Howdy Steemers/Steemians/Steemites(?),
I'd like to introduce myself first as an utterly unremarkable twitter user known as @artisanloaf. This website was brought to my attention by forex guy and master of pies, @bulleth.
As for myself... My name is Nick... Over the last few years I went from washing dishes in 2005, to now being an investor, speculator and small business owner.
Although I originate from the UK, I have been fortunate enough to see the world, "the good and the shitty bits". This has enabled me to have a wide scope of perspectives and experiences. I try to see the world from other people's shoes and appreciate the opportunities I have had.
On this note I would like to offer my services to Team Australia, one of the happiest times of my life was spent in Melbourne. Amazing people and awesome beer, what else does one need in life? I hope one day I can return and enjoy all things aussie once again.
There is huge opportunity in the world, individuals and ideas have more power and potential than ever. I hope to join the community here, so we can help spread constructive ideas and messages. My intention is to share my ideas and thoughts with the community and look forward to the feedback people have to offer.
I have always felt a strong ethical and moral drive in my life. When I worked for a multinational company, my loyalty was always to the customer and not my employer. I learned very quickly through watching and learning how business was done, and since then I have made efforts to separate myself from a 'buyer beware' mentality. Customers are routinely taken advantage of, and I did not want to become another enabling cog in that machine.
Sales representatives so often mislead and coerce potential customers, some just outright lie. A colleague of mine, with a military background turned salesman said to me "I don't lie to people, unless I have to" ... This was essentially the first thing the man said to me. Customers were lied to and contractors like myself were the ones left behind to explain reality or cover-up the deception. I refused to do it and quit very soon, the more I learned about the business the worse it got.
With an array of experience in working for small businesses to impossibly large multinational corporations, I decided it was time to pave my own way in business, and I started working for myself and established my own business.
This has not been a trouble free road, discovering how customers can also be deceptive, changing specifications, refusing and delaying payments. Promises and contracts broken, but no effective recourse due to the potential legal fees in collecting debts, you end up letting them slide. It becomes an expensive learning experience.
But, I have continued trying to do the right thing by everyone involved. It has lost me work and money, but i'd rather tell the truth, be realistic about what is on offer. I want to be able to sleep at night. It's not easy though, if your honest sales pitch is competing with a dishonest one, for exactly the same product at an equivalent price, the customer only finds out about the deception after the money has been spent. That sale never comes back to you, even after the customer has been burned. Hindsight is 20/20.
In the pursuit of making positive contributions to society and general discourse around business, in 2015 I joined SoylentNews as an Editor. Since then I (n1) have published over 1500 user submissions and contributed many articles myself.
SoylentNews (SN) is a news aggregation website funded entirely by the community, there are no ads or trackers. It is officially incorporated as a Public Benefit Corporation in Delaware (US). It came into existence from a community backlash at the popular site Slashdot. The developers at SN took the open source code which was the basis for Slashdot, fixed many things, updated it, rewrote some of it and got the site running very smoothly. Since then, a community of a few thousand people have formed a community to discuss news and current events, with a focus on technology and science.
There are many websites out there for news and editorial content, but very few are completely community funded and run by volunteers. There is no commercial interests or sponsors, nor is there any form of censorship.
I hope this community can do similar, in a bigger and better way. There are no perfect solutions, but a platform to share ideas and discuss things in an open and honest manner, where sponsors/donors or other vested interests are not omnipresent, and ready to frame and push the topics in the commercially appropriate direction.
I am always looking for new projects and ventures, with an aim to make the society better and the world more sustainable. We are at a crossroads in time, collectively we have to make a decision in how we want to shape the world moving forward.
My goal in life is to make the world more peaceful and prosperous for everyone, I hope we can all work together and achieve some progress in that direction.
It's time to enjoy life and build a world we want to live in, not be consumed by greed, envy and fear. It's time to stop perpetuating the systems and cultural norms that subjugate the vast majority of the world's population.
Thanks for reading.
All images courtesy of Pixabay
Welcome to steemit. I know the feeling and have been scammed by contractors more than a few times (though with minimal damages luckily). I myself am looking for opportunities to strike out and start working for myself. Any advice you can share would be welcome and look forward to future to your future submissions.
I'll definitely write more about it all soon...
The main thing to remember though is the old saying, Rome wasn't built in a day. If you can start your own business whilst having a regular income from elsewhere, it will be a lot easier financially and emotionally.
Especially in the current environment, don't put all your eggs in one basket, times and business are changing faster and more than at any point since the industrial revolution. Find something you believe in, some product or service you are willing and proud to put your name to and it will make the sleepless nights and never ending work hours a little more tolerable.
Welcome to Steem @artisanloaf I have sent you a tip
Much appreciated, botty...
Welcome to Steemit @artisanloaf! You won't regret the moment you joined, for sure! Enjoy your stay!
PS: You might want to start your journey with trying your luck and joining my 200€ worth Giveaway! You can find more info below!🎉🔥💰
https://steemit.com/giveaway/@ragnartheking/thank-you-100-followers-giveaway-200eur-prize-pool
Thanks, i'm in. :p
Hey @artisanloaf, and welcome to Steemit! Your introduction post is already a great start of your adventure on this platform. Post quality content, interact and connect with other people and I am sure you will see terrific growth.
You are always welcome to reach out to me should you have any questions. I have just posted a lottery as well which is free to participate and could earn you good start-up money. See you around! Cheers, @Finance2Nomad
Thanks for your comment and support, much appreciated. :)
Hello Nick and welcom to steemit family! Have fun and steem on!
Thanks, it is full steem ahead from here on!
Hi and welcome to Steemit, I such you luck on your journey here.
Can I suggest you look into the #minnowsupportproject - a place for newbies to get help and support as they set out across Steemit. We have voting bots, a follow train where you can get followers and much help and advice.
Drop in to chat at https://discord.gg/v3GpU4N and tell aggroed I sent you
Thanks for the welcome.
I'll check it out, looking forward to the help and advice. :)
Welcome to this wonderful community ! I hope you enjoy being here as much as I do. Stay active, post quality content and you will succeed.
@trendo
Welcome aboard, Nick! Follow me at https://steemit.com/@bitgeek
Welcome to Steemit :-) thanks for such an in-depth into, really interesting.
Hello @artisanloaf!
Welcome Aboard.
Steemit is an amazing place. Here, we share our story and read others.
It's a place we connect and build a relation and grow together.
Best of luck with your steemit journey.
Looking forward reading your next post
Welcome to Steemit Nick,
Although I may be an anteater, I particularly enjoy reading from people who are passionate about contributing to their kin and I'm sure we will all learn from you and hope you get some back too.
I, for instance, just checked out the news site you mentioned and will definitelly go back to it. I find that so many newspapers are incredibly biased and it requires so much effort to filter out the information (we, anteaters aren't very clever) and formed an honest oppinion... I like finding out community driven sources of news for that matter.
See you around!
Ant, the anteater
Awesome, really happy someone checked it out.
If you have the time or energy, please don't forget to go back and write a comment or submit a story over there some time. I don't know of any other news site that is comparable in it's transparency and range of topics.
My intention is to keep my writing here quite separate to my contributions there, I try to remain as objective as possible there, -- most of the time -- as I am editorial staff. Over here though, I plan to write about some things that have been rattling around in my brain for a while, but not had the right outlet to do it.
Been really nice to have such a warm welcome here from the steemit community. :)
Welcome to steemit @artisanloaf! If you ever have any questions related to the platform or crypto, let me know! I will be happy to help :)
Welcome mate!
Welcome to Steemit.com
Welcome to Steemit @artisanloaf!
I'm a bot-helper, and I'm created to help. Congratulations on the registration on Steem - you really like it here! If you like me, make an upvote of my comment and follow me. Your upvote will allow you to give more money to new users, such as you. Let's make Steem better together!
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Steem on!
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Just taking this opportunity to say "THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME"
Hi @artisanloaf,
I'm @joshua-golbuu, or Josh for short and I just joint @TeamAustralia last few week (I moved from the islands of Micronesia to Australia to study and live here).
I just wanted to drop a note to say hello. I don't have any recent post becuase I just finish my last exam yesterday, but I very much like to get to know everyone in our team. Hope we will meet on Steemit 🤙
here is my re-intro with more details: https://steemit.com/teamaustralia/@joshua-golbuu/from-micronesia-to-australia-my-journey-re-introducing-myself-to-teamaustralia-and-to-everyone-in-steemit-after-my-exams
Peace ✌ & 💖 love!
Congratulations @artisanloaf! You received a personal award!
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Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!