I was a banker. And I walked away.

Well, I had to. I was fired. Technically, I was early retired. But the result was the same.

Why am I telling you all this?

In his excellent post, How to make money blogging on Hive, @forexbrokr introduces the reader to the short cut of getting noticed by the stakeholders on Hive “who have a monetary interest in curating good content and encouraging you to stake your rewards to secure the blockchain”.

In short, “Do not be like everyone else”. Differentiate!

He follows this up with two further articles that get to the heart of the question about differentiating yourself and adding value. Both Why can't I get upvotes on Hive and Daily commenting strategy on Hive are excellent articles for new members as well as old timers alike.

I joined hive in April 2021 and only became more active in December 2021 when I clued in on what Hive actually is.

@forexbrokr also recommends that everyone joining hive should introduce themselves. To give the community some background on what makes you tick.

No one could ever accuse me of being the smartest person in the room. I do learn though!

Despite committing the ultimate faux-pas.

I never introduced myself.

About time that I did!

My natural home on Hive is LeoFinance. I was a banker after all! You know, the really boring type who lends money to big corporations and manages investments funds for wealthy clients in “secret” bank accounts in a mountainous country in Europe. That sort of type.

That all ended when I had that fateful meeting with HR.

Fired! For doing what, and how, they told me to do it. In my prime. Bastards! The lot of them!

All of that is a long time ago now. I’ve had my lows and lower lows since. Been independently trying to figure things out. Looking to “differentiate” myself from the crowd of replaceable investment advisers who simply push the latest investment product they are told to by their “shareholder value” focused bosses.

Investment products that only make money for the financial institutions selling them. Never for the buyers, the investing public. Wealthy or not yet so wealthy.

Funny thing though. What I discovered during my self-discovery phase all these years ago still rings true today. The investing public does not value honesty in investment matters.

I offered my clients (supposedly “sophisticated (high net worth individuals) investors”) an exact copy (meaning the same potential return) of the investment products sold by the brand-name wealth management banks. At half the price, and thus lower risk to the investors! And did they queue up to buy them believing they got a bargain? An emphatic “NO!” to that. Go figure!

Along the way, I was a co-founder of an Islamic credit union in Hong Kong (it has not had the expected success), attempted to list an Asian hospitality focused real estate investment company on the London Stock Exchange (failed because we ran straight into the global financial crisis in 2008), and ran a business consultancy focused on Indonesia (had a hard time getting face-to-face meetings over the last 2 and a bit years due to government originated travel restrictions).

I obviously believe in “failing my way to success”.

My writing focuses on finance. The result of my educational and professional training I guess, which should really include a smattering of psychology given that everything related to money is a very emotional affair!

Caught the crypto bug because I believe in sound money, i.e., money that maintains its value. And do not mind competition between various forms of “money”.

Am convinced that traditional fiat currencies, e.g., EUR, GBP, JPY, and USD are engaged in a race to the bottom and will soon follow the example set by a multiple of former “sound money” countries like Argentina and Zimbabwe. And become worthless.

Crypto to the rescue! As long as there is room for privacy in transactions that I want to remain private.

By nature, I am a value investor with a long time horizon. One of the reasons I was attracted to Hive. An assortment of undervalued, often ignored gems!

The other main attraction to Hive is The Brilliance of Hive: Letting Everyone Do Their Own Thing to quote an article by @empress-eremmy.

The different opinions about the development of the LeoFinance ecosystem finding a voice in @edicted are a breath of fresh air too. Given the nonsense going on in the world it is very encouraging to see that disagreements are handled the way they should be. With respect and in the spirit they are intended. To improve the ecosystem for everyone.

As Evelyn Beatrice Hall put in "The Friends of Voltaire", "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

To some it all up, I have a deep aversion to being told what to think, say or do. Ask my wife!

The non-aggression principle and Austrian economics form the backbone of my belief system. Yes, @rzc24-bbm, I read your articles on one of my favourite economists! Enjoyed them very much. Keep them coming.

Having spent most of my working life in Asia, I have recently returned to Europe. I’d rather be in Mexico like @misslasvegas though. But economic reality and all that have a say in that too. For now. Soon!

Apart from LeoFinance, the gang over on ListNerds and CTP have an excellent community going.

A big shout out to my sponsor @thisismylife who is a trailblazer in all things Hive and use cases for ListNerds! She leads by example, and I am glad I am on her team!

We are very much at the beginning of the journey for this community, and I can’t wait to see what the team of @jongolson, @blainjones and @elianaicgomes have in store for us in the future.

More importantly, I am ready to hang on for the ride of my life!

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta