How I Found The Steem Blockchain And Decided To Move On: Centralization v.s. Decentralization

This is the story of how I found my way to the Steem Blockchain.

It's about how I evolved as fitness entrepreneur and value investor.

It's a story about self-discovery and how I learned to vote my values.

This is a story about dealing with the unknown and deciding anyways.

It all started the day I bought a Nike Fuelband...

https://images.app.goo.gl/XFNFEFq5geUFeVKVA

It was 2014 and I remember at the time feeling the excitement of the moment. I was about to walk into the store and with the swipe of my credit card I was going to join the coolest fitness club in the world (at that time anyways!). This device wasn't like any of the ordinary clunky pedometers of the past. This was a sleek fashionable fitness tracker that also linked me with every other user out there making moves count!

To add to the excitement, I had this idea that I would link the step tracker to my website via my Twitter feed! I mean how cool would that be right!? A device that shows my online and offline clients that I am a real live breathing and stepping fitness trainer!

https://www.beachreadyfitness.com/wil-metcalfe

And it was really fun... for awhile. About a year in things began to change however. The Fitness Tracker landscape was heating up with every company worth it's salt jumping into the emerging wearable tracking industry. Fitbit appeared on the radar followed by Apple's Smart Watch and even Samsung took the plunge (to name a few).

When profits lingered and waned Nike decided that it didn't want to compete. Cutting its support team down to a crew of 2 Nike went back to doing what it did best; selling shoes and apparel. They had nothing to lose because the device had done what it was intended to do; hype the sale of more shoes and t-shirts by making the Nike lifestyle look cool to the average consumer.

What had been the coolest digital fitness club in the world was now collecting dust, spiderwebs, and stale air. It wasn't long before people started to notice. The party was over and the jig was up leaving the users (and myself) feeling jaded, bummed, and frustrated.

Clearly Nike didn't care about or recognize the importance of the health information that users had painstakingly accumulated on their platform. They overlooked the fact that the longer health metrics were extrapolated the more invaluable and useful they would become. It was a clear lack of the vision and innovation that had sparked the idea in the first place.

That left me contemplating my next step (pun intended). All I wanted, after all, was a cool easy AND interactive way to get my health metrics onto my website. Easy right!?

Not quite...

There were now quite a few fitness trackers vying for consumer dollars but I had learned an invaluable lesson. The next device I purchased would have to be produced by a company THAT ONLY TRACKED FITNESS METRICS. They had to have SOMETHING TO LOSE if they gave up counting my health information. My step count had to actually BE THEIR MAIN BUSINESS.

That immediately ruled out the Apple, Samsung, and Garmin devices. Mio Fuse, Jawbone II, and the Polar Loop all seemed promising but by then I realized that I also wanted a tracker that was socially versatile enough to create my own private fitness club/groups. That meant it had to be a device that my personal training clients could afford and it had to be easy to use. The data collected from the device had to also be presented in a useful, fun, and engaging way if my clients were to join me and actually use it.

After delving into it for a couple weeks I decided that Fitbit was the next logical choice to transition to. It seemed to be a no brainer as the tracker seemed to have everything… Later I found out that the words, “have everything” were the operative words to consider. (But we will get to that.)

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I bought the Fitbit Surge and the 2 Aria weight scales. One for my fitness studio and one for home. Shortly after my purchase Fitbit went public. I stayed out of the initial public offering and waited for the price to make sense buying in around $5.00 about 2 years down the road.

While I waited to buy stock in the company I really got a sense for the company and what their device and software could do and best of all I could sleep at night knowing that Fitbit cared just as much as I did about the collection and continuation of my health data.

But that’s when my investing story, and the way I viewed my investment in the company, began to change again… But this time I was the one doing the changing.

I decided to take an investing workshop called Rule #1 Investing from a man I now highly respect. Phil Town has become a real inspiration and even a mentor to me. I can’t say enough about this guy! He is the real deal and one of the most genuine people you will ever meet!

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If you are interested in learning how to value invest the way that Warren Buffett does please check out Phil's website! https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com

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I took a week off (Dec 2016) and flew to Atlanta, Georgia with my wife (That's her @wonderwow in the photo below and this is the first time I have shared her photo publicly! 😄) to take the course. Christmas was everywhere and I was feeling pretty optimistic; ready to grow and learn!

We spent full days learning how to fundamentally evaluate the underlying numbers of companies traded on the stock-market and by the end of it I was ready to pick some winners! Of course Fitbit was something I felt confident to invest in. I felt like I had a solid understanding of the company and it had 10 years of financials even though it had only been publicly traded for 2 years. I felt like most of the speculation that normally surrounds a IPO had dissipated. I believed in what the company was doing. They were helping counter the negative health effects that technology was having on people everywhere and they had no debt what-so-ever; just cashflow.

In the Rule #1 work shop we also learned how to tell a best case story for holding a company for 10 years... and then we learned how to invert our story for why we should NOT buy a company... just to find any holes in our understanding of the company, it's industry, management, and it's future.

I could see that the Fitbit tracker had the potential to be to the fitness industry what the digital camera was to the photography industry. I envisioned a company that cared about it's users health information and I thought that eventually Fitbit could transition to providing deep and personalized software solutions to every human being on the planet. A health dashboard. Now that concept had the potential to revolutionize mindfulness, fitness, and health right?!

Well not so quick...

Parallel to my studies of the stock market I was also studying sound money in the form of gold, silver... and Bitcoin. I had been learning about and been following Bitcoin since 2012 when it was only $10! (It's really AMAZING how far we have come... and how far we have yet to go isn't it!?) I really wanted to understand our economy and the money that was used to transact half of every purchase especially after what happened during the 2008/2009 financial crisis.

I was drawn towards the permission-less way that people could exchange and transact on the Bitcoin network. It was a way to do money in a decentralized way that put the power back into the hands of the people. This was truly REVOLUTIONARY!

I could see that this was the future and that decentralized solutions like Bitcoin could be the way to solve problems from the very serious to the hum-drum day to day.

It wasn't long before I started hearing about this decentralized way to do social media, own your content, and get valued and paid to be an influential part of a growing forward thinking community. The Steem Blockchain! WOW! What a magnificent idea! A place where I could invest in my ideas! It was a way to re-innovate my entire fitness business!

"Just AMAZING!", I thought!

"I'm ALL in!!! Let's DO this!"

I went about launching several different Steem accounts. This one @wil.metcalfe @BeachReady @AdventureReady and a couple others.

And that's when the story changed once again for me... I saw a new and different way to do social media, business, and investing. A way that put the ownership back in my hands.

The questions leapt forward after that...

• Should a company like Fitbit really own my health data?
• Wasn't it mine first and foremost?

I began to think about the nature of most companies sold on the stock market. They are centralized at their core and 100% interested in turning my data into profit for the share holders. I was giving my data away for nothing and they were making millions off of it... not to mention risking my personal information on the internet.

My investing story had changed for Fitbit right then and there... so being the value investor that I am... I sold the company at around $7.00 and exited my position. (Just in time to! Google has made moves to purchase Fitbit recently... You can't get more centralized than that!) I didn't want to vote with my dollars for a future where centralized authority's controlled and profited from my health information. I wanted everyone to own their own information. It wasn't for sale... unless I wanted it to be.

It didn't matter that the current mainstream version of reality was being driven by the likes of Facebook, Google, and Fitbit. I was going to invest my money towards a better, safer, smarter, more secure, and freer future even if it meant building it from the ground up.

I took my investment capital out of the stock market and away from the central players and powered up my new Steem accounts with the money. It was an easy decision for me because at the time and out of the blue I was introduced, by a Steem friend @kpreddy, to the @Actifit project. I immediately dropped EVERYTHING I was doing. I knew right away that I had found my next step and, being a certified personal trainer, it was a perfect fit for me!

"YES! This is AWESOME!" I blurted out loud!

I had to tell everyone I knew about this AMAZING opportunity on the most AMAZING social media blockchain! Finally! A decentralized solution to the problem I had been searching for! And on top of that a way to REWARD/AWARD people who were actually taking real life initiative to do something for their health and fitness!

I then proceeded to systematically call everyone I knew. I even took drastic measures and delete my Facebook contacts one by one telling each and every one of them about the Steem Blockchain before hand. (Some of my people have followed me here... But most did not! I'm still working on those guys and girls. You better believe it!)

Shortly after that (a little more than a year ago) I launched the #AutomaticWin and #HighFive Initiatives as a way to support the @Actifit project and award/reward the people prioritizing their health and fitness within that community.

So far I have awarded/rewarded over 1000 posts with the #AutomaticWin badge and have even launched a Steem Engine token (AWIN) to give incentives to people who go out on adventures with the @Actifit app. Getting an #AutomaticWin is a significant achievement. It means that you got 10,000 steps before 10am! #HighFive!

It really has been wonderful to be a part of the @Actifit community and I have really enjoyed reading, awarding, and rewarding and getting to know people there. This has been a very hands on way for me to build and grow right along with a wonderful project and amazing people! I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing than working on finding ways to reward healthy activity.

I'm so glad that I joined the @Actifit Team... and none of this would have happened without the Steem Blockchain!

So this is my story about how I came to be invested in the Steem Blockchain and the @Actifit project.

Now on to current events...

I'm sure that you may have gathered from reading my story that I believe in a decentralized version of this blockchain.

It has been a horrifying for me to watch @justinsunsteemit attempt to centralize the Steem Blockchain with hostile take over methods in the name of "just business".

It has shown me that not all investors value community. They see the things around them without seeing the people that those things were made for. This is shameful.

A value investor should know better.

One of the last pictures I saw of @JustinSunSteemit was of him and Warren Buffett smiling after having lunch together. Warren is a well known value investor. Everyone knows that but I wonder what Warren would say to this young man if He knew what he was doing to assert his will within this community? I have a feeling Warren Buffett would cringe right beside me.

I want you all to know that I have come to value you all. You are all wonderful and inspiring people, many of whom I consider to be my friends. I have been here over a year now so I know full well that it is the community that gives this blockchain life. It's the reason I keep investing my time, money, heart and soul here and I will continue to do just that going forward no matter what happens...

Tomorrow, however, will be the time for us to decide and then act. Our Steem Blockchain will never be the same again. We will be experiencing a hard fork as the Steem community moves to the Hive Blockchain and towards a decentralized future. Values will be examined and difficult choices will be made.

I have given all of this a great deal of thought over the last couple days. It has helped a great deal for me to retrace my steps as I evolved as an value investor and a business man. It has reinforced my resolve to continue voting my time and money in the direction of a decentralized social media platform.

I struggled at first with this because I really do LOVE the Steem Blockchain. This is our digital home base... at least it's mine. (I don't even have Facebook anymore... Who needs it!)

I thought about standing shoulder to shoulder like the 300 Spartans and to continue a head to head confrontation with @JustinSunSteemit and his sock puppet's... But I honestly think that fighting centralization with centralization will be a sever waste of my time, energy, and brain juice.

I think that it will be far better to approach the threat of centralization like the Apaches did during the colonization of North America. They were resilient in the face of centralized threat (even with a 10% fighting force due to European disease) because their social structure was fully but cooperatively decentralized.

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If you would like to read more about this check out the book, "The Starfish And The Spider - The Unstoppable Power Of Leaderless Organizations" by Rod A. Beckstrom

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Starfish-Spider-Unstoppable-Leaderless-Organizations/dp/1591841836

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So, consoled by these thoughts, I have decided that I will be officially moving EVERYTHING I am involved with solely over to the Hive Blockchain.

I realize this might be considered a risky move by some... But I don't care. I am 100% for the decentralized future of this blockchain. I'm 100% for what's best for this community. And, based on what I see in regard to our plight on the Steem Blockchain... I think our ideas, community, and prosperity will flourish better well away from centralization and those who would assert it.

If I had wanted a centralized social media platform I would have simply stayed on Facebook.

So that's the end of this part of my story... and the beginning of something new, better, and even more exciting! I can't wait to continue building my ideas and connecting with you all... On the Hive Blockchain!

See you all tomorrow!

wil.metcalfe
Fitness Entrepreneur
Certified Personal Trainer
@BeachReady
@AdventureReady
@Actifit
@EveryStepCounts
@OneMoreNutrition