i’ve always worked in whole numbers, solid rounded numbers - the £1 bag of crisps, the £10 petrol fill up, the £25 top-up voucher, a couple of hundred, even a few thousands. full, complete, whole numbers. complete, transactions that make sense. i guess in hindsight easy to handle.
if not stated some of my photos are from unsplash a free site for images, also you can grab some cool images from nomad.pictures a site i run with @dayleeo to get pictures out of the camera roll and onto the web
i like simplicity and yet complexity at the same time. i like to know how something works (to an extent) but i also like things to be straightforward and obvious, dealing with crypto currency as a virtual money at first was hard but i’ve been really shocked over the last three months how i’ve adopted it as the primary currency i want to work in.
i’ve barely been paid in british pounds at all in the last few years, the odd job here and there for a uk company maybe that wants to pay in gbp but i’ve certainly noticed a switch to checking the portfolio — i understand the addiction to making sure the balance of the portfolio is going up like the landlords that used to annoy me, i can see how they don’t worry about sweating the small stuff.
crypto especially when your dealing with alt-coins and i guess even bitcoin feels a little bit like your playing around in a sci-fi lab with magnifying glasses and little see through dishes. it’s all a little bit, well small. like for instance i guess a bitcoin today is around $4,300 something for ONE bitcoin, it’s very odd. i mean, if i had $4,300 or say £3k+ something i’d know about it. i’d see it as this big amount that i can carve of some funds here and there, pay bills, fix things, do my hobbies.
yet, what i’ve found with crypto and alt coins is that i’m really really aware of all the small stuff, because the small stuff might not be that small. for instance, i saw dash rallying last night and when i woke up this morning briefly it was over $400 and so i sold half of my dash and bought some litecoin which also rallied and i was up on that — i’m not trying to trade but literally over night little trades made me money, in my sleep.
obviously i can see why that might be addicting, hell, i loved the wolf of wall street even thou he was a ponzi scheme dodgy wheeler dealer (i love that film and all the actors were so on point) but their is a fine line between gaming to have more and the reality of what the numbers can do for us - at least that’s what i’ve noticed on a macro level.
so i’m having to deal in fractions now to really understand what my time and what worth is, yesterday i was paid in steem, i converted it to steem dollars and got some litecoin, i have to send that to @dayleeo to get some funds in another way for the real world for me to eat — funny i used real world, it’s not like i can spend my litecoin at the shop even if i have a value worth amount in dollars in my account next to it. it’s virtual, out there, as a calculated time event number. it happened, we have proof! :)
because of working in this way i’ve started to notice that as a freelancer (that is someone not wanting to engage in boring water-cooler chat about celebrities and other pointless bullshit) i’ve also started to look more closely at my sprints. i often do two hour sprints. how much can i get done in a two hour period — now with the potential of getting paid almost instant without a middle man i’m also fracturing that two hour sprint time.
i guess i’m saying i feel like i’ve found a new kind of crypto flexi time, not just the airy fairy digital nomad instagram style photos you see where everything is staged and smiles. i actually feel that crypto was the missing link in terms of removing the payment processor and middlemen that was causing the distraction for freelancers. it’s the missing link, it’s the payment provider we wished we had because it ultimately works on time played out.
as freelancers (especially digital type nomadic people) wanting to be on the move, next project, next client, new thing, fresh look, new place, better coffee, incredible local foods, new people, amazing buildings etc creativity comes from all places and you need that energy to maintain a sense of forward momentum, it’s easy to be trapped by your own decisions as a freelancer, removing payment frustration removes the intense life admin.
so i guess i’m thankful for it, that we finally have a payment provider that pays me out based on that physical established real world connection onto of a 3.5 second window (steem) of transactions. as some one incredibly frustrated and annoyed with ‘playing the system game’ of having to even convince clients to have the work done THEY came to me with, this is much better — i can confirm a price, do the work, get an open, transparent, public ledger entry out their on a blockchain and deliver the work.
the future is very bright for anything that is blockchain powered because it’s not only a connection and an activator, it’s removing anxiety and stress and more institutions, local governance and health care sectors should be looking at utilising it as much as possible to remove any of those friction based properties we seek to avoid.
because let’s be honest, if you don’t employ that style of technology and approach your market will go elsewhere, and trust me. it will be quick.
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