I'm in the fortunate position of living in a wealthy country with a good job, so I don't rely on what I make from Steemit. It can still be a nice source of extra income to treat myself and may be useful to support me when I don't want to work any more. I realise that for some people the extra income can be life-changing. In some countries monthly income may be just a few dollars that may not be enough for essentials. This is one area I see massive potential for this platform if those people can find ways to add value here. That can be through posting and curation, but could also be through providing services, e.g. translation or design. Utopian is just one way to do this.
I also see it as a way to support creators who may otherwise struggle to earn from what they do. That can be artists, musicians or software developers. We can use our votes to show our appreciation and help them to do more work on these things. There's also the option to buy their creations for Steem or SBD. I've bought art, music and even 3d printed works this way.
Then there are charities. There are a number on Steemit, but it can be hard to verify that they are genuine unless they are endorsed by people we trust. I previously used the Tsu platform that allowed charities to verify themselves by submitting documentation to the company to get a charity 'badge' on their account. A lot of good work went on there until the service was shut down due to issues with their backers. Here on Steemit @pennsif has an initiative called #ADollarADay where people can donate whatever amount they choose to be donated to a selection of charities he has checked out. You can do that directly, but you get some recognition if you do it via him. Of course that involves a level of trust, but you can check his transactions to see where his funds go. I've started doing this and will be looking to allocate some of my earnings to continue this.
I've supported charities using automatic votes so they always get something from me when they post. I've used Steem Voter, but here are other ways to do this.
Another way to support people is via delegation so that they get to use some of your SP. That earns them more from curation and they can choose to self-vote too. That can a controversial subject, but I really don't mind it if it's doing some good.
A further way to support people is via @steembasicincome. If you send them 1 Steem you can nominate someone who will get a vote on their posts from the service, forever. As a bonus you get a vote for yourself. I've nominated 16 people so far. It's not a huge amount they get, but it can add up over the years and may also encourage them to keep on posting. You don't need to nominate me and I'm not interested in reciprocating just because you do. I like to choose who I support.
The last one I'll mention for now is @mannacurrency. This is another way to get a basic income. Just by signing up you get allocated some of their Manna coin. That is currently a few cents each week, but you get more if you refer people. They rely on donations to keep going and you can now do that with Steem. I had the honour of being the first person to do that. Doing so gets me some more Manna, but it's currently worth less that what I paid. I've done okay from them so far and will be looking to use what I have for donations in future.
From the moment I first saw Steemit I saw great potential to help others and I'm keen to do that where I can. I certainly don't need a 'Lambo', but maybe I can get my first electric car when my current car dies. I'm really not bothered about being rich, just to be able to provide for my family. There's great inequality in wealth distribution that has little to do with how hard you work. I think Steemit can be part of the solution to that.
Steem on!
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
Get a Wirex Debit Card to spend your crypto.
Get some passive income with Mannabase
If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.
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The potential is just HUGE... Venezuela is the perfect example of how Steemit have such huge impact on people's life... There are more and more Venezuelan people surviving thanks to Steemit, you can see them playing for openmic and other contests... For my self Steemit is currently my main income, although i do have other incomes as a music freelancer, sometimes i earn more in Steemit by posting my songs and videos...
It's great that you can do so well from it. I hope millions more can benefit
In a poor and corrupt country like Indonesia, we as the people are very difficult to meet the needs of life. I work on a government-owned college campus as a staff, my monthly income is only US $ 130, poor living needs per day US $ 8. Steemit is a hope to meet the shortage of living expenses, but getting a reward in steemit is not easy. Heavier fighting in steemit than working real. For people who have a high SP, get a reward is very easy. Moreover, the minnows are trying to get the attention of the whale, but whale remains cool while laughing at the minnows.
Steemit is not an easy way, steemit is only for investors.
I don't think the whales are laughing at you. They may just be oblivious to the plight of others, but some want to make Steemit do good. There are lots of people from Indonesia on Steemit. They can work together to support each other in many ways. If you work on ways to get more people onto Steemit then I'm sure you will get support. You have to think about what value your content has for other people. There are plenty of contests and challenges you can use to get attention.
I realize it has not worked optimally. Some of us make a community of students and employees. But when they make a post no one appreciates, some of them have stopped. I will not stop despite living alone.
I also have a contest, maybe not lucky.
Man, 130$ a month is like being rich here! lol... My income as a physic teacher in the most important university in my country is about 2$ a month... you really dont know how is it to be in a poor country... Most people from my country will be happy with earning 10$ a month in steemit...
We've been operating @YouAreHOPE here on steem for the better part of a year and reached thousands of desperate people in a dozen countries with Help, Opportunity, Purpose & Empowerment (HOPE) around the world since we began.
We vet the people and the projects and publish transparent delivery results for every single mission. It's been amazingly successful.
Learn more from our blog, @YouAreHOPE which is not as well kept up to date as the news channel in our discord, but we are getting stuff done in a transparent and highly effective way every day here.
I hope you'll find the time to take a look.
Have you discussed this cause with @pennsif? He can look at distributing some funds to them
Yep, he's been a benefactor to YAH for many months. The dollar a day campaign grew out as an extension from his initial contributions to YouAreHOPE if I recall correctly last fall.
It think Steemit/Steem is the platform that indeed really can make a difference. I really think you are a great example of a social involved Steemian... Thinking about others instead of yourself... A lot could learn from that... I'm following your example in the way I look at the motivs of people, background and how they are activly involved on steemit... For now I only gave some SBI shares, but I am going to do more for others, just because it feels right and that I am in the same privileged situation that for me Steemit isn't a extra income that I need... And I don't mean that the arrogant way.. :)
Awesome to read about the benefits Steemit offers, motivating! I've managed to keep being able to do art full time thanks to Steemit. I was close to throwing in the towel, at least for a while, to get a job when Steemit came into the picture and now I'm earning just enough on here to stay afloat full time doing my art!
Charities can be difficult to vet. I agree with that. The good thing about Steemit is you are not really losing anything if you upvote for support. Sure, you lose a little VP, but that regenerates. You might lose a little respect if you promote something that ends up not being legit, but again, mistakes happen and you can gain that back. These are some great initiatives that you have presented though. I agree with you about what Steemit can do for different people. I was head in the clouds when I first joined thinking I could be rolling in the money. Now I realize that probably will never be the case. I'd just like to save up enough to buy a nice used truck for my wife and I. Thanks for sharing this post!
Hi Steve, many thanks for the mention of A Dollar A Day and for your donations to the project. Much appreciated.
Host of the My Life in 8 Songs and The Alternative Lifestyle Show radio shows on MSP Waves.
Editor of the Weekly Schedule of Steem Radio Shows.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
I agree completely. Steemit is a platform that can offer so much more than making money. It is a way for us to alter the path of humanity and help usher in the Age of Abundance.
There are many who are suffering who are earning STEEM to help pay the bills. That is wonderful. While wealth creation is better, it is easy to understand how so many arent afforded that luxury. They need the money today.
The more people who are helped out by this platform, the better. There are so many ways to do it. Even an upvote to someone in a 3rd world country can make a difference for that person.
All it takes to make a difference is simply an upvote on a post you like. I use the funds I get on Steemit to be able to purchase things I need for our little homestead. Supporting charities within Steemit is a big plus.
This is one of the big kicks I get from curating. I have what I've been told are diverse interests and every once in a while I'll see a notice in @ginabot that I've connected two people who might not have otherwise done so (as a fictitious but realistic example, a homesteader finding and bartering with digital artist). It's a very gratifying feeling whenever that happens.
I've made so many connections here that just wouldn't happen elsewhere.
I love your user name. Very geeky.
Same here regarding the connections, and I'm glad you like my user name. I'm rather proud of it.
Thanks Steve. It all seems so interesting. I'm a fellow musician and have a nonprofit for homeschooling http://www.myftps.com. I work and have limited time to explore your suggestions, but I hope to someday and asap. Blessings! Some of my music is at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/nancymoral
Power to the people Wolfie. Nice to read ;)
✅Yess I think so. Steemit is very valuable more than money. The great value is friendship, knowledge, fun and happiness. Thanks a lot for your sharing @steevc. Allow me to resterem, would you? My best regard for you 👍🏼
I can't stop anyone from re-steeming :)
Yess I think so 😊
Steemit really a great platform for little income based country, we cannot deny that it's a also a knowledgeable platform for us.
This is true it can also teach good values
We see good and bad behaviour here. Let's reward the good people.
yes, steemit makes us updated about news and stock values all over the world
and also shows us some more beautiful places that we can't visit
Not really what I was talking about
so what were you talking
Read it
Hey cool, I didn't know you were on tsu!!!! <3 <3 <3
Great projects that you listed, all of em!!
It was one of my Tsu friends who brought me to Steemit. I've stayed in touch with a few Tsuvians here. It's a shame that service collapsed. They had good intentions, but couldn't make it viable.
Yes, they were real visionaries! Too many ads though, that is one thing I really love about this place, the absence of adverts...so far.