My Steem Story by @hlezama
Greetings, everyone
I’m getting late to this meeting, but better late than never. See details here
Everyone has a story – and all our stories have something in common… we all started from nothing and knew nothing. People want to hear stories. They want to hear OUR stories — they want to know who we are, where we are from, what we are doing, who and what we love, what we have learnt and where we are going. People also want us to hear their story! Being a part of the Steem network is an individual journey for every single one of us and through this initiative we will share our stories not only with all who are already here – hopefully inspiring, guiding and informing them… but doing the same for everyone else in the world too. Through our stories we will prick the curiosity of those who have not yet arrived and illuminate and widen the already open doors to our one in a million blockchain.
We invite and encourage each and every one of you to participate and share your stories too! You can find the "how to" details at the end of this post.
@jaynie (Founder of PHC)
My Steem Story-by @hlezama
• Where my Steem Journey began
My Steem journey began at the end of 2017 at the Universidad de Oriente, at Cumaná, Venezuela, when @marlyncabrera, a colleague of mine, told me about it. She was new to the platform too, but her closest relatives (sisters, brother-in-law, nephew, niece) and some close friends were on it too. She pitched the idea to me and I was interested already. The main attraction, of course, was the money: the idea of getting paid for posting about your area of interest or expertise. By then, college professors in Venezuela were already way under poverty line, earning minimum wage and facing all kinds of obstacles to do their work. I was already seriously considering quitting my job. It was not going to hurt to allot some of my productive time to something actually productive.
I was willing to join, but we had all kinds of tech limitations (some of which still persist, unfortunately), so it took us some weeks to finally agree on time and place to get me started. I had my account active in about a month, but it took me some time after that to start posting. I felt confident it would be a good experience. Many of the colleagues I respected, as well as some local artists and musicians, were joining and we ended up constituting a very solid and active group under the label of #EquipoCardumen. Unfortunately, bear market and our own political and economic problems took a toll on the group. Those who are still active can attest to how challenging those beginnings were, but also how gratifying. We are still learning. There is a long way ahead of us.
• My initial challenges & how I overcame them
My first challenge, and one that I still have some issues with (especially when it comes to formatting images) was the bloody markdown. Boy, was it frustrating! Since we were all new to this, the more “experienced” ones did their best to share whatever they had learned about the platform and about posting, but we were supposed to do our own homework. Thus, it took a lot of reading from others’ posts, a lot of try and error, to finally get a decently formatted post.
Then, came some issues regarding “etiquette”, as this one user made me understand the hard way. I discovered that there were some written as well as unwritten rules of interactions that I needed to learn. From the use of tags to upvoting, commenting, and resteeming to deeper interaction on Discord. Discord is still a pending business for me for many reasons, among them time and connectivity.
After I felt relatively comfortable posting and finding my way around the platform, impatience knocked at my door. I was getting desperate at the prospects of not getting much monetary rewards when I was devoting time to this new gig; time that I was supposed to devote to my job. It took some time for the first big upvote to come, but when it came it felt really good. It came from @curie and I will always be grateful to them for having given me the motivation I needed to remain in the platform and challenge myself every day. It has been a while since I last posted on academic topics, but that’s a whole different story for another time.
• My Steem blockchain knowledge
I have failed this subject. I knew nothing back in 2018 and I don’t know much today either. I guess I know the basics, but that’s far from ideal. I can’t explain how the blockchain works to anybody without leaving serious doubts about my sanity or that of those behind it. Fortunately, there is a whole encyclopedia of information available in Steemit that has been compiled after all these years. I just do not have the time to get better informed about the nuances of the blockchain. I have to find it, though; the time and the disposition to understand this new world, which seems to be the world of the future. This language we find so convoluted and abstract will probably be the lingua franca of the next generation.
• My Steem favourites
Steemit is overwhelming and it gets more attractive and challenging by the minute. there is so much to do here and only so much time. I wish I could participate more actively in different communities that do things I like (such as comic books, natural medicine, photography, education, movies, politics) and also things I’d like to learn about (like food, video games, crypto currency). Except for the very technical communities that dig deep into the crypto world and those that do video games and cards/betting, I feel attracted to most groups.
However, given the limitations we face in Venezuela (internet, phone service, power, etc) I can devote a limited amount of time to interacting in certain communities and I am trying to do the best work I can with those few communities where I interact. I am part of the #PowerHouseCreatives family and we have plenty of things here alone to keep ourselves pretty busy. From writing contests to photography and travel, to art, there is a big world here to explore and share. I am also unavoidably affected by politics and international affairs, so I try to participate of the discussions that current events in those areas produce.
I know politics, as well as religion, is a touchy and shaky area here, but I try to participate of those topics in the most balanced and civilized way possible so that I do not engage in unnecessary conflict. I think that the Steemit community in general is more tolerant and better behaved than other communities in other social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, and that is an advantage.
I had been posting mostly on academic topics related to North American literature, history and culture, but I have found myself doing some creative writing and art too. When I discovered #Ulogs, I used it as a personal journal to document personal and family events and issues. I know that some people would rather remain anonymous here, or at least as little exposed as possible, but I think we need to see the real user once in a while if we really want to build confidence and community. #Ulogs is actually a community that has grown exponentially and has tons of very promising projects I have not been able to catch on. I try to keep an eye to what the Hispanic, especially the Venezuelan communities are doing. @cervantes, @acropolis and @club12, among other accounts are always providing engaging activities to promote quality content and interaction.
• My golden nugget advice
I think that I will coincide with most other #mysteemstory posts. My advice to a newcomer would be to face Steemit in the same way they have faced any other learning experience, with patience and dedication. There is a lot to learn here, but if others have been able to do it, you too can (and that sounded like a beautiful bird).
Get involved, get to know people and the intricacies of the platform (crypto market, communities, hives, etc.); do what I have not been able to do: more discord interaction. Of course, that is if you can afford the time. There will be challenges, there will come demands and once you have a certain reputation it is hard to avoid those challenges. That being said, you have to be clear about what you can do and what you want to accomplish. Success demands sacrifices and often times the former does not come without the latter.
• My Steem hood & its peeps
There are a few communities I belong to. The first one is #EquipoCardumen. Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning, being a group composed mostly of Venezuelans, it has suffered the debacle of our crisis and very few of us are still active. Some of the active member who heroically keep producing quality content, even bilingual content (despite the fact that many of them do not speak English) are: @josemalavem, @nancybriti, @marlyncabrera, @edwardstobia, @oswaldoacevedo, @gracielaacevedo, @marcybetancourt, @evagavilan, @isauris, @acostacazorla, @juliolunar, @hljott.
On the few occasions I visit the Discord, I stop by @adsactly, @r2cornell, @c-squared, @curie, and #powerhousecreatives, of course, which is the main community I interact with. I have met the most amazing and talented group of people from around the world here. They are too many now to name all and I don’t want to leave anyone out, but any post under the #hive-114105/#powerhousecreatives by a member of that hive will provide you with high quality content and honest interaction. Thanks to PHC I have become addicted to #Freewrite and have grown more confident about my writing skills.
Apart from the communities that I usually interact with, there are many Steemians I follow and who have been instrumental in my staying and growing in the platform. Among them, I want to mention @d-pend, @surpassinggoogle, @maremaidvampire, @josediccus, @trazkp, and many more. More recently, I have been following and interacting with @atheistrepublic who provides very controversial topics for interaction and rewards our comments generously. If editing and uploading videos were easier for me, I’d be more active on #3Speak or #Dtube. I think those are great projects too.
Thus, give Steem/Steemit a try. I’m sure you’ll like it here. Your talents and your stories are needed and more than welcomed here! The blockchain will be perfected with the contribution and work of every one of you.
And to keep the fun going, and as per the general instructions below… I am tagging the following five people to join in too! (but if you are reading this without being tagged… you are also welcome to take part… just check out the instructions below!)
I am tagging...
@vascovieira
@josemalavem
@nancybriti
@snowy-june
@marlyncabrera
HOW TO JOIN IN:
GENERAL INSTRUCTION:
- Create a post titled: “My Steem Story – By @your.user.name”
- The first three tags in order are to be as follows:
#hive-114105
#powerhousecreatives
#mysteemstory - ONLY make use of the cover image provided in this post.
- Keep the same formatting and placement (intro, footer
instructions etc.) - Replace the personal photo with one of your own.
- Tag 5 people to join in on the initiative.
- Share your post to twitter.
- Share your twitter link and Steem post link in the comments of @jaynie’s “Steem Story” post.
POST INSTRUCTION:
Write a post which shares and gives adequate response to the following headings:
• Where my Steem Journey began
(How you first discovered Steem and your very first thoughts and impressions “as you landed”.)
• My initial challenges & how I overcame them
(Share a bit about the difficulties you faced at the beginning, whether it was navigation, post creation, engagement – whatever – how you resolved them and how differently you feel about it now)
• My Steem blockchain knowledge
(Give a little bit of background on your blockchain knowledge when you began your Steem journey versus now.)
• My Steem favourites
(What are the things you do mostly on the blockchain – is it blogging, vlogging? What front ends do you like to make use of and what content genre’s do you generally focus on?)
• My golden nugget advice
(What advice would you offer to those that are unfamiliar or new to this space)
• My Steem hood & its peeps
(Share a little about the communities you belong to, discord servers you frequent and perhaps a handful of the awesome people you follow)
YAY!!! Awesome to have you on board @hlezama! Looking forward to reading!
Thanks, @jaynie, for the opportunity. It's been a great learning experience to be part of the PHC family
So happy to hear positive things like that @hlezama :)
Thank you for the mention you make of my heroism! I'm preparing my post for this initiative. A big hug @hlezama
Thank you, Marcy, for keeping up the standars, for showing the beautiful part of our dear country, for keeping the creative juices flowing, despite all our economic and personal tragedies.
Thank you for the mention. Very well written article. It is always interesting to hear about people's early experiences on Steemit.
Thank YOU, @r2cornell, for being one of those people who make Steemit a wonderful place to be. Your blog, your vision, is an inspiration for many of us.
How are things working out for your daughter? I thinks she moved to Brazil and was learning Portuguese.
Thanks for asking. Vivian is doing well. However, she has been very stressed with the pre-college training. she was bilingual and adding Portuguese to her brain is giving her headaches.
She is struggling with Academic writing and some domestic issues, but she's working on them.
It is good to hear she is well. Not easy learning a new language, and college and pre-college tends to be stressful anyways. Most important she is well and can build herself a future.
Thank you for joining the #mysteemstory challenge @hlezama 🙏
!trdo
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Congratulations @wonderwop, you successfuly trended the post shared by @hlezama!
@hlezama will receive 0.00145800 TRDO & @wonderwop will get 0.00097200 TRDO curation in 3 Days from Post Created Date!
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Thank you for stopping by, my friend.
A great story on Steem! Greetings and blessings, my friend!
Hi @hlezama!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 3.576 which ranks you at #6664 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 160 places in the last three days (old rank 6824).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 91 contributions, your post is ranked at #77.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
Congratulations @hlezama, your post successfully recieved 0.001458 TRDO from below listed TRENDO callers:
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Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site
You are one of the most resilient Steemians I have ever come across! What a fantastic story @hlezama! Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us!
!tip
Thank you so much. This means a lot to me.
My pleasure @hlezama xxx
🎁 Hi @hlezama! You have received 0.1 STEEM tip from @jaynie!
@jaynie wrote lately about: 101 Steem Stories! Feel free to follow @jaynie if you like it :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.