There seem to be a lot of people giving up on Steemit lately, discouraged by the low value of cryptos at the moment. Here are my still-rather-a-noob thoughts on why you shouldn't give up. I am not a crypto expert, though I try and learn all that I can. This is just based on what I have seen in my time at Steemit.
image from blogspot
One:
You know all those people with 60something plus reps? Go to their main blog page and see when they joined Steemit. Unless they bought their way to whaledom, they've been here a while, and your account doesn't grow by opening it and then abandoning it. They kept going - and, btw, if you didn't know it yet, the price of Steem and Steem dollars was historically MUCH LOWER than those highs we saw in December and January. They kept at it when SBD was pegged to a dollar and Steem was LESS than a dollar. Now they are powerful whales.
If you want long-term success, you need sticktuitiveness (not my original word, but I can't remember who coined it). If you want instant gratification, well, I dunno, play a video game. Can you build a following on ANY social media platform in a month? A real one? If you're not already a celebrity? No. It's the same on Steemit. It takes time to find your tribe. Meanwhile, you are socking away small amounts of Steem Power, making yourself more powerful on the site, and increasing your reputation (unless you spam people, in which case, fuck you 😘).
Two:
Even if you are only getting pennies per post and right now Steem and SBD are low, if you can HODL, and they go back up, suddenly those pennies become dollars.
If you trade those SBDs for various other cryptos, and THOSE go to the moon, suddenly they become worth much more as well.
I too am way below the poverty line. I understand that some of us have immediate needs that weren't being met until Steemit and then they were and now you worry that they won't be again. I get it that you can't HODL every penny. But I try and HODL as much as possible, and at the very least, I consider the Steem Power untouchable and never power down, so even if I use the SBDs for life needs, I am still growing. Think of it like if you had a job and you arranged it so that every paycheck, $50 went into your retirement account. The idea being that if you never see the money in your bank account, you think of it as not existing and don't spend it, whereas if it was there, you'd simply not budget as well and use it up somehow. Think of Steem Power like your retirement account. If there is a real emergency, like, you need it to pay rent or you'd be homeless, you can always cash out. But you don't unless it's really dire. I'm used to being impoverished. I can hold out a while. Yup, it would be super nice to get a laptop, or an ebicycle, both of which would make my life a lot easier. But I haven't had them until now ...I can wait a while longer.
Three:
When you get paid on Steemit, the system bases your payment based on the real price of Steem, but imagines that SBDs are still worth a dollar - this is why the breakdown has been more SBD than Steem. When Steem value is low, you are getting more Steem per payout (we've even been getting some liquid Steem now, see other posts that explain why like this one: https://steemit.com/steemit/@spiritualmax/answering-why-am-i-getting-liquid-steem-from-author-rewards ...by @spiritualmax). So the basic outcome of this is, you power up faster. Your Steem Power gives no fucks what the dollar value of Steem is, it cares how many Steem you have locked down in SP. If you have 400 SP, you have 400 SP, whether Steem is $1 US or $6. Amassing as much as you can while it's low will help you more than only getting a pittance when it's high. Again, it's short term-long term thinking. If you are thinking of one Steem as two dollars, you wish it was six dollars again. But if you think of Steem as more like shares of a stock, now you're maybe getting three shares instead of one share like you did when it was worth more. Here's what I mean:
Let's go back yo your imaginary retirement account. When you auto-deposit that $50, you are buying shares of a mutual fund, at whatever price they are at the time. So in January you put $50 toward Steem Mutual Fund, and you got .5 shares of stock. In February you put in $50, and you got .75 shares. Now your $50 gets you a full share.
When you retire (or cash out), you hopefully have amassed lots of shares of stock which you can sell when the market is high again. If you were only getting half a share of stock every month, you'll have less stock to sell come retirement. But those dips in the market where your $50 bought more stock help you down the line, because now you have lots more shares to sell.
The reason why so many baby boomers were wrecked in 2008 (regarding their retirement accounts, not prople who lost their homes because of the foreclosure crisis) was because they were ready to retire just then, when stock prices crashed. If they were able to say, oh, bad timing, I'll keep working until the market recovers and THEN retire ...they're probably okay now, because the market did indeed rebound. They're probably BETTER OFF now if they did that, because if they kept working and kept buying stocks when their prices were really low, now they had a lot more to sell.
Cryptos are like the stock market in that it's volitile, and ergo, a long term game. If you ever read financial advice, they say if you are younger, you can invest in riskier, and potentially far more profitable, stocks, because you have decades until you need to retire and can ride out the market booms and busts. But if you are opening a new retirement account when you're 50, they might recommend you invest in more conservative things like big funds of established stocks or bonds, because if you retire when a 2008 crash hits ...you're fucked.
So, just think, yay! I'm getting more Steem Power! In the long run, you're benefiting!
Four:
Do you get paid on Facebook or Twitter? Maybe those thousand followers hit those dopamine receptors in your brain, but on those sites, YOU are the product, and the Zuckerbergs of the space are the ones profiting off you. Now I'm not gonna say I have closed my Facebook, because that's where a lot of friends are and that's how we keep in touch. But I spend a lot less time there, and a lot more time here now. Here I am investing in my future, and pennies are dropping into MY account instead of Zucc's. Sounds good to me, if you're gonna shoot the shit online anyway...
And there you have it, my reasons to keep at it even when the market sucks. When we're all dolphins with high reps and new red fish complain how "lucky" we are, we'll laugh, and laugh. Good times. 😁
That Red Fish your momma always warned you about
Referral links:
Get free Manna, crypto UBI: https://www.mannabase.com/?ref=6e4b50d35e
Join Simbi, the barter economy website: https://simbi.com/wren-paasch/welcome
Get SEED in an airdrop, for a crypto Farmville type game: http://ref.bits.farm/?code=NDU3ODg=
Exactly. Love that you wrote this and put it all together. A lot of these things I keep in my mind while the price is low. Definitely like looking out for your future self!! Good thoughts ✨🙏🌙
Thank you. Yes, it's a long term investment in YOU! 😃👍
Loved this...Nothing like a good kick up the ass to make you feel good. Thanks for the pep talk 😎
Wow, that was Powerful!
I loved every minute of that spiel Phe, I feel energized and like you perfectly said what I've been feeling this whole time, you articulated it so so so well! !00% upvote. restem. done. LOLOLOL *spammers can fuck off, that was awesome too hahahahaha!!
This
That’s one of my big selling points to people when I tell them about Steemit. You rant and rave on Facebook. You never get paid. Even if you think cryptocurrency devalues down to zero, you’ve lost nothing other than time off of Facebook.
I’ve managed to get a few people on Steemit that I know by saying that!
Aw, thanks! 😃
Thanks for the motivation. I keep telling myself I am arriving at the perfect time. After all there is no where to go but up from where I am sitting.
Exactly! That's a great perspective.
Well, it could fall 50% from here. Or 75%, or 99%. "It can only go up from here!!" is one of the big investing "DONT"s.
The fundamentals for Steem are excellent, so I don't think it will fall too much further right now. But that's not up to Steem's fundamentals, it's up to the greater cryptocurrency market, which is still in pullback mode.
Oh I know you are right. That is pretty realistic. Still I am willing to bet on an increase especially over the long term I don't have too much tied up in it just in case.
I agree with you! keep posting :)
Thanks! :)
Hello @phoenixwren,
1% of a tree has been planted for You 🌴
We are very grateful for your support @montaquilaa
Let's make Mother Earth a greener place!
Agree with all of this, but some people are moving on because this was the wrong place for them to be in the first place. They weren't interested in investing in the long-term (or maybe they couldn't afford to) and getting out of the way of the people who do want to do this is the best idea.
That's probably true too, not everything is the right fit for everyone. But I've seen a lot of people with great potential just vanish or rage about it like it's ruined now.
Yes. You've written a really helpful post with a lot of insight for those people.
Awesome and very insightful thoughts here my friend, in addition to their rep, I also look at the number of posts, they have, that number also includes comments, so you know that the folks with really high ones are super involved engaging with the community, it's a grind for SURE!
Each rep point is 10x harder to get than the last, so the diference between 69 and 70 is much more of a gap than 29 and 30- keep up the great work <3
Yes, the number of posts, too! A great point.
Man I'm tellin' ya, I got to rep 50 really fast, and now it's like running through molasses, but I'm still moving! LOL
This post was amazing i realize why my sp is power down its good to continue power up
I'm glad if it was helpful, thanks!
I am still here and hanging on..just up to my earlobes in moving my mother and getting her house ready to sell. I feel so out of the loop now..I know everyone is still there, somewhere in the background. I think I have done about 3 posts. It is just too hard. Miss my new Steemit life. hopefully will be back soon. xx
I knew you were busy and figured that's why I hadn't seen much from your blog of late! We miss you too. We'll be here whrn you get back. 💚
thank you xx
Nice article!
It’s always good to get a reminder of why I came over here in the first place, and to keep blogging here.
I saw someone who thought STEEM will get $100 US by the end of 2018. Dare to dream!
Right? Then all the people who leave now would be like, "Why did we quit??"
I'mma be over here, slowly building my Steem Power. Maybe it'll spike, maybe it won't, but I'll still be better off. 😁
Yep, if I wasn’t here I’d probably be on Facebook anyway. I’d rather be here even if it doesn’t make me rich.
Just saw this, great points!! People who think there going to get rich fast on steem will fail misberly. People who come here and embrace the community and focus on their passions, and what they like are the ones who succeed! Resteeming this beauty 👍
Thank you! :) Yeah, one of the things I like about Steemit is it's generally pay-it-forward minded. You don't see that on Facebook!
So true! Whoever comes by my page to comment i always go to there page to upvote and comment. I used to follow everyone that did but I’m start to ween down doing that. Tired of post I’m not interested in blocking the post i care for. I’m just being more vigilant on stuff like that now.
Yeah, follow-follow keeps you from seeing quality content, or just content that interests you, and your feed ends up looking like the front page. NTM, some people follow expressly hoping you will follow back, not because they actually read or care about your content. I do try and pop over to the blog of people I see around a lot, though!
yeah I'm with you, stick with it, everything in life goes up and down we just have to ride it, in the long run it will all be worth it, but right now we get to be part of a great community that has so many awesome members and are sharing so much knowledge. For me it's a win win either way.
I swear I'll never work out how Steemit works, and I wouldn't say I'm that dumb a person :-(
It seems very very complicated, especially to newbs like me. I have so many questions about it..
Like sometimes when I go to my wallet I get to 'claim rewards', but what happens if I don't claim ? I kinda worked out that 'power down' means sell and take money ? Should I be transferring everything to savings or just leave it wherever it ends up ? What are vests and should I be concerned ? If voting power is rationed (I'd been upvoting posts like crazy until someone told me to space them out), how soon does it replenish ? Why does 'market' say Steem is worth $1 when exchanges say it's $2.30 ? Arent they the same thing ? When I post, is 50/50 reward better than power up ? What happens if I decline ? Should I be upvoting my own posts ? How do you get Steem tokens, what are they used for ? My Steem power is delegated, for how long and does it make any difference to anything ? I have $0.17 Steem dollars but my account is worth $0.51 based on that value ?
Sorry, am not asking anyone to answer, just questions I have off the top of my head :-) I just don't want to be doing something that's harming my account instead of helping it :-( I have read a lot of newb guides, but I didn't really understand them either...lol. To be honest I'm kinda glad I'm only here for the social and don't have to worry about the money stuff (I'm lucky to have a good job), it just bugs me that I don't understand something lol.
Go to steemd.com/@tradergurl and it will show you some important stats. Alternatively, steemnow.com/@tradergurl
If you don't claim it will just sit there asking you to claim it, as far as I know.
Powering down weakens your vote value/how much you give people when you upvote them and how much you can earn in curation rewards, it takes thirteen weeks to power down, dividing your steem power into thirteen chunks and making it liquid steem, which then you can sell for fiat money on exchanges.
Savings really has no purpose since it's not paying any interest.
Vests are the more complicated version of Steem Power. When you get a million vests, you graduate from red fish to minnow (I resteemed a blog from @marionbowes explaining this if you want to go look for it, earlier this week).
The stats sites I mentioned will tell you your current vote power and how long until it replenishes. Basically you don't want to bring it much below 80%.
Steem dollars used to be tethered to a US dollar, which is why payouts treat them as such. It's a bonus to us that they left it that way.
If your goal is to power up, 50/50 reward is better when SBD is worth more than Steem, because then you can buy more Steem with the SBD than you would have gotten in rewards.
If you decline, you get no rewards even if people upvote you.
Upvoting your own posts is not prohibited, but generally frowned upon. Less so if you are new, or do it only occasionally.
If you mean Steem, that is above Steem Power in your wallet, they are just the spendable version of Steem Power. It's the same, but Steem Power is just locked away and would take thirteen weeks to get it all out. We are getting a little bit now in author rewards (see the post I linked explaining why), or you can buy some in the market with SBD, or you can power down.
Your delegated power is "on loan" Steem Power to help new people have bigger votes/curation. It stops once you reach a certain level (mine stopped when I had 200 sp of my own). You can also get delegated power from nice people who want to help you out, contests, and by buying some in places like Blocktrades.
Your account value is based on SBD, liquid Steem, and Steem Power in your wallet.
wow, thanks for the long reply ! I understand it a bit better now, thanks, and thanks for the link. I did say I wasn't asking anyone to answer, but I'm glad you did :-)
No worries. It's a learning curve for sure!
to be honest once I build up any money I'll give it to a charity on here, if such a thing exists ? Am sure there are plenty of people living on $s a day that could use it more than me. I'd like to get my reputation score up but that's it, people associate low rep with 'not worth reading' unfortunately :-(
There are always fundraisers and such around; you can donate to a one time fundraiser, plant trees, fund schools in developing nations - those are just a couple that I know about. :)
thank you, will need to have a look. I'm currently worth $0.51 so won't be bailing out any third world economies just yet... but nice to know there are some worthy causes on here worth donating to.