Looking for New Opportunities Beyond the Encryption Industry

Recently, I concluded that a backup plan is needed. It's not that I believe the encryption market will disappear, but rather that a stable source of income is necessary. This way, I can rely on data and skills to grow, rather than just luck or risk. I will balance both, believing it will yield good results. During market downturns, I will focus more on other areas, and vice versa.

If there has been no significant progress over the years, it may be time to reflect. When lacking funds, it might be better to make money in other fields first and then return. If you truly love it and want to take action immediately, then go ahead. I'm just sharing personal experiences and thoughts, not preaching.

Why is transformation needed? When to transform?

The following signals can help determine whether a transformation is needed:

1. Stagnation

Long-term efforts with no results, despite having done your best. You have tried changing strategies, thinking of improvement methods, and continuously learning, but still with no effect.

Success in the encryption field does not rely solely on skills; it also involves psychological games. Not everyone is suited for early participation in high-risk games: it may bring advantages, but it may also lead to cruel traps. At some point, one may experience emotional exhaustion, which not only hinders further achievements but may also result in losing everything that has already been gained. The financial market is that cruel.

2. Changes in Market Environment

The current market situation is difficult to predict. Changes in the environment often make everything harder, and not everyone can adapt. Such periods often lead to most people losing assets.

You cannot control the market, but you can control the time you invest. The returns on certain specific skills may far exceed those of the testnet. Sometimes, temporarily shifting your focus and returning when the market improves can be more beneficial.

3. Lack of liquidity/opportunity

To be honest, without liquidity in the encryption field, one can't make any progress. Although testnets and free activities exist, they are essentially a game of chance - you cannot predict whether your efforts will yield a return, nor can you calculate potential gains, which is inherently filled with uncertainty.

If facing financial problems, encryption may not be the solution. Only with a clear mind, understanding why one is acting this way and where the risks lie, can one possibly succeed. This takes time and cannot be achieved overnight; one must give oneself the space and time to grow.

If you are struggling for a living, then you definitely need to transform. It may be temporary, but you need to accumulate your first capital.

4. Other fields grow faster than encryption

We should not limit ourselves to a single field; there are many more popular directions at present. Ignoring them could lead to missing the opportunity to enter new areas. Since other fields can yield results quickly, why not give it a try?

The "top fields" section below will discuss these directions in detail. I do not think we should give up on "Plan A", but we also need "Plan B". This way, we can have both: areas of expertise and areas that can grow quickly.

5. No longer learning/feeling disgusted

It is heartbreaking to see some friends go through this situation and give up. If something puts a lot of psychological pressure on you, it is difficult to persevere. Under pressure, one may frequently make mistakes due to emotional exhaustion.

If there is no longer an interest in researching projects, exploring new protocols, and no longer a desire to understand the underlying logic (, but only to make money ), then the chances of success are very small because you have no motivation to go the whole way.

Transformation can help you stop deceiving yourself, see the current situation clearly, reignite your desire for learning and progress, and ultimately bring results.

Breakdown of Skills Acquired in the Encryption Field

In the field of encryption, you must have gained some specific skills. Here are the abilities that are crucial to me; they always come in handy and make me better:

1. Research and Critical Analysis

Research is one of the most important skills and can always help us. No matter what industry or job you are engaged in, you can easily find the information you need. This ability to analyze deeply will make you stand out compared to many competitors and will also make it easier for you to become a marketer, data analyst, or even an IT expert.

2. Critical Thinking and Decision-Making Skills

Nowadays, most practitioners find it difficult to make independent decisions. However, in the encryption field, you need to continuously analyze whether to open positions and other issues, which will make you flexible, able to adapt to various situations and make the right decisions. This is often the difference between managers and ordinary employees, and it can also help you discover early growth patterns and gain insights into profitable opportunities in any field.

3. Technical Proficiency

To be honest, understanding the white papers of most projects is not easy, while the documentation in the Web2 field is often simpler and more comprehensible. Even so, many people can't even manage that. This can help you stand out in most positions that require basic technical skills. Moreover, with artificial intelligence, creating your own products is no longer that difficult.

How to Apply Encryption Thinking to Other Fields

Encryption thinking is a fast and highly adaptable way of thinking that can help you achieve results in a short time: quick testing, learning; maintaining autonomy, self-sufficiency, and proactively setting tasks. Overall, this way of thinking is not only suitable for a nine-to-five job but is even more applicable to business and senior management.

• In marketing, it will help you quickly test hypotheses, run experiments, and follow a data-driven approach.
• In entrepreneurship, it means to build a rapid MVP( minimum viable product) without hesitation and test it in a real environment.
• In personal development, this means taking action in practice, not just being a theorist.

This is the key to allowing you to act quickly and apply what you've learned, just like before. Your goal is always to achieve the maximum results in the shortest time possible, because the window of opportunity will not last forever. Most areas of Web2 will not disappear quickly, but through continuous self-learning, you will eventually become one of the best.

The Top Fields You Can Actually Transform

The term "domain" does not specifically refer to your particular job or responsibilities, but rather reflects the core direction and potential of the product. I have selected the most promising domains for the next five years and briefly introduced them.

1. Software as a Service ( SaaS ), Potential: 9/10

SaaS refers to software products related to artificial intelligence and their development. In my opinion, this field is currently the most promising, and importantly: even without programming skills, you can create your own applications by simply learning these two AI tools, Bubble and Make, which will handle all the work according to your needs. There is a wealth of information on the internet about how to create and sell products.

Getting started: Learn these tools, start operating related blogs, or join a company that develops startup products using these tools. Analyze successful cases, study their marketing strategies, etc., and then focus on creating your own products.

2. E-commerce ( Shopify ), Potential: 8/10

E-commerce is the sale of goods over the Internet. There is a large demand for those engaged in dropshipping or e-commerce marketing. Dropshipping refers to the practice where you do not need to stock inventory, as the supplier ships directly to the customer, sharing a portion of the profit with you. This is not limited to selling through short video platforms; it also includes various sales opportunities such as short video marketing.

Getting Started: Find willing partners for drop shipping, study successful store cases, and learn from their marketing strategies.

3. Coaching, Education, and Personal Branding, Potential: 8/10

Education or educational technology is very popular now, especially in niche areas like cryptocurrency. These fields always need talents who can help with sales, build sales funnels, or handle other affairs.

You can gain initial experience by providing services for bloggers or so-called "producers." I also include personal branding in this field, as this skill is well-compensated: knowing how to grow followers, build communities, etc., allows you to help others, and these types of services can charge quite a bit.

Getting Started: Start building a personal brand, provide services to bloggers, clarify what you can do, and gradually scale up while accumulating knowledge.

4. Business Automation, Potential: 7/10

In the era of artificial intelligence, automation is a highly popular service in enterprises. It can reduce costs, accelerate processes, and minimize manual labor. You can automate any task: accounting, marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales, human resources, etc.

Low-code/no-code solutions are also very popular. After learning some platforms, you can start selling services, and then naturally develop into an organization that provides such services.

Entry method: Learn n8n and Zapier, find solutions for existing businesses, provide services for free to gain experience, and then charge.

5. Marketing and creating your own agency, potential: 8/10

Marketing is not a field but a professional skill that applies across all areas. I prefer to position it as creating niche agencies, such as those focused on specific short video platforms. This type of agency is currently very popular, and "clipper" has also become a hot profession.

Integrate the necessary resources: someone is responsible for designing content formats, someone is responsible for editing, someone is responsible for uploading, and you can create a business that can almost collaborate with any enterprise. There is no need to be limited to a specific field; any field is feasible.

Getting Started: Find the first batch of editors, brainstorm ideas and create the first batch of cases, and then continuously analyze and expand into a mature organization.

How to achieve initial results, what should you learn?

The first step is crucial. My breakdown is relatively brief, as a detailed description of each area would exceed 10,000 words.

Start with analysis and strategy formulation:

• Choose a field or idea ( what exactly do you want to do )
• Assess actual demand, willingness to pay, and payment amount
• Research competitors and their strategies to see who else is doing the same thing.
• Clearly define the sales target, who is your target audience?

Then, analyze the content and specific steps you need to learn:

• Understand the knowledge required to provide necessary services
• Build a team to learn together
• Research competitors' sales methods, establish sales channels, pricing.
• Apart from technical skills, think about what marketing services you can offer.
• Combine all of these with your personal brand

After taking the first step, it is important to continuously scale up, delegate more tasks to others, and keep researching marketing and new strategies. Collecting feedback and responding to it is crucial, as honest feedback can determine 50% of the product's success, even if services are offered for free in the initial stages.

Financial Security: How to Avoid Having Nothing

Transitioning to another field requires a buffer period, during which there may be no income. If you have a family, or if you are renting, or if no one is supporting you, you need to understand that you still have to eat tomorrow, and your career cannot solve this problem immediately. Otherwise, the mental pressure will be too great, and you will only think about survival, rather than building strong products and services.

Personally, I adhere to the following three rules:

• Financial reserves ( buffer funds ): You must have savings that can cover 3-6 months of basic needs. If you have no work skills and want to enter a high-risk field, it's best to save enough money for a year. Although it's usually something no one can achieve, more of a saying than a reality, it's essential to calculate reasonably. Additionally, diversifying funds into different channels and safe assets ( euros, dollars, stablecoins ) is also very important.
• Do not invest all your funds into new areas: the best initial investment is time, as it is difficult to quickly recoup money. The probability of succeeding in starting a business on the first try is very low. Before starting your own business, it is important to first understand all the processes in depth as an employee, to know what to do and how to do it. Keep your living reserves and startup funds separate, or you may lose financial control.
• Track your budget: Calculate the actual living expenses you can afford each month, and never take out loans without knowing how to repay them. Regularly review your expenses to optimize them, cut unnecessary spending, but ensure that your quality of life does not significantly decline - otherwise, the psychological pressure will be great.

How to Discover Your Interests and Strengths

When you decide to make a change, "finding yourself" is one of the core tasks. The most important thing is to find what you truly love, whether it is popular or not, otherwise you may become burnt out.

Review of Past Experiences:

• What things do you do better than others?
• What tasks do you enjoy even if they are difficult?
• When do you feel motivated and enter a "flow state"?
• What are you often thanked for?
• What brings in the most income?

Interest Diagnosis:

• List the topics you have always been interested in.
• What do you like to watch on video platforms/podcasts?