My Story and My Why
Self-exploration and my story. The reason I created Life with Crypto. Plus our 3 content pillars.
Welcome Everyone! 🧑👩
Hello, my crypto brothers and sisters. Welcome to this month’s publication.
This newsletter's content is from a post I wrote in early 2023. I intended for people to get to know me better, learn why I do crypto, and explore the content I plan to present in the newsletters.
I’m resharing this content this month to give all my new subscribers a chance to learn about me. At the end of the post, please leave feedback via the simple Poll or leave a detailed comment. Enjoy!
Today’s Topics 💡
A story about self-exploration and money
Why I created Life with Crypto
Our 3 main content pillars
Crypto investor mindset
Crypto investing strategies
Crypto investment technologies
Introduction 👋
Let’s get personal for a moment. How well do you know yourself? How well do you know yourself as an investor? Whether you are interested in traditional or crypto investing doesn't matter; you must answer these questions. It means the difference between success and failure.
A Short Story about Self-Exploration & Money
When I was 21 years old, playing pool at a bar with friends, a light bulb went off in my head. I had been pondering the meaning of my life for a while. I didn’t know myself very well, and it bothered me. I didn’t know what color I liked, what foods I liked, or what clothes I liked.
You see, until I left home at 16, I was my mother’s shadow. Almost everything I did was done with my mother or for my mother. They were her likes and interests. Our family life was so chaotic and, at times, abusive that I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about myself. I had siblings to protect. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t know how to allow my individuality.
But her lack of skills wasn’t all her fault. She grew up as a poverty-stricken only child with the IQ of a genius and a mentally disabled mother. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Returning to my light bulb moment playing pool in the bar, the epiphany that came over me that night was clarity about my life purpose. I wanted to know myself, discover myself, and ultimately become myself. So, for the next 18 years, I did whatever I wanted to do to understand myself better.
What does this story have to do with investing? I’m glad you asked. During those 18 years of self-exploration, I was always broke. I didn’t care about money; I cared about experiences. I had a negative relationship with money.
That negative money belief led me to pursue what I considered more noble endeavors, like living out of my small truck one summer so I could learn about permaculture and building straw bale houses at a workshop.
During the workshop, I met many wonderful people. I was then invited to help build straw bale houses for a private Whidbey Island, WA community. It was a magical two-month experience, but then the money ran out.
After each of my adventures, I would eventually have to return to work. I would always need more money. After 18 years of on-again-off-again self-exploration and travel, I had no better idea why I was here. What was my purpose? Of course, by then, I had figured out what colors I liked, what clothes I liked, etc., but the answer to the big question still eluded me.
After 18 years of being broke all the time and living in my vehicle so I could explore, I was tired. I remember saying, “If I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, I might as well figure out this money thing.”
At 39, I enrolled in an expensive stock market trading seminar in Seattle, WA. I was hooked! It was exciting, and I liked it. My Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science, plus my interest in numbers and technology, helped. Age 39 marked the end of my initial journey of self-exploration and the beginning of my next journey—learning about money, finance, and crypto.
👋
Why I Created Life with Crypto 🧐
Toward the end of my first journey of self-exploration, I wrote extensively in a journal. After pages and pages of putting my wandering thoughts into words, I found some clarity. I wrote a statement that eventually became my life purpose and guiding light for my second journey of self-exploration.
“My purpose is to fully understand how money works and how it operates in business, investments, and personal finance.”
This may sound like a strange life purpose statement, but it fit me perfectly. Here’s why. Growing up in my dysfunctional family, I repeatedly heard the story of my grandmother’s misfortune. My mother would say, “Your grandmother was born with a silver spoon in her mouth but lost it all.”
You see, my grandmother inherited great wealth from real estate. The problem was that my grandmother was intellectually challenged (or mentally disabled) with the IQ of an 8-year-old. She didn’t understand wealth or real estate.
When my mother turned eight years old, Grandma Myrtle had sold all her real estate to her conniving, no-good brother (William) for pennies on the dollar while her older sister (Julia) sat back and watched idly. Why did my Grandma sell everything? She needed money for living expenses like food and clothes because she couldn’t work.
She and my mother were abandoned by her family and left to survive on social security. It was terrible for them. My mom ended up marrying at 14 years old to escape poverty.
I share this story because this is why I avoided money for the first half of my life. I grew up hearing stories about our greedy relatives taking advantage of my grandmother’s disability and abandoning my mother.
I didn’t want to be like my relatives, so I developed an internal belief that people with wealth were greedy and insensitive people. During this period, I didn’t allow myself to have much money to avoid becoming like them. At the time, I was unaware of my unconscious decision to be broke, and it took years of rewriting my beliefs to turn it around.
The Let’s Crypto! Newsletter
During the second journey of my life, I embraced learning about money and became a successful accountant. Nine years after starting my tax business, I bought my first bitcoin. Six years after that, I retired.
Since my first Bitcoin purchase, crypto investing has been good to me. It allowed me to retire early, support and educate a Nigerian boy through adulthood, and follow my passion for teaching others about crypto.
The life purpose that ushered in the second leg of my journey became:
“My purpose is to fully understand how crypto works and how it operates in business, investments, and personal finance and then share that knowledge with my community.”
I continue to operate under this expanded life purpose.
I hope you enjoy my Let’s Crypto! Newsletter. And if you feel inspired, share your story in the comments about overcoming negative money beliefs.
🧐
Let’s Crypto Content Pillars 🎓
Each month, I’ll publish a beautiful newsletter with engaging content from our three content pillars and current news. Occasionally, I may write about a special topic and send it separately from the monthly newsletter.
Pillar #1 - Crypto Investor Mindset
For us at Let’s Crypto!, the investor mindset is more than just a slogan. To us, mindset is everything! First, I’ll give a generic definition and then expand on it.
There are four distinct types of investor mindsets: Savers, Speculators, Investors, and Traders.
Savers are responsible. They are risk-averse and grow their wealth using safe strategies that preserve capital.
Speculators are risk-takers. They chase potentially higher profits by investing in risky, volatile assets.
Investors are patient. They avoid hype and mania by owning quality assets whose value appreciates over time.
Traders are calculated. They select assets to trade based on their risk appetite, available capital, and time horizon.
The definition above is a good starting point, but it’s missing some essential components. An investor mindset must also allow for managing one's personal and financial lives. They should support each other.
If your life is a mess, you can’t invest!
You can’t succeed at investing until all aspects of your personal life operate smoothly and support you. Because if your life is a mess, you can’t invest. Ask yourself, if I changed my physical, personal, and professional life, how would that support me in achieving my financial goals?
Don’t beat yourself up if everything isn’t perfect just yet. It takes time. Start small and keep moving forward. With the right attitude, you’ll succeed.
Pillar #2 - Crypto Investing Strategies
Similarly to our first pillar, I’ll start with a general definition and then expand on it.
What is an investing strategy?
An investing strategy is a set of instructions designed to help individuals make investment decisions to meet their short- and long-term goals. Strategies depend on various factors, including age, goals, lifestyle, capital, and mindset. Strategies are flexible and may overlap.
Why is it essential to have a strategy?
Investing strategies work like a handbook or a guide. They force investors to define their goals and risk tolerance and commit to a wealth-building plan. With tailored strategies that fit your personality, you’re less likely to make mistakes.
When crypto investors don’t have an investment plan with defined goals and strategies, they follow the herd and are led by their emotions.
Protect your money and sanity by defining an investment strategy to protect you and give you direction. Here are a few ideas to consider:
Hodling (buy and hold)
Swing Trading
Yield farming
Crypto Index Funds
Pillar #3 - Crypto Investment Technology
The crypto investment technology content pillar is one of my favorites. As a tech nerd, I enjoy researching technologies. I’m always looking for projects that will better humanity or make me money.
One thing is for sure: the crypto technologies that you choose will reflect your investor mindset and investing strategies. It’s all connected.
If you want to be a short or long-term trader, the technologies you’ll use will differ from other strategies.
For example, you’ll need technical analysis skills and software tools. You might try Trading View.
If you’re into DeFi and earning yield, you’ll need Metamask or Rabby and a hardware wallet. You might also try using Dexscreener.
If you’re a value investor, you’ll need tools to explore the health of individual projects, such as DeFiLlama, GrowthePie, Messari, and others.
🎓
Thanks for Reading 📰
That’s it for this month’s edition of the Let’s Crypto! Newsletter. Before you leave, please answer the poll question.
Also, have you heard about our Let’s Crypto MasterMind? It’s a community education platform that will get you started on the right foot quickly.
Click to learn more.
The Let’s Crypto! Newsletter is sponsored by:
Truly a great read to a great start.