Steemit Ultimate Challenge 8 Weeks (2000 SBD PRIZE FUND) WEEK #4 - My Steemit Experience

BRIEF BIO

I’m Praise Ojo, 21 years old, second son in a family of three children and born to Mr and Mrs Gabriel Ojo, both civil servants. I have just recently graduated from the university (last year) with a degree in mechanical engineering.

MY STEEMIT EXPERIENCE

My introduction to steemit came at a very crucial time in my life when I was learning to be independent of my parents and also in need of a good paying job. My desire for independence was what made me leave home, amidst a lot of protests from my parents, I went in search of a job, (I couldn’t use my college degree because I had not yet gone for the National Youth Service Corps, something done in my country that ushers graduates into the labour market. Duration is one year) finally landed a job in a car maintenance establishment after some weeks of searching but I didn’t stay there long, only a month because the salary was way too meagre and I had to work Monday through to Saturday from 8am to 5pm, the salary couldn’t even cover my transportation and feeding costs.

Before leaving there, I had gone for an interview to be a graphics designer for an upcoming market hub firm. I got the job and resumed there in November, Once again, the salary was meagre, although better than the last one and they promised to afford me more “me” time than the other one did (something I later discovered wasn’t very true).

It happened one evening in December last year, say around 11PM, I had stopped feeling enthusiastic about pretty much anything, I had little in the way of savings and was feeling very frustrated. I lay down on the couch and was just going through my chat list on whatsapp when I got a message from a student in my school who is also a friend @yourmecury and he mentioned this platform. From the way he described it, I was like “oh well...i guess ponzi schemes still haven’t washed away completely” but I was curious about it still so I gave him a call and after explaining it in detail I told him that I would register in the morning and that is how I got here.

I joined steemit on the 27th of December, 2017, barely two months in and I can testify of significant changes in my life.
First off, I have met some really amazing people here, foremost is @davemccoy, super-motivator and co-founder of the NEWBIE RESTEEM INITIATIVE. He had only just registered on the platform as well. Somewhere along my #introduceyourself post, I mentioned that I was a graphics designer and later on, towards the end of the year @davemccoy asked for volunteers to design a logo for all steemians that had registered in the year 2017. I volunteered and found time out of my work schedule to do something and it was selected for the year and was very instrumental in welcoming people to the platform for the rest of the year.

Naturally, when the NEWBIE RESTEEM INITIATIVE kicked off, @davemccoy told me about it and I have been with them ever since. @mudcat36, co-founder with @davemccoy has recently just created a website for the platform and it felt really exciting to be listed on there as a member of the campaign. I feel like i'm a part of something great, as if I have carved a little niche in the world of steemit that i can call home and what’s more thrilling is that every day that we campaign, that niche grows bigger and bigger!

It’s not been too easy combining my work with steemit, Like I earlier said, the company that I work for is a start-up company, barely a year old and right now, they are opening several departments which need flyers, logos, complimentary cards, I.D cards, etc. In the graphics department, it’s just me there, so i’m responsible for all of these. Saturdays and Sundays that are supposed to be major free days for me, I go for some outside jobs still on graphics design but outside of my company. Sometimes, I find myself trapped in this ocean of busy, busy, busy and mixing it up with some steem well like I said, “not very easy.”

Steemit however has proven to be more productive to me both financially, intellectually and emotionally than any other thing that i’m doing at the moment.

Within a month, I had made more than I made in my company for three months and yet i’m still part-time on steemit!

Progress and Plans

The money that i’ve made so far has afforded me a great deal of financial stability and this has drawn members of my inner circle, some friends and family to be a part of steemit. It has also kicked off a project which i call “Project BE MY OWN BOSS” and with some more encouragement from this great platform, I will be able to open a graphics design establishment with enough printers, computers and man-power to do large-scale work.

I have to say, i’ve never been as active nor as passionate about any social media platform as I have been on steemit. I feel at home here.

You really should listen to me whine on and on about it to some of my colleagues. I however try not to spend too much time on it during work hours so as to not affect my company’s business and my employee ratings.

Cryptocurrency and digital tokens was something that I never really paid attention to before (my loss I must say), however now, I do my best to keep myself up-to-date with not just steem and steem dollars (SBD) but also with bitcoin and various other altcoins. I recently started a cryptonews/publication segment on my blog that gives out hot news in the world of cryptocurrency and i tagged it CRYPTONIAN UPDATES. Digital currencies I now believe, are the new future of the world and in the steemit platform, there is no shortage of knowledge or information as regarding this sector of world growth.

Lastly I will not forget to mention @sirknight and the #celestialchallenge platform that encouraged me with his daily challenges which promote posts about celestial bodies in the universe. It was one of the things that also made my first days worthwhile.

Thanks to @dobartim for organizing this contest, here's a link to the contest post so you can read the instructions and share your story. It's truly an opportunity to share and interact with the community.

Shout out:

To @davemccoy, @sirknight, @mudcat36, @goldendawne, @beeyou, @newbieresteemday and all her members. I promise to stay true and committed to promoting newbies and giving back to the steemit community.

Cheers!