Earned my first $10 in STEEM via the upvotes system. Pretty darn exciting to be able to earn via social media postings.
I believe on July 4th users will be able to take their steem power and convert it into BTC or USD. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
You haven't actually earned it yet I'm afraid since it's only a tentative payout until the 4th of July at which point the first payout happens. After the 4th of July payouts will happen on a much more regular basis, more or less daily I think.
That first payout will be very big however so the good news is you stil have until then to create good content and get upvotes.