T.T. 55: pivoting to winnable games
Ta ta for now? Shifting my short term focus from macro to micro
Great philosophy isn’t just theory.
It actually works in real life.
Same goes for great philosophers?
They actually work.
What I’m walking away from:
(at least for now…)
My adventure in El Salvador was probably the most rewarding experience of my life so far. My business ideas there significantly boosted Bitcoin Country’s Circular Economy when it was at its absolute lowest point during a brutal bear market.
My 2.5 year experience on Twitter has also been surreal.
My six thousand followers include many of the biggest names in the Bitcoin and liberty movements. That list includes millionaires as well as “influencers” who have reached audience sizes over a million people.
I’ve personally spoken (audio) to well over 100,000 people about Bitcoin on Twitter/X Spaces.
I’m one or two degrees of separation away from some of the most famous people in the world: Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, and many more.
It’s a powerful network.
And you know what?
I realized that
I’m not ready for it.
When I met Tim Pool at the Libertarian National Convention a few months ago, Joshua Smith — the candidate whom I supported (not Chase Oliver), and who has been on Timcast IRL four times — walked by and told Tim that I would be an amazing guest.
This was an opportunity that some people would pay a lot of money for… served up to me on a silver platter. The biggest nightly news show on YouTube, with an average total audience size of 3.5 million people per episode.
All I had to do was say yes.
Coincidentally, the person who books the guests for Timcast IRL is one of those 6000+ people who follow me on Twitter. It was a slam dunk if I really wanted it.
This was my moment.
If I’m being honest, getting invited on this specific podcast was a big part of what I had spent my previous year of effort optimizing toward.
Even though I’ve only ever done five podcast episodes total, I had positioned myself so perfectly that my inexperience didn’t even matter. The big stage was already mine for the taking.
Instead of seizing the moment though… I politely deflected with a laugh, and then wrapped up my brief hallway conversation with Tim about Bitcoin and El Salvador.
That same Libertarian Party POTUS candidate, Joshua Smith (not Chase Oliver), who endorsed me for Timcast also asked me to speak on his behalf at the convention. I could have been on national TV (CSPAN).
The catch?
I was reaching the point where pseudonymity would no longer be sustainable. Sooner or later, I’d have to start using my real name.
Meanwhile…
I was watching two dynamics at play:
The shifting landscape for privacy in the Bitcoin/crypto world
The cost of fame
I could write an entire lengthy post separately about each of those topics. For now, I’ll just summarize each of them briefly.
Bitcoin/crypto privacy:
Within a couple weeks of my return from El Salvador at the end of April…
Early Bitcoin adopter Roger Ver was arrested for tax evasion. This case involves transactions that he had made a decade prior on Bitcoin’s public ledger.
The developers behind one of Bitcoin’s best privacy tools were arrested. Soon afterward, the other primary “coinjoin” implementation chose to shut down.
And that’s just in the Bitcoin world. Don’t even get me started on the Patriot Act, FISA, the arrest of Telegram’s founder, or the Orwellian free speech crackdown in countries such as the UK and Brazil.
The cost of fame:
Tim Ferriss wrote the definitive blog post on this topic: 11 Reasons Not to Become Famous. It’s four years old, but still applies to any kind of fame.
The past several months have also provided many other examples specifically involving the right-leaning political world. A few that come to mind are the drug-fueled meltdown/arrest of Nick Rekeita, the doxxing of Laura Loomer’s family (not just herself, but even her parents’ home address), and the reputational damage from “Bitcoin philosopher” Robert Breedlove’s personal life becoming public.
And… oh yeah.
Donald Trump also got shot.
All of that was a powerful reminder:
This is not a game.
Politics is the opposite of everything civil about society. It’s a bloodsport full of liars, backstabbers, thieves, mass murderers (warmongers), blackmailers, and other varieties of sociopath/psychopath.
Not to mention the many millions of brainwashed people on both sides (mostly the left nowadays, but still many neocons as well) who gleefully set aside logic and truth to defend their own team and demonize any dissent.
Does that mean politics should be ignored? That good people should abdicate the field? That we should let bad people have full control over the “legitimate” monopoly on violence?
Of course not.
But it does mean that people who get involved should be fully prepared for the worst. When you become a politically active “public figure” with your real name, that bell can’t be unrung.
There’s so much more I’ve thought about saying in this Substack series over the past few months.
I could break down Donald Trump’s speeches at both events in “my world” that he visited in recent months: the Libertarian Party Convention as well as the Bitcoin Conference.
I could share my thoughts more generally about that Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. I could talk about my experience meeting several of the most popular Bitcoin podcasters there.
I could talk about Bitcoin entering the “institutional investor” phase, and the potential Fork War 2.0 looming on the horizon as Wall Street players like BlackRock gain increasing influence in the space.
I could talk about the meteoric rise of Dave Smith, and how I met him at the LP conference. I could share the picture we took together right before Trump’s speech, and a clip of the question I asked at his live podcast/comedy show after he spoke at the Bitcoin Conference.
I could share the clip of me speaking with Bret Weinstein on a “Spaces with Josie” right after his tenth appearance on Joe Rogan’s show was released… right before his “Rescue the Republic” rally in DC. I could talk about that rally, which I also attended, which included famous speakers such as Jordan Peterson and Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. and more.
I could write thousands of words on all of those topics.
But honestly…
My heart isn’t really in it anymore.
It’s one thing to live on the edge of the Overton Window. It’s quite another to live as far outside of it as possible.
That’s what I did in El Salvador. I really did live out my anarcho-capitalist Bitcoin entrepreneur vision. And it actually worked out better than most people expected!
But when it came time to go public back home in the U.S. — the “bring home the elixir” stage of my “hero’s journey” — I realized that I was going a bridge too far.
The tyranny of 2020 and 2021 drastically derailed the trajectory of my mid 20s. I spent so much time being mad at the world that I missed out on a lot of professional and personal development.
I’ve given a lot to the Bitcoin and libertarian movements already. I haven’t asked for much in return.
Maybe I’ll give more to these movements in the future. Maybe I’ll seek out more opportunities with the network I’ve built in those worlds.
For now though, I need to prioritize my development. I need to become the version of myself that deserves to have a lot of Bitcoin and international influence.
And despite all the problems with fiat currency and the American economy… this is still the big leagues. The biggest economy in the world. And that’s where I need to be right now to maximize my potential.
My new focus:
Exactly one month and four days ago, I started a new job.
I finally decided to stop celebrating capitalism as a theory, and start actually making the most of its benefits in the real world.
Sales is the foundation of any business… at least any successful business. The best product/service in the world is irrelevant if you can’t attract buyers for it.
It’s also one of many endeavors in which I have some natural talent, but had never actually put in the work to refine into a proper skill.
That’s changing now.
I’m working at an independent distributor for one of the most widely respected telecom corporations. And although I started off a bit slow, once I got a bit more comfortable in the role, I started crushing it!
Last Friday, I hit the minimum metric for promotion to leadership: three days in one week with 2+ sales each. Soon I’ll start helping to hire and train even more new hires for this growing nationwide sales campaign.
The next day, I led my entire office with 3 sales.
On Monday, I was interviewed during the “high roller” Zoom call for every office in the nation. Zero advanced notice, 400+ people listening, and it went really well regardless. Then I went out and hit 3 sales again.
On Tuesday, eight of us went on a road trip to one of the Philadelphia offices. I made 2 sales, and we’re here all week.
It’s hard work. I’m walking a marathon and working six days a week.
It’s also pushed me outside of my comfort zone and challenged some of my major limiting beliefs. But all of that has been incredibly healthy for me in a lot of ways.
I’m sure I’ll say more about all of this in a future post.
I might even buy (friend of Henry Bingaman and fellow A-list copywriter) Chris Orzechowski’s new email marketing course and then start writing daily emails as a side hustle. This new job isn’t just sales — it’s part of an accelerated track into management — so the well of inspiration for daily business-related content will be overflowing.
But for now, I’ll just leave it at this:
I’m not ready to fix the entire world. I can’t “fix the money” by replacing fiat currency singlehandedly. I can’t fix the brutal jobs market.
But I was able to get hired in this bad jobs market. I am able to earn more money. And I’m actively working on fixing myself to become the version that — if/when I’m ready for it — can go back to making a difference on a macro scale.
P.S.
I’m not walking away from the Bitcoin movement entirely.
I helped a bit with recruiting the Speakers for El Salvador’s main conference, Adopting Bitcoin, on November 15th and 16th. And I’ll be taking some days off from my new job to be there in person!
If you’d like to join me, you can use the code “Jethoreau” for a 10% discount on your tickets.
Wow! So glad I came across this in my “can’t sleep so I’ll read for a bit”moment. I will look for you at the conference. I move to the city tomorrow (probably ties in with why I am awake). I am thrilled to read your update and intrigued by all the things you could say more about and aren’t. Most of all I am happy for you. Not only are you smart, but you have tremendous integrity. So regardless of what you do, the way you do it makes a huge difference. And avoiding fame seems wise and tremendously thoughtful as well. In the end, I believe we are here to become the best versions of ourselves as you say. That is what lasts.