Hello Everyone,

I remember watching Resident Evil with my friends when I was schooling. A virus broke out of a lab and everyone became zombies. That was scary but entertaining since it was just a film.

When I first heard Covid-19 it gave me the same thrill. Many conspiracy theories came out on the internet about the Chinese and American governments trying to take control of the world with a bio weapon. Still the world has no clue about how this happened. But of course, they have their own theories about it with no zombies.

^{When there were no alternatives to consider, I had to stuck to a one plan | Created using Canva}

I remember when the WHO made that announcement to lock down I was almost jobless. I had a company which related to tourism and digital marketing. What I did was mainly promote hotels and destinations via different platforms. Now that the local or international tourists are stuck in their homes, the companies I supported slowly began to shut down their operations. Eventually, I was jobless within weeks.

That was the hardest period of my life. Because nobody knew what will bring tomorrow. Years of savings were spent just to survive. Without an income car lease, business loans were the biggest headaches.

Those days many people started some business related to masks and sanitizers. I had a different idea though, I thought of developing my skills and learning new skills. So there I started my own YouTube channel. I spend more than 16 hours per day creating content. Editing videos took most of my energy. I had to learn many than the things I already knew. Day by day I made progress and I enjoyed seeing the view count rising for my content. Finally, with a lot of effort I was able to monetize my channel within a short period of time.

Then I saw my account earning cents. I was so happy at first but soon realized that it was very slow to get to even USD 01. Yet I committed to doing it for 03 months and earned USD 18 in total. To be able to cash it out I should earn USD 100 at first. At that rate I knew that it would be a waste of time and effort. The reason behind slow earnings was the advertisement revenue for my local language (Sinhala) content is really low. So there I quit.

Then I remember my sister was saying about this blogging platform. We made our accounts in late 2018 but never had a chance to be active. What a terrible mistake. So I began to read the posts on Steemit and try to understand it. Nothing was exciting as YouTube or FB at first. But I gave it a try.

^{My first post: 17th Oct 2020}

I can't remember how much time I spend exactly but let's say 03 hours. For that 03 hours of content creation, I was able to earn approximately USD 07 worth of money. I was amazed at first and wonder whether this is real.

I enjoyed writing for contests and my life flipped after the Steemit Crypto Academy. There I was able to earn the most. I cashed out around 1500 Steem when life required me to do it but I was able to pile up my wallet to 8000 SP which gave me more financial stability.

So to conclude, Steem gave me a hobby where I can earn and be happy rather than wasting my time on any other social media. That is why I love it. It's a real deal because I have been able to cash out when I want and also earn when I write.

Thank you.

Peace to all 🙏