Investing in Yourself. I Just converted my first STEEM dollar into Steem Power, was that wise?

First off I am an infant on here, but after suffering silently on other Social Media platforms, I see the intrinsic potential of Steemit.  I like the idea/reality that I can get paid for my content, I like that I can help others spread good ideas and I love that we are all empowered by technologies hitherto unavailable for the masses.  Now that I have started my journey, I'm trying to learn about the platform, how it works, the benefits of being here instead of elsewhere to do one's shining, whatever that may be, and how to make the most of the ride.

That said, I have been on here for a little bit more than a week and I am starting to get the hang of it.  My first posts, while understandably ignored, continued to get more presentable (not much of a blogger, til you, dear Steemit) and easier to write, properly categorize and embellish with all the tools at our disposal as prosumers (Jeremy Rifkin's term from The Zero Marginal Cost Society, not mine).

I've also been hard at work reaching out to all my talented and interesting friends who are happily sharing content with other sites that allow them to express themselves but do little to share the value of that content with them.  As a result, it has been a joy to see so many taking off so quickly.  A friend of a friend wrote a nice story about time travel and made some nice coin for his contributions.  Another brilliant friend wrote another article about AI and even gave a beautiful performance at an 'openmic' on here, receiving close to $3oo for those two alone.  While I haven't 'struck gold' on here, that's not really my sole intent.  It is nice to see that people can get paid, and perhaps someday I'll be eating ice cream on vacation paid for by witty banter enjoyed on here by the masses, to date, I see only a few bucks in my wallet and with no Cryptoconnections of my own, i decided I would invest my hard earned STEEM into Steem power and hope that that will help me out.  Question is, how?

If I just want to use my knowledge and influence on here (coughed the mouse) to share and promote good ideas about how we can all live higher quality, more sustainable lives using the best information I and others have access to while answering questions and whatnot...  Am I better off just living entirely in the Steem world or should I be getting other currencies too/instead, at least sometimes, you know, for ice cream?

I also like the idea of being able to raise and direct funds to worthy causes so my initial plan was to maintain myself like a personified, benevolent economy that can, when appropriate, use funds to manifest seeds, books, land and power systems across the world, one project at a time.  I don't know how to do that, but part of me knows you can.  Not unlike a toddler watching car races.  I know it is possible to drive, I just don't see from where I am standing, how I AM going to be driving someday.

Help me , oh Wise Whales!!!  Give this spec of algae a mighty load so that I may spread and prosper!

Your advice is more appreciated at this point than your upvote, but you could also better explain that part too.

Many thanks,

@ecoknowme