I converted my first Steem Dollar earnings to Steem Power - learning the ropes

I just converted my first Steem Dollar earnings from the first few articles I wrote to Steem Power.  

It wasn't much, but it's a start!

Before this any earnings I got I just left in my account.  I was under the impression that this was a good move and showed my belief and support in the platform.  After reading a few articles and getting advice from people on Steemit Chat I realized that I was loosing value each day keeping it as Steem Dollars at current market value (Thanks @steemitqa) and that it would be better to convert what I had in Steem Dollars to Steem Power. There are 2 benefits to this:
1. so I can gain interest on the amount I convert and
2. so it can allow me greater pull when I vote on article I truly enjoy and find beneficial to the community.

For those of you who may be new like me, who believe in and want to continue supporting the platform, this information may be helpful.  

When trying to convert your Steem Dollars into Steem Power you are only offered 3 options (Transfer, Convert to STEEM, and Buy or Sell) If you choose to Convert to STEEM and then Power Up to Steem Power, the process will take 1 week.

Another option I have read in several posts is to Transfer your Steem Dollars to an exchange and purchase Steem which you can then transfer back and Power it Up to Steem Power.

Because my initial earnings were small, I wanted to avoid transferring from one platform to another I wanted to find a simpler way that I could convert my Steem Dollars directly to Steep Power without all the complications of transferring my earnings back and forth.

Thanks to @liberosist who offered up a simpler solution.  He shared with me that I could easily sell my Steem Dollars on the Internal Market for Steem and then Power Up to Steem Power.  Simpler and easier then transferring my small amount between different exchanges.

@liberosist has a great article on this called Re-investing SBD into Steem Power? Consider skipping the Internal Market for the Exchanges.

After selling my Steem Dollars for Steem on the Internal Market

I see great potential for Steemit and want to continue supporting the platform any way I can.  Thanks to all those who shared their experience and knowledge with me.  I hope this will also help those of you that might still be new to the platform and learning as well.