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First want to say thank you to @anomadsoul for making this contest. If you guys aren't familiar with it, go check it out here.

Saying that you're a "role model", is a big statement. I have to admit, when I saw this contest it really sparked my interest. I even resteemed it and everything, sat down to started writing, but in traditional James fashion, I talked myself out of it. When I think back on who my role models were growing up, they were people like the president, doctors, teachers, etc. When I put myself up against those standards, it's hard to feel like a role model.

But when someone I've recently met, through #thecut community, said this to me today, it instantly made my mind up. I am a role model. Even typing those words feels kind of weird. However, there are people, in these last few weeks, who do look at me as one of those people. Am I the president? Am I a doctor? No. Am I truly blown away by the Steem community, the amazing engagement, the way I get welcomed with open arms? Yes, and I never want it to stop.

Pexels

In the past 3 weeks that I've been on Steem, I've participated in countless contests, engaged numerous communities, and have made a lot of actual friends. That last part though, that's what has surprised me the most. I have a few people on here that I talk to more on a daily basis than literally anybody else in my life. That, to me, is just amazing. Coming from a long fight with depression, just the ability to communicate with people in a true, organic, engaging way. It's honestly changed my life.

What do I do on Steem?

Having been on here for 3 weeks, I feel like I am getting my walking legs, but I've done a lot while crawling. The screenshot to the left is literally only half of the discord chats I'm engaged in on a regular basis. I LOVE THIS SHIT

#thecut

This was the first community I really engaged with. I came onto Steem thinking it was just some type of crypto blogging platform. Thought that was cool and gave that a shot. Was never a big blogger, and have never written any articles, but thought "what the hell?". Best. Decision. Ever.

@privat is one the coolest dudes I've met on Steemit. He even got his mom on here, LOVED seeing that. @scribblingwilly @kenentertainment @redsfallin. There's so many more people in #thecut that I can shout out, you guys fucking rock!

SMA

I was introduced to the SMA, Steem Music Alliance, by @seveaux. @chiefmappster is such a really chill dude, hosts the #SML, which I made an entry for. Have been engaged in that community for a little over a week now, and the CRAZY amount of talent is just through the roof. I've really been blessed to have people like @seveaux stand in my corner. We are actually going to be working on a project together very soon, so keep an eye out!!

So what do I do?

Engage the community. To me, that's what Steemit is all about. SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT. Who would have thought that social media could actually be engaging? Hmmm. Also, I want to make it clear that while those are the major communities I engage with, I am a regular on steemit.chat and on the PAL deepend chat. If I could engage more people, believe me I would, but there's only a certain amount of time that I can keep my eyes open, lol.

What about the requirements?

• Is not permanently Powering down
  I honestly don't see myself doing that in the foreseeable future, or ever. Even if the market TANKED tomorrow, I'd still be on Steem. The community that I've found here rivals, or surpasses, anything I've encountered in my almost 30 years of existence. This. Is. Amazing.
• Posts original and quality content
  The music I create is definitely original, I just hope it's quality enough :D. People seem to think it is, as I've been BLOWN AWAY by the amount of support I have received in just a few weeks.
• Cites sources whenever part of the content does not belong to her/him.
  Always.
• Tries to reply to the comments on his/her posts
  If you look at my replies, you will see that I am constantly replying to people that respond to my posts. The odd time I don't is usually because it's one of the "Good posts, amazing. Follow me"... Not wasting time on that.
• Comments on other people´s posts and gives some feedback to the author.
  If I read something, listened to something, watched something, they will receive feedback. I love to give feedback. I have always been a firm believer that it's not only good to give constructive criticism, but ESSENTIAL for personal growth.
• Does not selfvote more than once a day.
  As you can see here, for the last 14 days I've only upvoted myself 12 times. On top of that, you will notice how massively spread out my votes are. The reason for this is because I honestly engage this amazing community called Steem. I am constantly listening to stuff on Dsound while I'm cleaning or taking a shower, watching videos on Dtube for entertainment, receiving a significant portion of my news, politics, etc. from this platform. I do understand that I could be voting MORE. I just recently found out about how to autovote good content, what my SP% actually means and how to use it the best way. As I've said, I've only been on the platform for a little over 3 weeks, so I am still learning a lot.
  
• Does not use bidbots to get votes
  In full disclosure, I did use a bidbot the other night for one of my songs, lol, was a $6 upvote. I also used one another time just to see what it does. I actually don't like the idea of bidbots, so after doing it all, doing the math, I decided that it's just not for me. I really want to grow organically.
• Spreads his/her votes as wide as he/she can within their SP posibilities.
  Hopefully I showed that above.
• Hangs out in some chat channels regularly.
  All day errr' day.
• Approves at least 10 witnesses (30 would be better but well)
  Have to be honest and say that this is a new thing to me. But after speaking to some people in my communities, I have voted for who I believe will best represent my ideals and the needs of the communities I participate in. I put in 15 votes, I will put in the other 15 once I do a bit more research on the witnesses. I just don't want to give my votes out to just anybody.

Plans for the future

In just a few weeks, Steem has changed my life. I hadn't recorded any music in over 4 years, I hadn't written any music in probably longer than that, I hadn't made a new friend in god knows how long.... since high school?? This has completely changed everything about me and who I am on a day to day basis, and it's AMAZING.

With that being said there are a couple things I will be focusing very heavily on moving forward.

Hip Hop League

While there is a community for hip hop in #thecut, it's still very all over the place. My idea is the formation of a league for all the hip hop heads here. This will encompass all the ongoing hip hop/rap challenges that are going on right now, they will all be a part of it. It'll have weekly giveaways, monthly giveaways, leader boards, community events, workshops on how to write lyrics, flow, vocal recording, etc. It'll all be for the community to elevate TOGETHER, while giving some incentives for doing so.

Uber Steem

This is an idea I had from the get-go, but haven't been able to get it going yet as I do not have the funds necessary yet to do this. The goal here is to deck out my car, which I use for Uber, in the Steemit logo. Completely from bumper to bumper. I will then do uber rides and give away SBD/STEEM to riders who sign up for Steem, answer trivia questions about STEEM/Block chain tech, do crazy stuff in the Uber Steemit, etc. Haven't figured out all the finer details, but that's the goal.

Those are my two major plans for the future. The Hip Hop League should be starting within the next week or so, and am unsure when the Uber Steemit thing will be done. As soon as I am able to do all that I guess, lol.

What will I spend the SP on?

Further engaging the community. I think the majority of it will be spent in #thecut, as there are just so many talented people there that my $0.02 upvote means a lot to, I can just imagine receiving a fat 100% $0.27 upvote. They will be thrilled. One guy in particular, not going to mention any names, had posted here and there for the last few months, but just in a few times of me and another member really digging his articles and giving him support, the guy is posting like every day now. He didn't make any CRAZY money. It's just that he feels welcomed, appreciated, that what he is doing is resonating with someone. THAT'S what I want to do. I want to share this excitement, this joy, this profound sense of community with other people.

The bottom line, there are going to be so many new faces coming onto Steem in the next year. I would love the opportunity to be one of the people on the other side of that divide screaming "COME ON IN!! THE WATER'S WARM AND THERE'S STEAK ON THE GRILL!!"

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed

Special thanks
@v4vapid - WOW! Your support over these last couple weeks has made such a huge huge huge impact on my life. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the support you've shown to me and my music. I honestly can't thank you enough. You've rekindled such a passion for music that I haven't had since I was in high school. Literally just got goosebumps and teared up a little as I was writing that. THANK YOU
@bulleth - Dude, thank you so much. Honestly. Without you taking me under your wing within the first week of being here, I don't think Steem would've been the same. In fact, I KNOW it wouldn't have been. You're the man!!
@Privat - You fucking rock man. All your support over the last couple weeks has been amazing man. I really appreciate all you do for steemit and #thecut, fuckin love this community.