To All Who Remain

Heard crypto's not doing so well. Also heard Steem Inc has reorg'd and laid some people off.

If you're on steemit because you like the platform and share a similar belief as others who post here, this may worry you but it's not stopping you from contributing. But if you're in it for the money, you may feel like giving up. Don't! Did you know I have invested in a number of ventures over the years, including my own? Some succeeded, some didn't. All went through ups and downs. Nothing goes straight up.

When I converted my first house into an investment property, it was the most stressful time of my life. I had wanted to get into real estate so I would have money to pay for my children's college education and any health/aging expenses my family and parents will have (US health care and elder care is very expensive and not covered by the government). I had thought I would do this while also living in my own house. One house for me, one as an investment. Then hopefully another, and so on. But a series of events created a sudden opportunity for us to move and I felt compelled to convert my house into a rental instead of buying a second home. Housing at the time was very depressed -- US was only just clawing out of the great recession -- and our house worth less than the mortgage. We'd have had to pay the bank to sell our house. I had some great people advising me and had already researched what I'd need to do, and while I was prepared to take the leap I had no idea how much trouble I'd have to go through. I had to rent for a loss and on top of that I spent $10,000 my first year on maintenance/repairs. A contractor destroyed parts of my house while painting and I had to threaten lawsuit to get him to repair it (had a lawyer ready and everything). My first tenants moved out. I was stressed and my wife was nagging me to sell the house, still at a loss.

A few years later, I got a call from my financial advisor about a company that had submitted approval for a drug that, if approved, would revolutionize treatment of diabetes. This company had zero profits and tons of debt. Its stock was trading at I think $3 or $4, down at least 70% from its highs.

A few years after that, my friend asked me to start a t-shirt company. We did our website, created a network of designers, executed on our SEO strategy, and told everybody we knew. We sold zero shirts in our first four months, except a few to ourselves, our friends, and our families. Our average daily website traffic was 0 visitors and we had lost almost all our money at the end of the year.

I refinanced the house, raised rent, invested in improvements, and found great tenants. That company's stock rose 250% before I sold out. That t-shirt company will post its best year ever when 2018 closes.

Stay strong. Persist. Keep steemin' people! If you focus on money, you'll never see value. If you worry about price, you'll never enjoy yourself. Write, read, share, relate -- take it easy and let this thing play out however it's meant to play out. The money will come and even if it doesn't, you can still have fun.