December 2017..., that blows me away as I'd thought you'd joined much earlier than that. Possibly Spring of 2016 which is when I started lurking (and learning) on Steemit before officially joining in July 2017. Samstonehill's videos from Bali were what pushed me over the top to finally join and start pitching in, and I've been at it ever since.
In September of 2017 I flew to Germany and lived there for the next 5 months. I had so much trouble (with Coinbase) trying to buy crypto as a US citizen while being an EU resident. But your 5-500-5000 formula seems to have served you well, and now you're a pillar of the community here on Hive, and a real-life example that plugging away every day can lead to success.
I have a question for you: Did you make a big initial investment in the STEEM token all at once to get started? (as some did). Since I couldn't open a CB account, I had to buy the token via Steam gift cards on Paxful, which meant $250, cost me $500! Which limited my ability to grow as fast as I wanted to.
So I'm always curious how those that are whales now, accelerated their growth. Was it a large initial investment for you or the slow burn of daily engagement and organic growth? I heard there was one guy who took out a 2nd mortgage, and another that sold his car in order to invest in the platform. Also, when did you and Taskmaster become friends and decide to do your landmark podcast? (that might be worthy of a post on its own!) :) Thanks to the both of you for inspiring so many of us.
It's funny because at the time, it was mammoth investing for me. I'd get an extra 25 bucks and buy 5 tokens LOLOL But nah, nothing huge up front. Mostly 25 tokens here and there when I could, and a lot of content. I got my big 'kick' when I sold steem for hive.
A lot of the OG's of the chain started mining Steem on day one. Lots of them got in at the right time and right place. But some of the newer guys and gals, invested heavily into it.
@taskmaster4450 was a guest on our old Monday night live shows for CTP, and we just thought it would be a good idea to keep the talks going. Started doing them directly after that.