Hello Fiberartists! I'd like to talk about our role on the Steem platform.

Hold on! Don't grab your needles and zone out. This is important. In our "brick and mortar" lives, we live in our homes, we go out into the community and we mingle, getting involved in whatever appeals to us. Sometimes we travel and mingle in other communities. Along the way we make friends and amazing connections who enrich our lives as we enrich theirs.

To me, this is Steem. We can spend time living in our "homes", enjoying our creativity, sharing our achievements and our hurdles through our posts. And this is WHAT WE LOVE!

At some point we have to put the needles down and stick our heads outside. Here on Steem that means visiting other people's posts, up-voting and leaving thoughtful comments. Our comments are important in that we are showing our support for others. Sharing our own smiles or frustrations. Supporting worthy causes by up-voting and re-steeming or donating. I still say Steem is based on the concept of Karma.

Some of us will even explore a little further until we discover Discord.

Discord

Becoming involved in Discord opens up a whole new experience. Real time, voice and text communication!! Radio shows, treasure hunts, mentoring and so much more exists there.

I have met some people who get really involved and make it fun! Others who educate me and share their hard earned experiences. (You know who you are!) Places to share my posts... NO! Not spam my posts. I interact and share my posts. (Actually, I share your posts! When I curate your posts I share them everywhere I can.) Working together works!...eventually. Everything takes time. I'm actively engaging which is constantly pushing me out of my comfort zone. It feels good.

SO that being said, download Discord. It's available for Windows, Android, Apple and Linux. It's free. Install it.

I strongly recommend NOT using Discord through your browser. It can be clunky and hard to use.

This tutorial by @lenadr is very handy. Please check it out.

Register and come to #fiber-general which is hosted my sister, @shadowspub, on the PYPT Discord Server. (Hint: PYPT is short for Pimp Your Post Thursday which is a very popular Discord.) Everyone is friendly and eager to meet new people.

What is Your Goal?

What is your goal on Steem? I don't know about you but at first I thought, "Okay...maybe this is my ticket to working from home." My husband was going off work for up to two years for three joint replacement surgeries. Times were going to get tough because he'd need my help recovering.

I started posting (@artemisnorth), had some good results at first then it slacked off a bit. Then I stopped. My hubby needed my help. Did what I needed to do and now I'm back. (honestly my sister strongly nudged me)

You Goal Is to Succeed

Success isn't just measured by the dollar. I think succeeding on Steem is very similar to succeeding in life as a whole. It's not about what you earn, it's about what you give. Your time, your votes, and your support are important to every other person here. As #fiberartists we should be able to appreciate the fact that it takes THOUSANDS of stitches to complete a project. And those creations enrich other people's lives. How often do we create projects for ourselves? By the time I finish a project, originally meant for me, I've already decided who to give it to.

Steps to Success

Learn how Steem works. When you move into a home you always explore your community, meet neighbours and local business owners. You understand that your mortgage/rent is payed with your income. You find out who your legal and political reps are and what they stand for.

Why should this be any different?

Do a bit of research. Doing research gives you another opportunity to "meet" more people through their posts. Take advantage of that.

It's been brought to my attention that a very knowledgeable person is drafting a Steemit Guide. Stay tuned. I will share that with you when it's available. For now explore the knowledge bases on the top right of your Trending Page listed under "New To Steemit". If you want to know more about a topic do a search. There are many educational posts out there.

If you don't want to spend your precious "needle time" reading posts, at the very least PLEASE learn what a Witness is.

What is a Witness?

My limited understanding is this: a Witness is much like our needles. We can't work our stitches on bent needles. It just doesn't work.

Witnesses pay for access to hardware, renting a linux server with a HUGE amount of ram, and their time verifying blocks so that we can continue earning sbd and sp without even knowing where it comes from.

A very small group of Witnesses get to voice their opinions with the "Steem Gods".

We have the opportunity to vote on Witnesses but only 30 votes. This means we need to take our time and decide who is actually out there doing things that enrich the Steem Community, unlike those who are just in it for the money. Take some time, come to Discord, get to know people and get involved.

For a much better explanation please visit @thekittygirl who every generously shares her knowledge.

Getting Involved Takes as Much Time as You Choose.

My Dad always told me, "You get what you give." Really? Could it be that simple? In many ways, YES!

Fiberartists know it's true. We support and share through our groups, guilds and "Stitch-and-Bitches". We gather and engage. We create for charities and movements that touch us. Many of us don't have much but we know the joy of being able to give something of ourselves to enrich others' lives.

We can do that on Steem and touch so many more people. Explore around and help the causes that are important to you.

For example these are two of the causes I support:

@tarc This lady doesn't have a whole lot but she spends her days rescuing animals in the Appalachia's where she's actually encountering resistance. I'll let you read all about TARC. Please give her some love. She's amazing.

@youarehope is working hard to help very DESERVING charities around the world. I'd tell you more but he is far more entertaining. Please visit YOUAREHOPE and watch his videos. You won't regret giving him some love. Come to think of it he kinda reminds me of Mike Row...LOL!!

How do I support them? I personally don't have much but I do up-vote, comment, re-steem and support any initiatives I see helping them to help others.

Think about this: if we could all give 1sbd a month, to a cause we believe in, imagine what could be accomplished.

Sound familiar?

So be informed members of our Steemit #fiberartists Community.

The #fiberartists Community is OURS, not mine. I look forward to your input about what you need/want to see our community accomplish.

Have I been able to get you thinking?? I hope so......

Until next time Friends.