On the evening of January 16, 2018, Ian Balina came to a meet up in Auckland New Zealand...WHO?
WELL heres a quick rundown:
Ian Balina is an influential Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Investor, Advisor, and Evangelist. He has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Huffington Post, The Street, INC and Entrepreneur Magazine for his work in analytics, cryptocurrencies, and entrepreneurship.
A former Analytics Evangelist at IBM, Ian has brought a data-driven, “money-ball” approach to investing in cryptocurrency token sales (ICOs), called “Token Metrics”.
Ian offers advisory and consulting opportunities to a select few blockchain companies and is currently an advisor to Nucleus Vision, GoNetwork, and Pareto Network.
Not enough? Well the man has made well over 4 Million Dollars trading and holding crypto currencies in under 2 years! Surely now your eyes are open lol
BACK TO MY STORY...
Ian's Meet up set for 6pm...So it's 5.30pm and I am still on the other side of Auckland looking for a shirt, shoes and pants, getting ready like it's a job interview lol. I have to drop off the girlfriend and her brother to a movie premier down the road from the Meet up venue so it looks like this can work. 5.50pm and I am just arriving to busy Auckland city streets trying to figure out where I am going to park.
The queue to the car park is made horrendous by the numbers attending the Auckland Movie Premier (Hibiscus & Ruthless). I decide to be Vin Diesel and perform odd uturn manouvres around the queue and manage to find a park. Boom. Parked and Walking to Meet up venue...
It's now 6.30pm lol
So after living in Auckland for over 30 years I am stunned to find myself lost in semi familiar Auckland streets, I use Google maps and while sweating and walking with my 4kg leather Jacket the map looks a mess to my eyes. I ask a stranger for directions and she happily points out that I have walked about 3 buildings past the Stamford Plaza...This is wonderful...
6.40pm
I am at the hotel Lobby asking for the meetup room.
6.45pm
I open the door, I walk into the room drenched in sweat, I am now the "obviously very late student"
Everyone is casually sipping their 2 or 3rd drinks, I'm standing in an awkward space rather lost and uneasy. Ian is already swarmed on by crypto fans and I look around the room for my friends. 10mins later I am sipping a beer and sitting with my found friends basking in the ambiance of crypto love and community. The mood is electric.
Ian circles the room, he is generous with his time and he makes sure all in attendance are felt appreciated and respected. He's a champ!
In the last moments of the evening with 2 thirds of the crowd departed and a handful remaining he candidly stops individuals and asks if they've had time to talk and ask questions, I am one of these last few...I forget the questions I asked...in retrospect they were probably nervously strung together unimportant and questions that any fool who watches Ian's videos should already know the answers to ...I guess it was just nice to see, hear and share with one of the great leaders in the crypto currency space.
A great night with a great crowd and teacher, definitely one to remember. If Ian ever turns up to your town, GO!
for more on Ian check out his:
Website: http://ianbalina.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Diaryofamademan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiaryofaMadeMan
For more on boring old me lol check out:
Email: [email protected] :)
My website: https://johnunasa9.wixsite.com/johnunasa-artist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/john_unasa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnu.artist/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnu_artist/
Thanks God bless x
"Enjoy the Process" - John Unasa 