After complete silence for two months while cycling Denmark to Romania some of you might have noticed my sudden activity explosion. Well, there's a good reason for that and it is my intention with this post letting people know what I am doing in Romania and how I managed (and chose to) to become a " poor" full-time steemian.
Romanian salary vs Steemit salary
When first arriving in Romania I started looking around for jobs, I found 1 VERY well paid job for 1000 euro a month but didn't manage to get it. Let me tell you in my home country Denmark earning 1000 euro is absurdly low for a full-time job, but for Romanian standards, you will almost be considered rich. Just to put some perspective into when I am talking about salary, you will often see jobs ranging between 300 to 500 euro BEFORE the 40% taxes.
For example, I had a job opportunity for a half-time job where I would work every day for 4 hours and in total after taxes earn 120 euro. That is about 6 euro a day if I work 20 days a month. Sure that job was a really low paid job but also an interesting one, but sadly the low salary put me off completely. I simply did not see reason in compromising 5 days a week for such a salary. When I instead could go all kind of places whenever I please with my laptop and write what's on my mind.
This is where I turned back to the opportunity for creating myself a Steemit salary.
Given you barely need 300 euro a month to live well in Romania you can imagine that with a little bit of effort earn this.
Focusing on Steemit as my new jobs give me more than just money in my pocket
Right now according to my calculations I can actually live from Steemit simply because Romania is dirt cheap. 125 euro to live in an apartment plus the cheap food is just absurd if you think about it.
I was to live in Denmark(my home country) I would never be able to work on Steemit as my job simply because the money I would earn would barely cover my food budget. But by living in Romania I now have time not only live from my steem income, but also build this "carrier" into something that might even allow me to travel more or settle down other places down the road. I guess you could say the more popular you get on Steemit is about the equal of an endless opportunity for salary raise.
But the money is far from everything for me. I love writing, I love traveling and I love feeling part of this cool community we are having. I have already gotten in contact with so many amazing people on this platform it blows my mind, all of them having something interesting to offer.
Also, I have found it oddly entertaining to be much more active. To me, it doesn't even feel like a job, more like a hobby. Being in contact with other amazing people on this platform, write about interesting articles that both are about my adventures and the current situation of Steemit. It just all fits together for me and every day I feel more and more blessed to be part of it.
The only part of this that gives me bad taste in my mouth..
Up until now, I powered up all of my steem I have earned throughout my 15 months on Steemit. While I will never power down below my investment limit (+6000 SP) it still feels bad SOME of this steem I am earning now will have to be seen as a salary and not adding to my investment. ESPECIALLY with the low steem value right now. But I will try to live off my saving until it raises at least a little bit. I guess anyone who wishes to be serious about Steemit has to make this decision of selling off some of their steem eventually. But isn't that the whole purpose of this steem? to sell and buy?
My hope is I can get myself into a rhythm where I can earn enough while steem is high and save it while steem is low. This would be the ideal world for me.
I know selling steem might be looked upon as an opposite direction of wishing value for Steem. But maybe this is not completely true. Steem needs both sellers and buyers at all times and I think I simply just become a part of that now when I spend even more time on Steemit.
I guess I am just doing what steem is here for, creating value and make a living from it. By being another member devoted to Steemit it is my hope to create value to the platform through other means and of course still power up every spare penny I am getting beyond what I need to have a home and food on my table.
Despite this, it is still my aim to reach 10k steem power hopefully by the end of this year if I predicted some of my other investments will go as planned so I can put them into steem before steem itself rises once again, but we will see about that. If steem should make another bull run before my other investments do, it's still a win for me.
While I know I have made this opportunity myself, I still feel privileged
While I don't believe purely in luck but in those who take the chance when an opportunity presents itself I gotta admit I still feel lucky.
If I ever wanted money, I could just find a job in Denmark according to my education and earn money that way. But the freedom by choosing where to live and how long without any restriction is so much more valuable to me. I don't need a huge salary to do what I love..I just need enough to get around and food to eat. I don't dream about the big house, I dream about ultimate freedom. So despite my all-time lowest income ever through my small "steem salary", I feel richer than ever.
-holm