Stop Wasting Your Money
On Random Things.
Buy STEEM Instead!

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Steemit is an investment: an allocation of money in anticipation of some future benefit. To use the platform properly, learn how to buy STEEM and power it up. Don't just be a Steemit leech-barnacle that expects to get upvoted without doing your part for the platform!

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(Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor;
this is not financial advice blah blah blah...)

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But Dan, I don't have any money to buy STEEM with!

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What about the $5 you just spent on that Big Mac when you could've budgeted it buying and cooking your own food? What about the $15 you just spent going to the movies and buying popcorn? What about the $10 you just spent on booze? What about the $20 you just spent going out to eat? What about the $20 a month you spend on TV service when you could just watch YouTube for free?

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There's no excuse, everyone has some money to put into STEEM if they truly believe in the platform. In my experience most people waste a large portion of their income, no matter its size. But most people are still under the assumption that Steemit should be paying them! I am amazed to see users that have been on Steemit since 2016 that still don't understand the mechanics of the platform. They had the chance to buy STEEM when it was as low as $0.10! Let's keep this as simple as possible and look at a few convincing reasons to buy and power up STEEM:

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Benefit One: Increased Upvote Value

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This is a very important aspect, as most users of the site tend to take you more seriously in proportion to your upvote strength. It shows you care about Steemit and are willing to "put your money where your mouth is." It helps you reward other quality content creators on the site. As well, it is socially acceptable to upvote your own posts to reward your hard work, so you are accelerating your own growth on the platform. It is also a lot easier to increase and maintain a follower base if you can actually reward them.

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Benefit Two: Increased STEEM Value

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The more people buy and power up STEEM, the more the supply of liquid STEEM decreases, which (theoretically) increases the value of STEEM more and more. This, in turn, increases payouts as far as SBD is concerned. I pay a lot of attention to users' behavior via their wallets, and I am not likely to support users that I see constantly powering down and selling their STEEM. Many whales and dolphins feel the same way and see this behavior as selfish and short-sighted.

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Benefit Three: Increased Curation Rewards

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The curation formula definitely favors accounts with a higher stake weight. Whales are able to make a quite decent (semi-passive) income from curating content. Also, you increase your influence over what type of content is successful on Steemit. Want to change what you see in Hot or Trending? Again, put your money where your mouth is and take action, instead of whining and complaining about it!

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Benefit Four: Increased Satisfaction & Responsibility

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Instead of buying random, unnecessary things that provide instant gratification but don't increase quality of life or long-term stability of finances, put your money into something that is forward-thinking and offers longer-term solutions. In every investment, there is an element of risk, and you should accept the possibility that you could lose everything.

However, you should also be aware of what you stand to gain! I have seen quite convincing articles regarding the potential consequences of widespread adoption of the STEEM blockchain. It could potentially push the price of STEEM VERY high. We are talking in the thousands of dollars, eventually! By becoming an early adopter and speculating on this type of scenario, you are making a more responsible decision than squandering your finances on quick conveniences due to laziness and lack of vision.

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Benefit Five: Increased Productivity & Engagement

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One of the issues with the Steemit platform is its low user retention rate and low number of daily active accounts. Recently, the active daily users pushed above 30,000 but this is still extremely low compared to Facebook and others that have millions of active daily users! When you buy and power up STEEM, it will encourage you to increase your productivity, work ethic, and engagement on the site. You become part of the solution instead of the amoebic mass that pulls Steemit down by its lack of activity. I promise it will do wonders in making you more prolific in your area of work, whether it is creative, technical, or both.

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These are just a few benefits of buying and powering up STEEM. I know I left out many other good points! Mention them in the comments section below. Great contributions to the discussion will be rewarded with upvotes ;)

Wholeness,
@d-pend
10/1/17

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free domain,
Or created by me.