The world is a complicated place and is moving fast, sometimes leaving me the impression that it is constantly running away from my hands. Innovations in technologies are regularly spreading around the world and today keep track of all the news is becoming an increasingly difficult task, which at one point one can define “full-time work”.
Even more if one considers all the fake news that has been going around, which makes a lot of confusion between genuine things and not, compromising trust between people. However, in the long term, this could be an advantage: as people have good or bad experiences, only web producer with a genuine content will survive through the years, slowly growing positive reputation. Hence, the first thing to consider is to build trust in the community, the only way to create real value.
Then, one should start thinking about which platforms to take into consideration, choosing between a multitude of options for different types of services. If you have read the first article, you know that for me and for other influential authors, individual actions shape the society and the digital community, indeed the user, approaching the web with his/her choices, determines which platforms are going to survive. The sum of digital services for which has subscribed establishes a sort of “digital identity”, where the life’s platforms depend on user activity.
For this reason, I’ll try to choose carefully platforms that I’m going to use. In particular, I want to restrict my attention only to platforms that reflect my principles and that correspond to my needs. For example, as you will see, I’ll use social and video platforms to try to build a community for entertainment and fun, while learning and finance platforms to achieve self-fulfillment, develop skills and independence. You also know that for me, there is no one best way to handle the world’s complexity. Specifically, there are plenty of possibilities and opportunities to choose from and one should start thinking which are the platforms that represent his/her personal values.
Moreover, my strategy could work for me but not for other people because it depends on individual actions and circumstances.
This is true also on investments and I think that is a lesson to keep always in mind. Everyone has his/her own inclinations and his/her way to memorize things; however, the only way to learn something is to do it personally, erring and learning from mistakes, while taking as an example more experienced people. For my experience, the fastest way to learn something is to make much effort as possible to understand it, make many mistakes as possible and when it seems that you cannot deal with it, get someone to explain to you. Apart from a certain order in mind, nothing else is needed. In this regard, one cool advice that I’ve found in a book that I’ve read, said:
“ If you try and chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” (Gary Keller)
The author suggested that when one try to chase two rabbits, he’s pulled in different directions. In the right moment when he’s close to grabbing the bunny, the other darts out in front of him and pulls his attention away from the first. Before he knows it, the one he was about to catch is gone, and now he is starting the pursuit all over again. This means that focusing on different things will make more difficult to reach goals because one thing acts as a "distract factor" to the other. Goal setting is the easiest part. Focus, on the other hand, is a discipline that must be constantly practiced if you’re going to get to your goal. The takeaway here is that one should be concerned to conclude one task at a time, and not trying to be “multitasking”, leaving so many things unfinished.
Another hint taken from a video when I was close to giving up learning the R code, taught me a principle with a similar meaning to the previous sentence. The guy in that video said: “don’t try to learn all the code languages at once, start from something you need to that code and then increase your knowledge with the code you need”.
It is impossible to know everything and there is no better point to start. The important thing is to start and then gradually improve skills, because there are too many codes and too many options to choose from.
Nevertheless, after thinking a lot about the best possibilities I have, I came up with some things that could be done remotely from a computer and that may be lucrative. They are basically four: gaming, writing, teaching, and trading. The intent is to do different activities and alternate them in such a way that they fully fit together. Just know that they are interconnected and one activity is meant to be useful to the other, in the same fashion as the so-called “multi-sided platforms”. The book written by A.Osterwalder and Y. Pigneur titled “Business Model Generation” explains how this mechanism works, using one platform to attract a certain number of users and connect them in another platform with other users, to increase both experiences and network effects.
I know that what I’ve said seems contradictory: at the begining, I’ve said to focus on catching one rabbit and then I listed four different activities. For multipotentialite people, choosing only one thing could be a more difficult task, even if they have the advantage to be able to think and link different and uncorrelated fields. However, these activities converge to the same goal, my “one thing”, that is to achieve independence regardless of the method.
The strange thing is that, in the beginning, the motivation that pushed me to start was the last point, which was to find a way to earn on the web. More in detail, I’ve started thinking to build a cryptocurrency’s portfolio and how to apply technical analysis for trading. Only after realizing that this is a very complicated task that requires a lot of time, I’ve started considering some alternatives that should be done previously, which resulted in the above list and shifted trading to the bottom.
It’s like if after some time the plan built from itself the more I thought about it, however, I never found a point where to start. Even if I had a lot of ideas, in that period I never found something that convinced me. Hence, I decided to focus on my studies to learn as much as possible and start only when I would have been inspired. As a whole, it took six years, however, this allowed me to study different subjects. Now, I think that it is time to make “my hands dirty” taking some concrete practice.
To achieve independence I want to use tools taught to me at the university, learned on the web, or learned from experience. For instance, I would use some notion from marketing lessons to facilitate the diffusion of the channel as economic incentives from game theory lessons, for the same reason. Then, I would use several platforms for affiliate programs to sustain financially the channel. After having paid taxes and primary goods, it is in the program to dedicate all the revenues to grow the channel itself and to share it with the first community supporters that helped to build this.
In this regard, through the text, you will notice some hyperlinks to external resources, that sometimes will lead you to the source of information, while other times will lead you to a specific platform through my referral links. This is important for me because you should know that Amazon, eBay and a lot of other platforms give a small percentage of selling or other advantages only by directing people on their site. This is cool. With a small action, one could support other activities only by doing a simple gesture, at the expense of the platform. However, because referral links are not often appreciated, I would use them only redirecting to relevant resources that may increase self-development.
Another fast and easy way to support the activity of content creators is to join the Brave community. Basically it is a search engine privacy-oriented, which aim is to rethink the way creators are rewarded. They offer a browser that claims to be 3x to 6x faster, more secure and that pays you when you decide to watch advertisements. Just consider it. In their site they write:
Considering the fact that I start from zero subscribers, I would try to let grow the channel organically and synthetically. In the first case, it means that the channel would grow thanks to content and the community, in the second case, it means that subscribers would be attracted by advertisements and by mechanism design. Indeed, I would use the first revenues to advertise the page and I would use several incentive mechanisms to grow more quickly. For example, I would use giveaways in cryptocurrencies, after reaching a specific target of subscribers for the main channels, and I would create fidelity coupons and discounts for the community. I would also create some riddles with rewards when I’m inspired.
The last thing I would say before starting my “to-do list” is that the first attempt is so rarely the right one. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to use these platforms, however, I will maintain my focus on my “one thing”.
For this reason, the channel is likely to change over time, as circumstances require to do it. For instance, if a specific platform changes, I will consider changing too. In this activity, I believe that it is needed a contingent and dynamic adaptation.
Okay, let’s start!
1 — GAMING (having fun)
In some way, life is a game, right?
Of course, it is not only about gaming. This part would comprehend all the things connected to content creation, such as video editing, live streaming videos or other things not directly related to games. For example, I would edit some videos of my gaming sessions adding a bit of creativity with good music and high quality. Because of the fact I’m not bad in painting, I could make speed-drawing portraits with the appropriate edits and music. Alternatively, I could simply create some educational content or just create videos for entertainment, indeed, the principal aim here is to have fun and join the community.
Even though this would also be the part that comprehends leisure time, it possibly could create the traffic necessary to be able to monetize channels thanks to advertisements. Furthermore, I found that it could also be a good and fast way to build a community that likes gaming and other different activities, that share the same values and that is interested in personal growth and personal finance. Moreover, when the content is created, it could be shared through different channels without additional costs, increasing the benefits of editing and increasing the chances to sustain other activities.
The most important thing is that it could also be a nice way to connect gamers and other users with the cryptocurrencies world, hopefully accelerating the mass adoption of this great technology.
In substance, besides the fact that I love gaming and I’ve spent a lot of time (and also lost way my 20|20 vision) playing PlayStation games since I was young, gaming could be the easiest way to create original content, increasing and linking together the base of subscribers. I think that this is also the easiest way to support the channel because it is as easy as watching some videos, interact and subscribe on different pages.
The game in which I would concentrate on for streaming and editing is Call of Duty Modern Warfare, however, I would like to add other games that I like such as Battlefield and Grand Theft Auto. Then, I would search and use services not related to consoles, such as Satoshi’s games, which is a platform that lets you earn directly some fractions of bitcoins just by playing, and report the experience. Another example could be playing poker with Blockhain poker or Fair poker. Instead, the main platforms that will be used are Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch, but others are probably going to be added (or removed).
Finally, the several social networks considered would be redirected here in Medium, when one could read about my thoughts, my reason and my aims.
2 — WRITING (expressing your thoughts)
What do you see and think is a projection of your mind.
There are only a few things better than being and expressing yourself freely. The possibility to say your opinion and to make your voice heard should not be underestimated and should be considered a thing to keep safe.
One of the ways to share personal thoughts and have feedback about it is writing. As you can see, I chose this platform to write my thoughts, because it reflects well some of my principles and because it may give me some more ideas to work on. For shorter thoughts instead, I would use twitter, which is another crypto-friendly platform. Here, basically I’ve thought to share three types of articles:
1 — Personal thoughts and curiosities. This kind of article would be simply a random publication of personal thoughts and there are no borders for the subjects. It could be something about human behavior, or something else which talks about exoplanets.
- Random article
- Random article
- Random article
2 — Fundamental and technical analysis of Bitcoin. In addition to random publications, I would share weekly a series of articles that dive into the history of money, the history of cryptocurrencies and the economic thought, starting towards April 2020 (when I suppose to graduate in Economics). Indeed, this is a part of my thesis, which is becoming longer then expected, and if shared and appreciated by other people, I would not consider it a waste of time. A draft of the weekly articles could be for example:
- History of money
- Characteristics of money
- Economic thought
- Technological development
- The white paper
- The Nakamoto consensus
- History of Bitcoin
- Cryptoeconomics
- Technical analysis
- Cycles
- What is a time series?
- Exploratory data analysis
- Theory fundamentals — beginner
3 — Tutorials and practice. In the remaining time, I would publish some articles dedicated to beginners, where they can find general instructions on how to start with cryptocurrencies. The intent is to bring bit by bit the reader in a safe ecosystem away from bad actors, and to suggest to him/her which services I’ve found most useful until now. The added value is that I would try to be more practical I can, so the reader could feel comfortable having a point where to start in practice with authentic information. There would be articles about how to build the right mindset for investments and some great resources where to find more detailed approaches. Some of the articles in which I’m thinking about are:
- How to set up your working space.
- Where to start with cryptocurrencies.
- Which are the best platform to buy cryptocurrencies.
- How to store safely cryptocurrencies.
- Long term technical analysis.
However, I do not consider that this series of articles belongs to the category of “learning”, rather I would say that it belongs to the section “discovering”. Indeed, apart from random articles, just make some practice on how to use cryptocurrencies and reading some content is good, but not enough to make constantly a stream of revenues. It is true that Bitcoin has had good performances just by hodling it, however, this would leave you on the uncertainty of the market. Because this is a rather complicated task for an average guy, and because Bitcoin is composed of several matters, it would require deep focus and concentration, to be able to link different subjects and fields. Moreover, this focus should be placed side by side to the process of learning by doing, which is the only way to make the right experience. This carries us in the next section.
3 — TEACHING (learning)
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” (A. Einstein)
I’ve ever thought to do a course, however, I’ve never had (nice rhyme) something concrete to teach to someone else, or at least I didn’t feel to be able to teach something. This is because here things mix up: there is no end in learning, which makes it quite difficult to define the level of expertise of some teachers. For this reason, I don’t know if I am a good or bad teacher, however, I just want to explain things that for me were difficult to understand and that let me thought for a long time.
Learning and teaching are working in synergy, indeed, you cannot say to have learned something until you are not able to explain it to someone else.
I understood that lesson when I was tutoring some students in the microeconomy subject. At the beginning I was sure that I had understood the matter, however, I was wrong; I had to start studying again from the first page, to be able to explain theory and exercises to other students. Thus, this is also a way to confirm to myself that I know well what I’m talking about and that I could explain it easily to others. For me, this is also a possibility to continue to study as much as I can, allowing me to continue to build other courses and then share results. In addition, it could also be a good source of revenue if it works, and would be used to feed the growth of the network.
In particular, I would set up some basic courses to explain how to approach statistically the Bitcoin and other time series, using the R program language (in the future I would learn also Python). The main platform that will be used to sell courses will be Udemy, however, I’m considering also DataCamp. About the course I’m thinking to divide it into three sections for different levels of expertise, plus an additional section for integration:
- Handling cryptocurrencies dataset with R- beginner (importing, cleaning, manipulating the data and technical analysis)
- Handling cryptocurrencies time series with R, part I- intermediate (conditional mean -ARMA-, conditional variance -GARCH-, trend and seasonal decompositions -STL, Fourier-)
- Handling cryptocurrencies time series with R, part II- advanced (state-space models, machine learning, cluster analysis)
- Integrative courses- general knowledge (others)
Obviously, reach this point would take a lot of time (toward a year I guess). Because of the fact that I cannot predict what would happen in this window of time, it is more likely that this part would be adapted. However, here is where things start to become interesting. Manipulating time series and starting to build models for more reliable investments, is a good way to mitigate the risk of the market. Moreover, this could be a good way to start thinking about your retirement and I would explain to you how Bitcoin plays a major role in this. Just know that, the way I see things, a lot of information taught at school and at the university are misleading.
4 — TRADING (earning)
“ The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient”. (W. Buffet)
The last point, which was my first intent where to begin, it has shown to be the more difficult than expected, requiring the correct mindset, a consistent capital, and the correct application of studies with a lot of practice. This is a rather time-consuming task because it needs the knowledge of the market considered, cynical decisions, and eventually the understanding of statistical tools and the possession of programming skills.
Moreover, as the cryptocurrency’s market seems to be the fastest in terms of innovations, it would require also a lot of attention to the news and to the most recent improvements in the technology; this market is anything but quiet. It has shown to be one of the assets with the best performances in the last ten years, (from less than a dollar to 20k $), but also one of the assets with the highest volatility.
One should know that risk and reward are two faces of the same coin, and that they cannot be separated: without risk, there are no rewards and the same is true for the contrary. Hence, considering the trading activity one should first acknowledge the basic principles of investments, because one of the easiest ways to lose money for the average trader is the underestimation of risks and the incorrect money management of the capital. Indeed, it is known that every investor is more concerned about losses, because they make him/her take emotional decisions, and unable to cut losses when it’s needed.
Therefore, the main goal is to create a balanced cryptocurrency’s portfolio which should minimize risks of large draw-downs and which in turn, it should allow for the constant growth of the capital. This would also give the investor the time to create a good trading strategy, without worrying too much about market movements and recessions. Even if this diversification with other cryptocurrencies could benefit the portfolio in terms of risk exposure, I think that if Bitcoin fails, all the other cryptocurrencies are going to follow the same fate. Indeed, for me, there are no other candidates that fulfill the characteristics of money in the same way as Bitcoin.
After selecting an appropriate portfolio with the combination of different assets accurately chosen, one could finally start to have a more active trading strategy, in relation to his/her personal risk aversion. In this regard I’m thinking about three strategies for different temporal windows, that are in line with my risk profile:
- Long term (month/year) — investing: I would use tools such as fundamental analysis, technical analysis, and cyclical analysis.
- Medium term (week/daily) — trading: I would use statistical tools such as expectations of returns (ARMA), expectation of volatilities (GARCH), trend and cycle decompositions (STL, Fourier).
- Short term (daily/hour) — scalping: I would use statistical tools such as clustering and machine learning.
These three strategies will hopefully increase personal holdings and make me (and who other tries) one step closer to independence. I’ve linked this section to “earnings” because my intention is to earn specifically through this method. The second step is to build a weighted portfolio basing on historical series, relaxing at least in the short run, the efficient market hypothesis. The other three are conceived with the aim to sustain the whole channel, to have the possibility to study and build a portfolio and to “spread the word” about cryptocurrencies. And obviously, to give a hint and help other people to follow a similar path.
Final remarks
At this point, I don’t know how it would be the result, as it’s too far from now and I don’t know how things would evolve. I can make other courses, continue with other more lucky activities or just find a good recipe to earn with trading. This is irrelevant, as my “one thing” is to be independent.
I don’t know if would make it. In reality, I have not too much savings left, which means that sand is flowing into the hourglass. Obviously, if I cannot continue, I’ll just suspend my activity, find a job, and then start again, if life makes me possible to do it. Indeed my problem is not anymore to find a job, thanks to my degree; my problem is that in that case, I would be dependent.
I believe that the only thing that separates people from freedom is not having the patience to arrive at the destination.
In the next article, you can find a big summary of the economy, additional resources and the main methods to support this activity.
