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I have no idea why I didn't write this sooner because I've been paying attention to everyone's amazing posts! @theycallmedan started this initiative almost 2 week ago and it's really taken off... I think it's become so successful because of what Steem represents to so many! So here's my 'War & Peace' article on 'How Steem Has Impacted My Life!' Thanks for reading it :)

It All Started In 1999...

I had been in business for myself since then. And throughout those years I had my hands in to every possible 'online business' you could imagine. I had some successful businesses but to be honest, I really was at the right place at the right time, because let's be honest...I'm not that smart ;) Fast forward to 2017 and my company that I co-owned faced some massive challenges. Our industry, which relied 100% on income derived from PayPal sales, took a major hit. The powers that be at PayPal decided, they didn't want any of our business anymore. No reason, no explanation just an email that said... "Your account has been permanently suspended!" Nice! After 17 years of relying on one payment processor for everything...I had nothing. To say I was depressed and lost was an understatement. Because all of my income was tied up in PayPal and they froze what funds the company had in reserve, I had to figure something out...Quick. This is the part of the story where I picked myself up and found a solution..... Unfortunately, this isn't that kind of story. I ended up losing my home and my life savings because of horrible business decisions and was...Truly lost. And to make matters even more complicated...Was the father of a brand new baby boy! It was easy to feel sorry for myself and I did...For about 5 minutes. Because then I remembered that I was an entrepreneur! And we thrive during challenges! So I took what I had learned over nearly 2 decades of being in business for myself and started poking around....

Crypto Is Boomin'!

Call it fate, but my ex-company had been dabbling in crypto a few years before the boom of 2017. I had a bunch of Litecoin that I had mined from years prior that kinda just sat there...But then I checked that summer and that little digital coin was worth like 50 bucks each or something then...I was hooked! I began to poke around and discovered this crypto faucet called EOBOT and in it, there was a token that you could 'mine' called Steem.

A social media based blockchain...What? I was so intrigued that I started to research everything I could about this 'too good to be true' opportunity... When you first dive into anything online, you are told to do your due diligence! And that's I did! I actually downloaded and read the white paper for both Steem and SMT's. As well as the Blue Paper that can all still be found on Steem.com!

I. Was. Hooked! The entrepreneur in me immediately thought... "How can I add my online businesses to this blockchain and start accepting it as payment as well!" And another part of me was saying.... "This is great! I'm a blogger and this place will actually PAY me to write blogs...All about my journey here! I'm sold...Where do I sign up?" And my journey began... I knew I needed to let the world know about this blockchain and bring more entrepreneurs to it...So I started planning my attack. My new business partner and I had began work on BitcoinBully, which took elements from my past businesses to 'teach' everyday people about Bitcoin and other projects. The lessons were done in video format that allowed students to go at their own pace. As well, it was set up so that everyday people could 'understand' what was going on without being to overwhelmed! And one the first thing I did was an entire training course inside BitcoinBully for Steem.

That then became SteemSavvy! It's mission was to make Steem accessible for everyday people that were intrigued about it's possibilities... SteemSavvy took me to a few offline events as well. The first was to Toronto in September of 2018 for the Steem Creators Conference. And what was even better...I got the opportunity to speak in front of everyone there and show them SteemSavvy and my idea to help onboard regular people and entrepreneurs to the blockchain. What an experience! I then travelled to Poland for Steemfest 3 in November of 2018 and kept the SteemSavvy message front and center. I couldn't shake the thoughts in my mind that Steem was the perfect place for the blockchain to meet online entrepreneurs and vice versa. It was a match made in heaven and when I returned from that experience I was more focused than ever.... Which brings us to....

ClickTrackProfit & CTPtalk Tribe

One thing I have learned over the years is that when you present an idea to people it needs to be...Simple! I had thousands of entrepreneurs in my businesses that could benefit from being on Steem. And I had Steem that could benefit by having more entrepreneurs in it's midst...So how could we bring them together? Enter Steem-Engine's tribes and tokens! We had the match! Now it was time to execute.... Over the past 6 months we've put everything into bringing our entrepreneurs over to Steem. Step one was encouraging them to start creating content using CTPtalk.com! Actually USING a cryptocurrency and a blockchain to show them...There is real world value and use case here. Especially for their businesses! But the biggest problem still remained from all those years ago... PayPal ruined a lot of businesses so how do we build a better payment option? One that we, the entrepreneurs, could own and never need to worry about being shut down...?

Fire-Pay is launched! We took our token on Steem-Engine and created an IPN (Instant Payment Notification) script that could plug into any website with simple code...Now businesses in our industry could accept Steem-Engine based crypto with ease and develop real markets with real use case for all this crazy stuff! The mission is finally being realized... So getting back to the question... How has Steem impacted my life? It didn't just impact my life...It SAVED my life! I got to meet some of the most remarkable people on the same journey as I was on. These amazing people meet together everyday in the CTP / Steem Savvy Discord group. And I get to see their journey and share in it. It's been such an honor to get to know each of them personally! But it also allowed me to focus on something I believe in so much! Steem is so much more than just another blockchain. It's people. It's entrepreneurs. Authors. Musicians. Creatives. Photographers. Artists. Tech Geniuses. It's the full human experience....! And because of that, it's something the everyone needs to know about. That's my new mission...To tell the world about Steem every day I can :) I think another question could be.... How has Steem NOT impacted my life? ------

Learn more about the CTP, CTP Token and the Fire-Pay IPI: Join our Telegram Group - https://t.me/joinchat/H0LeUAqPVYF1abiUNcmsCg The Union Is Here! Blockchain meets Affiliate Marketing.... CTP Condenser - https://www.CTPtalk.com CTP Token on Steem-Engine - https://steem-engine.com/?p=market&t=CTP CTP Token on SteemLeo DEX - https://dex.steemleo.com/?token=CTP

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://plus1daily.com/how-has-steem-impacted-my-life/