We didn’t make it (this time)
The final price was €380k, our maximum bid was €260k
We didn’t have enough committed funds to make the winning bid.
Future Thinkers Smart Village
The next-best alternative: futurethinkers.org
If you are sold the vision of a regenerative future, check out their project:
Debrief
There are plenty of reasons why we didn’t make it (this time).
There is always another island coming.
My current spotlight is on Scotland 🏴
The main reasons:
- resilient to climate change
- English speaking country
- strong sense of national identity (can help survive the collapse of society)
- much closer to home
- COP26
100% responsibility
I take 100% responsibility for everything that happens in my life.
Please don’t interpret the reasons below as “excuse”.
These are factual circumstances that were present and were affecting my attention, energy, focus, and everything in between.
Hopefully, in the future, I will not repeat too many of the same mistakes too many times.
1. Personal circumstances
When I started working on the island roughly a year ago, I realized that if I was to move there, I would miss my kids a lot.
I made a decision to be present in their lives.
I made a decision to provide a stable home.
To comply with the lending criteria, I got a full-time job, slaved my time in useless employment, had sufficient evidence for my income, purchased a 🏡
(10% downpayment, 90% LTV, 25 years mortgage)
If I was a single digital nomad with no family commitments, I would totally YOLO into the island.
Because of my personal circumstances, I was taking a much more conservative approach — let’s grab a bargain but not take too much risk.
I DID NOT BURN THE BOATS.
2. Short notice
Noone likes to act under time pressure.
That’s why I was casually touching base with the court officer, to get enough notice.
I didn’t expect the island to be on the auction so soon.
3. Crypto crash
Losing 50% of your money (in USD terms) is nothing fun.
I have HODL mentality, I’m here for the technology, supercycle and hyperbitcoinisation.
It was the realization of changing market sentiment that was really painful.
What was meant to be smooth sailing, turned out to be not achievable.
4. Too much energy invested into DeFi products
I could honestly tell that one of the most relaxing things is checking the crops and watching the number go up.
Compound interest works, especially when you see it accrue in real-time.
5. Indecisiveness with the blockchain choice
6. Indecisiveness with the legal structure
7. Too worried about nitty-gritty legalities
Asked the lawyer for advice:
…combination of a loan agreement and a preliminary agreement for the sale of shares. Such an agreement can only be entered into in Estonia as a notarial. As the contract for the sale of shares must be notarial, the preliminary contract for the sale of shares must also be notarial. There are certain exceptions, but in your case (a private limited company with a share capital of only 2,500 euros and not registered in the Central Register of Securities) they do not apply).
BULLSHIT
JFDI
8. Lack of clear message when reaching out to potential investors
The lack of clarity in positioning non-profit association VS private company was definitely an issue.
Due to the crypto crash, relying on donations should be dismissed.
I should have figured out much earlier.
Each conversation, each pitch was getting closer to the goal but this time around we ran out of time.
9. “If you confuse you lose”
Not that many days ago I was shilling: genesis.re
Then I was shilling: islanddao.org
CONFUSING
10. Spinning too many plates
I should have put openexo.com certification on pause and focus 100% on the island.
I was also liasing the transfer of two WWW domains.
Totally not a priority.
I should have removed everything that is not IslandDAO.org from my sphere of consciousness.
11. Personal relationships
I’m fully responsible for the quality of my personal relationships.
You can search for the word “counterproductive”:
You can also search for “very confused” when someone joined and couldn’t understand what are we talking about.
12. Lack of experience in building community
How do you maintain engagement?
Suggesting 18:00 UTC
Monday. Next week on Tuesday. Next week on Wednesday. And so on…
This is to avoid potential conflicts, world moved online and people have lifes.
13. Lack of experience in leading teams
My job as web-developer was comfortable and paying well and I never stepped into the managerial path.
14. Lack of experience in closing sales
Having €50k from someone in the bank account is different than soft-commit
15. Lack of transparency when dealing with the existing funds
While almost all of my personal capital was “farming”, the ETH that belonged to the multisig was the only “liquid ETH” and I did use it to play some money-making games.
16. Personal brand
17. Paralysing stress
On Sunday we had “war room” call and the energy was really positive.
Too bad that on Monday I was stressing out rather than get myself into the flow of work.
Noone will commit money at such a short notice
Rather than worrying I should be hustling anyway and use time pressure as an excuse rather than a red flag.
(of course it is a red flag but you can turn it around anyway)
No excuses
Full responsibility.
In order to achieve something of epic proportions, a lot of things need to align well.
In this particular instance, a lot of things were out of order.
100% responsibility and the reason number 1 is number 1 for a reason:
There was some hope
At some point, I asked for guidance…
$10k FREE MONEY and THREE PEOPLE reaching out of the blue…
Taking risks VS playing it safe?
The €260k bid was already YOLO territory, a bit of a stretch.
I didn’t have the courage to gamble on closing the sale in the coming 30 days.
Moving forward
I tried back in 2017 with the astralship.org
I still continue to support them. That truck was 1.7 ETH
I tried 2020–2021 with this particular island.
The work on Island DAO will continue, at a steady and sustainable pace, with the intention that others will step up and co-lead the project.
I’m planning (soon soon soon) to publish another blogpost describing my personal future steps, one way or another my actions will be aligned with the stated purpose:
Regenerative Civilisation.
Climate Change Adaptation.
Could have, would have, should have…
“No one ever went broke taking profits”
“No one ever went broke by not buying an island 1000 miles away”
Preservation of energy
If you are sold the vision of the island, then contribute to the futurethinkers.org Smart Village
They are good people. They are doing great work.
I will personally “ape in” into NFT to become a member of the community…
Contact
- Twitter: @IslandDAO
- Discord: https://discord.gg/3K6yU5jfmp
- Newsletter: http://island.substack.com
- Book a call: https://calendly.com/marsxr/basex ️☎️ ☎️️️ ☎️
11th June 2021 UPDATE
Some additional thoughts.
To what extent talking about stuff adds value? It helps me process… The downside of such an approach is thinking about reaction of others and preserving privacy.
I’ll probably just keep my (unpublished) notes and focus on adding value, rather than dissecting which of the 17 reasons affected, compounded, reinforced one another.
100% responsibility and the reason number 1 is number 1 for a reason
Friend 1 and the 🏡
Friend 2 and the 🏡
I made a decision to be present in the life of my children.
I just moved in.
It was my mindset that prevented me from accomplishing the goal.
It makes it even more painful.
Apparently, there is some appeal going on…
Thank you for keeping us informed.
I’ve learned about the auction pretty late and I did not have enough time to prepare and raise funds from friends and family.
With enough notice, I’m pretty sure I will be able to make a winning bid.
Either of these options is good:
1. repeating the auction (challenge of Datahouse OÜ is accepted)
2. accepting my offer, the number that I have in mind is €500k
3. working collaboratively on the project with the current owner / current winner of the auctionI have a big ambition for the island that includes working with the government program: https://accelerateestonia.ee/
“We bring together visionary entrepreneurs and public sector evangelists to launch success stories solving humanity’s most pressing challenges”
I know that €500k is more than the current winning bid but I’m fully confident that with enough time and political support coming from Accelerate Estonia I will be able to raise the required funds.
I hope that we will remain in communication and we will find an agreeable way moving forward.
Here is the political support I’m referring to:
Recovering energy
According to Susan Miller of the website AstrologyZone.com, eclipses are a way for the Universe to get grab your attention.
Eclipses can highlight those areas of your life that may need improvement or change.
Ms Miller wrote on the website: “They uproot us, surprise us, and get us moving.
“They shake us out of our feelings of compliancy so that we can move from one level of maturity to another, to a higher plane, and they work very rapidly.
“Eclipses want us to change and change we do!”
In astrological terms, the Sun represents everything to do with the outer sphere — how you act in public and how you vocalise your feelings.
You never know… Let’s see what happens!
