At the same time, I spent years working regular low-skill jobs. Switched them often. And after about a decade, just scrolling through those kinds of vacancies started to feel like pure hopelessness.

And I kept thinking that something was deeply wrong with me. Because around me (mainly in my imagination), there were so many people who’d found success in some field. Meanwhile, I didn’t seem stupid, I could learn things, even had some talents — but years later I found myself broke and professionless.

I had a lot of conversations with LLMs about it, and one day they told me I might be a multipotentialite. I'd never heard that term before. Looked into it — and yeah, turns out that’s me, 100%. A bug and a feature at the same time.

In short, a multipotentialite is someone with multiple interests. We’ve got a very low tolerance for boredom and routine, we often change jobs and careers, and we tend to lose interest in a task right after we’ve reached the goal. We crave novelty and challenge.

And honestly, I think the modern world is just not built for people like us. Specialization and career growth are everything now — and it makes sense, right? Why would a business want someone who can do a bit of everything, but not like... super professionally? They want specialists — people who can solve specific problems, really well.

In my case, throw in schizotypal disorder and an existential crisis on top, and imagine how I’d honestly answer the classic HR question: “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“In deep philosophical search for meaning, occasionally switching between blockchain, Lisp, and pondering the impermanence of existence.”

You're hired!

Of course, multipotentialites do have their superpowers: we’re good at synthesizing ideas, learning fast because of our wide knowledge base, adapting quickly, and switching between different thinking modes.

But so far, it feels like nobody talks about us seriously. We’re kind of invisible as a concept. For most people, a multipotentialite is just a lazy guy who can’t figure out what he wants. I’ve seen those condescending looks of pity more than once — or polite silence instead. These days, it’s all about digging deep and grinding one area until you hit expertise.

And I totally get that — it’s an effective strategy in a competitive world where easy money doesn’t exist anymore.

What I don’t like is how people who don’t or can’t do that are immediately shoved into the “losers and slackers” drawer.

In the last five years, I've also tried a bunch of different ways to make money online. But I realized I'm not really interested in selling or building a brand just to monetize. What I enjoy is doing what I like for myself and sharing the results for free. If someone pays me for that work — I won’t refuse. I’m not against money or earning. But chasing clients and buyers? For some reason, that’s never felt appealing.

Recently, while thinking about all this, I had an idea. At first it felt more like a joke, but I think that’s just because I’ve internalized this image of the “martyr” — the one who’s supposed to do uninteresting work for money, because that’s just how it is.

The idea is a different kind of marketplace. I don’t have a proper name for it — maybe something like an "anti-freelance" or "interest-driven marketplace". The point is: anyone can post a listing about what they would like to do, something they would genuinely enjoy doing. I mean some kind of activity that could potentially be useful to others. Then someone else — a buyer — can come in and pay for that offer, or maybe place a bid. Creators express their interest, and buyers fund it.

The motivation for creators could vary: maybe they don’t have the time, but they'd make time for money. Or maybe they have stronger interests, but if someone pays for a secondary one, it becomes more appealing. The key is that the person would probably be doing this thing anyway, even without getting paid.

Buyers might be motivated by getting something they need — or just by supporting something they care about. So why would they choose this kind of marketplace? The key difference is that the people on the other side are driven by genuine interest. They'll go deeper into the problem, they probably already know it well, they’ll work more efficiently, and the result won’t be a half-assed delivery — it’ll be something made with love.

I’m not trying to design the architecture, implementation, or figure out all the tricky parts. It’s just an idea. Maybe it’s just a joke.

Or maybe little things like this are how new stuff is born.