It was the summer of 2016 and I was working on a couple of web projects and hunting for domain names for one of them on NameSilo. I was basically planning to add a website on crypto to my portfolio, seeing as how the market was booming.
I had a few extra hours in the day and I thought it would be a great idea to get more involved in this space and monitor the markets and write about it in general in addition to investing some extra bucks in a few crypto projects. I also ran an editorial consulting firm at the time for my regular income.
Using a domain name generator I had come up with a ton a of good names. A few didn't fit with the project I had in mind at the time. It was when I was looking up a particular name, it led me to a press release or an article about Steemit on Yahoo or similar news website. I'm pretty sure it was Yahoo...Anyways
It described what the project was all about and I felt it was interesting. I visited Steemit and saw a whole lot of crypto and crypto-anarchy stuff that dominated the platform in it's early days, not to mention the insane payouts that went along with it. But I truly felt that Steemit was another one of those scammy websites or ponzi scheme and the payouts weren't real.
I also couldn't quite understand how it functioned but I found out that there was a slack channel for users interested in learning more about it so I signed up and forgot about all of this for a few days.
It was mid-June 2016 and I decided to re-visit Steemit Slack channel and find out more about how Steemit works. I found out about an ebook that was on it's way and started conversing with some of the users on the slack. @donkeypong along with few other well known users of our platform had authored Steemit 101 and published it on Amazon. As a voracious reader I decided to give it a read. It opened my eyes to the long-term, potential of this platform on a global scale!
It was around 25th of June that I had read the ebook and by then I was already in conversation with a few people on the slack. @sean-king, @riverhead and @smooth were some of the people who went out of their way to help me understand how this platform worked economically, algorithmically and I learnt quite fast. I enjoyed the slack conversations a lot those days. We were about 100-150 people at the time when the 4th of July event happened!
4th of July 2016 was quite an incredible day and I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the exchanges! It was insane watching Steem price rocket to the moon! Those were some of the busiest days at the time and I still had no account to use.
I kept the conversations going and I think it was the 7th of July 2016 that I finally signed up. I was one of the first few Indian users on the platform as well. I loved the discussions in the community very much and engaged with a ton of users. I didnt have a single post published at the time but networking with other users made me very happy. I felt I was connecting with some very cool individuals from across the world, who wanted to change the way things were done and as I progressed on the platform, it came to be true!
My first post was authored towards the end of the month and it made less than $20 while make-up posts, plagiarised content and identity thefts made thousands. It was one day about a week or two after I had written my introduction post that @berniesanders showed me some love and it rocketed to the moon. @summon joined him a few days later and took it up a notch. It was my first post payout and experience of a whale vote!
By payout day, I had made about $400 or so on my introduction post, while everyone was making 10-15x more. But frankly I couldn't have been happier watching my work being rewarded after two weeks of seeing it live and I'm grateful for the same. Those days we had 30 day payout period after the initial 24 hr period and I had 10SP in my account when I started. I didn't write a lot those days and stuck to building the community on Steemit.Chat. I probably authored 20 posts until my accident in February this year.
Looking back, I think I've stayed true to my word of sticking with the platform and after 1.5 years, I am Steeming away full-time. I'm glad I set aside my project on cryptocurrency and spent those extra hours on Steemit. It was one of my best decisions ever.
Dear readers and Steemians, How did you find out about Steemit? What brought you here? I would love to hear your story in the comments below.
If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:
- Steemit Mentioned In: How to File Tax Returns in India for Your Bitcoin Profits—My Latest Feature In TheQuint!
- 4 Tips For Steemit Account Recovery & Wallet Security!
- Steemit.Chat Contest #7 + Contest #6 Winners Announcement!
I was researching the concept "Universal Basic Income" and had something about it on my Facebook page. A friend of mine posted a link to an article about the "Viva" project, which of course is a crypto-based initiative... so I went and checked it out. That article just happened to be posted on Steemit... so I looked at other articles on the topic here and realized that this seemed like a somewhat "smarter" type of social site.
I read a bit about Steemit next... and the idea of getting rewarded for blogging appealed to me... I'm a 20-year blogger and content writer, but I was deeply skeptical. But I decided to sign up.
By some stroke of fortune, a couple of "big fish" saw my introduction post, and it was even sent through the Steemit twitter... and about my 3rd or 4th post was picked up by @curie so I ended up getting off to a fast start. The rest, as they say, is history.
Its not just US getting rewarded, its that the ad revenue DOES NOT go back into big CORPS hands or allows control by them, so far lol. it really makes sense, the people watching the content SHOULD get rewarded along with the developers it levels the playing field, just look at the mess that is youtube for an example of corp policies at work lol! hint: (no freedom of speech)
I just saw it on Facebook. Still not sure what I'm doing here.
Get involved. Look around. Post your life away lol
I found it via youtube, one of my favourite journalist switched to steem because youtube kept censoring him and labelling his videos as "not appropriate" we all know how youtube and google are attacking alternative news media. Good to see steem flourishing.
Congratulations on your story man!
wow that is a quick start.Hello I'm new to steemit and I want to check what kind of site is this.Never listen to this social network and I would like to check how it is.Could you give me some advice on how to start? have good content and that people see my post?
a greeting
Post and comment every day, maybe your first month will be hard but don'g give up, you will get rewarded don't worry
Dollar vigilante! I was spending too many hours watching left of field videos on youtube and boom.
Great Story, @firepower!
I was guided here by my good (online) friend, I'll just call him "Stan". He has been my crypto-mentor and got me into Ethereum when it was $12!
I made some huge gains in 10 months by investing in the DAO at his urging. If I had just stayed with his recommendations I'd have over $100k in cryptos right now, but "live and learn" they say LOL!!!
I am doing much better now, I have a lot in STEEM and it will pay off. In fact, I have tripled my value, U$D wise in the last 2 months. Partly in steem increases and part in extra input from my recent BTC gains. BTC is dropping back down and Steem is still rising :D I am timing it right! Not perfect timing, but I am gaining on it.
This was my initial idea 2, I feel like steem ks here to stay, above other forms of cryptocurrency.
I was on youtube when i saw one of Jerry banfield's ads for steemit. If any of you has seen one, you'll know what I am talking about. It pulled me in, I did an introduction post and then forgot about it.
Few month later I log in, I see that a comment I had made on a post received two dollars worth of upvotes. I thought "wow, this actually has potential" and began to actually research everything I could about steemit.
Conclusion? It is in my opinion the most undervalued cryptocurrency, and I have invested a lot in it.
Found it searching around Crypto market cap at the top 50 coins and then just searching for each coin and what it was about. This then stumbled me on to steem where I now happily connect with others all while making some decent change.
@firepower, I have been knowing this young dude, Let's call him 'M' since perhaps over a decade, say early 2000 when we used to interact a while in motorcycle related group like XBhp forums. This dude was a highly energetic guy discussing and debating that far belied his age at that time. Then it was all forgotten as I moved on with my mundane life and riding less often.
Well, he was on my Facebook friend's list and occasionally we crossed the path as I read his post on riding or other stuffs as it flashed on my home page. I would give it a cursory glance and click the 'Like' button and forget about it.
Sometime in late May 2017 this year I saw a steemit post by him in Facebook and I just happened to read it just say for passing my time. That was the first time I read a steemit blog on steemit site. I was perplexed to see the 3 digit dollar at the end of his blog and I was like 'WTF?' It can't be true. That's when I took time to read more about steemit on its FAQ page to understand it better.
But then I was never a blogger in my life. though I had a blogging page with a couple of articles with single digit visitors, I always felt i am not cut out for blogging. My English was bad and I lacked imagination and was not net savvy by any measure. Moreover I never had any stories to tell. I believed that blogging required certain special skills, the ability to weave a story and narrate it succinctly and create a magic world to hold the attention and garner appreciation from the readers. I believed blogging is not my cup of tea.
And then I read that you get paid for curating and commenting too. Well that sounded easy.. Well a few nice comments here and there and I could probably see some dollars. And that got me interested.
All the while I never had any basic idea of cryptos. I never understood what steem was and how this worked. So I started prodding 'M' for more information. And he was like, Just register and post.
So I registered and then did nothing. One fine evening after downing a couple of drinks, I posted a completely stupid post which only a drunk can post :) The next day I realized my folly and 'M' said You can't delete it or undo it. this is blockchain. And I decided to forego that account and start clean and fresh. So I created a new account and my first introduction post was on June, 16th 2017.
steemit caught me like no other and I got deep into it. life began revolving around steemit and I was on a roller-coaster ride for next 2 months. till August mid. And then a series of mishaps, and I haven't posted anything since last 4 months and this is my first reply in steemit in last 4 months.
So everything that I know about steemit or my subsequent experience in cryptos I owe it big time to 'M'. Even though we have known each other for over a decade, I am yet to meet him in person. Some day soon.
So, 'M', take a bow, You have indeed made a difference in my life and introduced me to this wonderful world of cryptos, always have been supportive, encouraging, guiding, advising and been there for me always.
Hope that made a nice story of my tryst with Steemit :)
One friend talked me about it, but at the start, i didn't even believed him xD
It was introduced in a WhatsApp group I belonged to by some crypto enthusiasts.
I didn't really give it much thought initially until July this year that a friend on Facebook wrote up positive reviews on it. I signed up a month later and it's been the the best decision ever.
@rok-sivante got me hooked and addicted to cryptospace 🤪🤩🐬 back in June 2016 in Bali. I went through a very difficult breakup and Steemit saved me in a way because blogging kept me distracted and busy. I relocated to Vienna feeling secured with some STEEM in my wallet. It’s for sure a huge life changing experience since then. @firepower you were one of my first followers and I will always be thankful for those encouraging comments. I never wrote anything before in public. 💜 to all of you who stayed loyal reading my life stories and articles.
I opened this profile as well to help resteeming
BTW, when I saw you unfollowed me I was really sad 😢 and still crying 😭
through @steevc
I actually found out about it through @sjennon who found it through you. She knew I had a love for writing and she thought it would help me grow and give my emotions a healthy and productive outlet. This actually turned out to be true. I made some good friends, I’ve grown as a person. I still have some difficulty understanding crypto the whole buying and selling part but im getting a hold of it slowly. I have to thank you as well for making me feel so welcome on this platform.
I was at work, a hot sunny Tuesday afternoon. My colleague was busy typing furiously on his laptop. I jokingly asked him why he is typing like there is money involved. He replied in the affirmative. I thought it was a joke, I moved closer and asked again. He explained it briefly and my next question was 'have you ever collected money from it? he replied positively. I am working a job of less than $700 per month, any other thing to bring extra income is always welcomed to me. I have even tried many in the past. My mind was made up. I signed up and got approved almost immediately (I actually got invited from my colleague). I posted my introductory post which got about $7. I felt encouraged because every penny counts. The street aint smiling. I put in a lot of shifts, late nights, early bird, off work. Some of my posts got curated while some hardly made $1. It's been an emotional roller coaster ride. I am less than a month old and I am sure I will have a testimony like yours soon.
Hi @firepower, great post. I was advised to join steemit by my brother @thecryptodrive around a year ago. At that stage I was more interested in building my brand and subscriber base on YouTube so lost focus on steemit to be honest.
We actually used to follow eachother and speak on steemit chat back in August 2016 or so with my old account @Nelkel anyway, I'm glad to be back and offering some insight on Japanese sports and supercars to the community.
Good to see how much you have grown on this platform since the early days!
Keep up the fantastic work
i took a few years off from crypto....when i found out dan larimer was involved...no questions asked i joined...
I was browsing one day and saw an add that said "Get paid to blog". Then I said to myself "This could be interesting". I joined and that was the first day of the rest of my life.. Been enjoying it since!
Good story. Look into Flat Earth and you will be saying "the first day of the rest of your life", AGAIN! start here:
My previous manager knows that I am always online so he introduced me to Steemit he said that I will earn steem dollars for my posts and comments. Then he sent me the link and asked me to check it on google, I actually asked him if there's a fee and he said none. And the rest is history, I signed up and enjoy adding comments mostly to steemians whom I dont know, share my ideas, post blogs, join contests and meet new friends from around the world!
I am sending sincerest appreciation to @mike2la1 ! Thank you Boss ;-) .
Thank you very much @firepower ! Steemed!
Now you are here on Steemit, so you don't need your job anymore, or not? Lol
Good question @okean123 , I started a couple of weeks ago, for now I am doing both but hopefully soon I will focus on Steemit! ;-)
I first heard of Steemit while watching one of @Crypt0 videos and decided to give it a try. Steemit is a great platform overall, and I am excited to see what the future holds for Steemit and the cryptos as a whole!
Flat earth brought me to social media. Truth brought me to twitter and youtube censorship which then led me to steemit. I am hopeful.
A blogger I follow got flagged on youtube. So I switched to find his posts on steemit. I decided on the username "newtube"
Nice. Censorship is SCARY. U.S. IS a corporation, we went bankrupt right fter war for independence haha. The video explins it but most municipal courts hve flags with GOLD FRINGE which DESIGNATES military ADMIRAL law which means we HAVE NO rights (SLAVES just like they treat us!)in court only privelidges, it is DISGUSTING but we WILL WIN.
https://www.expose1933.com/3-gold-fringe-flag.html
Thank you :)
March this year i was looking for an youtube alternative and somehow i managed to find steemit and i regret nothing and now we (GaminGHD) are looking for a solution to move all our shows on D.Tube ! :) but till then i brought all my friends and my colleagues on the platform :)
I do back-ends for RTB / Header bidding sort of high-traffic stuff. So keep an eye on things related to content and steem I think got featured in HN. I tried to signup but it asked for a mobile number. Checked out the code and in general I try to setup things but since it was C++ it was little tough and left it there. That an year or so before the wired article. Even before the wired article I had suggested steem like models to some of the portals (who obviously didn't listen.) .... so thats my story :)
I saw this from a friend if I would remember it right. He said that he is earning some crypto currency here doing some write ups. Since I am frustrated writer I joined the band wagon. Unfortunately that friend of mine is not active anymore here on steemit :)
Amazing place to be and amazing people!!!!
Started going out to crypto events a few months ago and heard some folks talking about it. With a content background, it seemed like a good place to contribute thoughts and learn more from the folks already established on the platform.
Been going great so far.
Since I am currently unemployed, someone from steemit suggested me to try this platform. And now I got so hooked with it. Cannot stop it!
If you do this religiously, this can be a well paying full time job.
Yes. It has become and I am very happy!
Cheers. Followed you!
Jerry Banfield on Youtube - and also got me into crypto mainly bitcoin.. to which I would consider myself an expert among laymen now... and I have not only done well - of course- but it gave me a new outlook on what is wealth, and some goals for the future...
Also some of my buddies ( the ones that listened to my crazed rants) have done great! So thanks Jerry!!
I met this weird guy on Facebook chat and we just started talking about travel and stuff. No idea, but one thing led to another and the next thing I know is me checking in people at SteemFest. Right next to that guy. Weird right?
hahaha, I love that discovered Steemit through a "weird guy on Facebook." That is AMAZING.
Hahaha yeah. Super random and weird Indian guy called @firepower :D
Amazing post really nice.....I like it.thx for share😍
I landed up in Steemit when I was searching for crypto and mining in India. Someone in quora had mentioned that earning in steemit is much better than loosing out money on cloud mining. I was curious how people earn in steemit, initially though it would be another ponzi scheme and referral stuff but amazingly there is no 'referral' gimmick. Signed up and then learnt about STEEM and SBD, thats how my steemit journey started 80 days back.
Good post. I had been seeing your updates on Facebook and then went onto login and see what the hype was all about. Gave it a few days, read your winning streaks and how you were helping others out and the rest is history. Made my first post 5 months back and loving it here.
So much so that my better half signed up here too - @thecooldentist
PS: Guy, @firepower was not only the reason for my joining here, he's been constantly giving me tips and tricks about how to make the most here. Beer is on me the next time :-D
As @bunnypunia pointed out, you made him discover #Steemit and in turn we made me discover this place too :)
Shared to my Steemit Facebook & Twitter Group👍I discovered Steemit from going to Coinmarketcap... when I saw Steem, I was led to discovering Steemit
I was introduced to steemit by @firepower, and I've been posting daily ever since. I'm loving the concept. I regret converting my SBDs to steem and selling few more for ether when the prices were low. I'll stick to my SBDs from now on.
Dude, that's great. A really great work
Through youtube videos from @jerrybanfield :-)
I was searching some info about cryptocurency, you know that everybody is hyping about. And then I saw this great concept of modern writing. I thought, wooow what a great idea, we will only see some really good posts and articles, beacuse people will give something to make some mony and share it to. Well right now i think here is still some poor material, like some bad photos or look at my selfie and steem me stuff. But in future it will be more sophisticated and filtered, so yeah I would like to catch this chooo chooo. I know ever start is hard, but i will steem my ass for contribute in better steem content. Everybody fell free to follow my channel. Love
great place where is these.
Plitvice Croatia Europe. yah i like it to. Magical place for sure
i could live there and never get bored , its phynmnl
But world is so nice... It is to bad to stay only on one place ;)
From @shenoy, he would be behind my back after @firepower introduced him to steemit :D Indirectly, I am here, because of you :D
Some youtubers that I had been following had just gone through their first round of demonetization and I was reading the comments. One user mentioned steemit and it turned into a discussion between three users who all used steemit. I had been sharing my writing at Patreon but since there was nice immunity whatsoever there which made making money difficult but also made it not very fun.
So these comments in the youtube mentioned both the ability to get paid and a vibrant community so I came over right away. Also the fact that you are paid in crypto was a hug right plus as I had been following Bitcoin for years but had literally no savings to put into Bitcoin so I missed the first few chances to make money from it.
In a week I had more readers on steemit than I had on Patreon in months. The writing I do is a bit different, since steemit is not the best place for fiction as it takes a lot of energy to read, but the community is awesome and I've found other things I want to write as well. I'd still love to be able to promote my Patreon since some of my best writing is all there and doesn't disappear under a ton of new posts but steemit has been great!
I wrote my second post about my experience at Patreon and @ausbitbank resteemed it which was a huge help!
m intrset also in this topic go and steemit me follow me as i do follow you and upvotes you to there my dear frind at Steemit here you are @alhmali follow me upvoets me as well and so on we can learn from eachothers
and people said you could make money from this Link dwon there just have a look then you need to do click and you have to chick easy to regster at it
http://autopilotbitcoinfunnel.com/?userid=alhmi22
https://www.coinbase.com/join/53c9f13be4445b0837000001
https://bitconnect.co/?ref=Alhmali
I discovered #Steemit from a fellow connection who saw I was a #SocialMediaAddict on #LinkedIn. He recommended that I check this out and it might be a fit for me. I gave it a shot and in the long run I'll end up sticking to it. Long story short on how I found #Steemit!
I came here after I heard about steem in Jeff Berwick ( @dollarvigilante)'s report of the Venezuelan economy.
I thought steem like other cryptocoins was a scam at first but it seems like things are finally taking off here now.
I guess I dont even qualify to coment on this topic but I am truly thankful of the guy that introduced me to this platform. Of course he has to he a friend and of course he must be a crypto enthusiast. First I thought of this as a chance to earn some easy money. but the more time you spend on this platform the more knowledge you get, in my case about cryptocurrencies. Now I spend time here just for the pleasure to hang out with crypto enthusiasts and learn something from everybody. All I need to do is to visit your blogs.
Thank you for sharing your story and asking to your fellows steemians!
My story is much more pathetic.
Few months ago I started to like this guy, who I really liked and I only exchanged with him very few words.
I became friend with him on facebook, but he wouldn't post too much there, he would mainly share twitter. So I traced him on twitter and I discovered he was in this platform, not even very active.
I was curious and I subscribed, then I became passionate in the project.
I stopped to stalk that guy because it was a completely useless cause and I was being miserable, but HEY, look at me, now I am here thanks to the fact that I was a stalker!
Well, I was informed about steemit by @firepower 😂 Yup.. You itself.. Well it took me some time to get into it and understand how it works.. But various posts by you and some meet ups and definitely those conferences that you held made me understand how steemit works and functions..
I'm really glad to be on steemit and also managed to be part of steemfest this year.. Learnt a lot and still learning.. Achieved a lot thanks to you and steemit.. Made a lot of friends too..
The exposure and experience here is great.. Thanks a ton for introducing me to steemit bro 😘
I was going through Facebook Posts & going through comments, & one unknown person has mentioned about Steemit in the comments of a Facebook Post.
I am thankful to that unknown person,wish I would have have known him/her.
God Bless You
I discover steemit by a friend who does crypto mining. I just see an opportunity to make what I love and be paid for it. I make drone video. We can follow each other I like what you do.
My steemit: https://steemit.com/@shootout
I was researching how to not be dead broke while unemployed. sounded too good to pass up.
fantastic
I discovered Steemit through a friend but was not interested at first. He bugged my life about it and kept singing Steemit in my ear and even begged me to sign up. I sign up in October and tried it for a week then lost interest, I was then invited for a seminar in November and I went. Then I have it a go, I am happy I am here and that I didn't miss this great opportunity, I give thanks to @rufans for dragging my ass here. I am so happy
So i do just discovered it now days just 5 days and i'm still don't know how will work im just writing share and upvotes poepole and also i follow them so could you do supporte me how could i work at steemit
m intrset also in this topic go and steemit me follow me as i do follow you and upvotes you to there my dear frind at Steemit here you are @alhmali follow me upvoets me as well and so on we can learn from eachothers
and people said you could make money from this Link dwon there just have a look then you need to do click and you have to chick easy to regster at it
http://autopilotbitcoinfunnel.com/?userid=alhmi22
https://www.coinbase.com/join/53c9f13be4445b0837000001
https://bitconnect.co/?ref=Alhmali
I actually came here from a Norwegian forum called Freakforum when a user made a thread about it. No one really paid much attention to the forum thread, but I decided to check out Steemit to see what it was all about, and I've never looked back since then!
I was actually invited to join at some beta phase, can you believe it! Why exactly, and why me, I don't know. But those were stormy days, I did't have enough bb, enough time, or enough courage to dive in just then...so I politely refused - something I deeply regret.
I was working on an alternative currency idea at the time. It had nothing digital about it. In fact it centered only on finding a parity better than gold to link the value of currencies to - one that would defeat inflation. So I became intrigued with using energy as a link between money and reality, because energy relates to production, and production lies at the heart of all real economies, and I was discussing the possibilities of this with several people on the www. Maybe it was this that one of the original participants had picked up - I will probably never know, as my records of that lie buried several devices and hard drives ago, maybe irretrievably so.
Anyhow, the name and the concept stuck. Then a friend re-invoked my interest in alternative currencies, also in Bitcoin, that I had also taken note of at it's birth , by mentioning crypto's earlier this year. This in turn stirred my by this time rather vague memory of 'steem-whatever' as a likely platform on which to learn more and to possibly work on.
So I 'googled' it, found steemit.com, explored it extensively, joined - and here I gratefully am, again pursuing the possibilities of a currency related to reality in a way that makes a lot of sense to me! Energy, after all, lies at the basis of our very existence.
Imagine a perfect currency, distributed in the perfect way, developed by members of this community, by making use of the technical means this platform runs on - imagine the income it can generate for this community and imagine the wonderful spirit of participation in establishing it that could come from making it work!
Thank you Dan, Ned - and all the others that maintain this beautiful platform!
Great to read this story of success man! 😎
I just heard about steam 3 day ago, listing to one of my standard podcasts. After 3 years of trying to do something different with photography on Instagram, I have found that the superficiality of people on there is what made me look elsewhere. 🤨
Everybody is just always trying to say nice things. That's sweet and all, but never of the 14 000 followers I got there, have I got anything negative about my work. Something that is just not even remotely possible. I LOVE feedback in real life, and also some genuine interest instead of the fake spam comments I got there a lot!😆
I hope to see a new kind of social interaction since, I found the spirit behind Steem enormously encouraging.
Let me shoot to relief hospital acquired emotional stress as a medicine student, and hopefully show other people some of my art. 🙃
But above all, lets see if there will be some genuine feedback on this platform.
Great post, and great question! Keel it up!💪