It's been a funny week. Not sure why but it has. It isn't the first and it won't be the last! I spent the early part of it encouraging people to recognise and celebrate their achievements and the second part of it feeling overwhelmed and under valued. I am unable to pinpoint why and need my head to dell on it for a while. A lot has happened in the 2 years I have been in this space, this is some of it.
I won't go into huge detail, but I found NFT's in July/Aug 2021. I can't remember the project I found first but Sorare and Upland where among them. Sorare is a trading card game. For football (the round ball and foot game!), basketball and baseball. It mixes their own fantasy game with stickers or trading cards from the playground. And this is what captured my attention. The ownership aspects with something from my childhood.
Upland is a metaverse and one I heard of before Decentraland, Sandbox or Spatial. It has mapped various cities and you can buy property on it. I own some New York property and really should log in and check it out again at some point. I know that there are more cities available and there will be more coming. Just a quick look on their homepage shows quite a lot.
And then there was Jailbirds. An Eth project, fell for the art, still have the art to be fair. Shouldn't complain too much I guess. The upshot of this was a very low budget. I met some people on Wax and on Polygon. I still have many of those early friendships and am insanely grateful for them. That early journey was hard and had a steep learning curve, but those decisions and errors forged what I am today.
In early Sept 2021 I found Goonz (Chris) on a Twitter giveaway and Matty from Cartridge Punkz (on Facebook of all places). Both of these just after I met Yan from Friday Night Punkz. These three guys are friends for as long as they will have me as a friend. They are all heavily invested in this space (with time and effort, maybe money too), and I am so very grateful I met them.
Goonz has been a journey so far, and still is. Lots of things have gone well and lots of things haven't. We will keep going and have no intention of stopping. We need to finish the half done things that we can and make it clear what we can't finish. This is happening, step by step and we will be vocal about them when we get them finished. Cartridge Punkz has stalled, but Matty is busy and that's OK.
If it wasn't for these early errors and relationships, there never would have been a Polygon spaces and Polygon Alliance wouldn't have happened. What we have created and curated, the amount of people we have supported and lifted is exceptional. We have changed days, weeks, months, years and lives for people. These things may be a little quieter at the moment but that's OK.
There will be more regular content coming from Polygon Alliance in several areas and I look forward to sharing. Our content will be educational and uplifting. We want any content curated or created, to be in alignment with our values. They are incredibly important and are one of the reasons why Polygon Alliance has never got on the whitelist thing.
Twitter Spaces are a funny beast. Everyone says they don't want the hype spaces but they don't go anywhere else. I guess at the end of the day sales are what most creators are looking for, and I get it. The hype spaces, not my scene. One thing I will say about #ThisIsNotAShill is that I won't stop until I stop enjoying them. The calibre of people that come through is insane and the consistency levels are unmatched. Spaces stays.
At Polygon Alliance, our vision is for Polygon projects to work together to make each other stronger, help each other grow and make Polygon YOUR number 1 destination for NFTs and DeFi.
9 months after I got into this space, Mum passed away from secondary breast cancer. Her end of life was much shorter than any of us expected and the 28 months since she has passed have been difficult for lots of reasons. I have lost a confidant and safety net to start. But it has led to other things. It has led to a lot of things being difficult this year, the second year of my time in this space.
I helped support my stepdad whilst he bought a property, the first property he has purchased by himself and it was difficult. Trying to support him in his decision making without telling him what to do. Encouraging him to find his answers, not someone else's. This is mostly done now and I am more settled off of the back of it.
I have a place, in the area I want to be. It is a tourist trap and now the tourist season has ended I should be able to move from my rented room to rented flat (apartment). Around the personal turmoil of not having a home for nearly 6 months, I have managed to maintain visibility in the Web3 space, only just. One thing it has done, it's shown me who means friend when they say friend.
What is next? I don't know. I know what I want to do, that it is taking longer than I would like and I am OK with that. This space demands being OK with so many things and it's been a real eye opener in so many ways. Change is part and parcel of the tech landscape. For me, the constant change and relentless drive for sales does not change my values. Much like having 30K followers has not changed my values.
What's important is that I continue to facilitate places that anyone can come and have a chance to succeed. Where it is isn't who you know, who is willing to invest in you or even what budget you have (admittedly a high budget is very useful), but what your drive is. What you are are willing and able to do when you have tools and resources at your disposal.
What I do know is that I will find more incredible people on my journey and more people that want to support the same values and goals that I have.
Kind of short and sweet today, an overview of my journey rather than a celebration. There is plenty to celebrate in all of that and I remember it as well. Especially in those harder moments.
As ever, thank you for reading, I appreciate it, a lot. And in the harder moments, it's things like this blog that keep me pushing through.
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