The market might be recovering right now, but soon new people will be wanting to jump into cryptocurrency and they will be needing your help to do it. But how do we introduce friends and family into buying cryptocurrency effectively?
In this series of posts I will be sharing some tips I have found useful when I have taken on the role of teaching people I know about the complicated world of crypto. If cryptocurrency is a passion of yours, I'm sure you'd love to share it with your wife, your girlfriend or your friends! I love the fact that my husband @bradlovesbeer is now interested in crypto and Steemit with me. It gives us another thing to discuss and it's great to have a shared interest again!
I think it's important to keep in mind that most people you meet will be skeptical about cryptocurrency. This is a new technology, after all. People were skeptical about every technological advance over the last century. Do you think that when electricity started gaining popularity in residences that everyone was fully supportive of it? Of course they weren’t. Most people were scared of it. Watch the show Downton Abbey. In the show they thought the idea of electricity was terrifying and the servants at the house did not want it installed. Later when they installed the first telephone in the house, the servants exclaimed that it was unnecessary and that receiving telegram messages delivered by bicycle was sufficient!
I’m sure you (yes you reading this right now), were at one point skeptical of cryptocurrency. I know I was! I really had no interest in it at all, even though my sister’s fiance was constantly sending me links to get me to learn about it. He sent me hour long videos explaining crypto and I thought to myself “There is no way I am going to spend an hour watching this.” But one day that all changed for me, it’s like something clicked in my mind.
With the flood of negative news from the media, most people's first impressions of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology will be negative. You may be the first person they encounter that actually believes in cryptocurrency. You will be a crypto ambassador. But, there is something important to remember when you start discussing cryptos with friends and even strangers... You cannot force someone to learn something new if they are not willing. Pressuring people does not work, they will just fight it more. This statement holds true in any regard. Whether it’s quitting smoking, losing weight, or any other change, no matter how small.
People are naturally resistant to change, especially when it comes to technology!
Three years ago I decided I would upgrade my Netflix account and buy my parents a Chromecast so they could enjoy watching new movies and TV shows. I excitedly went to install the Chromecast on my Mom’s TV. I downloaded the app on her iPhone and showed her that she could watch any YouTube or Netflix video on her TV now. I patted myself on the back and left. “I am such a nice person, I taught my parents something new today!” I thought to myself. Usually when I need to help my parents with anything related to technology I run out of the house screaming. This went well in comparison!
THREE YEARS went by and my parents never used it! Everytime I went over to their house and saw my Mother watching a rerun of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives for the 50th time I lost my mind. “You have so many more options now! Why are you watching this AGAIN!?” I would scream. “Let me show you AGAIN how Netflix works! It’s so easy!” This went on for YEARS!
Then, one day I saw that my Father had started binge watching The Walking Dead. It blew my mind. After going over there for years and never getting a reaction when I reminded them they could watch Netflix (and that I was paying for the upgraded service) they finally decided now was the time that they were going to sit down and figure it out. They needed to come to the decision to “figure out Netflix” on their own. Even though to us, using Netflix seems pretty simple, it wasn’t for them!
There is a reason why I told you that anecdote, and it proves my point that even the smallest technological advance can seem too complex for some people. The thought of buying and learning about cryptocurrency could seem like learning rocket science to some. If someone doesn’t want to learn something, you need to wait until they do.
If you talk about crypto, and the person does not seem interested or understand it, do not belittle them. Tell them that it is a huge interest of yours and if that they ever want to get involved with it, that you would love to talk about it. Leave the door open for them to come back to you in the future with their questions, and they will!
A great way to get someone interested into crypto is to get them thinking about the future of technology. I recently had a conversation with a friend and I asked them “What do you think the future will look like in 10 years? Do you think we will be using mostly self driving cars? Or robots? Or what?”
After they answered that they think there will be an increase and self driving cars, I agreed. I then said “A lot of things are going to change significantly, one day, you will be paid to view ads.” They thought this was very interesting. So told them about the concept behind Basic Attention Token and its uses. They had no idea that this was a use case for cryptocurrency! Then I said “You will also make passive income from Social Media, your followers will upvote your posts and you will be paid in cryptocurrency.” They had a harder time understanding this concept, so I showed them Steemit. They are going to sign up soon!
You need to understand where people are coming from in order for them to trust you. You are, after all asking them to invest their hard earned money in projects you believe in. You need to feel empathetic about their skeptical thought process by remembering that at one point you also felt that way. Coming off negative or patronizing will repel people away from you and any view point you have.
Thanks for reading the first part of this blog post, if you enjoyed it will you give me the honor of your upvote and to read further posts of mine would you give me your follow? I certainly appreciate it! I am always happy to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I cannot wait to connect with you! Steem on!
I can get people to be interested in crypto currency. However, my hurdle is often getting them to participate and interact in the market. I often have to follow up to see how they are doing or if they are taking advantage of the posts i make my private group. I often have to follow up and hold their hands in order to get an interaction in the market. So many opportunities missed.
Yeah there is definitely a lot of hand holding involved! Especially when the market is like it has been since January, but when it comes back people will get interested again :)
You can't force someone to do something, all you can do is to inform them what's going on and what it could be in future. I heard about bitcoin on facebook. I came across a video in YouTube that says about steemit. Then I checked it out. I was so excited about it and I'm still excited.
I'm happy to be here :)
Its good to be excited, you seem very willing to try new things which is the first step to success :)
I'm just curious to learn and try new things :)
My husband is great at this! First off, he digests information like crazy. If you get him started on a topic he’s interested in, the listener is blown away just by the sheer amount of information he remembers. He calls it “putting rocks in people’s shoes.” Even though they’ll tolerate doing nothing about it for awhile, eventually they get to the place where they have to do something with what they’ve heard. Either throw it out or, and this is where I tease him by continuing the analogy ... start a rock collection 😉
Lol, thats an awesome analogy :) I think ill use that sometime!
is a little bit Hard here in Africa especially Nigeria to convince people to invest in cryptocurrency......But the few that have invested is now the wealthy people in the community
I hope Steemit and other crypto projects bring new wealth and opportunity to Nigeria and Africa! I hope you will show your friends Steemit and build a community to support one another :) Thank you for your comment!
Hey there, you better watch how you talk about my man Guy Fieri lol. I actually quite enjoy that show although they do play it way too much. I cut cable about a year ago so I often miss bad TV.
I will say anytime Guy goes to a place near Chicago I'll normally try to go give it a try. I think my last one from his show was White Palace Grill on the corner of Canal and Roosevelt, it's just a greasy spoon diner but it is pretty good for a late night bite or a hangover morning.
Haha, I used to love that show! I liked it so much that I considered going a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives Road trip with Brad.... UGH, but I think watching it so much before I cut cable (it would be constantly on the TV in the background of me working online) melted my brain. I think ive replaced that with Fixer Upper now, haha. I recognize the White Palace, but Ive never gone inside. We went to one that was on the show called Cemitas Pueblas which was really good :)
Yeah I love diners and just intersting food places in general. I'm lucky my gf humors me and goes along for the rides but it's nothign to on a boring Saturday afternoon be like oh I saw this interesting place in Milwaulkee wanna drive up and grab lunch and she'll normally go along.
I'd love to do a Triple D roadtrip, I'll have to put that on my to do list.
I kind of recall that Cemitas Pueblas place from a show, never made it out there myself.
That cant be real LOL
I did find this meme funny
I use a similar point when talking to people about social media.
"How much has Facebook/Instagram/Twitter paid you for your posts? How important do you think you are to them?"
And then point out how much money Facebook has made on their posts of their families and how valuable their input actually is to the network. Then I point to Steemit, and how the content you post has value here. Showing my wallet and pointing out what steem is worth tends to make some eyes go wide. It's usually followed up with a "wow" or three.
Great points! I try to not lead by showing them the money though most of the time because I feel like if they come on here and post a bunch of stuff and make 0.01 cent I will be blamed, lol! I could say "well, once cent is 100% more than you make on Facebook so there ya go!" :)
Precisely! You also have to point out that it takes a while to reach that point where you make $100 off of a post. You'll be grasping at the penny posts for a while until you build your network up.
Yeah! I am trying not to focus on the money right now, even though its hard, lol!
I know that feel...
Nice Information, thanks !
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