I saw this tweet from a conference/Twitter friend recently, and it got me thinking about "jobs" in general (Eryn is super cool, by the way. You should totally follow her and stuff).
It also reminded me of this CNBC article yesterday:
Nix the C-suite, soon blockchain will let armies of free agents run companies.
This may be one of the first mainstream articles I've seen discussing DACs/DAOs in a very positive light. It goes well with my recent decision to join the eosDAC launch team: A Big Step Towards Our Decentralized Future: I've Joined the eosDAC Launch Team!
The blockchain space has been so good to me (financially, relationally, professionally, spirtually, philosophically, and more). And yet, I've never had a blockchain "job."
Now, let me pause for a moment to recognize the elephant in the room.
priv·i·lege
noun
- a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
I get that I'm privileged. It wasn't always that way, and I know what it's like to go without, but I currently enjoy a very wonderful position in life. I built my own business for the last ten years, 6 of that working for myself with my business partner and team full-time which allowed me to explore interesting technologies like Bitcoin, which I've been tweeting about since 2013. Having that freedom, security, safety, and flexibility to spend time exploring crazy technologies like the blockchain ultimately allowed me to pay of my house and just this year I sold my business to my business partner to focus on this space full-time.
That's what this post is about. I want to answer Eryn's tweet with something practical that makes sense for anyone exploring employment opportunities in this new world of tokenomics. I'm not sure of the best way to do that since this new model allows for individualized, distributed specialization. I guess I'll just start with myself as an example.
First off, I've been actively blogging here on Steemit. As you can see from my wallet, that has been very lucrative. Additionally, I've been a STEEM Witness which has also paid very well. Thankfully, I haven't had to spend these tokens to live on (yet).
For those not as familiar with cryptocurrency, you may be asking, "But is this real money?"
Yes, with a 24-hour volume above $50,000,000 it's very real and liquid enough to easily move in and out of.
Steemit is a lot more than just financial rewards to me, and I understand my experience here is not typical, but I also think it's not impossible for those like me who've been blogging for 14+ years, involved in technology, invested in bitcoin, etc... (For tips on success via Steemit, see SteemitIsToMe: Relationships, Reputation, and Rewards).
In addition to STEEM, I've also been learning quite a bit about BitShares and various trading strategies:
I've been learning about projects like SmartCash and running master nodes:
I've been an early super fan of EOS, following it since the ICO started last year:
And of course, my latest passion, eosDAC:
I could go on and on about other projects I've talked about like AcademyToken and RavenCoin along with others that totally failed (* cough * CryptoHunt * cough *). I put these lists together not expecting anyone to read through them all, but because it's helpful to me as a reference when need to find what I've already written on a topic. :)
In short, I've been doing a lot of things! I've been busy every day working to add value which includes doing interviews with people like Wade Peterson, Terry Brock, David Pakman, encryptdcouple, Kenny Palurintano, Ashe Oro, Kirill Kich, and maybe more I'm not remembering at the moment. I've done some consulting and advising as well. I've written code to create reports like Exchange Transfer Report and the The Witness Voting Engagement Report.
My point here is to show how I've taken my specific skills (blogging, communicating, programming, trading and economics, etc) and leveraged them to add value in the cryptocurrency/blockchain space for which I've been richly rewarded.
I really do think anyone can do a unique version of this. This is just my personal, privileged example of doing what I do. You can take what you do also and connect with over over 1,591 cryptocurrency projects listed on Coin Market Cap to find something that not only excites and fulfills you, but is richly rewarding as well!
Sometimes it's as simple as taking what you're passionate about and finding a blockchain company working in that space. If they are a legitimate project with a real team, it's possible they already have real money to pay you to be awesome. Some of these projects have millions of dollars in token value and are scrambling to hire people in all areas from programming, to marketing, to evangelism... anything a "normal" company needs, they need also.
The best way to get started, in my opinion, is to do some research! Join their Slack, Telegram, and/or Discord channels and get to know the team. Start blogging about what you're learning as you learn it. People love to see others get excited about their projects and will often share your blogs or vlogs with their entire community. As you continue to add value, you may find them offering you tokens as a thank you or something more structured like a full-time position. Ideally, you can stay flexible and look for things like worker proposals where you can get paid directly from the blockchain for a project you create or a project someone else is looking to get done.
I'll give some examples:
Ultimately, I think your best bet is to do some research on the various cryptocurrency projects in the space. Start with stuff like this 100 cryptocurrencies described in four words or less article. Branch out from there to the other 1,400+. Find something you're absolutely passionate about and then connect with their team to add value. Not in a "Hey, can I get a job?" way. That's just annoying. Instead, start finding needs and filling them. Become a valuable member of the community. Add so much value that they want to pay you to keep doing what you're doing.
That's where the magic happens. Doing what you love and would do for free anyway while also getting paid in tokens that are going up in value exponentially (granted, they are a bit volatile which is where things like bitUSD come in handy).
I think the future will be a version of gift economy, collaborative commons, and tokenomics all rolled together. I've been saying since 2013 how disruptive bitcoin technologies are. People are starting to listen.
The first step is to understand what cryptocurrencies and blockchains are. I'm trying to help with that with some free videos I put together at understandingblockchainfreedom.com. It's also important, IMO, to understand some economics and the very nature of financial value itself.
Yes, it's a bit overwhelming. Yes, it takes a lot of effort. Yes, teaching experience is hard. It's also really, really worth it. The value of the freedom to wake up every day and work on whatever I want to is beyond words. The peace of mind knowing my family is financially taken care of because of these magic internet tokens created out of nothing is amazing. :)
As I talked about recently, exponential change is coming, and I want to help as many people like Eryn as I can get in front of the change and benefit from it.
I hope this helps you think differently about the opportunities available to you. Anyone with a computer, an internet connection, and some time can contribute. If we're successful in decentralizing and distributing opportunities, anyone can find their own privileged niche as well. We all have a role to play.
What's yours?
