Hi Everyone,

My name is Bec, and I’m from Australia. I’d like to tell you all a little about myself, and the wild ride that has bought me to steemit.

Startups:

If you had have asked me to define blockchain six months ago, I would have probably guessed that it was some kind of block shaped silver chain that goes on a charm bracelet. I didn’t really know much about jewellery or technology back then. For years I’ve worked in aged care. My job involved assisting the elderly with things like showering, shopping, and cleaning. Although the role didn’t really challenge my intellect, I truly loved spending time getting to know and help the people I cared for. I was ready for a change though, and sure enough the opportunity presented itself.

About five or six months ago the aged care organisation that I work opened up a challenge to be part of a team finding innovative ways to help older people. On a whim, I sent an email responding to the challenge, and ended up being part of that team. The three month journey was intense. It was a steep learning curve, and I was the only care worker on the team of “big bosses” and CEO’s.

My brain was pumped full of so much new and exciting information. We had futurists and innovation experts present to us, and challenge us to stretch our thinking further and further. In fact it was the futurist who said to us: “if you take away nothing else from today – go home and learn about blockchain.” I took his advice, and the more I learnt, the more I understood why he placed so much importance on it.

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by some really supportive people during the challenge. Then at the end of the three months my colleague and I pitched for the opportunity to take our startup idea to an accelerator program. We were one of two successful ideas, and I am now about to go back to work as an innovator for aged care after a Christmas break. I am still pinching myself sometimes, but I’m a girl on a mission!

Skateboards:

There’s something about finding that point of balance on a board that puts the world around you in balance. Whether it’s on a snowboard, riding a wave, or just cruising on a longboard on the concrete. Finding balance is key in life. Some situations make balance harder to find, but also really important not to lose. The last few months has felt like one of those situations.

For the three months of the challenge, I juggled my usual role by day, then came home to follow my passion at night. It stretched me emotionally. Within the first week, a regular client of mine passed away. At the same time I was researching ways to improve her exact circumstances. I remember sitting down by the lake and crying after she died. I didn’t used to cry that much when clients die – a lot of older people welcome death – but this was really overwhelming. Finding a balance was crucial. If I was going to look for ways to make positive change, It was (and is) important that that change actually makes a difference to real people. I realised pretty quickly that the only way to do this is to find balance within myself.

I’m not always that good at finding balance within myself. I guess that’s why I look so goofy when I ride my skateboard. But I ride my skateboard anyway. I park my car much further from work than I need to, so that I can start and finish my work days with a bit of perspective.

“Skin in the Game”:

As part of our accelerator program, we had a talk from an investor from Boston. He spoke about “skin in the game”. He said that any investor who champions a venture should have ‘skin in the game’. If they don’t, then you should question why they expect you to put your money into something they haven’t.

I really believe that blockchain can do amazing things, and I was so excited when I came across steemit. I love that Steemit uses the ocean analogy, because I think the best way to have skin in the game here is to dive into the Steemit ocean.

I have been exploring Steemit for the last couple of weeks, and had been trying to work out how to describe the experience. Then it occurred to me that it is a bit like a boil in the ocean. When I was a bit younger I was in Honduras for Scuba diving. I remember one day we went out to look for whale sharks, and the way to find them was to sit on the roof of the boat and look to the horizon for signs of a boil. The first thing you see is the birds, but as you get closer you realise there are small fish, big fish, sharks and whale sharks all in a big feeding frenzy.

I feel like I dived into Steemit pretty close to a boil. I’ve seen whales circling, small fish pretending to be big fish, and then the price of steem peaked sending people into a frenzy. But I’ve also seen something else, which makes me really believe in what the Steemit community is doing. There’s a common purpose. (not to be confused with a common porpoise.) It’s not some perfect, utopian common purpose, but I am really excited by the underlying positive culture here. There are so many people out there guiding the little fish like me. (Shout out to the people from #teamaustralia who pointed me in the right direction a few times.) I am so stoked to be here!

Anyway… that’s enough about me. What about you? Why are you here?