It’s another blog and year in the NFT space, 2022, and I feel that this year will most likely be more significant than the last. However, some things come with this.
More outside sources are trying to scoop up with more pressure and competition. It also means it will be harder to find and be discovered, and now I feel this is happening.
I would put this at the end of the blog, but I want people to read this and let it sink in, especially for new people. Many people tell you they love the NFT space and community, etc.
Here’s some homework compare what any of these influences do and compare them against me.
And before they tell you they are busy, well so am I, and so are you.
I run a blog, do a podcast showcasing artists, help artists on Known Origin, and some have gone on to make sales. I run a project trying to help the space if it sells out. I retweet people, reply to almost everyone, and run a TikTok showcasing an artist a day.
So any one of them, if they want to sell you the dream, they are about community see how much of the above they do before you buy into them.
I think for anyone trying to enter the space now, it will be more challenging, and it’s going to be tougher than last year. This is something most people won’t tell you or don’t want to tell you.
Many people still in this space will say we are all going to make it and although I believe if you put in the hard work and stay true to yourself and do not give up, you have a chance.
There is no reason why anyone else should be more successful than you.
But let’s be honest here a lot of the people who are prominent in this space at the moment have done so by dodgy means, by gatekeeping by entering the scene last year claiming they were rich and here to spend thousands on the space and help people grow.
Half of these are anon accounts and quickly built up a following around them while spitting out the vile and nonsense that hasn’t helped anyone.
So what they won’t tell you is, if you are new to this space, it’s FULL OF SNAKES. It’s full of fake ass large accounts talking shit about making bags.
Beanie is a perfect example of this, and even after being exposed as someone who has a history of dodgy things, they are still there.
What’s the space done…FUCK ALL, why? Because the reality is many people are too scared to lose money or followers or anything. They won’t tell you if you are new is the NFT space is a fragile glasshouse where just one thing can make it crash down. Should they be cancelled? No, but should we listen to them anymore? No.
It’s being held up by several large accounts that can quite happily go around being Anon as fuck, never showing their face and promising the world to everyone while scamming people out of millions.
They won’t tell you that the space is full of dodgy projects held up by several people and promoted and passed around. The fact is we don’t know who is sponsored. Who is being paid? Who is being told to promote what?
How does this end with the small person new to the space losing money following these accounts?
So here, if you are new, my piece of advice would be don’t follow any account that posts all day long nonsense about promising this and that. But fails to talk to anyone but a few accounts, retweet only a few accounts, never really engage with anyone, and if they do, it’s only ever large accounts.
They won’t tell you this space is a selection of clubs held up by PFPs and wealth, and if you don’t have the right profile picture or wealth, the simple fact is you won’t be allowed in and outright ignored at worst.
Yet everyone will tell you this space is fantastic, helpful, etc. This is true. It’s from smaller artist accounts. The people grafting every day. Those people are generous.
What do I see from the so-called speakers in the space, the people who happen to give talks at every event, seem to do large podcasts and keep to the little group of friends? Well, those people do fuck all.
They pretend they do.
So if you are new, this is a lesson you need to learn quickly. The more time you waste chasing these accounts to notice you, the more and more you are getting behind.
But Indra, they say to DM me and chat to me, and I want to help.
There Bullshitting you, I have DM a number of these people, and I spoke to several people who have and nine times out of 10, you are ghosted.
There excuse, oh im busy but hey, im all about community.
If you want honest advice, connect with fellow artists, make art you want and release it how you want. Ignore people telling you to follow trends.
Especially ignore people trying to give you advice on what collectors are looking for, especially if it sounds like you need to become a business suddenly.
Make good art and then the real work starts
They won’t tell you that you need to spend hours and hours on Twitter, and I mean hours. If you think your art will speak for itself, it won’t. It will sit there unsold.
Every piece I have sold to someone I have come across or know me too, be it from Twitter or discord or something like that.
You need to focus on this and build it up, but what they won’t tell you
shilling to peoples posts is not always a good thing.
If I drop a post about something unrelated to the shilling and you shill in it, it’s not going to get you a sale. It’s going to do the opposite.
These large accounts promise the world don’t tell you that if all you want to do is shill your work and you are here to make a dollar and not help anyone else out or do your part, you will be left behind.
Unless you can somehow get a big name to promote you, it’s down to us artists, and we are people…people get tired stressed they have their own lives. So it’s a two-way street.
Someone is more likely to retweet you if you retweet them; they are more likely to say GM to you if you do them.
If you do not want to do this, it will be hard for you, and that’s the truth.
If you don’t want to take that approach, I suggest you make a fake account to pretend you are rich and buy a few art pieces. This seems to have worked for a few key accounts.
They don’t tell you that twitter spaces are almost closed off groups within themselves.
I have heard people say Twitter spaces are great, and I have been in a few of them. Each twitter space acts like its own world and ignores the more fantastic world around.
For example, I have been in several Twitter spaces where people have highlighted people and said they are the most hard-working and supportive people in the space.
Which is interesting when five spaces all say the same. How can we have five different hard-working and most supportive people in the whole space?
Then you look, and many of these groups don’t follow each other, and I equally don’t know a lot of them.
This makes it very hard for anyone new to enter this circle. It’s like being the new kid at school walking into a classroom for the first time. They also don’t tell you that some people sit in a Twitter space for 7 to 10 hours.
Could you imagine sitting with a group of people for 10 hours? How could you possibly break into that circle when you cannot give the same amount of time.
I think this is a more significant issue with Twitter. I think Twitter will keep showing you people you know and most likely comment on instead of showing you, new people. These limits are reached and create these closed-off groups where everyone’s doing everything everyone else is doing, but we are unaware of it.
The space has turned into clubs and friendship groups, and as a new person, it’s getting harder and harder to get seen.
This is also an issue with events and podcasts and other places that, for some reason, keep supporting, tweeting or promoting the same people.
The space has an endless voice and opinion on many things, but you see the same people everywhere.
Again it feels closed off and always out of the loop. They also won’t tell you good luck getting in on any project or whitelist or anything like that.
The space is super supportive, yet you won’t ever find out about these projects until it’s minted or too late. Equally, you won’t have the Eth to get in on any of them.
Oh, but we are Dutch Auction to make it fair. Oh right, ok, what’s your starting price two Eth.
It’s greedy and bullshit, and they won’t tell you that. They won’t tell you about all the complex systems and bullshit methods and the fact that half the space is so hell-bent on making a profit that it doesn’t give a fuck about anything else.
Yet most of the projects advertise themselves as community-focused or driven. It’s for your peeps. It’s all for you.
BUT YOU BETTER HAVE ENOUGH ETH; otherwise, FUCK OFF.
The same goes for whitelists. They won’t tell you that whitelists are often botted and offered up once again to either the rich, famous or the people who can sit in discord for 10 hours a day grinding it.
IT’S FOR THE COMMUNITY
But for me to give it to the community. COULD YOU RETWEET TAG 3 FRIENDS, HANG OUT IN A DISCORD ALL DAY TALKING UTTER SHIT TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE WE ARE BUSY AND THEN HAVE AROUND 1.6 ETH
They won’t tell you that it’s getting increasingly hard to get into these projects and let’s not forget that half of them get the rug pulled because it’s the same shady ass people promoting them and are behind them.
The truth is the NFT community is a fantastic place. Some tremendous, hard-working people are KILLING themselves to build a future.
I know Moms who are working and busting their asses off creating a future for their kids.
I know people dealing with mental health problems and physical health problems to build a future for themselves.
I know people sitting up till 4 am trying to find authentic engagement and friends.
I know people who have quit jobs given up parts of their lives to come to this space.
I know honest and trustworthy people are trying their best to make this space better and giving up their time and money to make it happen.
I know people working on platforms who are doing their best to make a future for themselves and those who use them.
These are all important because behind each of these stories, and countless more, is someone who trusts the NFT space.
How does the NFT space pay them back? How does it take responsibility for this?
People are giving up their lives and their passions to be here, which is a question to everyone.
What are you doing to make sure you are being responsible for the stories of these people?
There are people and things in this space that frankly need to piss off, bad actors and a greedy culture that’s underlining it.
We have complex systems coded to make it complicated for no other reason than to try and gatekeep to try and rule the world with code.
I am tired of looking at the more prominent players in this space doing nothing. They are empty. They offer no solutions and options and push more greed and money.
Yet I stand and look around me and see honest people burn out, good projects fail, and good people leave, and we get nothing.
It’s time we all took a stand and wanted more from these people. We need to come together, get rid of the closed-off groups and gatekeeping and enjoy a better space overall.
If you are new here, these are the things they won’t tell you. These are the things that you will learn, and you either fall in line for fear of FOMO or leave.
There is a third option, and that’s be better than the shit that’s already here. Don’t be like them, these empty accounts who back in march spent a shit ton on art and became celebrities to be worshipped.
Build better systems, bridge the gaps, don’t gatekeep and be a voice and true to yourself.
