Givers and Takers, Movers, Shakers and P Takers

I’ve been involved one way or another in the make money online business for so long that I can’t remember when I started. I got into it because I was unhappy with my day job. In many ways, I was an easy target at first. Those first couple of years were pretty embarrassing. I was a bit of a test crash dummy. With the operative word being dummy.

But I learned, got burned, learned some more, got burned again. Retreated, licked my wounds, came back, built a business got frustrated with where things were heading, compromised my principles, sold everything off and walked away.

And here I am. Older, greyer, fatter, maybe a little wiser, but a whole lot happier.

My “day job” now is freelancing. It fits me like a glove. I’m my own boss and I’ve got to the stage where I can knock back work when I don’t think it’s a good fit. I’m back to working ten-hour days though. I’m doing that because Hive has lit a fire in my belly.

I don’t need to be involved with Hive, nor any of its offshoots. I want to. That’s a big distinction.

I’m something of a lone wolf. I’ve never really fit anywhere. Part of my journey over the past decade or so has been to realise and acknowledge that. It hasn’t been particularly comfortable but it has been necessary. I’m naturally suspicious and cynical. There are reasons for that. I understand them but even so, they limit my ability to connect with others. I’ve stood on the outside because I didn’t trust myself being on the inside if that makes sense. I’ve avoided community over and over.

And yet, here I am wanting to be involved in the most incredible community that I’ve ever been aware of.

Hive is not a here today gone tomorrow piece of electronic fluff that is designed to separate you from the contents of your wallet. It is organic, alive, evolving, growing and embracing people like me. It goes against all of my hard-nosed cynicism to say that.

I see givers everywhere

There’s an old saying that maybe is coming to me from my Catholic schoolboy days. “As you give so shall you receive.” The more I think about it, I’m pretty sure it’s New Testament based, but as a fallen Catholic, I can’t be sure. There’s another saying that is more worldly that says never give a sucker an even break. If I wanted to contrast my experience in internet marketing to that on Hive, it’s there in those two statements.

Hive promotes giving.

Internet marketing as I know it largely involves taking dressed up as something else.

I see givers everywhere on Hive. Many of these people are familiar to me. I’ve seen their faces and names on splash and squeeze pages as I’ve competed against them for attention, subscribers and commissions. I’ve subscribed to a few of their newsletters. I may have even sold the odd product to some of them. They were just names. Now they are people. Perhaps the greatest example of this is @jimmy.adames who it seems has been on a similar journey to me from a marketing standpoint. He has become a model giver. In a recent post, Jimmy remarked upon his evolution. It makes great reading. Jimmy has become a giver. Maybe he always was. Maybe I never noticed. Hive allows me to see it really clearly.

Of course, the world champion giver is mentioned in Jimmy’s post. I’m talking about @jongolson. If it wasn’t for Jon, I would have blown Hive off at the hard fork. His enthusiasm knows no bounds. He’s been in this MMOL business longer than I have and he is ten times as good at it. I think that’s because he’s always been a giver. Hive amplifies that part of him exponentially. Me being me, I find it really hard to say thank you. I always feel like people think I’m taking the piss. That’s probably because I have real difficulty in accepting compliments myself (see notes above re suspicion and cynicism). Jon doesn’t just talk a good game, he walks the walk every day. He’s a wonderful role model. I’ll never be as gregarious or as giving. I can’t be Jon, but I can be the best version of me on Hive, whatever that entails. Jon has shown me that. I can’t (and don’t) thank him enough.

Of course, there are many others. Anyone who upvotes whatever I ramble on about is giving. Anyone who comments, anyone who posts is giving something of themselves. Hive doesn’t let us hide behind our computer screens and pretend that we’re somebody we’re not. It draws us out, blinking rather stupidly at first, into the sunlight where we can in time, shine. Maybe, there’s an opportunity to become one of the movers and shakers on Hive. It’s possible. All you have to do is give and then give some more.

So who are the movers and shakers on Hive now?

To be honest. I don’t care. I read an interesting post on LinkedIn the other day by Bruce Bates( I should know who he is, but have no idea really). The gist of it was not to follow the people who had made it but to connect with people who are full of ideas, passion and enthusiasm. Success makes you complacent. Hunger drives you. Hive is full of hungry people, all brimming with passion, ideas and enthusiasm.

Make the connections.

Give your time.

Grow. Evolve. Enjoy