What I have learned so far / My First Purchase of Steem / And what NOT to do!

Hello Steemians!

Just wanted to share with you my first experience purchasing steem with the intention of converting it to STEEM POWER for more curation rewards.

I set myself up an account on coinbase, as I had heard from a few different people that it is a reputable site to use. I like how they have two factor authentication to keep your account safe, and also an option to have a coin "vault", which is more secure than a regular wallet.

My first order of business was to purchase some bitcoin. Currently I am doing OK financially, however I am in the process of purchasing my first piece of real estate, so funds are tight. I figured $200 was a decent amount to get me started but also wouldn't break the bank.

From there I transferred the bitcoin to my account as STEEM, and POWERED UP! I have to say I was a bit nervous this being my first cryptocurrency transaction. I knew bitcoin took 10+ minutes to transfer, but that didn't do anything to help my anxiety in the slightest while I waited. Sure enough, about 15-20 minutes later, I saw a notification come in that I had received my STEEM.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR

I decided it might be helpful for newcomers such as myself to have a list of the things I have found to be helpful so far. I have added them below:

A very informative site that displays all of your steem stats, or the stats of any user. Just put their username in and voila!
https://steemd.com/@chivesz

Rate limit status - Here is a site that will tell you if you should make another post today, or not. After making a certain number of posts, the STEEM generated from each one will be decreased. This is to encourage quality content. Check below to see if you are good to make another post, or should wait a while.
http://www.steemdollar.com/limitstatus.php?name=%40chivesz

Check voting power with this site. Also tells you how much your vote is worth at a given percentage.
https://www.steemnow.com

hardfork 19 explained - Still a little confused on this whole situation if I'm being honest, but very informative post nonetheless.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@sidwrites/hardfork19-and-here-s-everything-you-need-to-know

WHAT NOT TO DO!

First and foremost, I should have been more PATIENT. With how the cryptocurrency markets fluctuate, I'm thinking I should have kept my eye on the price of bitcoin as well as steem for a while longer before making my purchase. I wanted to make sure I had more STEEM POWER, and I'm OK with paying a bit more than I probably could have if I was more patient, because I'm hoping in the long term, the curation rewards that come from buying now will be worth my being impatient.

Enjoy the weekend everyone, keep on steeming!