Introduction

You have probably heard this popular adage: little drops make an ocean. This popular saying has stood the test of time. Basically no one can ague the importance of saving for the future. At SteemALive, we look at the future and always plan ahead. That is why we are delighted to announce the kick-off of yet another longer term savings and financial/business support project called Littledrops. Before we go ahead to explain why this project would be a welcome development, here is a background knowledge of what we have done with a similar project called Save2soar.

Save2Soar - and why Littledrops now

Back then in February 2021, we started @save2soar. It was a 1 year savings investment project which was really welcomed by many members of SteemALive community. We agreed to save 10 steem per week and never to the funds touch until at least 1 year. Save2soar was very successful as we accumulated more than 13,000 Steem, which was powered up. The project will be 1 year old by February 2022. We agreed that after 1 year, those that want to do so can request their savings including any profit made (assuming they made the complete 12 months savings, totaling 520 Steem). Ahead of February which would be 1 year for save2soar, some members of that project have already indicated interest to take their savings/profits. So by the ending of February 2022 when we would have settled those that want to exit save2soar. Then we will see what new direction the project will take. But before that time, we are launching Littledrops a project which we hope will be much more than just savings.

Littledrops and how it will run

Just like Save2soar, Littledrops will be a long-term savings project and the contributions will be made weekly in Steem. Contributed funds will be powered up weekly, and would not be available until at least 1 year. However, Littledrops will continue to run for the next foreseeable future and would try to help its members utilize crowdfunding techniques to help each other. Besides, we will share business ideas and opportunities as well as entrenuership survival skills with members of this project. Here are some features that will make littledrops really long-term project and not for just a year.

1. Amount to Contribute per week: There will be no fixed amount to contribute. The minimum per week is 1 Steem. This is so important because the challenge we faced under Save2soar was that some started the recommended 10 steem per week, but could not keep up after some time due to unsteady earnings and several other factors. Additionally, the introduction of clubs 5050, 75 and 100 by @steemitblog has made it not too easy to transfer large funds regularly. So in order to ensure that everyone saves according to their circumstances and still make it regular, we recommend 1 Steem to be the minimum. Participants are free to save as much as they earn per week.

2. Duration: Littledrops will be a continuous project. However, the funds contributed are powered up per week, and will not be touched until at least 1 year.

Littledrops will be more than just a savings project. It is a movement designed to assist members solve urgent financial needs by tapping into the power of a crowd. Taking it futher, the project will aim to empower its members by providing access to exclusive entrepreneurship knowledge and opportunities designed to help members to eventially become financially stable. So here are other features of the Littledrops project.

Other Features of Littledrops

1. Urgent 2k and Micro Loans: We discovered that our community members sell their coins when they have financial needs. And there are times when they have no steem or SBD to sell, some are forced to power down. Its really painful when such financial needs are not big, but the person in question has no choice than to power down. So we decided that we can assist each other by giving out small loans of fiat or Steem. So we will call it Urgent 2k/Micro loans. This service will start after the first 3 months of this project.

Here are some initial rules that will make someone eligible for this service:

• The user must be consistent with their weekly savings.
• The user will get the approval of their Team Coordinator
• Loan requests must not be above 50% of the user's savings balance
• Loan requests must have a payback benefit (kind of interest) proposed by the person applying
• Loan request can be made in Steem or fiat, but strictly depends on the availability of either of them
• Repayment period is flexible, but should be within 30 days

2. Access to Business ideas and Opportunities/Skills networking: Everyone needs a side hustle. Multiple streams of income is very important in today's unstable economy. So under Littledrops, we will share business ideas with participants and help them develop important entrepreneurship skills too.
Besides, there are times when an opportunity would require a number of people to take advantage of it. For example, verified airdrops or similar opportunities that require referrals would be offered to participants. Basically, we will share whatever crypto/other business opportunities and ideas we have with others and try to empower participants with such knowledge. Of course if our members posses any special skills, products or services, we will allow them to promote it within the group. We will also teach members some skills that we have, which they will gain from (for example digital marketing, , dropshipping, etc). It is easier to create wealth together when we leverage other people's time, intellect and resources. So Littledrops will provide a forum for an business ideas propagation and skills development.

4. Foundation for a future Business Organization: We are seriously looking at the possibility of starting a business organization from the human resources within this project. Big things start small. We are brainstorming to see the possibility of creating a startup and building the business to become a successful venture. That will also start with members of Littledrops. Leverage is a watchword within Littledrops. Seriously, every large organization today is made up of small, integrated units. In the same way, we hope to eventually set up a large business organization from the members of this project

4. Prizes for the top 3 Savers every Quarter: We will encourage members to save more by giving them incentives or prizes every 3 months. We will select the top 3 members that have accumulated the largest amount of savings within the 3 Month circle and reward them with some prizes.

5. Rewards at the end of each year based savings: At the end of the year, we will share some rewards we have made from curation and other earnings to our members based on the amount they saved. We will also look into the possibility of making at least 2 publications for the project weekly. This will also earn us author rewards.

How to Join Little Drops

We are going to take a strict business approach to membership because we know the value this project will bring. We are eager to avoid the mistakes of Save2Soar. So here is how to join this project.

1. You must be a verified member of SteemAlive Community
2. Donate to support this project. Send 10 Steem to @safunds. Use Littledrops as the memo. This is purely a voluntary and non-refundable donation, and not part of your savings
3. The Admin of this project will add you to our Telegram Group and so you can have access to LittleDrops opportunities

Warning: Before you decide to join this project, be sure that you can send at least 1 Steem each week to @littledrops as your savings, no matter the direction crypto markets take.

Your Weekly Savings
We have set up @littledrops as an account that we will use to manage this important project. So between Monday and Saturday of every Week, please send your savings (At least 1 Steem, but aim to send higher) to @littledrops. We will publish a post of our savings update every weekend.

When are we kicking off?

@littledrops will kick off on 1st February 2022. You can start now to register. We also have a kick-off Bonus. Here are the details:

Helping Members Register their Small Businesses

In this first week of Littledrops, we will Teach our members how to register their business with the appropriate Federal Government Agency for small scale businesses. They will receive their Certificate of business registration within minutes. This is important because with this Certificate hung in your shop or office, customers will see that your business is recognized by the Government and legal. We will also explain how to make little money doing this registration for small businesses around your area.

Conclusion

@littledrops is a fresh idea we are trying to implement. There may be gray areas which we hope to tackle as they become more obvious. Some of our friends in Save2soar are really eager to continue the project. But until we are done with settling those that want to exit, we do not know yet which direction the project will take. So we encourage them to join littledrops now as it offers much more than save2soar. Depending on how things turn out, it may or may not replace Save2Soar.

We are very open to suggestions to make littledrops better. Feel free to ask us questions using the comment section of this post. Just like save2soar, we are really optimistic Littledrops will be a huge success. Thank you so much friends fro always supporting our projects.