Living on Crypto: Quitting your Job

Starting on January 2018 I will officially be living on cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology. This was a long thought decision that I wish to document on a series called “Living on Crypto”.

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Well, I know what you are thinking: “This guy is an idiot!, prices are up but they can also go down”, this is basically what everyone has told me since I made the decision and I am sure they say it because they actually worry about me, which is nice I guess. The thing is, I am relying on “non-volatile” sources of income, I am talking about consultancy, giving courses and conferences, and a paid position on a cryptocurrency start-up. Of course I still do (and love) all the crypto volatile stuff, like trading, mining and basically being a degenerate Hodler.

On future posts I will talk about how to make steady income with cryptocurrencies, however this chapter is about the first step you must take if you want to be a “blockchain professional”, which is of course quitting your existing day to day job.

I am sure many of you have thought about leaving your job recently. I mean, cryptocurrency does take a lot of our time right?, how can you manage to have a normal 8 to 5 job and stay up to the date with all the different 30 coins that you hold, write on Steemit, maintain your different nodes, look after your miners and trade on a daily basis?.. for me it was just getting nuts!

Another time consuming activity for us long time bitcoiners is answering phone calls, yes all those friends that used to think you were a complete lunatic, are now calling you all the time so that you help them buy cryptocurrencies or assist them building their miners. Some people I know just tell those friends to f*ck off, I chose to take revenge on a different way: I sell them crypto and charge them for my time. Isn't it funny how all those people that never believed in you can now be your clients?…

For me, quitting my job was the decent thing to do. I just didn't have the time to do everything, I know I am not going to quit crypto, so my office work had to go. I actually had a good job, probably the best I have had, well paid, I had my own big office, nobody busted my balls, but lately my passion just wasn't there anymore.

When I told my manager and the owners of the company I was leaving, they were ok with it, they seemed to asked a lot of Bitcoin related questions, they are old guys so I got a lot of things like “This is all drug money”, “but who is printing all of this coins?”.... I took the time to explain everything to them, but I am not sure they were convinced, they said this industry could be gone tomorrow, which is of course true, but the way I look at it is like any other industry; the oil industry took a hit after 2008 and many companies went belly up, the housing industry collapsed during that period too. All industries have their ups and down, this is normal and we should not be scared, we should be cautious yes, but not paralyzed by what could go wrong.

After renouncing my job, I went ahead and rented a coworking space, I will tell you more about what it is like on the next chapter, for now I leave you with a view of my new office...