500 / 1000 - Steemit Milestones Unlocked! - And why those small numbers matter

Just taking a moment to appreciate and celebrate some fun milestones on steemit. 500 followers and 1000 Steem Power
And to share some of my thoughts on what it's like to be here as an early adopter.
As a photographer social media has been very important for my career and I've been very involved in lots of them.

CELEBRATING 500??

It's kinda funny getting so excited about 500 followers because pretty much every other social media I use has way way way more than that and it was way quicker and easier to get much larger numbers elsewhere... but I'm really proud of my Steemit numbers because I've been working hard at it. Interacting a ton, commenting a lot obviously with "1500 posts" and I've been voting a ton as well sometimes 50+ votes a day. And this isn't my first rodeo.

GRINDING IT OUT - EARLY ADOPTER STYLE

I can't remember working this hard on a social media since back in 2012 when Google Plus was a huge deal in the Photography Community, I would be on there hours every day interacting and helping the photography community along with a bunch of other great influential photographers... and all my interns wondered why I was spending all my time there (while they organized and rated pictures for me thankfully) I told them it was an investment of time and energy that I knew would pay off. Even though Google Plus kinda died it was a huge boon to my business. It led to several weddings around the world and a ton of really great friendships with worldclass photographers. Heck that's how I became friends with @derekkind as he was just getting going in photography. So even though it didn't last as long as we hoped the investment was well worth it.

I was also on FB and Twitter as an early adopter where I didn't have hardly a friend on there so I had to go out and make new connections but then lots of friends quickly came. Admittedly I was kinda sorta late to Instagram and Youtube but still there before the masses and those networks seemed easier to get large followings because It wasn't in early days because those platforms already had large user bases and I knew lots of people who were already very successful there so that was helpful for me (not my case on steemit). I jumped in quickly on Ello and now Vero but didn't do hardly anything because I never beleived much in them or could warrant spending time away from other networks.

PROUD OF THE SMALL NUMBERS

Of almost all the social media numbers Steemit is the smallest still... but I understand that's because it's early adopter time period and the masses are yet to come. Almost none of my followers on any other social media are on Steemit. (I've brought just a small handful of my friends) But the idea is one day the rest will be here and they'll know someone here. However in the meantime those 500 followers represent people that I'm cheering for and in many cases investing time and my vote in so they do better and better because helping them rewards me in the future.

• 500 Steemit
• 5000 Twitter (I was active in 2008-2009 now they have picture abilities but it came like 3-4 years to late for me)
• 8000 FB Biz page (haven't focused on or posted much in 4-5 years, Because FB was a total bait and switch scam)
• 11,000 Youtube (I just couldn't fit it into my schedule to edit video on top of everything else so it's been 3-4 years since being active there, love the idea and love all my Youtuber friends and still spend a lot of time with them)
• 11,000 FB personal page (That represents 3-4k personal friends, clients and people I've actually met so obviously I really love that one. It's still where most of my photography business comes from)
• 50,000 Instagram (It actually is probably one of my more powerful social media... I can get a lot of interaction and views... the audience is just very different. I'm learning how to stay active there while putting most my time in Steemit)
• 440,000 Google Plus (I haven't posted much there since about 2015... like I said I owe a lot of thanks to this site for the time I was on there)

HOW IT'S DIFFERENT

Let's revisit an idea I alluded to ... on steemit you're not just trying to get huge numbers of followers but you're trying to create really good connections. And you're mentally hoping that your connections continue to thrive on the platform. That's a bit deal in comparison to the other networks. On steemit I want my friends to succeed and perhaps even do better than me because they will have even more potential for economic benefit in my life. I want those 500 followers to double triple or 100x their vote power. I want to teach them what I know about steemit and even photography so they post even better stuff so they can get better posts and perhaps little by little more and more steem.

Sure I want to bring in my big influencer friends for some of the same reasons. However, I know that the early adopter phase of the social media isn't quite right for many of them and it represents a little too high of a risk compared to the places that are paying their bills right now. But I'm learning lots to help them once it is right for them and perhaps being a good base to help kickstart their adventure here once they make it. I know they love the idea, I've talked to many people with huge followings on other platforms... they're willing and one day there will be that wave and momentum they're looking for to push them solidly over to steemit. Right now it's hard for them to spend time away from their other platforms specially when their followings are larger than the entire user base of every single person on steemit.

I think for us early adopters the key is just building good foundations for the site for when that moment happens and a key aspect is to still be here for when the wave hits. Of all the social medias I probably gave up on twitter too soon. But it's not really a big deal to me because it just didn't appeal to my really wordy personality. It wasn't a good fit for who I am, plus it went many years without a good ability to show off pictures, and there still really aren't a ton of economic reasons to be there. Obviously I get to be really verbose on steemit and some people love to soak up knowledge and insights here, moreso than other places.

1000 REPRESENTS MY GROWING ABILITY TO IMPACT THE LIVES OF OTHERS ECONOMICALLY

I've been lucky to have the backing of folks like @cryptoctopus and win a few good contests that helped with steem power and then I've been consistently publishing content.
But 1000 Steem is pretty much impossible in 3 months without some sort of investment beyond time.
I migrated a good share of my meager crypto currency holdings over to Steemit because I love this concept that I can invest in a coin while using it's benefits to impact the lives of others and have it help grow an audience and in the end increase that amount of coins by some work. In addition my brother does lots of investing so he sent some steem my way as an investment for himself while saying "Make sure you help the family with this" ... My sister was originally just gonna get steem to add to her investment portfolio but she loved the community so much she stuck around. Because let's face it @photogames is pretty awesome!
And she gets to have a good little economic impact as well with her vote . It's not huge of course what we get to do with our votes even at 1000sp but it still is fun to be able to get new users excited about some numbers moving up from time to time. And to some people in some places it is actually really impactful.

STEEM VALUE
On a side note most of these coin markets seem to follow a pattern and steem has several times followed a pattern where it goes way up and then later moves down and consolidates for a few months and then shoots way back up again. I think some people get way too disapointed by this. It's only a problem if you're trying to cash out right at that moment. These patterns are something every one of these coins does and even though it seems to mean less stability to most people it makes a lot of us excited because it offers great potential. So when I look at steem I don't think of it being $2usd I think of that inevitable cycle where it hits $5 or sometimes much higher than that depending on what Bitcoin is doing. In fact I get really excited about it going down low... because I can get even more and then really have a much larger economic benefit on the lives of my followers and those friends of mine that make their way over to the platform and in my own life. It's a great investment. Maybe I'll cash out my initial investment on the next jump but I'll still have tons left here to keep rolling.

Also when I invest into my posts, as I often do, I like to think my friends and followers should be happy because the more Steem and influence it brings me the more I'll be able to potentially impact their lives in the long run. Through votes through @photogames and through other interesting posts like this perhaps and then helping big influencers make there way over here. Also when I see my friends and followers do the same I'm more than happy as well. I just wish it was only my friends and followers doing it. haha

RECAP

Some may think it's crazy that I've put so much time interacting on a social network where I have so many fewer followers but I do love the concept behind it and have hope for a large wave to come. I know many influencers that are consistently being more and more frustrated by FB and Youtube and their policies and how much they switch the goal posts on them. So I think something like this solves a lot of their problems. Sure it has it's own set of problems but there is also tons of great potential for them and for us as well. Pretty soon steem will cycle back up to a larger value and that may bring lots more people along with it but it also makes investments really valuable as well. P.s. it's funny because I watch all the new followers on Steemit ... I know that many of those 500 are just random accounts who follow 10s of thousands of accounts hoping to up their numbers... it's kinda funny ... but whatever I'll still take it, it happens in every social media.

So those are just some of my random babblings.