Hey there my Steemit Friends. Less than a month ago I was writing a post titled "World Travel Pro Hits 750 Followers and Turns Full Time Steemit Travel Blogger! A Special Thank You to My Steemit Friends!" Since then things have really taken off and now I'm celebrating 1,000 followers!

I recall joining Steemit seven months ago. Like most members of this unique community I was not an investor and I started at zero. I had very little computer experience and no blogging experience. It actually took me several months until I figured out how to upload my profile photo and several more months to figure out the cover photo. HTML, what is that? Crypto currency, I've heard of bitcoin, but knew nothing about it.

Being on a platform full of computer people and crypto investor I knew I had something very different and hopefully valuable to bring to the table. I had all sorts travel experience and a unique travel lifestyle that I wanted to share. I'm basically a walking encyclopedia of travel information and budget travel strategy. I had to find a way to help others with my travel knowledge and get rewarded for it. Steemit was, and is the answer!

Those who've been following me from the start know I almost quit on more than one occasion. Putting your heart and soul, time and effort into a post to see it get 5 views and make 37 cents was beyond discouraging. It really had me not only feeling angry at the platform but totally discouraged and upset at myself; thinking I wasted me time and effort.

When I started I knew making a livable earning wasn't going to be easy, but I also didn't know how challenging it was going to be either. I made a decision from day one, not to be concerned about the earnings for the first four months. I though to myself, let's wait for a while, see where I'm at when I have 500 follower then 1,000.

I hit 500 followers around my fourth month, also around this time was when I was surely going to quit. I was putting in hours a day blogging, and was simply convinced Steemit was an insiders club, and not worth my time. I was still making about 20% of minimum wage for my efforts!

I then made some changes and started reaching out to pretty big players on the platform, explaining that I'm contributing a ton of good content to this website you so heavily invested in, I believe I deserve to get rewarded for my efforts. This message reached @lukestokes, a whale with a ton of steem power. He is a Steemit witness, husband, father, and super tech pro!

He understood exactly where I was coming from and started up-voting my posts, basically sponsoring my work like a skateboarder, or racecar driver. That is the day everything changed for me on the platform. Since then my blog has been recognized by 500 more people; some with big up-votes some with up-votes not even worth two cents. But to me you are all my sponsors, and make this blog possible.

If it wasn't for all of you I simply wouldn't have the time or motivation to stay here sharing my travels and travel knowledge. Looking back on it now all the ups and downs were well worth it. Not only have I helped numerous people with my travel advice, which was my primary goal when I joined; with the price of steem/sbd up I've also gained an income that is more than I hoped for when I began. More importantly than that I've built many valuable relationships with people all over the world.

Most of these people I refer to as my Steemit friends. Steemit is such an enormous place; it is essentially nowhere and everywhere at the same time yet has enough room for people of all sorts. That is what the remainder of this post is going to celebrate. All the different Steemit friends I've made since joining. None of my success here on Steemit would have been possible without you. These are the people that make my blog possible, have encouraged me, and appreciate what I do here. So I want to give a big......