Paycheck to Paycheck, Hand to Mouth

in #steem6 years ago

I have been a pretty outspoken advocate over the last year for powering up for future benefits and at times, I have been criticised for not being sensitive to the life situations and needs of some. It is because of these situations and needs that I have recommended powering up.

I wrote a piece last night on how I see the future of Steem and some predictions as to where I see it going. In essence, it will be more earners, earning less which means, unless one has built a healthy community support base or holds Steem personally, getting a viable return is going to be difficult.

What always surprises me is that the people who claim to need to live off of the earnings didn't have this option available to them even a few short months ago yet, now rely heavily upon it. That is a risk. The other thing is that they seem to take all earnings out without leaving even a small percentage to keep their own account clicking over. 10 - 20% would be a small price to sacrifice now to invest in potentially very large future positions. There is risk in long-term thinking of course but, there is a lot of risk in thinking short too.

If you think that 1000 SP votes at about 19 cents currently (~1.90 a day) what does that 1000 vote at when prices are 10 times as high? Yes, there will be larger pulls on the pool and less Steem paid but, the value of 1000 SP would be highly significant to many of the users here. For those struggling now but not powering up, they are always going to struggle and likely increasingly so as prices increase and onboarding continues.

Rather than building a nest egg, they have created a job for themselves with a weekly paycheck but, no fall back position. A change to the code, a shift in social preferences, a lockout through communities and, they are back at zero. Unemployed. Even if they are earning, the pressure to continually perform, chase, stress will go on indefinitely and they will never get a chance to rest, take a day off, a holiday.

Plus, earning and holding a little SP now creates more than voting power in the future, it creates a nest egg that can be liquidated if necessary. 100 Steem at 30 dollars is worth 3000 and if a dollar a day matters, that is enough for 8 years of mattering. A power down of a few SP can tie one over for a long time.

There are going to be ups and downs in the markets but, earning Steem through content creation will never be much easier than it is now and as competition through mainstreaming increases, the chances of increasing rate of earning goes down. Unless of course, one holds Steem power to use to earn upon and support others.

As I have said many times before, I am investing myself as heavily as I can now and doing all the work I can so this isn't a job but a preparation for a different life in the future. I am tired of living month to month, paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth as, it is no way to actually live. Life has a lot more beauty in it than most of us experience while we go about trying to make do on the scraps thrown from employers and governments alike.

The beautiful thing is that not only can we work toward our own freedom here, we can be a part of helping many others too. Well, we could be, if people chose to create a community of free thinkers instead of a group of short-term maximizers and extractors.

This place is going to evolve in many ways and be influenced in many more both internally and externally. My hope is that improvement behaviors are incentivized, harmful disincentivized and those thinking long will get rewarded for their effort and consistency.

A long way to go and so much to come.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

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I have realized I can’t do it anymore . I feel like I need a part time job and these savings can be for my future or Incase of emergency . It was fine at first but when the price drops it hurts my withdrawals and hence , my expenses for baby and I

I am so far from willing to live off this, it is too unstable and too random.

It seems like there is a big annuity type factor with steem that a lot of people don't talk about.

It is a lot riskier to focus on the short-term, but I don't have to tell you that. Things change, and anybody who depends on one source of income will face some tough times when things change or disaster occurs. They will wish the had done what you are doing when "it" hits the fan.

The fan is always waiting. Spinning. There is a convergence of events in the world happening. It will likely get uglier.

Oh yes, it's only a matter of time.

I really don't get why @tarazkp. I've seeing people on this platform quit their day jobs for Steemit, even when they haven't started earning consistently on their postings.

It's a dangerous way to live, not planning for the future. I have a day job, a small business and am also investing here just in case. We don't want to regret anything

Perhaps it is a lack of experience or maybe not understanding how the platform works enough. Many don't know about the limited pool, vests or that SBD is meant to be pegged. They will learn one way or another.

Indeed, we don't seem to be hardwired to think long term (especially odd considering the small amount of time that platforms like steemit have been around, yet people seem to act like it's been around forever!)

@exyle did a good vlog today along similar lines pointing to how hard it's going to be to earn steem going forward once smt's are released and the BIG content creators join (along with their followers).

Collectively, this reminds of that phrase:

"the best time to plant a tree is years ago, the second best time is TODAY".

It is strange isn't it? People talk of early users when we are just over 2 years in...

Yeah, it is going to get difficult to earn steem and potentially with smts, the bidbot rules will end. Hopefully.

Honestly, I wouldn't blame those who have refused to invest in this system after they have lost a whole lot to internet scammers and ponzi. If you havnt lost anything online yet. You might not get to understand the psychological trauma many of us have gone through before coming on steemit. Many are still trying to recorver all they have lost and that is why you may get to see the behavior of instant gratification in many people .

I was once there and so I understand perfectly. It would take a while for them to realise that steemit isn't Ponzi and that it is here to stay.

When I came into steemit , I was used to taking all my reward and wouldnt leave a dime for to.orrow thinking steemit would crash anytime as I virtually lost all my life savings to Ponzi and was feeding from hand to mouth until steemit came and saved my life. So it took me a while to recorver and now that I am a bit stable, I can now think of investing once again as I come to trust the platform and belive in its long term goals.

All we need do is keep making posts like this to teach people but we can't force them. Only time can convince many.

Life tends to hit a lot of us . Whether its from medical issues , loss of job or a scam . Recovery is a long haul . I am glad you are on the way back . I too am putting what I can into Steem and I am not so much stable but will be within 6-9 months where my ability to hit steem hard will come into play . Steem is also my long term goal that I invest in now with my time and energy . I look forward to seeing many of you in the future as we look back and talk about how we didn't miss the boat

If I remember correctly, you said you knew it was a ponzi and invested anyway. This is common, like bitconnect. Everyone wants to get rich quick, instant gratification and the like yet, very few will invest long-term in themselves or an idea. Those that do take short-term risks for long-term gains.

Getting to 1000sp looks a bit difficult these days but I am still positive that I will get to it in no time. I am half way there.

What you say about support is obvious now, if you observe closely. There are fewer and fewer readers and curators of content and more and more writers and creators of content. This means that organic upvote aside from autovoters is now scarce. Maybe I am the only one taking note but curation is indeed becoming difficult to find.

I am thankful that I have gotten to where I am but I think I need to reinvent, reimage myself, not just my content. Press refresh so to speak. I do not yet know how but it is a possibility that I have considered.

Community can never be over emphasised especially for those just starting out. Not just passive membership but contributing, supporting and assisting the community to grow. Such efforts will reap benefits in the long term.

I depend on steemit for a lot of my financial needs but my eyes are wide open to the pitfalls of not planning for the future. I have my own projects offline, dreams and visions that I want to birth into reality. I need money to do it. I need to invest time and energy to ensure that I can do it when I am still young enough to bear the burden and stress. Steemit is giving me that opportunity to actually make it happen. I will be stupid to waste it.

Investing in SP is easy, if people can take out time to do it. A little bit of patience is all.

I kinda want to kick myself for not taking the opportunity to really power up last December as SBD was high as compared to Steem that it was even around 3-4 Steem for about 1 SBD.

I took some of my earnings and cashed out for the first time in order to show people that I invited that it is real as well as have a great Christmas back then.

Although I powered up 1/4 and then used some to rent delegations which I have to say is very expensive right now on account that bid bots are all trying to get it and not leaving a lot to smaller minnows like me.

The more we create content the more SP we will gain and so we need to keep Steeming and growing our account.

I have my own projects offline, dreams and visions that I want to birth into reality. I need money to do it.

Talk to me about it the @promo-mentors are looking to support projects/

Although I powered up 1/4 and then used some to rent delegations which I have to say is very expensive right now on account that bid bots are all trying to get it and not leaving a lot to smaller minnows like me.

You are also earning less because they are decreasing the amount of pool available to an increasing amount of users.

true as you said and it make sense that the pay out will be flatter but more spread out. There is the need to stay relevant and touch as many people.

Who know may hivemind, communities and GPT will fix some of the curation rewards.

I will contact you there definitely. I have seen the post but I am still trying to gather the nerve to present my idea.

I have my own projects offline, dreams and visions that I want to birth into reality. I need money to do it.

This is what I am hoping people are doing with what they take out but, I fear many are just increasing their short term standard of living.

Yeah. I have thought about it. I feel that to really make something out of this platform, one has to create a business model around and about it. A project that will not only pursue the steemit mantra of community and interaction but also proffer assistance to those who seek to escape from the choke hold of job and wages.

I am tired of living month to month, paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth as, it is no way to actually live.

I agree 100%. It is incredibly stressful to know that you have nothing to fall back on if something happens.

Life has a lot more beauty in it than most of us experience while we go about trying to make do on the scraps thrown from employers and governments alike.

Passive income is key.

Passive income is key.

Yep, I am trying to get to a point where i can passively cover most expenses but as you know, in Finland that is difficult to do.

Hi Taraz. My sentiments exactly. I am building my SP and hence my Vests for the future. You never know when you may need it. What you are doing and the way of thinking is identical to mine. If I get some extra money from somewhere it is going onto powering up. Build as quickly as possible. This is like a time bomb and need to get ahead of the game as quickly as possible. If one doesn't then you are ignorant and have thrown a golden opportunity away. How many opportunities do you get like this? It is time ,sacrifice and commitment and don't understand most of the people here. They are chasing today's buck and not worried about tomorrow. The smart ones are growing and re investing.
You have taught me and agree with this thinking as it makes total sense. One day I will be sipping Gin and Tonics and be saying cheers to Taraz.

How many opportunities do you get like this?

I count this as my last now, I am not going to lose it.

One day I will be sipping Gin and Tonics and be saying cheers to Taraz.

I will hopefully join you for one. Hendrick's please.

It for sure will evolve and maybe it will go faster than we think!
I am in a position that I don't have to depend in the steem income. So for me it is obvious I will power up as much as I can. All earning, Steem of SBD, are instantly converted into Steem Power.
The only 2 reasons, for me, not to do this is that I need some Steem at hand each week because I do sponsor a contest each week with an SBI share. The other reason is that I need to save at least 40 SBD to sponsor my own World cup contest!
But both I do see as an investment in my Steem future!
Hard work now, will pay off later!
So yes you are right. The ones who depend on a Steem income, should also try to invest something back into the system. Day by day it will be harder to get noticed, to get upvotes and so on. And this will become even harder when loads of new users will enter the system! Each SP counts then! The advantage we will have be creating content of curating content now, will be extremely important!

I think that is a good approach and, good luck with the contest :)

Feel free to participate. The bigger the crowd the more fun!

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