Fellow collegue and very successful businessman, Dan Hawkins, wrote the following simple blog about cryptocurrency. I recommend you read it and then register for Saturday’s rebroadcast of what was a truly impactful, insightful, and inspiring webinar on cryptocurrency and how Life is bringing it to the mass market. If you have any hope for a brighter more free future, I couldn’t encourage you more to participate in this webinar.
What is a ‘Cryptocurrency’
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security
Is Cryptocurrency the future of money?
feature. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized systems based on blockchain technology, a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency, and arguably its biggest allure, is its organic nature; it is not issued by any central authority, rendering it theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.
The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, which still remains the most popular and most valuable. Today, there are thousands of alternate cryptocurrencies with various functions or specifications. Some of these are clones of Bitcoin while others are forks, or new cryptocurrencies that split off from an already existing one.
Clear as mud right! You may or may not believe cryptocurrency is the future of money but it will play a part in the future of money no matter what. I would encourage you to do your homework because technology that is this disruptive is something you will not want to look back on and say, “I remember when that was new, to bad I missed it.”
Here is what some are saying about Cryptocurrency:
“Virtual Currencies may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.”– Ben Bernanke (14th Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Central Bank System of the United States)
“There are three eras of currency: Commodity based, politically based, and now, math based.” – Chris Dixon
“It’s bigger than the Iron Age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution.” – Tim Draper
I am not suggesting you get involved or not get involved, just that you get educated.
Two of Inc. Magazines Top 50 Leadership experts and New York Times best selling authors will be discussing Cryptocurrency on an upcoming webinar. If you are curious at all about this topic, log in to the webinar and begin your journey into the world of Cryptocurrency.
I’ve been involved with the Life Company since its creation November 1, 2011. And since that time, I’ve not been this excited, this enthusiastic, this hopeful. What is being launched in early 2019 is massive. Very few opportunities, if any, of this magnitude come along in one’s life. I highly recommend you take the time to get more information by reading Orrin Woodward’s blog below and decide if you want to be part of making history.
There’s a saying, “Some people make things happen. Others watch what happened. And still others wonder what happened.” You have the opportunity to make something amazing happen in and for your life. This is it. Orrin’s blog gives great detail on what I am writing about. Read it and then fill out the form for more information. You won’t regret it.
How do MatchMakers Solve the Chicken or the Egg Challenge?
Every payment system platform seeks to serve at least two separate customers, namely, merchants and consumers. The goal is to achieve critical masses where the merchants join for access to the large community of buyers and more people join the community to access the growing number of merchants within the platform. Entrepreneurs must build a proper ecosystem to support both groups and then sell the benefits to all sides. However, the key to the whole deal is to satisfy both groups of customers concurrently or the platform will not reach critical mass.
For instance, when the entrepreneurs talk to the merchants, they proclaim, “I have this revolutionary payments App that makes accepting crypto just as easy as accepting a credit card.” Their reaction is, “Wow, that’s awesome. How many people are using the app?” When the answer back is, “well, not many right now, but we just started beta testing.” The merchants basically tell the innovators to come back when they have consumers. Unfortunately, the typical consumer conversation isn’t going that well either without the proper ecosystem in place.
After all, the customers seek popular stores in the payment system platform to visit regularly, but in order for the platform to accomplish this, they must talk to the merchants about the tens of thousands of customers they already have in their community. Imagine going to customers and saying, “Hi, I have revolutionary App and and this transformative payments method accepts crypto as easily as credit cards” Their reaction is, “Wow, cool, where can I use it?” When the answer is, “well, not many places, yet, but we hope to get all the big names eventually.” Of course, the customers tell them to check back when they get the bigger merchants on board.
Do you see the dilemma? To satisfy one of the platform’s customers (merchants) requires an abundance of the end customers, but they don’t want to join unless stores and discounts are already present. This is the struggle for all matchmaker models, a struggle to both customers groups simultaneously. For why would the merchants go through the complicated crypto acceptance process at each store, if they are not assured the customers will come? Similarly, why would real product buyers generate or purchase crypto unless they are assured they can buy the things they want from the stores they love? If this paradox is not resolved, the chicken or the egg challenge will flatten another cool idea.
Perhaps the simplest method to cut through the proverbial Gordian’s Knot is for an existing community to partner with an innovative platform to birth the C-4 Project, a project that solves the Chicken or the Egg Challenge. Thankfully, our joint venture partners knew the community they wanted to team up with, a community that has filled stadiums for nearly 20 years now. The founders of this App spent the last year courting us to join their platform and offered us the exclusive right to promote their platform in the Direct Sales/MLM space to help them solve the chicken or the egg challenge to achieve critical mass. This is the specific chicken or the egg scenario, one of the main roadblocks to crypto going mainstream, that is solved through the C-4 Project, marrying content, commerce and community together to benefit all three groups.
In fact, the C-4 Project addresses every known challenge withholding crypto from going mainstream. Imagine a patented payment App that through an innovative algorithm minimizes price volatility, reduces transaction times, and charges no transaction fees. Further, imagine a network of 70,000 locations growing to over 100,000 by launch date (this is just the tip of the iceberg). Now add in the LIFE community, a community designed to solve the chicken or the egg challenge by bringing tens of thousands of users to the platform overnight, and one has imagined the future. Remember, this platform patented designed can use crypto just as easily and efficiently as dollars so the possibilities around the globe are practically unlimited. The LIFE community will market everywhere!
Who Are Some of the Merchants?
Merchants are being added weekly, but if we go back to our Winston-Salem example, the one where BitCoin had only one merchant in the whole city,, and within six miles of our packed out major function, Life members will soon be able to visit 38 stores to save money and generate crypto:
Dominoes Pizza, Bonefish Grill, IHOP, Krispy Kreme, Carrabas Italian Grill, Pappa John’s, Kmart, Tijuana Flats, Lands End, Cold Stone Cremery, Chipotle, Sears, TGI Friday, Express, Old Navy, Game Stop, Sephora, Gap, Bannana Republic, Aerie, JC Penny, American Eagle, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Outback Steakhouse, Chilis, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Applebees, The Home Depot, Lowes, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ulta, AMC Theaters, Steak & Shake, Staples, O’Charleys.
After six months of asking tough questions, seeking to poke a hole in this, I realized that this is a million people plan in the next couple of years. The C-4 Project solves the blockchain roadblocks to turn the crypto dream into reality. Interestingly, it’s been nearly two decades (1999) since Chris Brady and I heard Michael Dell explain how community was the key to the 3C’s – this is truer now than ever with the Mobile revolution! Content participates because they have guaranteed customers before investing a dime in marketing (they only pay a fee if the customer purchases something). The commerce piece is the joint-venture where LIFE leverages it’s compensation plan along with our partner’s patented payment technologies to reward customers and members. Finally, LIFE builds communities in which products and services flow to enjoy 3-10% off store prices and then generate crypto for participating in the platform.
Notice how the Community leads the entire project, not Content or Commerce, who must serve the community in a FREE MARKET environment! Community members, starting with customers, will generate millions of dollars of real savings and crypto as they visit stores within the platform. Moreover, since we are not beholden to any particular product, any supplier that cannot meet the quality and price will simply be ignored and lose business. Hence, unlike nearly all the rest of network marketing field, who spend millions of dollars to produce generic no-name products, recruit captured-market distributors, and then expect them all to buy the overpriced products, products that allegedly cure cancer, make you look 20 again, or help you lose 50 pounds overnight, all of this from a scientific formula enhanced by rare catapillar fungi recently discovered in the Amazonian jungle :); LIFE is providing real stores, with real savings, and real crypto, all at the best prices. The Free Market is the best teacher to ensure merchant’s truly serve end consumers.
The is a real world use of real world crypto with an immediate demand throughout the payment app ecosystem. There is no Initial Coin Offering (ICO), for unlike so my crypto scams out there, this is NOT an investment in some pie-in-the-sky currency with no real world use. Rather, we are building communities in which the produces and services flow and receive compensation for being the marketing arm to solve the Chicken or the Egg Challenge. This is a game, set, match victory for the LIFE champions who stayed the course and proved that communities could live without being “owned” by a specific content provider. As I have said for years, those who stay will be champions. Community is the key and our model will prove it.
What Part Will You Play?
No one loses in the ecosystem because the profits for all sides are created by streamlining frictions and inefficiencies within the 3C’s and rewarding all groups for fixing them. Now that the reader understands the big picture of the model, one can see why I haven’t slept eight hours straight in over 60 days! I am so thankful and excited to finally complete our first mission, reaching one million people, and moving onto bigger and better missions.
What we do in the LIFE community is promote and build the ecosystem for the content, commerce, and community to thrive together in a win-win fashion as we take Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and our Community mainstream. In one App, we teach people the Three Keys to Wealth so they have the opportunity to live Financially Free.
Customers, of course, get the save money and generate crypto part of Literacy for free and those who choose to join the movement, and receive ongoing income for every customer served, can upgrade into the full Literacy, Leadership and Leverage to chase down their dreams.
Everyone is getting in that understands, whether it be as a customer in January, or a PowerPlayer Ready for the sold out today. The LIFE community is stoked, knowing it’s job is to build depth and numbers (and are they ever doing their job!) in anticipation for the official launch in January. If we have this much growth in the Pre-Launch, imagine the growth when we actually launch C-4 in January? LIFE is good. 🙂
What part will you play in the financial revolution?
I’m sure you have. Or, maybe it’s something you say as I do. It’s actually my passion. But as I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of people over the years, I have had a bit of an epiphany related to that wonderful little sentence. I think that phrase is all too often a cover up for one’s true motivation- to help oneself.
What do I mean? Let me explain by first quoting D.L. Moody when he said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t matter.” If you had to take a simple guess at how many people are doing something that truly matters, or better explained as doing something that is truly their passion and purpose, how many would it be? Let’s just say it’s 50% of the population are actually living out their highest potential, passion, purpose, priority, and any other “P” word you can think of. That would leave 50% that aren’t.
So how do these other 50% justify living how they live, when deep down they know they aren’t doing something that matters? They say things like, “I love helping people by…” You can fill in the blank. I was a teacher many years ago. And I felt as though I was truly helping my students and parents, but it wasn’t my highest calling (for many teachers it absolutely IS their highest calling. I’m merely using this as an example in my life). God had more for me (still does). Had I settled for that position, deep down I would know I wasn’t doing what God built me to do, and very likely my justification for not getting out of my comfort zone would be, “I just love helping people. I love making a difference in my student’s lives, etc.” The harsh reality, though, would have been I was actually trying to help myself by easing the pain of guilt I had deep on the inside. Tough? Yes. But I want to help set people free to do what they were created to do.
Is there anything wrong with being a teacher? Of course not, unless it’s not what I was created for. Is there anything wrong with being a doctor, nurse, police officer, parent, business owner, preacher, stay at home parent, blue collar worker, cashier, office manager, realtor, manager, ditch digger, retiree, trashman, attorney, graphic artist, accountant, financial advisor, networker…
NO!
Unless you were meant for something else.
And in my example, 50% of the population is meant for something else. And your true job is to figure out what it is.
I guess that’s what we do in the Life business. We help set people free by helping them discover and develop their gifts, talents, passions, and ultimately their purpose. And when you are doing what you were meant to do, it hurts to see others settling for less than they were meant for. Thus my reason for writing this.
Maybe it’s you.
Yes, you, reading this.
Maybe you are meant for more. Most likely you are. I’d like to help you discover what that is. Reach out.
As I was driving to the store today, I found myself taking a “short cut” thinking it would save me some time. But as I made many left and right turns, I figured it probably would have been the same amount of time had I drove the main route to the store.
This reminded me of a recent conversation I overheard between two men at a hardware store. They were discussing how they handle backed up traffic. Both of them agreed that they would rather try an alternate route and take longer to get to their destination than wait patiently in line with the slow moving traffic. The reasoning was, at the very least, they “felt” like they were making progress. The memory of this conversation reminded me of a friend’s Facebook post and my response to it.
A friend of mine posted on her account, “This one hit me hard today. ‘Busyness is an illness of the soul.’ -Eugene Peterson. What are your thoughts?”
This of course set off a pretty good assortment of comments including mine:
“There are no rewards in heaven for being “busy.” We are rewarded for being productive (bearing fruit)…People often use the phrase “I’m super busy” or something like that as if it’s some kind of badge of honor. I’m not impressed with busy people. I’m impressed with productive people; people who are making an eternal impact in the lives of people.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in being busy. I’d like to be effective, productive, useful, fulfilled, fruitful and consistently working towards my God-given purpose. Does that mean I may find myself “busy”? Likely, but that is where the danger lies.
Busyness can all too often be confused with being productive. But don’t be misled. Productivity and being busy are not synonymous. Like a football player that runs the ball, he may run 25 yards during a play but only gain two. How? Because he was so “busy” running right and left trying to avoid tacklers he got his eyes of the goal of making forward progress.
So how do we know the difference? The answer is surprisingly simple. Have a scoreboard. How do I know the efforts of the football player weren’t productive? Because the scoreboard showed his progress. What about you? How do you know your life is productive? Have a scoreboard that measures your goals. If, like the “busy” person, you don’t have a means to measure your efforts, then you can easily become disillusioned about your productivity.
Once you have a scoreboard in place that measures your productivity and effectiveness, you can start asking the right questions about your efforts. Did they, or did they not, lead to the results you want? If not, what should I change to get the results I want? Back to our football player. If all my zigging and zagging didn’t produce much, maybe it would be better to simply run straight ahead and break a tackle or two and get 5 yards running a total of 5 yards rather than expending all that unnecessary energy for less results.
Effort alone is not a measure of success. Don’t fall for the illusion of productivity- busyness. Plenty of busy, hard working, good people are accomplishing very little. Always remember, the goal is never to be “busy.” The goal is to be productive. And you must be able to measure that through some sort of scoreboard to understand how you are doing. So, what are you trying to achieve and how can you measure it? When you have it figured out, you’ll be on your way to being productive not merely busy.
I was perusing my LinkedIn page when I came across the picture above. I “liked” it as I usually do when I see something I, well, like. But before the words went through my eyes, brain, and out my ears to be forgotten until another time, I started wondering what people would think it means to “be the light.”
I imagine that some people would think it means to smile, or do something kind, or say something encouraging. But if I compare that to “being the light,” those types of acts would be more like a spark or a flash or perhaps at best a flicker of light.
So what does it mean to “be the light.” I believe it means to be a constant source of joy, kindness, and encouragement. It means being a person who consistently demonstrates qualities that brighten a person’s countenance and illuminate their surroundings. It also could mean that their behavior reveals and does not hide “things.” After all, when the lights go on, all is revealed. I’ll leave it up to you what you believe is being revealed.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” And what did He do? Well, a lot! He healed and taught people truth. He demonstrated compassion and kindness, as well as, justice and righteousness. He was honest and forthright. He was also accepting and did not condemn. And he trained others to be and do the same. Ultimately, He willingly laid His life down for mankind.
He’s a pretty good example of what it means to “be the light.”
In other words, being the light is a lifestyle. It’s not something that is off and on. It is.
So now that we have talked about what it means to “be” the light, the question to ask now is how?
When you consider how a light shines, one must realize it requires a power source. And that is how we “be the light.” (I’m having too much fun with quotations.) You must plug into the power source to truly be the light. And the only source of power to truly be the light is found in the One who actually claimed to be the light. So I recommend you try reading the book of John in the Bible to learn more about the Man who said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
So when you hear someone say, “Be the light,” realize it’s more than an occasional good deed. It’s who we are from the inside out based on Who we are plugged into.
What makes a person awesome? Is it their intelligence? Their looks? How about their stature or charisma? Maybe a person is awesome because they smile? Or could it be because they have a magnetic personality? Is a person awesome because they do awesome things? Or perhaps it’s because they are self-less, care about others, or serve the greater good. Does being a loving, caring, and compassionate person make you awesome?
Nope.
Our actions, intentions, looks, achievements, physical frames, charisma, personalities, or demeanor do not make us awesome.
So what, you may ask me, makes us awesome.
Well, in this day and age, nearly everyone has a smart phone. And we all know smart phones can do amazing things. Before we even open up the box and plug it in to charge it we have great expectation of what our new phone is going to do for us. But, have you ever met someone who owns a smart phone but only uses it to make phone calls? Have you ever said to someone, “You might as well go back to a flip phone since you don’t do anything else with your smart phone.” Now obviously, a smart phone can do a lot. It can makes calls, get on the internet, have apps of every kind imaginable downloaded on it, compute, create, talk, record, make payments, and even track our location. Simply stated, it can do a lot! It’s pretty awesome.
But if a person does not tap into all of its capabilities, that doesn’t diminish the ability and potential of that phone.
I once purchased a new iPhone and ordered a new case for it online. I should have went to the store, because I dropped it and shattered the screen. In fact, I’m known in my family as being very tough on phones. And sadly, when I drop them, kick them, get them wet, or leave it on the trunk of the car for my wife to take it for a drive only to leave it stranded in the middle of an intersection to be run over multiple times, I can diminish the capability of that phone. Stated simply, it can get “glitchy.” Thank God for insurance. Ironically though, sometimes I’ve used it and sometimes I haven’t. When I cracked the screen I made myself live with my cracked screen as some sort of punishment for being foolish enough to drop it. I also chose not to use it at times because it still cost a couple hundred bucks and I just didn’t want to spend more money.
People are are the same.
Well, actually they are way more awesome. Every human being was created with what I believe is unlimited potential. They have incredible talents, gifts, and abilities that separate them from every other human being and created thing. To the point, they are absolutely awesome. Created in the image of God and capable of absolutely anything (all things are possible to them that believe).
But there’s a problem. Every human being has been dropped, kicked, broken, and run over. But we too have an insurance policy so to speak. You see, our Creator wants to see us fulfill our potential. He knows how we tick; after all, He created us. So He also knows exactly how to fix us. And it can only be done as the manufacturer has indicated in His manual. For a phone, it must be fixed by an authorized dealer.
It’s the same with us.
We can only be fixed by the one and only Authorized Dealer…Jesus Christ. God sent Him to this earth as a legal representative of mankind to live as an example of the awesome things capable of a human being in living out their highest potential. But He also paid the price for our brokenness. The difference is that He paid for the deductible, cost of repairs, shipping- the whole kit and caboodle. All we need to do is acknowledge our need to be fixed.
Sadly, just as my cracked and broken phones, they could still do awesome and amazing things, but couldn’t be maximized to their original and fullest potential.
Once we ship ourselves off to the Authorized Dealer and Manufacturer and submit to the fullness of how He created us, we enter into a whole new and higher level of awesomeness. Truly, when we become “in Christ” all limits have been removed except those which we place upon ourselves by our own limited thinking. When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives and follow His example, word, and voice (the Holy Spirit), we can go anywhere, do anything, and demonstrate just how awesome we are because of how awesome He made us to be. To God be the glory!
Please understand this though. If we don’t admit we need to be repaired and restored to our highest potential, we can still do some incredibly awesome things- here on earth. But if we want to truly maximize our God-given abilities and talents for all eternity, we must receive the paid-for gift of Christ’s redemption. It is only in Him that we can absolutely, fully, and eternally be awesome.
And this journey; this journey of awesome, faith-based living is amazing. There’s nothing like getting our thoughts in proper alignment with who we truly are, children of God, created in Christ Jesus to do awesome works.
Then, when we see people who are loving, compassionate, and doing amazing things with their lives, we can know they are awesome, simply because God made them to be so.
So remember this, you are awesome! God made you that way.
I can only imagine what my wife must think about living with me. I’m really not much for shallow conversations, unless they have a purpose that will lead to something deeper. And I rarely can watch a movie without drawing from it truths that will challenge me in my own life (and if it does not have such qualities, I’m likely not going to watch it). This is the case yet again.
I am fortunate to be involved with an incredible organization that encourages everyone to truly live a life that matters, to live a life of purpose. One of the greatest qualities I feel I have gained is the ability to think about this concept in all that I do. Am I currently doing something that makes a difference? What is the purpose of what I am doing this moment? Am I investing my time or wasting it? Best selling author and ranked leadership professional Chris Brady wrote an incredible book titled PAiLS. The book’s tagline is “20 Years from Now, What Will You Wish You Had Done Today?” This question along with so many other leaders in my life have caused me to think more deeply about these ideas, especially over the past five plus years.
My wife and I recently rewatched the great movie The Legend of Bagger Vance. One of the many great principles the character Bagger Vance fosters is the idea of each of us having an “authentic swing.” It is described within the game of golf, but it’s bigger implication is that we have an “authentic swing” in the game of life. Chris Brady makes reference to this movie in PAiLS, so I’m not surprised I had this on my mind once it was over. After I turned the television off, I looked at my wife and asked her, “Who are you? What is your authentic swing? What is your contribution to this life?”
And that is the question I wish to ask you. What is your authentic swing? Why are you on this planet? For what purpose did God choose to bring you forth? I’m not asking you to answer this right now, for I believe this is a question we must ask ourselves for our entire lives. But have you given it any thought? If not, begin. If you have, then stay tuned for my next blog on Purpose.
In the meantime, enjoy this clip from the movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance.
"Breathe life and cherish the breath. Hold life and cherish the embrace. Experience life and cherish the adventure. LOVE life and live its happiness." -AjL
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purpose. Does that mean I may find myself “busy”? Likely, but that is where the danger lies.
Effort alone is not a measure of success. Don’t fall for the illusion of productivity- busyness. Plenty of busy, hard working, good people are accomplishing very little. Always remember, the goal is never to be “busy.” The goal is to be productive. And you must be able to measure that through some sort of scoreboard to understand how you are doing. So, what are you trying to achieve and how can you measure it? When you have it figured out, you’ll be on your way to being productive not merely busy.
What makes a person awesome? Is it their intelligence? Their looks? How about their stature or charisma? Maybe a person is awesome because they smile? Or could it be because they have a magnetic personality? Is a person awesome because they do awesome things? Or perhaps it’s because they are self-less, care about others, or serve the greater good. Does being a loving, caring, and compassionate person make you awesome?
I once purchased a new iPhone and ordered a new case for it online. I should have went to the store, because I dropped it and shattered the screen. In fact, I’m known in my family as being very tough on phones. And sadly, when I drop them, kick them, get them wet, or leave it on the trunk of the car for my wife to take it for a drive only to leave it stranded in the middle of an intersection to be run over multiple times, I can diminish the capability of that phone. Stated simply, it can get “glitchy.” Thank God for insurance. Ironically though, sometimes I’ve used it and sometimes I haven’t. When I cracked the screen I made myself live with my cracked screen as some sort of punishment for being foolish enough to drop it. I also chose not to use it at times because it still cost a couple hundred bucks and I just didn’t want to spend more money.
are absolutely awesome. Created in the image of God and capable of absolutely anything (all things are possible to them that believe).
Once we ship ourselves off to the Authorized Dealer and Manufacturer and submit to the fullness of how He created us, we enter into a whole new and higher level of awesomeness. Truly, when we become “in Christ” all limits have been removed except those which we place upon ourselves by our own limited thinking. When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives and follow His example, word, and voice (the Holy Spirit), we can go anywhere, do anything, and demonstrate just how awesome we are because of how awesome He made us to be. To God be the glory!
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