3 Strategies for Using Steemit to Quit Your Day Job and Live Your Dream

Every year I personally mentor 80 to 100 Australian property investors. All of them are chasing one thing: financial freedom. They want the independence and choice to spend their time doing what they love, and they believe real estate can be a vehicle to achieve that.    

What attracted me to Steemit was the opportunity to combine two things that I love, writing and helping people, while leveraging off of a system to earn an income and build wealth.    

Admitting that the same thing attracted you does not make you greedy. We should not be ashamed of a desire to receive a big payout from our write-ups. Earning money doing something you love is a very noble pursuit.    

The late medicinal #marijuana activist and libertarian thinker Peter McWilliams said, “Do what you love and the necessary resources will follow.” Steemit can make that happen.

Imagine if you had the freedom, not to be a lazy bum, but to work from literally anyplace on the planet with an internet connection, while giving yourself to whatever pursuit you are most passionate about. Steemit can be your vehicle to financial freedom.   If you want to read some examples of people that are already using Steemit to live their dream, check out @the-alien’s post about five Steemit success stories.  

A Clearly Defined Goal  

The first step for the investors I mentor is to help them establish a long-term goal. We start by asking the question, “How much money do you need to earn from property per annum to quit your day-job?” For most of the people I work with, that figure is somewhere around AU$100,000.    

Next we work out how much debt-free real estate they must acquire in order to achieve the income goal. For example, if they can secure a net rental return of 8 per cent, they will need $1.25 million dollars worth of real estate. Here’s the math: $100,000 ÷ .08 = $1,250,000   

Finally, we lock in a deadline, answering the question, “How much time will you give yourself to achieve this goal?” For most people, their timeline is anywhere from 5 to 15 years.   

What if you spent the next five years writing consistently on Steemit about something you are passionate about, and at the end of that time, you had the freedom to quit your day job and live whatever dream you have? Would it be worth it? Even if you love your work like I do, I’m sure you would agree that having the choice to be more flexible and work on your terms would be a great advantage.   

Even if the financial freedom narrative does not excite you, there are other monetary goals you could set. Perhaps you want to save up a deposit to buy a home, pay off your mortgage, or clear other debts. Whatever your goal, it should be clearly defined and written down.   

So what is your income goal? How much money do you need to earn per year to replace your current income? Or if you have a lump sum goal, how much do you need?   

Go ahead and write down an amount. Now give yourself a deadline.   

A Well-Planned Strategy  

In the work I do with property investors, the next step is to determine a strategy for achieving the goal. There are several possible paths. Some investors have a long-term, passive approach, relying on growth in the overall market to do most of the work for them. Others choose to be more active, and manufacture their own profits through renovations, subdivisions or developments.   

On Steemit, we have the ability to earn both Steem Power (SP) and Steem Backed Dollars (SBD). After the curators have been paid, we receive 50 per cent of our payout as SP, and 50 per cent as SBD. The SP takes two years to draw out, but the SBD can be converted to fiat immediately.   

The way I see it, there are three different broad paths a Steemer could take to achieve financial freedom. Feel free to choose one of these or alternatively use one of them as a starting point to develop your own unique plan.   

The first one is what I’ve called…  

1. The All-In - "I want it now!"

If you have the writing skill and the ability to garner a following immediately, you could go all-in, make Steemit your full-time gig, and start living your dream now.    

There are very few people that will be able to do this straight out of the gates. Not only does it take an already honed writing skill, but you’ll probably need an ability to live very frugally.    

The all-in approach requires you to earn enough in SBD to live on. Remember, SBD is half your total payout. So if you need $50,000 per year to survive, then you will need to net (after curation payout) $100,000 through your write-ups each year.    

The SBD can then be drawn out to pay your living expenses and the SP will be your long-term investment in Steem, which will increase your influence in the community.   

What does $100,000 per year look like? You’ll need five posts per week with an average of about $515 in net payouts each. You’ll need to do that 52 weeks per year, so don’t expect to take a week off unless you can increase your average payout.    

That’s a daily average author reward of just under $275. Results like that are a tall order for anyone.    

Like I said, few can achieve this today. I certainly wouldn’t take this approach as it’s too risky given I have a large family. But if you’re young and single, who knows? You might even be able to live on $25,000 per year.    

If the all-in’s not for you but you still want to be quick, there’s…  

2. The Rabbit - 1 to 2 years

Rabbits are quick and nimble. The rabbit approach is a rapid one to two-year plan to being a full-time Steemer.   

This strategy requires the skill to begin producing high quality content immediately. Rather than pulling funds out of your wallet to live on, all SBD are reinvested back into SP to take advantage of capital growth in the value of Steem.   

On the assumption that your SP increases in value 25 per cent per annum for the next two years (not unrealistic given the growth phase we are now in), and if you could net $1500 per week through your writing and curating, then here would be the result (assuming monthly compounding interest):   

Steem Power Balance   

• End of Year 1: $89,413 
• End of Year 2: $203,927   

If at the end of two years you began powering down from your $204,000 worth of SP, you would receive weekly payments of nearly $2000, assuming a stable Steem value. You could then quit your job (or not) and withdrawal from your wallet what you need to live on.    

Any surplus that’s not needed for living expenses could be reinvested back into SP or withdrawn to invest in other assets. Of course, you’d have more time to write if you quit your job, which would increase the SBD you have available to live off of as well.   

If you’re not sure that you can achieve those types of payouts, there’s always…  

3. The Turtle - 4 to 5 years

Turtles are slow and steady, but eventually they cross the finish line. This approach will take you around four or five years of consistent effort.    

That may seem like a long time, but consider it in the context of the rest of your life. Even if it took you ten years, and you’re thirty years old today, you’d be living your dream by forty. That sounds like a win to me.    

The beauty of this plan is that no matter where you are in your journey to becoming a skillful writer, you can factor in the time it will take to get better at content creation and build a following.   

Let’s say you’re currently hardly able to garner any upvotes at all. However, you’re committed to your personal growth and development as a writer, so you know you’ll get better results in the future if you persist.   

Here are some goals you could set:    

Growth in Average Author Rewards   

• Year 1: $50 per week  
• Year 2: $200 per week  
• Year 3: $800 per week  
• Year 4: $2500 per week    

That first year was painful. The second year, you almost gave up. In year three, you began to see the possibilities, but by year four, you were killing it.    

What might your SP balance look like, assuming you could achieve the above results and get 25 per cent annual growth in your balance for those four years?   

Growth in Steem Power Balance   

• End of Year 1: $2,980 
• End of Year 2: $15,738 
• End of Year 3: $67,843 
• End of Year 4: $235,910   

By the end of year 4, you can begin powering down from your $236,000 worth of SP, and receive weekly payments of $2269, assuming a stable Steem value. You could then quit your job (or not) and withdrawal from your wallet what you need to live on.    

Just like the rabbit at the end of year two, your surplus Steem that’s not needed for living expenses could be reinvested back into SP or withdrawn to invest in other assets. As long as you keep writing, you could continue building momentum and creating wealth.   

The greatest challenge to reaching any long-term goal is consistency. Most people lack the emotional fortitude to go the distance. Many will give up. I wouldn’t judge anyone if they did. I’ve experienced first hand the emotional roller coaster that writing on Steemit can be. Besides, I’ve only been here for a little over a week. I’d hardly call that battle tested.  

The Lottery Ticket 

This is not even a strategy at all because it relies purely on speculation and luck. We should never pursue speculative strategies as a means to financial freedom because we leave ourselves purely at the mercy of the market, and have no control of the outcome.    

That said, the “the lottery ticket” approach is at least worth mentioning, so here it is:   

It’s possible that anyone here who is writing consistently and earning some SP or who has at least purchased Steem could end up wildly rich simply through generic capital growth. If Steem happens to exponentially increase in value relative to your fiat currency, say like Bitcoin did, then welcome to easy street. You’ve just fast-forwarded to living the dream.    

Just be sure you don’t bet the farm trying to get there and make the painful mistake I once made. The winning lottery ticket is a long shot.   

One Final Caveat  

All of these strategies obviously assume that Steemit has a future and is a long-term viable platform. While it’s still early days, and anything can happen, all indications are that we are on a sustainable path.   

Also be aware that there are multiple variables that could impact your progress. I’ve heard some say that we are experiencing unusually large payouts now because of our rapid growth.   

Which approach will you choose?  

Whichever approach is best for you, remember to keep reminding yourself of your goal and strategy, continue to hone your craft, build genuine relationships with other contributors, and be consistent.   

Which approach will best fit your goals and current skill level? How might you modify one of the above strategies for your desired outcome?    

Please leave a comment below to let me know.   

Wishing you all the best! 

@jasonstaggers   

Photo Credits: freedom, all-in, rabbit, turtle, lottery