It's funny how many of us have similar stories about our introduction and journey through Steem land, and this is irrespective of where we find ourselves/from.
I also got introduced to this platform by my younger brother and all he said was "guy, join Steem, you can make money with your blogs and long posts you're wasting on Facebook". I didn't take him serious but at that point, I had nothing to lose and joined. I probably would have been reluctant to join if he said I should pay 1 cent to join lol.

Steem introduced most of us writers to cryptocurrency and there are many things I still don't get till now, phrases like FUD, long & short, etc still fly over my head but I try not to be bothered by them. I'm just glad I have a platform to express myself and meet other amazing people.