The Puppy And The Preacher - How I Paid My Rent With Steem
I have just paid my rent with Steem Dollars! Well I had to convert them twice; once to Bitcoin and then once more to Euros. In fact, technically, it was 3 times, as once the Euros were in my account; my bank converted them to GBP (Great British Pounds).
Clearly, I am very happy and very grateful to Steemit; not just because the money I've earned on Steemit has kept a roof over my head. I am very much appreciative of the fact that I am part of a social experiment, which has given me one hell of a ride so far.
Escaping The Grind
When @bleepcoin turned me on to Steemit, I had just quit my job, so was interested in extra income. However a voice in my head said I should concentrate on my marketing activities. That was the sensible voice, the one I call the Preacher. However as time went on, the other voice in my head, the Puppy, got really excited and urged me to carry on writing for Steemit.
Clearly the voices in my head represent the left and right side of my brain; the left, is the sensible, pragmatic, logical Preacher and the right, the more excitable, creative, Puppy.
In these last 6 weeks, I've been more aware of their presence than in anytime in recent memory.
Week 1 - The Preacher Has Spoken!
May 13: Last day at job, assess the situation; I have roughly $4000 in commission, some money over from last month's paycheck and the last one to come. All in all after bills and paying for half the Christmas holiday. We have enough for the family to live as normal, pay the bills till the end of June, before it starts to get uncomfortable, bordering on critical.
The Preacher tells me to concentrate on getting the new website up and to carry on with the new project I have been setting up outside of work. He tells me that I am aiming to make another $3000 by the end of June, or get another job.
The Puppy waits, silently, and patiently in the background.
Week 2 - The Rise Of The Puppy
@bleepcoin, introduces me to Steemit, he shows me his Steemit Up meme, it has $1300!!
"Is that real money?"
Yep.
"Real, real, money?"
"Yep."
"Yeah, but, real, real, real money; like, real world, buy a pint of milk with it money?"
"Yep."
"It can't be, that's just, internet fantasy dollars right; not American dollars?"
"They're worth the same; start an account, read the whitepaper, check it out..."
####...Start a Steemit account, read the whitepaper...
Interesting!
OK, let's try this out, post a meme, try and make it funny, let's see
Nothing...
Hmm..
@bleepcoin: - You should write something
OK, Steemit Forward The Revolution
$1300! WOW!
The Puppy is now in full control, he is wagging his tail excitedly and saying that I should throw everything into this, as this is clearly going to be amazing!
The Preacher isn't so sure, he is claiming that whilst it looks good, you should concentrate on the very real funds that you can generate now.
"They're paying out on July 4th, concentrate on generating funds now!..."
The Preacher gets me to do some due dillegence on Steemit
Research Ned
Not much on Ned on the old Google...watch crypto-show...listen to podcast...read whitepaper again...post some more.
Research Dan
More to read....Bitshares....Reddit thread....read whitepaper again...hmm, think I understand a bit less this time...the puppy tells me to just post some more articles and worry about the technicalities later.
Okey dokey.
Week 3 - The Quckening
The Preacher seems to think I'm spending too much time on Steemit, he seems to be doing an OK job keeping me focused on non-Steem related issues, but I can tell he feels he's fighting a losing battle.
The Puppy on the other hand, is loving Steemit, he has me convinced that the July 4th payout will allow me to pay rent, bills and have money left over to fund other stuff and by then these other freelance gigs will have come in by then. Oh and I'll probably become a millionaire from Steemit!
Woohoo!
The Puppy sounds very relaxed and confident as he's telling me all these wonderful things, he always sounds relaxed and confident; which is probably why I listen to him so much. The Preacher on the other hand, sounded worried and concerned, which is almost definitely why I ignored him.
The discovery of dilution, the phenomena of losing money on a post, because of the votes being more spread out, only serves to make me more determined. I read; Daniel Larimer - Co-Founder of BitShares & Steemit and I'm even more convinced that Steemit is the worth all this time I'm putting in.
Preacher: Be Careful
Yeah....yeah...yeah...
Puppy: Keep posting
Okey dokey...
Week 4 - Got Any Steem Buddy?
I have given up pretending that I'm even trying to get on with non-Steem related issues, I have half-hearted attempts to engage in other things, but everything always seems to come back to Steem.
It is the first thing I think of every morning and the last thing at night. It is the first website I login to. If I am not on the phone to @bleepcoin talking about Steem, I am thinking about, or writing articles.
"Hello everyone; my name is CryptoGee and I'm addicted to Steem"
-- Cryptogee
Somehow, I manage to get a ghostwriting gig for a forensic psychotherapist, it's a sweet gig, it won't pay all the bills. But the Puppy insists that spending all my time on Steemit is beginning to pay dividends. I can feel the Preacher in the background, putting his head in his hands as The Puppy says this.
I also manage to apply for a comedy producer role at a TV company, a friend tips me off to a job going and encourages me to apply. Even though I don't want to work in a corporate environment, working in a creative one as part of a team, appeals to me, so I apply.
The Preacher approves, but is still worried, it doesn't matter, the Puppy is in full control now, he is the only one I'm listening to really.
Week 6 - A New Dawn
Funds are critically low and rent and bills are coming up, the Preacher is tut-tutting away in my head, telling me that I've been a fool for putting all my efforts into Steemit.
"What if they don't pay out?"
"What if they do and there's no demand for Steem? Then you'll just have a useless cryptocurrency; then where will you be?"
At points like these, I would encourage the Puppy to speak up and quell the doubts of the Preacher; everything was going to be fine...
SID (Steem Independence Day)
Get the last few articles out...squeeze every last drop...
POW! SID!!!!
It takes me 2 days of just staring at the payout, it's happened, it's really happened; the Puppy is sitting smugly in the corner of my brain, with an, I-told-you-so-look, on his face. The Preacher, simply stands back and gives a slow hand clap.
But now my priorities are different; sure I've still got to pay those bills, but now, it's more than just a means to an end. I'm not going to get another payout like this till I've got half a million dollars in there, I need $104,000 to get a payout of a grand a week. But that's the beauty, I'm invested in this now; the Puppy and the Preacher are in perfect harmony.
I am not trying to madly fight dilution anymore, the payouts happen every 24 hours, which means that every day, my investment in this wonderful social experiment, is growing.
Great things are happening, I will write more, I will read, vote and comment more; I'm starting what I'm sure will be an excellent collaboration with @donkeypong.
This is a new dawn, the news is spreading, Steemit paid out, some people have cashed out and used that money towards things in their lives.
"Hey how did that Steem thing you were talking about go?"
"Great, I got the payout as they promised".
"Is it real money though?"
"I paid my rent with it; is that real enough for you?"
I am an early adopter, and for someone who has always felt like he is late to the party, it feels wonderful. I believe in Steemit, hopefully Dan and Ned and the rest of the founders will become billionaires. Because that will mean I become a Steemit Millionaire, because I'm in this for the long haul.
The Preacher now wants me to post, but in moderation and the Puppy, wants me to tell the world about Steemit. He wants me to put everything into it, my heart, my soul, my life. One thing is for sure, is we know that this crazy ride is just beginning.
So join me, the Puppy and the Preacher, as we raise a glass to all my fellow Steemers!
Long Live Steemit - CHEERS!!
Were you part of the payout? Have you bought anything with your rewards? Let me know in the comments below!!
That's great to hear. First post of people actually converting money into euro/usd etc. But how? My steem$ needs top be converted in steem --> bitcoin --> euro right? that takes 7 days. From 4th july --> that is 11th july. So how did you do it so fast then?!
Thanks!
Hi,
I did it fast in two ways; first of all I used some of my Steem Dollars to buy Steem on the internal market; which you can access via the drop down in your wallet Buy/Sell Steem
Then I sent my Steem to Bitrex and converted it to Bitcoin, then I sent my Bitcoin to my Kraken account and sold it for Euros. Lastly I deposited into my bank and they gave me GBP, I then transferred some of it to my landlord :-).
The second and much easier way, and in fact a better rate, is using Blocktrades, their I simply sent Steem Dollars without the bother of converting and then they send it on to my Kraken account, in one swift move.
Then as before convert to euros, etc.
That's it!
I believe, powering down will be better, which is what you've done, because you'll get a better rate and your SD to USD rate will be closer to 1:1 (I think). I'm doing a test myself, but I'm trying to change up as little as possible, because there is some good leverage to be had, by keeping SD.
Hope that helps.
CG
Bittrex just announced today that they have opened a Steem Dollar market. So now you can also transfer your Steem Dollars directly to your Bittrex account and trade for Bitcoin. Here is the link:
https://www.bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-SBD
So now we have another option.
That's good, let's see if their rate is as good as blocktrades, at the moment their Steem rate means blocktrades is better by a significant amount.
CG
Then get your GBP here
https://steemit.com/steemit/@skyzalimit/turn-your-steem-into-usd-wirex-bitcoin-mastercard-25-off
Can you maybe tell me more about my kraken account? Should I need one? I want to try to cash out 100$ and see how it goes, just to get familiar with the process. Maybe you can share some links/advice?
Thanks! that;s great!
Sure no problem, go to https://www.kraken.com/ and open up an account, once you're verified you can start using the account fully.
To deposit bitcoin you have bought from Bittrex or through Blocktrades, just click on your name in the top right corner and hit deposit.
That will give you a deposit address which you paste into where you're sending from.
Just start off with $1 to $10 first, to make sure you're familiar and then go from there! :-)
oh and check out https://blocktrades.us/
CG
Congratulation for your achievement! I hope that you could pay many more months of rent thanks to steemit!
Me too :-)
CG
Im in the UK too and I'd either recommend using the Circle app/website, using uphold or potentially giving Plutus a go when they get the ball rolling.
I remember the MtGox days where I'd have to get a wire transfer from Japan. Luckily it's alot easier now.
This is a useful site to list what the prices are across multiple sellers -
http://bittybot.co/uk/sell-bitcoins-uk/
Really fun read btw!
Hi wingz,
Thanks for reading! Yes I use Circle as well, but Kraken are less restrictive and I can trade over $200 per day without producing signatures from 4 living Great Grandparents!.
Wow! The days of MtGox, I was vaguely aware of Bitcoin then, but it must have been quite strange and exciting getting into it then.
Thanks for the link, that's really useful.
CG
Awesome read @cryptogee! It's stories like yours that will keep Steemit alive.
Thanks, I hope so, we have something special here :-).
CG
Great article, thank you! I was feeling exactly the same, just I arrived few days before the payout.
The steem power is here and I used all my steem dolars to get more steem power.
Thought it might be a good idea to power it up!
I'm super excited about the whole Blockchain Revolution and think that we all are Milleniall ( young or old) super generation that can make world a better place for everyone!
Proud to be part of this community, Damir
Nice one Damir, glad you came to the party! :-)
CG
Well done man, I wish you the best with steem:)) and maybe if you work hard you might be able to have a reall damm good income off steem :D, congrats bud
Thanks Katz,
Yes I see a bright future for Steem
:-)
CG
It's great to hear how this all worked out for you! It's been quite a ride and its just getting started.
I have not cashed out anything, or even converted anything. But I did accept payment for something a family member wanted. He gave me Steem Dollars and I bought him a headset he wanted for his X Box.
So that's another thing to think about. If someone has Steem Dollars, and they want to buy something, you can buy it for them (using cash or credit card) and let them pay you with SD, at whatever exchange rate you both agree on.
Of course the person who pays first has to trust the other to do their half of the bargain. So it would only work well in certain situations. But for me, all went well!
That's really interesting Kenny, was the person also on Steemit?
CG
Yes. He is one of the 6 people I brought here so far. I talk about Steemit everywhere I go, when it fits in with the conversation. I'm not the type to steer a conversation to ME, but when anything related comes up, I talk, in whatever depth people want to hear, about Steemit. I really care about this community and all it stands for. I want to share this with others, and let them decide if it is right for them.
It has worked well for us, and I think you will agree it worked on many levels, not just financially. I think you, like me, enjoy the social aspect as much or more than the financial reward. I wish you continued success here and in all aspects of your life!
That's awesome, word of mouth is so powerful, everyone I tell about this now is really excited, I have a feeling I'm about to bring over another 6 or 7 as well :-)
CG
thas realy cool
Thanks :-)
CG
Wow, congratulations! That's fantastic and inspiring. I'm still a noob but hope to be a Steemit Star in the near future as well. You had me at puppies!
So nice story! Keep going!
Thanks, I will do! :-D
CG