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Ahoy fellow knOts!

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This past Friday we had our first knOt meeting through the voice chat on Discord, where four sailors @captain.akela, @ipumba, @zekepickleman and @ankapolo, from four different parts of the world got to share their stories about how they got into sailing and their journey on Steemit so far.

To summarize, we talked about ways to help individuals in the community grow on Steemit:

• Using SmartSteem.com can help individuals that have some STEEM or SBD available in their wallets to buy real votes for their posts. It is safer than using bid-bots as you get a refund if your purchase is not profitable.

• Also individuals can sell their votes through SmartSteem.com and make some curation awards while their account is idle. Learn more in the link below:

• @ipumba suggested also using SteemWorldMap.com to pin your post to the location about which you're writing. If you follow the instructions on the site correctly, your post might get currated by @SteemWorldMap, in which case you may get a nice upvote from them.

Also huge thank to all the fellow sailors who are supporting this initiative by using the hashtag #knot in their posts and mentioning the @knOt to other Steemians;
mainly @vikingliveaboard @rickpics, @zekepickleman, @loneranger, @steemecity, @bavarian59 @agrestic, @beveryting, @kuttmoped
and anyone i didn't mention (please let me know).

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The knOt philosophy on building a community

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No man is an Island ... though as a sailor I often wish to escape to one... or be one.

We like to think that we can do it all by ourselves - go on a solo quest and face the odds alone.

But at the end of the day, we yearn to share our story with supportive audience that can fully understand or at least try to appreciate all the nuanced details of our experience.

So, can we succeed on Steemit alone?

Well... that depends on how you define success.

If by success you mean collecting as much STEEM as possible,
the answer is Yes.
You can simply buy STEEM and attempt to upvote yourself or buy votes to get your account growing. This is typically the path that many investors take - they don't care much about the quality of content or the social aspect of the platform - they simply want a to win the monopoly game by landing on "Pass through GO and collect $200" every time they roll the dice. Well, if you can control the dice (the votes), there is that.

But SBD and STEEM are not the only currencies on Steemit; there is yet another - the Social Currency.

Finding like-minded people to share your ideas and creativity and building a strong community (even with small accounts) is truly the only way to reach one's full potential on Steemit. It takes action and dedication from all members of the community, but with some effort even small accounts can help each other grow and thrive - through mutual support.

So, how can the @knOt Community grow stronger?

• The community can support its members, through comments and upvotes. In fact the @knOt upvotes not only sailing related posts, but also interactions between all fellow sailors who consider themselves part of the community.

• Join the Discord chat where members can connect beyond Steemit, lead discussions, promote their posts and help each other by sharing information that is helpful in all aspects
  (here: https://discordapp.com/invite/PyJwEtD)

• Members can take initiatives in inviting and welcoming new Steemians who share similar passions and goals in sailing

• The @knOt is always open for suggestions from its members on how to improve and better live its mission

• By upvoting and commenting on what the @knOt resteems, the community is guaranteed to grow stronger and make a greater impact on each post than what @knOt can do alone

In short, good @knOts make strong connections :)

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The knot is pledging to power up with every opportunity and to support all Sailing related content through resteeming and upvoting daily.