Exactly a week before we were finally supposed to re-open and start working once again - after a two-month long break - we were called in on a meeting to let us know that they needed to fire 30% of the staff, myself included.
Well, fuck me dead.
This is definitely not what I needed to hear right now.
source
Just as I'm in the middle of moving into a new apartment - expecting some major expenses ahead - I'm told that I don't have a job to come back to. And so it continues.... The ongoing SCAMdemic/PLANNEDdemic keeps reaping victims but not in the sense of people getting infected and falling ill but rather loosing their livelihood by being laid off of work because of highly decreased profit margins caused by the worldwide lockdown and this time around, I was one of them. As I've said so many times before, the economic impact of this overexaggerated lockdown response is going to cause much more pain, suffering and possibly even deaths, than the disease itself.
While many of my colleges were devastated, some even crying, I had a huge smile on my face because I'm taking this as life's biggest challenge I had yet to face and that excites me. I'm not the type of person that would get depressed by something like this. Although it's a tough pill to swallow, my mindset allows me to always look on the bright side of life. Even in the worst possible scenario such as this, I always find something good in it and keep building from there until I get back to where I want to be and beyond.
As they were telling us how their expected profits for the next few months are only 15% of what they are used to earning pre-coronies and how because of it they will have to lay us off a very powerful quote was flowing through my head.
This is the chaos from which you create greatness. Your turn to roll the dice!
Creating greatness out of hardship, that's the plan and there is no greater incentive than seeing everything fall apart right in front of your eyes. A fire burning beneath your feet and your mind begging you to find a way out. Absolutely all bridges burnt to the ground, with no way to retreat other than climbing the self-made ladder to success.
I consider this to be a blessing in disguise.
To be quite frank about it, the entire year I spent working there was quite dull, boring and repetitive. Even though I was pulling in a decent amount of cash per month and investing most of it in crypto, I felt unfulfilled, drained and exhausted. All other facets of my life were taking a huge hit. I had no free time for myself, my girlfriend or my friends, zero motivation to workout, write, read or do anything productive for that matter, got me to a boiling point where I felt like I was about to explode if something didn't change quickly and it did.
I got laid off.
How to move on from here?
Well, I was expecting something like this to happen so for the past few months I was preparing for it. I stashed some money aside to keep me afloat for a couple of months and was constantly contemplating how to react if shit hits the fan and I get permanently laid off with no chance of finding additional work.
This is what I came up with.
Monthly target:
- $600 is doable and I can survive, but not thrive on that amount
- $1000 + per month is what I would need to earn to be able to thrive
GAME PLAN
Trading I Posting I Passive Income I Side Hustles
That's all I got right now as possible sources of income, let's look into them.
TRADING
I've already got a nice sum invested in trading which I diligently saved up during the past two years. Last three months alone, my portfolio is up by 40% even though I bought a majority of my stake @ 9.2k btc right before it crashed to 3.8k, ouch! I'm still stuck in a couple of -50% trades and that's really holding my profits down. If it wasn't for these few lousy trades which went south on me, I'd already be up 100%.
If I can make 20% per month on trading that would put me well above the doable mark and slightly above the thrive point.
NOTE: this is coming from someone who was a complete noob at trading a couple of months ago. If I can make such profits, anyone can and you will be able to do so with me. Follow along my journey towards sick gains and nothing but green candles!
POSTING
Now that I finally got the necessary free time to devote to content creation, as soon as I move into my new apartment, I'll go full-force on Hive! I plan to build up to one post per day and even more if I'll have enough creative juices flowing.
I expect this could turn into 200$ per month if HIVE manages to hold the 40c price point, but that's something I won't hold my breath for.
PASSIVE INCOME
This includes all staking coins that I own and the amount of income they generate without my input. Currently, that's mostly HIVE but also NRG and some STEEM which I'm still powering down.
At these prices (which I can't expect to hold up) this adds up to around 200-300$ per month.
SIDE HUSTLES
Include everything that I can possibly think of that generates an income.
Whether that's doing some illegal (without contract) construction work or hard labor, marketing campaigns for crypto companies, affiliate marketing, internationally buying stuff of Ebay to resel it locally and some other sources of income which I won't mention here because they might get me in trouble with the law.
Currently I'm earning 0 on this as I haven't put it into motion yet and I can't even estimate how much I would earn from these activities as they include so many unpredictable variables I can't possibly price in.
THAT'S MY CURRENT GAME PLAN
Adding up these numbers looks like I'll do fine and that I can finally live my dream life of being able to sustain myself financially, without having to work for someone else.
By the looks of it I'll even earn double the amount that I'd usually make at my former job which I quite literally hated and which was killing me slowly but hurting me deeply. Although this might all look like sunshine and rainbows right now, the assumptions I've made here are mostly based on the current crypto prices which as you know are highly unstable and can very quickly and easily go in the opposite direction and cut my profits in half so I'm very cautious about getting my hopes up.
I'll rather cut my expected profits in half just to have a more conservative perspective and in the end be surprised when they turn out to be double than expected instead of having high expectations and get disappointed if they turn out to be much less.
IN CONCLUSION
Even the hardest times can be the best of times with the right mindset.
Instead of being all depressed about my current life situation, I'm actually thrilled to be faced by such a great challenge. It's beyond exciting and invigorating. This is the next chapter of my life story. One that I'm very excited to experience and live through. Finally, I'm taking that major leap I've always wanted to make but was overly scared to do so. Now that I'm forced into it, I have no other choice than to make it on my own. No overhead, no boss telling me what to do and how to do it and definitely no more trading my finite amount of time on this planet to make a profit for someone else.
Only working for myself from now on and fully dependant on how successful I am.
For the next four months I'll receive 60% of my paycheck from the government so I'll take this entire time to test the viability of my plan. I'll meticulously work towards achieving my goal of self-sustainability through the above-mentioned sources and transparently report on them monthly or weekly on Hive.
If it turns out that I can earn the same amount or more than I would by working a regular 9 to 5 job, you can rest assured that I'll never go back to that miserable life.
On the other hand, if it turns out that I can't make enough to live a normal life, well then I'm fucked.
I don't even want to think about that right now but whatever happens, I know that I'll be fine.
Fingers crossed.
I am really looking forward to following your journey: partially because I know you can do it and partially because I'm wondering if can as well!
I remember people quitting their jobs when Steem was ath.... the fact is you got to prepare before it happens! If you are able to do it with preparation and hard work when the price is low imagine how easy it will be as it goes up!
I have a good friend @pygoz he streams on mixer mixer.com/pygoz he lives off trading and is an awesome guy! Keep an eye out for his streams and tell him I sent you. He is a wealth of knowledge to me.
We are all going to make it brah!
Yeah, pulling in this kind of numbers right now means that when the bulls finally arrive I'll be set for a couple of years, that's for sure.
I'll give him a follow to see what I can learn from him cuz I'm still rather noobish at trading but nevertheless making some rather substantial gains.
Just like most things in life, I've realized that to be successful in trading the most important thing is to keep your emotions in check. This means never FOMOing in during a hype phase or FUDing out as soon as the prices keep crashing. This is something I have yet managed to fully master but having this in mind on my every trade helps a lot in avoiding costly mistakes, of which I've made many.
I will try to get him to post on Leo finance ;)
When life pushes you, you push back. I've been really worried about the situation with the world. I'm sorry about the situation, and you already got the mindset on lockdown, all that's left is for things to work in your favour. I've been staking some vite and I wrote about it here and earning almost $2 day for a $280 stake, so you could check that out. With bigger volume, you could add that to your monthly earning. Also, please send me a link and simplify the NGR staking.
I hope it all falls in place for you bro.
No reason to worry. Just think about how to best play the hand you were dealt.
Staking vite for sounds like a great addition to my passive income sources, I'll have to look into it. The ROI sounds like a lot, are you sure it's that much?
Here is an article on how to set up NRG staking.
https://medium.com/energi/energi-proof-of-stake-guide-9108de235b31
Yeah it is. You earn dividend in Ethereum, Bitcoin and USDT. You buy vites on exchange then move it to the blockchain wallet app. Inside the app there's a DEX where you exchange Vites for VX. Stake the VilX and voila. You could test it out with smaller money to see. I made $64 in April alone.
What's VX? Is there any reward calculator or something like that where I could calculate potential earnings? Are earnings fixed or dependant on the total amount of VX staked?
If you've got any articles I could read for more info, feel free to drop them here.
I dropped a link in my first comment but here it is again 😄
https://hive.blog/hive-167922/@belemo/this-is-why-you-should-be-staking-vx-on-vite-blockchain
I left a link to their main site and all the necessary information about them in that post. I haven't done in-depth calculation, but earnings vary to total amount of VX staked, and the fiat value of total daily dividend is dependent on the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, I can confirm that they're legit and profitable.
Ye, ye I've checked it out already, forgot to mention that. Was hoping you've got some additional info on the side somewhere :D
Thanks for the info though. I'll look into it and definitely put some cash aside for this purpose.
After all, you can never have too many sources of passive income, right?
From adversity comes strength ... and your mindset sounds right. Sideline earning ideas, and some my wife andI are going to put into practisde when we relocate to Italy in a couple of years time ...
You like working out? Well, walking dogs for owners who work is exercise and income... establish a routine and charge a few dollars a week per dog. Get 3 households and two days each per household and you have 6 days of work outs when you can chill and get your thoughts in order for the rest of the day.
Anyway, now following you and will keep track of your progress... all the best !!
Sadly, where I'm from that gig is already taken, although a fine idea.
Where are you moving from and why Italy? My plan is to move somewhere in Indonesia as it's dirt cheap to live there compared to here in EU.
Thanks for the good wishes and best of luck on your own personal journey to self-sustainability.
My wife is of Italian descent and has citizenship... and moving from South Africa it is not easy to get into European Union countries if you are not very wealthy, or if you do not have a highly sort after skill.
Indonesia people seem very community oriented and the country looks rather beautiful.... but too hot and humid for my liking
I'm sure there will be many more posts to come on Hive regarding job loss. I'm sure you'll do fine. If anything, this is a great time for those with your knowledge to educate others in the same position about Hive and the potential of crypto. I'm sure that could be a great side hustle in this environment. People seem more open minded to listen once their ability to earn a living was stolen from them.
Good luck. I'll be following your journey!
Yep, especially if these lockdown measures persist for another month or two.... Interesting suggestion. I had something like that in mind before but never actually got it out of my mind and into the real world. I'll have to consider it once again and see if there is any way I can make it work.
Thanks!
Tis the season ✌️
You have the right mindset to make it out of this thriving!
Let's hope you are right! We shall see in a couple of months anyway :D
I decided to quit my job the same day Hive went up. I can say that I do not regret it. I don't have a lot of expenses and I don't need as much money, I live in Mexico everything is cheap here, but I'm saving to buy an iPad for my wife, we are both content creators and have been posting almost daily. My wife is @grisvisa she makes great illustration, I just write about random stuff.
Sounds like you and your wife are already living the dream man. That's awesome!
I'm interested to see where it takes you.
Would love to see a breakdown of your monthly earnings/expenses to get a better understanding of the costs of living in Mexico as I planned to visit it someday as a digital nomad and stay for a couple of months if possible.
I'm going to do that, but I have to say that we have luck because we are paying way less rent than everyone else here. We only pay around 60 USD a month including the internet. Of course there are other expenses. I may make a full post about this.
Hey @runicar! I made a post about my income and expenses in Mexico.
You can check it out here.
Lucky you! Where I'm from, minimum monthly rent costs are around 400€.
Thanks for dropping your post about it, let me check it out.
You can do it or try live off-grid for awhile in the country to reduce expenses.
That's actually my long term goal but in order to achieve it I'd either need to rent or buy a house which is in both cases rather expensive, especially considering my current net worth.
I hope I'll be able to achieve this sometime during the next couple of years.
Btw, what got you on the spamminator blacklist?
How you will achieve those dreams into reality.
They got me for using wrong tags perhaps, that's the only reason I know I warn with that before.
Through crypto ofc 😅
Also, I expect severe drops in real estate prices in the next few years. I'm eyeing a smallish house on a fairly large property right now that's been on sale for last 6 years, first started at 50k€ (no one showed interest) three years later they cut the price down to 30k€ and in a year or two I'll be able to pick it up for as little as 15k€
That's a fairly retarded reason to put you on the list.... Have you tried contacting them to remove it?
You might get it 12k€ and perhaps 50% down then the other 50% will be installment since people's budget now is really tight.
Good luck with your plan.
You can do it!
Thanks for the encouragement!
It doesn't always feel good to get laid off, but what do we know? I think like you said it's a challenge and besides other opportunities will definitely open up. You're making quite decent profit I hope things comes pretty good.
I surely hope things fall into the right place this time around :D
You can do a lot online given your skills and interests I am sure you will thrive.
Thanks!
Your thrive target sounds doable with those ideas :-)
Good luck.
Under one circumstance yes, if prices hold up :D
Sorry to hear that man! I know you'll strive under these conditions I have no doubt! hang in there. If you need anything hmu!😄
Nothing to be sorry about bud! As I said, this is truly a blessing in disguise.
Thanks!
Really sad to hear that, but equally a great opportunity.
All the best for that.
I will be happy if you get me into the crypto trading tricks.
Thanks for the good wishes!
I'm preparing a fairly interesting intro post for trading geared towards complete beginners which goes into using a special indicator to determine good buy/sell points. You will find it quite useful even as an experienced trader but as a beginner especially.
I honestly came by your blog to say thank you for the tip you sent me earlier today and I stumbled upon this excellent article. Turns out this had a message i really needed to hear, given the depression I'm dealing with in my life right now.
I guess two "Thank You"s are due.
It's amazing how you've kept your moral high even after being hit with bad news and planning to stay productive. I'm looking forward to reading more on your journey through this. I wish you all the best!
WoW! You just proved that there is no such thing as coincidence in this world.
The exact message you needed to hear I had in mind for a while but it took for me to lose my job to write about it and also you to participate in Dan's initiative to connect the dots together for you to receive the message.
Pair this with the mentality of: "Every mistake/hardship is a lesson" and you will be an unstoppable force.
Every time something bad happens think about how can you learn from it, act accordingly, adapt and evolve into a better version of yourself. That's why I don't consider my mistakes as such but rather as times to learn how I can change to be better next time around.
A mistake is only a mistake if you don't learn from it ;)
Huh, I really didn’t think about it that way. But you are quite spot on,too many dots had to come together for this to be a mere coincidence!
And yes, while learning from mistakes seems to be an obvious message, in reality it can sometimes be quite difficult to know that you might be on path to repeating the same mistake, until it's too late and you’ve done it again.