Mini Motivation #69 - The Heart of a Volunteer

in #community6 years ago (edited)

Dedicated to the community builders of teammalaysia - @bitrocker2020, @littlenewthings, @elizacheng, @aaronleang, @joannewong, @karinzdailygrind, @zord189, @orangila, @danieldoughty, @wilsonkoh, @veenang, @davidke20 and probably more, but hey, you guys missed at the epic hangout last night :)

Yesterday as I had dinner with a few of the active team members of teammalaysia, we were reminded that despite being able to earn some cryptocurrency when organizing community initiatives (if we create content around the events), we weren't really doing it for the money.

Over the past few months of being on Steemit, I have been asked many times (and I'm sure so has the other community builders of teammalaysia), if we're "full time" on Steemit. That's because to others, sometimes they don't really see the value of spending time on something that they won't get paid (furthermore in real "money").

Sure, we earn Steem when we engage on the platform (creating and curating contents), but truth is, we could have done it without running any of the offline events and initiatives. Meetups, workshops, intro talks, themed events (steem-music, myjuniors, etc) all take time and effort to run. And truth be told, we may collect commitment fees, but that's just to cover for the cost of the events, and the extras were donated anyway. We hardly get compensated for our personal expenses towards the events anyway.

I can understand why others would question our efforts, because really, why would we spend time on something that's not "deemed" worthwhile? Why not just rest up our feet, spend time with our families, go shopping even?

That's where we usually take the opportunity to educate them, that we're doing it for more than just money. Shared interest, camaraderie, a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, education, we all have our own reasons, and trust me, it has hardly anything to do with money. Why? Because if it is, we'd be doing other more "productive" stuff - creating contents, planning what to write, earning curation rewards etc.

Such is the heart of community builders and volunteers, and over the years of being involved with community builders, I can say it's in the genes too. Sure, we all need money to pay the bills, which is why we still have our day jobs. The key difference is how we spend the extra time we can afford in the evenings and weekends.

Look, I can go on to explain the intrinsic rewards you'll get when you take part in community building, but nothing beats rolling up your sleeves and dipping your feet in the water.

So if you really want to know how it feels like, and want to experience something that truly money can't buy, then volunteer yourself in one of the community initiatives, or take part in initiating one yourself.

There's a chance that after doing so, you may walk away with nothing, which is fine, because at least you've tried it, and know it's not for you. Curiosity satisfied.

But, on the off chance that you do feel something stirring within at the end of the event - a sense of satisfaction knowing you've contributed, the happiness when others thank you for doing a good job, a round of applause for a job well done - then my friend, you will then understand the drive within us, the fire that fuels every community builder, and the heart of a volunteer.

Mini Motivation is my own daily strategy to inspire myself. Mostly 3 minute reads.

From Motivation, we gain Inspiration. From Inspiration, we achieve Momentum. And the rest, they say, is history.

Hope it helps nudge you a bit too in the right direction.

Oh it did? Let me know in the comments, and of course an upvote would be a nice motivation for me. :)

Stay awesome!


Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I mostly blog about Steemit Success Strategies, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology, community and random thoughts.

Talking about Steemit Success Strategies, if you want to 10x your results on this platform, perhaps some of these guides will be able to help you.

  1. How to generate at least 365 post ideas for your Steemit Life (and possibly never run out of ideas again!)
  2. 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 1)
  3. 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 2)
  4. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
  5. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles
  6. Steemit Success Strategies #1 - The Law of Requisite Variety
  7. Steemit Success Strategies #2 - Batching + Parkinson's Law
  8. How to apply the 80/20 rule to your Steemit Life
  9. Steemit Experiment Report: 21 days, 21 minutes, 21 posts later, PLUS an 8-Step Guide on How to Write a Steemit Post every day under 30 minutes
  10. Case Study on Bid Botting - A Steemit Bootcamp follow-up module, a cheatsheet and why I probably won't use it

At least once a month, I run Steemit community events and training workshops with my buddies at #teammalaysia too. Some examples are:

  1. Steemit Bootcamp March 2018 - KICKSTART Your Steemit Success
  2. BoilerRoom 03.03.2018 | Let's Huddle, Hustle & Hack Out Awesome Steemit Contents!

I'm also grateful to be part of #steemitbloggers , SmartSteem and the sndbox.

Steemit Bloggers

Appreciator
Animated Banner Created By @zord189

follow_maverickfoo.gif


Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?

Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD5, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:

  • Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
  • Upvote (like) other people contents
  • Comment on other people's posts
  • Have discussions, share opinions etc!

Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!

The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!

Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome

Sort:  

Very well said !!! When the time comes, #teammalaysia will reap the benefit.. great motivation post @maverickfoo

Ah yes. I need to tag you too, brother! You also a community builder mah. Someone need to manage @danieldoughty right? Haha.

Don’t worry he is a big boy already .. hehe ..

That's what I'm worried about...

Great motivation as always. Over 2am and still continue on conversation. You guys are really immortal. A salute to all of you. Keep the momentum and Steem on!

2am? Man, I had to click out early last night. Got another bootcamp today. Just ended. Tired.... Haha

Should be energetic because more events coming up. Haha.

Haha. Do help to promote the upcoming 100degrees events though. 100degreestalentbank.eventbrite.com

I think I'll do a short post on Facebook and tag you guys

Will do and share it out in Facebook.

Great motivation @maverickfoo. We are here to build the community and by doing offlines meetups or events, we surely could get new community builders. Small communities build bigger communities. 💪🏼. Bravo to the unsung heroes of @teammalaysia community builders.

I think for the new friends I've made over the past few months on Steemit, it's worth more than the cryptos I have accumulated (adjusted for inflation even!).

Anything is possible my friend @maverickfoo. I was thinking of Rosmah last night. Imagine if she only donated one of her watches into STEEM POWER. Wow!!! What we could do with it. That's a thought for a future discussion 😊👍🏻

We got to send our best emissaries over. Count me out. :)

@zord189 maybe

Well said @maverickfoo! and we always welcome more volunteers to join onboard 😉

Congrats again on your rep 65 😆

Haha, thanks. End of the day, just a number. I rather be a Rep 25 with 25B SP. Oh wait, that's Rosmah

Jeng Jeng Jeng​ 🙈

Nice article. True happiness is when we give something highly valuable without expecting anything in return. Thanks for the motivation.

Awesome motivation @maverickfoo . It is always a great thing to build and work with a community.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.17
TRX 0.15
JST 0.028
BTC 60045.81
ETH 2420.35
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.43