Hey fellow Steemers! If you're anything like me then you were super excited to get started with Steemit.com but you dreaded the idea of waiting 1 - 3 business days for an account. I constantly checked my email over and over again the past 24 hours, yet it seemed like I'd never be sent a password. That's when I noticed this little conversation happening at the Steem Reddit...
Instead of waiting 1 - 3 business days, I figured that I better find a workaround if I wanted to start contributing to the community. As you can see, I currently have an account, so in this post I'm going to both introduce myself to teach current Steemers about what I enjoy doing, while also helping the future Steemers of tomorrow who are stuck waiting for their account approval, like I had been. Let's begin!
Introducing @thankyoujay!
My name is James Brooks. I'm a 27 year old freelance copywriter from Portland, Oregon. Recently, I've been transitioning from writing sales copy to creating digital courses. My main purpose in life is to make a contribution to the world by teaching people how to increase their skills and their income using the Internet.
There's nothing that I love more than making a positive impact on someone's life through education. I especially want to focus on helping low-income families and people from developing countries.
Growing up, my mom instilled these beliefs on me. At the time, she was an attorney representing children who had been abused and neglected by their parents. It was a stressful job, combined with the fact that she was a single mother, but at the end of the day my mother is the person that taught me how important it is to give back to those who are less fortunate. She's my mentor and the reason that I create amazing content that helps people accomplish their goals.
How I Learned About Steem
Currently, my group of friends have gotten into cryptocurrencies and investing. I'm one of the founders of a small investment club here in Portland, and we meet once a month to discuss our favorite stocks and currencies. Although I've known about Bitcoin for many years now, today is the beginning of my personal cryptocurrency investing life.
A couple days ago, I had been searching for the right currency to purchase. That's when I noticed a video from my favorite educator and digital marketer, who made a video about his experience on Steemit.
I have years of experience making an income online, so it was great to hear about such an amazing platform where great content is valued by the community. Here's a big thank you to @jerrybanfield for introducing me to Steem! You can check out his video above which will show you how to automate the social media publishing of your Steem blog content.
Here's another video by @craig-grant about why Jerry is amazing to many other people, and why I probably won't be the last person thanking Jerry for his hard work. I want to put it here because Jerry recently did his own introduction and he's a big reason why I'm on this platform.
How I Established An Account on Steem While Avoiding The Lengthy Approval Process
Because I'm transitioning from sales writing to becoming an online educator, I want to provide massive value in everything I create, including my introduceyourself blog post.
One thing about joining Steem that bothered me was the fact that it takes so long to get an account established. I mean, who has 1 - 3 business days to wait for an account? I wanted to get started with the community ASAP, so after waiting 24 hours with no confirmation email, it was time to take matters into my own hands.
After doing a little research, I came across this post by @primus titled "How to Register STEEM Account in 4 Different Ways: A Complete Comparative Analysis of Security and Anonymity."
@Primus' post outlines the pros and cons of creating an account four different ways. He outlined four options for registering an account, here's a summary:
1. Register on Steemit.com - Unfortunately, it takes some time and honestly, ain't nobody got time for that!
2. Use a Linux computer to register using Cli_Wallet command prompt - Uh, I'm not smart enough to understand anything I just typed... next!
3. PoW mining - I'm going to assume that this option, like the last, is too complicated for me.
4. Paid third-party registration - This option will have to do!
Doing a little more searching, I located this post by @someguy123 explaining how to "Create Anonymous Steem Accounts without Social Media." In that post, I was introduced to the @anonsteem service at anon.steem.network, or steemlohs6air4h2.onion for TOR users. (Just so you know, I'm in no way involved with this site.)
I also found a new method popularized by @timcliff in "New Tool from Busy.org - Create New Steem Blockchain Accounts with SteemConnect!" Because I don't know anyone (until now) that had a Steemit account, let alone the 15 Steem required to pay for the account, I wasn't able to utilize that method. Instead, I chose to use the @anonsteem service instead.
On the @anonsteem website you can purchase a Steemit account for 0.011 Bitcoin or 0.6 Litecoin, as of today's publishing. At today's price, it costs nearly $25 for a Steemit account using BTC or a little over $15 in LTC. I knew that I wanted to pay using Litecoin, but here was the problem... I didn't have any. So, what should you do if you're inexperienced with cryptocurrencies but you want to pay for your Steemit account? Here's what I did.
A few weeks ago, my investment club friends told me how they purchased Bitcoin and other currencies using Coinbase. I decided to start my own account that day, which I finally used today. Register for an account on Coinbase and you'll have access to your own Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin wallets.
If you don't currently have cryptocurrency wallets and you're interested in using this method, then you can sign up using the referral link above. In full disclosure, it's my invite friends code, but it will also benefit you to use this link instead of signing up on the Coinbase website yourself. That's because when you buy or sell $100 of digital currency after using the link, you'll get $10 of free Bitcoin, as will I. It's not necessary but it's very much appreciated!
After logging into Coinbase, I put in my order to purchase one Litecoin. Easy enough.
Next, I went to AnonSteem and chose my username and to pay with the Litecoin I just purchased. You have to send payment for the username within 15 minutes, so make sure your Bitcoin or Litecoin is available in your account before proceeding.
After selecting my username, I was given a wallet address to send payment to. You can easily send payments from the Send/Request tab in Coinbase.
Within 3 minutes, the payment was confirmed in AnonSteem, and I had access to my account password and my permission keys. I successfully had a Steemit account and it only took me 5 minutes to create!
The next thing I did was change the password I received from AnonSteem. I use Secure Password Generator with the following settings to create my password. (Don't worry, do you really think I'd share my actual password in the blog post? C'mon guys, it's just an example!)
After changing my password, I went back to my AnonSteem information and destroyed my keys and password so that no one else could access this information. When you're done, it should look like the image above. Now I have an anonymous account that's safe, secure, and ready in just a few minutes. Sweet!
My account started with 15 Steem Power, an estimated value around $17, so for my impatience in getting started on Steemit, I actually ended up breaking even ;)
I hope this helps anyone that's really motivated to get started on Steemit, but doesn't want to wait for account confirmation.
If you do sign up using this method, please take a little time to let me know it helped you in the comment section below, or simply follow me. It would make me very happy!
A Bit More About Me Before I Go...
So now everyone understands how and why I ended up here. I can't wait to make connections with people like you. Thank you for taking the time to learn about me! You can also connect with me at these places:
Stumbleupon.com/stumbler/jamesebrooks
Facebook.com/itsjamesbrooks/
Jamesebrooks.com
All images are mine, or direct screenshots from the individual websites :-)
Welcome to Steemit!
I'm glad you like my service (AnonSteem), I'm also happy to see that my attempt to boost LTC usage is working too. Bitcoin is just too slow, and costs me too much to move the small AnonSteem payments into my own wallets.
I know it's frustrating for many to get an account, and it's only gotten harder for people ever since AnonSteem was built. But this is because it costs Steemit Inc. to create an account, so they must do stringent verification, else they'll be losing a lot of money.
Hey @someguy123, thanks for your service and for explaining why creating an account using the standard Steemit application process takes so long. Are there any security factors I should be concerned about for using an outside application? I read in one of the blog posts I linked above that there could be potential security issues.
I'm glad that Litecoin works better for you, it's interesting that Bitcoin takes so long to transfer yet it's the premier blockchain currency. The discount absolutely motivated me to use LTC.
AnonSteem does in-fact generate your keys server side. We do this for convenience, and also because most users are not technical enough to generate their own keys.
Quite often, the fact that we keep a record of people's keys, has saved quite a few accounts from being lost to the void. It's common for users to mess up when changing their passwords, and they don't keep a record of the old one. Luckily they usually haven't deleted their keys from the server yet, and so I can help them recover their account.
All services have risks. If you aren't reviewing the code for STEEMIT.COM, the site could just as easily be hacked, and steal your account too. That happened just last year, and is the reason the account recovery feature even exists.
These services are all trust based. I have a long 5 year history in the crypto community, and I'm in the top 50 witnesses on STEEM. People see that history when they look up my name, for example I run LiteVault, which is an online wallet with over 40,000 users. If I were malicious, I could have stolen millions of dollars from my users. Instead, people see that I have a high respect for privacy, security, and integrity. If I ever shut down a service which has a wallet, I go out of my way to return every last penny to the users.
Regardless of that, there's still a risk that I could be keeping peoples private keys even after they're deleted. If someone had doubts about my integrity, then they probably shouldn't use AnonSteem. Even if I added client-side key generation, there's still the risk that I could inject malicious javascript to steal those keys once they're generated, so there still has to be a layer of trust.
Wow, thank you for being so honest. That's incredibly important to know, especially since Steemit accounts are directly tied to digital wallets.
I really appreciate your in-depth response and believe it will help people decide whether paying a third party to create their account is the right choice. I suppose no matter how you decide to create your account there are always pros and cons
This is an awesome thread. I signed up with Steemit in January and it was trouble free as it was not as busy.
I've been wanting to try out AnonSteem. Thanks for reminding me about this service @thankyoujay!
I did not know that's how complicated to create steem account, I don't remember mine.
Hey @joele! It's not too complicated to create an account for free if you're willing to wait a few days for the verification process that @someguy123 explained above. I used this method because I didn't want to wait days before getting on Steemit. This post is to help people like me that can't wait ;)
Nice to meet you!:)
Welcome! Hope you like steemit.
Hey @hien-tran, thanks so much! This is the first comment I've ever received on my content here on Steemit :)
Welcome to steemit @thankyoujay! You have very impressive profile and thoughts :))
I enjoy your content @mathworksheets! The Egyptian mathmatics post you wrote is an incredibly fascinating topic. I'll check your blog in the future to see what's new
Thanks a lot thankyoujay :) Your beliefs are same as mine, if every young man starts to think like you and act on it, mankind wouldn't we looking for heavens anymore!!
You are so awesome !!!
Welcome to join in #steemit, hope you become the next master of STEEMIT.
great...rs and upvote for u....
Thanks a ton @lautenglye!
u r welcome...
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Welcome. It's obviously been a problem for people to get their accounts validated, but there are alternatives and you have siren they work. I may look at sponsoring some new accounts with the steem I've made
Hi @steevc! Yeah, totally. I think it's good to help people who you know are going to create great content and build the community. Once I have some Steem built up, I'll sponsor people too. Great idea!
Congrats and welcome to steem stop by my last post and help spread the steem!
https://steemit.com/photography/@adriansky/in-the-heat-of-the-night-while-your-asleep
Hello @adriansky! Thanks so much for your comment. I'll for sure check out your last post. I've also followed you! You have some amazing quality photos.
Hello James, welcome to the platform. It was a good decision that you decided to join to this awesome platform. Lets have fun and build relationship. I am from philippines.
Hi @juvyjabian! I just got back from Vietnam not too long ago and my friends travelled from there to the Philippines. I'm gonna get there one day too. Thanks for the welcome :)
Thats great
It's a shame that the registration process is still such a pain to get through, but I'm glad that you were able to get here...and have a positive attitude about it. Good luck to you!
Hey @ats-david! I was a little confused during the signup because I read somewhere that you needed to register with a Facebook or Reddit account. I just entered my email. Perhaps it was old information? Regardless, I'm happy to be here now :D
Welcome to Steemit Land!
Thanks @daveks! There's still a lot to learn but I'm sure I'll get there ;)
Whats up ? :))
It's funny, before I noticed your comment I was literally checking out your black and white photography! That's what's up :)
Sorry :)) I like B&W photography :)
I'm a big fan of B&W photography too. I need to invest in a good camera, what's your favorite gear?
as possible a simple and easy. Because it is not pleasant when a large camera around your neck, and after a long day it is very painful neck. You look Sony A6500 it is good ... or A6300.
But I use Sony NEX-5T because it is the only one that I can myself, allow financially just now.
Welcome @thankyoujay
Great first post my friend, welcome to Steem.
Upvoted and followed, feel free to follow back. I have been here a little over 2 weeks and have been working hard. Finally starting to see growth and success here. Keep up the good work. Peace
Starsteem
Hi @starsteem, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'll be sure to out your content in the future friend!
Cool intro! Welcome to the community.
Thanks much :) I consider myself pretty boring so I figured I should try something a bit different for intro post. Stay in touch @rahul.stan
Sure!
Fantastic intro! Welcome and congrats.
I appreciate the feedback @condra, thank you for making the community so welcoming :)
Now people physically around you will find you extremely knowledgable about cryptocurrencies. Welcome to the club. It looks like you recouped your loss and then some!
Yep, I think of the day I gained on Steemit the most valuable thing, but noticing that there's SP on my account was a nice benefit too :)
Welcome to the platform @thankyoujay! And wonderful report on the process getting here
Appreciate it @hansikhouse! I like your content about Steemit being more productive than the Facebook page. I'll keep checking on your content
I probably waited less than half a day to have my information approved. This was about 2 weeks ago.
Yeah @wthomas I probably got a little impatient with the process. I was a bit nervous that approval had been delayed because of the comment I saw on the Steem Reddit
Hi James, welcome to Steemit.
So glad to read your post.
You are a freelance copywriter? AYE, AYE!
What's your niche? :)
Glad to learn about Anonsteem. (cc: @businesswri for your brother)
Hey @sidwrites, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm all over the board with my writing, but I enjoy writing about real estate. It really all depends on my client however :)
Real Estate! Reminds me of Dan Kennedy and his clients. So glad to learn more about you! And glad to see you on the Steemit chat.
Keep writing. This place is heaven for copywriters. ;)
Following you now! All the best...
Great words! Welcome to steemit!
Thanks @minotaura! Are you as excited for the new season of Game of Thrones as I am?
Can't wait!!!
Welcome to the SteemIt family! Great information for an intro post. Keep the positive momentum going!
For sure! Hopefully I can keep creating valuable content for the community @opinizeunltd
Great tips!! well done!! and its an amazing platform! If you are ever hungry... dont go to my page! hahah
Oh my goodness @allasyummyfood. I wasn't hungry until you said something >:D
hahahah :)) :P
Fantastic over the top intro post @thankyoujay. You have a different style and you will do great here, no question.
Thanks so much @gringalicious! How do you like being an expat in Chile? My mom is in Ecuador right now teaching English and she loves South America. I'm planning to travel there sometime this year
Well, at the moment, I am visiting the states, North Idaho to be exact. I am not sure when I am going back. But when I was there (for 4 years), it was enjoyable.
Hi james, Welcome..
Impressive intro..
Hey @iamsgr! I appreciate the feedback. Hopefully it helps people waiting to get on the platform.
Its a whole new world! Welcome @thankyoujay Nice Post BTW lots of good content, thus the good payout.
Thank you @captainobviou3, hopefully I can continue creating content of value in the future to assist the Steemit audience!
This one of the top "introduceyourself" post I have read so far. Welcome to Steemit and good luck with you @thankyoujay
Hey @uday625 I really appreciate the kind words. I wanted to do something a bit unique, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!
What a great introduction post! Welcome! I hope you will enjoy Steemit as much as I do! :-)
Thanks @bart2305! I've had a lot of fun with it so far
This made me want to redo my introduce yourself post. Welcome to Steemit!
Upvoted followed and resteemed!!!
Wow I have completed forgotten about the verification process , probably because I signed up a long time ago
Welcome to Steemit! And thanks for the reminder :p
Welcome! I'd recommend checking out r/steemit instead of steem, a little more activity there.
Ah, thanks @acidyo! I'll do that for sure. I was wondering why it seemed so bare...
Excellent introductory post! I loved to see it. Thank you so much for sharing it. I hope you enjoy our community a lot. Good luck and have a great week!
Thank you for sharing this. I have been looking for ways to get my friend signed up to steemit as the delay in sign up approval is getting discouraging for her.
My first reply in steemit is to say 'thank you' for your guide! Now to get my profile set up.
Lots of Steemit users use Steempix: get uploading https://www.steempix.com