That is one option. Waiting for the one week conversion will generally guarantee a dollars worth of steem from your steem dollars. However this step is not necessary if you want to trade your steem dollars immediately for Steem or BTC. You can send either your SBD (steem dollars) or Steem to the exchanges listed above and trade for BTC, or you can trade your SBD for Steem on the internal market. https://steemit.com/market The 7 day wait is only if you choose to use the "convert" option. Trading is instant on the internal market.
RE: Simple steps that will get you THE MOST US Dollars out of your Steem Dollars.