Recently I had a friend complaining about his earnings on hive. He went from earning double digits to a couple of cents and that is driving him crazy. It has happened to the best of us and quite frankly not a reason to panic. However, this conversation had me thinking about how many do not know how to approach the hive Blockchain. I will go into more detail later in this series. For now, I am just going to talk on the basic things you should know and do on hive.
NEW USER WITH ZERO PURCHASING POWER.
If you are in this category, you are at the bottom of the food chain (and it's not a fun place to start your hive journey). The good news is that I and many of the top guns you see (from our community) on hive today started from the bottom.
Starting with zero purchasing power means you have to work harder (with no guarantee of success) than everyone else. In practical terms it means you have to write more; comment more; participate in other off chain activities (discord chats, twitter jingles, etc). If you are lucky a whale or an active community will notice and support you. Every payout is a gift (not a right)
Now, I discourage people from banking on the goodwill of curators and whale on hive. The goal is never to be at the whims and caprices of other people/curator. It is quite uncomfortable to admit but you can stop getting support for the silliest reasons on hive (there are a lot of big babies on here unfortunately), like associating with someone the curator/whale doesn't like; posting on hive sister chains; posting in other communities, the list is endless.
My solution to this problem is making enough in your first or second year to start a small business so no one can tell you what to do or who to associate with (as long as you aren't breaking hive community guidelines). These pennies quickly pile up over the course of the year and that should give you a starting capital for any business of your choice. Unfortunately most people who find themselves in this level are heavily reliant on their hive earnings which mitigates their chances of growing. Earning on hive shouldn't determine if you eat or pay your rent. That's a really dark place to find yourself. Trust me, I have been there before and it took a toll on me. I had to move up a level to properly execute my long-term plans.
NEW USERS WITH SOME PURCHASING POWER.
Those in this category are the least motivated to carry on with their hive journey, mainly because the incentive to do so is low. However, they have the luxury of going about their hive journey passively and accumulating a significant amount of stake.
The biggest hurdle to those in this category is their laziness. Don't be lazy about your hive journey. Create and socialize, stay curious about the developments on hive. Information plays a key role in your growth on hive, so always put your ears on the ground or have friends who do. Makes your life a lot easier.
You can also channel some of your income into hive, and earn a nice passive income. Hive is underrated when it comes to passive income. The compounding effect on your earning in the space of 4-10 years is massive, enough to live actively on your passive income (especially if you are from this part of the world).
So these are just the basic things you need to know about hive. Now you have to make do of this information. It is not enough knowing something but also using it to your advantage. So for those who happen to stumble upon this post (and read to this point), I want you to map out a four year plan on how you are going to approach hive. Highlight some of the problems that might hinder your goals and over the course of the week think of ways to solve them.
The next piece of this series I will be talking about playing the hive game, which unfortunately many fail at woefully.
