Bzzt Bzzzt! Bzzt Bzzzt!  I was rudely awakened by my angry vibrating phone, a Nokia 3310 I had been using for only God knows how long. These were trying times in my life and I was as broke as hell. I was barely surviving in this dilapidated single room my dad left me after he passed two years ago. My mom had passed a year earlier and as an only child, I didn't really have much of a family to turn to when things got rough, except maybe the few friends that I had. So I quickly hit the answer button on my phone as I struggled to clear my throat and opened my eyes. I have to say, the voice I heard from the other end of the phone completed cleared my eyes of any remainder of sleep that was probably still left. It was the sweet melodious voice of a young lady.

Caller: hello, please am I speaking to Osman?

Me: aaahm, yes, yes, this is Osman and how may I help you?

Caller: This is Rose, the young lady who contacted you earlier yesterday via Crafty.   

Me: Rose, oooh, ok, I remember you now, so how exactly would you want me to go about the painting you requested? 

Rose: according to your profile on Crafty, you live in Tamale (Ghana) and since I am also in Tamale, I was hoping we could meet in person and take it from there. I will text you my address.

Me: that will be great, my schedule is totally free tomorrow. 

The above conversation took place nearly a year and half ago. I was a self employed artist who had just graduated from a local art school. To be honest, I was rather talented for a beginner. But even with that, it was still very difficult to attract customers who were willing to make it worth my while. It was quite frustrating until an old friend introduced me to this 'service market platform' which operates on a block chain technology assisted by an AI. He called it Crafty. According to him, the platform allowed you to develop an online reputation based on your previous work. With Crafty, if you provide a good service, your customers can leave a review, and in doing so earn CFTY (a form of crafty utility token that can be used to pay for services and products on the platform) in return, he said. You could also leave positive reviews about customers you felt conducted business to your satisfaction. 

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He further explained that, the crafty AI allowed service providers to build a business based on a hard earned reputation and hence prevented any form of bullying that could come from bigger companies willing to pay lots of money for advertisement. For me, this was a relief since I didn't have any money to sell myself in the first place. The truth is, I was a bit skeptical in the beginning but my friend made a rather compelling argument. He asked me a very simple question that opened my mind to the entire idea he had been educating me about: what do you have to lose? 

Truly, the sign up was free, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It eliminated the long and frustrating process of having to use middle men to promote your products. And so, I gathered my entire savings, visited the Crafty website , bought about 20 CFTY and signed up on the platform. Although it wasn't compulsory for me to buy the CFTY, 1 CFTY was only about a $100 and I figured it was a great investment to make at the time. I had high confidence in this investment since the platform had already been tested and proven since 2015 under the name Diarissima. 

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So imagine my surprise, a year and half down the lane, when 1 CFTY rose to $750. Today, I have over a 100 CFTY, including both my initial 20 CFTY investment and payment I have received for my services. I am currently writing this article from a 3 bedroom apartment I acquired using profits I made via Crafty. I have recently gotten married and of course, I have long ditched that old Nokia phone for an iphone XII, lol.

And oooh, that reminds me of the phone conversation I started earlier: Rose wanted me to make an acrylic painting of her mom so she could surprise her on her 54th birthday, which was in a few days. She was so impressed with my product and services that she introduced me to her friends. I went on to make a few great portraits for them as well. Rose and I connected on a personal level and I gathered some courage to ask her out after a while. We moved in together after we got married. So every time I tell this story, I always conclude by saying that Crafty changed my life, literally I mean, it gave me everything for nothing, but the decision to join this wonderful platform.

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This article was submitted to the @originalworks sponsored writing contest, you can also join at https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@originalworks/140-steem-35-bonuses-sponsored-writing-contest-crafty

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