My Steemit Journey as @simgirl Approaching 1000 Followers

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The Beginning

When I first entered the world of Steemit, I did not know what to expect. I only knew there was a new social network that would pay you to post. I have always enjoyed betas, so I knew that I might be dealing with some technical irregularities or the platform could possibly fail, and no longer exist.

I was glad that I didn’t have to join Steemit alone. My friend @snook, and her son @ecoinstant were also new to Steemit, and we were able to help each other figure out the ins and outs of this new world. I spent my first month learning what I could do here and tried my best to create quality content.

I began communicating in the Steemit chat as I was directed by the on-board directions, I made my introduction post, and then began creating my Simgirl brand. Little did I know I was to become @simgirl, and that all my former identities were no longer relevant to my place here.

I wanted to promote a book I had written How-to Sim Your Life: A Guide to Winning the Game of Life, in which I compare our lives with the Sims 4 game. I developed a how-to blog about playing the Sims 4 game. I made goals to post on Steemit every day and was able to write a 1000-word post about playing the Sims 4 most every day.

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Making the BIG Bucks

After my first few weeks, I started collecting the rewards of my hard work. I was ecstatic when I saw that my account value reached $50.00. I did not know what that meant, or what I needed to do to get the money, but still thrilled none the less. When I reached 39 followers I felt I knew enough about Steemit to write a post about starting out on the Steemit platform.

I’m on Steemit…. Now What Do I Do? How Do You Steemit?

I learned about the additional ways to check my balance, make sure I did not go under 80% Steem Power, started to enter contests, and met other Steemians. I learned to power-up my posts to receive 100% Steem Power, and I learned to use my upvotes wisely. The price of SBD was around $1, so I wasn’t too worried about losing out on the SBD.

The more I wrote my how-to play the Sims 4 posts, the more I noticed the rewards, and the more often I was collecting them every day. The value of my Steemit wallet increased over time, and I found more and more Steemians to follow, and upvote.

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Cue Discord

I read many comments, and saw many posts talking about groups on discord, but I was weary because I didn’t know what went on in the discord…

I had used the discord voice chat in my gaming, so I knew what it was, but I had already uninstalled the program, which meant I would have to reset my password, and download it again, with updates. Needless to say, I ignored it for a while.

I finally decided to join a group. The first group being @minnowsupport in the Peace Abundance and Liberty discord server. The server was relatively new, they had about 5000 members, and were very well organized. I was instantly impressed by how welcoming and helpful the members of this group were and started to visit the server more often.

Day by day I replaced the Steemit chat with the deep-end of the minnow pond in PAL and was drawn to the social activities of the group; especially the MSPWaves radio station. I was introduced to @wipgirl and @uniwhisp; who both hosted their own motivational talk shows in the afternoons, and soon I tuned in for other shows during the evenings, and on the weekends.

I suddenly had a new social network of cool Steemit people who were encouraging, and supportive. I had a new home, and in my gamer mind, I had just joined a brilliant new guild. I wanted to stay there swimming; protected by the whales and supported by the witnesses; those who spun magical webs I still did not understand.

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@snook starts to play the Sims

After a couple of months writing the Sims 4 how-to posts, my friend @snook believes my posts have instructed her enough to play the game. She fell in love with the game, as I knew she would, and she too began using the Sims for her Steemit posts.

This inspired many new gifs, and custom photoshoots with our Sims. @snook and I began creating Sims that were in our images, and we used them for our cover art, story post headers, and eventually used the images as background for our fictional writing.

@snook found @mariannewest and showed me the #freewrite. We started to write and read the daily 5-minute freewrites and then started making new friends. The Steemit Freewriters are the most wonderful and freedom loving, group of amazing people I've ever met. We would have never imagined back then how we would build friendships with these delightful folks who refused to follow the rules.

While playing the Sims 4, @snook developed her building and design skills. Before long, she was sharing her new homes in the Sims 4 gallery, and I was able to use them in my game. (I call it the snook cheat.) Eventually she would use these skills to create the Old Steemian Home… but I’m getting way ahead of the story.

Video and story by @omra-sky
Reading by @snook
You Tube

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Swimming from One Discord Group to the Next

Once I began meeting more Steemians, I was introduced to more discord groups. Some of these groups were well established, and others were new. These groups introduced me to even more Steemians with other interests, concerns, and backgrounds. Some of the groups lured me in, and others I didn’t fit. But all of them are unique and if I could do a thousand things at once, I would be active in every one.

The discord groups became like the Walmart of communication to me for Steemit. I could talk about writing in one group, gaming in another, and guns in still another.

As I strived to welcome new members to Steemit, I became something like the Steemit Walmart greeter. If I see that a new member is interested in poetry, I will mention the Steemit Poets United discord group. I refer writers to the Writer’s Block discord channel, and all new members to the Minnow Support Project.

The Steemit Music Alliance was created by musicians and producers I had met through the MSPWaves radio, and I joined the SMA discord group. They started with a few contests, and I began writing songs and creating beats for them. The group became more active, and I too became more active. I started promoting The SMA discord group to every musician I ran across and became a Steemit talent scout.

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The Crazy Crypto Cat Lady Goes Live

Sometime during the holidays, I was introduced to Crypto Kitties, and other games such as the @steempunk.net. I bought about $200 worth of crypto kitties, bred them, named them, and then sat them on the shelf. It saddens me that I never did go back to check on them again. One day I will go back to sell them, but, the crypto kitty phase quickly ended as fast as it started.

During that time, SBD prices rocketed to $12. I had not bothered to figure out how to convert my SBD to BTC then to USD, so I suddenly panicked and read all the posts on how to use the crypto exchanges.

I found Uphold to be the best transfer service, and was happy I stuck it out, and that I saved my SBD. I suddenly found new motivation to post again. I began writing more stories for contests and creating more music for the SMA contests. There was only one natural and logical evolution to my Steemit career, and that was to start my own radio show on MSPWaves radio.

I had the topic- The Sims 4 game, I had the theory- How to Sim Your Life, I had the motivation- to help others live their lives with purpose, but what I didn’t have was a strong internet. It took a long time to get ready for the show, and I tried my best to do it alone, but in the end, I had to drag @snook in to help me. Trust me, co-hosting a live show on a discord radio was not at the top of her to-do list.

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Climbing the Steemit Ladder

Discord became my main communication tool on Steemit, and I learned more about how to set up the channels, give permissions, and set the roles. I became a moderator in the Steemit Music Alliance and helped the best I could to greet new members as we watched musicians pour onto the Steemit platform. The group initiated more contests, and we promoted the group to the Steemit hip-hop community.

@snook and I finally got on air of the MSPWaves radio. Not knowing that my internet was as weak as it was, we followed our show outline the best we could, and it was decided that @snook would take over the OBS duties, which meant she had to take on the bulk of the responsibilities of the show. But being the awesome person she is- she gladly took one for the team. After all, she was a Steemit star now.

I felt a sigh of relief after our first show because I had put so much effort into getting this show ready. It was almost as if I had leveled up, or completed a questline, because there was nothing else on my goal list. I decided it was time to go back to the basics of what I was doing when I started on Steemit, which was writing about the Sims 4 game, and writing and reading freewrites.

This led me to creating many more freewrite stories, and volunteering to help more with the freewrite project. I also attended meetings in the Girl Powa discord group, which led me to a free crypto currency course online, which I am currently acing in my spare time. I offered my writing services to the @steemfreelancers to write for their curation team, and soon I will be busy passing along completed project posts throughout the Steemit trending pages.

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Approaching 1000 Followers

Seeing how much I have done here on Steemit since I joined, it seems like I have been here for years, but I have only been here for six months. Steemit pulled me in and gave me the resources needed to succeed, and it is all thanks to those who have paved the way for me, and others like me. They say come to Steemit for the rewards and stay for the community. I have found this saying to be true.

When I joined Steemit in September of 2017, I did not know anything about Steemit, crypto currency, or the blockchain. I didn’t know anyone, and no one knew me. Now I am known a Simgirl, Simi to my discord friends, and the bomb.com when merited.

I’d like to thank all my followers for all the time they take out of their days to view, read, upvote and comment on my posts. Your comments, feedback, encouragement, and generosity mean more to me than you can ever imagine. I’ve met genuine people here on Steemit from all over the world. People I would have never met had I not joined Steemit and dove into the deep, dark waters of the decentralized block chain.

I know that in the six months I have been here, I have learned so much from the positive interactions I have had with Steemians on Steemit, and in the discord groups. It is refreshing to engage with so many different people, and still find a few who agree with the same things I do. I can only hope that the next six months will be filled with progress as Steemit grows and attracts more users, and I am glad I decided to join Steemit when I did.

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