^^Click on the picture to hear the audio of this interview^^
Helen: This is part of a series of interviews where I ask some of my favorite Steemians to share their knowledge and experience of Steem with you. Today I'm talking to Nainaz Tengra. Is that how you say your name?
Nainaz Tengra: Yes, Nainaz Tengra
You can visit Nainaz Tengra at her blog here: https://steemit.com/@nainaztengra
Helen: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Nainaz Tengra: Yeah. See, currently I'm based in Muscat, but as such I'm from India, Mumbai City. I've been born and brought up over there only. I finished my graduation, after that I took up a corporate job. My field is HR, so like I've been in HR job for around 20 years. Now finally, like after 20 years of service, I've quit and I'm doing my own HR consulting work.
Plus besides that I also have passion for my other healing therapies, that is my crystal healing therapy, and I teach yoga. I'm also involved with various NGOs working for children.
On the family front, I'm married and my son is around 21 years-old now. He's also quite independent by himself. He's full-time into crypto trading and everything. I get all my crypto knowledge from him. Yes, that's where I become a little smart on Steemit.
Helen: How did you find out about Steemit and how long have you been on there?
Nainaz Tengra: Okay. Steemit, my husband had some investment in Steem Dollars. That is how I got to know, and through that he got to know about Steemit from his friends, and he suggested to me, "That have a look, see what it is about. You like writing, so you can have a look and see, you can try your hands out through there." That's how I got to know Steemit.
Helen: How long is it since you joined Steemit?
Nainaz Tengra: I joined in July 2017. Six months completed now.
Helen: Cool. I think you've kind of covered it a little bit already, but what did you do before Steemit?
Nainaz Tengra: Before Steemit, I teach yoga. I still continue doing, so whatever I was doing before Steemit, I have not quit on that. I still continue doing that, but of course I have reduced quite a lot of it because now I'm traveling also quite often, so then I'm not able to take that yoga classes continuously.
I only do it need based for people who come with specific problems. Plus I do my HR consulting training work with corporates. Not at a very big scale again, very small, I just work with two, three companies at a time, provide end to end HR services to them. Yes, my crystal healing work, which keeps going on all the time.
Helen: Has Steemit changed your life in any way?
Nainaz Tengra: Oh, yes. It has changed a lot, lot, lot, like I always keep saying, that when I shifted here, completely a new place, and to set up in a new place, it's not very easy. Not only work wise, but emotionally also, because it was like I came here completely empty hands, I didn't know anyone. Absolutely no friends, no one around, and there was a lot of emptiness that I was feeling all the time within me. I was not knowing where I was heading to.
Because, Helen, over here, in Oman, they have very strict rules for expat, for females working. They don't encourage expat females working. It's not that they are against women working, but they don't want to encourage expat women working over here. They want to encourage their own local people getting jobs.
That was my biggest challenge of getting work, and after being like so full hands for so many years, and then absolutely coming to a point of standstill, like I was not knowing what to do with myself. I was like completely empty space. I was doing a few things, but I was not getting that sense of fulfilment.
There was all the time, "Oh, God. I'm doing something because I have to do. I'm doing something because I have to do. I'm not doing something very substantial." That was eating me up.
Of course, I started on Steemit also, it then changed overnight, as I always say that it also took me around three to four months to come to an understanding first of all of complete how Steemit operates and everything. Only when I started getting myself a little bit settled, then I got confident, and, yes, from there on it was like no looking back.
It's like then it was every day it was like self-motivating. I was just like going on and on, "Okay, today I have to do. Today I have to do." Now it's like, and moreover it's not only about letter writing, moreover like now I was getting an opportunity to express myself, which is like very important sometimes, like what do you feel you want people to hear, and not everyone has those listening skills. Steemit definitely has those listening skills.
People do hear, people here do listen to you, and I think that mattered most to me. I wrote on lot of things like, which I never thought would be accepted by people. Because when I was new I saw people writing on crypto currencies and trading and financials, and I was thinking, "Oh, God. How do I fit myself over here?"
It's like I find myself nowhere over here. Then of course gradually as I started exploring the platform more and more, I saw that there were ample of opportunities for me and I see for everyone.
Helen: What's the one thing that you wished you knew at the beginning of your Steemit journey?
Nainaz Tengra: Okay. One thing, see as such, I think that everything came as a learning, but of course some few, like now also I'm struggling still for the DTube video. I wish, I think, I'm trying to figure out, I'm also like going through the tutorials of DTube, but somewhere I'm not getting it.
Yes, so similarly, initially also there were many challenges, and how to, very simple things, like how to put up a profile picture. It took me quite some time to even understand that, because I'm absolutely a zero technology person.
Like today also when you told me about Zoom I had to some kind of research to get this app and all that. Yes, I do manage. Of course there is a lot of FAQs and tutorial on Steemit platform itself, but I still feel that that can be enhanced a lot.
More on the financials part also, like what mistakes I made were that initially I was not even able to understand the difference between Steem Power and Steem Dollars. I was getting very confused on how to use what, it took me almost three to four months to even under, like differentiate, get and understand it. I was thinking, "Maybe I'm too naïve about it, maybe not everyone is like that.
People do get it really fast also." Yes, I think on this part, if we have a little bit of more explanation on the FAQs, that will be very helpful, on how to use your Steem Power and how to use your Steem Dollar, and Steem Dollar can be converted to Steem Power, so those things.
Helen: What would be the three pieces of advice you'd give a newbie Steemian just starting out?
Nainaz Tengra: Okay. Yeah, one very important one is that connecting with people. You need to completely put yourself over there and keep networking with people, keep connecting with people. It's not a one time connect, otherwise it will become out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. If you want to really get yourself stabilized over here, then you definitely need to keep connecting regularly with the all sect of people. You can't be connecting with everyone on Steemit, it's not possible-
Helen: No.
Nainaz Tengra: ... but your own circle, you definitely have to keep connecting on and off on a regular basis. Even people who are very close to you, and who will kind of respond on every post of yours, even they would not be going every day and checking in your post, whether you posted something or not. Unless you tell them that, "Okay, I have put a post and please have a look at it." Right, so this is one thing.
You need to start building that trust also with people. Of course when in this process, some will reciprocate with you, and some will not, but everything comes as a learning experience, so you need to move ahead. Yes, the other one thing that now I have to come to this stage where I can say, and also of course I also made these mistakes of spamming.
That is one thing I definitely tell everyone, now and even when people do it on my post, I tell them, I give them advice that, "Please do not spam." That is one thing, one advice I want to give for the new people. One important thing is that, buildup your brand image, your own image. Don't try to tweak yourself as per what other person, like the opposite person wants you.
You may not have knowledgeable of that topic, so you might just sound very artificial if you try to talk on that topic. Write on what you are comfortable about, and that what you're confident about.
Be yourself, that's it. Do not try to imitate anyone, just because if someone is writing on some very high scientific topic or something, that doesn't mean that I also have a capability to write on that. You go as for your capability and prove yourself out there.
Helen: That's good advice. Are there any tools or apps that make your life on Steemit easier?
Nainaz Tengra: Yes. The Alliance one, very important. Discord. Discord has also help me, and SteemFollower also. All these three have been very helpful for me.
Helen: Okay. Can you tell me a little bit more about the Alliance?
Nainaz Tengra: Alliance, definitely it, Alliance was my first like kind of group which I joined, before that I was not a part of any kind of group or something. It gave me a lot of recognition. That is I can say with guarantee, it gave me opportunity to keep proving myself time and again, time and again.
I definitely feel very good when my work is getting recognized by the Alliance team members, and they appreciate it. Then the weekly updates that come from the Alliance team, where in, like you keep your name seen every week on week for your post, it definitely gives you a very good feeling.
I have got ample, ample of support, and of course I have learned a lot through the Alliance. If you see my journey also, till November, it was kind of very, very slow, very slow, but after December it started moving very fast, and that's what, that was the time when I joined Alliance, I had a few friends on there so a few of them now have been kind of enough to introduce me over there. I was introduced by @Arunava, from there I got to learn a lot about like other Discord, the channels, and even the SteemFollower. That helped me grew very fast in the past two months.
Helen: It's an application process, isn't it, on for the Alliance, from what I understand, as well? Is that correct?
Nainaz Tengra: Yes.
Helen: Yeah. Okay. Where are we? Do you have any Steemit related projects, and what's the goal and where are you on your journey towards there?
Nainaz Tengra: As of now, I do not have any projects, but as I'm saying, I intend to take up one. I do wish to take up one.
Helen: Okay. Do you have any Steemit success strategies to share, or are they all state secrets?
Nainaz Tengra: No, I, see now what I'm doing is that I'm analyzing how much my each post is getting me, like in revenue terms, how much do I earn from each post. Of course there will be ups and downs, it's not going to be consistent, but I have set a goal for myself for the next 12 months that, "Okay, if my each post gets me this much," say there can be turbulence and markets will go up and down, so I didn't have kind of fluctuation in my earnings, so I take 50% off what I'm earning right now. I say that, "Okay, I make it a habit that come may what, I'm going to put up one post every alternate day.
If I'm going to miss an alternate day, I'm going to cover it up, but I'm going to put say 15 posts in a month. 15 in a month is going to fetch me this much." See, Helen, my longterm goal through Steemit is, that I want to start my own center for supporting children, small children, especially orphaned kids.
I need some, so my whole idea of shifting from India to Muscat was that only to earn more money to start my project. That didn't work out, and, yes, even that was playing on my mind, that what intention, with what intention I came here it didn't work out. I was kind of, you see how you then relate, "No, God is not being fair with me," and all that. Then this came through, and I saw that maybe that was not working because something else was supposed to happen for me, and it is happening, and it is happening in a very good way.
Now I have set a target for myself, that I will at least have a base of 15,000 SP by end of this fall. if everything goes right as for my calculation, I should have that. If not, fine, I may have a 10%, 20% up and down, that's okay, I have calculated that. Yes, if I get successful, then 2019 I start my project.
Helen: Oh, excellent.
Nainaz Tengra: I'm looking forward to it. Yes.
Helen: Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
Nainaz Tengra:No. I'm really, really very happy to have got introduced to Steemit. I read everyone views and everything, people are coming with a lot of different views. See, I feel that success on Steemit will depend on how much effort you will put over here. I don't want to leave any, even like a 1% chance from my side to do what I can.
I'm going to put in my 100%. A little bit of luck will be there, definitely. Yes, if I'll work hard, I will get rewarded for my work, that is my belief. Steemit is giving me all the opportunities to make all my dreams come true, so I'm very happy to be a part of Steemit, definitely. I also look forward to maybe next SteemFest, to be a part of the next SteemFest.
Helen: Yeah, that'll be good.
Nainaz Tengra: I saw the pictures of SteemFest 2 and I was really kind of, "Oh, God. I want to be on now next time."
Helen: Thank you very much, Naina, so it's been a pleasure.
Nainaz Tengra: Thank you very much. Thank you for giving me this opportunity
Important Note: All the gifs were created by @olegw. I'm hoping I might be able to catch an interview with him one day. He is another Steemit Super Star in my eyes. How about it @olegw?
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