That Fake Exuberance Over New Projects you have NO Experience With!
In doing a little reading this morning, I came across several "Rah-Rah Posts" about new projects people were involved in. This being Steemit, quite a few of these were about new "token projects," designed to do this, than and t'other with Blockchain technology.
Maybe I am just old and cynical, but I have never been much of a fan of "song-and-dance routines" for new ventures.
Close-up of a rohododendron bloom
Of course, I'm also enough of a business realist to recognize that in order to sell people on a new concept or idea, you basically have to start off "selling air" because there IS no track record you can point to. All you have is "the idea" and little else.
Tall Tales of Riches and Other Fantasies
Leaves in silhouette
Perhaps it just goes to show that I will never be an "early adopter" of anything because I always "investigate" new projects — and their rah-rah party promoters — pretty thoroughly, rather than just jump off a cliff on good faith.
"I just joined the Poop Mooncoin pre-ICO Promotional Airdrop Star Party and it is SO AMAZING I can't contain myself, and here's my affiliate link and please sign up now and be as successful as I am!!!"
These kinds of sales pitches always reminds me of something oxymoronic like a "screaming mime."
Even the tiniest bit of poking around typically reveals that this person going on about their "success" actually just joined the program that same morning and has ZERO idea about the project and NO "success" whatsoever. Just, basically, the hype of being caught up in the moment.
Integrity... or Stick-in-the-Mud?
Personally, I can't ever get myself to "recommend" anything — let alone get hyped up over it — unless I've actually personally thoroughly (my creative writing professor is rolling in her grave right now-- 3 consecutive words ending in "ly"...) used and tried whatever-it-is and made sure it actually does what's promised.
Yeah, some kind of white flower in our yard...
Of course, almost nothing does "what's promised," as a result of which I almost never recommend anything.
From where I am sitting, that's called integrity, although to many people it is evidently "fearful."
Besides, people don't get excited about reality, they get excited about wild promises and pie-in-the-sky that have pretty much zero chance of happening.
And that's especially true about so-called "business opportunities," and — at the moment — pretty much anything with the word "blockchain" in it.
That said, it took me more than six months of being an active participant here before I felt comfortable talking about and recommending Steemit to anyone. And even then, I tend to recommend it with all the realistic cautionary tales of what you can actually expect here. I'm not going to "sell" this place in a way that causes people to arrive here with dollar signs and fantasy rainbows in their eyes.
Wild lupines
But then I'm not going to sell anything with more enthusiasm than "this is what you MIGHT get if you put in THIS much time and effort, but no guarantees."
Which is why I have always been sort of a shitty sales person... BUT, anyone who has "bought into" something on my watch has tended to be very persistent and loyal... and typically successful. Which reflects one of my core values in life: I'd much rather have a tiny team of consistent and hard working high performers than an ocean of wannabes flailing around with their unrealistic expectations.
Well, time for me to stop for the moment, and head off to do something more functional!
How about YOU? Do you find it easy to pitch "new and exciting" ventures, even if you have no experience with them? Or do you wait till you've road tested a project, before sharing? Do you consider yourself a "risk taker?" Or are you risk averse? Have you ever recommended Steemit to anyone? Was it when you first got here, or after a while? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 180904 12:47 PDT
I have always been a risk taker. By the time a project is "proven" to the level you seem to be comfortable with, any opportunity to make large gains is largely over.
But that being said, I am more of a risk taker just for myself, and seldom try to convince others to take a risk. Rather than asking friends to invest in an early stage project, I will just give them a little share in the project and say: "hang on to this and see if anything happens."
The few times where I did recommend investing in something to friends, and it bombed, I was mortified - and just don't do it anymore.
I have made, and lost, fortunes :-)
And I think you touch on something really important there. I am not quite as risk averse if I know that the outcome of something I am involved with impacts only myself... and doesn't make me feel beholden to other people's expectations, hopes and dreams.
I tend to almost never "recommend" anything to others for the simple reason that I don't like the idea that someone else's (potentially unrealistic) expectations try to come home and roost with me.
So I think we're pretty close to on the same page.
Just out of curiosity, what do you tell people to expect here in terms of timeline, effort required, and realistic rewards?
I am very hesitant to jump onboard new trains these days after succumbing to FOMO several times in my past... even on Steemit I have decided not to invest any fiat.
In general, I tell a very specific niche of people (old bloggers I know) that Steemit is a bit like sites we used to use 10-15 years ago, and it's cool because as you create and interact, you can "build stake" in the platform, which we never could "back then."
When they ask "about the money" I tell them they are almost 100% sure to make more money than they are doing posting to Facebook and then we have a laugh about it. Then I tell them to not think of it as income but as a sort of automatic savings account attached to a blog, that allows for a "slow dribble" of rewards to build over time.
That is a great way to look at it. I have found that keeping my expectations extremely low has been crucial to my enjoyment of the platform thus far.
As much as anything, I enjoy precisely what I generally enjoy about social media and blogging: The interactions with interesting people, and the exchange of diverse ideas. The rewards are just "gravy."
I'm grateful that I built enough stake early on that I can generally reward worthwhile comments and conversations, and interact quite a bit without worrying too much about running out of voting power.
Excellent!! I am just about to launch my new coin. PM me for details. We can do a THUNDERCLAP together!
;O)
Yeah that would be great would you care to give us more info.
Join my telegram group, it's gonna blow up
Can u give me a link or something.
I dont like putting direct links in case of sideloader attacks but you can google it - moonero.io
:O)
Is it too late to get in on the ground floor?
Absolutely not. I will send you a ticket, I will need your ETH address
Ohh .Thanks sir.
To the MOON! And beyond.... wherever that is!
HEhe, Always the MOON!
One of my favourites is when some people are having a reasonably sensible conversation and someone butts in with When MOON! lol
Hah, yes!
Sometimes I can't resist being a cheeky bugger and I'll respond with something like "Just to the MOON? This might go as far as URANUS!" Of course a lot of the "moon geeks" are non-native English speakers, so it's a bit lost on them...
I've been there!! hehe
Nope. I couldn't do it @denmarkguy.
Yep. Although I might start something new at the same time as others who are also new.
I'd say I was risk averse on the whole but risk is relative I think.
Yes I did after I'd been here a month or so but I wouldn't recommend it now. 😊
Interesting... sounds like you have similar reservations to mine. I generally just point out that there's a nice community of people here, and they will definitely make more on Steemit than they do on Facebook.
Well that's true of course but I'm not sure, as I think I've mentioned before, that Steemit itself has a future but we shall see. 😁
I'm of a somewhat mixed mind there... I'm pretty sure Steem has a future, thanks to the many projects being developed for the blockchain; as for Steemit, the social site... that remains to be seen.
I'm inclined to think there are still enough "socially interested" people here for it to remain something...
Yeah. You could be right @denmarkguy although the number of "socially interested" people here seems to be dwindling dramatically, as least as far as commenting on my posts is concerned.
Many people that hung in there up until a couple of months ago now seem to have dropped out. And I'm here less too! 😁
But that's not to say that something new an better won't be created from the smaller numbers. 😁
Poop Mooncoin
major gratitude for this phrase! LOL! i'm similar to you. i have gotten excited early on, but tend to save that until i can get clearer on what it is realistically. virgo/capricorn here and every ounce of practicality in that way... the poop mooncoins are obsviously hype-y but untrustworthy....
It does seem like a lot of people love to chase around after the next great shitcoin... usually with zero chance of becoming much of anything, but those folks are also "risk junkies" and they don't really CARE whether the project is viable, they just want to know there's a chance the value will go up 5000% and then they'll bail... in search of the next great moonshot.
Not my kind of gig. But then I've got some of that Virgo logic and common sense working, too!
I was to embarrassed to tell people you could make some pennies blogging, especially after my kids laughed at me. I am not one to try to sell a unsure thing either. The best I could do was post a couple of things I did on FB with a note it was another site I blogged on that you could earn a few cents for blogging that increased with time. That way they can look at it and make their own determination.
I've taken a very similar approach. A little over a year ago, my wife started taking the time I spent on Steemit seriously, after I came up with $800 for a new set of tires for our truck. At that point, my "silly preoccupation with nerd money" suddenly had a little more respect. But I still don't go around recommending Steemit to the world like I'm on some marketing kick... but if someone asks me if I've "been doing any writing lately," I point them to my feed here...
I am also a crappy sells person, and I'm still not confident of sharing steemit with many people since like you said, I tried and all they want is the promise of making huge and easy money and when there is no promise they don't want to try.
I share the opportunity with them but I tell them the truth, I don't tell them all these wonderful easy money making promise, and maybe that is problem, but that is just who I am.
I avoid most sales pitches... both giving them, and being on the receiving end.
As I mentioned in another response, I tend to only mention Steemit to "old bloggers" who mostly could care less whether there's "a blockchain" or "a reward." They are just looking for a fairly stable, censorship resistant platform for their opinion outlets.
I love that cool and calm head on your shoulders. I agree fully on everything you say here: maybe I'm "just old and cynical" too :-)
I think I have just heard too many hyped-up pitches that led to... absolutely nowhere. But I also understand — and even respect — that some people get off on that stuff.
Good job sir. And very important marketing sales post. I like it your great full post.your every day post is very important.
Thank you for your kind and supportive words...
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