Instant Community with Platforms - A Minnow's Experience

A little background information

I'm new to the Steem blockchain. I started posting about two weeks ago here. I am primarily a visual artist and startup founder. I am also a programmer, an unschooling mom, and all-around life-long learner. I consider it my life's work to build equitable communities and fight poverty. I want to free myself to live the life of my dreams and bring others up with me.

I heard about Steemit months ago when everyone was talking about bitcoin and cryptocurrency. A facebook friend of mine has a crypto advice community he recommended for everyone to come here and try to earn by engaging with the community. I didn't join right away but the idea was planted in my mind.

Getting started is hard

So as a new minnow you join full of excitement. You see what are honestly low-effort and low value posts earn hundreds of dollars. You think I can do this too. Or that's what I thought at least.

It didn't take long to realize there is much more to this game than creating quality content and engaging through comments. There are other forces at play. This is not a meritocracy.

look at all those zeros. It's discouraging, but I persist

Enter #steembasicincome and #platforms

Somehow, I came across a post by @tmholdings that was awarding shares of #steembasicincome. I was still very new the first time I encountered one of his posts so I didn't apply. The next time I saw one I applied and the idea of steem basic income was now on my radar.

Around the same time I found a post by @rishi556. He was giving away shares for participating in a Discord chat. It was the @platforms discord. I didn't get it but I decided to try anyway. I asked, "Do you just come in and chat?" They told me yes, that's it. I participated daily after joining and I did win a share from rishi.

I appreciate the platforms community and it's not just because I was awarded a share to sbi. They have been helpful with all my newbie questions about steem and they are smart and funny people. It's not hard to have a conversation there.

Join the Platforms Discord here - https://discord.gg/Nmcz3dB

Earn just by holding PLATFORMS

I'm all in. One of the benefits of platforms is the opportunity to hold and earn with PLATFORMS tokens on BitShares. I thought this was an excellent way to earn steem to advance my position on this platform. I really think everything about platforms is exciting and needed. They create a community and platform around your idea. Genius. You don't have to assemble a team that includes a developer, designer, marketers. It's all part of the package. At least that's my understanding of it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

image credit: @weberh8

I'm grateful that I found the platforms community early in my steem journey. I feel like I'm off to a great start and I've found my people here. I don't have the feeling of discouragement I had in those first days of blogging. I know that I have access to smart and kind people. It's awesome. Check them out.

Check out these other articles about Platforms:

• https://steemit.com/platforms/@dizzyjay/why-you-all-should-be-stoked-about-platforms
• https://steemit.com/platforms/@garudi/a-new-steemit-project-on-the-rise-platforms-a-team-devoted-to-the-creation-of-platforms-and-projects
• https://steemit.com/platforms/@platforms/new-contest-by-platforms-get-big-rewards
• https://steemit.com/platforms/@platforms/a-full-explanation-on-platform-s-earnings-and-how-we-distribute-earnings