I have a big problem with fundraising...can't do it to save my life, not these days, not without a video editor.
I never take on a cause I don't actually love, I don't do this simply because I know what's involved in doing any kind of activism, it's a lot of time and effort invested into making pretty much anything happen according to plan. The same is true for the activism of business, activism to me is just action.
Because I only take on things that I believe can be beneficial to a large number of people, when it comes to asking for help to continue or improve on my work, I often forget that I'm asking for help and not demanding help.
The way I see it, everyone should be jumping at the opportunity to help others, especially if their business operations revolve around philanthropic activities.
I can't stand to fill out grant forms, long forms at that, and having to find a way to rephrase what has already been said plenty of times. We know there is a problem, we know what the problem is, why am I having to repeat it when what I am offering is a solution and you're entertaining it in the first place because you know there's a problem?
All that unnecessary paperwork is an impediment to progress, to actual work, because if grantmakers or donors really want to know who you are then they should just hire a private investigator or a hacker.
The only thing they know when people go through their beaurocratic process is that the person can either pay/convince someone to bullshit on paper or they can do it themselves. Plenty of people can rewrite, do you think they can also keep the attention of giant crowds even for one minute?
To get any kind of change going you need some approval from society, can you get this approval and also get the paperwork done? Will the paperwork help in that ultimate goal? Yes? How? Or is putting people of a certain talent in a situation where they have to take time to develop other talents a way to keep them from being most useful?
This is why I suck at fundraising, I will tell that to any donor straight to their face, especially if they're wealthy enough to investigate their recipients.
I am great at what I do, one of the best, maybe even indispensable to a degree. Why would I beg? I'm not wasting any time on people or institutions who feel like it's a good idea for me to evidence my worth on paper. If they think this is the way then they don't have enough money or intelligence, I simply don't want to deal with them because they don't know what they're buying into and sooner than later we will come to find we had different expectations.
I report and I report well, I do what I say I'm going to do. I'm not gonna beg, I'm not wasting my time like that. If you don't know me don't even call me and it's as simple as that. I don't negotiate the worth of my work, I ask for the minimum every time because I am still, despite my best judgment, a creature of ideals. I want to get my work done to help other people, I ask for the least because I don't want objections, I'm respecting everyone's time by being as honest and straightforward as I can.
When I think someone is disrespecting my time I lose all respect for them in exchange...when you disrespect my time you disrespect your own time unless you are trying to sabotage what I could be doing if I wasn't wasting time with you.
What makes me different from other blockchain recruiters? I will actually tell you if I don't think I know someone who has use for your skills.
I will not tell you that you'll get a call from us, I will tell you right there and then that I think I might have a hard time with your placement... and I'll find a way to tell you why that is if you really want to know. Everyone has value, yes, but no one can be useful everywhere at any time.
If I reached out to you for a donation and I come to even sense that you're making me waste time on purpose I will respond with the same treatment. Absolutely no one will stop me from being useful in the way I'm supposed to be useful. I can't do everything, no one can, this should be a given. If you can't understand this then you're irrational, straight up, I want nothing to do with you because you'll get in the way. But if you understand that people who are good at one thing might not be the greatest at something else and you're still pressuring them to deliver what they can't produce...that's malice...I wouldn't want to do business with anyone who's seeking the opposite of what I am working towards.
All this to say, unless I find funding to attend the Youth Forum for the Summit of the Americas I'm just not going and might retire entirely from politics. I have no doubt that I can do a great job empowering people to work in the blockchain industry without help from the public sector. I can't waste time trying to get more involved with people who don't want to be involved with me.
Or did you really think I'd go out and say what great job governments are doing at inclusion and adaptation if I don't actually believe that?
See? This is why you need private investigators. If you hire people to research others you'd know that this is my personality, I'd sooner go out and denounce the government than praise it. If the public sector wants to be recognized for its inclusion and positive development efforts then I need to see them, end of story.
Lastly, if I reached out and you're in the private sector I pity you and your employees, unless you fund the trip of course, because if you really think a blockchain company can scale without becoming involved in policy then you're in for a big surprise.
