ULOG #26: Any Help Helps

Ulog #26
Date: July 29, 2018, Sunday, 7 pm
Title: Any Help Helps

Hi, Steemheads and happy Sunday!

This ULOG is a Steemit story, my Steemit story. Let's start with the title of this post. When I was starting, the very first thing I loved about the things Steemit can do was the, GIFTECONOMY concept. On my first few days, Steemit was a puzzle and I realized everyone else were confused how to make things work here, so the learning curve was yours to face alone. So, I read and read and read about Steemit. I was into the concept of being able to help, no matter how small you are in this ecosystem. So, I earned my first few SPs from posting daily and the first few SPs I had, I delegated them to communities that took care of minnows. I thought that was one way of helping my fellow small red fishes, at that point. This was back in January, my first month in Steemit. I still have these delegations standing up to this day.

Any help helps.

Back then, I read about @gmuxx's initiative to curate good writers through @muxxybot and he was accepting delegations. I got to his Discord and asked him if he would take a tiny 10SP delegation from me for his project and @gmuxx replied, "Any help helps." From then on, I would always remember that reply, whenever someone wants to help me or when I feel like helping someone here. The @muxxybot curation has been stopped by @gmuxx months ago and I kinda miss it because it upvoted me everyday and I am grateful of it because it has helped me grow somehow. With the small 10SP I delegated them, they were able to help me more. That, I think is just one of the essence of gifteconomy. You get more by giving.

My account has evolved since then, I have been focused on my growth and still try to help my fellow red fishes but this time in a more direct manner which is through contests. I have a daily contest, that is running for almost 2 months now. I have designed it that no one loses in it. My Steemit bestfriend, @cadawg, whom I have never met, gave me the idea to make it a splitter or a faucet when I was conceptualizing it. I have some friends help me think how it can be made so easy that anyone and everyone can join it and enjoy the fun. I have embraced this as a niche and it has been the life of this account.

Last month, I won 1k delegation for a month from the contest of @whatsup and the prize was sponsored by @drakos. This gave me a new perspective on things. Before this, I did not think leasing SP was something I would do because I was not confident I can make it profitable. The 1k SP @drakos delegated changed that thought. I was able to do more and help more and evidently I was also earning more because I was curating more tiny red fish like me. I chose to upvote newbies and boost their posts than do self-votes because I thought that was more beneficial to more people. I am grateful to @whatsup and @drakos for that opportunity, it really helped me grasp the idea of what powering up does and leasing delegation. I needed that since I want to help my fellow red fishes, these realizations will make it more possible now.

I was able to save Steem while I had the 1k SP with me, I had planned to save to lease equal amount of SP from @minnowbooster or @blocktrades to be able to sustain the increased number of heads I auto-curate plus it would help give a bigger upvote to my contest posts to have a bigger prize payout for everyone who joins it to share.

Today, I am prompted to make this post because the day started with an alert from Ginabot of an anonymous delegation. I do have an idea who gave it and thanks so much to his generous heart for the gift. I have been looking for ways to sustain the growing pool of red fishes I try to curate and the contests I do. I feel so blessed to be gifted by someone to be able to do the things I do here. Thank you so much, you are a blessing and I will do my best to make myself worthy of it.

Coincidentally, @c0ff33a, a new Steemit witness delegated 500SP to me today, too. He saw my comment on a post regarding delegations and he checked out my profile. He is actually the first person to recognize I am making a tiny community of red fish with the daily game that I am doing and he has expressed his intent to support it. Gosh, I am so in awe of him because he does not have much himself in terms of SP, just like me, but he has the heart to help and share. I think that is what a witness should be. I hope all witnesses have the heart to back up communities. It is really uplifting and inspiring people to do more when they are acknowledged. Thank you so much, @c0ff33a. I look forward to seeing more of you here in Steemit, more power to you and best of luck with the witnessing journey.

Gosh, I am trying to do a lot of things at the same time now, but Ginabot is prompting me about more delegations coming in anonymously. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Gosh, this is overwhelming. Let me log it here so I don't forget this day. Wow! I am so so so grateful for all these. Rest assured, I will pass this help on to my fellow little red fishes who are supporting me and supporting others as well so we can maximize this SP for the good of the community and Steemit as a whole. I am about to be speechless. I think I will end it here.

I have more people to thank, of course, @surpassinggoogle is one of them. He has been my mentor and I look up to him and what he does here. In fact, I am trying to make a microcosm of the things he does around and also apply his curriculum, as he calls it, to everything I do. They serve more like my guiding principles. He has always been an inspiration, I have been weak and uninspired many times, demoralized even, but as long as I see him here work it, I will follow. Thank you for all you do for the people of Steem.

And of course, I wanna thank my fellow red fishes who believe in me and support me. The people who always join my contests, the people who auto-curate my posts. Wow, you have all been awesome and you make me happy. I will do my best to help curate all of you because you deserve it, thank you for the trust and love.

I have more people to thank, but I think I need to make more posts for that. I have many communities to thank and more accounts in the background who randomly boost my posts. The services I subscribe, who help me tremendously, I owe them a lot, too. Gosh, thank you!

God, thank you!

Love and Peace,

@mermaidvampire