My Story

Anyone who knows me will be well aware that the glass is always half full in chez @ablaze. Take the lockdown that was enforced upon us across almost every country in the world over the past two years. Of course there is negativity around that, but it's always good to find that chink of light in the perceived darkness. For me one of those chasms of light was rediscovering Hive earlier this year, I think it was around mid February 2021 when I found my way back, and man am I glad that I did.

Things had and have changed so much and for the better since I joined this blockchain back in January 2018, and now we have communities, tribes and so many excellent side projects like Leo Finance and 3 Speak, games like Splinterlands and NFTs like Punks. Yes, I am disappointed in myself that I didn't commit myself with the same vigour back then as I do today, who knows what my HP would read now if I had. Looking backwards isn't always helpful though, so for now I am very much concentrating on the now and my path to the future. That future has the potential to be very very bright if Hive, Leo finance, 3 Speak and other projects realise the immense potential which they hold.

I had a great year in 2018 and then as bid bots and shite posts began to take over, I lost faith in the project to be honest, and logged in once a week, then once a month and eventually forgot all about it. I'm not sure what made me log back in earlier this year, but I'm so glad I did and this time around we are building something amazing, with proper curation, excellent developers and untold potential to grow and prosper. The community welcomed me back with open arms and friends like @niallon11 and @edprivat told me about all the changes and how different and better things were. Throughout 2021, I have experienced this myself firsthand, and I'm so excited to be part of something unique and special, that will grow massively in 2022 and 2023 in my opinion.

I have spoken previously in these PUD day posts about my ambition to get to 5 digit HP and I am setting my sights on that very goal for 2022 - sure it may be ambitious, but why not. I believe that if I can maintain my consistency and continue to post every day about things and topics that people are interested in, then I might just reach my goal. Have you got goals for 2022? Tell me about them below, I'd love to hear them.

As we close out 2021 and began on our pathway into 2022, it's worth taking stock of where we were and where we have gotten to over the 12 months of 2021 and it certainly makes for good reading.

Phenomenal Growth

January 1st 2021 $0.118

December 31st 2021 $1.5529

That's a whopping 13.16 X times growth or 1316% growth represented as a percentage. That is exceptional by anyone's standards. Indeed, it's been a tremendous year across the entire Crypto eco system. It is an exciting time for us Hive based enthusiasts and the future certainly looks bright, but bear in mind, it wont always be rosy in the garden, and when the time comes, remember to be brave and weather the storm. Bear markets follow Bull markets as sure as night follows day, so be ready for it and have your strategy planned out.

Also Remember that those who have gained the most here are those who kept the faith through the market declines and kept working away for what appeared to be diminishing returns. In the end the returns proved to be extremely lucrative and the earlier one got in and started to work hard, the greater the returns were. Many whales were forged in this way - perseverance, determination and hard work always pays off eventually, but what many people seem to lack is patience. Overnight successes are rare in any walk of life, be it the sporting amphitheaters, the pantheons of music or businesses or any other endeavors. You have to work for it.

The truth of the matter is that anyone can to remain determined in a buoyant bull market, but the real quality shines through when things go the other way and some people are running for the exits. While those running for the exits are panicking, the clever ones are picking up bargain buys left, right and centre to feather their funds and nest eggs even more.

PUD O'Clock

Its the 1st of the month once again and it's just the start of a new month, but the start of a new year. What does 2022 hold in store for hive? Will we see 1316% growth this year? I sincerely doubt it, but even if we saw 50% growth, for me that would be a success - growth is growth at the end of the day. Sure in crypto terms, 50% growth may appear meagre and small, but trust me, that's not to be sniffed at. In more traditional investing, even 10% and thus reaching double digit growth is considered pretty damn lucrative, so do remember to keep some perspective. It is impossible for growth to continue at the pace of last year, so let's just hope for double digit growth or better as a minimum.

I continue to stake all of my side tokens and their combined value is now $208, which granted is not a lot, but it's grown organically from posting, commenting and air drops, so I am definitely not complaining. I am most excited about Leo Finance, Proofofbrain and VerifyYourBrain, as well as SportsTalkSocial and Waiv. Who knows what 2022 may hold for any of these side-chains?

I always include this excerpt from a previous PUD write up for any newbies reading this post:

The beauty of Hive is, you don't have to invest any hard earned Fiat, although I would advise it, to accelerate your progress. At times I wish that I had in those early days, as it has been a long journey for me, but my account has grown up from 100% organic growth from nothing other than around 10 or 15 delegated HP to get me going. I've never taken out anything to date either, nor do I intend to any time soon. I want my stack to continue to grow and the bigger the stack, the quicker the growth in my opinion.

Use your Brain

It's always a no brainer for me to power up my Hive. I used to always bide my time for my HBD and eventually transfer that to Hive and power it up. I remember back in July I was getting 1 Hive for 0.4HBD. fast forward to today and it will cost me 1.57HBD and even though that does seem expensive, it was 2.785HBD for 1 hive this time last month. For now, I invest the majority of my HBD into the savings account, which is paying 12% APR currently - not too bad at all. Every gain big or small I make around here is put back in, compounding my gains. I'd urge you to do the same if at all possible.

Surf those Crypto waves

Surfing is class and I love to surf, when I get the chance. The thrill, the water crashing around you and standing atop your board - amazing. The rest of the time I am virtually surfing. I now have momentum and I am riding a wave of financial gains and friendships gains here on Hive. I'm rubbing virtual shoulders with people from the four corners of the world and its a really good way to maintain or improve ones perspective on life.

Sure, It's taken some time to get momentum like real life surfing, but I finally have some - since April when I started trying to post every day, I've seen my account finally blossom like I hoped that it one day would. I continue to post about music, food, sport, beer, art, technology and loads more and I've been delighted with the response from the community.

Last PUD month comparison

I was on 2709 hive power on December 1st. Now I'm at 2977 hive power one month later which is a gain of 9.9% which I'm going to round up to 10% which I think is fair and is really good, when you consider that I also banked some HBD as well.

How long can I maintain double digit monthly growth for? Well this past few months, I must admit that it has become harder to achieve and I had to convert some HBD to Hive at a fairly un-appealing rate to facilitate it, but I do like the idea of maintaining double digit growth every month for as long as possible, so I reckon it was still worthwhile.

I'll keep it going for as long as I can. I'm tantalisingly close to my next mini target of 3000HP, which I should reach next week. My reputation continues to grow as well and having gone from 66.7 to 67.5 last month, it went from 67.5 to 68.2 this month which I'm happy with, as it shows that I at least maintained my growth through the festive season, which is great. It's an amazing transformation for me and thanks a million for all those who have supported me in my journey so far. You know who you are.

You are an early adopter

Here it comes, yes, I'm banging this drum again for my regular readers, but for anyone new, just remind yourself that you are an early adopter in a transformative potentially game changing industry. Blockchain is going to be huge. You are here before the masses. You are a visionary. It is only a matter of time before many more look to follow in your footsteps. Imagine investing in internet stocks in the early days, the likes of Google, Amazon or Facebook.

Take advantage of your early adopter status. Up your game. Post only quality content. Engage with others on the eco system and watch as you flourish.

Power Up Day January 2022

This is my ninth PUD. It's a good way of showcasing the importance of powering up and staking what you have in the Crypto space in order to put your earnings to work and compound with even more earnings.

Another bonus for me is that it gives me a timestamp that I can easily refer back to.

These were the criteria for Hive PUD:

• Your reputation must be above 39 and below 70.

I meet this one with a reputation of 68.2

I'm certainly closing in on this target now, which is mighty, but I have a funny feeling it will feel like this Monty Python scene as I get nearer and nearer to the huge milestone that will be 70 Rep.

• Your total Hive Power (before the 1st) must be more than 100 and less than 8000.

My total hive power before 1st was 2709 HP

• You must power up at least 10 Hive on December 1st.

I have just powered up 56 Hive bringing up to 2977 Hive Power overall

• You must write a post about your power up on December 1st with the tag #HivePUD (International) or #HPUD (Spanish).

This is my post about the power up

Proof

Thanks to @traciyork for this cool Hive Power Up Day contest and thanks to @streetstyle for the great idea formed way back in 2019!

The images used are not my own and the following are the sources:

https://pixabay.com/

Signing off with a sunset. I took this one myself last July 😊

I'm looking forward to long summer days in 2022 and hopefully some Crypto gains to go with them.

Peace Out