Are You Slave To Your Wallet Or Your Heart?
Is Steemit a business or a hobby?
To begin, I promise that this circlejearking isn’t going to be a regular thing -- I’m really trying to avoid talking about Steemit on Steemit, so expect much more original content to come down the turnpike for a good, long while -- but @mistermercury made a great point in my previous post, Steemit Is A Practical Manifestation Of The Attention Economy:
His question was about weather or not to treat Steemit as a business or a labor of love. You can tell he is experiencing some trepidation over this issue, as he struggles with the anxiety of attending to his timeline, building networks, and commenting, or if he’d rather just walk his dog.
I’d like to talk a little bit about this.
You decide your own level of involvement
With a platform like Steemit, you are the one in charge of how you manage your account.
You decide:
- How often you post
- What to post about
- How to respond to your audience
- How to curate content
- How often you comment on others content
- To use bots to boost your posts
- Etc
The platform is open, and if you want to treat it as a hobby, you can. Also, if you want to treat it as a business, you can.
From the heart
Many people love blogging.
I’m one of them.
Before Steemit existed I had hopped between a dozen different blogging or social media platforms, from Blogspot to MySpace to LiveJournal to Medium. I wanted a platform that worked right for me.
If I wasn’t posting on Steemit right now, I’d be posting somewhere else.
I simply love writing.
So when Steemit came along I saw an opportunity to get in on something revolutionary at the ground-floor. Here was a platform that combined two passions of mine: writing and cryptocurrency. And it worked them together into a seamless system where content creators were rewarded for their work, and where consumers could directly show their appreciation and have their preferences be heard in a system of real-life monetary transaction, at no necessary cost to any involved.
You can handle your blog as a work of the heart, and only post what you want as often as you like and not care about gaining a following or making money, and Steemit is great for that! Even without the monetization feature the platform is a top-level blogging and social network.
From the wallet
Some people are in it for the cold, hard cash.
There are lots of people like this on Steemit -- in my opinion, a bit too many people.
They are attracted by the potential of quick cash with no investment costs. That potential causes some people to rip off content from other users and other platforms and try to pass it off as their own in a spamming, spray-and-pray technique.
These types of accounts always fail, and either adapt to be more authentic and thoughtful or they simply leave the platform.
However, for those content creators who want to make a business out of it, Steemit is really the place for them.
Steemit is a place where you can foster a network of people who are very interested in your content, and their attention has literal value.
And best of all: there’s no middle-man!
This is a fantastic opportunity for the business-oriented content creators out there, and there are many accounts that work the system as a business and make really good money doing it.
My personal approach
I do not personally see my account as a business, and I don’t have the time or energy to treat it as such at this time in my life.
I have positioned myself into a network of fantastic people who happen to like what I do and are willing to be patrons of my work, and so, for them and for my own pleasure, I am keeping a regular update schedule where I spend about 1-2 hours every weekday doing my best to create good content and engauge not only with my own audience but with the Steemit community as a whole (I do spend time reaching out to other content creators, curating content I like, and commenting).
This approach has been working well for me lately, as I’m able to make a very nice part-time income while maintaining existing friendships with quality members of this community, fostering new relationships, and creating a catalog of work, in about 5 - 10 hours per week.
I’m able to supplement my income -- which is something I’ve been in desperate need of recently -- by doing something I truly enjoy doing on a part-time basis which provides value to literally thousands of people. Steemit has allowed me to check several boxes that I need:
- Fulfil a creative need to write
- Keep my mind sharp by having an incentive structure that promotes regular writing
- Maintain relationships with quality people
- Foster new friendships with quality people
- Supplemental income that saves me from having to flip burgers on the side just to get by
- Part time job with no oppressive boss -- just you guys!
- Facilitate a certain level of my ambitious nature by allowing me to test ideas and business models
- Offer an open development API system for me to practice new coding skills to create tools for a lively and positive community.
So, I’ve been able to build up an account where my "masters" are a nice calibration of wallet and heart. And for that... I feel truly blessed.
What does Steemit mean to you?
That’s something, I think, that you should really ask yourself if you’re struggling with the question of weather to threat this thing as a business or a hobby.
Are you just here to write or share some other content and make friends, or are you here to make money?
You can do both, and the platform is effective at fostering both.
So, now the ball is in your court. Celebrate accordingly.
In my case, it seem to be both business and hobby.
I first came to steemit to invest. However, I felt fun while writing.
Honestly, I have the other account. However, I created an account @ korea-food to introduce Korean food as follows, and I am greeting you like this.
I write 6 ~ 7 articles in steemit a day .. It is not easy to write various articles every time.
However, there is a hobby that I write in steemit, so it seems to be the driving force to write this article.
I am introducing Korean food.
It is my goal to introduce Korean food to the world.
I would appreciate it if you come to my blog.
Have a good day ~ !!!
Both, @shayne. Both. And I would be a hypocrite if i said i'd do it as a hobby. Then pay for internet with what, anyway? Of course this depends on which end of the globe you are in.
But take this from me, (i am from Africa, just so you know), You cannot be me, and then simply claim you are in for a hobby. Unless you want to say you are that benevolent, you don't care paying to do your 'writing hobby!"
Because yes. Back here, unlike other places (of course i am not sure, just presupposing), blogging is a direct cost. You pay for internet, mostly from your pocket. And that from our pockets is always hard earned. Very. Under no honest circumstance, therefore can someone here claim, he or she is doing it as a hobby.
At any rate, if you are doing it a a hobby, then just do it. Write. It shouldn't matter if no body reads. It is a hobby after all.
What do i steem for? I am a writer, that is the first thing to note. And like any writer, i want audience. This is of course where it all gets frustrating. You know. When you write, and there no body comes along to read. And trust me, people hardly read (another reason to just admit that it really is all about business.).
In the beginning, that would frustrate me big. I am a writer like i said, and i wanted to see value in my works in terms of how many people came around to share in my works.
But is that all? Certainly no. I wanted/want them to come around and read, but i would also appreciate it more, if after they left, i would count many upvotes!!! lol. This is the truth.
Hobby and business. It is the ideal. No less. Hobby, in the sense that you post about what you love to do, and business in that you are rewarded for it. Simple.
@mirrors there is nothing wrong with seeing it as business according to me! Everybody has it own reason to be here. Some for the interaction, some out of business purpose or anything else. For me, it does not matter why people are here. What does matter is what our actions are!
Are we here as a quick rich scheme and trying to exploit everything which is allowed to get the money OR are we just devoting time and effort by creating content, interacting, upvoting and so on, trying to make some money!
There is a big difference!
According to me, you are on the good side. While you maybe run it as a business, you see the other Steemians as your customers. Nothing wrong with it!
True. And true. @shayne has below, captured the essence of my argument very well in this sentence.
I believe steemit attracts people in such situations. Which is why we end up with a good amount of people who are follow begging and vote begging. I'm not suggesting at all that you are conducting yourself in such a way -- clearly, you have eloquently posited a quality opinion and perspective in this comment here -- but when people are in a situation where their activity directly is a big expense, that makes your time online a cost-value transaction.
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
I couldn't agree more. In large part because that is exactly the situation as it is for most people. Notice how many students are here, how many are 'promoting' steemit, are they doing it for the love of 'hobby time"?
And speaking of 'promoting', what do they say when they talk in people to join. Do they say, 'come and enjoy your hobbies?" I bet you the financial incentive is the first tag phrase.
And all these, because yes, as you so aptly say - ..when people are in a situation where their activity directly is a big expense, that makes your time online a cost-value transaction. It is, for the majority of third world country steemians, that i will boldly say.
Not to mean that it is wrong, just to admit that it is the truth.
Great insights @mirrors. I too, both love to write and connect but am very much driven by need. I've been run to the ground by a nasty long term illness and Steemit presents an opportunity to prosper instead of living a very destitute future. May you be blessed.
And you too, @mistermercury. Be blessed. It is a hobby fine, if you are doing what you like to do, but that hobby must be qualified by value (reward). In large part because, you are after all, investing TIME, Internet....
And then we all have those needs to service. Some medical, as is your case, others academic, as is the case of the several students here, some occupational as is the case of the unemployed who see steemit as their opportunity to earn, some....huh..the list is long.
I share, gladly, your honest thoughts, @mistermercury.
Thanks @ mirrors. I appreciate it.
The pleasure is mine.
And thanks for checking my blog out. Much obliged.
Well, thank you for asking. I really needed your post. It warmed my heart and gave me new hope.
I enjoyed this platform because someone who I totally trust advice me to do, and I did it. I had never herd about before, I didn't know anything about it, nor about crypto world, nothing at all: I am just learnig here, step by step. Furthermore, even if I know I am wrong, I consider crypto money just fake money, something similar to Monopoly'dollars: you can play with it, but it is not useful to live real life. Then, No, I am not here for money. I have a "traditional" job to earn "real" money, stored in a traditional bank.
I am here because I love writing, but I've never had the courage to do what I love.
But, why Steemit? what does it mean to me?
Chance.
Challenge.
This is more then a blog: this is a hard way to test yourself, or to improve, or to exercise, with your own time. "You decide your own level of involvement", as you say. Well, for me, that's right here. I have really few free time, almost all spent reading others'stuffs or commenting. But I won't give up my dream, and when (or if) I want, I can write what I want. Starting from being less than plancton, I have the chance to improve my own way, looking for progressive targets but without deadlines. It is hard, but I won't surrender. Of course it will be very slow for me: my job and my life leave me only a couple of hours twice or three times a week, and this is not fruitful on Steemit, because it would need a full engagement. But I don't give up, I can't and I don't want surrender. Somehow, money could be a kind of meter gauging my success, a stimulus; perhaps one day I will have the courage to live by writing, if I could.
Or may be not, keeping on doing what I love when I have time.
Thanks for sharing your views so eloquently. :D
I appreciate it.
I use it as both.
I have a show now that I absolutely treat as a business.
Everything else though is a labor of love.
It's an honor to be here, I wouldn't rather be on any other platform.
The amount of amazing content I've been exposed to is worth it's weight in gold.
I have you to thank for that @shayne
Steem on
I find this amazing about the society that we want things to fall into neat little squares of definition. Business should be business and morals should be morals and passion should be passion. If you bring them together then it will have a problem with you.
I mean in this world people will flock to their desires and not ours. I am in Steemit for it is Blockchain based platform. Maybe I spend 10 hour on it daily. Now if you remove the incentive of earning steem from steemit, I can almost guarantee you that my time here would drop to a quarter. Not because I want to but because I would be forced too.
I am neither a slave to my heart nor to money. Ain't a slave, period. I am just a man...............and just that. A man.
I agree with a lot of good things here on steemit but I can't really feel guilty about trying to earn money on platform that incentivizes it's user by money. I also understand the fact the that a lot of manipulation is going on here and people are trying to milk every drop from the system no matter the consequence or morality. I am definitely against that.
I mean it is for us to make sure that this remains a decent and a clean establishment or we can turn this beautiful tavern into a whore house.
After my rant I am not even sure what the topic was. Sorry for the screaming buddy, didn't even realize that my voice got that high.
I dont think that there is anything wrong by trying to make some bucks here on the Steem blockchain!
And while I am not in it for the money, I do see it as merely as a nice side effect, it is nice to see the wallet grow!
And probably just like tou, I wouldn’t spent so much time on it, if thereward aspect would disappear!
Great comment!
I also find it funny how people like to categorize reality in order to manage it.
In reality, all it does is give the illusion of control.
As I see it, the truth is that reality is an endless, undivided, fluid whole that occupies infinite space and time, and then people come along and try to wrap a skin of individuality around protrusions of that reality that appear distinct; at that point, when we talk about categories or individuals, it's like pinching a bit of skin and saying that the pinched part is its own "thing in itself".
I don't know, did that get weird?
I am not all that into that metaphysical and philosophical aspects of what you said.
But I can recognize some of what you say. We as human beings are limited by what's within us while what surrounds is beyond our absolute comprehension - and thus arises in ourselves a need to center ourselves or orient ourselves in this vast-vast reality. I can understand how we would latch onto something that makes sense and then even modify it a little so it becomes even more comfortable.
Well Hot Damn! Someone who actually thinks and ponders! Does my heart good. Rumi quote the day is in order: "Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place." Blessings.
On the one hand, if I see one more person make a post that is nothing but a link, I'll scream. On the other, I've found some great content on here. I think being on this platform is really what you make it.
Personally, I'm here to connect with other crypto-lovers (which is what I write about), but only ones willing to put forth something unique and interesting. Seriously people, stop just posting the stats every day. We're not dumb. We know how to go to coinmarketcap.com.
I came to steemit for the possibilities of writing. I consider it somewhere between hobby and business. I value the friendships I have made here and the lessons I have learned. I am here now for the engagement. If I make something, then that is a bonus!
I like your post... @shayne
I joined steemit with the intention of making money. When I discovered how long and difficult it was, I decided to just sit back and enjoy the platform. It's the best decision I've made
Awesome!
Although not directly on point, the "No man can serve two masters." teaching in the New Testament has some relevance. For me, the important distinction is between unselfish people and selfish people. Normal cells and cancer cells. Selfishness ruins everything.
One of my favorite words is apoptosis. It seems to have a great deal of not just biological but cultural and technological applications.
I have cancer so am familiar with the term, as I am literally betting my life on the effect. But I'm not envisioning what you might mean. Please continue.
If we're thinking of people as a network of cells and culture as the constituent body, it is incumbent upon the healthy cells that are in amongst the cancerous ones to sacrifice themselves for the health of the body as a whole.
The Buddhists call that "The Path of Heroes". Christians call it Love. For twenty years, I have spoken, "Do not fear that you will die. Fear that you might never live."