people, or if setting that hook in the late evening is one way to catch a whale. It's happened three or four times. 

**On to another topic, the reevaluation of the voting distribution, I'd love the whales to see this, but just want to put my ideas out there.** 

There is a lot of talk about how much payout the whales bring with their votes. That's a big deal. However, there are several other things that go into the value of an upvote as well. I don't know how all of these things are connected, but here's what I see. 

⦁	An upvote ups the payout for a post, a primary concern for those of us earning on Steemit. 
⦁	An upvote raises the level of the post in its chosen categories, in some way, again, not sure if that's tied to payout, or both. 
⦁	An upvote adds time to the initial payout window, which I see as hugely valuable. 

**So, here are some proposals.** 

⦁	Adjusting (slightly) the payout connection to votes to make the average voter more valuable is not a bad idea, not sure that limiting the number of votes achieves this AT ALL, perhaps just adjust the way the ratio is determined. 
⦁	Make votes worth more in other regards, regardless of who is voting. Perhaps curation and reputation score could also make votes weightier, so that it becomes more an influence thing than an economic one. 
⦁	Change the way small minnow votes effect the ranking of a post in a category. In other words, just getting a big payout from a few votes should not outweigh a larger number of readers upvoting, in terms of where the post is listed in its category.
⦁	Change the way small minnow votes effect the time window for initial payout. If someone gets 500 votes, that post deserves a chance to be seen by the big fish, even if they haven't upvoted it yet. By allowing these small votes to extend the window, as large payouts due, it shifts the scales slightly to favor the beginner who grows an audience. 

Aiudience participation is the life blood of any social platform and when you allow "buy ins" to be more valuable than crowd sourced conversation, the platform will take on a different personality. 

Whatever we place value on, will become more prevalent, so votes remain primarily speculatory in the current environment, where as, one in which interaction was scored higher than currently, would encourage more interaction and writers who actually spend time on the site building relationships with other users. 

There is a problem when a post can sit atop the "trending" category for over 24 hours, without  continued activity, just because of the payout! The entire category is based, not on votes, but simply payout amounts and until someone outpaces that post, or the payout happens, it just sits there, while other posts get more votes, why should that be the only factor?

***I don't think you have to take the economic power away from whales to balance the scales a bit. Doing so, has some negative consequences as well:***

⦁	Bigger payouts are a good attractor for new users, like me. WIthout the potential for a decent income, I can't spend the time on Steemit I would like to. 
⦁	Competition for those votes makes the quality of work improve. Writers need to produce to a certain level to get the bigger payouts, versus a more evenly distriibuted platform that incentivizes mediocrity. 
⦁	Taking the economic power away from whales disincentivizes users from investing in the platform in the hopes of wielding similar power some day.

*So, by creating more equity in the strategic and mechanical values of upvotes (payout window extension and category placement) you can balance the scales without robbing whales of their economic power. Just a thought.* 

So, what about you? Got any Steemit goals? If so, share them in the comments, I'd love to hear what you have to say!