I was looking back at the growth of my account. I joined in early August 2016, so it's almost two years. I didn't make much in the first couple of months. A lot of my early posts made nothing at all as they didn't get enough votes to break the threshold (2c?). Things improved through 2017. You can see some of this on [Steemwhales](https://steemwhales.com/steevc?weekly), but the stats have not been updated this year. I gained about 10,000 SP that year and you can see I took some out. That was to [buy a guitar](https://steemit.com/guitar/@steevc/the-guitar-that-steemit-bought) and to go to Steemfest 2. You can also see how much the value of my account varied. For some time Steem was under 20c, but what I earned then is worth far more now.

![Steemwhales](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXU4dgkXRJgNfHKicDsLrBrNfMoA2qvZnwnfe2Tzi2r6V/Screenshot%20from%202018-07-07%2014-27-56.png)

One thing that changed over this time was the voting algorithm so that minnow votes became worth much more. I'm not sure this was ideal as it allowed for voting circles and mass bot accounts to just vote up each other. The whales still had lots of power. I do think everyone should have a chance to earn something, but it needs to be worked for. I see a lot of minnows who struggle to collect even a few hundred SP when I was making that in a week last year. Now I make a lot less, but I've built up a lot of followers through persistence and engagement. I'm supporting a lot of people who I think deserve it.

It's going to get interesting in the next couple of years as Steemit grows to many millions, if it can. Then it may be even harder to gain SP as it will be spread thinner. That's why it's a good time to do it now. Maybe Steem will be worth $20 in a few years, but that depends on what the markets think. For now I think we need to keep on showing that this platform can work and that you don't need to buy votes to get success. The latest cool initiative I've seen is by @mirrors who promotes a few posts each day that deserve better votes. You can even get something back by supporting that. Be involved with this site and do what others will appreciate. Spamming low value comments is definitely not the way.

Add value to Steemit and it will pay you back.

Steem on!

<p><b><div class="pull-left"><img src="https://steevc.keybase.pub/steemit/steevc.png"></div>
I'm Steve, the geeky guitarist. </b></p><p>I'll buy <a href="https://steemit.com/guitar/@steevc/steem-for-picks">guitar picks for Steem Dollars</a></p>
<p>Get a <a href="https://links.wirexapp.com/MpmB/4bTIQcutbK?action=affiliate-register&code=bjRZpvkK8UOQ2wkKVKEg2w">Wirex Debit Card</a> to spend your crypto.</p>
<p>Get some passive income with <a href="https://www.mannabase.com/?ref=ej74g43dgi">Mannabase</a></p>
<p>If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.</p>
<p><b>Spam comments may be flagged. Beware of the <a href="https://steemit.com/steemit/@katharsisdrill/some-splendid-advice-on-commenting">Commentphant!</a></b></p>