SteemChallenges - Behind the Steem ... with @jaybird

Steemchallenges ...

In this series we will get behind the scenes with the people running imaginative, innovative and inspiring challenges here on Steemit.

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@jaybird

Today we meet @jaybird from Canada who runs the Steemit Sandwich Contest and who has inspired creativity on the platform, in the words of one of his contestants "he provided a platform as well as encourage those who are passionate about creativity to create without boundary".

Steemit Sandwich Contest - The Interview

EROCHE	Hi @jaybird, nice to meet you, lets start this interview with a bit of background about yourself.
	How long have you been on Steemit and how did you hear about it?
JAYBIRD	Nice to meet you as well. I joined in September of 2016 and was introduced to Steemit by my good friend and fellow SteemBird @dan-atstarlite
EROCHE	Lets talk a little about Steemit. Your profile describes your interests as “Music/Food/Photos/Travel/Creative”.
	How has Steemit helped you enjoy these interests?
JAYBIRD	Steemit has helped me enjoy these interests in a variety of ways through my own content production and also through the content of others.
	Musically, it’s been very rewarding sharing my live performance videos with the community, getting the opportunity to significantly develop song writing and solo musicianship skills in the process and then checking out what my fellow musicians are outputting as well. I’ve always loved writing and performing music and Steemit has helped feed this joy by providing a purpose and place for some of my work. Additionally, I’m collecting a few bucks on each post which makes what I’m doing feel valuable on a secondary level. Perhaps even more important is that I’m also obtaining community feedback from (initially perfect strangers) both strangers and my Steemit music colleagues.
	More recently, I’ve enjoyed some moderate success with my Steemit music projects called “The SteemBirds.” This is a very interesting and significant project to me since the band exists only because Steemit exists. It would never have been created otherwise!
	In terms of Food, Travel, Photography and other Creative endeavours. Steemit has provided me with a platform and avenue to explore these hobbies more seriously. Previously, I was unable to focus much on any of my “secondary” passions because my primary attention was on making a living as a musician. Now I consider myself to be both a full time musician and a Steemit Blogger (blogging being an activity that I never expected to be interested in, or do full time)
	I also consider Steemit to be a wealth of information. I’ve learned so much from engaging in this ecosystem and I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the content that my fellow Steemians have produced.
	Steemit has also allowed me to create and run the Steemit Sandwich Contest (SSC), which is a weekly community event & food battle. It aims to connect Steemians from all walks of life who share an insatiable love for sandwiches while encouraging them to mingle through friendly competition and reward.
EROCHE	What is the greatest benefit to professionals (such as photographers/artists/creative people) of being on Steemit?
JAYBIRD	Probably the most significant benefit for professionals on Steemit is an access to opportunity with seemingly unlimited potential. Steemit appears to offer artists a distinctive avenue for content creation and production. It’s a new system for posting your work and making money, which did not exist a couple of years ago.
EROCHE	Who is the most influential person on Steemit in your opinion?
JAYBIRD	The most influential person on Steemit is probably Ned. However, I haven’t yet had much opportunity to interaction with him. So for me, there are other community members who seemingly have a more direct impact on what I’m doing and thus might be considered to be the most influential (for me specifically).
EROCHE	This interview is about a regular challenge your running so lets talk about that for a few moments.
	Why are challenges and contests important for Steemit?
JAYBIRD	Contests are great community building opportunities on Steemit. Open Mic for example is what initially hooked me. It helped me to gain momentum early on and earn my first few rewards. Additionally it provided an opportunity to meet and engage with other like minded people on Steemit.
EROCHE	What motivated you to create the Steemit Sandwich Contest?
JAYBIRD	The motivation for Steemit Sandwich Contest came from approximately 10 month of yearning to create my own Competition here on Steemit. I had been food blogging for a number of months and my posts seemed to have some success in that area. I started posting pictures of my huge sandwiches dubbing them “manwiches” and soon after, I began “thedailymanwich” thread. It was around that time that I started to realize how vast the food community was on Steemit and how there didn’t appear to be a lot of ongoing food related contests. Also at the time, people really seemed to be enjoying my “Manwich” creations and I received a lot of positive feedback, as well as comments regarding Steemians wanting to make their own sandwiches, or others reminiscing about how they used to make a certain type of sandwich in high school etc…
	This got me thinking…Maybe people wanted and needed a reason to make sandwiches on Steemit and fortunately, I finally felt like I was in a position where I could effectively admin and support a Contest. My hope is that SSC might continue to promote community involvement & engagement over something fun and hilarious.
EROCHE	Many people starting out on steemit seek out challenges to help them get started.
	Do you have any advice for new steemians who just started on Steemit?
JAYBIRD	Sure, enter as many Steemit competitons as possible! It’s a great way to begin networking and meeting other community members as well as accumulating rewards.
EROCHE	Who is your favorite Steemit author
JAYBIRD	I don’t have one particular favourite. Something that I assign high value to here on Steemit (in that regard) is that there are a number of really great Authors who I believe are outputting consistently good and interesting content.
EROCHE	What is your favourite Steemit App
JAYBIRD	I don’t use a lot of apps, however, steemwiki, steem.chat and steemdollar have been very useful to me in the past. Also steemd or steemstats.
EROCHE	Many thanks for your time @jaybird.
JAYBIRD	My pleasure. Thank you for taking the time to conduct this interview and feature Steemit Sandwich Contest! I very much appreciate your efforts towards what you’re accomplishing with the steemchallenges website!

No time like the present, why not enter a challenge on steemit today...

@jaybirds contest will be featured on SteemChallenges for the next week but we will also be adding new challenges to the site daily. Looking for a place to get started on Steemit? Why not enter one of the inspiring challenges and meet some great people!

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Previous Interviews

• SteemChallenges - Behind the Steem ... with Paolo Beneforti

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Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Travel and lots of random topics.

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