I think your fear is fairly common among the self employed. Going out of business for any reason is pretty much the nightmare scenario, unless it's the best option somehow.
I was self-employed for 15 years. I had two small weekly newspapers that I published. There were three full-time employees (including myself), and five or six reporters I paid by the piece. We did pretty well for being small community weeklies, thanks to the publishing of legal notices. A change in state law, however, caused those notices to dry up, and within eight months of the change and five months of its implementation, we were out of business.
For me, the biggest fear was laying off the other employees. We had been fortunate enough to build up some savings and pay off most of our debts, so my family was in decent shape for a year or two, but not knowing the status of the employees, it took a toll on me.
I've also lived the other fear of not making enough to make ends meet. That in and of itself can be worse, because the tendency is to keep holding on when all indications are it's never going to make it. I held on, though, and we did eventually make it with that same newspaper business.
I've spent the better part of six years since either looking for work, going to school, or trying to earn STEEM. My wife is working, but she wants out again as soon as possible, and I might have to go back to work. I definitely feel that pain, because I haven't worked for anyone else since 1996, basically, over half of my adult life.
So, there's a few things here that I'm not entirely sure of what is being asked, so I will pick the different pieces apart and answer that way.
REWARD POOL
The way the reward system is set up, individuals earn rewards based on how much is allocated to posts and comments. This comes from a pool, which itself is created from STEEM inflation. In other words, the pool is separate from the general STEEM supply, and doesn't really represent STEEM or SBD until it is paid out, which takes place on the seventh day of the post's publication.
There are two ways to be paid—a 50/50 spilt of SBD/SP, and straight SP. SP is based on the value of STEEM in fiat, as well as its relative value to SBD, which is always fixed at $1. So no matter what the SBD price is on the open market, it's internal value is $1.
So, basically the reward system is designed to have users take in, at best, half of their rewards directly to SP, while potentially receiving the other in SBD (or liquid STEEM which was the case up until more recently). In other words, the system is slanted towards earning STEEM Power (SP), as opposed to STEEM/SBD.
WHY?
I don't know that I know that answer entirely. However, it does have something to do with enlarging the reward pool based on user stake, and encouraging people to hold it. The way STEEM value goes up is when more people have it and keep it, rather than earning it and the withdrawing it, much like they would a paycheck. STEEM is meant to be much more of an asset or investment at this point than it is meant to be regular income.
POWER DOWN
Even though half or all of one's author and curation rewards may be going to SP, there is still a way to revert the SP back into liquid STEEM. It's called a power down, and to completely to do so takes a total of 13 weeks. However, each week, an amount is made available in STEEM, and the power down can be stopped or modified, as well. So instead of needing to power down all STEEM, a user can get at what they want or need, depending on the amount.
SECURITY
In the event that an account gets hacked or stolen, which has been the case from time to time, having stake powered up prevents the entire amount involved from disappearing immediately, with the hopes that something can be done to prevent the stake from being siphoned off completely. Not all cases are salvageable, so being wise about the use of passwords and keys is essential.
LIKELIHOOD
There's really not been an ongoing call for a change in the way rewards are paid. Rather, it's been the opposite–the community tends to encourage powering up as opposed to holding liquid STEEM or SBD. So, that's not a change that's likely to come soon.
I think there are various people and things that have taught me and have brought me to what I believe today. A lot of it is faith-based, because what I believe about God and His purposes informs a lot of what I feel about other things. However, not all of it is based on faith, since there are things we believe in that aren't as spelled out in a religious sense.
FAMILY/TEACHERS/LEADERS/FRIENDS/PEERS
So, this would be the human element of the equation. Growing up we attended a church where they taught the gospel, but it was my family and the rest that I got to see applying and living it. They're examples helped to show me what worked and what didn't. I was able to see and learn from their mistakes, successes, and experiences to some degree, though a lot I had to test on my own. Without them, it would be harder to come to conclusions, I think, just because there would be little to compare my life with.
I wouldn't call any of them masters in religion, major scriptorians. Nor were they big business owners, scientists or professors. However, they were good people, and they were intelligent enough, and hard working enough to put into practice their ideals and beliefs so they could reap the benefits of them.
SCRIPTURES/GOOD BOOKS
I've read all kinds of different books, articles, posts and opinions in my lifetime. I've pondered upon them. When appropriate, I've sought divine guidance and inspiration. I've tried to also learn science and how we've discovered things are made and put together. I've found there is a lot of unknown in both the religious and the scientific worlds, but I've also found that in some cases, where one lacks, another picks up the slack. I think we should be seeking the truth wherever we find it, and that knowledge is power.
EXPERIENCES
I did touch on this briefly concerning others, but my own experiences in life have helped build my beliefs. I've had prayers answers, and prayer that weren't. I've felt moved to act, and other times where I didn't really feel anything. I've had a lot of good things happen to me, some bad, and felt stress in many cases. I've had plenty of failures, some successes, and have found that either way, keeping a polite but realistic disposition helps to weather most storms and build most relationships. I've had the highs and lows of life, and discovered that I was largely responsible for both. My demeanor and actions went a long way towards determining which experience I would have.
It can be difficult to overcome lifelong experiences with thing, or change them. That's why it's healthy to have various experiences of the same thing in order to get a better sample. There are some experiences, though, that one does not need to have to know whether or not it's bad. Watching others doing some of these things is sufficient.
YES, BELIEFS CAN CHANGE
I see it happening all the time. People change. Their likes, their hopes, their dreams, their behavior. All of those things can change as their beliefs change.
Now, would i become a completely different person just because? I don't think so. I think it would take something pretty traumatic, but who knows? Most changing of beliefs is gradual, and we're already on our way there before something might come along to cement the change. And sometimes, that change is brought on by our lack of attention to details, the ones that made us who we were in the first place.
So, yes, beliefs can certainly change. Whether we admit that, or act upon those changes can often be the greater unknown. Too many people stick grudgingly to beliefs they no longer hold simply out of respect, tradition or some other reasons. I'm not sure if that's the best way to live, but to each their own. We all have our lives to live.
Wow! What a complete answer! Thanks for sharing. it is always fun to hear other people and how they think and feel on this subject! When you think about this question, I feel like you are waking up!
I agree that it is a good question and we really should stop and assess where we're at and also determine why we believe what we believe. A lot of our opinions are based on very little when we go to inspect them. We can be standoffish about the littlest of things. So, introspection on a regular basis is good, and improving our ability to discern and reason is good, too.
No. I know more than 500. Check @penguinpablo for stats on steem. It counts people who use two accounts and bots but it doesn't count people who don't transact, so it should be accurate.
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I think your fear is fairly common among the self employed. Going out of business for any reason is pretty much the nightmare scenario, unless it's the best option somehow.
I was self-employed for 15 years. I had two small weekly newspapers that I published. There were three full-time employees (including myself), and five or six reporters I paid by the piece. We did pretty well for being small community weeklies, thanks to the publishing of legal notices. A change in state law, however, caused those notices to dry up, and within eight months of the change and five months of its implementation, we were out of business.
For me, the biggest fear was laying off the other employees. We had been fortunate enough to build up some savings and pay off most of our debts, so my family was in decent shape for a year or two, but not knowing the status of the employees, it took a toll on me.
I've also lived the other fear of not making enough to make ends meet. That in and of itself can be worse, because the tendency is to keep holding on when all indications are it's never going to make it. I held on, though, and we did eventually make it with that same newspaper business.
I've spent the better part of six years since either looking for work, going to school, or trying to earn STEEM. My wife is working, but she wants out again as soon as possible, and I might have to go back to work. I definitely feel that pain, because I haven't worked for anyone else since 1996, basically, over half of my adult life.
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So, there's a few things here that I'm not entirely sure of what is being asked, so I will pick the different pieces apart and answer that way.
REWARD POOL
The way the reward system is set up, individuals earn rewards based on how much is allocated to posts and comments. This comes from a pool, which itself is created from STEEM inflation. In other words, the pool is separate from the general STEEM supply, and doesn't really represent STEEM or SBD until it is paid out, which takes place on the seventh day of the post's publication.
There are two ways to be paid—a 50/50 spilt of SBD/SP, and straight SP. SP is based on the value of STEEM in fiat, as well as its relative value to SBD, which is always fixed at $1. So no matter what the SBD price is on the open market, it's internal value is $1.
So, basically the reward system is designed to have users take in, at best, half of their rewards directly to SP, while potentially receiving the other in SBD (or liquid STEEM which was the case up until more recently). In other words, the system is slanted towards earning STEEM Power (SP), as opposed to STEEM/SBD.
WHY?
I don't know that I know that answer entirely. However, it does have something to do with enlarging the reward pool based on user stake, and encouraging people to hold it. The way STEEM value goes up is when more people have it and keep it, rather than earning it and the withdrawing it, much like they would a paycheck. STEEM is meant to be much more of an asset or investment at this point than it is meant to be regular income.
POWER DOWN
Even though half or all of one's author and curation rewards may be going to SP, there is still a way to revert the SP back into liquid STEEM. It's called a power down, and to completely to do so takes a total of 13 weeks. However, each week, an amount is made available in STEEM, and the power down can be stopped or modified, as well. So instead of needing to power down all STEEM, a user can get at what they want or need, depending on the amount.
SECURITY
In the event that an account gets hacked or stolen, which has been the case from time to time, having stake powered up prevents the entire amount involved from disappearing immediately, with the hopes that something can be done to prevent the stake from being siphoned off completely. Not all cases are salvageable, so being wise about the use of passwords and keys is essential.
LIKELIHOOD
There's really not been an ongoing call for a change in the way rewards are paid. Rather, it's been the opposite–the community tends to encourage powering up as opposed to holding liquid STEEM or SBD. So, that's not a change that's likely to come soon.
View this question on Musing.io
I think there are various people and things that have taught me and have brought me to what I believe today. A lot of it is faith-based, because what I believe about God and His purposes informs a lot of what I feel about other things. However, not all of it is based on faith, since there are things we believe in that aren't as spelled out in a religious sense.
FAMILY/TEACHERS/LEADERS/FRIENDS/PEERS
So, this would be the human element of the equation. Growing up we attended a church where they taught the gospel, but it was my family and the rest that I got to see applying and living it. They're examples helped to show me what worked and what didn't. I was able to see and learn from their mistakes, successes, and experiences to some degree, though a lot I had to test on my own. Without them, it would be harder to come to conclusions, I think, just because there would be little to compare my life with.
I wouldn't call any of them masters in religion, major scriptorians. Nor were they big business owners, scientists or professors. However, they were good people, and they were intelligent enough, and hard working enough to put into practice their ideals and beliefs so they could reap the benefits of them.
SCRIPTURES/GOOD BOOKS
I've read all kinds of different books, articles, posts and opinions in my lifetime. I've pondered upon them. When appropriate, I've sought divine guidance and inspiration. I've tried to also learn science and how we've discovered things are made and put together. I've found there is a lot of unknown in both the religious and the scientific worlds, but I've also found that in some cases, where one lacks, another picks up the slack. I think we should be seeking the truth wherever we find it, and that knowledge is power.
EXPERIENCES
I did touch on this briefly concerning others, but my own experiences in life have helped build my beliefs. I've had prayers answers, and prayer that weren't. I've felt moved to act, and other times where I didn't really feel anything. I've had a lot of good things happen to me, some bad, and felt stress in many cases. I've had plenty of failures, some successes, and have found that either way, keeping a polite but realistic disposition helps to weather most storms and build most relationships. I've had the highs and lows of life, and discovered that I was largely responsible for both. My demeanor and actions went a long way towards determining which experience I would have.
It can be difficult to overcome lifelong experiences with thing, or change them. That's why it's healthy to have various experiences of the same thing in order to get a better sample. There are some experiences, though, that one does not need to have to know whether or not it's bad. Watching others doing some of these things is sufficient.
YES, BELIEFS CAN CHANGE
I see it happening all the time. People change. Their likes, their hopes, their dreams, their behavior. All of those things can change as their beliefs change.
Now, would i become a completely different person just because? I don't think so. I think it would take something pretty traumatic, but who knows? Most changing of beliefs is gradual, and we're already on our way there before something might come along to cement the change. And sometimes, that change is brought on by our lack of attention to details, the ones that made us who we were in the first place.
So, yes, beliefs can certainly change. Whether we admit that, or act upon those changes can often be the greater unknown. Too many people stick grudgingly to beliefs they no longer hold simply out of respect, tradition or some other reasons. I'm not sure if that's the best way to live, but to each their own. We all have our lives to live.
Wow! What a complete answer! Thanks for sharing. it is always fun to hear other people and how they think and feel on this subject! When you think about this question, I feel like you are waking up!
I agree that it is a good question and we really should stop and assess where we're at and also determine why we believe what we believe. A lot of our opinions are based on very little when we go to inspect them. We can be standoffish about the littlest of things. So, introspection on a regular basis is good, and improving our ability to discern and reason is good, too.
THANKS FOR SHARING!
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I don't think so. Steemit is a fraud. I estimate there can't be more than 500 active people everyday
No. I know more than 500. Check @penguinpablo for stats on steem. It counts people who use two accounts and bots but it doesn't count people who don't transact, so it should be accurate.