Like many here, I sometimes feel exasperated when recognizing the fact that Steem, like the other chains, has had little interest shown from outside its sphere of influence. Maybe more so for those like myself who are tech challenged and would never have gotten involved in crypto had it not been for Steemit and the ease of entry it provides.

Earlier this year, I noticed that most projects and apps that are built on the chain seemed to focus their services to catering to already existing Steem holders. It is this focus that I believe has been part of the hindrance regarding mass adoption. As those of you who are in my circle are aware, when I first heard of the project now called @dcommerce, I was very excited. Not only because I have spent a large part of my life selling, but because I saw another avenue on widening the circle to include those not already involved in our internal economy.

I have some ideas on how Steem could be utilized in a broader spectrum, but before I get to that part of my post, I wish to share a little on the founder, Dan Larimer. Being a crypto noob when I got here, I will confess to never having heard of him. Confess yet again that until yesterday still didn't know much about him, other than he left the chain after building it. So I spent the better part of last night trying to understand who he is. To understand his vision regarding block chain, and his intent behind Steem(it). I found this video not only aligns with what I had already deduced, but also pulled me into a state of great respect for him as a thinker and a man who is willing to step forward where he sees a void and try to be the change he seeks.

I wish to point out at approximately the 12:20 mark, he mentions the challenge for a successful system is getting enough people involved in the project. Around the 15:45 mark he says the purpose of Steemit after his initial attempt with his first chain was to make the barrier to entry lower. Keeping this in mind, it is necessary to understand that while community projects and apps are great, they do not by their very nature get more people involved in OUR project. And this is OUR project. Not just Steemit.inc, not just those who were mining at the start that grabbed a large stake. It is all of ours, and as such it is on all of us (that believe in this project) to put forth an effort to expand this project that Dan created for us. One last plug for Dan before I move on. To help you understand him better, his introduction post is insightful.

https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@dantheman/daniel-larimer--co-founder-of-bitshares-steemit

I also want to submit that the first chain that achieves mass adoption not only frees itself of Bitcoin movement, but probably becomes the standard.

Steem For Business

There are many ways I can see Steem being beneficial to businesses, giving them a unique edge on their competition. I will highlight a few of these ways.

• Employee bonuses/compensation: Many sales companies give bonuses for such things as top sales, or for meeting or exceeding sales targets, safety targets etc. Offering part or all of the bonus as Steem is a unique form of compensation that has an appeal unlike any other. I will get to the math on that shortly.

• It can also be used for HR necessities, such as compensation at the end of training modules pertaining to either job duties/responsibilities to safety/sensitivity training. The payment would be a record of who was trained on what, and when. There are many more areas it could be utilized in house, but this should be a good sample to get your wheels turning.

As Dan mentioned in the video above, unlike gold and other valuables, Steem is divisible. So a company could pay in decimals that is sliding dependent on the value of Steem at the moment.

So for example, lets say a company has 40 employees and routinely spends $200,000.00 annually on training and bonuses. Instead of paying the 200k, they buy that much Steem. This would give them approximately 689,000 Steem for their initial funding pool. In a post I read some time back written by @tarazkp, he showed that for every 19k one held in SP, they earned 1 Steem per day. So for the above scenario, the initial investment by the company for their programs would net them approximately 36.26 Steem per day. Or 1087.89 Steem monthly. They could easily begin rewarding these bonuses with a percentage of that and actually not only sustain it without ever touching the original investment, but actually grow it if they only pay out 80-90% of the growth.

The unique aspect of this being, while normal currency bonuses are tied to inflation, the value of Steem is not only inflationary, but speculative as well. Subject to possibilities of scarcity if it becomes mass adopted and it is in demand more than is easily obtained. What begins as perhaps a half a Steem bonus worth .15 could easily become a 4.00 bonus as we have already seen, or if in real demand a 50.00+ bonus. One that can compound on itself as well.

None of this broaches the ideas of whether the employees choose to open a Steem account or elect (if offered) to have the company hold it for them for a percentage of the SP growth. The first option adding more users directly into out project, the second indirectly.

It is not uncommon for stores of all kinds to offer in house cash as a reward for purchases. Steem, due to its fractional nature, would be a unique reward program for loyal shoppers. Using a sliding scale dependent on current values, the store could go one step further and offer items that the Steem could be redeemable for as grocery stores are known to do. This would actually circulate probably a decent portion of the Steem back into their initial start up fund, while offering loyal shoppers who wish to maintain their position within our project a chance at POTENTIAL growth unlike most retirement funds offer. Simply for being a loyal customer.

The possibilities are endless here, really.

Steem For Everyday Living

This concept of expanding those involved in OUR project works in our everyday lives as well. You have kids, make it part of their allowance. We all have people in our circles with birthdays and other holidays and occasions we gift to them on. Why not start giving Steem as a gift? If you believe in OUR project this gift could be the life changing gift so many people dream of daily.

I hear so much about this being a gifting economy, and have made it so here within the community. It seems apparent to me that it is now time to make it a gifting economy outside the immediate community and expand OUR project. While I have no business contact to make a pitch to, nor a business at the moment I will work this year towards implementing some of what I outlined above, as well as variations not mentioned here. So many possibilities are open for us to pull more people in to OUR project. Our project is one of abundance and we need to love those who aren't part of it yet enough to share our abundance with them.