I just entered my eleventh month here on Steem.. funny, I had no idea I had been here that long.. time fly’s when you are having fun 😉

When I started on this platform Steem was at $10.. it’s crazy thinking about now, I mean.. hot damn what a time that was! But, even then, I powered up all my earnings, that was the plan from the beginning.. keep building... investing, believing. Early on I saw the potential of this place, it’s uniqueness, it’s ability to change the way we work as a society. And right then and there I decided I was in for the long haul.

So no the price doesn’t scare me now, rather I see it as an opportunity. I mean, I just bought Steem at 38 cents.!! Even if it only goes back to a $1 I’ve just made a huge profit, and I have no doubt it will go higher than that.

I just converted all the SBD I had in my wallet that I had been saving to pay for my Steemfest trip (both earned and gifted) and got double the Steem in return.. which means I took around 600 SBD and got 1200 Steem. Pretty cool huh? (Thanks to @themarkymark’s post and him walking me through the process. I really appreciate your help!)

I then powered that up along with the liquid Steem I had been saving.. which ultimately means I just went from a Minnow to just 700sp shy of dolphin status. 😄

Why?

Well, as much as I do need to pay for my trip with that.. at 38 cents it makes absolutely no sense to try to pay for it now. Why not power up, build my account.. get a bit of return on my investment through curation rewards and even more than that..

I CAN USE MY HIGHER SP TO HELP MORE AUTHORS THROUGH THE DAILY CURATION I DO!!

I mean, it wasn’t helping anyone just sitting in there right?

Also, I believe in Steem.. as cheesy as that sounds, I do. I know it will go up. I know we haven’t even seen what this place is capable of.. and when we do.. we will be unstoppable.

I’m committed to this place, for the long term.. and I’m taking this insane opportunity to put myself in a great position to not only help more people, but to help myself as well.

But the decision is about more than that

I, like many of you am not just financially invested here but I’m emotionally invested as well.

I have spent hours of my time everyday building communities, curating, and mentoring here and the return on that comes from the value that it has added to the platform as a whole. I guess what I’m trying to say, is most of the work I do I don’t get a payment for.. but for me, it’s me investing in this place.. building, believing, all for long term goals that I know will eventually pay me back tenfold. Because I believe everything I put in here improves my eventual return on investment.

Now sure, I could have went the whole post a video of myself everyday.. not really saying anything, but being seen.. collected rewards.. made a name for myself.. but I have bigger goals, plans. Because I see the potential of Steem.

You see, I have no desire to make a name for myself, but rather .. make a name for Steem. I want to make Steem and this community as strong as it can be, so we are ready when the masses come.

I don’t want the masses to know my name.. but I want them all to know Steem. And I believe my small contributions help work towards that goal.

Because that makes my personal return on investment soooo much more than it ever could be by just focusing on myself.

The time I’ve invested here is one part.. and I think it’s time for me to work on the financial investment part as well.

So, I will continue buying Steem and powering up. My goal is to reach dolphin (5k SP) by end of year and I think it’s completely doable. While the majority of my account has been built by the rewards I’ve made here.. I’m now taking it up a notch and investing out of my pocket as well... and I’m pretty excited about that.

One could say I’m feeling quite bullish

And I wanted to take a moment to share that excitement with all of you, because after all.. every single one of you have helped me get here, and I appreciate it more than you know.

This community is what makes us powerful, it’s what makes us unique and it’s what will make us unstoppable.

This current market is allowing myself and many members of this community an opportunity to do big things, and I’m pretty grateful for that.

So, here’s to low Steem prices and big dreams 🍻

Much Love and Steem On,

Justine

_{New dolphin coming January 2019.. prepare yourselves}