Creating value. How I developed a new understanding of Steem

in #steem7 years ago (edited)


Before yesterday, when I had great discussions with a couple of great guys. I was a steemit newbie in all possible contexts of the phrase. I didn’t grasp the basic tenets of Steem and steemit. 

I figured that if I created a quality post on a daily basis. I would eventually draw a large audience and gather more Steem and Steem Power.


While that is a good workable plan. It was rather selfish; I was here for myself only. The purpose of my creating quality posts was not to add value to my audience but rather to distract them, maybe make them feel a little bit better about themselves

Even if I failed to engage them I would learn from what went wrong and invariably improve my writing skills. 

Yes these are in-part things every writer/ creative mind tries to do with his or her audience but I see now that most of my draw to this platform was greed

So what changed?

Yesterday, @lukestokes constantly hounded me about not just making quality posts but interacting as well, sharing and spreading value. 

His questions and challenges had me reeling. I started to question everything about Steem and Steemit. 

And like many newbies, I had always wondered where the money comes from. And I found myself asking myself a couple of basic questions about the core tenets of value.

What is money

Well, money is simply a tool for exchange of goods and services


Then I asked myself 

How money gets created? And how does money grow?


Simple High School Economics teaches two simple ways we make money

  1. Wages: These are basically a reward for creating value; ha! The V word again! Human beings go to work and burst their asses providing services or creating products which in one way or the other creates value for their client base. The wages they earn from the firms or corporations they work for is a reward for creating this value. In a scenario where a company doesn’t remunerate the value their employees create, or the employees do not create enough value. The firm is running at a loss. This is the basic building block of capitalism.
  2. Investments: Think of your investments as cashew nut, rather than frying it and eating it up. You decide to plant it and after a while get a new cashew tree with more nuts than you can eat. Your money goes off into the world to create value; there is no guarantee that your seed will germinate, you don’t know whether a drought will come and make your tree wilt and die, you’re not a 100% certain that the soil can support the seed. But you do it anyway because the rewards are great.

You must at this point be asking yourselves, why I ramble on. And what does this have to do with Steem?


Many people believe that crypto money is phantom money that emerges out of thin air and can vanish as easily. Well, no! We are here to stay! You know why? Because we aim to/are creating value. @lukestokes has taught me that the essence of steemit is not just to create posts and hope for upvotes and comments. We are here to create value.


The value we are creating is making an impact on members of the community in one way or the other


Steem is the belief that human interactions are worth something


Or am I just in over my head?


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Yes! The fiat money is noting, but cryptocurrency, and especially Steem have real value for / from us.

Yes it's about the blockchain the cryptocurrency engine , the next gen of internet.
An internet of value is needed.

Wow, nice blog Upvoted and Resteeming it now...

Thanks a lot man! You also have a lot of great content. Already following, looking forward to future interactions. Excelsior!

Thanks, we spread love and support for one another, buddy... Please feel free to resteem my blog as well... You can count on me, cheers!

Well of course. You can count on me too. Excelsior! mate

you both can resteem mine and i will do yours

count me in too!

Hi, I'm a newby. The title of this post attracted me because I am all about "value". Without it you will never succeed in anything, whether it is writing "useful" evergreen content, providing airline passengers with a great experience, maybe by the pilot saying "I bet I can make your drinks float in the air...", or the car repair guy washing your car after he fixes it and tosses in your favorite scented air freshener. The reason for my comment is that I am still trying to grasp some of the many Steemit facets so that I can develop a gameplan that will be beneficial to all. Let's face it, we are not coming here for fun. I am considering restructuring many things with my business to incorporate Steemit into our day-to-day activities, but before I make the transition it is absolutely neccessary to learn as much as possible before we dive in. Could you please show me where to find info on resteeming? I am interested to know how it's done and if there are additional financial benefits to doing it after the seven day original steem earnings period, as well as who benefits and why, besides the end user. Thank you.

Wow! This is a very great insight to creating value. It is really helpful too. Thanks for sharing bro.

Thanks alot man. It took a while to get to this point. I might be wrong, but looking at it from this perspective; steem is just beautiful

Excellent post!

Thanks for the shoutout. When we were chatting, I asked you to send me a link to the next post you're proud of. You did not disappoint. Well done.

I should be the one thanking you Mr. Stokes

I resteemed your post. Hopefully you'll pick up some new readers who will appreciate your perspective on providing value to them. :)

Thanks. Your efforts are very much appreciated

It's about the community. We dont just create value, We create value for the Community.

Interact with everyone, share your ideas and thoughts to all the post you read regardless of who the post writers are.

There used to be a term for writers who only post stuff without ever interacting with anyone. I'm paraphrasing because i cant remember exactly what is but it goes something like "dump-and-run". Quite a bad connotation to be labeled with!

Get in the community (or create one), engage, support each other's quality content. That in my opinion (if not everyone's) is a way better strategy to "make-it" here on Steem.

Yeah. That is right. It is not rocket science

I like that 'dump and run' term; sums up what happens in so many social networks that involve monetary gain; people forget that the monetary gain is 'only possible' with real, genuine interactions. Great post @freekayo - I followed you; super loved this comment @awesomianist

Very insightful post. Changing the way I see stem too

Yo bro! Welcome. You're already on 29. That is a good sign. Try to get as high ass 35 before making your introduceyourself. converse with people on their posts. Build relationships. Hopefully they might just follow back

all of this ---- interaction is always where it's at; especially if you want to 'make money' -- with anything, the more you build relationships, the better foundation you'll have. who we know, is always more important than 'what' we know :)

People are the value behind steem. Period. Interacting with people can only help give you access to that value.

It is as simple as that. There is no big mystery about it

this is a very helpful post and it as well inspire me as a more or less newbie. THANKS!

Lol. You joined in April and have already grown so much. It's nice to know people like you are out there. Danke, Gesundheit

welcome and follow!

Well written thank you @feekayo

My pleasure.Thanks

It is truly a give and take situation. The best situations in life are that way. Sharing and caring make for a happy community... I enjoyed your post.