Showcase Sunday - Are you going to be the guy, who knows a guy who knows a guy...or maybe you want to be THE guy?

Hello everyone!

What you are about to read is a true story. I hope it will motivate a few doubters...

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It was back, during the early days of 2011. I was in my late 20's, had finally finished my studies and I had also fulfilled my military service obligations. And like every other kid, even at his late 20's (men are always kids, never forget that) I didn't actually know what I wanted to do with my life. Even though I had a degree on computer sciences, it seemed more like a "safety card", rather than what I really enjoyed doing.

What I really enjoyed doing was working at night clubs.

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Yeah...since I was 18. It started as a summer joke...just to earn enough money to buy my first bike. But it lasted for a whole decade. And it suited me just fine...loud music, often surrounded by beautiful women, meeting new people almost every day, plus I was getting payed really really well. In fact so well that I managed to finish my studies without parental help, although the university was in another city. Which means...paying rent, bills, food, all by myself.

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But who cares about money...right?

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WRONG. As I said earlier I was getting payed really well and I thought that "this is it...no matter how much I spend, I can replace it tomorrow" and that attitude, became a habit. I was spending my money in the most ridiculous stuff and wasn't saving anything. As long as I was having fun, nothing else really mattered. But I was proud you know... It was my money. I was working hard for that.

And all of a sudden global economic crisis hit Greece.

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And it hit like a hurricane. People were in panic. Many lost their jobs...I lost my job. All of a sudden I was left with no backup plan. The nightlife dream had just fallen apart...

So, after losing my job, I used to spend most of my time with my best friend who had also lost his job. Endless hours of talking took place...I remember that we used to talk about anything. But the financial crisis was always in the agenda. We had to find a way to make our lives better again. And that's the point where my best friend mentioned the name John.

Who the fuck is John?

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Well, John was a guy who sometimes used to hang out with my best friend and he was what we call nerd. He was obsessed with technology and everything that had to do with the Internet. Never really met him in person because from my friend's descriptions, he sounded like the ultimate boring guy. Most of the times even my friend was trying to kindly avoid him, but he often felt pity for him. So every time I hanged out with my friend I was first making sure that John wasn't invited...

But there were times that my friend was unconsciously telling my stuff John used to tell him. John told me this, John told me that...I was never really paying attention when conversation was about John. Until the day he told me the epic: "John is about to invest 2.000 Euros on some sort of stocks on the Internet. A new digital coin named Bitcoin. He is fuckin obsessed with this." John was coming from a wealthy family, but still....2K? I still remember my reaction: -"WTF? Is he completely retarded? It is probably a fraud."

Do I need to remind you what BTC's price was at the early stages of 2011?

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OK...I will. It was more or less around 0.7$ - 0.8$ and that crazy guy did it. He invested 2.000 Euros on something that he believed that would change his life once and for all. That was the first time I heard about BTC. And was also the last, until the day I decided to apply to Steemit. When you enter the crypto world Bitcoin is the first thing you probably learn. So when I became familiar with crypto-currencies on January 2018 and saw BTC's price I just couldn't believe it. The first thing that came on my mind was John. -"Nah...he wouldn't..."

So long story short, I make a phone call to my friend to tell him about this Steemit thing and also to see if they keep contact with John. -"It seems that we were the retarded ones. John is practically...a multimillionaire and he still owns a few hundreds BTC's" I just couldn't believe it. He told me the whole story, and I was literally in a shock. It sounded like a fairy tale...but it wasn't.

So I was the guy who knows a guy....who now was THE guy.

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But since I can't travel back in time to invest in BTC, I think that over here, I've found the next big thing to invest in. What's the next big thing? Steem of course. Even though we all know the benefits and the potential of Steem blockchain, I know that there are hundreds of doubters out there who keep ranting.

Nobody said that if you become part of the Steem family the next thing that's about to happen is to become a millionaire. First and foremost you need to invest your precious time. You need to work hard. You need to engage with others. You need to be devoted. You also need to invest money, otherwise you 'll probably have a lonely ride. I admit that there are a few people who have invested nothing, yet they have major help from whale accounts who push them forward. But this is the exception, not the rule. The rule is that nothing comes easy.

If you really think crypto currencies is the next big thing, if you think Steem is the next big thing keep trying. Keep posting, keep upvoting, keep commenting, keep improving yourselves. You don't need to write novels. Steemit is not a university. Just be original...show up every single day and don't let the bear market discourage you. And don't do the same mistake I did 7 years back. Because it is just a matter of time for Steem to "deliver" according to its potential.

At the end of the day, you'd rather be John? Or the guy who knows a guy...who knows John?

Until next time...
Stay awesome!
Cheers @mindtrap

PS. I deleted the images shown in the original post and added a new one, as it appears they are no longer available.

Here for the long haul ya said? I knew it from the very first moment.

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This is the link to the original post...some 539 days ago.

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Showcase Sundays are a great way to revive some of your older posts either because you feel they were under-rewarded or simply because you enjoyed them back in the day. No matter which post of mine, I might drag back up on the surface, there is always an inspirational tone in each and everyone of those.

Maybe this is my way to stay focused and also motivated...

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