In the world of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs, should you wait to jump in after all the volatility evens out?

That’s a great question.

Let’s look at this from two opposing vantage points.

If so, I’ll briefly run you through my philosophy. I tend to place small stakes in a lot of new crypto technologies (or NFT series), with solid teams and novel ideas, because you just can’t tell who will make it past the prototype stage and on to scaling their products.

It’s important to note that I used the word who for a reason. The value added to the marketplace by new concepts is of course essential. That said, startups either wither or thrive largely based on the character and fortitude of founders. So, who…

These asymmetric bets assume that most of my stakes will go to zero, though a tiny few will win and win big. I don’t make these kinds of bets with money I wouldn’t be okay losing.

I also invest larger amounts in projects that have been around a lot longer that have a track record of excellence in consistently hitting development milestones. But even these are still risky.

Oh, I should say, please know that this isn’t investment advice… I’m not a fiduciary. Invest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs at your own risk.

You get the idea. New markets are volatile, but that’s nothing new.

Let’s think back to the Dot Com boom and bust at the turn of the millennium. In 2001, 90% of internet companies died on the vine. In fact Vine is a perfect example! Only a few are around today…

Amazon, Zappos (snatched up by Bezos), and Google are a few.

We we see similar things in Crypto today.

The big news this summer… The Terra / Luna crash lost $50B in value, in one week, and it was supposedly a stable coin system.

This isn’t an article on investing, but it was important to touch on this to give you some context.

This is an article for you creators, artists, musicians, writers, painters -- you name it -- to wrap your head around why leveraging this new blockchain technology will help you cultivate and engage with a much bigger, global audience over the full breadth of a very lucrative career.

Not at all.

Let’s say you are a digital visual artist and you create an NFT series of 100 unique pieces of art and make it available on any of the NFT marketplaces.

• Opensea is the most notable.

• Coinbase NFT marketplace is one of the newest and will likely reach a whole new segment of the populace.

The kind of raving fan base we are working to cultivate will still be buying during the downturn because…

• They love what you are doing and want to support you.

• They will be thinking in terms of their home currency cost no matter how many ETH or Bitcoin it comes to.

• They will have a longer time horizon of participation. They won’t be flippers and speculators.

So you’ve launched and made some money on the initial sale of all 100 NFTs. You can cash out as much as you need to live for the next few months, or however long until you launch your next offer, and you’ll have your dollars or yen or euros to pay your bills, eat, and have fun. If at this point cryptos go up and down, you’ll worry less.

The rest of the funds you earned you can keep in your wallets if you strongly believe that your cryptocurrencies of choice will on average go up over time.

I plan on putting out some resources that will help you attract your ideal fans, clients, and collectors and repel the ones who are only playing the NFT game for arbitrage,

which is just a fancy word for buying low and selling high in the fastest turn around, or velocity, that they can…

But that’s a topic for another article.

There’s a definition of marketing I like very much that I learned from Dean Graziosi, a master in online marketing and audience engagement.

• Attract the ideal fans you would like to serve, whom you would love to hang out with if you had the chance…

• And repel everyone else, especially the ones who don’t match your values.

To do that, you need to follow one simple rule…

Don’t bend your persona or soften it to appeal to everyone. You’ll come across as bland, boring, or just like everyone else.

Think of your favorite artists. What makes them stand out, other than their work?

• Who are they as people?

• What is their style?

• Did they compromise or were they steadfast in their viewpoint?

Steadfast, right?

Think Picasso or Dave Chappelle.

Does everyone love what they put out? Definitely not. In fact, some people downright hate their work.

And that’s actually a good thing.

Do you really need 7 billion people to buy your NFTs? No, not at all, right?

For example, if you are musician, you need only a few hundred to buy your album NFTs and earn a VIP spot at your next live concert.

Chances are they’ll buy merchandise at the concert, too. They’ll convince their friends to come to the gig. They’ll share their NFT on social media and raise awareness of you.

They’ll be your street team hustling for you and through proximity to you, they will feel they belong to a special tribe or in-group.

By acquiring insider knowledge some of your genius has rubbed off on them.

So be 100% who you are at your core, whatever that means for you.

Don’t try to anticipate what they want. You won’t be making art if you do.

It is an artist’s role in society to absorb what’s going on around them and reinterpret it to help us open our eyes to what we are numb or blind to.

It’s an artist’s duty to mash up what’s come before and help the rest of us see what’s hidden beneath the niceties, supposed ethics, the grand schemes, and from that create beauty, which can enthrall those who partake or, alternatively, let us know that we are not alone in this bittersweet experience we humans get to play out on planet earth.

The methods of growing your influence and reach that I have to share may not work for you if “being you” means being a wallflower or a shut-in.

If your personal method of creation means you must hole up in a cabin for 6 months to write your novel and do only that, you won’t be able to engage with your current fans through all the amazing online tools we now have available.

Because, beyond enjoying your creations, the new reality is that fans want a relationship with you, the artist.

In fact, they’ve always wanted that.

Otherwise, they’d stream your music and never attend your live tour.

They want an experience and they want it with you and other people just like them in your tribe. They want to belong to something greater.

You and your art have a chance to fill the hole left behind by collapsing religious institutions.

You get to define the new rituals that give us meaning.

Yes, It’s a big responsibility being your tribe’s shaman, their spiritual leader.

Oh, BTW, I am modeling something for you…

Today’s article is a kind of meta-education.

I want to repel YOU… if all you want to do is create your art in a vacuum and can’t swallow the thought of regularly engaging with your fans.

This article and other Phenomenal Future Project assets are not meant for you if that’s the case.

You should stick with the middlemen… the record labels and publishing houses and the art dealers.

They will take the lion’s share and leave you the scraps… but…

You will have your solitude and you might be perfectly happy with that arrangement.

Blockchain technology is in its infancy. It began in 2009 as an idea on a white paper from a person or persons unknown to this day. It’s moving at the speed of light.

This new market’s perceived value is going to go up and down for a long while, but its fundamentals and promise are the bright spot, as far as I’m concerned, in an often bleak future.

If you think being on the frontier is exciting, this is the space for you.

You get to carve out your own destiny.

Why not be at the tip of the spear on this wild ride we call life? Sounds inspiring, right?

So Stick with us PFP and we’ll continue to give you the edge.

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