My first month in Steemit was lackluster. I had no idea what to do. The first group I was in was of no help and I made all the major blunders of resteeming everything, following everyone and even votebegging. So I have to work harder and faster now.

I skipped over 600 because I was tied up with several major posts and initiatives that I am running but upon reaching 756 I had to reflect on some of the things that I have done and what I want to do in the next few months.

I am still very faraway from my target of 1000 SP of my own but will be continuing to renew my delegation with Hive account@blocktrades to continue to be able to upvote more good quality content and support our ever growing Ohana Hive account@steemitfamilyph. I will be powering up as much as I can as well to get me there.

In 114 days I have made 125 posts and averaging 22 votes per post. What amused me though is I have made 2734 comments. I average about 11-14 comments a day and I have been trying to get this up to 20-25 comments a day. I am nowhere near the Engagement Goddess Hive account@goldendawne but I'll get there eventually haha.

I wanted to look over my voting pattern and I saw I am self voting at 7.6%. I have not come to that level yet that I am confident that my posts will do well so in my bid to get enough power I still upvote myself once a day. I usually just create one post a day and the rest are given to people that I engage with.

In fact 92.4 percent of my votes go to other people and the biggest for now is the votes that i give to Hive account@steemitfamilyph in order to help it grow stronger. Most of us gave delegation to in order for it to have a heftier upvote value to those that are featured as having good content. We want to reward people that we are mentoring to create unique and good content posts.

Ohana

Two months ago if you asked me that this what we expected it to be I would have laughed at your face and told you its crazy. I think none of us ever thought it would blow up like this. Yet I can't help but feel proud when I look at this strange assortment of people from all walks of life, of different regions and of different talents and come together and be an Ohana.

So as more people join the Ohana we will continue to power up the main account Hive account@steemitfamilyph , exert more effort to educate and guide them to be good members of the community that enrich the content and interaction they have with their fellow.

Give them confidence to be able to swim out and join other communities, other niche groups but always make them feel welcome when they swim back home. They will always have an Ohana with us. I'm pretty happy to see several already doing that and getting involved in their own projects and heading their own communities.

Mentor and guide them to the best of our abilities in order for their works to be curated by the major guilds and provide them the exposure that they need to succeed. My intent is to see all of them get that curation and I know it will give them the spark to shine. We've had a couple of people curated already on their first month and so I know everyone is doing a great job.

Gift in Kind

I am not even out of plankton stage yet I am already embarking on a major project. I know I don't have clout nor any major backers at this point but what I am banking on is the Gifteconomy mentality of Steem.

These children and community of indigenous Aetas need our help. They are allocated next to nothing in budget from the government even though they are a protected tribe. In a matter of sensibilities they don't contribute much in terms of taxes. I am afraid they are in the bottom of the list to be helped. So their choice is to till an arid soil and for the occasional NGO to give them aid.

It broke our hearts when we learned of their plight a couple of years ago and that is why we have decided to adopt the school. I believe that Steem will be able to be a major contributor of the betterment of their lives and I want to see them sharing their culture, their songs, their beliefs and traditions. In a way this is for us to be able to save these because they are fast disappearing.

This is true to most indigenous people. As modern times and technology is fast encroaching, they lose semblance of who they are. Children no longer know the songs of their ancestors, stories they should know are replaced by movies and tv shows, the culture they have replaced by what they think is civilized.

So by having a Steemit presence they would be able to change their lives and have opportunities but also keep their culture intact.

I have already created a separate account for Gift in Kind so that it will be separate from my account and I will not be though of just using it to further my own account as some people that I have seen.

Promo-Mentors

The first 30 days of a Steemian is very critical. They are like blind mice newly born. A lot of us has stumbled and made major mistakes and I am glad that the Hive account@promo-mentors has been created. It's goal is to mentor and guide new Steemians who have great potential.

Give them feedback sessions, positive critiques that would help them especially in formatting and markdowns, then also give that extra boost of confidence with some upvotes. Nothing breaks the will of a new person faster than seeing everyday that they have zero votes. In this way they are encouraged to keep on posting, getting better and better and having a great support system. I'm glad to be part of this initiative.

Financial Freedom

Source

Three months ago when I got to know Hive account@ankarlie one of the major projects we really wanted to do was to provide Filipinos with an alternative way of earning. I have been a recruiter for some of the online companies and its not easy to get work in Upwork, Thumbtack and Fiverr. The screening process is hard. Your resume is mercilessly scrutinized and any gaps are red marks. Then there is the haggling of rates with each party trying to get the best deal for themselves.

We have tried everything like lending platforms, CAPTCHA programs, ICOs and even Onpals (Online Paluwagan) a sort of an entry-exit strategy of MLM. There is a certain risk with most programs and CAPTCHA pay in literal drips out of a faucet.

When we discovered Steemit it was like Manna from Heaven. This was a good way for a lot of talented people to be creative and be rewarded for it. Yet also the untalented flourished because everyone has a
story to tell, everyone has something to offer.

This is one of the reasons why I am supporting Hive account@steemfreelancers It is my desire to connect the Filipino people to this platform and help them look for a gig that will pay them for services, products or anything.

I am also part of Crypto Empire headed by the charismatic Hive account@spiritualmax who is teaching us the best way to be successful in Steemit. His words and advice are eye openers and you find yourself humbled because you think that your hot stuff lately but its not even half of what can be done if properly mentored.