Hi! My name is Kodeblacc, and this is my Hive testimony.

It's been two weeks since I came across the Hive testimony initiative by "theycallmedan". For some reasons unbeknownst to me, I have been unable to draft a post to share my testimony. It's weird because I consider myself to be among those most blessed by this platform[Hive]. I have spent four months on this platform, and it has been an amazing experience so far.

To enable comprehensive and organized reading, I have decided to split my testimony into these 4 points;

• The motivation that led to my discovery of Hive[How I joined Hive].
• The challenges I faced as a newbie on Hive.
• How Hive ensured that I've lived debt-free since this pandemic.
• Special shoutout to amazing communities and people.

The way I joined Hive is quite a story. But behind the "how I joined" story, there's the motivation that spurred me to.

The world had been thrown into a state of chaos, thanks to the coronavirus. The pandemic literally altered every single part of our way of life. One of the significant hit was on businesses that had to do with physical human interaction. And me being a photographer, it means that I was badly hit by it.

The pandemic meant 3 things were sure for me;

• I'll be out of business.
• I'll go broke and
• I'll incur debts.

The 3 things I listed were sure to happen to me during this pandemic. And the first thing on the list was going to be the root cause.

I know you might be thinking, why doesn't he have savings that he could use as a backup plan for events such as this? Well, I do/did have savings, but at that time, I spent all my savings to purchase gear for my work. I was hoping to replace it with the profits I'd make from jobs I was to be booked for. Things don't always work out as planned do they?

In the light of such a reality check, I decided that I was going to find a way out of what problems I might face during the pandemic. The first and only option on my mind was to go back to blogging on Steemit. Although I had lost rep on the platform, I hoped that I would make at least a dollar a day to help me live by. So I dusted by secret safe where my steem keys were stored, and moved to start blogging.

For blogging on Steemit, I often utilized the "Esteemapp" now called "Eccency". So I went to my playstore to download the app again, and it was then I discovered Hive. At that point, I was clueless about what Hive was all about. I felt @good-karma had re-branded and created his own platform.

After browsing the internet for few minutes, I realized that Hive was like a copy of Steemit. I even thought it was a steem-engine tribe. Well, I signed up, made my intro post and just went with the flow. Not until my good friend @ubongj explained what happened. And there ladies and gentlemen was how I discovered Hive. Borne out of the need to survive perilous times.

I created a new account on Hive, so I considered myself a newbie. A newbie with reasonable knowledge as to how the platform works; that didn't mean a thing though. I knew I was going to face the problems most newbies "still" face on this platform. And that is; not getting recognized. For a newbie without any form of guidance or mentorship, it would be a huge task to get direction on this platform. And discouragement is the next thing that follows.

I was quite discouraged after my introduction post on Hive. I literally didn't get anybody vibe to me. I read my post several times to find out what I did or said wrong and found nothing. THe first 3 posts I published tanked. But I kept going because if I wasn't writing and publishing articles, there was literally nothing else to do with all the time I had. Aside from that though, I had planned that I was going to use Hive as my "unofficial" photography blog. So I kept publishing. And in no time, I gradually started to build an audience.

Aside from building an audience, I started getting value[upvotes] for the content that I shared. I won some contests on the side too. The earnings I got from posting were enough for me to feed and subscribe the internet; which were my major needs during the lockdown protocol.

Prior to getting those earnings, I had a contingency plan to take a loan to survive if things didn't go well. Luckily for me, things have gone well so far. And when I look at the level I'm now, I'm amazed. I mean; I didn't even think or aspire to get this far at this stage. My target was at least $1 a day; but I've gotten more than that on several occasions, and I'm super grateful.

My testimony so far has been about coming on the platform due to financial issues; which is quite true. However, on the other-hand, I also joined Hive to promote my photography to a much broader[foreign] audience. On that aspect, I think I haven't done badly either. I've received loads of good comments about my photography from total strangers, and it's such an amazing feeling.

I did this before when I published an article about my one month on Hive, but I can still do it again. I gave a shoutout to amazing people I've connected with and communities that have made my stay pleasurable;

@bescouted @bil.prag @k-banti @wolfofnostreet, @stevenson, @ubongj, @anyadan, @photofeed, @nonsowrites, @brumest @jassorusell @richgaynor and for communities; @ocd @blackandwhite @photographylovers etc.

Whilst @theycallmedan has enabled testimony posts to be both of good and bad reports or either, mine has been mostly good. And it is an honest representation of how my journey on Hive has been.

Thanks so much for taking out time to read this post.