Paper 15: A Week In Web 3.0
How I operate full-time in the NFT ecosystem
A week in Web 3.0 can feel like a long time! But this week is a particularly important week for me.
I officially launch my company which will educate and advise on NFTs, Web 3.0 and “The Metaverse”: @32dreams_
Whilst I do have big plans, I think it’s important to start small and execute well. So we begin by producing excellent podcast content to complement this written work. If you are interested you can follow along on Twitter here.
The initial offering will be
a weekly show by @Legendary_NFT (ex-management consultant and one of the smartest guys I have met in this space) and I (ex-commercial lawyer, medium intelligent) where you can eavesdrop on a conversation between friends as we analyse the latest NFT antics; and
longer-form interviews with amazing creators and builders in the space (for which I have some awesome guests already lined up - official announcements on Twitter soon).
To give you all an idea of what my week looks like in anticipation of a launch like this (and to provide some real-life detail to answer the question “what on earth do you do and how on earth do you make money full-time in this space?”), I write this Paper.
In this Paper I will explain what I do all week and how I think about the work required to go “full-time” in this space.
I will present my work as a day-by-day diary, but you can see in this diagram how I think about the work by category. The Key at the bottom shows the different types of work and what colour represents each type of work.
A Week In Web 3.0: you will see from the Key at the bottom of the diagram that I have all sorts of categories of work and almost none of them are paid (lol).
The categories of work are the following:
brand (unpaid)
legal/commercial advisory (paid)
trading (depends on if successful lol)
podcast preparation (unpaid)
commissioned written work (paid)
free written work (unpaid)
business development (unpaid)
podcast appearance (unpaid)
exercise (unpaid lol)
Monday
As you can see above, not a lot of work is paid (at the time of its completion).
My thinking is that no matter how successful I am trading, I should always have some “paid income”.
Since my unique skill is writing / communication as a former lawyer, I choose to stay on the lookout for quality projects who need comms help.
I also think the more writing you do for quality projects the more you increase your standing in the space.
When I saw that @mulligan needed some written help with the @PREMINT_NFT documentation I jumped at this opportunity. (In my view PREMINT are killing it in respect of the pre-mint process.) I sent some DMs showcasing my previous work for Pixel Vault, Arweave, and Meraki, and I got the gig.
I actually started this commissioned work last week, submitted it for review and comments, received those comments, and so was finalising those comments on Monday. A half day of work. Job done.
Separately I had been asked by my friend @NFT1nsight on the weekend to see if I could find them some good legal representation for some commercial issues relating to their @ChimpersNFT project (run also by @TimpersHD and @PunkHot10).
As a former city lawyer, I have a lot of connections at various London law firms, so began emailing / messaging various friends and contacts to see who was best placed to deal with their particular questions.
This takes a lot of time, as law firms are very hierarchical and sometimes the person with whom you are speaking must speak with a number of other people before you can lock in a call with the right person, so on Monday I was just able to confirm one meeting for the next day.
I also sent the emails required to attend @brendandawes solo show in London. Looking forward to it.
Tuesday
Had to buy a microphone. Bought a microphone. @Legendary_NFT suggested a mic and I just bought what he said. Sometimes when you are busy you just need to do things fast and not research (DYOR!).
I attended the first legal call with the @ChimpersNFT team. Was a good first call. Took about an hour. We reflected on the call a little behind the scenes. We still wanted to have another call to check out another legal team (never have only one legal option is my advice).
I sent an email to some partners at a law firm re: my work in the space to date. My thesis is that many lawyers and accountants have no idea what is going on, so I might as well come in and educate some of them who are interested. To present my case properly, I had to write a strong email. This took at least half a day. They replied and were keen so we are setting up a meeting soon.
Sent some more emails for the @ChimpersNFT team to finalise some more calls.
Had to think hard on the proposed deal for the completion of the 32 Dreams website. I arranged a call for Thursday with the website team to discuss more details.
Late-night brainstorming how I see the podcast with @Legendary_NFT fitting into the broader 32 Dreams media offering. Important that we are on the same page. Arranged to discuss with him the next day.
Wednesday
Hour-or-so-long call with @Legendary_NFT to finalise podcast details. We are on the same page. This is awesome.
Kept trying to sort some more legal calls - some legal teams were being flakey. Nailed another call down for Thursday.
Needed to sort 32 Dreams logo / branding - I had asked a lot of people if they knew anyone but no concrete leads. I tried Twitter. I tell no lie that within 100 seconds my DMs were filling up and I’d already found someone I liked. Twitter is a superpower (more on that later). For at least half a day on and off I went back and forth with the designer to finalise the logo. Managed to sort by the end of day. A huge result to sort within 24 hours.
It’s one thing doing work and it’s another thing getting paid for it. Part of being self-employed means you need to keep a tab on what is paid and what is outstanding. Checked in on the PREMINT work to see if there were any final comments, or if we were happy and could proceed to payment. All was good so we could move to invoicing.
Thursday
A lot of meetings today
Met with a lawyer for breakfast - also an old friend. Talked a lot of Web 3.0 / NFTs. As well as having a nice time, we definitely made each other aware of our current expertise - potential for future business / collaboration in future.
Website call - talked through the process of website building, payment terms etc. I got comfortable with this group of people to build my site. (Building a website to me is different to other type of contractual work - the website is my home on the internet, to which these people will have the keys. My thinking is that I need to invest more time into getting to know these people than I would for other types of contractors.)
Had a call with a different legal team with the @ChimpersNFT team. We discussed a little after who we preferred and what the next steps should be.
Needed to start securing some guests for these podcasts! Made a list, started to message a couple, but not too many all in one-go. Don’t want to book someone for two months away - just trying to secure a few to start (and I’ve got some good ones!)
Friday
I’d been quite unwell this week. Friday was the first day I felt up to some exercise - which was good.
Tried to write this Paper in the am and failed. Created a good plan at a minimum.
Recorded a MetaVault podcast episode with @space___walk and @bradchoosefi - this was so fun! Was a bit nervous as it was my first appearance on one but they were awesome hosts and made it a breeze. Took a bit more than an hour to record.
Had a call with @KingmakerEth regarding something interesting he was building. 30 - 60 minutes call also.
Some more podcast admin.
Saturday
Can’t have a week with no actual NFT activity, right?
I do buy / trade significantly less now. But I do like to make some conviction plays.
I monitored the secondary activity for quite a while (hours) before I made the play on this lawyerly moonbird.
Would have liked another one or two to trade, but the prices got away from me.
My main takeaway from this was “I’m glad I don’t do this every day anymore, I’m not cut out for trading regularly / not sure trading seriously is simultaneously compatible with building seriously.”
Just a single buy disappeared my evening (as even after you buy you then can’t stop looking at the floor lol).
Sunday
Spent some time outdoors and wrote this Paper.
All week activities
On the right hand side of the diagram above you’ll see a sea of purple (business development). This represents DMs and Twitter. Arranging calls, consultations, reviewing projects, responding to irl invitations, arranging future appearances on Twitter spaces/podcasts - and normal Twitter posting goes on top of this.
This is real work! (Even if it is also a lot of leisure / fun.) And is almost a job separate to everything already mentioned.
For next week I am already scheduled for 5 separate meetings (Twitter spaces host; investor and artist; UK rapper; lawyers; friend and investor). These all came from various DMs this week. Got to stay on top of all of this!
Some reflections
To exist here we do a lot of different jobs
A lot of “work” is not “paid” - but will hopefully “pay” in future as you build brand / reputation
Having a financial cushion from a previously successful venture/set of trades/profession/something that makes you not too stressed about the next pay cheque is helpful
Relying on trading only is risky
Leaning into your unique skills and applying them to Web 3.0 / NFTs makes sense
Reputation is everything
People will pay much more than “average” if you are exceptionally good at what you do and they don’t need to worry about the service you are providing
Invest in relationships - try to interact with people organically before asking something of them
Learn how to say “no” to some things - I struggle here and don’t know what the answer is - I suspect there is no answer - just make the best call you can and don’t look back
Hope that was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what “full-time Web 3.0” feels like.
If you want to keep tabs on the big next steps, please do consider following along @32dreams_
Have a great day,
B
Please do leave me any questions or thoughts here - I respond to every one!
And if you thought this was interesting, please consider subscribing to this Substack here and following me @BCheque1 on Twitter for more on NFTs and Web 3.0.
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters.
Love this breakdown. I've been a full-time NFT trader for the last 8 months but I'm ready to move into more of builder role in web3.
This quote about NFT trading was a huge lightbulb moment for me: "I’m glad I don’t do this every day anymore, I’m not cut out for trading regularly / not sure trading seriously is simultaneously compatible with building seriously.”
Made me realize that I gotta shut down the NFT brain entirely and focus solely on building relationships with web3 builders and finding ways to add value.