Four years ago, I got introduced to a Catalan movie director to talk about a very interesting project that sadly didn’t take off.
During our first conversation, he confessed to me that he always believed that he couldn’t write if his life depended on it.
Motion picture however, that was his domain. That’s where he feels passionate, that’s where his inspiration strikes, and for him, that’s where the magic happens.
But then one day, as some thoughts started haunting him, he felt the need to express himself to let them out. Although, he never thought of himself as a writer, he figured that the time has come to put all those thoughts to paper…
That was only days before we met.
Do you wanna read it? He says to me.
At this point, I don’t know what to expect and the best thing to do in these situations is to not expect anything at all.
Yes of course. I genuinely said to him.
It wasn’t too long, two pages. But I didn’t want the story to end. I still remember the title to this day: No es fácil ser pionero.
It’s Not easy to be a Pioneer
In his own words, he recounts how easy it is to think of ourselves as mavericks and revolutionaries... To think that we are among the rare group of contrarians that never follow the masses just because it’s easier.
That we zig when society zags and that we always take the road less travelled (or any equivalent bumper-sticker line).
Reality on the other hand, shows that these things are easier said than done.
He recounts how his friends tried to convince him to get into Bitcoin two years earlier when it was at its very beginning.
But he didn’t.
He describes how at the end of the day knowing means nothing and executing means everything.
After all, it’s useless to have friends that introduce you to new revolutionary technologies if you never act on the information they gave you.
“I knew” is the easiest word in the world, he says.
I’m not gonna lie, it was a little uncomfortable to read, because I too have been through the same.
I never thought a slap in the face could be so refreshing.
So I bought some Bitcoin the very same day, I knew about Bitcoin before I just was postponing while saying to myself that I will get into that later.. Bullshiting myself so to speak.
So yes, I bought some Bitcoin, it’s never too late to be a pioneer I said to myself.
Where did I store them you ask? Mt.Gox.
Lesson #1: Diversify where you hold.
A few months after that, January 2014 if I remember correctly Bitcoin reached the $1000 mark for the first time and the first feeling I had was regret.
The regret not buying more. So cliché, I know.
Then I started Time-travelling
We all have these annoying little habits that are hard to get rid off. For some it’s nail-biting for others it’s the Snooze button, for me it was time-travel.
Whenever I regret not doing something I wanted to do, I would just imagine the whole situation again, only this time I have a set of brass balls to do the things I didn’t have the courage to do in real life.
That girl I dated for a couple of weeks but then I had to leave? Well, I just imagine the same situation only this time I postponed my plans and stayed with her one more week. It wasn’t so hard, now was it?
The truth is, I realized that there’s always something you can do about it, you just don’t see it at the time.
And in that case it was Bitcoin, the first crypto-currency of its kind. I started to imagine going back in time a few weeks earlier and investing in Bitcoin before the spike.
Or better yet, going back in time a few years and buying shitloads.
Till I realized, this isn’t over. I still have time to do something about it.
I waited for the correction - without even knowing if there would be one - and then I invested in Bitcoin.
Since that day, I started little by little accumulating cryptocurrencies, because after all, many of them will see the same growth than Bitcoin, from a few cents to thousands of dollars.
And in the process I fell in love with the most beautiful one, steem, the one that took us all buy surprise and brought so many good experiences and those to come.
So here I am today, telling you that it’s not too late.
After that spike that slapped me in the face, I started to buy new crypto-currencies that came out, even if it’s just $10 bucks, doesn’t matter.
All that matter is to start putting one shoe in front of the other and start walking.
0 is Better Than 1
Then I started adding little by little to one or the other depending on several factors.
To this day, I still put some money in different cryptocurrencies to hold in different wallets obviously. It’s like a savings account without any intention of touching it in the near future.
Because sooner or later the wave is gonna come, and I don’t want to time travel again.
I think we all have seen that meme that seems to be dominating the web lately that says…
Well, a picture is worth a thousand words:
Of course if there’s a cardinal rule in investing is this one: Never invest more than you can afford to lose.
The good thing is we are still at the very beginning of this trend, a trend that can change the world in ways we haven’t expected merely a few years ago.
One thing is sure, it is not too late, in fact it seems to be only the beginning.
And you can be part of it too.
P.S: I’m not trying to give any investment advice here, but mainly sharing what I learned and that is:
Action Beats Time Travel Big Time!
I hope you’re all enjoying this amazing ride in the blockchain world, but meanwhile I leave you with an interesting thought:
Can you imagine watching steem taking on the world merely a few years from now, and watching it conquering milestone after milestone?
It would be priceless, would it not?
Needless to say, if there’s anything we can do to push it forward if only a tiny bit, I have no doubt it that it will be well worth it in the end.
“Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.” ― Steve Jobs.
I'm new to cryptos myself Luckily i managed to grab some BTC at 1300 and came straight to the steemit community.
I hope you're enjoying the steemit experience so far. It's an awesome community right here :)
Awesome article @the-alien bunch of my college friends and I started buying cryptocurrencies just few months ago and it has skyrocketed since. Most of you probably know that we have been due for a recession and when the next recessions happen and government are supporting banks rather than average citizens, people will look towards Cryptocurrency. My quick observation on market cap makes me believe that there is definitely more room.
Ethereum market cap Today : $20,681,079,781 has grown 5x since April
BTC market cap Today: $40,093,825,766 has grown 2x since April
FOLLOWING and I am fairly new as well. SUPPORT is EVERYTHING.
STEEM on and Help the UNINFORMED so we can move on to the next GREAT LIFE.
PATIENCE is EVERYTHING!!!!
1 By 1.
Fuck the Moon. We are headed straight for the Sun
Hodl!
That right there, deserves a post of its own.
If I start seeing that sentence everywhere, I know who started it ;)
Will deliver tomorrow. Thought about doing it for a while now.
Looking forward to it then. I think it's gonna be impactful.
There you go. Fresh out the oven.
Fuck the Moon. We are Headed Straight For The Sun
oh it's going to leave a dent
pleaase tell my groupmates ..
and neither is it to late to get into Steemit agree?
It's not too late! Absolutely not. As far as I'm concerned, the best is yet to come :)
Great post I likewise had heard of Bitcoin quite early but accessing it still is quite difficult here so when Greg Mannarino told us about Steemit I had a look and liked it and signed up. I think this is the easiest platform for me at the moment and I will open a bitcoin account and transfer steem into it as and when I can, in my simple way.
Yeah in these things iare hard to know which currencies you should hold and how much %... In the end it all comes down to which do you see closer to happen, steemit getting to $100 someday or Bitcoin to $150.000 (both multiplied per 100) as mass adoption comes along.
Personally I like to diversify a little bit though I love steem :)
diversification is the best thing to do. i buy up-to a million of some coins.
really? fingers crossed!
I thought that best already did come :D
there's more - let it come fast hahaha
Haha no way it's the end, we have to build from this and grow :)
this is just the beginning of the beginning.
The SECOND ground FLOOR my FRIEND. Just my OPINION.
STEEM on and support.
We ALL grow TOGETHER.
1 By 1.
We have gone past the Moon and the Sun, Bitcoin is 2.5k today! It's going interstellar! 😎
$2.8K I heard... Though I won't be surprised if a correction happens soon. Either way, I think I'm holding all cryptos long term I guess, so there will be a few little moons along the way :)
New highs each time I look. It has retraced a bit this morning but I think its heading in one direction long term. 😎
Yeah nothing will be straight to one directions, I expect ups and downs to be there forever actually... But hey! If it keeps heading in one direction in the long term as you said.. I'm a happy man :)
The thing that is hard to get used to in Crypto is volatility. People are generally risk averse so they don't like volatility.
I heard someone saying a few years back that there is a possibility that Bitcoin will one day be over 100k, but when it gets to that stage the volatility will still be huge and there could be swings of 20, 30k a day. If it gets to that stage it would be very interesting indeed.
You're right, people are indeed risk averse.. Maybe that's what creates such an opportunity for those who are willing to take a small risk.
Wow swings of 20, 30k is indeed something I would pay to see .
very very interesting indeed
correction is already happening
No..np..no..!!! the sun is to oblivion...we need to colonise all of cyber-space!
Don't end up like daedalus though!
my cryptostellar spaceship is impermeable to petty fusion plasma
Well written - way too often one (one? I!) was too slow to act ... even now concerning Steem I could have been even faster and convert some of my shares into Steem while its value was still under 0.1 $. :-)
But at least I invested a little bit and caught the train instead to let it go without me again ... :)
Yeah I think the steem train is an amazing one to be on. :) No doubt!
There is so many similar situations I have found myself in as the rise of Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies happened. I hear ya' brother! I love the open minded and careful tone you share this story and these information with.
Great job again, namaste :)
Hey Eric! I hope you're doing well and that everything is going well for you.
Thanks for the nice comment man.
thanks, I'm quite well, though my computer crashed last Tuesday and hasn't revived since... Luckily, A new computer has arrived the same day and look forward to put it to very very good use within the next few months. Timing is everything right!?! ;)
Namaste :)
I'm gad it arrive so soon! Yeah timing is everything haha :)
Namaste :)
This is a very important post @the-alien. Steemit introduced me to cryptocurrency in general and then that led to trading/holding other alts. We are still so far ahead of mass adoption. I truly believe most of the new millionaires/billionaires of this next generation won't make their fortunes with businesses but with cryptocurrency.
Yeah me too. I was just talking with @kevinwong about that the other day. He wrote a book about it.
And yeah, steem has the number 1 spot in my heart of all cryptos :)
I had no idea Kevin wrote a book! I'll have to look for it.
oh no, I mean a post.. Sorry my bad :P
No problem, man! : )
It is not Too Late At All You Are So Right! Ground Zero for so many great picks out there you can not go wrong! We are going to get RICH!!!
It's not too late no :)
I am a bigfan of DOGE, too. and would love to see the first dog in space^^
Very interesting perspective on the post and entertaining as well. My time travel goes back to when I put my investments in Cryptsy or the years of mining Lite into a wallet that went caput. Who knows maybe the coin is still there but can I ever get it out?
Knowing that something will happen requires a lot of luck and thanks for your inspiration and I do the same thing never give up
Oh, sorry to hear. I hope you can get it out someday!
As you said Jeff, never give up!
I have stopped telling people, for some reason many don't seem that interested. Even people I would have thought would be interested.
I am very happy to talk about it if it comes up in conversation. I had a very interesting one last week with someone and he wasn't getting into it because he thought he missed the boat. Sure your not going to make 100 times returns on Bitcoin now, not in the short term at least, but there are hundreds of other coins, one of which you may make stellar returns on.
For me I am not into it for money but rather I think the technology and implications of decentralised value exchange, transparency, consensus are literally mind blowing. I have no doubt this will contribute to the biggest changes in society since the Industrial Revolution.
Love the article and your right, it's definitely not too late to get into crypto.
First of all, thank you for the awesome comment.
"I think the technology and implications of decentralised value exchange, transparency, consensus are literally mind blowing. I have no doubt this will contribute to the biggest changes in society since the Industrial Revolution."
I couldn't agree more. I think my first post on steemit was about that precisely, and how things changed since the printing press.
I'm with you, the potential is amazing. Also, at the same time, it would be great if the value keeps rising and that investor money start moving. from the govs to decentralized platforms.
P.S: The thing about convincing your friends, I think we all have been there.
Thanks again!!
meep
I see your out of the lab again??
meep
TIMMAY!
meep
Exactly!!!
I feel the same way....
Thanks for sharing this story. I got to know bitcoin when it was reaching the first Spike. To be honest i kind of lost track when it "crashed" And went down to 150 dollar. I was sad About losing the money, even while it was money i was able to Loose. I left the coins in my wallet thinking it could not get any lower so what is the sense in selling right? Now i am happy i did not sell, even now we are going down today. We have to trust these kind of currencies And hope they Will go up like you are predicting. I decided to buy 10000 ripple at 0,005. Made me Some good money, And if you ask me, more of these currencies will.
By the way, love the line:
He describes how at the end of the day knowing means nothing and executing means everything.
Thanks for the post!
Yeah that's the best when it goes up again :) And it's also easier to deal with that sadness you describe once we totally expect ups and downs... Thanks for sharing, it's definitely only the beginning of the road for many cryptocurrencies.
Congratulations @the-alien!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Thank you @arcange for letting me know :)
Great article. You can never reach the destination if you don't hop aboard!
Well said!
Great post and nice to connect with you! It's never too late!
Thanks! Nice to connect with you as well!
I might be wrong but for me it seems like I'm too late...😐
Apart from diversifying investment, we need to change thinking. I investing only for profit or because I believe it's a good project and can create value in the future? For example, I read a lot of people say...bitcoin it's expensive now I would buy when dropping the price. But this is not investing, this is speculation, trading or whatever you would call this. If you trust a certain coin grow up not only because is the moment trending but because u believe it's worth, do less thinking about losing.
Exactly it's holding long term, and even better, be in it because you believe in how it could impact the world as you just said.
Upvoted
Thank you!
Steemit has a future ahead of it for sure. Crypto is a gamble but it could be the gamble of a lifetime, if you just invest a little now.
nice post. especially today is a bad day for crypto investors that recently started. but a great day to start for newcomers as prices are dropping = you can buy cheap again:
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@blocklab/saturday-morning-crypto-currency-massacre-a-real-life-thriller-ein-triller-aus-dem-echten-leben
Nice post, great touch too adding German as well, it's great for the German audience.
Yeah I totally agree, nice start for newcomers.
thx.
I started posting english, but as a native German I also tried German and received great feedback from the community. At the same time I did not want to exclude my international followers, therefore bilingual is the best option I believe.
Anyone who bought yesterday, should be quite happy today =) 95% of the top 100 Crypto Currencies are green again.
THAT was AWSOME!!!!!
DEFINATELY FOLLOWING.
CAN u POINT me in the right DIRECTION to FIND a GREAT platform for a new non for profit coin?
NICE 1 more TIME MY FRIEND!!!
1 By 1.
INVEST or figure out how to get your hands in some Verge or other currency. Before you end up like the majority...UNINFORMED!!!! STEEMIT and STEEM on.
Steem on!!
"GREAT community these STEEMIANS." QUOTED from a DREAM I had with YODA.
APPRECIATING life and HELPING others.
1 By 1.
GREAT read btw!!!!
great job my friend
yeah i agree when i first bought a bitcoin i paid just 180 dollars now you can tell the price it's going up
i think by the end of the year the bitcoin will cost around 12,000 but nothing less of 10,000 and who knows how much more in the next year
who wanna buy a bitcoin now ?
what about steemit ? right now it's super cheap and we can buy more steemit has a lot chances to go up faster cause we all are promoting steem
i follow you seems like we have a lot to learn if you want to visit my blogs i have also topics about cryptocurrencies :)
It's been a long road for Bitcoin. Years back everyone laughed and mocked it. Now look @ CNBC. It's crypto mania over there :)
Oh yeah! I wish there's some video that shows how they were mocking Bitcoin a few years back. That's gonna be entertaining for sure. :)
I can't remember which politician it was, but remember them saying, "Bitcoin is not real, you can't create something and just call it money." I think he was in New York, but I'll be he feels pretty silly now.
Yeah I bet even the politician won't remember he said that :P
Would be cool to show it to him now though.
Anytime a politician wants to ban something it creates a false narrative of control. They have no control. You can't ban freedom.
well said... very true
I wish these people had any shame, though I doubt they do.
Maybe it's better to totally bypass them, so they become irrelevant.
resteem and upvote for your post....
Thank you, I appreciate it.
u r welcome...
Great article. I am out telling all my friends it's not to late. It would have been better a while ago. but its not to late. It will probably be never to late to make a little money. It is deflationary after all!! but great article man, keep up the good content!
Thanks a lot for the nice comment!
I'm in the same situation, telling my friends it's not too late :)
Was fascinated in 2013 and never looked back since then.
And now?
This thing JUST BLEW UP!
Especially in my country, India, as cashless is the idea. Everyone's talking about crypto currencies and how they must be legalized.
BIG deal! :)
Loving every moment though!
And investing little by little... :)
I'm glad you're loving every moment of it!
It seems like it will keep getting better the next years, so cheers! To more great moments :)
True.
I want to jump into one of those moon trains everyone talks so highly about.
Haha we all do. you have an amazing one right here :)
Great article! Steem is the first cryptocurrency for me..I really feel like Steem is going to take off in the near future. Feels like it's gaining momentum
yeah it's is gaining momentum and I think this hasn't started yet :)
I agree man, can't wait
Yeah it's a great feeling when tomorrow looks better than today :)
"The truth is, I realized that there’s always something you can do about it, you just don’t see it at the time." This is so true. So glad to have found Steemit.
Yeah it's a such a cool place. Great to have you here.
interesting perspective on post
Thanks @liberarianec
This post gives me hope, and makes me feel a lot better about not getting in on this in 2013. However just getting involved today can still yield the same results as if I time traveled!
Yeah, especially if it keeps growing year after year, it could be even better then.
And best of all, when steem starts to compete with Bitcoin, that's the beautiful thing :)
Getting a mining rig these days. Crypto is the future.
Nice!
wow,, cool article,,These kinds of post are my favorite kinds! Thanks for that
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it :)
Action Beats Time Travel Big Time!
AMEM!
Obrigado!
This a really nice story to hear..
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Awesomeness!
I don't remember the source, sadly, but I came across a saying many years ago: "It's only 'too late' if you don't start NOW."
Every day brings opportunities, and our challenge is to stay open to them and not get mired down in "what could have been." Once upon a time, I was offered a "private placement" in the stock of a small computer company, several years before its IPO. Even had the $10K. Seemed too risky so I put it in real estate, instead. The company: What we today know as Dell. But SO WHAT?
Point of the story: Some years later I ended up owning Dell stock and it quadrupled in a couple of years. Even though that ship had sailed once, it was not too late...
Cryptos are a new asset class (relatively speaking). We may not make 100x gains on Bitcoin, but who's to say we won't pick an "alt" (even Steem?) that becomes the next "100-bagger?"
I think your last sentence summed it all perfectly. :)
Quite the inspiring story about Dell, but you didn't give up, insteasdyou invested again when time was right and now it's a lesson for all of us. :) Thanks for sharing.
I was introduced to btc when it was around $50. I used to regret missing out in buying some then but I now realise that the BIG wave is coming.
I have miney invested in many coins now including BTC and make great returns on investments!
I plan to HODL to the moon and am glad to be a part if this growing community!
Yeah same here, I hope that between all of us we can grow this community to some great dimensions :)
Loved the blog and although I have time traveled many times over the last 3 years, you put it into perspective very nicely. Enjoyed reading and giving myself a reality check.
Thank you so much for the great comment. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I completely understand. I was in the same position new all about Bitcoin loved the idea but wanted to improve my technical understanding of it. Needless to say Mt.gox is part of my story. But I am still interested and investing in cryptocurrency some good some bad. I will post my story soon.
I think your story is important, we all need to learn from each other. :)
I think we all lost in Mt.Gox.. :( But it's in the past.
Glad to have come across this blog! I also do regret, as my friend suggested I check BTC back in 2011. Lol. I'm glad to have signed up for steemit. I sense good things!
Yeah I share the same feeling, hopefully good things are to come in the future :)
It's true, I think it's just beginning.
Oh yeah, it seems to be just the beginning :)
Gracias por el post, me ha motivado mucho .
De nada, me alegro que te guste :)
We are still very early in this move for those with the stomach to ride the corrections and the patience to wait. I wrote this article which touches on many of the same ideas and includes reasons why people are hesitant to invest, and strategies on how to do so if you have not purchased any cryptos yet. https://steemit.com/money/@motowngold/bitcoin-regret-keeping-many-from-great-opportunity
I'm checking it out, yeah corrections are part of the equation and something people should get used to.. It's ok to have corrections, nothing goes up forever. :)
Thanks for the comment!
Your gut is a powerful tool don't underestimate it.
True. In Gut we trust ;)
Hey alien, you are no more alien for me now..nice post. followed you man!
Haha thank you!!
Not only is it not too late, it's still really early, IMO. When we start getting into the multiple $trillions of total market cap, THEN we can start talking about slow growth.
That's for sure! Cool name btw :)
Thanx!
awesome post :) we can be really happy that we joined the crypto community, so many people still don't know about cryptos... Have an nice day! :)
Thank you! Glad to have you here, and have a nice day too!
thank you :)
bitcoin in the morning was 2400 now reach to 2100 i think will down and go to 5000 dollar
Yeah I was thinking more or less in similar terms.
When I realized I missed out on Bitcoin in 2014 it went 1000 then 400 then 1000 again, and I started following the ups and downs, so as long as it dips only to go up again, that's cool :)
The same for steem it can dip all the times it needs to, but as long as it keeps going forward it will be an awesome thing :)
Truly enjoyed this post (y)
I'm glad you did, thank you!
👌
Thanks!
Great post man! Steem to the Galaxies! :D
That's our destination :)
Now you can buy cheap #crypto!
True