I am feeling pretty good today, as the remote client sessions I organized have been successful - there was 6 today and another 4 coming tomorrow. While not quite enough to make up a 40% cut, it is close enough that I can say that for this month at least, I will be back to a zero point in regards to my salaried job, even though I am still short for my own business by a "fair bit".
But as said, I am feeling satisfied to be able to at least claw back something and the ground held here can become future gains. I think that in general, when there is uncertainty in the water or a highly dynamic environment - if there is the option to "sit this one out", many will - while there will be the minority who proactively push themselves to keep playing in the mud and rain. While it might not look like they are getting much at the time, those gains compound into the future and small amounts stack up into a strong foundation.
The other thing that it does is that it keeps and creates relationships and demonstrates a willingness to work while others are seemingly incapacitated and unable. This in itself is a big part of the process as keeping moving* is a habit building activity, while standing still will eventually be the default position.
I think that this is a lot like how Hive operates when it comes to developing an audience or an account - there are those who had the habit of continuance through the thick and thin, those who left and those who degraded and offered far less than their best, because it wasn't worth the effort to do so. Pretty much everyone wants economic gains from Hive in some way, shape or form - but less are willing to do what it takes for those small gains.
The current business environment is much like Hive during a long bear market, the competition in many areas has dropped away and there are those with resources who are wanting to spend, looking for something to spend it on. There are less in the pool as many are at home taking it relatively easy, with a lot of larger businesses not agile enough to maintain their base and therefore, some will slip through the cracks, especially when all businesses are looking to save on costs. A small business could offer much the same without the overheads of the large.
"Overheads" is an important factor in the future of Hive, as it will hopefully allow developers and business share costs in various ways, meaning that there end deliveries can be lower priced. Factor in the automation of the economy and the precision of calculation, and there is far less leakage to middlemen operators. On top of this, there can be the stability of the distributed ecosystem, where it isn't reliant on any one large business, but rather, many small. This means there will be economic efficiencies and business inefficiencies that balances the books and still gives opportunity for newcomers into the market, competition and collaboration.
The collaboration part is an important component of a decentralized network, as while individuals can go in an infinite number of directions, to solve large problems and create large solutions, it requires cooperation; and that cooperation needs to be enduring over time for long enough that a suitable outcome is reached. This is something that is hard to do and what consensus looks to achieve in some way, but going past hardforks, it is likely that multiple groups will need to collaborate to accomplish the larger goals of the network, those that might be needed for adoption.
I think that this is where the Hive Development Fund would be at its most valuable, creating tools that are not standalone, but can be easily integrated into other tools to improve the experience of end users, to make it easier to onboard, to help people along their journey to track and grow, invest and divest, breathe with Hive being part of their daily experience. In time, this intertwines and develops more relationships and encourages end users to bring in more end users to benefit from the community in multiple ways, and then the community benefits from them.
For most of those who gain in this life, there are periods of hustle and while many might "make hay while the sun shines", there are others who plant the seeds when the ground is fertile, before the earth is trampled by many feet, when the rains support growth. There are always opportunities in an economy, in the ups and the downs. From a development perspective however, it might be better to grow the market that loves the product, than try to steal a market who can be stolen when something better comes along. Apps will come and go, platforms can work like cities, they can endure flood, plague and all kinds of disaster - as long as they quietly keep supporting their citizens.
A city doesn't care how we live - it just needs some hustle and bustle around it.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]