Hypocrypts - $17/Hour isn't Fair Share - Crypto Companies Need to Start Paying Their WHOLE Teams Fairly
So last week I quit my job.
I was analyzing ICOs (I analyzed about 200 ICOs in 4 months) for one of those companies that isn't technically investment advice but that's what they were basically doing and it was a bit ponzi-ish/MLM. I was uncomfortable with the legal status. I was uncomfortable with my work permit status (which they promised and didn't deliver). I was uncomfortable with the ever increasing amount of work. I was uncomfortable with the low pay that always came late and long hours that were affecting my personal life.
I didn't huff and puff like many would imagine this archetype of millennial would. No. I followed procedure like a good little employee robot. Two weeks before my appraisal was due and I sat face to face with my boss to discuss my issues so I wouldn't walk into my appraisal blind. Despite my fear of confrontation, I had a written list of points, all of which I covered. I was stuffed full of empty promises and found my workload, instead, increasing dramatically.
The date for my appraisal came and went and after working a month over my contract and repeated requests for an appraisal, I finally crumbled and quit. Did I quit with nothing lined up? Of course not, I'm a sensible girl. I lined up a crypto editing job where I was promised around 6 hours of editing a day for $17 an hour.
Now let's just start there shall we. I have been a professional writer for 8 years. During that time, I was an academic writer covering a plethora of topics from psychology to business to forestry. I am a trained permaculturalist who specializes in social and economic permaculture. I ran my own marketing firm at 22. I have managed and coordinated a wealth of different projects and businesses. I have a degree from an excellent university.
Put all those skills together and you'll see a versatile portfolio that can take a business from a vision through to an investment package, successful crowdfunding campaign, cover your marketing strategy, write your business plan, deal with your PR. I am lyrically quick as a whippet and my accuracy and quality is second-to-none (maybe second to a few, I guess). I have managed and coordinated a series of projects that have come from nothing to suddenly standing, flourishing in the light of their own brilliance. From bars and hostels in Guatemala to fully-regenerative edible gardens in Nicaragua and Dominican Republic, I took fashion school graduates in Bangkok to become globally-selling fashion brands in Europe and the USA and took an old gold mining town in California and turned it into a 6-figure a weekend sustainable destination resort. So please explain to me why, with 8 years' experience under my belt, I have to work for $17/hour BEFORE tax.
Not only that, those 6 hours a day for which I quit my job, are actually more like 30 minutes a day.
I am a hard worker. I am self-driven. I am productive. I am fair and honest and authentic. I am creative and innovative. I am a forward-thinking, systems-designing, out-the-box, whole-picture grasping, problem-solving, 110%-giving grafter. I will put my heart and soul into whatever I'm doing to get the results and failing is never an option. So why in the world am I continuously beaten down by a lack of job security and false promises.
Moreover, having swiftly moved into the crypto arena, please explain to me why I'm writing about companies being handed $30 million in an ICO, based on a two-bit vision and a wing and a prayer, yet I'm having to work for chump change out the back of a sofa. I was under the impression that the crypto and blockchain space wanted to alter the practices of greedy centralized organizations that chewed up the people and spat them in the garbage; yet here I am experiencing the same. Yes, you spirited young tech whizzes may feel you're the lifeblood of this new found innovation, but without people like me coordinating your business, inciting investors, and demonstrating the regenerative-ness of whole systems thinking, your technology will go nowhere. You can make it all you want, but we will sell it, we will create the story behind it, we will bring it to the world. Why am I looking at pay packages of thousands of dollars a month for developers, yet peanuts for the rest of the team?
This is just one little example but there are plenty more where that came from
Yet here I am, pockets full of skills and scraping by on $8.50 a day because frankly, people are still full of shit, despite desperately crying out that they want to change.
I know this may seem like a jumped-up self-serving rant. I know I may come across as arrogant. But if you really knew me, deep in my soul, you'd know that for me to even walk into that meeting with my previous boss was a task. Self-belief doesn't come easy to me. I've blamed myself continuously for not seeing the warning signs of people taking advantage of me. Yet at some point you have to look in the mirror, point your finger angrily at yourself and say, you don't deserve this kind of treatment. Or people will walk all over me forever. I'm 28 years old. I want to start a family, I want to build a home. Right now I'll be lucky if I can build a full plate of food.
I quit my job because I didn't want to be treated like a cockroach anymore and to feel like I deserved it. I quit my job because I wanted to feel self-empowered. But the question is, how do we even begin to trust ourselves in understanding which path is self-empowering, when they all seem to lead you off a cliff?
Note: I am aware this may we a sweeping generalization. But in my community I know I am not the only one who feels this way. Go ahead, prove me wrong.
Like and follow - You are wrong! :)
hmmm...can you explain further?
Most intelligent people are most unsure with decisions they take. They think from all the angles about the subject and see lots of possible outcomes, but cant take the best one, because they know there is no The Best answer. Every coin has two sides(if we dont take the small round side into consideration), has value, weight, it is made of metals that are made of molecules that are made of atoms that are made of...
From this post i see that You are a smart person. Life for the smart people is not easy as of the others but without You it will be lot more dumber.
So stay positive all the time!
Wish You happiness in every move You take! :)
Thanks for this. I understand what you are saying and I think that yes, as the saying goes 'ignorance is bliss'. I appreciate your support!
@freedomshift, is this right for ccc?
Wrong. Especially when it comes to ICO's. Most ICO's are little more than an undeserving cash grab for crap projects that mirror other crap projects. Even many that have a goal of quality seem to push for an obscene amount of money that is way more than needed. Look at the EOS project the founder of Steem is finishing up. It says here he raised 4 billion dollars.
https://cryptoslate.com/eos-raises-record-breaking-4-billion-from-crowdsale/
I suspect they control now the largest single holding of Ethereum ever held. And no way no how a blockchain startup needs 4 billion.
Then you look at the most common phrases people use, like going to the moon. One guru on YouTube refers to his position trading as "his projects" as though he personally has something to do with it other than speculating for monetary gain. This is all mostly about the money for most involved. I wonder how much Dan has made from his blockchain forks (3 different lines)? You really have to applaud his genius as I read an article the other day saying his 3 chains will make up 80% of all blockchain usage.
Now onto your complaint about being undervalued. It certainly seems like you are correct, hell I swear by you to others interested in your similar projects. The problem you have is one of leverage. I learned this long ago in swap meet selling.
In the beginning I was desperate to make sales and gave items away to people with money. I allowed them to hold the leverage. A more savvy seller took a shine to me and helped me realize no sale needs to be made. Even when it really does, it does not. It is a mind set. Right now they (your employers you have run into) have held the leverage as you need their money more than they believe (come back to this in a moment) they need you. There are plenty of skilled people waiting to need their money, just like there were plenty of people selling the same items I was.
You have to get into the mindset that they need you more than you need them. If not, you walk. Make them Believe it is so. But that walking away needs to take place before the deal is struck, if that makes sense. They will sense your willingness to walk at the hiring negotiations and if they hire you despite your sureness (arrogance?) your chances of getting a fair shake are increased dramatically.
Good luck and please keep us updated on this.
Thank you @practicalthought. I feel that this is something that comes up continuously in my life, especially in terms of personal economics. Your right. I panic and give away my services for less than they are worth. I think I am frightened to appear arrogant and in that, don't even appear confident. It's a very difficult conundrum but it keeps appearing over and over in my life and I guess that unless I conquer that hurdle, it's going to keep happening to me over and over.
Interestingly, I applied for a permaculture writing position and got it which has given me the chance to pursue something I am far more passionate about. Although it is very part-time, that part-time can help me to fill the gaps as I build a portfolio to prove my worth more solidly, even if that's just to myself.
Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.