This is a Serious Question that I'd Like to Discuss With As Many Steemians As Possible
source
With the price of Steem and Steem Dollars increasing what feels like every day, posts that once earned $20 in Steem are now worth 2x, 3x, 4x, or even 5x that value in US Dollars.
NOTE: Since I started writing this Post a few days ago (when Steem was around $3.50 USD), Steem has broken above $8.00 USD. So the values above are potentially understated.
So.. What would it take?
- How long would Steem and Steem Dollars have to sustain a given price for you to feel comfortable with quitting your "day-job"?
- How many posts per day would you contribute?
-- How many comments?
-- How many upvotes? - Would you continue to upvote Comments on your posts, or Would you focus solely on Post Curation?
- Would you have to accumulate a certain amount of influence (Steem Power) on Steemit before you felt comfortable transitioning from Part-Time Steemian to Full-Time Steemit Contributor?
-- Would you invest non-Steemit-generated funds into Steem Power? - Would you Self-Upvote All of your Posts?
-- What about your Comments?
I'm interested to hear what you all think, and I suspect we'll get some interesting viewpoints! ... So if you are open to it..
Please start your comments below now (before reading the rest of my post where I discuss my personal thoughts).
Did you Start your Comments Yet?
@evolved08gsr's Requirements for Turning Steemit Into a Full-Time Job
There are a few factors that I would need to consider before I could personally turn Steemit into a Full-Time Job. Before getting too deep into my thoughts, I want to share basic economics about the platform in case some newer users are reading this.
The Economics on Steemit are somewhat like a normal job in that you get paid in arrears. You work for a week, and get paid for your first day of work after 7 days. However, you don't get a full payout in liquid assets (somewhat like a real job as well if you consider taxes and other "withholdings"). Your payout comes in the form of 50% Steem Power and 50% Steem Dollars (if you choose this reward option, which you'll likely be doing on many of your posts in order to convert Steem Dollars to Fiat currency to pay your bills).
Steem Dollars are instantly convertible to an exchange, where you can then convert it to Fiat Currency. Steem Dollar earnings therefore have a 7 day lag-time.
Steem Power takes 13 weeks to Power Down, which is performed in equal 1/13 installments after 7 days from the point in time that you initiate the Power Down. So if you have 130 Steem Power, you will receive 10 Steem every 7 days for the next 13 weeks if you decide to Power Down today. Once you have the Steem, you can then transfer it to an exchange and convert it to Fiat Currency. Steem Power earnings therefore have a 14+ day lag-time, depending on when you decide to Power Down.
Ok, so here are my thoughts...
#1: Can I Earn a Sustainable Income?
source
Before I can consider quitting my job to work on Steemit full-time, I need to know that I can sustain a viable income that will support my lifestyle. This means I need to be able to support my wife, my son, a future child, both children's future education, my retirement, my wife's retirement, medical insurance, and much more.
So my wife works full-time as well, and has a well-paid job. That doesn't change any of my previous requirements. Why? Because if my wife loses her job for any reason, I would then need to be a sole-provider, at least until she found another job ... which honestly I feel wouldn't be too challenging as she's a highly skilled and intelligent individual ... but again, that's not going to change my requirements.
No matter what the case, I need to know that I'll be earning at minimum dollar value per week. Which brings me to:
#2: Can I Even Write Enough Valuable Content?
source
If you want to ensure that you're going to succeed on Steemit, you need to have an audience who are willing to read your content and upvote it. Having your content become "Valuable" can happen many ways. Most minnows' valuable content comes from maybe 30-40 votes with smaller values. However, you can also achieve valuable content through "whale" upvotes. If you are able to find a whale to consistently provide large upvotes to your content, you know that you've made it! You could also invest your own money into Steem Power and provide yourself with significant upvotes, but this method is sometimes frowned upon.
You might be thinking, well @evolved08gsr, 30-40 minnow votes don't really provide you with "valuable" content. And you'd be correct. So before I would be able to move full-time onto Steemit, I would need to probably be seeing 60-100 votes per post. I haven't specifically calculated the dollar value per post (or per week), but I would suspect it's somewhere slightly above my current weekly take-home pay. The above is to cover other costs like saving for retirement and health insurance, among others.
#3: Will The Value of Steem Continue to Rise?
source
I'm as optimistic as the next person about the future of Steem! The Steemit Platform has been a wonderful use case for the Steem Coin / Blockchain, and SMTs have the ability to considerably change the external marketplace for advertisers and other small-dollar movers.
However, I am also a realist. I can't simply say with 100% certainty that because Steem has gone from $1 to $3 to $5 (now $8), it will continue to rise. The blockchain is public. It can be "improved", if another venture is willing to make adjustments to the existing blockchain.
Do I believe that Steem will be replaced? Definitely not soon.
Do I believe that Steem will stay above $8? Probably not for long.
Do I believe that Steem will be above $8 again? Absolutely.
Ok, So What Would It Take?
- I would need to accumulate a consistent following on Steemit of at least 30 accounts, and "random" upvotes from let's say another 10 or so outside observers, per post.
- I would need to accumulate at least 1,000 Steem Power, and another 1,000 SBD that I can keep "In Reserve" as a "rainy day fund".
- I would need to have a significant amount of comments on each of my posts from my followers, and others, to validate that my account is "popular" enough to get votes.
- I would need to become more efficient at finding and curating quality content. Currently my curation rewards are too low to sustain any sort of income (partially due to my low SP).
- And probably the most difficult of all... I would need my wife to sign-off on me quitting my job to be a Full-Time-Steemian.