Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / The Crypto 411: How Cryptocurrency is Changing Business with Sonia Dumas

Transcript

The Crypto 411: How Cryptocurrency is Changing Business with Sonia Dumas · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  They're still learning, building best practices, putting in security protocols.
• 0:04
  So those of us who are in crypto right now, we know there's risk.
• 0:07
  That's why every app you go to, it says beta.
• 0:09
  Like, we're just testing this out.
• 0:11
  We hope it works so far.
• 0:13
  It is, but there's all last year, scams, hacks, liquidity pools, rug pulls, a coding errors.
• 0:20
  So even if you have a legitimate team that never gets hacked, they can have a coding error
• 0:24
  that makes you lose all your money.
• 0:25
  So just know that this is something that's growing Tech is shifting in a way that your
• 0:30
  business is gonna change how you accept money.
• 0:32
  So it's gonna be Visa, Mastercard, Bitcoin, Probably Ethereum.
• 0:37
  Hi.
• 0:38
  This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady host of the small bizchett podcast.
• 0:42
  I want to serve you.
• 0:43
  This pandemic has been so hard on America's small businesses and on just America in
• 0:48
  general.
• 0:49
  If you're ready to start your dream business, boy, do I have a great offer for you?
• 0:53
  I am giving away 1000 copies of my best selling book, become your own boss in 12 months.
• 0:59
  Over a hundred thousand people have this book is been printed in multiple languages around
• 1:04
  the world.
• 1:04
  And I wanted to find a way to serve America's small businesses in this pandemic.
• 1:09
  And so I am giving away a 1000 copies of my book.
• 1:13
  All you have to do to get your copy is head over to beginmybiz.com/ free offer to, you
• 1:20
  know, sign up for your copy.
• 1:22
  All you have to do is pay shipping, and we will mail one out to you.
• 1:25
  I am so excited about this.
• 1:27
  I wanna serve you, grab your copy today.
• 1:30
  I left off.
• 1:32
  Ending small business failure.
• 1:34
  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with a number one small business expert, Melinda
• 1:40
  Emerson.
• 1:41
  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you information you
• 1:45
  need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
• 1:49
  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
• 1:52
  Melinda Emerson.
• 1:55
  Hi, everybody.
• 1:56
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
• 1:58
  America's number one small business expert, and I would like to welcome you to small biz chat
• 2:04
  live.
• 2:05
  Here, we engage experts to conduct interviews for the small bitch chat podcast.
• 2:10
  The small bitch chat podcast is a peer to peer interview show that gives small business owners
• 2:16
  a way to get invaluable information and business insight.
• 2:20
  The mission of small business chat is to end small business failure.
• 2:25
  The goal is to give our small business audience the opportunity to hear sage advice from
• 2:30
  multiple angles so that you can grow your business and take it to the next level.
• 2:35
  Now it's time for me to introduce my next guest Sonia Dumas.
• 2:39
  She is a finance expert cryptocurrency educator, and she's the founder of the company,
• 2:45
  curious Hawz.
• 2:47
  She is a transformational consultant focused on helping business leaders grow their income,
• 2:53
  increase their influence, and expand their lifestyle.
• 2:57
  She explores ideas that range from how to have payday conversations to finance 3.0 and how
• 3:04
  cryptocurrency is changing the way we do business grow our and grow our wealth.
• 3:10
  For more information, you guys can go to Sonia Dumas dotcom.
• 3:14
  Alright, Sonia.
• 3:15
  It's been so long since I've talked to you.
• 3:17
  I'm so excited that so much has happened with cryptocurrency.
• 3:21
  So it's just like when I tried it.
• 3:23
  So let let's go.
• 3:24
  Alright.
• 3:25
  So let's talk about what is cryptocurrency.
• 3:29
  And then I wanna know why we should care.
• 3:32
  Right.
• 3:33
  So that is
• 3:34
  a big question, but I can tell you that cryptocurrency is maturing as an industry.
• 3:40
  And, ultimately, it's all about technology and currency being fused into one asset.
• 3:46
  And what you have to think is that cryptocurrency is changing commerce changing
• 3:50
  payments.
• 3:50
  It's changing investments.
• 3:51
  It's really changing the way we do life.
• 3:54
  And if you really wanna have a bigger conversation about what cryptocurrency is, It
• 3:58
  really is the next iteration or the next phase of web 3.0.
• 4:03
  And many of you don't know, right now, we're living in a web 2.0 world.
• 4:06
  So that's your social media.
• 4:08
  That's all the mobile engagement we have going on.
• 4:10
  That's cloud computing.
• 4:11
  Right?
• 4:12
  All the businesses are in the cloud.
• 4:13
  Well, crypto's next step is a part of the internet evolution.
• 4:17
  So we're moving into what's considered web 3.0.
• 4:20
  And many people are like, what is that?
• 4:22
  That's decentralized data networks.
• 4:24
  That means There's no longer going to be central entities that control all the data.
• 4:28
  It'll be in computers Across the Globe, artificial intelligence, all those Terminator
• 4:34
  movies of AI taking over.
• 4:36
  Yeah.
• 4:36
  That's that already exists, actually.
• 4:38
  Artificial intelligence already exist.
• 4:40
  But now we're going to the next level of artificial intelligence.
• 4:44
  And what cryptocurrency is doing is it's removing third parties.
• 4:48
  So in a transaction, real estate banking, brokerages, insurance, there's always a a third
• 4:54
  party, right, a middleman.
• 4:55
  Well, crypto and technology is all about either removing or reducing that middleman.
• 5:01
  And so it's a big deal.
• 5:03
  So, unfortunately, if, you know, COVID raw your world last year, tech is going to continue to
• 5:09
  shift the way we do business.
• 5:11
  Alright.
• 5:12
  So how did you into cryptocurrency?
• 5:15
  Like, how did you find your way?
• 5:17
  Cause you because it sounds like you kinda got in on it early and you kinda understood it.
• 5:21
  And now you teach others.
• 5:22
  So so help me understand how did what was your journey to find out all about all things
• 5:27
  cryptocurrency?
• 5:28
  So, my journey has started with pretty much 15 years of hotel development and and, being
• 5:34
  connected to tech And, actually, it was in 2019 that one of my brothers, re I'm originally from
• 5:41
  Silicon Valley, reached out to me and said, you need to look into crypto.
• 5:44
  It was literally a text.
• 5:45
  Sis looking to crypto.
• 5:47
  And so I started looking into crypto, and I came across a gentleman by the Jamar James.
• 5:52
  He's called the digital currency guy, and we connected.
• 5:55
  And he was like, here, drink from this fire hose, and figuring out over the next year.
• 6:01
  And so he's like, and I'll, you know, he's like, I'll guide you, but he's like, crypto is
• 6:05
  a you better learn how to learn on your own.
• 6:07
  And discover it and it's hands on.
• 6:09
  It's the science project.
• 6:11
  You didn't think you wanted to do, but, you know, I definitely got involved in it.
• 6:15
  And, you know, interesting enough in crypto.
• 6:17
  We say that in basically 6 months, you have a masters, and in a year, you have a PhD.
• 6:23
  Because it's so much information.
• 6:24
  So that's a little bit of my journey of crypto.
• 6:27
  So how does cryptocurrency work?
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  Like, what is it?
• 6:31
  Because I still I mean, I I understand it, but I think there's a whole lot of people who
• 6:35
  don't.
• 6:36
  So help me understand.
• 6:38
  Talk to me like I'm a 6 grader.
• 6:39
  Right?
• 6:40
  What, you know, How does crypto work?
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  How do we buy this?
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  And how does it make money?
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  And why does it you can be a bazillionaire one day, and I'll pop her the next.
• 6:51
  Like, help me understand how all of that works.
• 6:54
  So so in the simplest form, crypto has 2 components.
• 6:57
  So there's something you'll hear a lot
• 6:59
  in crypto called blockchain technology.
• 7:01
  Right?
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  It sounds massive.
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  All it is, so I can't tell if you're 8, but if you're 15, you've come across something called
• 7:07
  the checkbook.
• 7:08
  Right?
• 7:08
  So your parents have a checkbook and they do balances, right, credits and debits.
• 7:12
  So think of blockchain technology as credits and debits as far as data goes into this,
• 7:19
  ledger.
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  Right?
• 7:19
  They call it the ledger or kind of like a checkbook to say did this transaction happen?
• 7:24
  Now what's really cool about blockchain technology is that it's tamper proof.
• 7:28
  Nobody can go in and erase it and say that didn't happen.
• 7:31
  Right?
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  It's censorship proof.
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  It's global.
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  So that it's not centralized by any particular country.
• 7:36
  It's not owned by any country.
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  Specifically Bitcoin.
• 7:39
  So that's one aspect.
• 7:40
  Right?
• 7:41
  So you have to understand that all this data and information is being built on blockchain.
• 7:46
  So from that is the next layer, which is cryptocurrencies.
• 7:49
  And all that is is a digital form of money, and it all it's a co it's a combination between a
• 7:55
  digital form of money and actual projects.
• 7:58
  And so in crypto, we actually don't even call them coins.
• 8:00
  We call them projects because if you look at it, it's just another tech project, but instead
• 8:05
  of going to the stock market and buying the stocks, you're buying into their coin.
• 8:09
  So that's about the simplest kinda, like, base layer.
• 8:12
  It gets much more deep into that.
• 8:13
  I don't do any blockchain coating.
• 8:15
  Don't ask me.
• 8:16
  But I know enough to know it's secure.
• 8:19
  So the whole idea is with human beings, whenever we do a transaction, we have to trust
• 8:24
  somebody And a lot of times, we don't trust somebody, so we have a third party.
• 8:28
  So what crypto allows us to do is trust somebody out in.
• 8:32
  Yeah.
• 8:32
  I'm like, I guess you can finally trust that Nigerian Prince who's sending you an email
• 8:37
  saying we're gonna send you money.
• 8:38
  Okay.
• 8:38
  Send this to my crypto wallet.
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  Because if they send to my crypto wallet, there's no way they can actually take the money
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  back out.
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  So the whole idea is you can do transactions on a global level with someone you've never met,
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  but because your wallets are permanent when they send a transaction, that allows you to
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  say, okay.
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  I trust you in this transaction.
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  It's not really you.
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  I trust the code.
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  And so in crypto, we say in code, we trust, because I don't have to trust another human
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  being.
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  As long as the contract works and it says that if I send this, you send that and the exchange
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  happens, then that happens at a level that hasn't really existed before.
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  Wow.
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  Okay.
• 9:14
  So how do I get started?
• 9:17
  I I got my $1000.
• 9:18
  It's burning a hole in our pocket.
• 9:20
  I wanna invest in crypto.
• 9:23
  What do I do, Sawyer?
• 9:25
  So a couple of things.
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  I mean, there's, you know, major exchanges out there.
• 9:28
  So in the US, binance.us Gemini and coinbase, those are the biggest ones that allow you to
• 9:34
  connect checking account.
• 9:35
  Like, I'm just mind you, this isn't financial advice.
• 9:37
  This is just simply if you wanna know how to do it, those are about the 3 you go to connect
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  your checking account.
• 9:43
  And, yeah, then transfer your $1000.
• 9:45
  And then the next thing you have to ask yourself is, well, what do I wanna buy?
• 9:48
  Well, before it was just Bitcoin, now there's, like, well over 7000 crypto projects, if you go
• 9:54
  to crypto, Twitter, everybody's talking about how their coin is on a moon mission.
• 9:58
  The minute you see that, please do not take financial advice from Twitter.
• 10:02
  That is not how you get set up for wealth building, if that's your goal.
• 10:06
  If you're looking to get rich quick, can you?
• 10:08
  Absolutely.
• 10:09
  Like, I was here, you know, the summer of DeFi where I saw, like, 3, 4000% in hours, hours.
• 10:15
  Right?
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  But you had to know it was the right coin.
• 10:18
  You had to get in and out within minutes.
• 10:21
  There's something I call crypto Skidrow.
• 10:23
  I visited crypto Skidrow, and this like, seriously 4 digit, like, percentage gains were
• 10:29
  happening, and I literally lost I think I put in $500.
• 10:33
  I lost $500 in 9 minutes.
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  I felt robbed.
• 10:36
  I was like, I've never been robbed before.
• 10:38
  This happened, and I don't even know who took my money.
• 10:42
  At least if I would've went to a real skin row, I would've had some kind of payment with that,
• 10:46
  but, no.
• 10:47
  In crypto skid row, your money's just gone.
• 10:50
  So you have to know what you're doing, and I'm a big proponent of just get educated.
• 10:55
  You know, there's a a website out there called case for Bitcoin.com.
• 10:58
  If you are super, super newbie, start there.
• 11:01
  Just understand what Bitcoin's about, who's investing, why, Why is it a big deal?
• 11:06
  Just start super simple.
• 11:07
  No need to get complicated and start buying Shibu Doge, Kimchi, and hot dog, and thinking
• 11:12
  that's how you're gonna make your generational wealth.
• 11:14
  Probably not.
• 11:16
  Alright.
• 11:17
  But what what about all these celebrities, though?
• 11:19
  I know Elon Musk has been out there trying to influence the market with his crazy self.
• 11:23
  So what like, you know, dodgy coin, that's really crap.
• 11:26
  Right?
• 11:27
  I mean, it's just like a fashion coin.
• 11:29
  All these celebrities started mentioning it, but it's not really a thing.
• 11:32
  Right?
• 11:32
  You gotta be careful with this kind of stuff.
• 11:35
  You you do.
• 11:35
  So if you actually look into the history of Doge coin, and I, yeah, I call it doggy too So
• 11:40
  the developed merely has on his website when he created this, this coin has no value.
• 11:45
  It has no use.
• 11:46
  And in fact, dogecoin for the longest was being used in those and what we call illicit trades.
• 11:52
  They were using it because nobody else is paying attention to it.
• 11:55
  So it was trading at, like, 118th of a penny.
• 11:59
  No one was paying attention.
• 12:00
  All of a sudden, every, people on TikTok were trying to pump it to a dollar, And they're
• 12:05
  like, hey.
• 12:05
  How fast can we get it to a dollar?
• 12:07
  And then it became a thing.
• 12:08
  But here's the thing, even last year, food coins were a thing.
• 12:12
  Pet coins are a thing.
• 12:14
  And so it's just hype.
• 12:15
  And so if you're a trader and you have a bot that can go in and go out and make some big
• 12:20
  trades really quick and you know, micro scalp a couple of pennies, yeah, you can make money.
• 12:25
  But for the average person who's like, I'm gonna invest this a part of my, you know,
• 12:29
  diversification of my assets, then you're just gonna diversify the 0.
• 12:34
  So how about you just go, you know, go to a campfire and throw some ones in it?
• 12:38
  You'll have so much more much more fun, and you'll actually spend time family.
• 12:46
  Wow.
• 12:46
  Okay.
• 12:48
  It's not it's not pet coins?
• 12:50
  Because at the end of the day, is is Apple or Microsoft going to invest heavily in a pet
• 12:54
  coin?
• 12:55
  So you have to understand.
• 12:56
  A lot of these are mean trendy coins that, yeah, if you if you know what you're doing
• 13:00
  short term as a trader in your scalping, you can make money.
• 13:03
  If you're trying to treat it as an investment decision, you're already asking to lose money.
• 13:08
  So just don't.
• 13:09
  Just don't do.
• 13:10
  Just say
• 13:11
  Right.
• 13:11
  So it's almost like if it's on Twitter, it's it's too late or it's hype.
• 13:15
  Leave it alone.
• 13:16
  Both in both cases?
• 13:18
  Well, not that if it's on Twitter because Ethereum and Chainlink, and there's some solid
• 13:22
  projects.
• 13:22
  So crypto is a legitimate place to be when you understand what's going on in crypto.
• 13:28
  It's just you have to do your research to say, is this hype or are businesses institutions
• 13:33
  adopting this as a part of their business model into the future.
• 13:37
  And so that That's the difference between what's the use case.
• 13:41
  Right?
• 13:41
  You'll hear that a lot in crypto.
• 13:42
  What's the use case?
• 13:43
  Can you see your neighbor across the street utilizing this coin for some viable reason.
• 13:48
  If you can't think of 1, don't don't go there.
• 13:52
  Right.
• 13:52
  Right.
• 13:52
  Right.
• 13:53
  Okay.
• 13:53
  So are there rules about, like, when you buy a crypto coin or a crypto project?
• 14:00
  How fast you can sell it after you buy it?
• 14:03
  You can buy the minute you sell it or sell it the minute you buy it.
• 14:06
  It's so it's just,
• 14:07
  you know, no different than the stock market.
• 14:09
  Like, you can buy and sell as quickly as you want to.
• 14:11
  The whole thing it comes down to are what's your money goals?
• 14:15
  Because when people see crypto, all they hear about are the gains, right, these crazy triple
• 14:20
  digit gains that have never existed in history for at least us.
• 14:24
  Now it's existed in the stock market over the course of time.
• 14:27
  So if you go back to 1901, and you put in a $100 and you get to 2021, you would have seen
• 14:33
  something like, you know, over a 4 digit gain in your money, but you'd also be a hun over a
• 14:37
  100 in debt.
• 14:38
  So, you know, maybe your your your your family would be able to benefit from it.
• 14:43
  But in crypto, what's interesting so there's a really cool book that, if you haven't read it,
• 14:48
  there's actually 2 books.
• 14:49
  And we'll talk about it a little bit later that I would recommend you look at.
• 14:52
  If you're into, crypto, you wanna send money, But here's the thing.
• 14:55
  Like, we all know Warren Buffett man's worth over 85,000,000,000.
• 14:59
  It took him.
• 14:59
  It wasn't until he was over 65 that he made his 85,000,000,000.
• 15:03
  And it took him most of his lifetime starting at 20 to generate that 85,000,000,000.
• 15:09
  Jeff Bezos, started Amazon in 1994.
• 15:13
  It's 2021, and he's worth a 115,000,000,000.
• 15:16
  So what that shows you is technology and time and money actually gets tighter and smaller.
• 15:21
  So the days of, well, you need to wait 50 years and compound 7% interest, crypto is saying, you
• 15:28
  Bitcoin has been earning over 200 percent returns since 2008.
• 15:33
  So it's been a little over 12 years.
• 15:35
  So what you're seeing is a compression of time and how long it takes.
• 15:38
  And so everyone's getting excited.
• 15:40
  Like, well, let me get in on that.
• 15:42
  Right?
• 15:42
  I wanna get in on a 200% return a year.
• 15:44
  And so the thing is you have to understand which crypto projects are legitimate, what's
• 15:49
  being utilized, and then decide what's my money goal.
• 15:52
  If it's today trade, That's a different strategy than if it's investing.
• 15:57
  And even investing, look, crypto's only been around for 12 years.
• 16:00
  Ethereum was act in 2016.
• 16:02
  This is why you have Ethereum classic and Ethereum.
• 16:05
  And so they're still learning, building best practices, putting in security protocols, So
• 16:10
  those of us who are in crypto right now, we know there's risk.
• 16:13
  That's why every app you go to, it says beta.
• 16:15
  Like, we're just testing this out.
• 16:17
  We hope it works so far.
• 16:19
  It is.
• 16:20
  But there's all last year, scams, hacks, liquidity pools, rug pulls, coding errors.
• 16:26
  So even if you have a legitimate team that never gets hacked, They can have a coding error
• 16:30
  that makes you lose all your money.
• 16:31
  So just know that this is something that's growing.
• 16:33
  It's not gonna go anywhere.
• 16:34
  It's not gonna change.
• 16:36
  China's ahead of us.
• 16:37
  But we won't even get started there on the on the, like, central bank currencies that are
• 16:42
  coming.
• 16:42
  And so but just know that Tech is shifting in a way that your business is gonna change how you
• 16:48
  accept money.
• 16:49
  So it's gonna be Visa, Mastercard, Bitcoin, probably Ethereum.
• 16:52
  Those are gonna be, like, some of the new payment options.
• 16:54
  Oh, yeah.
• 16:55
  In the US version of the digital dollar.
• 16:57
  Okay.
• 16:57
  Interesting.
• 16:58
  Interesting.
• 16:58
  Alright.
• 16:59
  Now one of the interesting things that I heard about the pandemic And when people were getting
• 17:03
  stimulus checks, is that there's a whole bunch of regular folks that now have gotten into
• 17:08
  investing in crypto.
• 17:10
  And it's amazing.
• 17:11
  Like, every now and again, I'll go somewhere and be like, girl, you into that crypto?
• 17:14
  I got the, you know, I mean, like, people will, like, try to engage me around conversations in
• 17:19
  it.
• 17:19
  And and and is that a good thing?
• 17:21
  Like, like, everybody everybody trying to get into crypto.
• 17:23
  Is that is that good?
• 17:24
  That is a good thing in the sense of mass adoption, because the technology curves
• 17:29
  actually pretty steep.
• 17:30
  Like, you want to be a part.
• 17:31
  So anytime when you look at a new asset, the the biggest gains are made in the beginning in
• 17:36
  the growth curve, and then it eventually flattens out and then you go back to earning 4
• 17:39
  percent a year.
• 17:41
  So this whole idea of 200% plus a year is not gonna last forever.
• 17:45
  And so this is why those of us who are early are excited about when institutions are are
• 17:51
  getting into crypto.
• 17:52
  When everyday people are starting to learn about it, and say, hey.
• 17:55
  I wanna pay for my Starbucks coffee with some of my Bitcoin or my Ethereum or my Chainlink.
• 17:59
  This is why Visa and Mastercard have on ramp program so that way you can send your crypto to
• 18:04
  your Visa or Mastercard and go spend it because the whole idea is the velocity of money.
• 18:09
  We gotta keep money flowing and crypto help that move a lot faster in a creative way.
• 18:14
  And so I think it's good, but I also think this is where the scams and the hacks are going to
• 18:18
  happen.
• 18:18
  And if you're not educated about what crypto is, you're not educated about keeping your
• 18:22
  password safe, then, yeah, like I said, you're you're looking to just go burn money and give
• 18:28
  it to somebody in Nova Scotia.
• 18:29
  You never met before.
• 18:31
  And there is no 1800 number.
• 18:33
  There is no redo due over button.
• 18:35
  Like, once it's gone, it's gone.
• 18:38
  That's it.
• 18:38
  And that sinking hole that's in your stomach, he has gonna be there for a while.
• 18:42
  So Alright, Sonia.
• 18:43
  So if I'm a novice, I haven't gotten started with crypto yet.
• 18:48
  What should I go read?
• 18:50
  I don't know about you, but I'm a tactile person.
• 18:52
  I like to read physical books.
• 18:53
  Do not give me an electronic Kindle.
• 18:55
  I don't wanna So help me understand what are some books I could go and read to sort of,
• 19:01
  like, get up to speed quickly so that I could get started investing with crypto.
• 19:05
  So one of the books that I like to, recommend to people is actually called the psychology of
• 19:10
  money because how you view money both from a generational aspect, how you actually dealt
• 19:16
  with Money Junior, young adult life, it's gonna tell you a lot about happiness, your greed is
• 19:21
  gonna help to inform what your investment strategy is.
• 19:24
  And this goes with stocks, bonds, commodities, and it's especially crypto because crypto is
• 19:29
  super, super temperamental.
• 19:31
  So if you don't understand what's going on with you and your relationship with money, the
• 19:35
  minute Bitcoin 50% like it has now, you are going to basically buy high, sell low, and you
• 19:40
  can only do that so many times before you actually go broke.
• 19:43
  And so one of the things I like about the psychology of money is that it actually shows
• 19:47
  you that generationally, we also have different ideas about money.
• 19:51
  Some of us grew up during high interest rate times.
• 19:54
  Those who grew up when there was high interest rates are very has a has a very different view
• 19:58
  of money than those of us who grew up with, like, next to no zero interest rates, I.
• 20:02
  E.
• 20:03
  Me, and a lot of my generation.
• 20:05
  And so when you understand that there's also generational triggers that says, well, this is
• 20:09
  why I invest conservatively, or this is why I'm more of a risk taker.
• 20:13
  And so the psychology of my is gonna help you to understand your psychology because it
• 20:17
  doesn't matter if it's crypto stocks, bonds, or commodities.
• 20:20
  If you don't understand your relationship to money, then then you're you're setting yourself
• 20:25
  up for failure.
• 20:25
  And I definitely don't wanna see that.
• 20:28
  Alright.
• 20:28
  Alright.
• 20:29
  Well, so if I need a strategy, for my cryptocurrency.
• 20:34
  Can you give us an example of a couple of different perspectives that people have taken,
• 20:38
  like, as they kinda launched into getting started with crypto?
• 20:42
  Yeah.
• 20:42
  So there's a a a couple of ways you can look at crypto.
• 20:45
  So if you're a day trader, right, then and you know then you're only scoping.
• 20:49
  Right?
• 20:49
  You're only looking for opportunities within the day, within maybe within a couple of days.
• 20:54
  There's some people called swing traders.
• 20:56
  And so the idea is you identify projects that are having good momentum good volume up and
• 21:01
  down and you basically set your prices to a tight range and you just buy and sell that all
• 21:06
  day until you, you know, basically, the market's exhausted itself.
• 21:10
  So that's more of a day trader strategy.
• 21:12
  I don't really do day trading because the statistics also show that day traders lose
• 21:15
  their accounts.
• 21:16
  Something like something to the tune of over 70%.
• 21:19
  Of day traders.
• 21:20
  So even if, like, yeah, you'll see on Twitter, like, I just made over a 100,000.
• 21:24
  Right.
• 21:24
  Talk to that same guy in about 3 weeks.
• 21:26
  Chances are he went and leveraged 100 x, and he actually owes somebody some money.
• 21:32
  So, you know, like, my thing is if your wife is don't do day trading unless you know what
• 21:36
  you're doing or you spend years basically wrecking your account.
• 21:39
  Most day traders say that you'll have to wreck your account 2 to 3 times.
• 21:43
  That means you'll have to lose everything 2 to 3 times before you realize, maybe even the way
• 21:49
  I'm handling this isn't good.
• 21:51
  So So don't do that.
• 21:52
  So then there's the, more of those of us who look at it from an investment strategy.
• 21:57
  And so my thing is once you've identified some solid projects I like to look at ecosystem
• 22:03
  infrastructure projects.
• 22:04
  So in my case, that's Bitcoin.
• 22:06
  That's Ethereum.
• 22:07
  That's Chainlink.
• 22:08
  I like to look at them and think, okay.
• 22:10
  How do I then dollar cost average in?
• 22:13
  How do I understand what the market's doing?
• 22:16
  And how do I write it for the long term?
• 22:18
  So if you're trying to get in in 1 month and get out, if you're trying to time the market,
• 22:22
  you you you're going to find yourself either missing really cool opportunities or getting
• 22:27
  wrecked by really bad opportunities.
• 22:29
  And so the whole thing is going back to Warren Buffet and what he did, right, he bought 20 and
• 22:33
  held it till over 65, and the man looks like a genius.
• 22:37
  So, actually, what works in your favor when it comes to compounding wealth is time and
• 22:42
  allowing good projects to compound.
• 22:44
  So if you really believe in a project and what the team is doing and how it's growing, Give it
• 22:49
  some years.
• 22:50
  And I tell most of my students, hey, give it a 36 month, give it a 3 year horizon.
• 22:54
  And if it's solid, you're gonna you're actually gonna be happy with what what your future looks
• 22:58
  like.
• 22:58
  And it is not solid, you'll get some early indicators that I may want to exit stage left.
• 23:04
  So those are some of my thoughts on strategies when it comes to crypto.
• 23:08
  Alright, Sonia.
• 23:09
  I got one last question for you before we take our break.
• 23:12
  Should you invest in one thing or have a portfolio of assets?
• 23:17
  I like to look at it.
• 23:19
  I mean, never put your eggs in one basket.
• 23:21
  So that's just like my personal.
• 23:23
  This is kind of like my personal feel about crypto.
• 23:26
  Don't put your eggs in one basket.
• 23:27
  Most of the sophisticated traders that I see in crypto have multiple assets.
• 23:32
  Once again, looking at What's building blockchain?
• 23:35
  What is holding together the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies?
• 23:38
  They're thinking big picture and they're thinking long term.
• 23:41
  And so I say, think of it that way, but also look at what's your money goals.
• 23:45
  Right?
• 23:46
  Like, are you actually trying to build wealth or pay for your vacation next year?
• 23:49
  Like, what are you actually trying to do, or actually you trying to, like, develop a living
• 23:53
  to say, hey.
• 23:54
  This is gonna become my new income.
• 23:55
  Like, depending on what your money goals are, That's gonna determine the assets or the
• 24:00
  different crypto projects you get into.
• 24:02
  It's gonna determine how long you stay.
• 24:04
  It's gonna determine how much you put in.
• 24:05
  And so there's a lot of what ifs, and you have to decide that, but you can only decide that
• 24:10
  when you understand what each project does.
• 24:12
  This always goes back to education.
• 24:14
  If you don't know what's going on, you're not gonna know when to buy, you're not gonna know
• 24:18
  when to sell, and sharks are gonna eat at your portfolio all day until it's down to 0.
• 24:23
  Or you're like, okay.
• 24:24
  I've had enough this crypto thing doesn't work.
• 24:25
  Now it works.
• 24:26
  It's just you didn't know what you were doing.
• 24:28
  Right.
• 24:29
  So the goal is to avoid crypto skid row.
• 24:32
  Right?
• 24:32
  So so when we come right back, we're gonna talk more about cryptocurrency, and we're gonna talk
• 24:39
  a little bit about the dark side of crypto.
• 24:41
  So I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
• 24:44
  You're watching the small biz chat podcast live, and we will be right back.
• 24:51
  Is now the right time to start a business?
• 24:54
  This is the 2nd most frequently asked question.
• 24:56
  People always ask me along with how can I become my own boss?
• 25:00
  Us.
• 25:00
  And they aren't wrong for asking because right now, these are the 2 most important questions
• 25:05
  anyone whose job security has been recently impacted is wondering.
• 25:10
  Hi.
• 25:10
  I'm Melinda Emerson, better known as small biz lady.
• 25:13
  And when it comes to small business success, I've been featured times on MSNBC and CNBC and
• 25:20
  ABC news as America's number 1 small business expert.
• 25:24
  Since the last recession in 2008, I have helped many small business owners plan for success,
• 25:30
  and I'm still here reaching 3,000,000 entrepreneurs each week online.
• 25:35
  I've created a system that will teach you exactly how to become your own boss.
• 25:40
  I broke it all down into a six step system, and my best selling book, become your own boss in
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  12 months.
• 25:46
  It's the exact roadmap to help you successfully transition from having a job to being your own
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  boss.
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  Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, many folks are suffering, and I wanna do my part to help.
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• 26:14
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• 26:18
  Welcome back to my to the small biz chat podcast.
• 26:21
  I'm with my guest on you.
• 26:22
  Dumaz, who is a crypto educator, and she is talking with us about all things crypto.
• 26:30
  And so I want you to tell us about, you know, due to the nature of cryptocurrency, scammers
• 26:37
  are abundant.
• 26:38
  Right?
• 26:38
  So how do you keep your stuff safe?
• 26:41
  How do you keep your money safe?
• 26:44
  So, first thing first is, 1, do you actually even own your crypto?
• 26:49
  So the idea is passwords, seed phrases, keywords, you wanna keep you never wanna give
• 26:56
  those away, and people get scammed in ways that they don't think possible.
• 27:00
  So, you know, sometimes people they store their passwords on their digital files, right, their
• 27:04
  Google or their Microsoft OneDrive.
• 27:07
  So all somebody has to do is just your one driver or or, your digital file storage, and
• 27:12
  there it is on a word document.
• 27:13
  Here's all the passwords to all my money.
• 27:16
  It's also something for nothing.
• 27:18
  Anytime you see the Elon Musk is gonna send you a 1000 Bitcoin.
• 27:22
  If you just send him 1, That's all over Twitter.
• 27:25
  So if you have this whole something for nothing per you know, mentality, then you're gonna send
• 27:29
  that money and that money's never gonna come back.
• 27:32
  But scams can also happen in other ways.
• 27:33
  There's fake coins, fake apps.
• 27:36
  So there are apps that you can put your crypto on.
• 27:38
  It looks legit.
• 27:40
  And then all of a sudden, that app developer just disappears with you and your money because
• 27:44
  they coded it that way.
• 27:45
  So there are so many land mines And so you would, like, be able to, 1, start with some of
• 27:51
  the larger exchanges that we talked about.
• 27:53
  Binance.us, Coinbase, and Gemini.
• 27:56
  And just hover there, right, because at at that end, at the end of the day, they don't require
• 28:00
  seed phrases at least for the exchange accounts.
• 28:03
  And so you can kinda stay in a little bit of a safe zone and then learn about what it takes to
• 28:07
  have your own wallet, whether it's on your phone, your iPad, your computer.
• 28:12
  I understand what it takes to move money because sometimes it's not about scams that
• 28:15
  makes people lose money.
• 28:17
  Sometimes they don't know how to move money.
• 28:19
  They send it to the wrong address, which is 28 characters long.
• 28:23
  And money's gone.
• 28:24
  So there's just a lot of things you have to get educated about when it comes to crypto so you
• 28:29
  don't lose your money either from other people taking money from you or you just sending your
• 28:33
  money off into basically blockchain oblivion, and it'll never come back.
• 28:38
  Alright, Sonia.
• 28:38
  I have a little bit more technical question.
• 28:41
  How does the IRS treat Bitcoin versus cash and what is crypto ETF?
• 28:48
  Can you explain kind of, like, the difference here?
• 28:51
  Sure.
• 28:52
  So, the IRS treats crypto as an asset.
• 28:55
  So, yes, there are capital gains.
• 28:57
  It has the same rules like stocks where if you hold it for a year and a day, your capital
• 29:02
  gains are actually smaller than if you basically day trade it and sell it in less than
• 29:06
  a year and a day, The other thing with, crypto versus, cash is that with Bitcoin, you actually
• 29:13
  because you treat as an asset, you actually have a lot of more opportunities with it.
• 29:18
  So one of the things I can explain to you, for instance, is, you have companies like Grayscale
• 29:23
  and BitWise, that are saying, and JP Morgan saying, hey.
• 29:26
  In Fidelity, saying we're gonna come out with encrypted ETF.
• 29:30
  What does that mean?
• 29:31
  Well, ETF, think of your S and P 500.
• 29:34
  Right?
• 29:34
  There's an index for that.
• 29:36
  There's a Dow Jones index.
• 29:37
  There's a, a, there's an ETF Amazon and Google where you don't actually own the actual stock,
• 29:44
  you just own the price action.
• 29:46
  Right?
• 29:46
  You get to participate in the price action up and down.
• 29:49
  Well, crypto ETFs, what happens is these institutions, they go out.
• 29:52
  They buy a basket of usually Ethereum, Chain Lake, Bitcoin, and they say, hey.
• 29:58
  We're gonna put this in the form of, basically, like, a stock and sell you the stock at a
• 30:03
  premium And you get to participate in the price action, right, because then what does that do?
• 30:08
  That's convenience.
• 30:09
  Now you don't have to worry about wallets.
• 30:11
  Exchange accounts, seed phrases.
• 30:12
  You don't gotta worry about being hacked because all you have to do is just send your
• 30:15
  money to fidelity, bit wise, great scale, and they'll go buy the crypto for you and then sell
• 30:21
  it to you as a stock and say, hey.
• 30:23
  You get access to the price action.
• 30:25
  But when you own Bitcoin, because it's an asset, you actually get to do a couple of
• 30:29
  things.
• 30:29
  So, yes, you get to participate in the price action of Bitcoin, both up and down.
• 30:34
  Like, let's let's make sure we're we're setting expectations.
• 30:37
  But you also can borrow against it.
• 30:40
  You can loan it.
• 30:41
  You can be you can participate as a lender.
• 30:44
  You can use it as collateral.
• 30:46
  So you can use this asset where you don't have to sell it.
• 30:49
  You can keep Bitcoin and then utilize as collateral to go out and buy other assets.
• 30:53
  There are people who've used Bitcoin to buy everything from cars to real estate to other
• 30:57
  businesses.
• 30:58
  It all depends who wants to do that transaction with you, and that's what's being opened up.
• 31:03
  And so that's why I look at cryptos and ask that you can earn interest on it.
• 31:06
  You can go to a company called Celsius Network, and they allow you to earn interest on your
• 31:11
  crypto And, well, you know, I think with Bitcoin, I think for the US, it's around
• 31:16
  somewhere around 5 to 6%.
• 31:17
  What bank accounts giving you 5 to 6% and an increase in price?
• 31:21
  Nobody.
• 31:22
  And even if you do something called, I don't wanna get too complicated, but something called
• 31:26
  the stable coins.
• 31:27
  Say, you you're like, hey.
• 31:28
  I don't wanna deal with crypto's price fluctuations.
• 31:31
  Where there are things called stable coins that stay to $1, and it's backed by various assets,
• 31:36
  but the whole idea is a stable coin stays stable to $1.
• 31:40
  And their companies like Celsius Network that gives you anywhere from 8 to 10% interest on
• 31:46
  just holding as a dollar.
• 31:48
  So then that way your money still stays pretty much stable.
• 31:50
  That's why they call it stable coins.
• 31:52
  So there's so many different opportunities that are available to you when you add actually own
• 31:57
  the physical coin, but you better know what you're doing as far as wallets and exchange
• 32:01
  accounts and keeping your passwords safe.
• 32:03
  And if that's something you don't wanna do, then that's where crypto ETF comes into play
• 32:07
  where you just go to gray scale or fidelity or bid wise and say, hey.
• 32:11
  Here's my money.
• 32:11
  Just give me a stock equivalent to Bitcoin's price action, and I'm good.
• 32:15
  But you also pay a premium because there are premiums to be paid.
• 32:18
  And you also pay anywhere from 2 a half, 2 to 2 a half percent annual fee.
• 32:23
  Right?
• 32:23
  They they're gonna still trying to make their money where they can.
• 32:25
  So just keep that in mind, but that gets a little bit more technical.
• 32:29
  Right.
• 32:29
  So the institutional banks are still trying to figure out how to charge those fees.
• 32:32
  Right?
• 32:32
  That's that's what Alright.
• 32:36
  So what is the best advice you can give someone who is just getting started with crypto?
• 32:44
  Best advice I can say is get educated and start simple.
• 32:49
  It it is a fire hose of information that changes by the hour.
• 32:54
  You can't keep up with it.
• 32:56
  Trust me when I first started in Bitcoin, I was up to 4 AM in the morning.
• 32:59
  Just devouring information.
• 33:01
  Got no sleep.
• 33:03
  You know, was was starting to lose weight.
• 33:06
  Like, not in a good way either.
• 33:07
  I I wasn't on a keto diet.
• 33:09
  Trust me.
• 33:09
  I was just like, I'm just, heart palpitations wondering if Asia's market at 3 AM is wrecking
• 33:14
  the market.
• 33:15
  Like, Krishna would mess up your world.
• 33:18
  Like, drugs and alcohol can't eat his touch.
• 33:21
  But that's when you're getting educated and you're starting to like, oh my gosh.
• 33:24
  What's the about.
• 33:25
  So start small, start simple, get educated, and then, you know, start with the big boys.
• 33:30
  I I keep mentioning Bitcoin Ethereum and Chain Lake.
• 33:33
  Because they really are building the ecosystem of what everybody else is building on.
• 33:37
  So before you go after some coin that just came out of Singapore, that, you know, just went up
• 33:42
  500%.
• 33:43
  Figure out what they're built on, what they're trying to accomplish, but this also starts with
• 33:47
  understanding what we call the base layer.
• 33:49
  Understand what the foundation of crypto is and then build from there.
• 33:52
  And you'll see how much of an appetite you have.
• 33:54
  Right?
• 33:55
  You'll either go all in, or you'll say, you know what?
• 33:57
  I'm gonna to talk to my financial advisor and have different conversations.
• 34:01
  And that's fine too.
• 34:03
  Alright.
• 34:03
  So what would you say about using portfolio automation tools.
• 34:09
  Good thing, bad thing.
• 34:11
  So when you say portfolio automation, there's couple of things.
• 34:14
  So if you're just trying to keep track of your portfolio, there's apps like BlockFi, Xerion,
• 34:20
  the crypto app, that, you know, you can utilize to, yeah, you should keep track because the
• 34:25
  thing when you quickly realize in cryptos, especially when you start moving money, you
• 34:28
  lose track of the transaction.
• 34:30
  It's an accounting nightmare.
• 34:32
  So accounts and, crypto reporting, tax reporting, It's a nightmare.
• 34:38
  The IRS hasn't figured it all out.
• 34:40
  Accountants haven't figured it all out.
• 34:41
  The best thing that most people have is, like, it depends, and we're getting guidance.
• 34:45
  That's the most they're gonna hear.
• 34:47
  It is super vague because that's where we're at.
• 34:49
  So, yes, you do want to there are software companies out there.
• 34:53
  That will allow you to connect your wallet and it tracks all your transactions so you know
• 34:57
  what your tax bill is.
• 34:58
  It's becoming easier 5 years from now.
• 35:01
  We won't even be having a conversation on how track all of this.
• 35:03
  But once again, this is in its maturing phase.
• 35:06
  Bitcoin's only twelve years old.
• 35:07
  So, technically, it's just a it's not even a teenager yet.
• 35:10
  So it really hasn't started to wild out just yet.
• 35:12
  So let's give it some time.
• 35:13
  I mean, if we think this teen year, the twelve year old is bad, you know, it's gonna be
• 35:18
  interesting seeing what the sixteen year old Bitcoin's gonna do.
• 35:21
  So, And then also from a trading standpoint, yes, there's all kinds of bots out there and
• 35:27
  algorithms.
• 35:29
  It depends on how sophisticated you wanna get.
• 35:32
  And once again, get educated about what those bots can do.
• 35:35
  There's nobody out there that's gonna just make you money all day.
• 35:39
  The best the bots do is try to increase your probability, but just know that there's not a
• 35:43
  100%.
• 35:44
  I actually started in my early days with a crypto bot that was buying high and selling
• 35:49
  low.
• 35:50
  After, like, the 3rd transaction, I was like, I could do that myself.
• 35:53
  I was like, I don't need a bot to lose me.
• 35:57
  Yes.
• 35:58
  The market was moving so fast.
• 36:00
  This bot couldn't keep up, so I had to turn him off.
• 36:02
  I had to You're losing me money.
• 36:06
  That's not what I
• 36:07
  paid you.
• 36:09
  Oh my gosh.
• 36:10
  Alright.
• 36:11
  So you do teach classes on cryptocurrency.
• 36:14
  Do you not?
• 36:15
  I do.
• 36:15
  I do.
• 36:16
  I consider myself the Coinwealth coach because I love educating people.
• 36:20
  It is a bit I tried to take the fire hose and turn into like a garden hose.
• 36:24
  You're still gonna get wet.
• 36:25
  Right?
• 36:25
  But you're still going to get the information that you need, and you can visit sonydumma.com.
• 36:30
  Click on the crypto tab, and you'll learn about you know, my latest newsletters or any of the
• 36:35
  classes and workshops I have coming up.
• 36:37
  Alright.
• 36:37
  And last question for you.
• 36:39
  What is the best business advice anyone has ever given you?
• 36:44
  So the best business advice is the only thing you can plan on when it comes to your well laid
• 36:50
  out plan is that your plan will not go according to plan.
• 36:55
  And so so you need to adapt adjust and move on because your plan will not go according to
• 37:03
  plan.
• 37:04
  Love it.
• 37:04
  Love it.
• 37:05
  Well, listen Thank you so much, Sonia.
• 37:07
  You have really just dropped so many pearls of wisdom on us tonight.
• 37:12
  Sonia, what is your favorite business podcast?
• 37:15
  My favorite is the investors podcast because their tagline is we study billionaires.
• 37:20
  And I wanna know what billionaires are up to.
• 37:24
  I love that.
• 37:25
  Who are the hosts of that podcast?
• 37:26
  That sounds pretty good.
• 37:28
  Right?
• 37:29
  I'm I'm not sure.
• 37:30
  Don't ask me their names.
• 37:31
  I just really hear Who's the billionaire?
• 37:34
  How they make their money?
• 37:35
  What do I need to do?
• 37:36
  I listen.
• 37:36
  I believe success leaves clues everywhere, so it's definitely worth listening to that
• 37:41
  podcast.
• 37:42
  What is your favorite business app?
• 37:45
  What is your favorite app?
• 37:47
  My favorite oh gosh.
• 37:49
  Business app.
• 37:51
  I'd have to say telegram.
• 37:54
  Telegram is you may not heard of it.
• 37:56
  It's it's really big in the crypto world, and it keeps me up to date on what's going on in
• 38:01
  the world when it comes to all things crypto.
• 38:02
  So telegram is my favorite app.
• 38:05
  Sonia, what is your favorite old school marketing tip.
• 38:11
  Old school.
• 38:12
  Old school.
• 38:12
  Yeah.
• 38:13
  Throw it back.
• 38:13
  I would say the most important time that you spend is in front of the client.
• 38:22
  Like, that is, I would say, at the end of the day, it's not all your social media.
• 38:25
  It's not all the emails that you send, but the one on one time that you spend in front of a
• 38:30
  client or prospect is the most important time, the most pivotal time of your sales process,
• 38:37
  your customer service process, and never forget that.
• 38:40
  Love it.
• 38:41
  Love it.
• 38:42
  Sonia, what is your favorite business book you've ever read?
• 38:45
  Right now, it's this little green one called, how rich people think.
• 38:51
  Can you see a theme here?
• 38:52
  I I do.
• 38:53
  I do.
• 38:54
  Oh, rich people think.
• 38:55
  So, that's one of my favorite books right now, that I've read and highly recommend it.
• 39:01
  About handful of principles that will change your world.
• 39:04
  Love it.
• 39:04
  Love it.
• 39:05
  And my favorite business book is disrupt you by Jay Salmon.
• 39:09
  I love this book because he says in order to disrupt the world, the first thing you gotta do
• 39:14
  is disrupt yourself, which is my my philosophy as well.
• 39:18
  And I love Jay, and I love that book.
• 39:20
  Alright.
• 39:21
  You guys are so awesome.
• 39:22
  Thank you so much for spending this time with me, and thank you all for joining me for this
• 39:27
  episode of small biz chat podcast.
• 39:29
  I've got a brand new book coming out, become your own boss in 12 months, revised, and
• 39:34
  expanded, coming out this fall, If you wanna preorder it, head over to become your own boss
• 39:40
  book .com.
• 39:41
  And I've got some amazing bonuses So go on over there.
• 39:45
  And if you want more information about how to start and grow a successful small business,
• 39:49
  head over to small business lady university and sign up for my course how to sell and market
• 39:54
  online.
• 39:55
  I promise I'll get you going in the right direction.
• 39:58
  The mission of the small fish chat is to end small business failure.
• 40:02
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, your host.
• 40:06
  Until next time, I wanna leave you with this.
• 40:08
  You never lose in business.
• 40:10
  Either you win or you learn.
• 40:12
  God bless everybody.
• 40:15
  Thank you for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 40:20
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 40:27
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.