The journey begins

Happy Sunday everyone! Welcome to my newsletter!

This is the first time that I'm writing in this way and I wasn't expecting it to be so stressful. I used to be a perfectionist but I flipped the switch when I heard the famous quote “Don’t wait for the right time because it never comes”. So here I am, wearing my comfy hoodie, enjoying a glass of beer while sitting behind a keyboard writing my first-ever article on a Saturday night.

First things first, I want to thank all of you, 170 subscribers, who have supported me dozens of times with your comments, messages, and love. I appreciate it. I know that sounds cliche, but you have changed my life for good and thank you for that.

I’m not a professional writer or a native English speaker, I literally started writing threads two months ago, so please be lenient with me. It’s a learning experience for me, a journey that I don’t know where it will take us. Once again, thanks for everything.

My goal with this newsletter is to improve my writing skills and to express my gratitude to all of you. This is going to be more personal, I’ll try to share my most valuable insights about coding, brand building, and personal growth. I’ll also include a weekly NFT news report

I hope you are as hyped as I am, enjoy your reading!

Contents

1. Grow your mindset

2. <Hello world/>

3. NFT News Report

4. Replies of the Week

5. Closing Note

Grow your mindset: Be your own master

Being my own master is what changed my life for good. When I was in high school, I used to get back from school and spend the day playing video games. I would get back home at 3:00 PM, open my PC, sit down and start playing until 9:00. My life was a mess. Then one day, after a session, I got so much yelled at by my mom that I realized that I had to do something. So I decided to get control of myself.

It wasn’t easy to stop playing though, my dopamine levels were too high. I had to create a vision, a mission, something that I would make myself work on, day in and day out, something bigger than me. That can be something like “making a better future for your family“, “making the world a better place“, or “starting a legacy“. Mine was way simpler, “become the best version of myself“

Sometimes you feel like scrolling on Instagram instead of reading a book

Sometimes you feel like watching TV instead of preparing for your tomorrow’s presentation

Sometimes you feel like playing video games instead of doing your homework

That’s normal. But next time you are scrolling endlessly on IG, watching TV, or playing video games, take a minute and ask yourself “how would I look like if I was reading a book, or learning a new skill instead?“

To some degree, you’re responsible for how others treat you. The best thing you can do is to add value to yourself. Take for example two 20-year-olds. The first one spends free time playing video while the other one spends it building a business. The first only learns how to move the mouse and how to press keys in the right order, while the second one learns how to be responsible, accountable, and professional. Who do you think will be more attractive to an employer during an interview or to a potential romantic partner?

• Are you the type of person that friends seek out for advice?

• Are you the type of person that people will choose to lead them?"

• Can others rely on you, on that you’ll get the job done?

• Do you inspire others?

I’m not saying you should become a workaholic or a maniac, but it’s food for thought. Seek ways to improve as a whole, whether that’s your character, your skills, or your job.

Never settle

<Hello World/>

Note: <Hello World/> is the section of the newsletter that expands more into coding as I share all those tips I wish I knew earlier

I’ve been developing apps and scripts for 7 years. I’ll start this newsletter, by giving my favorite piece of advice: “If you wanna learn something, just try it out“. It’s as simple as it sounds, the best way to learn how to build a website is by start building it. Courses are helping you understand the logic of programming. Once you have a better understanding of the basics, no matter the language, you can start building stuff. Use tutorials to see how others are doing it.

It’s essential to know what your code is doing, every line. Don't hesitate to ask other developers directly, or on StackOverflow. Usually, you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for.

So let’s get back to our example. Let’s say you want to build your portfolio website. Don’t waste time, head over to google and just type “How to build a website in react.js”. You are going to find out that you need to learn HTML, go again on google and learn that. Once you have your structure you’re going to need to style it. Well, it’s time for some CSS. And so on and so forth. I know it will take you a lot of time as it’s the first time, but when you manage to build it and you try to build another one, it’s gonna feel ten times easier. In coding, everything it’s a matter of practice, best coders aren’t the smartest, they’ve just done it so many times that they know exactly what they need to do.

NFT News Report

$BONK airdrop

Earlier this week, the meme coin $BONK was airdropped to thousands of Solana wallets based on their activity and a mini bull appeared as we entered 2023.

The whitepaper describes the coin as a project “for the people and by the people“. This ideology was well reflected through the airdrop, which distributed 50% of the supply amongst the Solana community, from which 20% was allocated to 40 Solana NFT collections.

BONK is Solana’s first dog-inspired meme coin and many consider it the new $DOGE coin. $BONK spiked 4,000% as it went from $0.000001087 on Dec 30 to $0.000004892 on Jan 5 and people seem to love it as it had more transactions than $ETH over the last three days

The hype though seems to fade already as today it drops 44%. As with every airdrop and every shitcoin with no actual value behind them, I wouldn’t feel comfortable holding them. But it’ll be interesting to see where all this ends up.

Sappy Seals Announcement

Sappy Seals made a big announcement this week

There were three key points:

1. Meme Machine

2. Sappy React

3. Soulbound Airdrop

Meme Machine

Meme machine is a platform that takes NFTs and turns them into memes. That’s not only an excellent feature for sappy seals but for every project that wants to empower its community with memes and vibes.

Sappy React

Sappy React is a browser extension that generates images in real time which you can include in your replies. Basically a plug-in for the meme machine.

It’s really interesting to see how the market and other projects will react to this announcement but one thing is certain for now, sappy seals are here to stay

Soulbound Airdrop

Sappy Holders got airdropped a soulbound token. Soulbound tokens are NFTs that aren’t transferable. I’m really curious to see if and how this token will be used in the future

Personally, I feel that Wab (Sappy Seals founder) is a prototype founder for other projects. There is definitely a lot to learn from his example from his engagement with the NFT space, to how he treats his community, and all the marketing strategies he’s using. But let’s leave that for another time…

NFTInspect announced shutting down

NFTInspect announced that they are shutting down the platform on Jan 17. This includes both the website and the extension

NFTInspect was a tool that every shitposter was using to check their global reach. Because of this tool, many turn to engagement farming like “who’s active rn“ for the shake of some likes and views.

I’ll make a bold prediction and say that the game is going to change. We will see many people leave or (hopefully) shift into threads, videos, and quality content. But that’s good, it was time for people to understand that low-quality content isn’t going to get them far.

Closing Note

If you still reading you are a living legend. Once again I want to thank you for all the support you’ve shown me. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you enjoyed reading it, I’d like to ask you to give me some feedback. It’s my first ever and I’m curious to know how you found it. Any other recommendations about the structure, content, or style are always welcome. Take care and enjoy your Sunday!

Replies of the Week