Back in the summer of 2017, I got into crypto for the first time ever after hearing about Steemit, a social networking site where I could get paid to share my content. As a musician with plenty of songs and videos to share, I immediately checked it out and started posting.
This process led me to earning my first crypto, STEEM, and trading that for some ETH as well as some BTC, and quite often cashing out and converting everything to fiat.
Throughout 2017, I pretty much used Steemit as another source of income, posting music and fun content of mine which would then end up being spent on bills. Although I did keep some STEEM staked in the platform, I didn't have what you would call a "HODL mentality".
It was still so new! So new that I didn't pay much attention to Bitcoin until the price spiked at the end of the year. At this point I had several family members and friends asking me about Bitcoin and crypto, and I remember us talking to each other about COINBASE and other portfolio tracking apps.
So this is when it all really started, the big bull run. I didn't honestly notice the effects until January 2018, when STEEM began trading for over $6! Yes, this STEEM that today is worth .16 cents was trading for multiple dollars.
At this time, I was creating videos and content specifically for Steemit, focusing on using their Dapp platforms such as DTube, DLive, DSound, and Steepshot. All of these Dapps had a ton of STEEM Power that would pay you a lot if upvoted, so essentially the more I created, the more I got upvoted, the more STEEM I earned.
By trading my STEEM at such high prices in early 2018, I was able to save up and entirely pay for my first ever trip outside of the country to Tulum Mexico that March. I also paid for a steel hand drum entirely with my crypto earnings, something I was extremely proud of!
So life was good and great, but the bull run didn't last forever. Probably around March or April, all the "steam" left (haha yes pun intended) and the amount of money in crypto started to dissipate.
This brought the price of STEEM down to much more normal levels, but it was also not as profitable to spend hours a week making videos specifically for DTube anymore.
Although I kept posting from time to time, I no longer saw Steemit as an income source. By the end of 2018, I had started my new freelance videography business and pretty much only posted on Steemit when I had a new song to be released.
So from around spring 2018-spring 2020 I was pretty inactive with crypto and busy making that fiat! But that all changed when earlier this year my brother Brandon asked me if I had been keeping up with crypto, as the Bitcoin halvening was about to happen.
This immediately peaked my interest, as I was also dealing with the reality of the new (and life shifting) global pandemic.
Upon looking back into crypto, I was shocked to see BTC all the way back up at $9000+, and saw some investment gains I had made on some of the small amounts of crypto I had in various wallets.
At this point I decided I was all in. Now that I had more balance in life and more financial means on the fiat side, it was time to seriously look at crypto again.
This time, it's been different. Steemit is no longer the same community, but in its place HIVE and even Blurt have popped up as forks which have brought me a lot more opportunity to post and earn. In addition, I'm also using PUBLISH0X and LBRY to share my content, (as well as here!) and have been rewarded for my efforts by understanding this space from my prior experience.
I've also experimented with Defi and Cefi projects, and can only look towards the next bull run with some serious visionary glasses on right now.Although most of my current holdings are in BTC, I hold many alts for projects I believe in, but this time I will be paying attention to the bull run in order to maximize and KEEP my profits.
Whether the next bull run happens at the end of this year or net, this is what I'm going to do - when things go parabolic, I'll trade a percentage of my holdings for stablecoins, send these to Celsius to gain interest, and wait for the prices to dip again after they hit resistance, buying back in and obtaining a larger amount of crypto.
Right now I'm not interested in spending my crypto into fiat, but rather HODLing it for the long term and building staking rewards and interest off of it. I've held LINK this year while it pumped all the way to $20, but didn't have this strategy then and instead never obtained profits from that pump.
Now I know what to do as this next bull run comes in. I know it's going to happen, and I know I'm going to be ready for it.
It may happen in the next few months, or maybe next year. But...I WILL BE READY!
I hope this article helped and brought you value! Crypto is a huge passion of mine as I know it has the opportunity to completely revolutionize our financial world.
How are you preparing for the next bull run? Let me know in the comments!
