The Gold Rush of 2019 By Johnny Cash on January 3, 2019 | |
The Gold Rush of 2019 Happy New Year my fellow empowr citizens! Usually at this time of the year, I publish a much longer post... ... summarizing some of our accomplishments and victories, progress, mistakes and learning experiences from the year that just ended. However, this year, knowing that today – January 1st -- we would have a topic of critical importance to discuss, something that would require us to look to the future as opposed to the past, I’ll admit that we sneakily used the month of December to get the longer (building-block) topics out of the way. As a result, today, we can quickly summarize what was discussed earlier this month... ... and then turn our attention to the future. Our first discussion was on December 7th. Topics included a software rollout targeting cheaters, a discussion of the technology hype cycle, and the Network Effect. Our next discussion was on December 23rd. That was one of the longer discussions. Topics included a new approach to stabilizing the value of everyone’s coins in their empowr balance, while leaving the price of the coin instable on the blockchain. We also discussed the upcoming ‘Buy’ listings Next, President Carlos reached out on December 27th. Topics included additional details on the stabilizing process for everyone’s coins, including how marketplace items currently in progress would be handled during the switch to the new model. And finally, on December 28th we published a coin strategy summary. Given all the moves in 2018 in regards to the coin, we created this single post that summarizes the coin strategy and all the reasons behind it. We answered questions such as why the coin’s price has had downward pressure on it, and why some people are buying up so many coins despite the recent downward trend. By the way, I recently overheard a discussion by empowr employees that, these same people that are buying up and accumulating so many coins today, will one day be called by some as ‘simply lucky’. We should all take a moment to notice the overall coin-buying mood during this period of time in which these citizens are accumulating so many coins: The value of all cryptocurrencies are down, as we’re in the ‘trough of disillusionment’ phase of the tech hype cycle. Therefore, we should agree now that we’ll never accuse them of just being lucky; it actually took courage and confidence in their own intelligence as opposed to ‘simple luck’. Let’s move forward Thank you for investing the time in reading those posts, so you are current with the moves being made and the reasons behind them, and adding your thoughts and feedback to the mix. Now, with those prerequisite discussions behind us, we can focus on what will likely be the most important topic of 2019. We will need your thoughts and ideas before we can proceed. First, together, we must face this fact: Over the years, together we’ve had a large number of inventions and ‘firsts’. Today, empowr is the only social network that has a transactions-based marketplace... ... as well as other critical elements such as our crowdsourced educational platform. However... We are not alone in this world. Our ‘first-mover advantage’ will not last forever. Being first does not mean that we will automatically be the first to exploit the Network Effect. We believe that, in the next 12 to 24 months, empowr will become the dominant platform in social networking – or it will very likely fail. It is only a matter of time until another company is finally able to piece together everything required. Therefore, this year (2019) we must grow very rapidly, so that we can successfully exploit the Network Effect to protect our position or else we will soon risk being overrun by competitors. What exactly does that mean? Exactly how do we quantify ‘become the dominant platform’ and ‘grow very rapidly’? Answer: 1. In less than a year from now -- by this December (2019) – we believe the empowr economy must be completing billions (USD) in annualized marketplaces sales. 2. In less than 2 years from now -- in December 2020 – we believe the empowr economy must be completing a minimum of tens of billions in annualized marketplaces sales. After the empowr community accomplishes those two (2) goals, we believe that it will be virtually impossible for others to compete with empowr... ... as our economy will already be rivaling that of many countries... ... and yet empowr will still be growing faster than any country on the planet... ... because new citizens can ‘migrate to our country’ for free... ... in less than 5 minutes from the moment they first hear about empowr. By accomplishing those 2 goals, we will have virtually secured the accomplishment of our mission and overarching goal.
So, what does it take to achieve those numbers and become uncatchable?
empowr’s marketplace sales must grow at the following monthly rates:  Notice that the first few months require the fastest growth. After this coming summer (after August 2019) the required growth rate slows down significantly. Question: Are these growth rates possible – especially the first few months? Answer: Absolutely, YES. Why? How can we be so sure? We know this because, together, the empowr community has already achieved that monthly growth rate – as any empowr citizen that’s been here for 2 years will tell you: Two years ago, the empowr marketplace was growing at a consistent 200% per month for a few months... ... before we needed to stop everything -- and even shut off all cash outs... ... because of some big obstacles that appeared in our path. The good news is that, over the last 2 years, the empowr community has arrived at solutions to virtually ALL of the major challenges it faced back then... ... and we’re just about ready to ramp up again. Of course one big solution, was our move to cryptocurrency, and we were lucky that an entire ecosystem emerged around cryptocurrency, bringing us things like crypto exchanges, which of course helps our citizens to do things such as cash out and convert empowr coins into their local currency. To learn more about our learnings from 2 years ago, and why a new currency made a big difference, read this story. So, as we just discussed, in the past we have already experienced the required level of growth, and, in addition, our marketplace tools, success coach program and other elements of our ecosystem have continued to improve since that time. Perhaps as importantly, as discussed a few days ago, empowr citizens will soon able to create ‘Buy’ listings - as opposed to only ‘Sell’ listings. That means that Shoppers will, by definition, soon get exactly what they want from the empowr marketplace. In addition, using those same ‘Buy’ listings, Sellers will be able to see the exact bonus (profit) they will gain, before investing even a single click of their mouse... ... and without the need to ever create a listing themselves or even deal with ‘Unpaid items’. Of course, that means that, just like Shoppers, Sellers will also get exactly what they want from the empowr marketplace. And so, it appears like, soon it might get as much as 100 times easier for both Shoppers and Sellers to achieve their desired results. As a result of these and many other improvements to virtually all parts of our ecosystem that were made in the last two years... ... we have confidence that the marketplace can experience growth at rates even faster than it did two years ago. But there’s a lot at stake here. It is simply not enough to ‘have confidence’ that the marketplace can grow, or proceed with best intentions and best efforts. Together, we must come up with a plan that almost guarantees that those growth rates WILL be achieved. What else can we do to ensure the required growth rates are achieved? Perhaps a recent comment from empowr citizen Le Thanh Kong best summarizes what else might need to happen:  I want to focus on three (3) important points Le made: 1. We must build trust 2. Sellers must get their investment back quickly to reinvest in their business 3. We must ‘motivate the marketplace’ 1. We must build trust He’s right. In order for both Shoppers and Sellers to invest their valuable time, energy and money in empowr, they must trust the overall platform and the other community members. Trust in the platform will be built over time, as together we keep improving and evolving the product... ... removing glitches and adding missing features... ... and removing bad actors and cheaters. I am optimistic that, given the mandate you have given President Carlos when you voted him into office recently... ... and how focused he is on ensuring the marketplace becomes the top priority for the company... ... that trust in the platform will be continuously growing. I am also optimistic that a growing number of ‘world-class empowr citizens’ will emerge in each geographic region around the world, as measured by their Buyer and Seller ratings, and everyone will be able to trust them to always do the right thing. 2. Sellers must get their investment back quickly to reinvest in their business This is easy for everyone to understand: If Sellers cannot get their money back quickly, including their bonus (their profit) they will not be able to increase their sales. Therefore, it goes without saying that we must get Sellers their money faster. A big part of what enables that, is making sure we’re constantly improving the blocking of fraudsters. Towards that, you can expect a few new features to go live soon, including a requirement to maintain your receipt if you purchased the item you are selling, or a photo of the item if you didn’t recently purchase it, along with a new online process to confirm your identification, and live calls with our risk assessment team. The better we get at blocking cheaters, the faster we can get Sellers’ funds to them. 3. We need to ‘motivate the marketplace’ Many empowr citizens have been working hard for this mission; some for a very long time. Some of the years have been more tiring and taxing than others. I personally think this last year was among the most difficult. Therefore, we should be looking for opportunities to drive extra rewards to the empowr citizens that, despite the difficulties we have all faced, are still here, still believing and still working hard. As empowr citizen Le Thanh Kong suggests, we could hit two birds with a single stone... ... and take care of our citizens while also ensuring growth... ... if we ‘motivate the marketplace’ by applying a very nice cash advance bonus for Sellers. In other words, imagine that we apply a multiple to the cash advances that Sellers will receive -- based partially on their trading progress bar. Example: Sally sells an item for $100 USD. Of course, the % of her sales that are available to her to “Cash Advance” is based on the factors shown at the bottom of her balance page. The largest (#1) factor, of course, is how much she sells: As her overall sales increase, the % of her sales available for cash advance also increases. The idea here is, to further motivate and reward our Sellers, let’s increase their cash advance amount, by applying a multiple (= a marketplace stimulus). Marketplace stimulus In order to ignite marketplace sales, we’ll multiply up Sally’s final cash advance amount... ... by as much as it takes... ... to ensure the overall marketplace sales grow to our target range. We will start the stimulus at 2X (200%). That means that (back to the above example) if Sally was due to receive, say, $75 in cash advances from her sale, she’ll now receive 2X (= $150) because the stimulus doubled her cash advance. In that manner, Sally gets her money more quickly so she can sell again. Note: Sally will receive as much as ALL of the extra (stimulus) amount ... or as little as NONE of the extra amount, ... based on how full (or empty) her coin trading progress bar is. Does this make sense? In order to ensure Sellers can cash out more, we must also ensure our trading volume is increasing. As the next few months pass and the empowr economy keeps growing and word keeps spreading, the coin trading volume will take care of itself, and the marketplace stimulus (and the focus on trading volume) will no longer be necessary. But in the short-term, let’s make sure our coin trading volume increases as fast as our marketplace sales. Does Sally also earn the other (currently active) trading bonus? As a reminder, all empowr citizens earn a (between 1% and 7%) bonus on all their coin trades (buys and sells). The answer is: Yes, in addition to the above stimulus, Sally will also still earn coins from all her coin trades, and she will continue to have her ‘Buy’ bonuses accelerated to her Coin Savings Vault so she can cash them out immediately. Automating the marketplace stimulus We discussed starting the stimulus at 2X (200%). Could the stimulus multiple go ever higher (or lower)? How will the stimulus be decided and by whom? The answer is that the stimulus will be totally automated. And it can go as high or as low as required to ensure we hit our desired targets. As a reminder, we want to hit these target growth rates:  When we need more growth than what we are seeing, the stimulus will keep moving up, causing Sellers to potentially earn massive cash advances on their sales. When the growth rate has gone too far above the target rate, the stimulus will be gradually lowered. Once the stimulus is turned on, we will start it at 2X and then it will automatically go up or down based on how fast the marketplace ramps up. When will the stimulus start? Before we get started, the empowr community needs some time to prepare: Shoppers need time to prepare Shoppers: Start thinking of all the things you need and/or want. Visit your favorite e-commerce websites, such as Amazon, Alibaba, Miinthebox, Aliexpress, Gearbest, Walmart.com, Target.com, Flipkart and Taobao among many others. Then, in a document or spreadsheet, save the URL for each of the items you want. Also note the final price for each item including tax and shipping cost. Note: It is important that you arrive at the final price accurately, otherwise your listing will be rejected by the marketplace moderators and/or the Seller will give you a poor rating. Shoppers, only create listings for the things that you really want empowr currently spends a lot compensating our mighty marketplace moderators. With these new ‘Buy’ listings, their workload will increase, as they will need to validate each item’s source and final price. Therefore, Shoppers should not create listings for anything they are not confident that they want to purchase. To help ensure this happens, Shoppers will pay a small fee for each ‘Buy’ listing, whether or not the listing is rejected or approved, as both (approvals and rejections) create work and cost for the moderation team members. We want Shoppers to think carefully before creating tons of listings for things they may not really want to purchase. Along with not creating unnecessary work for the marketplace moderators, listings will also create extra work for the Sellers if the Shopper is not ‘real’. We want the Sellers to know that, if they decide to complete a sale, that the offer and Shopper are ‘real’, especially since the Shopper will have spent between $1 and $2 for each listing depending on their mission role. I think we should allow the empowr community 2 weeks to prepare their shopping list. Sellers need time to prepare We also want to give Sellers a chance to think and prepare themselves. How much total profit do you want to earn monthly? What will be your criteria for choosing which listings to go for, and which to avoid? What is the minimum bonus (profit) amount and/or profit margin (%) -- you will require before committing to a sale? Is there a minimum ‘Buyer rating’ and/or Power Level you wish to see from Shoppers before you will work with them? Sellers must also think about where they will get the original funds from, in order to procure the items for Shoppers. We think it would also be a good idea to give Sellers about 2 weeks to think about their approach and logistics. And to stop ‘fake sellers’ from taking sales that they do not intend to deliver, Sellers will also be required to pay between $1 to $2 depending on their mission roles, before they’re provided with a guaranteed sale (meaning the Shopper has already paid for the item). Sellers will get this fee back – added back into their cash advance after the sale is marked as ‘Item Received’ by the buyer. Proceeds from ‘Buy’ listings will pay for marketplace moderators and the rapidly growing fraud-fighting systems and risk-assessment team. Success Coaches, moderators, engineering and risk assessment need time to prepare In addition, Success Coaches and marketplace moderators will need time to update their processes in order to meet the demand. And empowr’s engineering and risk assessment (fraud) teams are also spending time preparing for the rapid growth. What you can expect You can expect to see the ‘Buy’ listing functionality launched in the next week or so. After that, we will wait for the Success Coach and marketplace moderation teams to give their thumbs up, which will likely take 1-2 weeks after the features are launched. Then, after citizens (Shoppers and Sellers) all report that they are satisfied with the new features, and all major bugs and issues are corrected, in order to ensure a fair and level playing field for everyone, we will give a few days advance notice to the community before the start of the stimulus. Adding up those weeks and days, you should expect the stimulus to start during the 3rd week of January. Rapid growth means massive opportunity As discussed, the cash advance algorithms will automatically increase or decrease the stimulus, as needed, to ensure the target growth rates are achieved. That means that Sellers that get involved the soonest, will likely receive the biggest rewards. Any of you that have been involved in fast growing economies - such as China, Nigeria and other fast growing countries in recent years, understand that ‘all tides rise’... ... meaning the players in the game -- when the game is rapidly expanding... ... quite often tend to do very well. And that’s why I titled this post “The Gold Rush of 2019”: Using this marketplace stimulus as a tool, it is our objective to BOTH grow the empowr economy quickly as well as reward our faithful and optimistic citizens, that have given this mission everything and remained focused and positive. Rapid growth also means growing pains I also feel the need to remind everyone that, despite our need to move and grow super-fast, empowr continues to be in its Alpha phase. With break-neck speed, you also get growing pains, sonic boom and whiplash. In tech companies, this level of growth means difficulties that are usually quite difficult to predict ahead of time. In reality, most of the upcoming difficulties due to growth have been predicted, and have been accounted and planned for, which is why you are less likely to ever see those issues. It’s the few issues that were not predicted ahead of time, that’ll become the problems that will need to be dealt with in real-time when they show their ugly heads. Add to that the low resource level of an uncapitalized, no-investor approach, and everyone should expect serious bumps in the road. But as always, together, we won’t let obstacles stand in our way for long. We may get knocked down, but what doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger, and we will apply each ounce of additional strength to obliterating the obstacle, and further advancing and accelerating our progress. OK, I am aiming for this post to be shorter, so let’s start wrapping it up here.
In summary
Together, we’ve done a lot of innovating, and this last year was no exception, as we worked to integrate a totally new currency, and strike a balance between stability and mass adoption. It’s now or never for empowr to grow rapidly, and deliver an economy to the world capable of helping every man and woman... ... that can at least find their way to an Internet café or cheap mobile phone... ... a chance to quickly improve their life. Given the existence of the Network Effect, which informs us that the first company (empowr or any of its competitors) to experience rapid marketplace growth, will become near-impossible to catch, the empowr community MUST now exploit its first-mover advantage, and do everything in its power to grow rapidly, or else sit back and watch quietly, as one or more competitors harness the Network Effect before we do, ultimately locking empowr out of the race, essentially causing empowr to fail. If we fail If we fail to stop a competitor from getting there first, that most certainly will mean that, in the end, most of humanity will work for networked companies (like Uber, Amazon, Google)... ... all of which will undoubtedly be funded by Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors that demand quarterly profit growth.
Why that’s a problem for humanity
Each and every one of those Wall Street and Silicon Valley funded companies... ... after they have monopolized their industries... MUST eventually keep lowering pay for their workers, slowly turning them into economic slaves ... in order to keep their Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors happy and their profits and stock value going up, and their management teams employed. The resulting inequality, which has already started...
 Source: World Inequality Report ... without a doubt will cause the masses to tear down the system that is enslaving them.
Don’t believe me?
Do you think I am exaggerating? If you feel that way, I am pleading with you, please -- open up your eyes: Take a quick look at what has already been happening in the U.K (Brexit), USA (Donald Trump), Brazil (Jair Bolsonaro), Hungary (Viktor Orban), Poland (The Law & Justice Party), the Philippines (Rodrigo Duterte), France (yellow vests) and Italy (the League and the Five Star Movement)... ... just to mention a few of the more troubling areas. It is clear that the unraveling of democracy has not only started, but is now getting serious momentum. So what? Again, simply answer this single question: What happens in place of democracy? The smartest, brightest political scientists in the world all HAVE NO GOOD ANSWER. Nothing good is the right answer. Together, we can turn that around... ... by delivering a robust, democratic economy to the people of the world. We do that, very simply, like this:  We have the power to do this With what we have already accomplished together, which was not without major sacrifices from many or most everyone involved, we now appear to have everything we need to become an economy measured in billions (USD) later this year (2019)... then tens of billions next year (2020), then hundreds of billions in the year following that. With an economy of that size and strength, and the incredibly unique position we have achieved together, where Wall Street and Silicon Valley don’t own or control us... we will never be pushed to increase profits quarter-after-quarter, and turn anyone into slaves of our economic machine. The good news -- actually, quite amazing news -- is that, by using whatever amount of marketplace stimulus level is required, we have the power to ensure the necessary targets are met. Specifically, I am saying that we have no venture capitalists or profit-seeking investors that can stop us from providing any amount of profits (via marketplace stimulus) to our hard-working citizens that, because of their work and sacrifices over the months and years, deserve every penny of any and all gains, that might materialize for them from this big push. We need your thoughts We need your constructive thoughts or ideas, so we can use our collective intelligence to optimize the approach: What are we missing? Do you see any big potholes that must be fixed now, before we get started with the stimulus... meaning things that cannot wait even a few weeks before being addressed? Lastly, I am happy to announce that empowr is rapidly enlarging its engineering team in order to handle the upcoming rapid growth of course, but also to accelerate the other items being worked on in parallel, such as new and improved mobile apps, local merchant and app platforms, and localization of the platform to support 100 languages (as opposed to just English). This means that, in the coming weeks and months you should also start seeing more and more of the things you’ve been wanting and/or waiting to be fixed, finally coming your way more quickly. We are looking forward to your thoughts and ideas. (And we will delete all comments with unrelated or personal topics:
Personal issues should be sent to your success coach). Your truly,
JC (more) ►
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