Hello! My name is Donovan though I go by DevoH on social networks. I am 44, a Gemini... Wait, you didn't come here for that!

When I was a child, I wanted to buy a toy. I earned around $5.00 in allowance money for various chores and my parents took me and my sister to the mall. We went to the toy store (You don't see those in malls anymore) and at the time I was really into GI Joe. There was a GI Joe glider set where I could attach my GI Joe figures and pretend they were flying. It was around $5.00 with tax. Next to it was the GI Joe base. It was amazing. It was $20.00. I didn't have enough for it. My parents knew I wanted the GI Joe base. It was vividly apparent on my face so they suggested I hold onto my allowance and save up until I could afford the GI Joe base. I wanted instant satisfaction, taking home a new toy with my hard-earned allowance, but I knew in my heart I needed to save for what I really wanted. So what did I do? Of course, I bought the glider set and took him home despite my parents urging me to save, and I just asked Santa for the GI Joe base for Christmas. Instant gratification! Yeah, this isn't one of those "I have been a saver since I was a kid" types of blogs. Saving for me takes discipline. It is hard. As the immortal Veruca Salt said, "I want it now!"

As a child, I moved a lot. Born in Oklahoma, lived in Topeka, KS, then Barstow, CA, San Bernardino, CA, Winslow, AZ, finally back to California by the time I was 11. Yes, it does sound like the Route 66 song. Yes, I stood on the corner in Winslow, AZ like in the Eagles song. No, my dad was not in the military so I was not a military brat. I was a railroad brat. My father was a railroad signalman. My grandfather was a railroad signalman. My great-great-grandfather worked in the shops for the railroad. You could say railroading is in my blood and you would be right.

At 17 I got a job at my father's newly started company, a design firm for railroad signals. I cleaned the office and drafted plans with a pencil. I have horrible handwriting and a touch of ADHD (never diagnosed, but WebMD said so) so it was hard. Then came computer drafting and I love computers, so it was a match made in heaven. You can have barely legible handwriting and still use a computer. No one will know your signature looks like a doctor's signature! As a child, my sister and I coded games on our Commodore 64 and I always loved taking things apart and trying to put them back together (I had many funerals for the GI Joes which I could not put back together. Casualties of war I guess). When my dad brought home a shiny Packard Bell computer when I was 15 I immediately started working on it and actually completely broke it. Apparently deleting the autoexec.bat and config.sys was a bad thing. I came out of that experience stronger (after being yelled at) and wiser (after being yelled at). So when I started computer drafting, or computer-aided drafting and design, or CADD for short, I felt like I found my calling.

As the company grew larger my mother joined. She is a wizard at all things business and over time took over as the President. My father was just fine with that. He could concentrate on getting and doing work and my mom could concentrate on keeping the business running. Under my father's leadership, I learned about the design of railroad signal systems. Under my mother's leadership, I learned about running a business. I learned the most valuable thing from both of my parents. I learned the midwestern code. When you say you are going to do something, do it. When you give someone your word, honor it. I have lived by that code my entire life.

Eventually, I became an "expert" at railroad signaling, meaning I have spent over 25 years doing it. Do I get a gold star? My parents retired and my sister and I bought the company. Now before you go thinking we work out of a garage, this is a business with over 40 employees, so we are legit. I have a bachelor's degree in Business, meaning I can run some charts and look at things in a quantitative way, however, I look at things qualitatively. People aren't numbers, and quality isn't what you can get away with. Remember the code I live by? It breaks my heart to terminate an employee and I only want the best for my employees and for my clients. This is not an easy path but it is the right path.

That brings you up to speed on my work-life. Personal life is the next topic. I have a beautiful wife and two teenagers. They were cute once but they are teenagers. My daughter wants to open a bakery so she is leaving us in California to go to Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island to learn about business and the pastry arts. My son wants to be a police officer and is planning on joining the military in a couple of years. I couldn't be prouder of both of them. It hasn't been an easy road with my children. It never is. My wife and I were meant to be. I found her in a local AOL chat room, we talked for a couple of days, and she told me where she worked (Target). I just got an apartment so I needed a mop and a bucket. You know, to mop and stuff. So where did I go to get those much-needed items? Target. I was walking around and I saw a tall red-headed beauty in a red shirt walking around. As I looked at items I saw her walk by again. When I found what I needed I went to the register. The girl that was the cashier had the same first name as my wife, but she didn't look like the grainy picture I was sent (Back in those days you took a somewhat grainy picture to an office store to have it scanned into a grainier picture and then sent it to people online). While I wasn't the next person in line, the red-headed beauty pulled me out of the line to be my cashier. Sure enough, she had my wife's name. She was the woman I was looking for, literally. You could say I was stalking her, you could say she stalked me, but we obviously were attracted to each other. We ran back to AOL that night and admitted to the meeting. She liked tall guys and luckily I am 6'-3". I liked tall girls and she is 6'-0". It was a match made in heaven and 22 years later we are still happy as ever. It was not easy, it never is.

So you came for the crypto right? Well, I am getting to that. When I turned 21 I started putting money into the 401K. Not a lot. I didn't have a lot to put in. While I love instant gratification, I knew I needed money for retirement. For years I put in the same 6% and watched the market go up and down like waves in the ocean. I lost 19% of my value one year. I wanted to cry. I did not stop putting money in. When I became a business owner I put in more. It helps with taxes. The market went up and it went down. I didn't get seasickness. I am playing the long game. For 23 years I have been investing in my retirement and I have over $800K in my 401K. In a few years, it will be over $1M. I will be a millionaire. According to my 401K forecast by the time I retire, I will have over $5M. I can't even believe it. My wife and I will be comfortable in retirement. Sure, I have ownership in the company and should make money if we sell, but business is volatile. Our company could sell for $20M someday. It could go out of business. My 401K shall remain. I planted my roots 23 years ago, it has grown, and now I see a beautiful flowering tree. Now I just sit and watch it grow taller and taller. Sure, I can lose 20% in one year. I have learned to laugh it off. It always comes back. In order to make a tree grow strong, you have to cut off the dead branches. The dead branches stop the growth. Cut them off and watch the tree grow.

In April 2021 I was talking to a coworker and he mentioned his crypto earnings. I never understood it. I knew what Bitcoin was. A Youtuber just bought a Tesla Model 3 outright with it. I knew what Ethereum was. It wasn't Bitcoin. That was all I knew. I love computers. I built so many in my life I can't even count. I love programming. I missed the wave of cryptocurrency, or so I thought. My coworker mentioned Coinbase and I joined up. I got a little overboard and put in $2K in a few days. It was exciting. Everything was going up. Shiller's gonna shill and they said the market would not end. It did. My crypto amounts stayed the same but their value tanked on that fateful day in May 2021. I should have panicked. It was the normal thing to do. Instead, I laughed and bought more. Remember my 401K? You don't stop investing when times get tough. Now you can buy more with the same amount of money! Look at the markets, whether they be stocks or cryptocurrency. The price goes up a lot, it goes down a lot, and then it goes up a lot even more. Waves in the ocean. Ride the waves. Watch the investment take root and grow. In the time people were running from crypto I bought in. The price went down more, I bought more. I have invested $10K within the last 3 months. I am not made of money. This is a lot. I am sitting on $20K in value. But wait, how could I have bought in the "dip" and have made 100% profit in 3 months? Trial and error my friend. Trial and error.

Every experience makes me wiser. I learn from my successes and my failures. I am attempting to now explain what I have done in order to earn money in crypto. I have earned money as stated above. I have lost money. I am in it for the long haul. I am invited you to experience things as I experience them. As you can see I am not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice. This will educate you (hopefully). Let's begin the adventure!