Life on the Blockchain is closely similar to the real life, the mechanism of the World also comes into play here, "man knows the man; fosters their success" is a popular slang in my country and this is really glaring on the Steem/Hive Blockchain, the first Social Rewarding Dapp almost everyone knows. Unfortunately, every other rewarding dapp out there took up this feature, hence your creativity might alone will earn you nothing in this space!
Over four years ago, just a few months after joining Steemit, i met a man named Terry whom you might know as @surppassinggoogle. He recruited me and mentored me, I was constantly reminded that Steemit is way beyond earning and blogging my ass off, that was way before things got out of and with Bots and incessant raping of the Reward pool by the same set of people who deprives others of the daily or weekly Steem-Bounties!
In my early days on the platform, precisely early 2017; I was authoring for other pages owned by some Big time Steemians and I was constantly writing for my friends and anyone who cared to ask for help, I enjoyed writing because I have some weird fantasies which I often put into writing. While publishing for @technology-Trail, I was cautious and I honed my writing skills because there is no room for any copyright infringements.
So my little earnings from daily publishing for the Tech Channel I was using to buy steem to powerup my personal account, though the temptation to cash out always comes in but I was able to resist a bit if I had my way; I would have been a Tiny Dolphin by now- But we all have needs, these needs could prevent many of us from being active on the platform, but Steem came to our rescues, something several other Cryptocurrencies have not been able to off yet- Just not yet!
Terry was a friend and a mentor, even though I often report to him if anything bad happens to me; like my super-hero, on one or two occasions while I was caught in the middle of a whale fight and I got flagged as a backlash, I went running and crying to him. Later on- I was making fun of myself for bugging someone else about my Steem-problems!
Then there's another man @demotruk, he is the man that answers some of my technical questions when I was a complete Steem-noob, just like Terry he encouraged me to start @steem-lagos after a steem meetup I organized. I nearly chicken out as I have a great phobia for Spotlight, but I was motivated and made to understand that expanding steem userbase and user fostering is a collective task and not a one man task.
Curation meant nothing to me at first, pishing seems not harmless to me until he broadens my knowledge, unlike several other Dolphins and Orcas I have come across on the platform, he always listened to my inquiries and take time to explain. Information is power, so getting some of my questions answered was worth huge upvotes and this had helped me in my mentoring other blockchain novice, a Steem-Noob like me just like I use to be.
I sort of had a slower "Organic Growth in terms of Steem Power"( investment or stake: you can call it any) because I lacked basic knowledege about how a place like that worked, this two men helped me and my growth was somewhat accelerated by mid-2017.
Nothing else beats this beautiful place, strangers are willing to help in time of crisis; some donated to others to solve their immediate needs and generally, it was a stepping stone into the Blockchain for many like me who had little or no idea of the power in Cryptocurrency.
Then I met good friends and supporters like @reddust @papa-pepper @fatin-shahib @clayboyn @opheliafu @patelincho @richq11 are my first friends on Steemit, real friends that listen and explain things to you without getting irritated. And to @fulltimegeek @gigerfart @thejohalfiles @kingscrown. They made me understand that quality is key and could be supported in the midst of mediocrity been celebrated.
How time flies, communication and friendship ain't the same like my early days, but these people made my stay on the Blockchain till date worth a while and I am grateful for them and those precious moments!