Following the Footsteps of @kevinwong & @steve-walschot and Quitting My Day Job
Hello followers and first time readers of my blog!
I had been without a job and also without much hope and in the midst of recovering from depression and suicidal tendencies when I stumbled upon Steemit. I immediately saw the potential that Steemit had, but others (my mother included, did not see the immense value that steemit has not only as a platform to make money, but also a force for good that can tangibly change lives.
My Introduce Yourself post was essentially to prove that Steemit is real and legitimate and to prove to my mother that I, an unprofessional writer, could make money blogging.
After this post @stellabelle encouraged me to write to her Secret Writer blog about some of the difficult times I was experiencing, and after a hard day writing, I submitted this to her and she added the photos and formatting that she is so skilled at doing
I already didn't have a day job when I started Steemit, but I'd like to keep it that way with support from the steemit community if possible.
What does @bendjmiller222 bring to steemit?
- Innovation & creativity are my strengths
- I love to help others, whether that be through ideas for their personal blog or tips to make blogs better
- Carefully crafted, creative comments (alliteration) and a well established vocabulary
- Phtography & Photoshop skills
- Effective communication
- Passion to bring more creative people to Steemit
- Energy, enthusiasm, and excitement at all times of the day
I am going to be talking more with @jacor about a blockchain technology application that will hopefully one day give both up and coming artists and fans the ability to purchase concert and event tickets at reasonable prices and cut out the fees that (in my opinion Monopolies like) Ticketmaster force people to pay.
I have also been in contact with @ned and looking to soon release some of the premier steemit apparel once the shimmer gold embroidered logo is finalized. I will likely bring a few to Steemfest so people can see them for themselves
I'm also looking into doing some cool customized screen printed T-shirts and and toying with the idea of having a monthly contest where artists can submit steemit related artwork in up to three colors and the design that gets the most votes can win a % of SBD and total T-shirts sold.
I have a lot more ideas that I'd like to implement, and being supported by the steemit community will allow me to fully dedicate my time to helping new users and coming up with products and ideas to......
I wish you the best of luck! It is a beautiful thing when people see their path to self employment. I will tell you now, nothing is easy, but dedication and hard work will bring success. I became self employed through the internet last April and there is no turning back for me. If I don't enjoy what I am doing I can just keep searching for a new income stream. Good luck mate.
I can only really see me being self employed or working with a team with a common goal. Hard work doesn't bother me at all. I'm happy to put in the work and effort necessary to make myself successful, but more importantly, to make other people successful. Even if that means someone else will have more money than I.
To me life is about helping others and the experiences we can have together. Material things are nice, but I don't wish or want a million dollar house or car or anything extremely expensive. I value time with others, whether that might be swimming with sharks or going to the movies, if I can have fun experiences and enjoy the time spent with others, that is more valuable to me than the prestige of owning something extremely monetarily valuable.
I like helping people reach their goals, and especially those that are driven that do not have a means to do so right now with their current financial status.
What has always made me the happiest is using my creativity and talents to better others lives. (Not that I don't have to check my own selfish tendencies at the door, because by nature we almost all focus first on ourselves before others, but I try to make a conscious effort to put others first.
Best of luck! You deserve it :)
Thank you! You are a very sweet driven girl with a bright future ahead of you. I wish I had the time management and maturity that you have shown at your age when I was a bit younger. I know you will be the head of a company of your choosing and have a real ability to influence lives in a positive way. Much love to you @mrs.steemit !
Good luck man - the fact you don't currently have a job then, heck yeah go for full time steemit! :-)
For those who do have jobs, please do not leave it until you see consistent income from steemit or steemit related activities. Only a small group can make this claim this far.
Yes! Maybe it's more of a "stay-tirement" if I don't have anything to quit. And yes it is not advisable to those even with some success to completely alter their life career unless they fully realize the possibility that this may not be a forever thing. I'll do my damndest to make sure it is, but some things are not in our control.
It's always wise to have a backup parachute before you jump out of an airplane at a high altitude.
Just want to note that even though I've quit my day job, I've some other running projects that I can fall back to. I'm just lucky to have business partners that are encouraging me to be involved in Steemit more on my own terms since I've actually been actively devising integrative methodologies for building agile, organic, and voluntary organisations even before I've considered using the blockchain. Steemit seemed to be the perfect fit, hence why I'm quite 100% into the game. Definitely not a recommended move if without a fall back, but what the heck right? Do whatever makes you happy. If shit hits the fan, we'll just do whatever we can to get up again. #good-vibes indeed lol.
Yes I'd never advocate someone quitting to support themselves through steemit if they did not have a backup plan, but for those of us (me) who are not quitting, but simply not as actively searching for a job, I think going balls to the wall is 100% acceptable. I have nobody that I need to support and have limited expenses and am looking to repay my parents for their generosity, so I am in a unique position most others on steemit are not in.
So I plan to push as hard as I can and hope to make steemit a lifestyle and not a job :)
Awesome post man! You have really done a lot for this community and have been very engaging with other members!
Thank you! You are too and I have enjoyed getting to know you better @brianphobos and share some of our unique humor about reality and some that do not seem to believe in it. You are a lot of fun to chat with and I hope to bring more to the platform that have the skill and drive you do and hope you continue to grind and be rewarded here, even though sometimes the rewards you receive are not proportionate to the talent you bring.
Great to hear @benjmiller222, I wish you all the best and we will definitely be more and more in touch to execute on our future plans !
Thank you @jacor ! I'm honored to have met someone who has integrity and a passion to help and work with others. From our brief conversations, I can tell I will really enjoy speaking with you in person. God Bless!
Congrats to your full-time effort. Up voted and your up votes will be appreciated. Following.
If I wasn't working then I might try to do more on here, but I find it's still hit and miss. Do you have any theories on what is needed to have a chance of a steady income? It's obviously not that easy or a lot more people would be trying it. I just hope to see a lot more people join up to make it a powerful force.
One thing I believe a lot of people miss is focusing too much on themselves and how much they can make individually.
The best contacts I have made have come from commenting on others posts, or sharing an idea that might be valuable that someone could "steal" and not give credit to me. Steemit is all about collaboration and those who do not see that will soon be left in the dust. I've seen that happen and seen the rewards drop for people I believe the community sees as selfish, who at one time made great money. Not a dig at anyone, but simply an observation.
While mentoring is time consuming and you cannot mentors tens of people, finding driven people to share steemit with can pay dividends and not just monetarily. Real friendships can be made while you blog and experience this world together.
So long term value in steemit is going to be based on more people joining (whether or not you get any reward for bringing people here to me is inconsequential). People you help will likely help you, and you may be helping someone who is the next @smooth or @berniesanders I don't like to see people only helping because they feel that maybe they will find a person who will make them successful, but even if that is the case, steemit will become more valuable.
Steemit is kind of like the latest greatest phone technology. It's better than other versions, but unless you use it right, the iphone 7 is the same paperweight as the old motorola razr phone. It's all about how you use the platform.
Cater to your strengths and figure out what you wish to gain. That might be shopping money for the weekend so you dedicate a few hours here and there or for a vacation or as a lifestyle.
Build a team with strengths that compliment one another, network, have fun and if you don't see more success (maybe not quit your job success) you probably need to step back and look to someone who is seeing success.
Lastly I'd advise posting about what you love over what is popular and might make you money.
A post about depression that touches the life of someone else and makes a friend and only make $1.00 can be far more valuable than a comedy post about a whale that generates $100. I wouldn't advise making steemit just about making money (not alluding you are) and instead just keep it something you enjoy and then it will be a welcome part of your day and not "Oh no I need to make another post" type feeling.
Feel free to contact me however you wish to if I may be of any help.
Best Wishes!
Thanks for a great answer. I'm mostly doing this for fun. If it pays then that's great, but I'm not expecting to give up my job just yet. I have to support the family. I'm hoping I make enough to buy a few cool things
I love reading these posts.
Please let all of us know if there's anything we can do to speed your journey towards steempendence.
I do too! Good people are dedicating a lot of time and effort (sometimes with little reward seen for a while) to this platform, and I think those who are behind the scenes really have the best interest of everyone in mind and not just the padding of their own wallets.
I guess if there was a group that helped to reward great comments, whether that be posting from a certain usernames account or resteeming content by a user that makes great comments. I think many great comments go with far too little in the way of rewards.
Blog posts are not always more valuable than comments so if a group of people that see the great importance of comments to steemit got their minds together and came up with a way to reward people spending time commenting I think that'd be awesome.
I'd love to work on a curation guild and give advice to new users, but I also have bills to pay, so even though I'd like to help every new person with questions have them answered and give them ideas, I have to also be realistic in the fact that I need to generate income and helping minnows is something I love to do, but would more likely not bring much money for the hours I'd pour into that. If there are people invested in steemit who would be able to help with some costs I have while I help others as much as I can, I'd be happy to do so, if those who invested in me thought the value I bring and hopefully long term gain for steemit is worth what they might donate to me.
Also open to any suggestions you may have @faddat. Best wishes and much success to you too!
I'd also like to work with a group to think of ways to get more money flowing to steemit whether that be through advertisements, promotions, etc. I'm pretty creative, so if I had a group to brainstorm with that'd be another way I feel I could bring long term value to this awesome platform.
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I hope you do well bendjmiller!
Thank you @igster Hope you have some good success yourself and may be inspired as well!
That is pretty cool stuff and some great ideas! Hopefully it takes off for you and for the steemit community as a whole! Best of luck!
Many thanks @jcornel I'm glad you like my ideas and I hope others like them, not just so it makes me money, but because I think I can make some goods and services that others will enjoy for reasonable prices :)
Good luck @bendjmiller222 , i hope it works out for you
💋 @halo 💋😇
Many thanks @halo - You are one of the people who I have seen grow and develop a lot from what you started out from posting. (Hope we all have come a long way haha). You've gone from almost exclusively focused on modeling, to having contests, photography, incorporating your passion for movies, your dog, and husband and made yourself a really fun brand. It's awesome to see all the success you have and the creativity you put in to your photography, which is something I myself have started to do a bit more of.
Happy fulltime Steeming.
It's been mostly full time for a bit, but not looking for a job has freed up space in my mind and allowed me to be at peace and not have a nagging "what if" lingering in the back of my mind. I'll make it work, regardless of what others told me from the very beginning.
Blockchain isn't going anywhere soon, so the more we can understand the applications and work with them, the more ahead of the game we will be :)
Good luck on your journey, seems like you are already well on you way to your goal.
That's the goal. More than willing to put in the work, whether that is by myself or with a group of others similar to a project curie initiative or joint effort. Thank you for the support.
Im actually on the same goal. Definitely feel the same way. I want to do or create something that creates value in people life while bring abundance of all things i could ever want and need into my life. Anytime, See you at steemfest :)
Absolutely! Excited to meet you and many other awesome bloggers and creative / freethinking minds there. I feel like I need more than just three days to talk and get to know everyone, but I will just have to be extra efficient with my time :)
@bendjmiller222 Being self- employed is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone specially with the right mindset. I wish you all the courage you're going to need along the way, wisdom for the possible challenges and a win - win attitude in doing your business.
Good luck!
Great advice @englishtchrivy I know it won't be an easy journey, but no fun adventure is easy. Some of the funnest experiences to talk about are the hardest and worst. Nobody cares about someone staying at an all inclusive resort, but I'm all ears if someone starts a story by saying they lost their luggage on the airplane to a third world country, didn't know the language and had to ride with a goat all the to their "hotel" that had no running water. That's an adventure. Maybe not fun during that time, but eventually things worked out for that person (hopefully) and they did something beyond sitting in a pool with a glass in their hand with a mini sword of fruit in it and a tiny umbrella.
@bendjmiller222 - exactly, both having a job and being self employed have ups and downs - it's all up to us really, to make it work. We just have to focus and do whatever best we can . Every big thing started small and there could be bumps along the way - what matters most is we go on and push through. I wish you success and every help and support you could get . I raise my glass to you!
Something people overlook is that some of the hard work that gets put in to network and post and reach out to others is something that does not need to be done over and over if you do not wish. If you have 250 followers, the posts you make will likely make a bit more than if you were to join tomorrow and try to do the same thing. The amount of money made while you are building yourself as a brand may not equate to a lot, but those with long term vision can see the potential that this platform has, and putting that work in makes all the sense (and cents) in the world. :)
Yeah, Steem On! You have my support.
Always happy to have your vote @future24 glad to have connected with you and seen you stay with steemit. Rewards will always go to those who put in the work. Sometimes not when we wish they would, but hard work does not go unrewarded. Keep it up!
Thats a great courageous move man... I hope you find what you hoped for and even so much more..
You totally deserve it with your dedication and kindheartedness..
Wish you all the best man... Best of luck... Go rock the world
Best of luck..........
I would seriously reconsider. It might look attractive but the realities are there are only a handful of people making real money on steemit and the majority make none. Good luck no matter which way you go
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I too am following in the footsteps of you and some of the individuals you mentioned in your post. I am doing it step-by-step though. Good Luck to you. I hope your different ventures are successful.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@cloh76/my-new-job-as-a-steemit-writer-and-blogger-an-ongoing-journey