What I have achieved with Steemit by @papi.mati

Four months ago I was invited to join steemit by @geos90 who heard about it from his cousin from Venezuela. I have never heard about steemit and my knowledge about cryptocurrency was very limited - I knew that there is something called bitcoin and that some people are mining it, but that was basically all my knowledge.

At first, I was quite skeptical about the project. I registered, a bit terrified with all the keys which I received and the website which was full of Korean publications which I didn't understand. I thought, "why not give it a try?" though. It was a quarantine, I did not have any job, had plenty of time and I always loved to write so I thought that worst-case scenario I won't earn any money but will get a new hobby.

I appreciated the support of @geos90 and we were exploring the platform together. Each time when one of us discovered some useful information, like about Newcomers Community, Nursery, or #betterlife tags, we were sharing it with each other. The first weeks were difficult but because we were not alone, it was much easier than when we would have to explore steemit on our own.

Remembering how challenging the first days on the platform can be, I am always trying to help newcomers. I am always available on discord and WhatsApp and few new users remain in touch with me and ask me about some basics of HTML, hashtags, and stuff like that. Some users used to tag me in their comments asking for help too.

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What have you achieved thanks to Steemit?

Steemit is my full-time job. It was very important to me to have any as I was unemployed for a very long time. Also, I am living in a country with huge inflation, where conventional jobs are low-paid, so the only steemit allows me to earn a living.

I am trying to withdraw as little money as possible and invest everything else in my SP, hoping to grow enough to contribute to steemit as a whale someday. I may not have the opportunity to write about the cars or houses earned from steemit money, but it's definitely worth mentioning that I managed to accumulate over 5k SP in less than four months.

I believe Steemit also helped me with my low self-esteem. Having the work and being able to contribute in the expenses is crucial to feeling good. When other users and sometimes steemcurator are upvoting or commenting my publications, I do feel appreciated and feel that my hard work is worth what I'm doing.

Besides that Steemit improved my language skills. My native language is Polish but I am writing in English and sometimes communicate with other users in Spanish. Thanks to the practice, I believe my writing skills are improved too.

Finally, Steemit gave me the opportunity to meet amazing people from all around the world, learn a lot about their culture, believes, diet, and many other things. It's an experience which I could compare to traveling without leaving home. The knowledge I got thanks to this platform is like another form of payment and I appreciate it a lot.

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How has it been to socialize on this social network?

There is no way to become a successful steemian without building the community. We have to gain followers, interest people with our thoughts, be for them and help them if help will be needed. There may not be a communicator on our platform yet (I truly believe someday it will change), but thanks to the comments and discord or WhatsApp we may interact with other users, culturally share our thoughts with them. I have met many interesting people on Steemit - most of them I know only in a virtual world and, because of the distances between us and the covid pandemic, I won't probably meet them live, but they are very important for me and I'm glad I do have them in my life.

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What do you like the most about Steemit?

I could write about so many things... First of all, I do love how inclusive the platform is. Basically, everyone around the world, if they have the access to the internet, can join the portal, write and earn some money. For many people in less developed countries or from regions with a high unemployment rate, it's the only way to earn the money. It gives some sort of financial independence.

I do love that the platform teaches us a lot, that thanks to the reputation score it's a much more friendly place than Twitter or Facebook, that people respect each other here and are very helpful. I like to consider all the steemians as the big family where everyone is welcomed.

Finally, I do love the fact that the steemit project is something that we all build together. Each day people create new apps, newspapers, contests, or are opening their business for payment in STEEM. That way we all have an influence on the platform and we all are working to make it successful. That unlimited perspectives which we all are working on are something that makes steemit much more different than most of the mainstream social platforms.

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What do you recommend to those new to the platform?

1. Join Newcomers Community and learn the basics from their Achievement program
2. For the first two months write on Steemit Nursery to avoid making mistakes
3. Never plagiarize your text or never use photos that are not on CC license
4. Use hashtags from #Betterlife program
5. Always comment and upvote others, build the relationship with other steemians
6. If someone writes the comment under your post, reply
7. Participate in the contests and write the Diary Game - that's the easiest way to earn the money
8. write regularly, every day, never give up. You may not get the upvotes for few days but eventually, if you are writing high-quality content, you will be discovered
9. Join Crypto Academy to learn basics about the cryptocurrencies
10. Besides contests, find two or three communities you like the most and write there regularly
11. If you will have any questions, just contact me. Many users already know that you may not yet but I am always there for you. Tag @papi.mati in your post or comment with the request. You can also write to me on Discord ( papi.mati#3791 )

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Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati

CC:
@advhl

The invitation goes to:
@willeusz
@geos90
@isaacellias