"What is Steemit?"
That is a question that could elicit an entire range of answers from its thousands of users & visitors. Truth is, there is no absolute, fixed answer. To each of us, Steemit is something different and unique.
To some - myself included - it has been an incredible blessing, offering the opportunity to disengage from the traditional 9-to-5 world and earn a reasonable living through sharing writing & creative talents.
To others, it's been a community space in which to learn, explore new subjects & content, and broaden horizons on life through the exploration of different perspectives coming from a fresh community of innovative thinkers.
And yet to others... while, fill in your own blanks here.
Though regardless of what answers any of us might give, we can agree: Steemit has proved to be a game-changer.
The platform hasn't just been an improvement upon social media, where one can earn financial rewards for quality content. It's been a step forward in the direction of establishing new approaches to communal collaboration and compensation for contribution.
Here, we are undergoing an exercise in rethinking what value is and how we can design new economic models to reward its introduction into new, evolving ecosystems.
Yeah.
Sure, we can post something quick and earn a few bucks. But that's only the surface level.
We're in the midst of highly signficant shift in the larger world.
Our economic systems are about due for a revamp. Our relationships to money and commerce are nearing ready for a makeover. The nature of our engagement with our creativity and its applications to serve the advancement of new projects and initiatives that shall define and shape our shared future is morphing and undergoing revisions that we can't yet fully fathom the implications of.
And here, now, Steemit is a playing field for these processes of global transformation, idea exploration, and network building that is ushering in an entirely unprecedented era.
Now, that may sound all grand and idealized. And worded like that, it DOES all seem a bit more grandoise and spectacular than the day-to-day here might seem. But it's kinda true.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have barely begun to make their mark. We are still the early adopters. And these technologies are probably going to change things to an extent similar to - if not far greater than - the internet did upon its arrival in society.
Think about it...
Never before, has it been so easy and simple to simply join as a community member, output some ideas and hit "publish," and reap the rewards back.
No extended relationship-building process. No contracts. No dealmaking or negotiations. No extended hassles and friction of setting up payment allocations, auto-deposits, cheque writings and cashing.
Join. Publish. Profit.
That fucking simple.
Now, though some of us have been able to turn Steemit into a means to pay the bills, it's really safe to assume that such an outcome may not be entirely realistic or practical for most people. And even for those - like myself - who have been making a living from their writing here, it is not necessarily a secure, steady, long-term income source which can be fully relied on. (Though I'll happily take those words back if Steem rises to $100+).
And maybe, that's not at all the point.
Sure, it'd be great to grow incomes on here such that it really becomes worthwhile to invest one's energy in using this as a platform on which to engage one's creativity and contribute at a scale that proportionately compensates the investment of time, energy, heart, and soul. Though immediate profit-potential aside, there is another question worth asking:
What may be incubated within this experimental grounds?
What might we create here that extends beyond the boundaries of Steemit and grows into entities in their own rights, which shall pay forward some of the blessings and opportunities found here?
There is a growing community here enriched in passion, vision, and talent.
There are many united by common ideals, who see this space as one from which amazing, world-changing things can grow.
We're here developing relationships. We're here developing ideas.
And at the intersection - growing our ideas and visions here together - there awaits a fucking goldmine of opportunities.
So...
What shall we create...?
We herein, now have an open canvas infront of us.
Here, we can pose ideas. Ask questions. Share insights. Offer invitations to engage in the collaborative manifestation of cool fucking things that make a difference.
Maybe there are some ideas we've had stuck in our heads for a while and haven't shared.
Fucking share them.
Trust me. No one is going to "steal your idea." Everyone else is too busy living their own lives.
But. By speaking out your visions for the ways this community and this world might benefit from the development of those ideas you've held in for so long, maybe you'll usher in some support for them. Maybe, you'll make some new friends who share your vision of a better world. And maybe, the consequence of ONE PUBLISHED STORY here might be a venture that changes lives around the globe.
No bullshit.
Any one of us here could do it.
Though, the probabilities are that most of us won't.
And that's ok.
Not all of us are here to change the world. Not all of us want to.
Some of us are just here because we like to write and share. Some are here to read and learn. And that's perfect too.
Though regardless of what our individual aspirations are - on and outside of Steemit - we all do have opportunities here unlike anything we've had before.
Maybe that is to share ideas that shall benefit others - either directly through our writing, or to gather support and guidance to bring bigger business/project ideas to life.
Or, maybe the opportunity is one of skills development.
If we consider ourselves writers, this is quite the place to speed up and incentivize our learning curve. Each story written is a learning cycle. And through both rewards and comments, we're offered direct feedback.
The next piece you write and publish is NOT just one story. It is a stepping stone to a bigger, more important piece of your puzzle. It is a means through which you are actualizing the skill, insight, and resources required to actualize a much more far-reaching impact than anything that gets left behind here on the Steem blockchain - if you choose it to be.
And maybe you don't choose that. That's cool too.
Though since you're here anyways, why not dream a little.
Why not expand your vision and sense of possibilities for what could evolve out of your participation here, in this innovative space that is defining a completely new realm of what might come for the future of collaborative, creative, economic spaces emerging out of the evolutionary domain of crypto & blockchain tech?
Maybe Steemit never was the big kahuna, in the big picture.
(Or at the least, let's try on that idea and run the simulation to dive deeper into the idea at hand).
Maybe this is just a stepping stone. A vehicle to elevate ourselves to the next.
What your intentions and hopes are here... I don't fucking know. But, I'd guess that you have some inclination within you to realize some dream, achieve some goal, and make a difference in the world that is so much bigger than what we're doing here.
Yet, here we are.
And, there is some magic circulating in this space.
So, maybe we are exactly where we need to be right now. And this step is preparing us for what's to come.
Or, forget the fate & destiny-ish language. Perhaps, this step is the opportunity we've been waiting for - even if it doesn't look like what we'd hoped or expected. Perhaps this is the launch pad to what we choose to create next.
For myself...
It's probably best I don't give 100% of that answer away. Gotta leave space for surprises.
Though, to be transparent and vulnerable enough to lead by example... I have been feeling the counsel to shift part of my writing focus to the realm of novels. Which, shall also serve into the other area of focus I've been working towards. (Clues left in writing like this, should anyone's curiosity get the best of them and drive to follow the breadcrumb trail.)
And what does that have to do with this subject?
Well, this has been a training grounds. And still is.
This is a platform upon which I've exercised the opportunity to practice the skills of communication - though there really are alot more layers to it than just that, a phenomenon you may or may not have discovered, depending upon how far back you've been following my writings.
There has been profit. There has been relationship building. And there has been an exposure of new, inspiring ideas and content. Though more than anything, there's been an ongoing process of skill development. An internal growth of the foundational perspective, abilities, and capabilities to share ideas, articulating their essence - nurtured through the diligence invested in each piece written.
In my humble opinion, this is one of the greatest assets we are the midst of cultivating here:
The intellectual capital of our own inner resources, developed by engagement in continual effort here, contributing to the collective progression, one soul-infused story at a time.
And from here...
Well, that is a blank for you to fill in for yourself...
