How Do YOU Measure Your Steem(it) Success?

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Are You Successful On Steemit?

We all know that Steemians with the most Steem Power have the most influence. One single upvote from a whale can easily be the difference between a payout of a few cents to several dollars. A flag on the other hand, can be the difference between some form of rewards to none. I can't live off of my Steem-earnings and I don't earn hundreds or thousands of dollars per week. I'm not lucky enough to have that type of support, but I do consider myself successful.

This is a bit weird actually, but I consider myself to be fortunate and successful for each cent I make, but I can still feel a bit discouraged if I don't reach the results I somehow consider myself worthy of... And even though I've been here for more than 2 years, I still have these feelings. I mean, I'm not an idiot. I don't expect earnings of hundreds of dollars on everything I publish and I'm far from a greedy person, but I still expect decent results due to the time I've spent here.

Most of us expects to earn something and those of us who've been here for X-amount of time probably expects to reach more or less the same rewards we've earned on average. But the truth is, that we should consider each cent we make a success, because it's more than what we had before.

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Growth = Success.

I don't calculate my daily, weekly or monthly earnings. I feel successful because I see that my account grows. As long as I can see some sort of growth, I'll also feel successful. However, my earnings are not the only thing that can be measured or what determines if I'm successful or not. Take the "push people to 500 SP"-initiative for instance.

A project where we as a community push specific users to minnow-status. I give away some of my earnings, but I still consider myself to be successful. My audience matters too. Each new follower I get and people I interact with is also what I consider to be success. So success is far from rewards. The money-aspect is just one of the many different success-factors. The overall results I have is what makes me successful.

I'm far from a whale or a dolphin, and we all know that these people are the "most interesting" users. They are instantly famous due to the size of their wallets and not due to the size of their brains or contributions.

Listen, this is not about whales being retarded or stupid, and that's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm saying is, that these users are getting tons of followers, a shit load of upvotes and an insane amount of exposure and attention due to the fact that they are whales. That's the main reason for the attention they get. Their contributions are secondary.

This is the exact opposite for users with less Steem Power. Whales can easily skip the grinding part of Steemit meanwhile grinding is the biggest part of any other users Steemit-journey.

However, if we look at @fulltimegeek for instance. He is probably known for his investment for starters, I won't try to deny that. But, he is definitely more known due to his selfless approach and generosity. FTG could easily use his stake to reward himself. He has 372,885 Steem Power and that equates to $29.85 per vote at 100% voting power.

10 upvotes per day at $29.85 each would give him $298.5. That's 2089.5 per week.

(298.5x7 = 2089.5)

That is a total of 8358 per month.

2089.5x4 = 8358

One thing to remember is the fact that he will grow his total stake for each day, so the outcome will obviously increase with time.

Fun fact:
I could buy a cheap apartment in Sweden if I had FTG's stake for about 8 months. A pretty decent one, in a suburb if I had it for 12 months... And that would be apartments I bought with the profits of his stake.

Instead of using his stake to self-profit, he spreads his stake across the platform to empower others. And that is his legacy. I can't say that I know his "real" motives. I can just base my opinions from his actions, and my best guess is that he does this to grow the platform, with the end goal of making Steem and SBD worth more.

Take that 8358 per month again. Imagine if the price would reach $14 again... I could buy that same decent apartment in a suburb here in Sweden after one month using his Steem Power. Talk about an amazing chance to invest in real estates. One year with his stake, at the price of $14, and I'd be the lucky owner of 12 apartments.

I can't even describe what I feel about something like that... That's pure magic.

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Wow, talk about side-track.

I don't even know how to get back on track again after those insane daydreams... Well, as long as we measure success in terms of earnings and in dollars, we'll most likely feel a bit underpaid. Especially at times like this when the price is below $1. But, it's also a fantastic opportunity to gather tokens and build our wallets...

Imagine if I could squeeze out a month's worth of FTG's profits. ~8600. And imagine if I had that in my wallet if and when the price went to $14. I'd be a happy apartment owner and I'd definitely call that a success!

However, everything I do from today, until that day, is what will have brought me there... And to tell you the truth, even though I would love a new apartment, I'd love to have made new friends, built my presence and be part of a wonderful platform even more than that.