Read this before you quit your job for Steemit
Hello Steemians,
Recently I got a non-crypto friend into steemit and he made some decent money posting about his life, today I received this message from him:
I am locked out my account, I am not making any moneeey!!
My answer, was simple:
It will get fixed, send an email to [email protected] and create another account meanwhile if you want to post stuff.
However, this conversation made me realize that common people are not used to the volatile and crazy drama surrounding crypto in general. Sadly for us, crypto-nerds know very well about what I like to call the first basic rule of crypto: “what you have today you may not have tomorrow”.
This is coming from a guy who has seen MT GOX disaster, Paycoin, LTCGear, Cryptsy or should I say craptsy!, etc, etc, etc!!!
Don´t get me wrong, I am not saying by any means that Steemit is a scam, far from it, but what I am saying is that you should not rely on crypto to make your everyday living. Take Litecoin for example, another crypto-coin that has standed the test of time, LTC went from $40 to $1.80 U.S dollars!... how about Ethereum from $20 to $10 in just days. Of course you could have bought cheap and also made 500% profit, this is the nature of crypto and to some of us it is also the beauty!
So before you quit your job and tell all your friends that you are going to get rich posting on steemit, please consider this:
- As more people join it will be harder for you to get the attention of voting whales.
- The price of steem can have crazy 200% swings and so will your payouts.
- If you are unsure about trading, try to always hold Steem Dollars.
- If you convert a lot of Steem and Steem Dollars to your local currency, make sure to consult it with an accountant first, this is a lot of unregistered money entering your bank account and some goverments will find it fishy (bastards, I know).
- Be humbild and be greatfull (this is more an spiritual advice but it’s a rule I try to remember)
- @craig-grant made a good video about the importance on commenting posts, do it and try to be helpful, teach others what you have learnt.
- Keep your Bitcoins safe and diversify them: Coinbase, Electrum, Offline paper wallet, BitUSD, etc.
- If you still want to quit your job, do it after you have safely secured a good amount of money on your bank account, this way you can make sure you have your livings expenses covered for at least 6 months!
This is not only my advice to you but also my strategy, if I can secure 100k USD then of course my day job will become irrelevant and I will look for ways to construct a business around steem, but until then play safe, remember that someone has to pay the rent next month :)
Great post! I agree completely with your article and since this is many people's first mainstream experience with cryptocurrency, they need to realize that there will be ups and downs to value. The influx of new users who don't take the time to create meaningful posts and comments don't realize that they are reducing the value of steem. If content isn't educational, engaging, or entertaining, people will leave. A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon late. Does steem have the ability to gain another 2000% in the near future? Absolutely, but I don't see that happening if quality blogging doesn't become the norm. Not everyone is a great writer and some will never make high dollar posts, but everyone can make meaningful contributions through comments and voting on content they actually like instead of clicking and hoping it goes viral.
This is a very level headed post, we need people like you to pop the euphoria bubble and bring us all back to reality. Reality and moderation help created long term stability and wealth. I think another good piece of advice in ligh of possible hack is just like you should not leave any money or Bitcoin on an exchange you should not leave any Steem dollars sitting around here for too long. Either get some steem or steem power with the or trade them in for Bitcoin. Check out my latest post here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@bitcoinmeister/steemit-users-need-to-break-their-coinmarketcap-price-checking-addiction-and-work-more-on-marketing-steemit-to-the-masses
Very good points that any new crypto troll and steemit member should read. #Introduction
With the "passphrase" requirement being so long, I can imagine some people are going to forget what they chose assuming there is a basic "I forgot my password" button. My cousin almost lost an initial investment of $400 because of this, but fortunately he remembered the "pass phrase".
Happy #steeming
I think the basic rule of everything is: "Use your head!". It applys to everything. Extreme decisions, like leaving a job for something new, but not yet totally reliable, are generally bad, so i think that's a great advice. That's why parents always want their children to have a nice education or some education in general. You need to have your basic ground to stand on so that you could start your experiments without much of a risk.
Nice to read a good pragmatic approach, you have enhanced my thinking sir.
"from a guy who has seen MT GOX disaster, Paycoin, LTCGear, Cryptsy"
You have to remember that the times have changed, also within cryptocurrencies. Acceleration rates of new startups are higher, block-chain technology is reaching more and more people on a daily basis. And with Steemit being its own company, there won't be much room for "scandals" and with the investment opportunities like Steem Power it also takes away a lot of the possibility and profitability for hackers to try and get a hold of your accounts and considering the action that is taken against them makes it even more dangerous.
But with time it will become more stable, secure and amazing. Remember the beta text under steemit. :)
Good post in general though! I am inviting a lot of real life friends to steemit as well and helping them out to create their wallets, save their keys properly and make their introduction post. Everyone is amazed by it so far and can't believe something like this exists.
Steemit truly is revolutionary, something that no1 thought possible only weeks back!
The Steem platform may shield people from the complexities of Crypto but there are still exposed to whims of the market and good old fashion hackers.
Nice post. So true about here today gone tomorrow. I had a good amount of money in HashOcean and was set to make a nice monthly income and then it was gone over night. :(
I hope you have crackers...hard to depend on one thing. But best of luck.
Can [email protected] help me get my job back? :)