How do some people get to be whales while others scratch around for crumbs? How are they different?
Humans are driven by some basic drives.
Fight or flight.
Toward and away.
Pleasure and pain.
Hope and pessimism.
All of these drives are our subconscious programming.
This programming was put in place tens of thousands of years ago to keep us alive and reproducing.
While we don't always appreciate this mental coding in the 21st century, it is still a major factor in how we operate, so we do well to understand it.
These basic subroutines produce things like "sunk costs", things that alter our decision-making when investing or trying to grow a business.
As no doubt everyone in crypto is aware too, we do lean toward herd behavior more than is healthy. I wish that extended to more community-mindedness out of some, but what are you gonna do?
The pessimist or skeptic will enjoy the old trope:
How do you make a million dollars in crypto?
You invest 2 million dollars in crypto.
But we know that some people DO make it large in crypto. Why not us?
The first part of that joke has an element of truth, because if you are starting at zero then you have a lot further to go than someone who is already a high roller in fiat.
Hive gives us a better playing field, if not a level one. Here we can start from zero and provide contributions that offer us rewards.
While the highest rewards on a regular basis might be out of reach for all but a tiny percentage of us, we can build up funds slowly and steadily.
Why can't all of us get huge windfalls?
If I knew then I would be a whale myself, which I clearly am not. I'm learning all the time but I have no illusions that I will find any secret source of lambo-level Hive earnings.
The biggest earners here, as above, either had cash or other assets to put in.
- Top 20 Witnesses earn the equivalent of a full-time technical salary but need server infrastructure and technical skills.
- If a witness wants votes otherwise, they are going to need to be extremely popular, such as have developed a much-loved Dapp.
- Other Hive whales invested other coins or fiat to buy in, and usually very early.
- Big delegations mean having a very exclusive relationship, something the vast majority of us would never have.
So where does that leave us?
All is not lost, but it will require a lot of work, and unless you get very lucky with a lottery win NFT sale, it is unlikely to be an overnight thing.
- Work for it
- Compounding
- Networking
First, put in the work
You will need to grow assets and be an asset.
Hive is based on a reward structure - so many people are expecting to get rewarded just for being awesome, without exactly articulating how they are awesome.
Say you stick to the rules and post once per day and no more, and on average you get "$100" vote totals on each. Well, you don't get all of that, and what you do get might be a lot or very little based on your local cost of living. Most of us would need to supplement that by a LOT.
So you will need a reason for people to pay you or you need to get very lucky with investments that pay off massively. The more you earn the more you get to invest, and that means more opportunities for one of those investments to pay out.
While you could create your own Game or Dapp, which is my plan, there is a lot of work needed in many of the existing communities that others might be willing to pay in liquid, fiat, or a percentage for.
Re-Invest for Compounding Effects
10% APR is better than nothing, so you could just power up or put it into savings, but the Annual part of APR means that is going to be slow. The faster the return, the bigger the return, the riskier your investments are going to need to be.
Never invest what you are unwilling to lose.
Find your risk tolerance and don't go beyond it unless you have really done your homework.
Network your ass off
Being a lone wolf is going to keep you where you are at.
Networking is essential just as a baseline of getting your content noticed, but beyond that, if you want to hear about opportunities, airdrops, NFTs that are going to the moon, and so on, then you need people to tell you these things.
Having some value to offer will increase your chances of others wanting to get to know you!
You don't need to be a whale to be a success
Unless you are really going for status and bragging rights, you only need to do well.
In business, we talk about SMART goals, and the A stands for Attainable.
Shooting too high can make you lose hope, but once you see the evidence of your own eyes that you are making progress, you are more likely to stick for the long term.
Good luck!