![0263ED74-D436-4956-96F8-4E4D9FDCCBC6.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmTGiAaEw5AeJbsKeKJt6JP9Y8sWLoUp3JwQHEbSB5F7Xz/0263ED74-D436-4956-96F8-4E4D9FDCCBC6.jpeg)

I’ve been growing and it feels amazing, a huge thanks to the entire community for the support in helping me build and live a decent life. According to the stats found here, I’ve made around $300 in the last month from both author and curation rewards. I know that part of it is due to the increase in the price of Hive, but I also know that Hives price is just a piece of the pie. It sure feels good to see the results of playing the community game right. 


![B5854C80-64F0-4BDF-93C5-B39341529C47.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmbNqsju7szv6UeGRMQAd2UsnjkVPJmmc7QBpnX7KsFgiZ/B5854C80-64F0-4BDF-93C5-B39341529C47.jpeg)


And what is the community game you may ask me. 

## Having and staying staked up

The need to have stake in a platform one wants to be part of cannot be over emphasized, theycallmedan likes to refer to it as having skin in the game, being from a third world country and riddled with a poor economy, I know how difficult it maybe to invest money, but on Hive, one can grow gradually by being actively engaged within the platform and creating valuable content. With patience and consistency, the little drops begin to compound. 

My life is a witness to this, though I might have invested some money at some point, but the amount I’ve invested has been dwarfed by what I’ve gotten back. Investing money is good when and if one can, it sure speeds up ones growth, but its not all that is required.

 Staying staked also helps to pay the opportunity to grow forward to others, however how little, using ones stake to support other content creators is good for the entire platform as it helps it grow. 

## Staying engaged and consistent 

![17DD6A06-99BC-4162-B284-016DFFB8B1A1.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVbYLQtGju7bd1T1fxs3Dbu5oVPN4wXyjTwH8eHYE3Kz7/17DD6A06-99BC-4162-B284-016DFFB8B1A1.jpeg)
[source](https://leofinance.io/@abh12345/leofinance-engagement-mkuza)

Speaking of staying engaged, I spend a lot of time within the Leofinance community, finance related topics are of huge importance to me as I know that there are chances I’ll learn things that others are doing that can greatly improve my finances. And truly I’ve learnt many things that I should do and not do that have helped shaped my financial orientation today especially in crypto from people all over the world. 

I discovered Rune on Leofinance, one of the projects I value highly, I found out about it and invested while the price was $3, even though I was kind of late because the information about it was already on Leofinance when it was worth $0.3, among other early discoveries. 

For the past couple of months I’ve been among the top 10 most engaged users on Leofinance, top 20 on my bad weeks, thanks to @abh12345’s weekly engagement report posts, I can track how I’m performing each week. @jongolson will always say, *”show up everyday, get involved”* during the podcasts with @taskmaster4450, now I admit I may not be consistent in creating content everyday, but showing up everyday and staying engaged is something I almost never miss and has helped a great deal. 

Becoming a curator for Hodlcommunity is also an initiative that helps me stay engaged within the community. I will like to believe that this level of engagement has a role to play in receiving the type of support I do from the Leofinance community. I hope to continue to put in effort into growing myself, account and the platform at large. 

## Networking and making friends

![9F53B4DE-2175-498F-82F4-57419985BC89.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmYkcKtof95qsRrCK4xGYup4tNQJKZ7yPVrUapsnF35ipX/9F53B4DE-2175-498F-82F4-57419985BC89.jpeg)

The need to make friends here cannot be over emphasized, the social aspect of this whole thing cannot be ignored, the people who have made the greatest impression on me are people I became friends with over the years of blogging here. I’m not the best at making friends, I don’t know how to force it, but I’m open to, and once I click with someone we stay vibing always. 

I hope my story will influence someone who is about to throw in the towel or is just getting started on here, I know starting out might sometimes feel discouraging. Definitely my story might be unique to me, like a popular saying goes, there are many ways to the top of the mountain but only one is seen from beneath. Everyone has their story to write. 


## Growing HBD stash
I’ve been steadily growing my stable coin stash in HBD, thankfully!!! I’ve wanted to do that for so long, I also powered down some hive to take advantage of price spikes, I’ll probably power it back up if the price of hive continues to go down along with the rest of the market. This September is dicey for the markets isn’t it! @edicted was super right afterall. 

Anyway, many thanks to everyone that supports and engages with me here, I appreciate and I’m grateful. 
We move!!!

Thanks for reading. Cheers. 

Posted Using [LeoFinance <sup>Beta</sup>](https://leofinance.io/@mistakili/growing-the-hive-way)