Let me share with you my crypto journey and how I built a healthy crypto portfolio from scratch using only my experience on Steemit and the rewards I earned here and how it should be more.

With Screen shots!

I will start by telling you it’s not all been happy trades or happy days but over all I have been in the green and since my Poloniex portfolio is now a whopping $3,600US. I must have made a good choice by joining Steemit and "kept at it”. I have pulled a lot of Crypto out of the exchange and placed it in other investments and wallets so this screen shot is not a complete picture of my profits, just my current holdings. I have some stuff on Bitshares and Openledger as well.

When I joined Steemit last summer I didn’t know a thing about Crypto Currency, sure I had heard of BTC I was aware of its uses but I never dabbled in it. None of it really mattered to me. I joined Steemit to write and be a part of a new growing community. I love writing, especially while sipping whisky and listening to music (still waiting for someone to make an APP that can detect when I am drunk and stop me from posting until the next day). I had website I was paying for and never made a penny off it as a blogger. For months I wrote here and I basically ignored my blog. That domain I still own and actually market for future use but at the moment it’s “under construction”, sort of.

So how did I turn my thoughts and ideas into money I actually use to pay my bills and further invest in Crypto.

Well, I wrote on Steemit is the only way I did it. Some of my posts made good rewards and many did not. For the first 6 months or so I didn’t take a single Steem or SBD off the platform. I kept powering up and giving it away in contests for participation, building a following. You can't get unless you give, ying yang, balance of the universe type shit. Giving to the platform comes in many ways aside from giving away your rewards but this was the route I took and don’t regret it.

I’m going to skip to the part where I had rewards banked in my wallet from writing dozens and dozens of posts. I had been reading about other people’s trading experiences and decided I had made enough that I could risk losing some of it on the exchanges. I looked at it as though it was an experiment with real currency (Crypto) but if I lost my investment my life wouldn’t change. I was fully prepared to lose the $50 worth of Steem and SBD I initially put on the exchange. It's been a while since that day.

I bought and sold some coins just from reading Steemit articles, looking at the troll box and trying to understand what the charts meant. @craig-grant was a huge influence on getting me started in trading and the concept of ”going with the flow” is a lot more important than many traders agree with but it works for me. Without a doubt my first few weeks of trading were mostly luck and BTC rising in value. I was just going with my flow and I thought was right for me. I'm much wiser now.

I got into BitShares when it was trading in 200sat range. I got into Burst when it was trading in the 77sat range. Seems like forever ago. I never lost faith in these coins regardless of what anyone said about them. I was bunkered down by keeping them on the exchange with, what I thought was ridiculously high sell orders. I am in these 2 coins for the long run, and Steem of course.

But over time I would wake up and login to see they were selling. I remember when I saw all my BTS had sold while I slept. Had I been awake during the spike I probably would have set higher price. I was at first really happy but then it kept going up. I was never able to buy it back for less than that sell order. I bought it back more expensive and I am totally thrilled that I did. It’s already worth over twice what I bought it back for. I have since replaced almost all that I sold and because of that my portfolio is where it is now. All my BTS predictions, based on my own research and involvement have come true so far.

Burst really surprised me by spiking up to almost 1000sat recently. I knew it would one day but it happened sooner than expected. I have sell orders set at different levels so nothing completely sells out for the same price. I don’t want to wake and see my coins sold and the price is still rising. Gotta keep some eggs in the basket. I bought Burst Assets and was getting a dividend weekly which added to my profits. I sold the Burst, cause it was cheaper then and bought BTS. I just kept buying BTS with Burst profits. I even mine Burst now. What a good move, Burst is Bursting.

I have diversified my coins much more now. I used to only have a few coins, BTS, Steem, Burst and maybe chip away at the market with a few other penny coins. I lost a lot too with bad decisions in noobiness and learning what a pump and dump was and how to take advantage or avoid it. I am currently terrified of new coins for the record but since I don’t put my salary from teaching I can risk it without risking damaging my financial security. So yes, I do take the risk, sometimes.

There is no doubt that most of my crypto wealth came simply because the value of BTC and other coins have risen up. I have taken out hundreds of dollars and spent it online using BTC. I bought genesis mining contracts for small residual income to play with on the markets.

I also bought a bunch of hash power from Genesis Mining.

I also bought a CryptoPay Visa pre-loaded BitCoin credit card. It’s in the mail and you can expect a post about that once I test and prove it usefulness.

Break Down.

❶ It’s all about the Steem and SBD. The gateway to all other Crypto.
❷ Without that I would never have made a penny or gotten into Crypto trading and thus wouldn't have over $4000 earnings.
❸ I traded Steem into other coins that are more volatile and got lucky chipping away at the markets.
❹ I bought Burst assets and collected dividends.
❺ I bought BitShares and watched and still am watching it soar to the moon. (Not too late to get in now as I predict by the summer it will be worth a lot more)
❻ I bought Genesis mining contracts and get near daily payments in Daash, BTC and Litecoin, not much but it’s something.

Most importantly I kept Steeming. My faith has stumbled, rightfully so during the turmoil the site as experienced. Growing pains I think are now in the past, different ones may arise and we will deal with those when the time comes.
However, I love writing and I already made good friends here so I just keep writing here and hope for the best and its coming true.

My advice to Crypto rookies like me who are new to Steemit like I was. Hold Steem and Power Up every post until you reach 2,000 Steem Power minimum. Buy it on the exchange just get there or more ASAP! I used to have 5,000SP now I’m down to a little over 2,300SP. With 2,000SP your vote will make a difference to the success of those you vote for. You will also start to see returns for Curation. Once you’re there, in my humble opinion is then you can start cashing out your SBD and cash out decent returns.

That's my journey so far. It's all leading to freedom.

(Edited Below to Add)

If you liked this post it's not too late for you to check out this post. It's my personal Steemit Mantra.

https://steemit.com/steemit-religion/@solarguy/before-i-lay-my-head-to-rest-steemit-prayer-the-path-of-the-righteous-steemer