Steemit Engagement Challenge Season5 Week5 : The interview, where the protagonist is me.

Namaste 🙏 🙏 to all of you. My name is Lavanya, from India, a housewife.

This is my entry post for the ongoing contest about The Interview, Where the Protagonist Is Me by the #Colombia-Original community.

I am very happy to see this type of contest. Because of this, we may share our experience with other Steemians.

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Thank you, team, for conducting such a wonderful contest for us.

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How did you get to Steemit, and what motivated you to stay?

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When I searched for online earning platforms without investment on social media, one YouTube video attracted me a lot and introduced me to the Steemit platform.

After seeing that video, I get a lot of motivation, but I have a basic mobile, so it is not possible to create my account using it.

So I took my brother's help to create an account here. At first, he did not agree to create an account because, in those days, no one believed we could earn free money online, and there were a lot of scammers and scam platforms. So he warmed me: "Don't go like those platforms and don't invest any money."

But I don't give up, because before asking him for help, I already gathered basic details regarding this platform. By promising to put any investment here, I start my journey and explain everything about this platform. He finally agreed to help me, and I created my account on October 17, 2017.

_{My Profile Created Date}
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After joining here by asking my husband, I bought one smartphone. But here I don't give any details regarding my Steemit journey, instead stating other reasons I buy smartphones.

But those days, internet charges are very high, so keeping all those in mind, I start my Steemit journey.

After joining here, I learned about ***Blockchain Technology, Crypto Trading, Technical Analysis, Fundamental Analysis, Money Management, and many more, *** along with making a lot of good friends here. All those things motivated me to stay here. Because here we may earn along with learning new things. It attracts me a lot, like that feature we may only see on Steemit Platform.

Not only those, but I also get financial freedom after joining here. It was my life ambition in my college days.

But before I settle, I get married, and that's why I feel a lot, but after joining here, I get a lot of confidence with financial freedom.

That's why I like the Steemit platform a lot, so I'm continuing my journey now.

In my early days, I faced a lot of issues too. Understanding them took time for me. From joining social groups, I got information on how to work here and how this platform works.

Slowly I learn Markdown styles, then I start using them in my publications, and then slowly I start giving my regular publications here. At first, my journey starts with Food-related publications. Then after I start giving my publication on various topics.

Here, quality posts always get recognized; there's no need for investment and no partialities between users; how much we engage here, that much returns we get..like, those features motivate me a lot to continue my journey here.

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How you sailing in the Steemit Ocean? Are you already a dolphin? If your answer is yes and tells how you reach it. If your answer is no, we would like to know how you plan to achieve it.

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I joined Steemit five years ago, and I must say, it's been quite a ride. At starting I too face a lot of issues in understanding rules and regulations here, but I have to say that the Steemit Ocean has been pretty smooth sailing for me.

The community has been incredibly welcoming and supportive, and I have made some great friends. Also, learn a lot of new things get financial freedom after joining here.

I have been able to use my Steemit earnings to support my family, and I am incredibly grateful for that. All in all, it has been a great experience sailing in the Steemit Ocean. I am looking forward to many more years of good sailing ahead.

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Are you already a dolphin?

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Yes, I am a seven-time Dolphin, which means I have 35,000+ steem power in my wallet. I am hardly fighting to reach 8X Dolphin🐬 now.

_{My Present Steem Power}
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My Steem Power shows my hard work and dedication towards the Steemit platform.

But when I see my strength among other users, it always reminds me of my responsibilities, and sometimes it gives me some unknown fear too.

Because my responsibilities increase with each stage I reach here.

But reaching each stage took a lot of time and hard work. But after reaching those, I feel so proud of myself.

My goal is to reach 8 X dolphins this year and 10 X dolphins in 2023.

Let's hope I reach my goal with all of your support.

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How to reach 🐬 Dolphin

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Reaching Dolphin on the Steemit platform, it's very easy. Just follow my steps, and you'll reach it very quickly.

• Give Quality Posts Always

• Curate others' posts

• Join ongoing contests.

• Power up your earnings.

• Be active on the Steemit platform and respect other users.

• Join active communities and try to share your publications there.

• Give 100% original content only here. Don't copy; paste here. It does not give any rewards.

-If you use any source images, you must mention them.

• Always use proper MarkDown styles on your publication. It gives more attractiveness to other users. It helps you to get support from others.

• Along with trying to curate other quality posts by giving upvotes and comments, from here you get recognised by other users.

Like those, they play a big role in helping you reach Dolphin Status on the Steemit platform very quickly.

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Do you think that being a dolphin gives you an additional benefit?

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In my opinion, besides benefits, we get a lot of responsibilities too.

As we reach each stage, our holding power also increases, and by using it to curate others' quality posts, we may earn good curation rewards because here our voting weight also increases, so our curation rewards also increase based on our weight.

_{My Present Curation Rewards}
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Along with our reputation also increasing, our voice is heard by more users than before. It increases our self-confidence and also motivates us to work harder here.

But not only benefits, but we also have other responsibilities that we need to handle it.

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How did you celebrate or do you plan to celebrate each dolphin you achieve?

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When I reach each stage of Dolphin, I create a blog post regarding it. From this, I get wishes from other Steemians, along with support from SC1 and SC2.

When I see his support, I get a lot of energy to work more here.

_{My 7X Dolphine Celebrations}
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Then, after I share my post with my friend Sumith, by showing Steem Curator support for my publication.

He shared his wishes with me. It encourages me a lot.

Then, after I distribute sweets with my family, if possible, we go outside to celebrate my achievement.

Like that, I celebrate my achievement with my steemit family and friends.

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What opinions do you have regarding Power Down?

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Powering down means allowing users to convert their Steem Power into STEEM.

Some users may choose to power down for personal financial reasons, while others may do so due to a lack of faith in the Steemit platform.

I don't think about powering down at the moment. Because I know very well about the importance of Steem Power and steem's future in the upcoming years.

That's why I only focus on providing quality posts and engaging with others' posts.

But I know by handling our financial needs, we need to do power downs. But it's not a good idea; besides this, we may focus on grabbing TRX as much as possible by setting your post-reward payout to 100% Steem.

_{Set Post Payout to 100% Steem}
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Those dollars may be used for your needs. From here, you can avoid power downs on your Steemit account.

Like that, I'm maintaining my Steemit account here. Most of the time, I haven't done any power downs in the last 2 years and doing regular power-ups. Which I earn here.

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I would like to invite my friends to participate in this contest: @zulhendra, @msdbitco, @shohana1, @simonnwigwe, @chiabertrand, @nevlu123, and @harferri.

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Thank you so much for reading my article!