Dealing With Negativity When You Are Invested In A Crypto Project
You have to give it to Vitalik, admit it. Before him, we only had Bitcoin and a restrained use case for a digital asset. But then he came with that strange Ethereum thing, which had "smart contracts" on top of it. Smart contracts which allowed for way more use cases, from crowdfunding to creating your own token. And with the "invention" of DAO, Vitalik laid the basis for one of the biggest shifts in human economics: now everybody can be an investor. That's the good news.
The bad news is that everybody can be an investor.
You see, not all people are carved to be investors. And I consider this to be just natural. We are different and we all have different skills and expectations.
A person "carved" to be an investor has a high risk tolerance, a lot of patience, a lot of awareness to know when and how to navigate with his invested assets and so on and so forth.
Alas, with the possibility for everybody to be an investor, by buying a few tokens and then trading them once the ICO is done, the doors to this craft were opened to a huge cohort of people who, admit it, are simply not understanding what it is to be an investor.
If you ever stayed on a chat of a crypto related projects, from the early beginnings of Bitcointalk, through the Slack era, and now, on their Telegram channels, you noticed a pattern: all of them are filled with negativity and pressure. The devs are idiots (when are not thieves, of course), the marketing is never doing enough stuff to promote the projects, features are not enough and deadlines are too large.
And you don't even have to go on the chats for that, just look at the Steemit ecosystem. There is a certain pessimism and negativity pervading almost every topic related to the project itself. Everybody seems to know better what to do in the place of @ned, or how much marketing to do, or how many programmers this blockchain really needs. Sometimes it's so obvious that it literally makes me sick. That's the main reason I stopped hanging around in the steemit chat or in any other discord channels. Sooner or later, there is someone popping out there, knowing exactly what it is to be done for Steem to moon, and the only reason for that is because he's a holder. He is invested, so he knows what to do.
I don't even blame those people. I'm sure they are convinced they are acting in their best interest and they genuinely think this is what they should do.
Only it isn't.
Investing in something is a long term game. And it's also an assumed gamble: it may or it may not become what you hope it will become.
So, here's a short survival guide for those who are trying their hand at this crypto thing, (including Steemians):
- if you bought in December, don't expect it to double in March. Or if it doubles, be sure there's something fishy going on
- if you bought more than you can afford to lose, go home
- if you made a beta project, using an unregulated technology, with a highly volatile token to represent its value, your day job, expect to lose it twice a week. Don't rely on your crypto investment to bring you constant, predictable revenue, the same way a "traditional"j ob does
- stay away from negativity, it's contagious
- trust the people in charge, there's no other way. If you don't trust them, then sell and invest in another one, managed by people that you trust.
- diversify your portfolio. You can be an investor with a few hundreds of dollars now, so instead of putting your life savings in just one, try to invest in at least a dozen of projects that you can follow up to
- take profits, when profits are made. This is what you came into this game for, remember?
- stay positive, it's healthier, anyway
- check the value of your portfolio as often as you like, but really asses it only twice a year.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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I’ve been on the platform for nearly a year. When I signed up I dedicated myself to it for a year as more of an experiment.
I’ve seen a lot!...aka…the good/bad/ugly of it…All of which you have discussed in this excellent post. As with anything life, there are times of pushing through, but, always enough going on to keep one from completely jumping ship.
I agree Steemit has grown. The STEEM platforms remain ‘groundbreakers’ which haven’t been matched; thusfar. So, it’s definitely a place for avid bloggers and vloggers to have somewhere to post without the dust bowl zero rewards other sites offer.
That said, signing up with Steemit offered a dual blessing, literally. I found it during a time when I was immersed in learning how to invest. I agree with you, investing is not for everyone. While there are whales, there are also SHARKS; which make whales look like plankton in some regards. Sharks know how to ‘wheel and deal’ to their benefit, even if unscrupulous. But, that’s just part of the investor’s world.
I end with the ‘most important’ thing you mentioned:
Yes, I remember. A recent barrage of doldrums-attacks…lol…found me leaving gains on the table. Posts such as yours and @exyle’s stir me to that being the focal point. I can honestly say, investing is not for the ‘lazy’ or unenthused on such topic.
No one knows the future; but, if God says the same, I will remain with Steem projects. After all, it’s an opportunity to grow funds, no matter how minuscule.
Best regards.
Peace.
Its been so long I read long post on your blog, I appreciate the insight.
Great tips and advices. I only invest how much i can afford to lose and i always read the whitepaper.
My first investment was Steem but in terms of work and time.
My first investment in terms of money was BNB coin because they are the n.º 1 exchange and i tought if they didn't make it then the crypto industry wouldn't make it too.
Nice to hear........ Duly sort for post in here .....it relieves a lot. No need to ask again how do I become an investor either here or any other platform all the information one needs to know is richly seen from here....... That, is the level of one's risk syndrome (risk tolerance) that will makes one sit fine in investment as to what is here today.
But just found this side too funny 😂
😂
Rational, realistic and pretty straightforward set of advice. However, it doesn't really explain why steem blockchain hasn't been making any progress recently, considering that funding is not a problem and users/investors are hungry to see anything happening... it's not that you're responsible for it, I know you're not.
comparing it with how it was 1 year ago, Steem, as a project, made a lot of progress. And I mean a lot.
Hmm yeah I can't speak to that, cause I joined by the end of January, so I have a different timeline.
Obviously.
i agree that we all are different and we all have different kind of skillss and expectattions
Appreciate the great advice man! The negativity like many bad things is contagious. All you have to hear is some bad news to start with it. Better to stay with you trusted sources of information than listen to random chatter (definitely not, if you cannot deal with it).
.....about the portfolio - to asses to it twice a year only but check it regularly. I think I understand now how important that can be.
The secret of good business is in trust, if there is no trust there is nothing. You have to be positive and believe that this work is for the benefit of all.
I'll keep on learning from your blog, one thing don't the sarcasm.
Your survival guide is top notch and am going to save it. It's crypto investment 101
Thanks.
Saludos,@dragosroua ...buen articulo aunque lo siento lleno de adrenalina y angustía pasa como cuando vas corriendo y te sientes con ganas de pedir agua o probar una naranja. Las ganas se tienen pero la meta se te hace larga. Mi hija @rosacreative opina siempre como tu. A steemit la echara a perder tanta gente que esta llegando porque no sabes lo que hacen y porque lo hacen. Nunca había entendido en contexto sus palabras sino hasta leerte a ti. También otro witnees una vez me agradeció el que estuviera aquí por ser yo Profesor . Según el steemit estaba necesitado de docentes que expliquen y ayuden a digerir todo estos niveles de participación. Llegas aqui y eres: Bloguero, Programador Web, Comunicador social, Administrador de tu empresa, marketing para sobrevivir entre tanta competencia y a veces hasta prostituto para que te den el voto. Por último la parte escondida para el 99 por ciento de los stemianos el trading que implica manejar el blockchain, manejo de mercado. Revisión de la economía y hasta investigar de alta política internacional para saber que mina cada moneda.
Con todas estas exigencias que te trae steemit o steem np es fácil asustarse y pedir un limón para que todo esto sea aprendido en menos de dos años para los más antiguos o para un par de meses para los que recién entran. Creo que @ned era lo que quería cuando se le ocurrió junto al co-invetor de steemit de esta ICO .
Ya estamos en la carrera aquí solo viene lo bueno si aceleramos el paso, lo mantenemos a la marcha o abandonamos en una cera para ver pasar los que habían ya quedado atrás. Somo ganadores somos steemit. Animo que si se puede.