I started off by getting involved with @tradeqwik, the Tradeqwik exchange platform. It is an easy to use exchange with great customer service. An article that spells out the benefits fairly well is the following piece: https://www.investitin.com/viva/.
Addressing your concern that you missed out by not getting in early enough. That is not the case at all. Most of the benefits are still to come. They haven't even rolled out the viva.cash, the p2p payment system. Nor the other programs listed in the whitepaper at vivaco.in.
Also, they will soon begin minting the coins in the near future. The crown holders have the option to do that, or lease it to someone.
The future is exciting for VIVA. This is still the ground floor. We have just started climbing the stairs and I am looking forward to getting winded. Join the team......