Hello everyone,
My name is Adrian and I’m from Arizona. I recently brought a stake pool online and I began to learn more about how an SPO can mint blocks.
So, my node currently consists of a Block producer and one relay. My stake is only in the hundreds of ADA compared to the millions I see from the top producing SPOs but I am happy to learn what it takes to get more delegators on board.
The funny thing about getting more delegators is that I am going to have to step out of my comfort zone to market myself and my pool, which is something I would avoid normally but I’m all in now. So, I guess I’m going to grow.
For those interested, my pool’s ticker is STONE, it’s a common name I found out. Its full name is Stone Validator and my pool id is:
8b9a73accec94d747dbeba74c3da0b0871936c1cd2ea9b99c6a0acb1
My main focus on STONE is to learn about IT and Cybersecurity because I’m going to school for those things. As I progress in this project I’m learning that to become successful you have to make Cardano a part of the community you live and work in.
So as I thought about how this work affects my community, I immediately thought about what I do for a living. My job now is a part of a community of sober and purpose-driven individuals and they usually stay in our program for 13-15 months. If you’re like me, after the 13-15, you’ll stay on and volunteer for six months to a year. After that, you’ll be hired. I’ve been with this organization for over eight years and it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. My full title is curriculum coordinator and I teach the material our program assigns.
The benefits of operating a stake pool have immediate benefits for people in my program because it keeps me active in my learning which in turn makes my grades better for my degree, which then gives the students in my program a sense that they should go back to school. I’ve seen this play out many times.
I currently have my CompTIA Network+ cert and I’m working on getting my Security+ by next summer.
I became interested in Cardano last year when my roommate told me that their token was way undervalued at 3 cents! I wish I listened to him then 
Still, I was investing in other cryptos back then. So much later, I bought enough ADA to get me here.
I love that there are so many resources for people to become an SPO that I feel if I can be one of those contributing people I can help make this project and possibly the world a better place.
Can’t wait to meet you all.
-Adrian aka Stone_Curator
I’m working on the template someone posted there to post my pool’s id and other helpful information.
