I'm going to Steemfest! |Road To Steemfest: Business or Pleasure?

I've been putting this post off for several days now. Mainly because I didn't think I'd write one. As I mentioned before, the Steemfest ticket price was a bit too much for me and I was pretty sure I wasn't going.
And then, I had this amazing surprise. I was scrolling through my feed and I saw that @anomadsoul had announced the winner of the @sndbox+@blocktrades (+ of course @anomadsoul) contest and...there I was. I think I read the name 3 times over just to make sure it was real. And obviously, I was (and still am) very happy to be going because it was something I wanted a lot. And now pretty much all I can think about is packing and what it's gonna look like and getting train tickets through Poland and all that. My mind is reeling with Steemfest, although it's 6 weeks away.

So, I figured I'd channel some of that into this belated RTS post (since it seems I am still on the road to Steemfest3).

Business or Pleasure?

It seems an easy enough question. And at first glance, I'm tempted to say pleasure. Which obviously, it will be. I'm really looking forward to meeting all the amazing Steemians that are going, such as @anomadsoul, @tarazkp, @eveuncovered, @noemilunastorta and a whole lot of other people. And I bet it's going to be a lot of fun, putting faces to the names, seeing what these people are truly like and meeting some people I don't yet know on this platform.
I'm already certain it's going to be a lot of fun. Like @guyfawkes4-20 said in one of his RTS posts....it's going to be a huge party. So how can that not be pleasure?

But there's also a very serious side to it. A business side. For me, Steemit has been a true godsend. Someone actually asked me the other day about what I do and I said 'I'm a writer'. But I don't think I'd be able to say that if it wasn't for Steemit. The community is great, but in terms of 'business', it also holds immense potential.
To think I'm actually getting paid for writing – because people like the stuff I write...it's mind-blowing. Still. After more than a year, it is still unreal. Steemit has helped me grow and I believe it can help be grow a lot more. Thinking about myself one year ago, when I was still starting out, I see a huge difference in perspective. And ambition.
I was ambitious then, but I am way more determined now. I think Steemit gave me that boost, that 'you can do this' feeling that can push someone very far and I love that. And obviously, I want to invest in that.

That's why I'm going (yay) to Steemfest, that's why I wanted to go ever since @roelandp announced it. Because I love the community yes, no doubt about that. It's like a family to me. But also because it's business to me. We speak of how great the community is and how we stay for the people, but we have to be real here. Most (if not all) of us came here looking for cash. I came as an experiment – a place where they pay you to write anything. Sounds amazing, sounds risky...but hey, it's better than going nowhere.
And the thing is, Steemit has shaped me so much, it has helped me grow as a person, but most of all as a writer.
To me, writing is life. It's the course I've chosen, something extremely important to me, something I'm willing to do anything for. And Steemit has helped me with that, it has given me an amazing foundation as a writer and I believe it holds the potential to do so much more. If we grow this place right, it can reach amazing heights, from which we will benefit.
So yeah, it's business. It can't not be business, in my opinion. Most of the people going to Steemfest are people who've done well on this platform, who've benefited. Now, I haven't done that well, but I've done pretty good. Certainly a lot better than I expected when I first joined. And so, it has to be business.

But it's also pleasure and to me, that's one of the beauties of Steemit – that it can mix both. That's one of the things that makes it so powerful, I think, that you can have both. It's a great combo.

So to answer @anomadsoul's question (or rather @eveuncovered's question), it's not business, it's not pleasure. It's Steemit. It's both, you know? It has to be.