I'm not selling, I'm telling

This morning I woke up remembering how it was when I used to work at the guitar shop. Believe it or not, I was always one of the top salesmen. I had one trick, so to speak—and it always worked:

“Only talk about the things you like, the things you're passionate about. That way, you’re not selling—you’re telling.”

I’m thinking about this now because, as most of you know, I’ve been working hard on onboarding people. The thing is, I’m not selling a product per se—I’m selling a new way of thinking. My excitement is obvious. It’s sincere. My friends can see it, they can feel it. The result? It’s disarming.

Last night I stayed up way later than usual talking to an old friend from my university days. He’s a well-known, respected engineer here in Ecuador(@edlandivar)—someone who’s worked on major government projects. I knew that if I could show him the potential of this place, the “selling” part would take care of itself.

You know what? He’s here now. And we’re even talking about starting a podcast—about technology, about Hive, about possibility. All in Spanish, of course. (I think this is needed.)

I suspect most people understand why onboarding matters. But if there’s anyone out there thinking my efforts are futile, let me propose a short thought experiment:

Imagine you have the best product ever—the most advanced, most revolutionary idea humankind has ever dreamt of. Now imagine… there’s no one around to use it.

People create the economy. Their actions—good or bad—are what drive markets. Without people, you have nothing.

You could say I’m helping others for altruistic reasons—and there’s some truth to that. But the power of our little experiment is that I benefit too. I’m learning to be a better communicator. I’m learning more about Hive—because I have to.

Today, I spent an hour just installing Telegram and figuring out how to use P2P trading to swap HIVE for dollars. It’s a tool I know I’ll need. Knowledge I need to be better at this self-imposed task.

I’ll even go as far as to say this: The Value Plan—that abstract fund most of us know very little about? Its whole purpose is adoption. Onboarding more people to our platform. That’s why it’s financing flights, conferences, teams—and yes, even a car. (Though, if I’m being honest, I still fail to see how that one works.)

At any rate—you could say, if you wanted to be a cynic, that I’m just pumping my bags. That I’m bringing talent to this blockchain because I want Hive to moonshot again.

And even if that were true… let’s say it is.

How awesome is it that we can moonshot together?

You. Me. My friends. All of us.

And it all happened because I drank too much coffee and kept hitting people up late into the night.

MenO