Where my Steem Journey began

My story on the sexy Steem blockchain starts a few moons ago, back when markets were booming and the solely thing I could hear was about all this people throwing money at this crazy cryptothings - The date was December (2017).

During the months of January and February on that same year, I had hitchhiked more than 10.000 km on some remote areas of the Argentinean and Chilean Patagônia. I had loads of inspiring stories of an adventure with barely no money, an experience that inspired me so much that I wanted to share, in hopes of helping those with the same dreams. Back then I didn't have a single clue on how to build a website (I still don't); I spent countless hours watching all sorts of Youtube tutorials on how to build a wordpress website. Some of the tutorials were simple and didn't meet my expectations, others were way too complex. I even started to design it, but then I'd give up because it was not becoming as beautiful as some websites I had as reference.

"What if I had a ready to go platform..." - I thought.

I ended up having to focus on my job as an English teacher for a while and the website idea had to be left aside for a few months.

Fast forward a few months to that insane December, when Bitcoin was on a rampant bull run and everyone was talking about it. Because of that I decided to take a closer look on what the heck was going on; research here, watch videos there... kabooooosh... I came across the Steemit website. On that particular moment I had no idea about the functionality of the Steem blockchain. I knew nothing about SBD and the whole cooldown period. Economy? Nope. Discord? What the f. is this?

However, the Steem provided me with a safe place to store my texts and the front-ends provided a simple to use editor - exactly what I needed months before! Everything was set for me to share my stories! I didn't care about getting paid, sure I saw that some people were making hundreds of dollars posting while I was making a few cents, but I didn't care. I kept on writing and powering up and meeting people. That's how I started and here I am more than 2 years later.

My initial challenges & how I overcame them

I believe that my biggest challenge was developing my own idendity and finding exactly what I wanted to share and how to do it - this proccess keeps on changing even today. The only way to overcome this challenge was by writing over and over again. Also, by letting ourselves evolve naturally, and not forcing a character that is not ourselves, we'll develop a passion for writing, otherwise we end up giving up quickly. Sure I had to learn tons of things I had no idea existed, such as Markdown and HTML; photography and photo editing; video editing and much more, but nothing compared to finding my own style.

Problem is that I wouldn't discover if I was doing a good job if I didn't have any followers, here's when we get to the second challenge - making connections. I remember using all my bandwidth on the blockchain because I was commenting and engaging and posting like a maniac.

Life on chain is still a big challenge every day with all the different platforms and projects and ideas, it's a never ending explosion of creativeness. The secret is to stick around.

My Steem blockchain knowledge

I'm not a tech savy Steem dude, what I know today is not deeper than what I learned in the beginning. The biggest message I can give here is that, even though the information rate on chain is fast as hell, we do need to have patience, sooner or later we'll get to learn it somehow. So if you are a beginner, just don't give up!

To add to that, thanks to the Steem blockchain I developed more interest to criptocurrencies as a whole, which later evolved to a passion for economy and finances, technical analysys and investment.

In sum the knowledge about the Steem blockchain is great and goes beyond everything imaginable!

My Steem favourites

Oh gosh, I fear this section! I'd feel extremely bad if I forgot to name someone, for that reason I'll be very generic here! My favourites are every major project and everyone that ever upvoted/commented on my stuff, you are my favourites! The whole Steem community in the UK that welcomed me in London (you know who you are!).

I can't help but naming @jpphotography and @for91days, these two welcomed me to the travelfeed community way back in 2018, where I still participate as the wild animal on the team - seriously, this guys breath the Steem blockchain every single day without a pause for more than 2 years!!!!!

My golden nugget advice

My 2 cents for beginners start with a big BE PATIENT!!!! Focus on engaging with the community and your niche first, make friends more than anything, be active so people know you exist. Don't release your best content before you have done all that, but don't spam poop posts to enforce your existence either. Spamming can be more harmful than not posting at all.

As many others said, if you are here for money, then I might say you are on the wrong place... same will happen on other social media platforms.

Do not give up if you don't understand the nuances on chain, or the communication channels such as Discord. Don't be frustrated if you can't find your own style... post what you like, if you feel you are forcing a text, don't post it. Quality over quantity!

My Steem hood & its peeps

@travelfeed - here's where I hide \o\
The travel community is where I engage and try to help those in need. I joined in early 2018, became an admin somehow (they say I'm funny), then was adopted as a wild animal on the team. Thanks to @travelfeed I was able to help distribute a few thousand dollars in rewards through curation. If you ever need a feedback on post composition or anything related to adventure just go to our Discord and I'll be more than happy to help.

@brazilians - our crazy brazilian community where we swear at each other and keep on being friends.

@freedomtribe - even though I'm not talking too much there, I still like to take a look on what is in discussion as it's generally great stuff!

Conclusion

From what I've been reading on other people's Steem Story posts I don't have much to add when it comes to advice for our sexy beginners. Take it easy, write because it's fun and not because it might be profitable, and remember to have fun on the go!!!

HOW TO JOIN IN:

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Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 3.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.