I am happy to see you doing this for folks! I started back in November and have been in the crypto scene since 2013. Ever since I found out about Steemit it's just like a dream come true to be able to give people money without it affecting my pockets. The whole process of manual curation and the thought of "a penny for your thoughts" really blows me away.
I'm just a little over 400 SP with some delegation so I can have a slider but I am powering up all my earnings and haven't cashed out to this day (and don't really plan on it). Since I've gotten in the crypto scene I've never cashed out any of my cryptocurrency. Im also the first (and only) company to accept bitcoin / crypto in my city (The Twin Ports, Duluth, MN / Superior, WI) and while I've not had any bitcoin transactions it feels good to be the first.
When it comes to community participation, I've come to find a place I'd like to call home over at @comedyopenmic / #comedyopenmic and #comedyopenmicespanol as a delegater, contest judge and curator.
As a long time internet junkie, I can see the value and potential of a steemit community for comedians because the internet is the birthplace of many jokes and more specifically, reddit. That means that Steemit (with the rewards alone) has the potential to bring all the funny folks over and be the new birthplace of jokes, comedy and the number 1 hub for laughter.
I've judged both the English and Spanish sides of the contest and have enjoyed curating and upvoting others.
What really makes me feel good is being able to toss a few pennies to the Spanish community and the Venezuelans. Being a Venezuelan myself, I have always followed the economic crisis going on down there and I truly feel privileged to be in the USA and not have to deal with that crisis. Even though I have family down there, I've never been able to contribute to those who are struggling financially because of my own financial struggles. I remember just a little over a year ago I mentioned on facebook that I wished I could send bitcoins to my Venezuelan brothers and sisters. With steemit, I can do this just by simply upvoting them, and I look forward to the day I can call myself a Steemit whale and be able to reward folks with upvotes.
I'm also trying to populate / create a #rockhound community on steemit. (you know, folks that take a particular liking to rocks, gemstones and different minerals such as Agates.)
Recently I've neglected some of my posts to focus more on my fitness and encourage steemians (we sit around blogging a lot) to start exercising more.
As I started to understand voting power quickly I realized that it's better to power up and keep powering up as it will only benefit me (and others) in the long run so I decided to always power up my earnings and it feels good to watch my account grow. I absolutely have a desire to be a steemit whale and focus on the manual curation and proof-of-brain that sold me to the platform in the first place. It's definitely time consuming though! My friend compares it to being a teacher and "grading papers".
EDIT
I also wanted to add that I do some behind the scenes work as I also prepare and ensure the posts for the spanish side are pushed out (start of round post and winners post) and upvote the spanish entries with the community account! Some of these tasks don't allow me to have time to make a regular post but the community building that I help with is worth it.
Congratulations, you're in. Watch @m-sargon for details as I get this started.
Wow that is amazing! Thank you so much! You've made my day!
Lol, did you see my header photo and edit in the Duluth part? Writing about Lake Superior will definitely get you extra points here.
HAHA OMG! I did not even look at your main page so I definitely did not notice your amazing header photo :P You're in the twin cities eh? Glad to meet someone so close! I am yet to meet another Duluthian that is on steemit yet!
Thanks for the application and the extensive comment. I'll be making determinations in a few days.