Here's why bitcoin gives me hope \ stacker news ~bitcoin

2450 sats \ 29 comments \ @stack_harder 25 Oct bitcoin

I have been self-employed, for pretty much 20 years, and working online and I have to say, things are looking rougher than ever, and finding clients is harder than ever before.

I manage ad accounts and Amazon accounts and this skillset is not like being a dev or a programmer or an electrician on a wind farm, it's something most companies want to pay a freelancer 3 dollars an hour for, despite being in charge of sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Shit, even if I were to re-skill to something new, I would be starting from scratch and still have the issue of having to find paying clients. I'm not a salesman, I just want to be left alone to do the actual work.

I'm almost 40 now and my kids and family are my priority and I'm not interested in hustling and grinding anymore, I live in Bulgaria and the job pay is still much lower than what I make already anyway, so that's not an option.

I'm more disgusted with politicians and governments than ever before and, to make matters worse, my wife is Russian, and her monthly money is being obliterated by devaluation and her family doesn't want to know about Bitcoin or use it to store value or to send her money to her. Instead, she's paying 80 fucking euros for some bank that still does Euro transfers. it literally makes me ill, but what can I do?

None of this fills me with great hope (fiat world, in general, makes me despair while I have to listen to Keysian brainwashed idiots say that inflation is good).

But one of the main things that gives me hope is bitcoin - because I know that the small amount I can put away each month is my form of savings that cannot be debased and destroyed by any government and it will be the thing that helps me retire on my terms.

Every year I put my kid's birthday money into cold storage and think about how when they are 18 or 20 this money could give them a head start on whatever journey they want to take.

Just having something that cannot be messed with or taken away from me, that gives power BACK, is extremely liberating and really does help me put things in perspective when I drudge through the toxic wasteland of Upwork.

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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @zapsammy 25 Oct

Places where you can find jobs paid in BTC:

https://cointastical.medium.com/freelancing-platforms-which-pay-in-bitcoin-e38be56166df

source: https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/from-where-can-i-get-some-bitcoins

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 26 Oct

thanks, will give these all a thorough check

19 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 25 Oct

I often wonder if understanding some things about bitcoin will give us an advantage in new forms of work in the future.

Wish you and your family good luck.

2 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

im not sure how it might help in a traditional sense, it can help if a client wants or needs to pay in btc though for sure.

32 sats \ 3 replies \ @TheBTCManual 26 Oct

I feel you on a spiritual level I'm in South Africa and the Rand is not doing anyone any favours, people are still so reliant on this flawed accounting system and refuse to take a deep look at the issue staring them right in the face, because the alternative is the perceived vol of bitcoin and a steep learning curve and at the end personal responsiblity

As a self employed person, I know its always been on me to perform and generating capital I now I only have so many hours I can monetise, and if I didnt have this superior asset all that work and delayed gratification I did would be worth less and less trending towards nothing

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder OP 26 Oct

self-employed + the currency is a very hard combo, in my case at least my income is in pounds or dollars and i just need to worry about the wife's crumbling wealth. how's the trust level of the gov over in SA at the moment? are people still using gold and traditional things as a wealth hedge?

32 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 26 Oct

Trust in government from the average tax-payer is pretty low, but from the other side which are unemployed/students/tenderpreneurs still pretty high since they're just waiting for the next handout

I'd say gold and stuff like Kruggarrand aren't that popular anymore, people who actively invest are in offshore capital markets like FTSE or S&P500 through various wrapper products while some try to acquire and trade local stocks (currently simliar size to Bitcoins market cap 1.35 T USD) let's say that's around 20+%, we have our own versions of Robinhood that deal with local markets and give people access to some international products

I'd say 10% of people have some exposure to Bitcoin and shitcoins in some way shape or form but it's growing however, very little self-custody, mostly speculation and trying to turn themselves into a large tax liability via capital gains

The largest portion of people who are investing/saving are in some sort of passive vehicle through retirement annuities, preservation funds or some unit trust, REIT that was sold to them either via their company or some broker. They couldn't be arsed to know what's in it, just that they need to contribute to it

Then there's the majority sitting in cash getting rekt by inflation but avoid a lot of taxes in the grey economy so the trade-off works for them.

While a small portio continue to pump up the real estate market in Cape Town which is the only area that continues to see growth

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 26 Oct

thanks for the insight, cash is shit, but if it offsets taxes then we can at least see some logic. turning the cash into non-kyc'd bitcoins is the next step for me

15 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 25 Oct

Taking control over more elements of your life is great and might be something to build off of.

15 sats \ 2 replies \ @hasherstacker 25 Oct

Being self employed enables you to live on your own terms and Bitcoin gives hope indeed. May the force be with you and your family.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 26 Oct

Lol self employed here and I live on the terms of my clients I am but a vessel that converts labour into sats and hope it all works out

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 26 Oct

a fellow sat conversion machine :)

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @Msd0457890 25 Oct

Your story seems very unique to me, Bitcoin is and will be our refuge in any situation because it is the best asset in the world, keep going my friend.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

thanks

15 sats \ 2 replies \ @flat24 25 Oct

I understand you perfectly, Bitcoin has given us hope. Today I think very similar to you, I think that I should change my way of earning a living, and migrate to a business that moves with and by Bitcoin, since Bitcoin is the future, and at the same time I want to reduce the dependence on third parties, such as providing a service or selling a product and depending on clients, I want to depend as little as possible on third parties. On the other hand, Bitcoin gives me nourishment knowing that the little or a lot that I managed to save for my children and my retirement, may be saved in a few years in the future, thanks to the fact that Bitcoin gives us back the real meaning of the word "Treasure or Save Wealth." I'm from Venezuela, so I saw how my mother lost in the bank everything she had saved in 20 years, because of her ignorance, the inflation and the monetary devaluation that the country suffered in recent years, the saddest thing is that she does not finish waking up and noticing what I tell her about Bitcoin and that it can help her, still I do not faint every week I send her books, guides, videos, images and all kinds of educational material or that shows you the reality about the benefits of bitcoin and the fiduciary disaster we live in, with the hope that someday she will understand it.

4 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

i find that the older people are, the harder they find it to imagine that something digital can have value, there;s a lot of extra layers to unpack, but you might get through one day, maybe inspire her with what you have managed to save

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 25 Oct

I totally agree with you, and I might add that it's not just that they are afraid of digital or because they don't know about it, it's that the level of adoption that we have been brought to with respect to money is so great, that the most difficult thing for older people to understand about Bitcoin is the fact that it is not issued by any Government or State.

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 25 Oct

Every year I put my kid's birthday money into cold storage and think about how when they are 18 or 20 this money could give them a head start on whatever journey they want to take.

21 years after, let's say 2018, so 2039, kids who had bitcoiners as parents are adults now and should start having an impact on society, and they will only become more year over year

4 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

yeah i hope so, eldest gets allowance in sats too and she's into it. education is key so they value what it is and don't just spend it all at once

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @poe7645 26 Oct

Its putting your preference in a future rather than the now. Which makes a future that doesn't appear only bleak, within reach.

A fighting chance against being corralled toward a cliff.

10 sats \ 3 replies \ @jgbtc 25 Oct

Re-skilling is definitely hard, but just to share words of encouragement: it's never been easier to learn skills for free with online tools. AI has a lot of faults but it is really good for this in my experience.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

i actually do learn new things all the time, back in the day i did like a year of code academy but i really cannot get my head around coding , i can speak foreign languages and play the guitar, but coding goes nowhere

the problem is finding paying clients , specifically remotely. learning isn't an issue, i love growing my brain.

if i was back in the UK, i could land an office job without too much trouble, but i have no plans on ever living there again under any circumstances

that being said, what would be some areas worth looking into that have good online learning courses etc?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @jgbtc 25 Oct

I'm currently teaching myself rust programming. I am generally distrustful of AI but, damn, does it speed up the learning process. But as you're (understandably) aren't interested in coding, I'm unfortunately not sure what else to suggest.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

i might try something like that again at some point, maybe i could get my head around it in a better way now, just my initial experience like a decade ago with learning some python and stuff didn't end well lol

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ch0k1 27 Oct

Браво 👏, продължавай в същия дух с пълнолетния фонд на децата, а относно проблема с упоритите "фиатаджии", които предпочитат да плащат по €80 такси, само и само да им е спокойно като виждат познатия знак на еврото 🤷 - бих предложил да пробвате Strike, който уж под капака използва Bitcoin, за да се случи превода.

П.С: Знам, че звучи клиширано и банално, но не забравяй да отидеш и да гласуваш днес (колкото и да няма за кого и да мразиш политиците), защото по този начин им пречиш да си въртят схемите 😉

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @OriginalSize 25 Oct

128,000 sats/mo are you kidding me!? Well that's their money but anyway you're doing well as an example which may rub off eventually.

Since you mentioned Upwork, have you tried or had success with any of the Bitcoin clones?

210 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

i've tried other freelance platforms with no success, they all seem very scammy. on upwork i have like a decade of experience , top rated and plenty of feedback. still very hard to find half decent clients tho

i also had a look at some of the crypto native freelancer sites but without much luck, i usually see crypto jobs being more coding and tech-related which is probably why i think

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @OriginalSize 25 Oct

It's a shame that nobody's been able to establish a reputable freelancing platform. It's a huge market though. Maybe something based on Nostr will bootstrap.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 25 Oct

that would be sick