You can learn things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you. - Barbara Sher
That's why I love being a beginner, Barbara!
Maybe the fact that many people don't find pleasure in starting from zero, sets many boundaries to their lives.
A couple of days back I met some friends that I hadn't seen for a long time. They're all informed about my activities on steemit but haven't been in touch with the crypto world by themselves yet.
When we started to chat about that new world, they asked me a lot of questions. Some of them were really thought-provoking, and that's why I decided on writing about them today.
Sometimes it's not about finding the right answer but about defining the right question!
You better perk up your ears @surfermarly, some interesting questions are asked
What would you ask if the answer was 'steemit'?
We've all become professionally blinkered.
After more than one year on steemit, the processes on this platform seem completely logical to me. While some of them took me a certain time, now I feel absolutely comfortable.
I'm definitely one of these people who enjoy being a beginner, needing to deal with unexpected problems, running into dead ends, failing, standing up, learning and finally discovering a solution.
Now if you ever tried to explain the concept of steemit to somebody who hasn't ever been in touch with cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology, then you will suddenly find yourself time traveling back to your own beginnings. There they are again: these complex questions about the "who" and the "why" that are almost philosophical.
You listen to your non-crypto friends who sound excactly like you did a couple of months back.
"Okay, but where does the money come from?"
The core of this questions isn't actually the WHERE in sense of a location, meaning that my friends didn't ask me WHERE the Steem Dollar is physically produced.
They rather wanted to understand (quote): HOW is steemit's eco system even able to operate, being based on a monetary concept of no value.
They didn't understand how an unknown coin could be recognized as a valid currency.
Unknown coin? What do you mean?
After a while I found out that the real unknown in this situation was the missing concept of money.
It really seems that most people have forgotten that money itself doesn't have any value. It's just a tool!
So my answer was: "That money is an implication of trust. It was created to define value and give that value back to the ones who created it - the ones that own it."
And I added: "That's actually how any currency in the world can be defined. The problem with our established currencies is that we gave them into the hands of some keepers that turned out to be less trustworthy than we actually believed."
However, the very concept of a currency is still untouched. Money, coins, banknotes, gold bullions or whatever type of ... is nothing more and nothing less than a tool to define an exchange value.
Money was invented to make exchanges more comfortable, not needing to take your herd of donkeys to the market anymore in order to get some food in return.
The concept of money has always been based on mutual agreements, being an artificial tool to define value.
Thus, we wouldn't stand here today and criticize the existing financial systems and their currencies, if we didn't have a confidence issue.
"So you believe that we can create our own currencies just because we don't trust in the existing ones anymore?"
"Why not?" was my reply.
"On steemit we are able to create value through social interaction and then reward it through a currency we trust in," I added.
I can totally relate. It's hard to follow all these new ideas since the whole concept of cryptocurrencies requires a complete paradigm shift. But didn't all great technological progress started like that?
It's all about confidence and routine.
Regarding money the thing people are most afraid of is losing control.
Now the most dramatical part of the established financial systems is that we believe that we are in control of our money, but we're actually not.
We got used to believe them when they said that everything was fine. It's like it happens in all relationships that are based on trust but then - out of the blue - face some confidence issues.
Due to our long-lived routines and habits, most people feel much more comfortable knowing their money in hands of a bank than administrating it on their own. Isn't that weird?
And then you look into your friends' eyes after talking in monologue about corrupt financial systems, unsafe structures and untrustworthy banks, and they suddenly start to understand why all these new concepts make sense.
What would you ask if the answer was 'steemit' then?
Talking to people who haven't been in touch with cryptocurrencies yet, always helps me to back up my own beliefs. The more I talk about it, the more I'm convinced about it by myself.
Steemit is the perfect gateway into the crypto world for all these people who are not typical early adopters, people that don't jump on every new technological train that crosses their path.
By getting socially involved with the steemit community, they more and more engange with "the new", get confident and gradually find out that the pros outweigh the cons.
We're all in charge when it comes to teaching these pros, we're all steemit ambassadors.
So where does the money come from again? From trust.
Best, Marly -
Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!
PS: Don't forget to visit my new site surfermarly.com
Original content. Quotes found on pinterest.com, quotefancy.com and success.com.
Wow... brilliant!
As an aside, Barbara Sher does have a lot of wisdom.
Seriously, though, this is one of the best pieces you've written! This gets down to the heart of what we're doing here on Steemit... and what it is we actually need to be telling people. This is a new way of trust, not just "a blog" and "some money."
And you're absolutely right-- most people have NO idea what "money" really is... in a sense, I am reminded of some of my childhood in Kenya where (in the late 1960's) quite a few of the local people still used "Cowries" (small seashells) as money... it was both fascinating, but also made total sense to my 8-year old brain. My parents, on the other hand, described those people as "primitives."
But WHY? They had a trust based system of trade they had more faith in than Kenyan Shilling.
Anyway, resteeming and sharing! This is also a particularly relevant article in the context of Steemit just having been featured in Wired Magazine... lots of new blood heading this way, I'm going to guess.
Thanks for your great compliment, @denmarkguy! I feel very honored :-)
Nice insight. Actually there is nothing wrong with seashells. In the future they might be called "SeaTokens" but the concept would still be the same. Plus: these local people you are talking about might be more trustworthy than any other banker...:-)
This!
The feature in the Wired Magazine is oustanding! News like these are fuel to steemit's wings. We definitely need more of that!
Again thanks for your valuable thoughts, as you know I always appreciate your comments a LOT!
I love this post! Great job distilling it down. This is a core issue that we face as early adopters trying to explain to newcomers this new space and paradigm, and a challenging one.
^^^^^ So so so SOOOOO important and easily forgotten!
Thank you so much for your kind feedback, @raised2b!
I like your nickname, so out of curiousity I've just read your introduction post. Interesting bio and beliefs! You've got a new follower now, selfishly hoping that you will blog a lot about that outdoors passion of yours :-)
See you around!
Thanks! I'm sure I'll get around to sharing some of my trips and adventures so hopefully I'll post something you'll enjoy at some point π
I've read through some of your posts as well and have enjoyed reading them, I really liked the tale of how you found the waves and how they changed your life, very cool story! Glad I came across your post today.
PS- I love your logo too, it's just plain awesome
Oh I'm happy you enjoyed the read. Actually the steemit community has inspired me to take that direction here. In the beginning surfing wasn't my main focus, but thanks to the great feedback of my followers, I've recognized that I should stick with it. So now I'm a vlogging surfer, that's OK :-)
The logo was designed by @sjennon who won the design contest I ran a couple of weeks back. You're right, it's amazing!
Have a great weekend, @raised2b!
everytime i click your links just know that i trust you to come with the goods, and look what you did. you did it again. great great post marly! can't wait to debate and do a podcast together at steemfest.
Oh you are too cute! Thank you so much!!! :-)
Whenever I touch the crypto area, I'm a bit scared. There are so many experts on this platform, so talking about coins and blockchain always makes me feel like a little girl at her first day of school, haha!
Lucky me, so far the feedback has been positive.
See you soon in Lisbon!!!
don't be scared. we got you. see ya in lisbon!
It seems there aren't many people who understand this. Money is a tool that was invented to make trading more efficient, and it's an exceptionally useful invention.
Without money, if you have a donkey and want a loaf of bread, you need to find someone who has a loaf of bread and wants a donkey. That might be nearly impossible, and even if you do find that perfect trading partner, you're going to have problems making change. Your donkey is worth much more than a loaf of bread, so how do you make that exchange? You can't.
So you then find someone who's willing to give you rice in exchange for your donkey. You take that rice, not because you want the rice, but because you know that rice is more marketable than your donkey, plus you can make change with your rice. Now, you can take your rice and exchange some of it for a loaf of bread.
In this example, rice just became a form of currency.
p.s. We miss you Marly! See ya in Lisbon!
You perfectly filled in the gap and explained what I didn't. Nice adding Jordan, thank you!!
I miss you, too - and can't wait to meet you two again in Portugal :-)
Have you seen that we'll be at a Snooker bar the first evening? That totally reminded me of our unforgettable beer pong night in Vegas! To be continued...
Haha totally. Should be fun!
The answer is pretty simple, people are always afraid of what they donβt know.
Most of people trust banks which is the biggest ponzi of all times but they are taught that money works like this so they donβt even bother.
I have a collegue that is convinced that steem and bitcoin is a fraud, we will see what he says when the USD/Euro bubble collapses and his bank account is worth one tenth of what is worth now.
I couldn't agree more!
The unknown always scares us - such as the internet a couple of years back when it was supposed to be a place for drug dealers and gun sellers. The very same story is attributed to cryptocurrencies now.
Right now if I had huge amounts of money in a bank account, I would take them out immediately. A bank is probably the most insecure place of all.
These are exciting times - and the best is yet to come!
Thank you for posting this awesome article. I'm happy that you quoted Oscar Wilde. During my school time we read several books of him and his quote you mentioned above is one which crosses my mind several times a week. "Nowadays people know the price of everything but the value of nothing" You can transfer this quote to many situations in life. Even big companies like Mastercard used the underlying message in their commercials.
You are totally right that we have to start every conversation with a "crypto stranger" with the basics of money and the monetary system today. @shenanigator 's and @denmarkguy 's replies are a great add-on to your initial post. Please keep posting so valuable content and let's carry the "new world" as you said into the "old world. ππ»
Amazing article!
Thanks for sharing
Thank YOU for stopping by and commenting :-)
It comes from magic.
Spread the knowledge Marly! You are doing a good social deed that I'm sure your friends will thank you for in years to come if they listened to you and took it to heart.
New beginnings from scratch can be painful and make you pound your head against the wall sometimes, but I find that doing the same things over and over again that you have "figured out" is mind-numbingly boring and nearly makes me lose my mind if I am not growing and learning. So cheers to your spirit of not being afraid to be a beginner and learn to tackle new things!
I'm not sure if they will thank me for having introduced them into my world, but I always believe: the wider we spread the idea, the merrier :-)
Thanks for your encouragement and time!
It seems like its the only one that is backed by something tangible. π π π π Have a wonderful day!
I usually answer the question by discussing the barter system first. then I ask them where their currency comes from. After a long pause, I continue.
A long time ago, Charlie Shrem had his "A Geek in Prison" series. One of the items that he talked about which stuck with me was that the prisoners used cans of mackerel as their currency in the prison. Since one person was willing to trade other things for Mackerel, it truly was a currency.
If you Google Charlie Shrem and Mackerel, you will find it... https://steemit.com/story/@charlieshrem/mackerelcoin-and-my-socioeconomic-observations-from-prison-part-1-by-charlie-shrem
At this point, the person I am talking to is usually finding the conversation too much to handle ... so I change the topic. Wait a couple of days ... Then, I get them onto Steemit - using the article above as a starting point.
:-)
Thanks for the adding! I haven't read this one from Charlie yet, so will definitely do it now :-)
Actually EVERYTHING can become a currency, as long as you have two people that agree on its value.
Dear @surfermarly Wonderful blog. Really importance of money is like importance of food for body.But we shouldn't be slave of money.
Well, how can we improve our Financial literacy?
Thanks for your compliment!
What do you mean by financial literacy? Knowledge about the markets?
Well I'd say: read as much as you can :)
Thanks for your post. When people will ask us about steemit and crypto, we'll just send the link. :) But otherwise, you are totally right. Corrupt and untrustworthy system is what made us to move towards cryptocurrencies and we hope that soon most of the population will use decentralized currencies. Good luck and keep growing. @extremeromance
I always revel in the conversations with non-crypto individuals looking to get involved, and folks asking what Steemit is and how it operates. The sentiment is there, the zeitgeist. People feel in their gut that something is awry with the government backed, bank run credit fiat system. Like any relationship, it all boils down to TRUST. Time for an upgrade!
Thanks for your insightful post, I really took a liking to the quotes you used. Found your blog via a resteem today, and I will now be following along. A fellow crypto / surf enthusiast here. Best to you!
realy super post.mind touch post.
Very good post. The transfer of money is essentially just a symbol of an agreement between 2 parties.
Someday I would love to try surfing! I suppose it's time to embrace being a beginner :)
GrEaT pOsT vOtE ,FoLlOw , tHanKs @surfermarly
Great post. People so often forget or never learn this.
ah, this was what I needed - thank you! Just this morning I was trying to explain steemit and crypos in general to a friend and had a hard time finding the right words - the biggest challenge is finding words that do not produce the set narrative into gear.... Most peoples understanding of money is not at all what money is about ... cheers from the seven mountains in Germany :-)
Great post, i joined steemit about 3 months ago and that's how i was introduced to cryptocurrencies.
Very good.
Sory friends help me.
https://steemit.com/aceh/@safrijals/rukok-tanyo-aceh-2017105t233144598z
This is an elaborate lecture. Maybe I should tittle the lecture CRYPTOTECHS 201. Good job. Patiently read it and am glad I did. Thanks.
Nice read!
If someone asks me about crypto: "Where does the money come from?", I pull a EURO note out of my wallet and ask them, where does this come from and what gives this value? Most people really do not have a clue to answer that...
Then you can teach them, if they are open for it, or they keep ignorant to what is real... I give them the choice... I must admit, it is getting easier to convince people than a few years ago!
Ciao
Another great article!! That's seems to be the big challenge when telling people about Steemit - not seeing it from a newbies point of view. ππΎππΎ
really amazing story my friend ... I wish you success always be ....
Thanks for the article. First, I asked the same question. Where does the money here. But now I understand that it is our trust, our faith in StEEMIT. I think that the best times are still ahead. Now I'm a beginner, I enjoy learning new here, trying to understand. I am happy that there are people like you willing to teach beginners in a clear language. I believe the day will come when I can help someone to figure it out!
Great blog! And one I can pass on to my buddies who were asking the same questions last weekend.
Luckily I managed to land a few replies of use - that paper thing you are holding is based on trust and f all else!
Nice one π RS
Hey Marly :)
I used World of Warcraft to explain where the money comes from, and got a lot of positive feedback.
(Past payout)
This is going on my FB page to spread the word. Great article @surfermarly!
Well said, Marly.
I think most of us that have been on the platform for a year or more (or even just a couple of months) have had to face the struggle of trying to explain Steem and the Steemit platform to other people.
Most of us have just been trained too well to really let go of our preconceptions and attempt something new. It was a bit of a struggle for me, too (and you mentioned you went through a similar journey).
However, I must say I'm impressed with your ability to handle the questions and queries of your friends. I found myself facing questions like 'what's the catch?' and 'what is that?'
But something tells me that in the next few years some of those same people will be wishing that they'd listened to us a bit more closely.
Sometimes you need an elevator pitch you know what I mean? π π π π Have a wonderful day!
My friends also always ask me where Steemit takes money . They don't believe that you can earn by doing nothing. But i wouldn't say that we do nothing here. We spend time and forces when we write our posts. I would say it's an intellectual reward for original content or something interesting that we post. It's a hard work as well! It's like a content manager's work or even a writer!!! Isn't it?
Great prespective on Steemit. It was difficult for no computer people like myself to grasp what Steemit is all about but indeed the value of an account only raises as one gains more and more trust. I am very excited and enthusiastic to be apart of this Steemit movement.
If you lose memory and have a large amount of bitcoin in a conservative tip, print a paper or record all the data in a file in your pc, leaving it to a member of your family to treat you
My keys are part of my testament :-)
I know what you mean, thanks for this. People who think the know everything are foolish. π π π π Have a wonderful day!
Something very wonderful, well done, my friend
Really good post. I have struggled trying to explain Steemit to a few people outside the crypto world and it can be difficult to break through.
I wondered if you were an Australian and whether I could recruit you to Team Australia because you look the part and have the right attitude. If you haven't been here yet you should definately visit. You'd fit right in here and we have some of the best surf beaches in the world I reckon you'd love a surf safari here.
good post friends.
Love your post. Value always comes from Trust.
That was a great way to explain it. Thank you.
People only see the things those have obvious results and base. They believe in dollar currency because they can see dollars being printed, regulated by the authorities and then circulated. But this is not the case with cryptocurrencies, they have more technical things and we should spend a lot of time and energy to understand them.
Thank you for these very considerable thoughts. You took an interesting point of view to our crypto universe. Ideed, steemit is the best door opener for people who dont have any experiences with bitcoin etc.
I'm so glad to be with you in this global community. Steemit is still so young and nobody knows where we will be in a couple of years. Maybe on the moooon.
That can apply to absolutely any cryptocurrency right now. The main problem is that some tools are going to be considered more valuable than others and not all of them will last.
So much to learn! Thanks for the awesome post @surfermarly! See you around