Life of an Early Adopter

Thinking at the potential of Steem, and even that we are only a little over two years into the project, on a highly vanguardist domain of the blockchains, we can consider ourselves early adopters of Steem.

However, compared to present times, if we listen to the stories of the Steemians who joined right from the beginning or at most a few months in, we realize, every single month, maybe every single day counted.

Really early on, it was possible to mine STEEM traditionally, a feature which was soon retired. This was a sort of ICO we see these days, and those who knew about it, had the technical expertise to set it up, were able to pile up large amounts of STEEM. Some of the now whales started out this way.

A few months after, rewards from blogging become a thing on Steem because, even if activity wasn't nearly a fraction of what it is today, the rewards were there and split by the few who started to blog.

Some gave up after a few thousand out-of-the-blew dollars earned, others are still here but are now investors only, while some are still blogging to this day, and have done it continuously during this time.

In between that time and now, there were larger or smaller fluctuations of the reward pool and of the activity on the platform, mostly generated by the price of STEEM. These were not always predictable, so those who kept writing, took advantage of them.

^Source

At some point, about a year ago, DTube showed up, and people with an affinity to video content started vlogging instead of blogging. Turns out video content and live streaming was (and is) another way to boost earnings, while remaining a content creator.

With entering to scene of the bidbods (and previously, using other more primitive methods), a way to create ROI passively was created. All while generating a bunch of issues with the trending page, curation, and concentration of Steem Power on these services.

But lately, different kind of DApps rose up and offered alternative passive investment opportunities.

At the same time, all of these new projects start by offering pretty high incentives and benefits to their first-wave investors/delegators/users. In time, those benefits attenuate and will reach the level intended. But the first-wave users/investors get to keep their initial rewards.

And there will be more and more DApps after SMTs, each of them offering their own early adopter opportunities.

At the same time, being part of communities can be rewarding, besides the relationships you build and the help you can get or offer at your turn. This again has a good chance to raise to a higher level after the SMTs and communities are here.

As time goes by, some opportunities close. As mining STEEM did long time ago, so the huge rewards from blogging are no longer as easy to reach (and will become even more scarce, with more users joining). Some projects you support may reach a phase when you'll think you'd better be somewhere else or do something else with your stake here on STEEM.

You are a stakeholder. You are an early adopter, in a fluid ecosystem, where changes happen quickly (it's not by chance it's compared to an ocean, and we, with fish). Learn to adapt!