Do you need Steem to survive?
This question works on two levels, the survival of Steem, and the survival through Steem.
I had a conversation with someone recently who said that they need Steem to perform in order to pay their mortgage. While I understand the position, I think it is a dangerous one as an investor as I believe that one shouldn't need an investment to perform in order to pay for everyday costs of life.
While I don't mind people attempting to live off Steem and some successfully do, the thing with having to rely on it to pay for things that would be considered ordinary costs is strange. For example, a mortgage is about 25 years long on average and that means that if one needs Steem to pay it, what was the initial thinking in taking the loan? If it was a preexisting loan, what was the *non-Steem contingency?
Of course, I want Steem to be able to pay off my house too, but I cannot rely on any investment to do that as all carry a measure of risk. The conflict that I have found on Steem that I haven't come across in other areas is the concept of the "salary" of it, as if there is some kind of guarantee on earnings. Even with large amounts of Steem, there is going to be fluctuation in value that can pay bills for example.
But, while people talk about needing Steem for this and that, I have never heard anyone say, I really need my Apple stocks to perform in order to pay my bills. Not once. Why?
Steem is not even four years old as a platform yet people already seem to rely on it for parts of their income as if it has already reached some stability. What I have always questioned is how so many people have in what is a relatively short period of time got accustomed to the "extra" income and count it toward their monthly. Don't get me wrong, I know how tempting this position is.
With my family buying a house that needs heavy renovation, a few weeks ago I said to my wife that if the worst happens, I can use my liquids from Steem to close some gaps. For example, I could buy some paint or wallpaper with it each month to keep the renovation ticking over.
And then, the TRON announcement.
Essentially, that was a slap to say, "wake up, relying on Steem to close gaps is not a viable option, even if it is possible". Yes, I could still do it, but I have to understand that the flow of Steem income I might get today, can end at any point. If my mortgage relied on a few hundred dollars from Steem each month and it ended, what would I then do?
No - I have to be able to cover my life with my life and consider an investment as I always have, already lost. I think this is one of the only ways to actually invest in a healthy way as it doesn't tie immediate life conditions to an investment outcome. Of course, if in the future the investment performs very well, conditions can change, but even then, it has to be covered by life.
Over the years on Steem, what I have noticed is that those who feel they need Steem to survive tend to lose their way and direction more often than those who are here without the attachment. This is a general statement and there are a few exceptions, but not many. Those who need Steem seem to have a very high fallout rate as well as can venture into the territory of what would likely be considered poor behavior as they try to maximize all of their earnings.
Due to their need, they will be able to justify all kinds of behaviors internally such as running multiple alts they self-vote upon, voting upon their own comments, begging for votes in multiple ways, and posting shit content for the Steem alone. That last one might not sound that bad, but the problem with it is often that for the people who post because they feel they need to in order to earn, Steem becomes a job - and not a fun one.
I see need from the perspective of relationships and in case you didn't know, not many people like needy partners that rely on them to provide continuously. While the idea of "I need you" might be great in songs, the fact is that needy people are manipulative and will use their need to justify getting what they want by any means necessary. When someone says "I need Steem", it sends up warning bells that the person is heading off their purpose in order to satisfy the needs, and that often comes carrying various forms of abusive and destructive behavior.
Again, from a relationship stand point, needy people tend to use guilt tripping in order to get attention from a partner, they also tend to be jealous and have mood swings when they do not get their way. From observation, this seems to be pretty common place behavior for many on Steem with one of the main traits of the needy person being a way to make their need someone else's problem. Needy people have to do this of course, as they can't satisfy their own needs, because if they could, they wouldn't be needy.
Reliance on others and external sources is a position of chosen slavery, as while it may be necessary at times, the more frequent it occurs, the more frequently it will. And, other people and external conditions like Steem are always outside of the locus of control, meaning one must go where pushed or, manipulate to change the direction to where one wants to go. Any way you look at it, if needy, one is forced to act, even if one doesn't want to act that way.
As said, I would be super grateful if one day Steem hit the stars in price and I was able to pay off my mortgage with a portion and use the rest to support myself through the curation and support of others, but that Steem can't be my financial solution. The reason is that not only is it early in the industry and lifecycle and therefore creating a lot of uncertainty, but there are so many factors outside of my control, including the community.
As I have said before, I do run my blog from the perspective of a business, but that doesn't mean it is where I try to maximize my earnings because I need them to live my life. Currently, I live my life "Steem-free", although I put as much effort as I possibly can into my Steem journey. The reason is that I see Steem as an investment with a future return, and if I need it now, it means I am not investing into my future. To be able to actually invest, one has to have resource availability.
I do not.
However, I have made sure that I have time availability in order to write for my investment, which leads me to my last point and gripe. For the people who say things like "I could earn more working at McDonald's or a grocery store", you are most probably right. If you need the money, I highly recommend you go and get that job as soon as possible and stop spending your time and energy trying to earn for your needs on Steem.
The reason is three-fold. Firstly, secure your life first and if you have anything left over, buy some Steem and curate instead. Secondly, Steem is far to volatile for anyone to rely on unless highly risk-seeking. Thirdly, needy people often don't get a lot of consistent traction because people very soon realize that they are being manipulated and move away - they end the relationship.
People quite like being saviors. Few people like having to save the same person over and over and over.
If you can't swim, stop jumping into the deep end.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
The behavior of kings!
Was the Kingly behavior that easy to spot? :D
Seeing as he has a full house, yep!
And a few up the sleeve.
Yes. Otherwise I would be building gadgets from paperclips, clicking cookie clicker all day and eventually falling of my living room window which is closed but would happen and you do not want to know the unfortunate (on whos point of view) events that would lead me to that point if I weren't at Steem. Steem keeps my head together.
Oh you perhaps meant the money.
HA!
As if I could ever reach that point. I am still on the giving side if we think about who gets money from who. Steem wins, I lose.
That's what I've always though about my investment. It's a hobby. But I see how the idea of getting by on Steem is tempting. Especially for someone who has been here when Steem was worth more. It's easy to forget that someday it could be worthless.
What an earth is that intriguing photo of? Burned match? Candle-snuff? Fungus? The thing Justin Sun found from his nose? You better put that to an airless container. That's the investment you've been waiting for. It pays off your loan in the future. Just hold on to that Justin booger. I'm naming it Juger.
An excellent photo of the Juger.
For real lol 😂, what the hell is that. I think it is a fungus.
Mine too. Or splits it into appropriate parts :)
There are people here who have been the highest earners, and now struggle. I think they feel the pain and have a sense that things were better before, without recognizing it was only better for a very narrow few.
A candle wick :)
!ENGAGE 30
@insaneworks you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
!ENGAGE 30
@insaneworks you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @georgeboya!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
As said, I would be super grateful if one day Steem hit the stars in price and I was able to pay off my mortgage with a portion and use the rest to support myself through the curation and support of others, but that Steem can't be my financial solution.
I will too be grateful if the price of steem hit the Stars someday, if it did. I did plan to use it to help pay off my loans someday toobut I don't really rely on it. Currently, my life and expenses are all outside the income from steem.
It will be good if steem can support me someday though but I realized the risk of depending to much on it. Now, I'm just collecting and enjoying my time here, writing and reading.
The simple pleasures of Steem life =)
!ENGAGE 30
Indeed 😁 How do you guys use the token to rewards other? Where can I find the instructions?
@heartbeat1515 you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
Same. I don’t need it to survive. It’s more of a roll of the dice for me in terms of an investment. Would it make life “better” or more pleasant if it thrived? Absolutely...and I often daydream of that situation. But I’m realistic enough to realize that it’s a large risk and to throw all my eggs in that basket would be risky.
Still...fingers crossed for all of us. Nothing would make me happier than those that have put time and work into growing here, enjoying life due to less financial burdens if it performed well.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Best buy collectibles ;D
I feel the same. I would love to see so many of the people here do well in life and get a bit of luxury.
And to answer your question, no, I don't need Steem to survive. All I've invested is my time, knowledge and skills. My life does not depend on it and I hope never will.
The best way to be free is, take responsibility for oneself. :)
!ENGAGE 30
My thoughts exactly 🙂
@erikah you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
I really appreciate it.
I saw that kind of comment a lot back in the bull days. It was often then that as the value continued its long decline that the claimers of needing the steem would rage quit or other such drama. Its a bit mental to say the least!
What!!!?!?! Steem isn't always going to be 8 dollars and SBD 20!?!? SCAM!!!!
PONZI!! I am going to leave except I will hang about and write comments about how this is a PONZI and keep telling people its why I left!!
Forever! And I will keep posting and taking rewards that require a 13 week powerdown to get fully and so, I won't just leave because that is what they want me to do, the scammers! I am not going to invest my money in a Ponzi!
I love it when they threaten to power down their 273 SP.
Oh noes, the platform will BREAKS!
That is about an hour's work at McDonalds I think these days.
Ouch!
!ENGAGE 30
@meesterboom you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
You are perfectly correct. My son went to university just after I started on Steemit in 2016. You cannot imagine HOW much steem helped me during this time as his father refused to help. It literally kept my son eating but it was a great extra to have and to pay the registrations fees etc, but I soon realized that I'm starting to rely on this money so the whole point of writing on steemit became an issue for me. I worked out a new budget and worked the "meals" into my budget without the steem money of course. Ever since that I'm writing for fun again, and my experience with steemit changed. I know of people who quit their jobs to write on steemit and I bet they are kicking themselves now. I now call steemit my backup plan where I save all the money I can. Ha ha!
It is hard to be creative when forced to write for money, and many try and fail.
If it works out, it works out for tens of thousands of people simultaneously. I find it awesome.
!ENGAGE 25
@giantbear you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
I fully agree with you. Use it for extras but not your main source to rely on and you are fine. I do think many years down the line it will be more reliable as an income of sorts but still wouldn't have it penciled in at a certain amount each month.
A few extras is fine, and people can do what they want with their Steem, but they shouldn't complain about their own decisions t be here :D
I have penciled in "insanely wealthy". one day.
Insanely wealthy is kind of great as no mortgage required then. You just buy what you want lol. Funny my first target for SP is 18000 as that gives me $1 vote for when Steem hits $1 . Stupid milestone, but makes sense for me. $10 Steem is $10 vote then.
That is a cool way to look at it :)
If I could pay off my house one day, that is almost as good as winning the lottery these days.
Very true something you actually enjoy doing paying off something that has value.
I also worked out that the interest per day is around 1 Steem on 18 000 which doesn't sound like much but it adds up when Steem will be harder to earn. Just wish more people would think like that long term as having a goal is the way to grow quicker.
!ENGAGE 30
Your are right we should not depend on steem to fulfill over needs in life
Steem or steemit is a project currently under development and people who invest their time and resources in it they are hoping one day they will get good returns on their investment
,but there is no guarantee of return so consider it as a investment as all other investments with all the risks
Over life should not depend on steem and any other same thing considered it as a long term investment and savings but not as a emergency fund, steem is not a hundred percent secure and reliable investment you can earn millions if this project goes to mainstream and you can lose everything if this project flops
This could not happened only with steem it can happened with any cryptocurrency and blockchain related project or any other online earning business
any business at all can fail, no matter how many billions they might be worth. History is littered with the bones of the fallen.
Agreed but on the other hand every business start from zero and Can get Up to billions of dollars worth no matter what people think about that and history also have the example of many successful businesses
You're right about that! I hope those needy Steemians who are here to make others feel sorry for them are reading this.
I don't like the attempts at guilt trips, especially when they are used again and again
Me neither but some can't help themselves. Good thing people are not really eager to waste their time with these.
One thing all this has shown me is I once again need to start making small accumulation in other projects. I sold most of my Bitcoin and altcoins in the bear market because even though the price of everything was dropping I saw the value of growing my Steem to help offset those losses.
Even though I still feel that way that growing my Steem in a bull market will "exponentially" grow my value in the bear market, it's time I start diversifying back into Bitcoin and other projects to hedge some risk.
Not enough to power down, just trading some of my post rewards every now and again.
I will likely do similar
I don't need Steem to survive, but it could help me live :D
till now for me, and as i seen for you too, steem is an investment that will maybe pay out in long term. and from current standpoint steem should go to 100$ to really change my life :)
I have the hunch this paragraph above, graphically summarize the entirety & integrity of your speech in this post magnificently well.
Everyone at their own 'level' are needy species in some measure. };)
You make some good points. I am relying on Steem as my only source of income currently and it hasn't been a bad experience since I get to write create the content I want, in whatever way I want. However, I can do this because my life cost is very low living in the countryside and receiving the benefits of working the land. There would be no way I could do this living in a city with all the associated cost.
It would be awesome if Steem could provide enough income to, at least, be more profitable than working in McDonald's. I mean, with the amount of stuff going on here it should reach that point!
$trdo!
Congratulations @fenngen, you successfuly trended the post shared by @tarazkp!
@tarazkp will receive 1.39193438 TRDO & @fenngen will get 0.92795625 TRDO curation in 3 Days from Post Created Date!
"Call TRDO, Your Comment Worth Something!"
To view or trade TRDO go to steem-engine.com
Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site
Very well said and written and good to keep in mind. This can be something extra but not an income one can count on.
It is indeed strange no one seems to live from other investments. There is enough you could make some money with if you are willing to invest and have time and internet to check the value daily.
I am really happy I do not need it to lay my bills. It was not possible during all those months (perhaps two years?) I join.
💕
Posted using Partiko Android
That is very true. You opened up my mind of why people complains, because they are in NEED. And they pass their problems to others!
I haven't get any money from Steem in my two years stay in this platform. I don't need Steem to survive, not at all. But I love the people I interact here. And that's what make me stay. 😂
While I want to post content on Steemit as a part-time gig. I still want to start a freelance business. A lot of things need to be factored in downtimes when Steemit codes their HF, price dips, etc. When I first joined, a guy had a stable enough income to quit his day job. It's possible but with proper planning.
For those of you with jobs if the plant were to shut down tomorrow you would need Steemit until you figure something out
I want steem to be enough to at least contribute to being enough to thrive on (survivng is fine too I guess as a short term goal ;D) but it's not there yet. It's fine I can keep waiting ;D
Sometimes deep water is a good way to learn to swim in a hurry as long as you're not trying to carry something heavy.
People carry a lot of baggage these days ;D
Oh dear XD
yes and no. For now I don't have enough steem to even think about cashing out. But at the same time this place has given me a lot. I found inspirations here.People here made me smile. When I needed it here I got nice words of encouragement. Without all that I would not be alive today. At least not the same me. I would be different without all those experiences.
I think that even with a small amount of Steem, you can bring a smile to someone's face through recognition and attention. A comment or two works wonders also :)
Steem is great, and every one including me should be delighted if the price will increase and if it gets better every day. But shouldn't be the main source of income, that for sure. Steem is investment in time that you do, posting and sharing your writings and if you get good earnings from your writing is great, but if you don't get no problem, at least you are enjoying yourself.
Congratulations @tarazkp!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
Hola amigos,
Excelentes argumentos sustentados con un hilvanado razonamiento, comparto, al igual que muchos aquí, el enfoque central y la respuesta de @tarazkp a su propia pregunta.
Sin embargo, un sabio español (Ortega y Gasset) dijo una vez: Yo soy yo y mis circunstancias. Así, el problema radica en la circunstancias de cada quien y en su capacidad para adaptarse y superar los obstáculos. La blockchain de Steem es un medio no un fin, y como tal, debemos entenderlo y manejarnos en esta.
Para muchos el Steem, constituye un medio importante para suplir las necesidades, para otros, un hobbies que pueden dejar cuando quiera, habrán quienes lo ven como un medio de inversión que observan detenidamente para entrar o salir en el mejor momento y salvaguardar o incrementar su inversión. Lo cierto, es que cabemos todos, siempre y cuando mantengamos el respecto y la solidaridad para con el prójimo.
La apuesta es simple, trabajar esforzadamente sin perder el objetivo. Todo dependerá de tu objetivo. En mi caso, creo en Steem, apuesto a su consolidación y en consecuencia trabajo para ello.
Congratulations @tarazkp, your post successfully recieved 1.39193438 TRDO from below listed TRENDO callers:
To view or trade TRDO go to steem-engine.com
Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site
I need Steem to survive.
Better hope it doesn't die in the ass then! :)
!ENGAGE 30
@lordbutterfly you have received
30 ENGAGEfrom @tarazkp!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
lol