BC LIFE
Saved by @zmbnski

1/ So here is a thread on how I turned $32,000 into $1.2m and back to pretty much zero (once taxes are paid).

Just note, I am not bitter or salty in any way at all, the last 2 years have been an amazing ride - travelled the world, been wealthy, been poor.

 2/ Dec '16, my advertising agency folded, I had a little bit of money left and I put $32k into Bitcoin and Ether. As it started to go up I diversified into everything, Monero, Dash, this that, any crap - even Ripplecoin. Everything just kept going up.
3/ By March I think I had around $300k and $500k by the summer. I used to take 25% out but towards the end of the summer I got greedy and put it all back in and by December it was $1.2m.
4/ Thinking I was an absolute genius I decided to start a bunch of businesses. As silly as it sounds I had this goal of making $5m as I wanted to buy Bedford Town Football Club and get them in the league, and as Crypto was going up forever I needed 6 months.
5/ So:
- Trading (income 1)
- Podcast (income 2)
- Mining (income 3)
- Mining pool (income 4)
- Consulting (income 5)

Yes - all of the above as a one-man army :)
6/ As the market started to crash I just ignored it, kept thinking it would come back, it crashed like 4 times in 2017. But it didn't.

Mining is what busted me most:
- 70 S9s
- 70 DragonMints

The above with setup was like $300k.
7/ Mining made money for one month, broke even for a month and has consistently lost since. Problem is I have been stuck in data centre contracts paying a fixed 18 cents fee.

Each month digging into my BTC to pay the bills. Finally paying $19k to release from the contract.
8/ Mining is still losing money but not as much. I am though so close to liquidating it and accepting it as a failure (which will probably be the bottom).

Basically paying losses each month with a slowly dwindling balance of BTC.
9/ At my peak I had around 150BTC but trading shit coins I was losing BTC while gaining $. When I finally realised this I was down to around 80BTC. But this has been dropping in value as some of the coins I have been holding have collapsed.
10/ So basically greed and over ambition have destroyed what could have been life-changing money. After I pay my tax bill pretty much all is gone.

The good news - I have the podcast which is now generating an income, something a little more reliable
11/ I have sold most of the remaining BTC as an insurance for if the podcast has a bad month. I'm a Dad and I have to be responsible for my children.

I don't want any donations or sympathy. Sure I regret stuff but I am happy with how it has all played out.
12/ If there is another bull run and you make a bunch of cash then remember to take profits. Don't overstretch yourself.

People say don't invest what you can't afford to lose, well don't keep in Crypto profits which will change your life.
13/ Anyway, anyone who says I am trying to pump my bags with BTC, well those bags are tiny. BTC could go to $100k and my life won't materially change.

It is one of the reasons I have sympathy for maximalism, all these tokens and coins really are silly.
14/ I am sure I am not the only one with a story like this. If you want to do anything, just support the podcast, even a review on iTunes helps. That is my entire focus now.

Viva la Bitcoin!
Edit: forgot one thing. Conserving capital is so important. When my balance was high I went crazy: new clothes, first class flights, giving money away to family, charity, laughed at $25k lost on Confido... the list is endless :)
Edit 2: If you are not cut out for trading (like me), I wrote a thread on tools which can help you create your own business or a side gig.
https://t.co/svz7sQS9Yy
Edit 3 (last one): a few DMs creeping in with people in similar positions. All I will say is that in the last 5 years I have lost a marriage (after 3 months), lost my Mum (cancer) and nearly died from a drug overdose. Rich or broke, the money made little difference to happiness.

More from Life

ArmaniTalks \U0001f399\U0001f525
ArmaniTalks 🎙🔥...
@ArmaniTalks
Your Most PRECIOUS Currencies:

-Energy

-Time

-Attention

-Trust

-Love

-Loyalty

-Respect

Only give these currencies to high value people. Never spend these currencies on low value shitheads eg: trolls, weasels, snakes, naysayers etc.

'Wait, I thought money was the most important currency?'

Nah.

Once you adopt abundance mentality, you realize their is no shortage of money.

Making the dollars your most important currency will have you leading an empty life.

Time to flip your perspective.

👇

▪Energy

When you strip yourself to the core, you are an emotional creature.

Emotions are your internal worlds energy.

Harnessing that energy is crucial for leveraging yourself to obtain whatever you want.

You have a finite amount everyday, so spend it wisely.

▪Time

A second that is lost will never be returned.

You start valuing the hell out of this currency the more you mature.

As the years start adding up, you realize time is precious.

You must always have a scarcity mindset towards time.

Once you do so, you will not be lazy.

▪Attention

You can be here, but not present.

Attention is completely mental.

Giving someone your attention means you are clearing up mental bandwidth to make room for them.

Only give your attention to people who help you grow.

For the negative ones?

Ignore their existence
LIFE
Quinn Cummings
Quinn Cummings
@quinncy
Gather round, Gentle Readers. It is time I tell the story of the worst decision I ever made in an office. Some of you have heard this. Some have not. Whatever you do in your office today, this week, the rest of this year, you can console yourself by recalling this tale.

A long time ago, I was a talent agent. I worked for a woman named Susan Smith, who had her own small boutique agency. She was known for three things:

1. She had fantastic taste in clients. If there is someone you admire, odds are good that at some point, she was their agent,

2. She could negotiate a deal like few who have ever trod the earth. Casting would give her all the money they had budgeted for that part, plus a little more, plus promising to get her dog Barnaby groomed. She was magnificent to watch.

3. She was insane.

I'm sure you're thinking, "Quinn, it's the entertainment industry, they are all insane." Yes, many are. So consider this; if you told someone you worked for Susan, people who worked for insane people would look and you and whisper, "I hear she's insane."
LIFE
Advertisement
\U0001f384Save Your Sons\U0001f384
🎄Save Your Sons🎄...
@SaveYourSons
20 life lessons every father must teach his son

=THREAD=


1. Self-Respect is paramount

Without self-respect, nothing else in life is possible. Discipline, integrity, work ethic, values: they're all made possible through self-respect. Guide your actions with the question “What would a self-respecting man do?” Then do that thing.

2. Everything must be earned

You are owed nothing. The world will rightly treat you as such. You must believe you are capable, and you must believe you WILL achieve your goals. But you must never rely on others to do the work for you. If you don't earn it, it isn't really yours.

3. People are ultimately self-interested

People will behave in whatever way is most expedient for them. It isn’t right or wrong, it’s just true. People want their problems solved, and they want to feel good. Give them those things and you’ll never be wanting.

4. Compounding powers the world

Success is the result of your daily actions. The effort you put in today, whatever the endeavor, will build on itself over time. Investment, strength, knowledge, the rules are the same: 1% of 100 is much less than 1% of 1,000,000.
LIFE
GREG ISENBERG
GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg
Life gets better when:

You understand that grades never mattered but how you grade yourself does

You learn from disagreements, you don't get upset

You keep your private life private

You often have your phone in DND mode
LIFE
edgarallanwhoa \U0001f41d\U0001f377\u2708\ufe0f
edgarallanwhoa 🐝🍷✈️...
@edgarallanwhoa
I am a resident of Louisiana.
Tomorrow, I will drop hard copies of this letter in the mail, but I've emailed it to the GOP office and also to Senator Cassidy's office today.
*sorry for the run-ons and so forth.

Dear LAGOP:
Your tone deaf condemnation and censure of Senator Cassidy is misguided and alienating.
As it turns out, remarking that he is without a party places him in a privileged arena if our state’s Republicans are choosing to categorically deny the Senator his

elected responsibility to listen to evidence at a trial and cast a vote appropriate to his conscience.
Senator Cassidy has the ability to muster the courage it takes to be truly honorable, and extend the thought and reasoning it takes to make tough choices regardless of

subversive pressure being applied.
Unlike yourselves, Senator Cassidy has the capacity to read a room. The room he had to read most likely felt cold and lonely. The room he had to read most likely felt suffocating, and fraught with dubious outcomes for himself personally.

But he persisted with honor, and he persisted with valor. He deserves respect for that.
Perhaps reading that room is something for which you should take a look at doing a bit more closely. The Republican Party will no doubt see some changes in the next years.
LIFE

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Dear fellow musicians, performers, technicians etc. Here’s a thread about how our lives are going to change re touring/working in the EU in 50 days time. Think of it as a kind of Bad News Advent calendar. Here goes 1/

First things first, you’ll need a passport with at least 6 months left on it. And you’ll need full travel/third party/health insurance, since if you get ill or have an accident every penny of your care will have to be paid for 2/

To work or do a gig you’re going to need a work visa, just like you do for the USA. But here’s the thing. Work permits & visas and the conditions attached are a matter not for the EU but for the member states themselves 3/

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1/ The #Tesla Model 3 is one of the most efficient #EV on a range/kWh basis, followed closely by the Bolt. Meanwhile the “Tesla Killers” lag significantly.


2/ “But they’re different types of cars so they aren’t comparable!” That’s why we put them into our physics based model that simulates EPA range to separate out form factor from battery/drivetrain efficiency.

3/ Even accounting for the fact that the Jaguar iPace is an SUV, it’s far less efficient than the Model 3.


4/ Which means Tesla should be able produce a car of a given range (or at least the drivetrain) for cheaper than its competitors. (This doesn't even take into account that Tesla is likely making batteries for less than its competitors).


5/ Why is the Bolt so efficient? Perhaps it sacrifices performance to achieve it. Either way the “Tesla Killers” look like they’re throwing everything out the window to try & match Tesla performance.
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1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?
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Katherine Wu
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1/ China’s “Internet regulator” just put out draft guidelines for “blockchain information & related services” and are asking for public comments. This is China’s first regulatory attempt at defining & setting the scope for the “blockchain information/ technology” category.

2/ For background: China’s Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission (formed in 2014) is basically the regulator that has oversight in anything that is internet/ information-related— yes, that includes censorship/ information control/ etc.

3/ This is China’s first attempt at both defining and setting the scope for the “blockchain information/ technology” category from a regulation aspect.

(Link to the notice here:

4/ There are a few mains objectives as laid out in the guidelines: 1. to better define the scope of a “blockchain information service”; 2. To foster the growth of the industry; 3. To protect interests of citizens and 4. To protect the interest of the state.

5/ Rule 10 in the draft points to China’s Internet Safety Laws and will be mandating all blockchain information service providers and **users** to provide identification proof (by way of government issued ID or phone number) in order to use/access the service.
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Damodar Hegde
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>2

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Now, why I speak in favour of Shri Modi:

1. Ever since the beginning of my service I realised that Planning Commission was not serving..

>6
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