This post is going to be a little bit different than you may be used to from Jongo!
Over the past few days, I've really revisited my journey on the blockchain. And wanted to share a few thoughts about it...Specifically for anyone new to this community and token!
It started December of 2017....I was fresh off the experience of losing pretty much everything in my life. Home, business, money....I was at the end of my ropes. But had this desire to re-build because, well I'm stubborn....
I discovered this blockchain called 'Steem' from an old cloud mining faucet site and was blown away at what I discovered. It was essentially a blogging platform that rewarded you in crypto!!!
Blogging was part of my old business, so it was the perfect match. And as I was in the market for a new way to send and receive payments (PayPal shut my account down without warning in April of 2017 after 17 years of being in business together), this blockchain almost seemed too good to be true!
Here's what happened to yours truly....I went all in!
Steem (which became Hive after the hardfork) became my life. I dedicated every ounce of my being into this community. I build tools for it, developed services, created a community token, became an evangelist for it....When I say Hive became my life and focus, it was.
And I was rewarded for it.
Now don't think I became a darling of the whales and was making hundreds every time I pressed publish...But it was nice to see the rewards come in. I started at zero, with next to no fiat to invest, just time, and built my account up to almost 150,000 tokens.
And yeah, I have much less than that now, but that's where this story becomes.....The promise of Hive!
You see, because I kept my head down and just added as much value as I could, over the years I built a steady income of rewards from my efforts. No, it didn't set me up for retirement, but Jongo....Why do you only have 20,000 Hive Power left now?
Hive literally....Saved my life.
Since 2017, I have been slowly rebuilding after the PayPal debacle. From a 6 figure income to zero overnight, does a toll on you. But I wouldn't have changed a thing...
My family and I struggled, but slowly...We picked up the pieces. All the while, I focused on Hive because I knew there was something to this place.
Now, does this blockchain have some issues?
Absolutely....I've gone over them quite a bit over the years. Literally nothing online is perfect, trust me LOL I've looked...
But what this did was allow me to focus on my passion, re-build my life and support my family these past few years. And that eventually ended up with my family being able to purchase a home last year. It was the cherry on top!
I'm a man of faith, and obviously I will give credit to God. But in only ways He knows, I truly believe He led me here. And put it on my heart to....Build.
And that's my message to anyone that's new here...You can start with nothing on this blockchain, and if you expect miracles overnight and instant whale votes....That won't happen. But you can BUILD here. You can invest your TIME here. And hopefully you see, after 7 years, going on 8 for me....It's been worth it.
My new journey here is to rebuild my stake....Slowly this time :)
Because I never know when this blockchain will save my life again...