An Entrepreneurship Story: Hello Blockchain Earning Platforms, Goodbye Repelling Stigma
(Originally found on TipStampers.com)
“BSV needs better marketing” is basically a meme at this point. Whose job is this? CoinGeek? Bitcoin Association? Someone else? — Coingeek’s Kurt Wuckert Jr. asks in his article entitled, “What does BSV need, Part 2.”
My answer to Kurt’s question is someone else. More specifically, me.
Ever since coming across Bitcoin in 2013 I’ve wanted to see it reach the mainstream. I wanted to see it go viral and become widely used throughout society. I mean, how could you not? An extremely efficient form of money issued in a predictable manner, not coming from the hands of central bank governments and their human rulers? SOLD. Where do I sign up?
Fast forward to the present, and it has gone viral since then, but as a form of money, it hasn’t lived up to my hopes and desires. As a “digital gold” used only for trades on exchanges, I believe Bitcoin is being sold short on what its true capabilities are. Capabilities of the revolutionary kind — becoming the internet of money, and more.
That’s why I’ve chosen to walk down BSV road (Bitcoin-SV), even though it’s the road that gets you spit on and beat up by seemingly everyone on its outskirts. The entire crypto world seems to hate it, and they’ve done an A+ job minimizing the number of people walking down its path — by virtually mob ambushing anyone who does. No surprise, most people actually feel like keeping their lips uncut and teeth intact.
I did too, and that’s why I’ve kept little to no online profile after the Bitcoin Cash split, up until now. I didn’t want to put a target on my back until I was locked and loaded and ready to fire off something indisputably useful and cool. I needed to prepare myself before taking on the inevitable assault.
But I’m there now. I’m ready to take any detractors head-on — albeit with a friendly, non-confrontational approach — and use the skills and knowledge I’ve gained through my studies and life experiences, to expand the small village of BSV into the sprawling metropolis it ought to be. In other words, I’m ready to accelerate adoption and onboard new users.
Why am I the man for this job? Because I’ve built the platform(s) that enable this possibility and I’ve spent the greater half of the past decade planning and learning and studying topics that would aid in this endeavor. My goal has been to bring Bitcoin to the masses — to the average, everyday person — and the information I acquired during this time has been relevant towards that goal: Virality, promotion, marketing, branding, psychology, entrepreneurship, business, leadership, writing, coding, UI/UX, and more.
So, let me share with you how I’ve put that intel to use thus far; what I intend to do with it going forward, and some key takeaways I gathered along the way. And since one of those takeaways is our fondness for a good tale, let’s appease the humanity within and start off with a little backstory appetizer, shall we?
Backstory
In the pre-BSV days, I wrote articles under the alias “BitcoinOptimist” on Ryan X Charles & Clemens Ley’s micropayment platform, Yours.org. I wanted to become a better writer and write a book at the time, so I turned to the masters of the craft and read helpful nonfictions like On Writing Well by William Zinsser, and On Writing by Stephen King. Then, I practiced the art by posting articles related to my Bitcoin passion on Yours.org. Not my greatest handiwork there, but you’ve gotta get those reps in if you ever want to purify your verbal sludge.
Eventually, Yours.org advertised a job opening for a community promoter or marketer of some sort. Because I had the passion, ideas, and read quite a few books related to the subject, I really wanted that job. But I didn’t have any actual experience in the field, and to keep this story short, I didn’t get the gig. Sad day.
I did, however, brainstorm and write a list of potential micropayment options a platform like this could offer, and it also set into motion the next phase of my life. I enrolled in a coding bootcamp to build what I envisioned: Themed Earning Platforms on Bitcoin-SV.
An eternity later, the codebase MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for my first themed platform is ready to launch. In truth, they basically all are. Or at least the first two: TipStampers.com & StoryDrafters.com. (TipGamers & DietMatador can come later.)
I say that because they’re all pretty much the same thing in terms of functionality, and besides some slight variations, the same codebase will be used by each. Update a few things here, add a few things there, and presto, the Earning Platform family tree grows one branch larger.
But this begs the question, why launch multiple platforms in the first place? Why not just launch one that does it all, like an ‘Earning Platform Reddit’ of some sort?
Well, for my answer to make sense to you, you probably need to know how the platforms actually work. So let’s push the pause button on that question for now, and flick the switch that sheds light on the platforms themselves.
How the Platforms Work
First, visualize your typical Social Media platform. You have your followers, your feed, your notifications, your profile, your likes, your posts, and your comments. All of these features are included, and small BSV micropayments are tied to each action. For example, to comment on someone’s post, you send them $.05 in order to do it. The effect this has is enabling the content creator to earn money, while filtering spam and trolling at the same time. On our platforms, trolls gotta pay to troll.
To unlock this money-making avenue for creators, there is typically a small price to publish content — usually a dime — which goes to the platform itself. This is primarily how the platform generates revenue, and once again, how we filter spam and trolling. This is also where the internet’s old rules have changed and the freshest game in town begins. Ready, set, GO.
By paying the small fee to post their work, creators are saying, “Yes, I think I will earn more money from this content than the actual price of posting it.” At the standard $.10 rate, they’re right, it’s not a difficult thing to do. Especially when we’ve rigged the game in their favor, by letting them keep every cent they score.
Using plain English, this means 100% of their earnings go directly to them, without us taking a cut. Every $.10 follow, every $.05 thumbs-up, every tip, every comment, and every paywall purchase is 100% theirs. We’re not operating a fixed carnival game here. This game is slanted in the creator’s favor — which, in the long term, is a key competitive advantage for the home team. (What’s YouTube and Facebook’s % take again?)
Next up to bat, is what shapes the platform’s theme and provides guidance to creators for the type of content they should post — as well as the type of content their audience can expect to find. My beloved, and all-important, Categories.
For example, TipStampers.com was originally designed for the BSV community (it was previously called BitcoinOptimists.com), so the categories there were tailored to the community’s interests and what was important to them: Apps, Business, Entrepreneurship, Coding, Gaming, etc. “Professional but fun, with a LinkedIn vibe” was what I was going for there. Now, a similar vibe applies, but it has since evolved into something less niche and more inviting for everyone, with an expanded category list that accomplishes this trick. More on that later.
StoryDrafters.com, on the other hand, is a blogging, writing, and story-telling platform, so the categories there are tailored to induce creativity in this seemingly forgotten art form. (Did you know there are over 2.5 billion blog posts published each year? — Google does.)
When it comes to deciding on themes for Earning Platforms and categories to include, there are a number of things to consider, but to keep your head from overflowing, I’ll boil it down to just a few.
Overall, what content types would the creator’s audience appreciate enough to voluntarily send them paid likes and tips? Twitch.tv proved this model works in the gaming world, but what other markets or content types would produce this behavior?
The best bet here is to adhere to the virality requirements outlined by Wharton professor, Jonah Berger, in his masterpiece of a book, Contagious, by creating categories that steer creators into producing useful, interesting, or awe-inspiring content — ’cause that’s what people share, what makes them care, and what would motivate them to send money through the air.
(Increases the odds, at least.)
By adhering to these virality guidelines, your category flops will be minimized and you’ll lead the way to a red carpet for the stars.
And now that you’ve got a basic idea of the Earning Platform concept, we’ll conclude this act and start a new scene by opening the curtains on that one, lingering question. Why create multiple platforms in the first place, and not just one that does it all?
Why a “one size fits all” Earning Platform doesn’t quite fit
The honest answer is it could — there’s no supreme law of the land declaring it couldn’t. And to be totally frank, since originally writing this piece, my stance has softened quite a bit. Since then, BitcoinOptimists.com morphed into TipStampers.com, and that forced me to do some deep rethinking…
After revisiting the drawing board and laying out the new category arrangement for TipStampers, it became clear that it had broader mainstream appeal and I should merge most of my micropayment universe into this one, content creation conglomeration. In doing so, it would be much easier to manage, promote, and grow a community. The KISS principle concurs (Keep It Simple Stupid).
However, the process leading to this conclusion was slightly painful because it meant that my original idea — an “earn and learn” platform called Listoka.com — would get the axe and merge into TipStampers too.
It had to. Listoka’s mantra was “useful, intelligent and fun” and the categories were tailored towards benefitting people’s lives. Since TipStampers is more generalized and invites all content types to be stamped to its walls, a professional essence circulating through its air was needed to balance the vibe. Thus, marrying the two platforms became the obvious way to go.
But getting back to the “one size fits all doesn’t quite fit” conversation, the logic behind it still fits like a glove. We’ll see if you agree.
For the main reason, I wrote the following:
“The deciding factor here comes down to marketing and promotion, and how much more effective they are when you narrow down your strategy and target audience. Think about it, how much more likely is it that Twitch streamers and gaming enthusiasts will gather around TipGamers.com, over something generic like EarnBitcoin.com? Pretty likely. Likewise for other major content markets.”
That still rings true to me, and why StoryDrafters.com is still in the cards. Because even though there will be a “Stories” category on TipStampers for creators known as “writers,” I still think a niche-based platform devoted to them specifically would be more attractive to join. That would also make target marketing and onboarding much easier. But at the same time, if it were the only platform launched, it would make it much more difficult to get off the ground running, and it would limit our growth potential overall. Trade-offs, I suppose. And perhaps why the broader-based platform is necessary to start. (Especially with the stamps I’ve got hidden up my sleeves…)
The final reason for my original aversion towards the generic route partially stemmed from what I’ve witnessed in the past. Here’s what I wrote about that:
“It’s also been demonstrated during Bitcoin’s short history that when Blockchain platforms like mine go the generic Reddit route, the topic of conversation gravitates towards crypto subject matter. While this is fine and dandy for the crypto enthusiast, it isn’t very inviting or enticing to the average Joe — which makes it difficult to promote and expand outside of its small ecosystem. Not conducive to my goal of attracting a large, mainstream audience, is it?”
Nope, it certainly is not. But with the category formula I’ve concocted, this doesn’t apply to us. There’s no “crypto corner” here, just Bitcoin being used as a payment rail in the background, with categories that draw the interests of non-enthusiasts in the foreground. Because quite simply, I didn’t want Einstein’s definition of insanity applied on me. Round and round we go…
Circling back to our question now: Does it fit, or doesn’t it?
In some ways it does, and some ways it doesn’t. There’s benefits to each approach. But debating which approach is better really doesn’t matter in the end, because both could work as long as efforts are made to make them grow. As long as you’ve got the right fertilizer, both could sprout into something special.
So stick around if you’d like to know the brand we’ll be using to fertilize ours to life.
Marketing and Promotional Strategy
We’ll be using Roundup. Oh wait, that’s a herbicide. Nonetheless, rounding up users is our goal, and the plan to carry it out begins by taking center stage where the microphone is most amplified: Social Media networks. Activity there — where virality is born — is crucial, so let me share some examples of how we’ll be intertwining activities on the platform, with promotion over Social Media.
Along with our well-defined content categories — like How-To Tutorials — and undefined ones where creators have nearly full freedom to express themselves — like Stamp You — we also have a few that are more interactive than the others. These are the ones that we’ll be utilizing over Social Media on a frequent, consistent basis. Let’s start with our Lists.
Taking a page from the Listoka playbook, users (and us) will be able to create interactive lists on the platform. Interactive in the sense that the list creator posts a prompt, and people join in by sharing their replies. “What is your all-time favorite Shark Tank pitch?” would be a fitting example here.
From there, the replies get ranked and sorted by the most “thumbs up” — which are basically likes on Facebook or upvotes on Reddit. And what we do with the lists afterwards is what I consider “Blockchain cool.” Like leather jacket with shades, riding a motorcycle cool.
Okay, maybe it’s not at that level considering this is pretty nerdy, but when you’ve got a fun and interactive concept that links well with the Blockchain by making actual use of its timestamping and data-adding features, it’s hard not to geek out just a little bit. Especially when it’s going to be your main promotional and audience interaction method over Social Media.
So what do we do with the lists? We turn them into a game. A game where the list results are stamped *TipStampers Official* on the Blockchain — for the world to forever see — once the countdown clock expires after 2 days. Just enough time for word to spread and give people a chance to be a part of this exclusive event. Hosted by yours truly, every Monday and Wednesday morning like clockwork, over your favorite Social Media outlets. Let the BSV stigma squashing games begin.
In addition to Monday and Wednesday’s list lineup, we’ve got two other regularly scheduled programs for people’s weekly calendars. Like our list prompts, both should generate activity and produce shareable buzz over Social Media.
The first is conducting polls and posting the results to the Blockchain exactly like we do with the lists, except the “TipStampers Official” polling event will take place on Tuesday and Thursday, instead of Monday and Wednesday. We’ve got a whole work-week to fill after all.
For our Friday time slot — and perhaps as a Monday bonus — we will challenge our audience with writing prompts geared towards our life-benefitting vibe. “Share something you are good at, and what it took to get there” would be a fitting example here.
But our promotional activity over Social Media doesn’t need to stop there, nor should it. As cringey and nauseating as it sounds — kind of like saying you read a book called, How to Win Friends and Influence People — the most important benchmark of our success will be tied to our following counts over Social Media. Gross, but that’s just the way it is.
Thus, in order to amass a large following and onboard people to BSV and the platforms, activity over Social Media is a must. That means along with the audience interaction methods, we must frequently engage with others over them; and promote content from users of the platforms, on them. And when it’s put like that, I suppose it’s not so gross for a “people person” like myself. That, I can stomach.
The final component of this $0 cost marketing plan is to seek out what bestselling author, Malcolm Gladwell, calls “Connectors” in his book entitled, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. In our case, Connectors would be people with influence and large audiences on the internet. Like a Joe Rogan or Elon Musk.
With Connectors, the job is twofold.
First, it’s enticing them to join and use the platform(s). People mimic behaviors, especially when it comes to leaders and those of influence. “Everyone’s doing it, man!” is what we want said about our platforms, and Connectors joining them can help make that happen.
Second, it’s getting interviewed and having discussions within their influencing umbrella: channels, podcasts, videos, editorials, etc. Publicity to a new and large set of eyes and ears, with a chance to share a taste of what we’ve got cookin’:
- Our daily events over Social Media
- Mixing Social Media and Content Creation with Blockchain technology
- Evolving the Content Creation business model for creators
- Our alternative to the ad-based business model, along with its spam filtering mechanism
- A real-life demonstration of the power of micropayments on a scalable Blockchain
- And a unique personal and business story to tell, from the perspective of a founder
With that on the burner, we’ve got quite a spread for Connectors in a variety of industries: Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Blockchain, Content Creation, Coding, Writing, Education, and any other specific market we gear a platform towards.
So, if you’re a “Connector” within those spaces, don’t hesitate to reach out so we can set something up. We would certainly welcome being a guest on your program.
And if you would like a brief background check conducted on your guest beforehand, you’ll never guess what’s next on deck.
Brief Background Check
I was a Zamboni driver during college. An ice-shaving, water-dumping, rink-smoothing machine. Until I got my Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, that was on top of my résumé. Not the most prestigious of jobs, but hey, kids looked at me like I was Santa Claus.
With my Accounting background in mind, I recently coded the platform’s accounting system and added a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of a user’s transactions (shown above), but after graduating, I never actually went into the Accounting field. Instead, I started auditing financial aid applications at a fast-growing startup company that provided online software for private schools across the country — a decision I would gladly make again.
That’s because the experience was invaluable. Working as a cohesive team and collaborating with many brilliant individuals — while being mentored by them in a professional setting — is priceless. Also priceless was my 2 years as the inaugural “Lead of the Tuition Management (Billing) department.” This department was a product-line expansion that needed building from the ground-up, and that challenge was one I was extremely eager to take on.
Under that role, I had a great boss. She gave me her full confidence and so did everyone else. My input was valued and encouraged, and I was given nearly free rein to do what I thought was best. I felt like an “intrepreneur” and it made me want to become an entrepreneur. I devised a training system for new hires, trained them, directly led a small team, wrote teaching material, handled the Billing Supervisor calls, made tough decisions, kept morale high, and formed ongoing relationships with school administrators (the clients). It was a defining experience that gave me the confidence to do anything I set my mind to.
I also worked with developers to improve the website’s user interface, as well as the user’s experience on it — a concept known and abbreviated as UI/UX. Basically, I would share my suggestions and reasoning, then after some discussion and clearance from above, they would then implement them on the website itself. Something quite satisfying to see, I must say.
Fast forward to now, and I’m not just the one providing the suggestions, but the one doing the actual implementing. Maybe my experience there was a precursor or a sign of things to come — one can’t say for sure — but it is a precursor to what we cover next, so I thought it deserved a proper introduction.
So please welcome what I care about more than anything else when it comes to the platforms: Our users, and creating the best possible experience for them. Delight, delight, delight.
Taking Care of Our Users: UI/UX, HandCash, BSV, and Onboarding
You know the passion a teenage girl has for Justin Bieber? Or did. That’s me when it comes to having the best UI/UX possible. A smooth and seamless experience with a visually-appealing interface is my jam. Something that looks better than your usual website; something that operates in an intuitive and flowing manner. Exactly what’s been lacking within the “crypto” industry to date.
Fortunately, I built on BSV and use the HandCash wallet system, so the issues that hinder user experience and plague other Blockchain platforms, simply don’t apply here. We don’t have to worry about high fees and failed transactions like Ethereum users, and HandCash broke free from the crypto pack by creating a wallet (and API) that delivers a great user experience from the get-go. They’re butter slick, instead of crypto clunky.
How has HandCash deviated away from crypto status quo? For one, users send money to each other via email-like handles — mine is $kelsola — rather than long random strings of letters and numbers. And two, their password reset process is what you would normally expect on the internet. Phone + email. Not writing down a long list of words and praying to god you never lose them. Saying R.I.P to your money in that manner, can R.I.P itself.
Their product is also well-designed, fluid and intuitive, and I’ve done my best to emulate their care for the customer. A familiar web layout, quality design, loading spinners when necessary, smooth page transitions, a detailed FAQ page, and appropriate notification signals, are all prioritized to keep our users happy and platform buttery. Over a decade in the customer service industry has taught me well.
But when it comes to HandCash specifically, my favorite part is that users can purchase BSV with a credit card directly through their app. By building this bridge, the onboarding process has been streamlined and simplified. No actions need to be taken outside of their app, everything can be done exclusively with them. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing that makes my onboarding job a whole heck of a lot easier.
Now while HandCash may offer BSV purchases through their app, not every person can go that route — and we don’t want any roadblocks impeding the onboarding process. So while most categories have a price-to-publish, we also include a *free* introductory category, where users can get their BSV start by simply introducing themselves to the community. Once they do, other generous community members can start pew-pinging BSV directly into their HandCash wallet. A positive and welcoming first experience with BSV and the platforms, wouldn’t you say?
I think so, and I also think I’ve painted a clear enough picture regarding onboarding, marketing, and UI/UX, so let’s put the paintbrush down there and start chiseling away at something else. And since we’ve only scratched the surface on the business side of things, let’s dig a little deeper into this vitally important substance.
Look out below, down the business rabbit hole we go.
The Business Side of Things
As they say, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” Or in this case, satoshis. And I have to agree. It doesn’t do much good to launch a website platform without a plan to turn it into a legitimate, economically-viable business. The costs to maintain a website and database are very, very real. So making money *must* be built into the business’s bedrock.
As our eyeball count grows, we could go the annoying ad route like the rest of the internet, but that slings mud on the user experience and leaves you keeping extra tabs on your users. In this day and age, they’re not too fond of that, and neither am I. Plus, the ad-based business model isn’t very powerful in a website’s early stages. It only gains power once your eyeball stat-chart starts forming a mountain. Upon launch, the advertising model is weak. Your cash flow is nonexistent. Expenses are still very real.
With Bitcoin payments, there’s an alternative. You can take advantage of its programmable nature to get paid on demand, by the click of a button, from the second people start joining and using your app. In our case, we get paid when creators publish content.
The amount we get paid per post is at a micropayment level, so even though we generate revenue from the start, our cash flow could certainly use improvement.
To boost our cash flow, users of the platform can purchase Membership, which removes the cost of publishing altogether. Getting into specifics, upon launch, the Membership price will be $35.00 and last indefinitely — lifelong for people in the early days as a thank you for their support.
In the future though, the offering’s cost and length may be subject to change. Inflation is very real after all; as we’re now quite well aware of. (Looking at you money-mismanagers of the world…)
Diving deeper into Membership specifics, aside from the free publishing perk, there are a few others that have come along with it.
Perk #2 is gaining access to the “Members only” forum category, which we call the “Water Cooler.” Within it, members are free to post whatever they like, at no charge. You can think of it as the community’s own private discussion forum. Exclusivity, is perk #2.
Perk #3 stems from wisdom I gathered while reading “behavior guiding” books, Contagious — which I already mentioned — and Nudge, which was written by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein.
To nudge users into the desired behavior of purchasing membership — and to increase awareness of this option — a highlight shadow has been added around the avatar images of members — and only members — nearly everywhere you can find them. On post lists, on the posts themselves, in comments, and within their profile pages. Routine exposure with a subtle reminder is the idea here.
But to really add emphasis and put our Membership on display in a cool way, when you highlight or click a member’s avatar image, it gets slightly bigger and spins around in a smooth, circular motion. Then directly above their spinning image, you’ll find the word “Member” soaking in the limelight with it. A nice visual bonus for members; an enticement lure and attention spreader for everyone else.
I could probably go on for a while when it comes to incentives, gamification, and other features added to aid user retention and benefit the overall business, but let’s not stray too far away from our profit-making path. Let’s stay on Benjamin road, and clear the debris blocking access to the ad-based revenue option. (Yes, it’s still on the table, just not in the way you might think.)
Obviously, polluting a website’s waters with annoying ads is not something we’re keen on doing. You know this already. Fortunately, there is a way to open the floodgates on this revenue stream while keeping our UI/UX environment clean. We don’t need to do pop-ups or banners, or put ads in posts or post lists, we can promote a paying company or cause in a subtle, less invasive way.
Remember our *TipStampers Official* lists and polls from the marketing section? We sell that space. If a paying customer would like to use this scarce real estate to promote their product, I don’t see a problem with that as long as it doesn’t damage our image.
Say, for instance, Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks wanted to promote their NBA team in one of our official lists. They could pay us to create a list that says something like, “What was your favorite Dallas Mavericks moment this season?” and we would then create the list on our platform, promote it over Social Media, stamp the results on the Blockchain 2 days later, and collect our check once the shot goes in. Swish, nothing but net.
It’s subtle, pollution-free, mutually beneficial, and nobody goes home feeling like they’ve just been sold. Best of all, this advertising method invites actual interaction rather than just basic viewership. Thus, it sticks to the mind to a greater degree, and you probably don’t need to read any extra books, to realize you agree. But without growth and activity, this concept is simply a fantasy. To become a reality, it’ll take time and effort. Hard work, hard work, and more hard work (and maybe a few more rhymes, too).
So that summarizes our revenue model. Micropayments, Subscriptions, and Advertisements. 3 ways to make money, with 2 to start, and 1 to accelerate our cash flow. But there’s 0 chance this matters if persistent effort and care isn’t given to the business. And the truth is, I may not be able to give it on a dedicated, full-time basis much longer. As painful as it is to say, my financial shot clock is running out, and I need help.
I’ve been working on this project by myself and “bootstrapped” it to this point, but progress will ultimately stall or come to a crawl if circumstances don’t change. The future is murky at this point in time, but let’s pretend for a moment the sky is clear, and discuss what we see on a positive, sun-rising horizon.
I’m a Bitcoin Optimist, after all.
Future of the Blockchain Earning Platforms
Upon publication of this writing — meaning now — TipStampers.com will be available for public testing and use. The “beta” phase, if you will. People can now interact with the platform and share any feedback they may have. And that includes you, so go check it out when you’ve got the chance.
During the beta phase, public promotion over Social Media will be minimal, as my focus will be coding until the last of the necessary additions are complete. I would estimate a 2 month time frame there. But coding always takes longer than you think, and you’re now aware of my predicament, so you really shouldn’t hold me to it.
But once the code for the platforms is production-ready, my focus will deviate away from those tasks and be directed towards marketing and promotion. With an axe to grind and things to prove, this transition moment is one I’ve been eagerly awaiting.
Once the transition occurs, I’ll finally be face-to-face with what I’ve wanted to do for years. Becoming an actual entrepreneur selling his own product; putting my skills, knowledge, and resourcefulness to the ultimate test. All while helping Bitcoin reach a mainstream audience as a form of money, and placing it into the minds and wallets of the average, everyday person. A combination I would like to someday call, my life’s work.
But like I said, the future is murky and I need help. This is not the type of business that will be wildly successful with just one person working alone forever. I hope to have the community’s support, and I could use a small team, but I *need* at least one highly-skilled developer to partner with. I’ve obviously learned a wide variety of concepts when it comes to web development, but I’m not a seasoned vet, and there are things I will undoubtedly run into that I need help with. I can’t anticipate everything. (Nowadays, I wish I went to school for Computer Science instead of Accounting. Take note, kids.)
Even though I intend to pass the development baton off after launch — so I can fill the role of CEO and focus on sales and marketing — I can and will still help. Just to a smaller degree. But the code needs someone’s full attention to continue evolving, so having a dedicated developer leading the way is essential. And so is having the money to pay them. But before doing that, I have my own financial situation to stabilize first.
So what are my stabilization options?
As option number one, I’ve mulled over launching a Kickstarter. For financial reasons, of course, and also because I think it would be a good publicity and promotional tool. But at the moment, I’m not confident it would succeed. I’m not widely known online, and my gut says the Kickstarter route would only be successful if I already had a large following. With that said, this option remains on the table, and if the circumstances seem right, I may go ahead and kick one off.
Coding for a company or freelancing is the most obvious option, and one I could definitely live with. Especially if it was within the Bitcoin-SV space. But even not, coding is something I want to continuously do and learn about for the rest of my life, so any professional experience within the field is of great value to me. It might delay the growth of the platforms, but it certainly wouldn’t be a waste of time.
The last option is how I would like the next chapter of this story to continue. The “Shark Tank” option. Getting financed by a person or people who believe in this vision and see its potential for virality and long-term success. Or put another way, an investor that sees the value of pairing me with a skilled developer or small team, and is willing to put their money behind it for a percentage of the company. Or a royalty, if you’re Kevin O’Leary.
I would be willing to go on Shark Tank itself simply for promotional exposure, but they’re pretty brutal towards “pre-revenue” companies, so I’m probably better off casting my lure from another dock at this stage of the game. Where that is, I don’t know exactly. But if you’ve got an idea, please don’t keep it a secret. I’ve got a juicy piece of meat dangling just above the water, sitting there waiting for the right shark to chomp down on. Hopefully you agree.
Maybe I’m just dreaming, maybe not.
Regardless, one way or another, sooner or later, the next chapter of this Earning Platform story will be written. The book may get shelved for some time, but I can’t imagine a future where the pages remain eternally blank. When it comes time to add that fresh ink, the only question I have is, who’s going to be there writing the story with me, stamping it on the Blockchain for the world to forever read?
I hope it’s you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far.
If you would like to read the final section of this writing, that content can be unlocked for 9 cents in BSV on the platform itself. What you’ll find there is a message to the BSV community related to squashing the stigma — and possibly a mention of Bitcoin’s creator — so if I haven’t made my case as the answer to Kurt’s question from the intro of this writing quite yet, maybe reading that will change your mind.
9 cents to find out, with 10 cents sent to you first if you create a HandCash wallet and share something interesting about yourself in the ‘Meet the Stampers” category. Keep the dime or finish reading, the choice is yours.
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