Steemit - Power UP?

I have been thinking lately about transferring some Steem from my exchange and powering the account up to start making my upvotes count but I felt it would make sense to consult my fellow steemians and especially those who have recently powered up before I do so.

Honestly, it is quite sad to see some really awesome content posted here on Steemit and knowing that my upvote is not even going to be worth 0.01 SBD. Some of you guys who I follow, interact and upvote are absolutely amazing and I wish you keep up with what you do because steemit would be boring without you.

So, my request is quite simple:

Can you please share your experience of powering up for the first time on steemit and whether that changed how your use this platform, how you interact with others and whether that made a difference in terms of your earnings. I'd be super interested to know how much Steem did you put into powering up and how many SBD your upvotes are worth?

All the best,
A.