You know who's been powering down?
Me.
You know who's been delegating their own Steem Power to a bot?
Me.
And you know who still received a delegation of Steem Power from a good Samaritan?
Me.
That just doesn't make sense, does it?
I would have never delegated SP to me...
If I had checked @connecteconomy's wallet and seen that she's powering down, okay, I might have still considered delegating to her, because maybe she needed it for something urgent and I could now help her out by replenishing it for a while. A very non-judgmental person might have done that.
But if I then had noticed that she's given her own SP away to a bot - no way! She obviously doesn't need it / want it / appreciate it. Right?
In my defense, I did both with good intentions:
I started powering down around 4 weeks before Steemfest. I had decided very late to go to Lisbon and since I was a little short on money, I thought, hey, I can pay for it from my Steemit earnings! Of course it takes 13 weeks to power down, so I advanced myself the money and wanted to pay me back week by week. That's why the powering down is still going on. Of course, with the SBD being so high at the moment, and Steem, too, I have paid myself more than back by now.
I met the @boomerang people (well, one people) at Steemfest, and since I hadn't been posting and voting much just before Steemfest, I thought it would be good for the community if I delegated my SP to them. This way it would circulate and be useful for those who needed it, even if I didn't have time to hang out on Steemit. And I would make a few Steem cents in interest - I considered that a win:win. Also, I like to experiment. I can always review later and see if it truly made sense or not.
Steemfest changed everything
For many of us, I guess.
I don't remember why I wasn't so engaged in the weeks before Steemfest. Maybe I was busy, or maybe I had Steemit-fatigue. That happens. Especially to minnows.
But of course once you've met people in person and Steemit has a face and so many hearts, all of a sudden, something completely shifts. I have been here pretty much all day every day since then, I think. Some days I even post more than once. And if I don't post, I'm all over other people's posts, commenting and having conversations. So there's really no reason anymore to give my Steem Power away.
New Year's Steemolution: I'm taking my power back!
So, since I've noticed that I received a delegation, I couldn't stop thinking about Steem Power.
And in a reverse psychology kind of way, my delegator unconsciously forced me to do the right thing and course correct a bit.
You know, when I joined Steemit, I had very soon resigned to the fact that I'll never be a whale and all I want is $50 per month to invest and I'll be happy. I've been reaching this amount consistently, so I was pretty happy. I therefore never really focused on SP a lot, except for investing around $500 in the very beginning, just to make my vote worth something.
My vote has been worth $0.12 recently.
In the past few days I was thinking how much of a difference I could make to newbies, if it would be worth at least $1.
I've been bringing quite some people to Steemit, and it's sad to see how quickly they give up. I want to prevent that.
So I'm going to focus a little more on accumulating SP from now on, so I can help them earn more and stay.
Doing the math
In order to have my vote be worth $1, I would need 6,500 SP. That's a little out of my reach to buy.
Also renting Steempower - which I learned about only this week - seems incredibly expensive at first sight. Maybe it does make economical sense and provides a huge ROI, but it's not something I can risk to test at the moment.
So that part was a bit depressing at first, I have to admit :) but then I put myself in the shoes of a complete newbie and I remembered that even a $0.30 vote makes a big difference, too. So that's what I'm going to aim for.
$0.30 feels like a realistic goal, even though it might take me 8 months to get there. I think I can do 100 SP per month. That will increase my vote by $0.02 every month. If I don't reach 100 SP with my posts, I'll just buy the rest.
If the SBD / Steem ratio remains as it is now, that should be easily possible. Maybe I can do it even faster, but I don't want to stress myself with unrealistic goals.
This starts NOW!
I'm a big believer in starting with New Year's resolutions already in the old year, because it's proven that it's way easier to continue something, than to start something.
I am happy to report that my upvote has grown by $0.02 already today. Here is what I did:
I powered my powered-down Steem right back up. Luckily we have free blockchain and don't pay for back-and-forth transactions like this :) I will do the same with the remaining power-downs (or is there a way to stop them?)
I cancelled my delegation to the @boomerang bot, but I want to say that I still think it's a great tool - especially if you don't have a lot of time to spend on Steemit. It will still continue for a week, but then I should get it all back.
I sold some of my SBD on Bittrex and bought 70 Steem, which I powered up right away.
So there we go. This feels good! :)
Thanks to @decuration, @lichtblick, @stellabelle, @cryptoctopus, @boomerang and @blocktrades who all made me seriously think about this topic this week.
Power up and Rock on! Here's to an amazing 2018 😁😁
This is a post more minnows need to read. Steemit is a real struggle when done the 'right way'. The 'wrong ways' with autobots and other non-human tactics don't feel right and may seriously impact the future prospects of Steemit. Thanks for your inspiring post! I need to read a post like this every week!
Good luck on your goals. I think all this Steem/SBD turmoil threw us all a little. I am quite new, so I am just working on building up. I thought you could stop the power ups/downs some how. I might experiment a little.
So my sweet @connecteconomy !
your post made me smile :D
Steemfest changed everything for many people (me including ;-)) And as you.... I wanted to accumulate SP to upvote people so they will stay :D
(Even if, as you I also start power down to pay me back after Steemfest ! But now... i am hesitating to take out the money ;-)).
And maybe we will never be a whale. But do not be so skeptickal. You don't know what can happen to you :-) All the things you tdid with your Steemresolution are great... and goes in the way of becoming maybe one day a whale :-) We never know :-) (Imagine you win the jackpot with Dash :D You may want to put it in Steem :D)
Keep the good work my dear !
I didn't realize I was sounding sceptical 😄 Maybe all the math did my head in!
Your mega vote certainly brightened my day and brought me a step closer to my goal! 😘
You deserve it :-) Have a nice day @connecteconomy !
Good job! I've been powering up since the start. The main reason being the people I bring to Steemit give up after a few days of posting because they're hardly earning anything after putting in so much efforts. So I went ahead and bought a little SP delegation as well. It's an expensive thing. Don't think I'll be doing it again and would be increasing my SP by posting. Good luck to you :)
Really interesting topic! I've also has something similar in mind..
The one big thing (that I'm starting to really grasp) about having more SP is having more to give, and there are soo many people on the platform who could benefit from a "bigger" upvote, especially those living in less fortunate places where it could genuinely replace a living, and help feed their families.
I'm using that as my biggest motivator at the moment to want more SP! And as you say, it would also help encourage people you get on Steemit to stay :)
I'm sure you'll get your $1 upvotes in no time!
Thanks @redrica :)
Well done! Glad to see you’re powering up- can’t wait till your upvote is worth a dollar! You’ll get there sooner than u think 💕
I hope so. I noticed I made 250 SP in the last 30 days, but that was after Steemfest, with lots of high paying posts. Now things have calmed down a bit again :)
sure I know what you mean- after the holidays I think things will pick up again, folks are a little distracted and pretty busy this time of year- If there's one thing I know, you're the type of gal who can do anything shes fixed on- I'm not worried one bit! <3
Ha, OK! 💪🏻 Thank you for the pep talk. 🙏🏻 YESSSS!
Yes maam!
🆙☑️ed my friend!!!
Nice post bro good information @connecteconomy
Thanks, sis!
Ja ja ja, schön zu lesen! Ich habe auch was delegiert bekommen und kann bestätigen, wie sehr das motiviert! Wenn die eigene Stimme auf einmal mehr wert ist und man andere unterstützen kann.
Schreibst du gar nicht mehr in deutsch meine Liebe?
Im Moment irgendwie nicht. Das passiert immer automatisch, was grad rauskommen will :)
Na ist ja auch richtig so, im Sinne von "follow your flow"!
C'mon, Connect! 6500 SP is doable, just keep powering UP and stop the power downs. I was going to power down ONCE, (one payment) and fortunately I got some cash for the crypto I wanted to buy. Then, about 2-3 weeks later, Steem Prices TOOK OFF! I am also powering up all my SBD payments as well. It's not fast, but it is consistent!
You are a fantastic giver and I just want you to PAY YOURSELF, also. Then you can give MORE if you Build More! I saw you on Taskmaster4450's post giving away Da$h Coin and I admire that :D
PS: Come over to my blog and get in on my 100% upvote post! All you gotta do is reply, no follow, no upvotes or resteems, Just a COMMENT! And I will UpVote it 100%!