Changing Your Life Financially In the Crypto Bear Market
Bitcoin and crypto are officially in a bear market. There has been chaos in the markets causing hedge funds and companies to become insolvent. Naturally, once an extremely large player in the space like 3AC went bankrupt, it would cause a contagion effect that spread all across the market. While we all thought that the price of Bitcoin, Ethereum and the crypto market was going to go much higher during the most recent bull market. The fact is that its trajectory was cut short by a large variety of macro factors. For those of us that were hoping to get rich quick this year, that was a disappointing development. But for those of you that don't have your crypto portfolio's set, this time is a golden opportunity to build up your portfolio.
Bear markets are actually great for many reasons, and to a certain extent, it is the cycle that I prefer. A bear cycle seems to be much quieter. This is when the real building and personal growth occurs. This is the time when people who truly have a desire to succeed, can make it happen. The real question is, how badly do you want to succeed, and are you willing to sacrifice to do so?
The last bear cycle and dips a long the way are the sole reasons I attribute to finding success in this market. They were literally life-changing times for me, and I believe they can be the same for you as well. Today I will go over the things that I did during the last bear cycle to find success, and some of the things that I'm planning on doing as well. The great thing is that these can all be done freely, or with things you already have, and so it gives every one a chance.
So without further delay, let's talk about the basic tips to find success during the bear market, and hopefully reach financial freedom.
1) Build a Passive Income Stream
Having a passive income stream is one of the largest contributors to being able to achieve financial freedom. In the past I was a big advocate of lending Bitcoin out to services such as BlockFi, Ledn, Celsius and Nexo. At the time it was a great way to make a passive income with your crypto and also help to accumulate faster. When I first began lending out crypto, the interest rewards that I was earning was quite small. But there is a catapult effect once the bull market finally does come around. My coins such as Bitcoin or Ethereum would eventually go up by 10-20x. Suddenly that small amount of interest earned had turned into something more significant. With compound interest taking effect, and continuing to accumulate. It was amazing just how fast my accounts were able to grow. HOWEVER, currently I would strongly recommend against lending out your crypto. Especially as many of these services have frozen withdrawals, and have serious liquidity issues. It is better to be safe than sorry, and just wait out the storm. I have personally moved most of my Bitcoin into cold storage. Keeping some on FTX to earn interest, an exchange that I feel is in a much better position than most. And I also have some Bitcoin on Nexo for loan collateral reasons.
With that said, I think this is a much better time to focus on staking opportunities such as Ethereum or many other proof-of-stake blockchains. The paid interest is literally written into the code, and is much safer than lending out crypto to a 3rd party service. There is less of a worry that you won't be able to withdraw your crypto when you need it. Because of this crisis in the market, I have begun to shift a larger part of my focus towards staking. I currently prefer to stake Ethereum. Although it is important to note that if you stake ETH, you need to lock it up until after the ETH merge. The list of other crypto that can be staked is nearly endless. Coins such as Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Cosmos and the list goes on.
2) Build a Side Income / Get a Side-Job
Naturally the bear market is the best time to quickly build your crypto portfolio, because prices are so low. Buying 0.01 ETH would cost you less than $12 dollars today, while just a few months ago that same 0.01 ETH was nearly $50. The same goes for Bitcoin, buying 0.01 BTC today will cost you nearly $200, but just a few months ago was nearly $700. The altcoins the difference is even larger. But, what good is having low prices if you don't have any cash to invest with? That was the dilemma that I faced during the last bear market. Financially my budget was tight, and had little to no spare money to invest with. It was a painful thing. I remember thinking that I know what will happen with the market, I know how to become rich, but I just didn't have any capital to make it possible.
And so I decided that I needed a side-gig or job. For many people the best option would be just to pick up a part-time job a night or two a week. While this is basic advice for most people, the fact is that most people are not willing to take on an extra job. Remember that there is a huge catapult effect that takes places once the bull market arrives. Imagine if you were to earn an extra $100 per week, equalling about $400 a month. And then you would be investing all of that income into Bitcoin, Ethereum or other coins of your choice. Once the bull cycle comes again and assuming the market does a 5-10x. This would mean that your original $400 invested would now be equal to $2,000-$4,000. On top of that, if you are staking the crypto that you accumulated with your side income, that will add up very quickly. Your life will change fast. Suddenly, financial freedom will seem like a real possibility. Again, you need to think about how much you want to succeed. Those who put in the work now, will reap the rewards later on.
Personally I wanted to do something that I was interested in, and could do anywhere. That is when I decided to start writing about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. This isn't something to do if you are looking to make a lot of money quickly. In fact, in the beginning I would have been much better off just picking up a part-time job. But, I viewed this as my hobby and was willing to be patient with it. As time went on, I was lucky to find success with my writing. The thing about crypto blogging is that earnings can be very inconsistent. Some months I will have amazing performance, and some months will have poor performance. Although, if you put in the work, write quality content, and build your brand. It can lead to other opportunities. I've been lucky enough to freelance with some of the biggest crypto brands out there.
3) Sell Things That You Don't Need
Again, this is basic advice. One of the best things to do when you are hard up for cash is to look at the things around you and decide what you need and don't need. Then sell all of the things that you don't need. Growing up, I used to love collecting anything and everything. This is probably one of the reasons why I am so interested in accumulating crypto. But as I moved to different countries around the world, moving my possessions became very tedious and also expensive. I quickly realized which things I actually used, and which I didn't, and moved more to a minimalist lifestyle. I then sold the rest. Websites like Ebay, Facebook marketplaces and so on became my friend. I then used this cash to get my financial situation right, and also invest even more.
4) Budgeting
This is also a great time to strictly budget your finances. If you are having a difficult time finding extra cash to invest at the end of the month, there are likely a few things that you can cut out of your life to save you money. This could involve eating at home more often, cutting back on going to Starbucks, or even drinking tap water instead of bottled drinks like water, soda and juices. This could mean cutting back on your subscription services. You don't need to be subscribed to Netflix, Disney+ and several other streaming services during the same month. Pick one during the month, and then switch during the next month if there is something else you want to watch. Once you document and see what you are actually spending all of your money on, it can be shocking what you're wasting money on. It's likely that each one of us could find extra cash to invest just by being prudent with budgeting.
5) Study The Crypto Market
Bear markets are also the best time to finally learn about the market. When prices are going parabolic, it can be quite easy to get caught up in the noise, but bear markets are much quieter. Making it much easier to focus. Learn how to take self-custody, send transactions, stake and all of the basics. Also take the time to learn the general terminology in the market, and also the history of bitcoin and crypto that has led us up until this point. And finally, take the time to really dig into projects and learn about them. Build the skills to be able to sort out the great projects from the junk projects.
Great projects like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others will certainly recover in the future, and most likely set new all-time highs during the next bull cycle. However, junk projects will most likely never recover. Think back to DeFi summer, when there were token left and right popping up out of no where being named after foods. The meme coins that appeared last year. And also the copycat NFT's that also appeared. There is a high likely-hood that those will all go to zero. Putting in the work now, could save you heartbreak and losses in the future.
While I think that all of these tips I gave were quite basic, and could be used not only when investing into cryptocurrency, but investing in general. They are great life skills to have. The key point is this. Those who really put in the hard work now, sacrifice a little, and invest in good projects while they are extremely cheap, are going to find great success in the future. By incorporating a few of these things into your life, they could be the catalyst that helps to begin to change your life financially. Just like they did for me during the last bear market.
How about you? What tips do you have to build future success with crypto in the bear market?
As always, thank you for reading!
