It's SPUD!
No, I'm not talking food, let alone potatoes.
Today is Steem Power Up Day.
In the just over two years I have been on Steemit, I have only ever reinvested the Steem Based Dollars I have earned, buying Steem. Today, my 5.30 SBD converted to 20.227 STEEM.
In addition to that, I have only ever powered up any liquid Steem. Today, it was (for me) quite a substantial amount
Although Steem is not as strong as it was, it is still at a level that it is not really affordable in the South African Rand (1SBD : ZAR14.05 source). My investment is instead, posting what I hope is mostly quality content, on the blockchain, and choosing to use my allocation of resource credits to support fellow Steemians.
I would, at some point, be more than happy to see some liquid return on that investment. I started blogging with three goals: sharing recipes, cultivating a different voice (for years, my writing had been largely very formal, almost academic and businesslike), and earning. Fun though it was is, in more than five years, I didn't earn a bean from blogging. Until I arrived on Steemit. Although I've never powered down, and although Steem tanked along with Bitcoin, et al, not long after I joined, I have become one of those who -
came for the money and stayed for the community
AND
now have a long term view that Steem (and other alternative crypto currencies) will strengthen again.
That said, my website is paid for in Steem or SBD and I have a Wordpress blog which is effectivly costing me nothing. My .com blogging site had been costing me nearly ZAR1,400 a year and was going to go up. Not only is WordPress my chosen blog platform, it is the main interface from which I post to Steem. This means that while I may not be earning fiat from my investment, I am both benefiting from, and constructively using, my time to build that investment - doing something I enjoy. Seems to me, if I take a long term view, it's a win-win.For those for whom this is a foreign language (I confess that much of this is still gobbledeygook to me), here are the principles for building a head of Steem, as I understand them. It is Steem which gives one currency - in every sense of the word - on the blockchain:
- create content (posts) and/or you curate by voting and commenting on posts:
- these transactions come at a cost and with a return, and
- in so doing one earns and is rewarded in different proportions in three ways, with
- Steem tokens
- Steem Based Dollars (SBD) - these two can be used to buy Steem Power (power up) and can also be traded for other crypto currencies or fiat.
- Steem Power
However
Investing in Steem by powering up Steem to Steem Power or using SBD to buy it, is not just buying a share, but is how one literally works one's way up the ranks on the blockchain:
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With thanks to blogpal 
for providing me with this breakdown.
The more Steem one has, the greater the value of one's votes for others, and to add to the complication, one is also rewarded for voting, sharing (re-steeming) posts on the blockchain and by commenting on other people's posts.
It really is a social blockchain, and where cooperation and collegiality should be the order of the day. It isn't always. More of that, another time, perhaps.
As well as buying Steem, today, I also powered up what little "liquid" Steem I'd been squirrelling away since I heard about SPUD4, in the hopes that by 1 August, I'd have reached a head of 1,000 Steem.
Alas, not quite, and a little of my Steem is delegated (lent) to another project, and which is responsible for inspring some of my more lighthearted eclectic posts:
I have an awful long way to go to reach dolphin status, let alone whale or orca, but given that I'm in for the long haul and there are folk like this encouraging rank amatuers (you see what I did?) and little fish like me, to buy in, every little helps. I'm not likely to feature anywhere in his incentive programme, but I share it to encourage folk to look out for SPUD5 which, I have no doubt, will be a thing.
Alternatively, if you read this, and haven't powered up, and it's still 1 August in your part of the world, why not join in?
SPUD4 PRIZES & HOW TO WIN
Prizes:This is the second time I have participated in SPUD. Both times it was at the behest of my witchy friend, fellow Steemian and blogpal
1st Place*If the 1st Place Winner is from Aceh, Indonesia
- 2500 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsored by @xpilar
- 1000 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsored by @sultan-aceh
- 20 SBI shares, "The Gift that keeps on Giving" - sponsored by @jlsplatts
- +1000 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsored by @sultan-aceh
2nd Place*if no 1st Place winner from Aceh, Indonesia
- 1000 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsor @streetstyle
- 10 Steem Power - sponsored by @steemit-nz
- +1000 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsor @sultan-aceh
3rd Place
- 500 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsor @flipstar
- 10 Steem Basic Income shares sponsored by @davedickeyyall
4th Place
- 250 Steem Power Delegation for 4 Weeks - sponsor @taliakerch
- 10 Steem Basic Income shares sponsored by me, @streetstyle
Rules to Win Prizes for SPUD4 :
- MUST have a reputation score BELOW 69.00 ( so 68.99 is good & Can participate.) AND more than 75 STEEM POWER (prior to SPUD4) BUT LESS than 7501 Steem Power.
- MUST have a reputation score ABOVE 42 (so rank of 41.99 will Not Win)
- MUST have at least 1 Steem Post in their blog about SPUD4
- MUST Power Up Steem on August 1st, 2019
- On August 1st, you MUST make a post about your POWER UP. It can be as simple as "I powered up X amount of Steem" to a simple picture/screenshot of your Power Up and posted to your Steem blog, or it could be a super long dissertation on Steem Power. IMPORTANT: Use the SPUD and/or SPUD4 Hash tags so that I can be sure to see them.
, but it's the first time I've actually posted about it. It's also the first time I've written Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa
Photo: Selma
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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.fionasfavourites.net/2019/08/01/building-up-a-head-of-steem-spud4/