What I learned from being on the TFTuesday Podcast

you must be so embarassed

Reckless. If I had to sum up this ordeal in a single word, reckless is a perfect fit.

This week I was invited to go on a podcast budding in popularity to talk about what I knew when it came to financing as a creator in the furry fandom and what others should do to be more profitable. My biggest mistake heading in was treating the opportunity way too casually – I thought I could emulate a few of those that I studied (Marquell Russell, Myron Golden, Him500, Robert Kiyosaki, Grant Cardone, Gary V, Prince Donnell, Timothy Ferris), express facts off the top of my head without my notes, accurately explain different subjects in detail without practicing.

In the end what happened was a presentation that was not only terrible (and annoying), but also legitimately dangerous to someone impressionable who doesn’t know what they’re doing. I didn’t cite sources, didn’t use case examples, didn’t explain topics well at all nor did I go over the most important details for financial security – all of which I would have done had I prepared (and if I knew just how touchy the topic of conversation was). I came off as an arrogant incompetent wannabe and ruined my trust and credibility.

And boy did the panning come quick. Without ever explaining where I’d gotten my information and experiences on the show, it was as if I was either an idiot or a nutjob leading would-be followers estray. It came off like I didn’t know or didn’t care – truth is I care so much about helping others that it’s been a nightmare for me since it’s release.

1.) I don’t handle negativity in a healthy way…at all.

Photo by **Andrew Neel** from **Pexels**

I did the podcast excited and happy, all I wanted to do was help. The response has by and large been negative.

I haven’t slept much the last 72 hrs, haven’t eaten anything more than piece of bread, the negative responses (a lot of which are emotionally charged) and my awful presentation keep replaying over and over again in my head from when I wake up to the time I’ve actually been able to fall asleep. I shake with anxiety, it’s hard to focus on other things.

The rule of business is to never take anything personally but it’s difficult to do that when your character is brought into question, you’re being called out your name, and people you thought were friends turn their back. Day 1 I was confused, Day 2 I was angry, by Day 3 I was depressed, the negativity just kept coming.

2.) The Fandom absolutely hates pro-Crypto, pro-NFT discussion to a fault.

Photo by **Alesia Kozik** from **Pexels**

Despite only spending a total of around 7mins of the 2 hour show talking about Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and how they’re possibilities for revenue for creators – this is what a big portion of listeners hung onto. Was the fandom I grew up in always this closed-minded?

Because of my studies, skillsets, and connections, I don’t have the same background or perspective others share on Crypto and NFTs. I just don’t.

It’s very difficult for me to hop on the hate train when I have a Masters in Software Engineering and have actually been in personal meetings with wildly successful businessmen (Tim Kimble, Chaste Berry, Bo James, Jimmy Thomas) developing a metaverse and sat in meetings with multi-millionaire Justin Reels (a legit genius) who explained the capabilities, use cases for NFTs, accurately showing and explaining the difference between ‘shitcoins’ and legit ones, and explaining economic history and how crypto would have legitimately stopped economic collapses.

NFTs are SO much more than just the wannabe ‘beanie babies’, ‘monkies’, ‘celebrity sales’, and fake collectibles that many see. And while I understand one’s personal preference, the outright persecution and shunning I’m seeing of anyone who disagrees is absolutely ridiculous. I stand by my word and that leads me to my next realization.

3.) Furries are kind of bullies…

https://www.webpurify.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/xcomputer-HatticeEROL-Pixabay-1-1024×618.png.pagespeed.ic.EFT8saKAI7.png

I was told (by a now ex-furry), “It’s a welcoming fandom, until you disagree with what others think.” Watching and reading how so many immediately jumped to tear down and not build up (and how many others were cheerleading) is saddening – it ruined my naïve vision of what I thought the fandom was.

Though I left my email open and available to engage in discussion, not a single person sent one. I tried engaging with commenters to see where I went wrong (if I’m spreading misinformation, I need to know about it and fix it) and, though some were kind enough to lay out my shortcomings, a lot seemed more keen on having twitter arguments than regular conversation. There’s a clear disconnect in the way one has a conversation with someone online vs face to face, I can only conclude many are afraid to do the latter.

4.) This Was A ‘Super Necessary’ Learning Experience

I was an absolute fool to take this opportunity lightly – you simply can not present on a topic so critical to one’s well being and not be prepared to explain your sources, topics, and fact check. Hindsight 20/20, I’m glad it happened here and not on a bigger stage – I needed to fall flat on my face to understand what happens when you don’t understand the gravity of what you’re doing and why it’s always important to prepare.

Critiques showed exactly where I’m lacking and what I need to improve upon if I want to achieve my vision of being able to help creators be profitable with their passions on a large scale. I still believe in my dream and I’m not giving up on what I’m doing. If I’m going to master the financial game, I need to study much more and come at this like a pro-athlete; a mind needs books, bootcamps, and experience like an athlete needs practice, workouts, and nutrition. So even though I had a dismal performance, I’m going to be back, better than before.

Conclusion

Failure and criticism comes with the territory of entrepreneurship, I thought I knew what that meant until recently. Failing sucks, hard, especially when I know it’d be a night and day difference with a do-over. But, after speaking with several mentors about this – ultimately, what’s done is done. It’s time to move on and learn from it.

So thank you to everyone who listened to the podcast (even the one’s who hated it). I’ll take what I’ve learned from this experience and better myself to better help others in the future. In case you all want to know what I’ve studied and where my sources came from and would like to study the topics for yourself, I’ll leave a list of just a few of the things here:

Books: