My Steemit Goals For 2018 || Voting @firepower As Witness || A Journey From Minnow To Whale

What Happened At The End Of 2017

Last year I had a huge list of personal and professional Goals. I could achieve most of them and a few important ones which were left untouched, they are carried over to this year i.e. 2018. Since the time I left my job a few months ago to pursue Digital Marketing full time, I struggled a lot with all challenges I faced with team setup, cash flow, failed partnerships, managements of several clients and their accounts etc.

Business was great as it was backed by a great deal of hard work and perseverance, but I did not take out a single penny out of it. Every dime was reinvested back again to support it. Several times I found myself in the state of utter confusion & turmoil. At last I realized that it is not easy to be an entrepreneur - no joke. I learned that making money is not difficult - growing it and raising it is! Also, if you want to achieve something, you will do it, if and only if, you DO NOT QUIT! You should rather quit bad habits, set your goals straight and work towards them. Keep gaining more skills by reading books, watching thousands of videos online and actually implementing what you learn everyday. Yeah, research is only
righteous if you actually a gizmo if you put it into effect.

On 16th November, 2017 my Steemit Account was created after I saw several videos on @jerrybanfield's YouTube Channel . At the starting, just like every 2nd user, I thought this is not worthy of my time.

Who would write everyday for the next one or two years and maybe, just maybe make some money. I would focus on something else, make use of my time into learning - "How I wasted my time exploring hopeless opportunities while trying to learn to run my business on autopilot!"

Everyday I saw tons of posts in Trending and Hot section of the website but I still could not digest how it is even possible.

But as @ned says, "Money Talks!" :-)

I started researching about the platform and tried to understand it to a level that I lost it. After reading tons of blogs on Steemit about how to use this platform and get benefited from it, I started commenting on several other blogs. Side by side, I made multiple posts on the various topics I found interesting but did not get much traction.

For a minnow, it is difficult to get noticed initially. The best thing you can do...

Make many thoughtful comments on other people's blogs, simple? Yes it actually is. My reputation started improving and I realized that there is a huge potential in this platform, filled with great people providing value and helping each other out on daily basis to grow. Obviously I found a lot of scum here and there. People abusing privileges and their Steem Power. But that's okay - This situation is similar across all social media websites. But it's great that we have superb folks who are trying to blow the dirt with their efforts like @steemcleaners - A group to fight abusers and reward other abuse fighters.

What Happened In 2018 So Far

My never ending research on platform was still on and I was fully convinced that this is going to change my life someday. In a way, it has already changed it in many ways but I am focused on the bigger picture. I am not here to make pennies and move on. I am here to stay for 5-10 years at least and hopefully more. Learn everything step by step and grow as an individual. I want to be one of the top grade influencers on Steemit. I took enough time to complete my research before planning the way forward. I started posting frequently at the end of January 2018. Suddenly a chain of events occurred and I realized that now is the time to plan ahead of the future. I will get into details of these events later on, but first let me talk about the goals I have set for this year.

Steemit Goals 2018

Last year I had several professional & personal goals, this year I have only one: TO THE MOON ON STEEMIT. Specific to this, I have a small list of goals, I would love to achieve in 2018, so let's start:

• Reach on "trending" and "hot" tabs of STEEMIT. This can only be done if I will keep on posting HIGH QUALITY Content.
• Gather 1000 True Followers. Read a famous article by Kevin Kelly on 1000 true fans to know more about the power of network titans.
• 20,000 STEEM in my STEEM Power. It is definitely achievable and this will be my main focus area.
• Make at least 15 posts per month. There is NO LIMIT to the MAX.
• Pick and blog about at least one new category or tag every month.
• Prepare at least 2 Guides on Steemit per month. These will showcase my experiences on the platform and hands on with various tools. I will provide tips and tricks I use and follow on my Steemit Journey. I will try to be very transparent with my followers and other fellow Steemians.
• Invite at least 2 people to join Steemit, daily. This can easily be done through IM on Facebook and Whatsapp. Obviously I will not spam them with Steemit links. Haha!
• Meet at least 50 STEEMIANS offline and connect with them. Help them achieve their goals on and off the platform. This is super important to me because I love people. Relationship with my friends is the most precious thing in my life. I know power of friendship & love - Sky is the limit!
• Keep posting more meaningful and valuable comments on daily basis. Lately, I have been focusing more on preparing content for my blogs rather than interacting on the platform. I can never forget that posting honest comments gave me the initial boost at the starting.
• Reach a REP of 69. Yes, because of its mathematical properties and I am very serious about it

Source: Giphy

• Run at least two Social Media Campaigns to promote STEEMIT on other social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIN, Whatsapp and Youtube.
• Watch every video made by @jerrybanfield and @joeparys talking about STEEMIT. Joe has a great course dedicated to the platform in which he talks about basic and advanced level stuff to help you understand the platform well and perform better. Another person who is worth mentioning right now would be @ilyastarar. He is one of the most genuine person I know on this platform who is constantly helping me and several other Steemians with his case studies, reviews and tutorials about Steemit. Truly my favorite teacher here. I have learnt a lot from him and I couldn't thank him enough for clearing my doubts and pointing me to the right direction with his invaluable posts.
• Read the whitepaper and bluepaper of Steem thoroughly and several times to understand the functionalities, technicalities and economy of the STEEM Blockchain.
• Use and analyze each and every STEEM related APP out there. Write reviews on at least one APP every month.
• Produce a series of Dtube Videos just like @shenoy does it on YouTube. Haha!
• Shop online with STEEM. I am already buying upvotes to boost my posts but that doesn't count as shopping. I want to buy some tangible stuff. Or maybe a digital asset.
• Raise funds for at least one social cause on steemit. Or maybe donation money for a social welfare organization.

Last but not the least

• Prepare myself to become a WITNESS in the future just like our very own @firepower.

Why I Voted for @firepower as WITNESS

I met @firepower on 11th FEB in India Steem Meetup #4 in New Delhi organized by him and his crew including @varunpinto, @shenoy and @wandereronwheels. (I don't know why these people don't have a separate account with username as @firepowercrew which showcases their experiences as one. 😜) I hope one day, I will get to a chance to work with him, maybe join his crew. Who knows, right? Also one of my major goals this year. 😁

I wrote a detailed blog on my experience of meeting some of the greatest fellow STEEMians from India. Also my most successful post so far. All credit goes to him, his crew and the beautiful people I met there.

Credits: @varunpinto

During the event Meghan (@firepower's first name) told us about his goals for Steemit this year and how he is now prepared to become a Witness on Steem Blockchain. And yesterday, he declared officially that he is now a WITNESS and Why You Should Vote for him. In this post he explained about his contributions to the community and shared his experience so far. He also mentioned about his node details (technical stuff) and how he is already on 104th position even before passing on the official statement. He is now at the 95th position already which is crazy.

Source: https://steemdb.com/witnesses

Although he has given us many reasons to vote for him as a Guardian of Blockchain in his post and several other posts, I will still summarize them here below:

• One of the top most influential folks on Steemit and a very old one too.
• Part of initiatives such as the SteemCleaners project, Robinhood Whale and a core team member of the Project Curie.
• His crew is also a part of SteemFest Crew. Isn't that wow?
• Active Steemit.Chat admin helping
• Thanks to him we are now waiting for a 5th Meetup to happen in India. He has been actively creating a strong community in the country by providing immense knowledge and support.
• He is trying to get Indian exchanges to list STEEM directly tradable with INR.
• Guardian of the Blockchain is also a Guardian of Humanity - Check this and this
• Imparting knowledge to the Blockchain enthusiasts - Check this
• He is covered by the Indian Media. No Joke! Check here and here

And still if you have any doubts, then read his #introduceyourself post here. I am damn sure, you will be convinced!

Why It Is Important To Vote For A Witness

Top 20 Witnesses determine which version of Steem will run, the pricing feed maintenance of SBD, how much interest rate we will get and who will get the donut at the end of each meal. They will create new blocks and support the blockchain. Each vote from our side will decide the rankings of witnessess. You can vote upto 30 wintnesses. So go on and do it if you believe that person is worth voting for.

How To Vote

• Visit https://steemit.com/~witnesses
• Scroll down and type firepower in the box as shown below
  
• If your vote goes through then this is how it would show:
  

Set Proxy In Case You Don't Want To Spend Time Voting Other Witnesses

I had already voted for @firepower as witness even before he made that post under #witness-category tag.
But yesterday I decided to set him as proxy as well - I believe in this guy and I know he will choose to support Steem & Steemit and take them to the top. I trust him and I know he will choose to vote other reliable witnesses on my behalf.

What Meghan has achieved in the past two years is truly remarkable and for that very reason he deserves your vote. Cheers!

Future On Steemit

As I write this piece, I am again all powered up literally at 4AM in the morning in India to become a WHALE one day. One thing I know is that without planning and execution, no goal can be turned into a reality. I am all up for action and activity. Even if I am able to achieve 50% of goals I have mentioned above, then I would call it a success. I hope each and everyone of us would learn and implement a new thing everyday here on Steemit and grow together. Let's change the face of social media and emerge as leaders of the FUTURE. Keep hustling guys! Let's make 2018 BIGGER and BETTER!

Check My Previous Posts:

✅What Happens When You Meet STEEMians Off The Blockchain! India STEEMIT Meetup!
✅Help STEEM on BINANCE Now : Do These 3 Things + Win 10SBD In Reward For HELP!
✅Funny People I See On FACEBOOK™ When The Market Goes RED 🔴 That's Why I Am On STEEMIT.

7 Day Zappl Challenge:

✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #7 || Win 2 SBDs By Replying To This Post
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #6 || Win 5 SBDs When You Complete This Challenge
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #5 || Unlucky On Steemit
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #4 || Perfumes
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #3 || Happy Valentine's Day To Steemit
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #2 || The Secret To Success
✅7 Day Zappl Challenge - Day #1 || Zappl - The Decentralized Micro-Blogging!

Check the STEEMIT SUCCESS Guides:

✅New To STEEMIT? Here Are 5 Things You Should Plan On Doing - STEEMIT GUIDE #1
✅Make Impact With Your 1st Post On STEEMIT : SECRET REVEALED! - STEEMIT GUIDE #2
✅7 BATSHIT Crazy Tools To Help You Generate Kickass Content & Improve Upvote Chance - STEEMIT GUIDE #3

Follow me on Steemit:
@hungryhustle & @dmaniagod