How Planktons can Power UP - An Idea to consider

So lately I have been fretting about how with my 149 SP, I have very little, close to no influence on the rewards’ pool distribution. How do I get off this cap, and gain a little more influence?

Public Domain Picture

The answer of course is straight forward: Power up? But I wish it was really that straight forward! Like most Planktons, I can only re-plow back my rewards. But after long weeks of working and earning comparatively meager rewards, it is a nut-crack job to suggest I would be quick to power up all my earnings. Not the least as I have personal life responsibilities I service with my little earnings here.

For weeks now, I have planned to power up my rewards, only for me to find myself needing to withdraw and use them. This is my dilemma, and I reckon, the dilemma of many a Plankton, despite wishing to power up.

Like I said, I have fretted over this matter for a while now. I am one person who really believes in the future of steemit, and its potential to grow into a geo-economy of its own. I want to be part of it, now and for the long term. So investing in it is one of my goals.

And I think after long days, I have found an answer, or at least something close to an answer. I am not sure, but maybe we can share some thoughts on this. Notice, it is just an idea (I am always having ideas! lol). But let’s see if it’s viable. If it can work.

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But first, the inspiration.

Some time ago, I traveled back to my village, for a quick errand. And that was when I had the opportunity to share in some of the daily routines of rural folk, one of which left a deep impression on me, and got me thinking something like how can I craft a similar idea for steemit.

My own opinion of Steemit, is of a village economy! I say a village economy because its potential is still unexplored, and much of what we so far have, are ideas still at infancy, with many more yet experimented.

I found the experience unique, and thought it can apply even here on steemit.

What experience was that?

SACCOS? Have you heard of them? Well, these are very popular in Africa’s rural settings, and are basically the ‘banking’ system for rural folk in my Country (Uganda) as in most African Countries.

What are SACCOS?

SACCOS is an abbreviation standing for Savings and credit Cooperative Society (SACCO). Think of them as merry-go rounds where members, usually between 5 to 10 but can be more, strike a consensus, and start a cycle of pooling resources and giving to one person and another until the circle is complete.

Members of a SACCO in a weekly meeting

Take an example of 10 members. Each of you daily contributes 1$. Added, that gives a pool sum of 10$ a day. After one week, that is 70$. All of this is then given to one person. The process continues until the 10th person. Then the cycle starts again.

It is a near-perfect mechanism for accessing finances to deal with short and medium term financial needs.

I found this a savings mechanism tailored for people with small resources, those who still need to use the little they earn but also want to save. And well, no wonder it is popular in our rural areas.

So there you have it! I saw in this mechanism and how my rural folk did it, something that could easily be mirrored here on steeemit.

Because in many ways as well, Steemit is actually a community like the world we live in. We have the high class (Whales), the middle class (Orcas, dolphins) I think, or thereby! And we have the lower class, we the Planktons/Minnows.

The upper class, and to some extent, the middle class members can grow as individuals, because they have the resources, and have already laid foundations that they now simply build on.

It is different with the lower class, with the ‘poor’. Whoever came up with the idea of SACCOs understood one very important thing, namely that the lower class/poor in any society, can only progress/develop in and as groups, and through pooling resources.

How does this reflect on Steeemit? I bet it is no different, or at least that is the conclusion I arrived at. And so has been born this idea.

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The Plankton save and Invest in Steem power Club (PSISP)

The Idea: -

Six (6) consenting Planktons with Steem Power less than 100 (this is really adjustable depending on many factos) and who publish a quality assured post at least daily join me to make a group of 7, and we form a Steem SACCO!

Saving Plan

A. Daily

We arrive at a consensus to daily send and save at least 0.7 SBD in a common pool account.

The result is that, every 7th day; each member (M) would have contributed 4.9 SBD to make a collective saved total of 34.3 SBD.

B. 7th day (weekly)

Power up Plan

So how about the 34.3 SBD weekly collection?

That 34.3 SBD is used to power up one of the 7 members, every 7th day (every week W) in the order agreed until 6 of the 7 members are powered up. This cycle will take 6 weeks.

How about the 7th member?

I am treating the 7th member as point zero. He/she will contribute to the savings pool as the rest of the 6 except he/she will not be powered up. So technically, the 7th person is a ‘passive’ benefactor to the club.

I will by default be that 7th member, but will, for every new savings cycle, nominate a community member to fill in, who will in turn nominate the next for the following cycle! In either case, I will always be on-standby to fill in!

Some more facts

How does one become one of the 7 members?

For a start, I will upon consulting and considering steemit activity of selectees, nominate the first 6 members to join me. For successive savings/power-up cycles, each of the previous 7 members will nominate one person for the next cycle.

But what if a member after being powered up drops out?

This likelihood is guarded against. Instead of powering up individuals after every 7th day, I will be delegating Steem power equivalent to that which would otherwise be got from 34.3 SBD due the member. The actual power up for all members is done on the 6th week after the savings cycle is successfully completed.

What does the club hope to achieve?

1. The club aims to encourage Planktons to power up, by both incentivizing, facilitating and easing how they do it.

2. It also aims to cultivate a savings culture among members. The same model can be applied in such a manner that instead of powering up, weekly collections are simply forwarded as SBD for members, more of a communal way of supporting each other by pooling resources.

But there is a problem

Most would-be member Planktons don’t earn to a tune that enables them to save 0.7 SBD daily.

My suggestion

This is where my idea of an ‘active’ benefactor comes in. what if we can talk some wonderful steemian into supporting the club? He/she would guarantee each of the 7 members an upvote on at least one of their posts daily. The upvote should be to a percentage equivalent to what gives an eventual post payout of at least liquid 1 SBD.

What is in it for the ‘active’ benefactor?

I recommend a daily upvote percentage to at least one post of each of the 7 members that gives an eventual post payout of at least 1 SBD for a reason.

Each of the 7 members will in practice be asked to send to the savings pool 1 SBD. Out of it, 0.7 SBD is what is recorded as his/her savings contribution. The remaining 0.3 SBD totaling to 2.1 SBD daily and 14.7 SBD weekly is for you the Benefactor! Sent directly to your account every 7th day.

Alternatively

If the benefactor is too busy to upvote each of the 7 members, he/she can delegate steem power equivalent to the said upvote percentage. That Steem power will be used primarily for the purpose of upvoting the 7 members. Your 14.7 SBD reward will still be sent to your account.

What do you think?

And there you have it! A steem SACCO? What do you think of the idea, and how it is constructed? Notice it is still a loose idea I am only proposing, so a lot can be changed. So really, I wish to hear you honest opinions/ recommendations/ offers! Do you think the idea can work here on steemit? What should be modified. And finally, can we experiment with the idea?