The work for getting free

I ran a session today which started after when I normally finish work, as the clients were state-side and eight hours behind. It isn't that nice to work late like that, as while it isn't really a problem for me as I am up late anyway, it upsets the rhythm quite a bit and it is hard to get into the groove again. I am just starting to write and it is midnight.

I have the same schedule tomorrow also and found out today that there will have to be another session held next week, as participants from South America that were meant to be there tonight, didn't want to miss their normal lunchtime, by an hour. Seems a little ridiculous to me, especially since they were the only ones who had a decent time slot for the training. While I am pretty tired since it ended up being a twelve hour day, the training went well and the follow-up session for tomorrow should be a bit of fun, now that I have got to know the participants a little.

For those that don't know, my second job is as a product trainer for a piece of corporate software and while I do train the features as well as admin roles, my main goal is to speed and increase adoption and improve user experience to enhance the time to value for both the client and my company. Happy customers who get real value from the product don't churn. I am pretty good at my job in this regard, as I am able to build an atmosphere that is conducive to developing valuable discussions in an environment that is enjoyable. Atmosphere makes a difference.

But there is more to it than this also, as in order to engage and enable users, there needs to be a narrative built around the product that justifies the change from the status quo they have had, to the new system. Perhaps strangely for some, the value created from a better product isn't enough, there has to be a story. But, that story can't just be some marketing malarkey, it has to match user experience, which means, no lying, as it is always the lie that will get caught out and come back to haunt. It is far better to tell the truth and lose a sale than lie and lose trust - at least in the long-term view of things.

When I was in retail selling office machines, I would train my staff to always tell the truth, do not overreach, do not promise with uncertainty and if you don't know, say so, but try to find out for certain. This way, there is transparency in the relationship and customers will keep coming back because they trust the advice, even if that advice is an answer of "I don't know".

Sometimes I think that part of the problem on Hive is that people buy into the shill that people spout, but discount the reality of the situation. When people have asked me for advice for approaching Hive, it always revolves around the same thing - work. Work hard on content, work hard on engagement, work hard on building relationships and if you have the possibility, work hard IRL and buy and stake a HIVE position.

Yes, Hive has probably the lowest barriers of entry into crypto and it is possible to build from nothing, but if a person has the economic availability to invest a little, I recommend investing. Skin in the game and all that.

The problem with my advice however is pretty simple - it requires work and work is a dirty word. Instead, it is easier to say that the platform is broken because it didn't meet expectations. Those expectations are varied, but most make the assumption that earning on Hive should be easy. Maybe it should, I don't know, but in my experience, earning anywhere isn't easy, especially if there is little to no starting capital.

That capital might not be money, it could be skill capital or social capital of some kind, but in general, starting from scratch is hard. I have some experience in this and I have done it a couple times from a couple of different perspectives, whether it be moving to a new country, starting with no money or, starting again after a breakup - building something from nothing takes work. At least for me.

I think a lot of people these days have expectations as to how something should be without the experience necessary to accurately evaluate it. In some ways, society has become a population of teenagers, who because they have a crush on a person at school, think they know what love means.

I was talking to a client of my own company today about new software implementation into their organization and said that in some ways, it is like an arranged marriage. The participants didn't choose the relationship, but since they have to be in it, they best make the most of it and a little bit of mutual respect goes a long way into building a functional relationship. What I have found is that some of the people with the highest resistance to change can become the strongest advocates if they are enabled to build a personal narrative where they recognize the value of collaboration between the software and themselves. "We're all in this together", goes a long way.

The problem is, if people carry expectations about the way something should be, they will act according to their beliefs, not the reality of conditions. This increases the chance of failure exponentially, as most likely, what they do is not suitable for the environment in which they are operating - meaning they are continually fighting against the current, always creating friction, but they see their own approach as the best approach, without reflection on the result of their activity. In my opinion, this is because of a lack of work in the areas that are important.

As I said above, learning features isn't the way to increase adoption and retain users - it just gives some tools to use on the journey. The most important aspect is mindset and the understanding of why something is the way it is and perhaps -why it can't be another way right now. Expecting a child to act like an adult is inappropriate, but expecting adults not to act like children is not.

Based on how some people act and what some consider a long time, I wonder if some of the people here have ever held down a long-term job, ever had to spend days, weeks, months and years grinding away at a career, or building a self-sustaining business. In the past, the time and effort that these things took to develop were respected, now people expect to get the results without the input.

I worry about a world in hands that have not known work, because often, value is only recognized by people who have worked to create it. Many others seem to think that it should all come for free - which is part of the reason the internet and the world is in the mess it is in - the expectation that value will be given, without realizing that when it is, it is granted by authority. This becomes a debt that can be bought and sold and taking free, leads to being owned.

Ownership isn't risk-free, it takes investment.
Freedom isn't free, it is earned.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]