I write this list because I've come across all of them in the past and since I've been lucky enough to overcome these obstacles I thought I'd impart you guys with some of my sort-of-wisdom in case any of you were maybe thinking of starting your own thing in the future. coughDragonsDencough

Anyway.

Create it and they will come

A common analogy that I've seen on hive quite a bit. "If it's good enough then they'll come and use us." -- and actually that couldn't be further from the truth. I've been in the business game now for over ten years, and from what I have seen, you could literally solve world hunger, disease, and mental health with your token, but if you don't have a marketing team to bring it to the masses then it will sit there collecting dust forever.

Marketing should be one of the highest costs in this space, if not the highest. If you look at most popular web based brands their marketing budget is through the roof. You can almost bring anything to the table with a high marketing budget.

That being said there's also a massive amount of opposing force that you have to contend with also. If you look at Hive shares on traditional social media I am absolutely sure most of us sit in our own bubble sniffing our own farts with our organic reach dialled down to the minimum only being able to reach other hivers so that it doesn't look too shady. I also see this with other really good projects where there is a certain amount of suppression because other places don't want to lose customers.

Not treating it like a business

You'll find that if you don't treat your token like a business then you will be doomed to fail. There are structures, and financials, and logistics that all need working out and managing, just like in the real world -- and you won't be able to do it all yourself. I've tried. Since I hired people I can get on with what I like doing and leave all the other stuff I hate to other people.

The domain you're in may be actually quite new and edgy to the mainstream world but behind the scenes it will all still work the same as any other business. You'll need people to do work for you, and you'll need to earn income in the same way, even if it is some fancy token that only about 3% of the world knows how it works.

Not taking risks

You'll need to take those safety wheels off at some point my friend. Playing it on easy mode will get you nowhere and with the sentiment of most people they are likely to sell your token into oblivion. If you don't take risks and do something new and stay where you are forever then you'll not be able to keep up with momentum. Take Emp for example. They have existed for 6 months and they've already released about 6 cool new things.

There is a reason The Man Cave is a pretty good place to be and that's because I'm continually taking risks and putting myself out there for the betterment of my holders.

Token holders own you, not the other way around

One of my biggest gripes with crypto is that when projects get too big they automatically assume some kind of godlier than thou stance. It's the same in the corporate world too. A long time ago the customer was always right but that mindset seems to be shifting now.

When you come into The Man Cave I'll talk with anyone and everyone. Every fraction of BRO bought means that someone new believes in the vision that we're creating and I'm eternally thankful for that. I have a $300,000+ project because of you guys, not because of me. That's what I'll never forget.

Of course there needs to be a little give and take here I've had some suggestions in the past that were so stupid they'd make some of my ideas sound like they came from Albert Einstein himself. So whilst I listen to most people, I do triage those suggestions!

Names matter

I'm not too sure if a lot of people take their branding seriously in the crypto world because the amount of bumbumshitmoonpump coins I've came across has been unreal, and would you believe that some of these people are trying to be serious with what they create? It's fine right now when everyone is just trying to catch a moonbag and risking it all for the initial pump, but you have to think about longevity. What about when mom and pop shops finally enter the crypto space and we have some sort of killer app like apple did in 2005 that brought everyone to the internet?

No-one's going to buy your bumbumshitmoonpump coin. Trust me! Sooner or later normal businesses are going to enter this sphere. It may happen slowly, or it may happen all at once, but eventually there's going to be a thought-shift when people look at crypto entirely differently to what they do now. Right now it's mostly investors and chancers. That will change.

And last, but probably most importantly - Utility!

Think people will buy your awesome coin just because it is about golf and it's named golfing token? Yeeeah.. no. Just having a token that generates numerical values and gets sent out to people on a daily basis depending what they do to get it won't solve anything.

Your main question should be why would people want to buy this token and hold it? And your answer can't be "because it's golf token, and golfers will want to hold it" -- why should they? Why shouldn't they sell it into the dirt and laugh maniacally whilst doing so? What's stopping them?

You underestimate free markets. There needs to be something stopping your holders from selling what they get. You can't blame them for this. Doing so would be controlling -- it's their assets to do with as they please.

So, I ask you again. Why would people want to buy and hold? This one isn't for me to work out! I'll leave that one with you.

One more thing to note :)

If you'd like to get more involved in what we're doing then delegate HP to @brofi to earn BRO, that really helps, or, vote our witness over at https://peakd.com/me/witnesses which helps us too! That's the fastest way to directly get involved for now.

You could also join our discord here: https://discord.gg/cv9xAmfcqq

I need flashy visuals!! I shall work on them tomorrow!