Do you think you can be a leader within Web 3 with little to no technical background knowledge? Aren’t all the people who are successful, developers? In this guest article by Malek, Wolf Den Wolf Pup #17, he details out his own personal story on how he’s been able to become a presence in Web 3. Malek is also a Guardian within The Guardian Academy (TGA) and has submitted many guest articles in the past. If you enjoyed what you read here today, be sure to check out some of his other articles. They will be linked at the bottom along with his social to be able to connect more with him.
You Don’t Need To Be A Dev
One of the biggest misconceptions about #web3 is that you need a technical background and experience to properly serve people within web 3.
I’ll be the first to tell you that this is PURE B.S. & I am going to tell you how I have taken the initiative to be a community and a web 3 leader knowing nothing but fundamentals of the blockchain and no more than just that.
I am constantly being reached out by web 3 users who want to start their journey in web 3, but do not know where and how to start. Just last night I received a message from someone who asked me how my “income” looks like on web 3. I thought it was a silly question to be honest.
That is the wrong question to ask. I mean the money can be great, but if that’s what you are going after, you’ll probably get disappointed at an early stage and give up on the entire idea as no one will pay you in web 3 unless you have references and cases studies of what you can provide (document your entire journey. This had a big hand in my personal journey & main reason why I get offers).
My journey in web 3 was consistent with 13 months working for projects and communities with ZERO income. Literally for free.
It is competitive out there, and if you have a skill, know that others have 10. You will need to be competitive and prove what you are capable of delivering for a very long time before you can start asking projects to pay you for services.
FYI, I am in no way doubting your skills. In fact I have no doubt that you can probably offer a very unique service that you and a few can actually offer. But you need to be very specific on how you want to serve web3 and which direction to take.
I want you to think of it this way:
- The tech is new.
- The demand is high from both retail investors to builders.
- Many have started this journey before you and continue to build their presence in web 3.
- You have a very unique skill that you can leverage in web 3 and make an income from it.
See… it’s not all that bad 😉
How I Personally Started
I always knew I wanted to contribute to the success of web 3, but like you at the discovery phase I was questioning what I can bring with me knowing that I have ZERO technical blockchain skills. For me to find out what I was going to do, I had to immerse myself into the community.
I started offering services based on my expertise in personal development and communication skills. I narrowed my services to providing help to projects. Not because I want to serve those projects, but because I want to serve their communities. However as a community manager you need to possess more than just communication skills. Ultimately you would be using your voice to bring people together. That is the most important skill to have as a community manager.
BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.
I joined the MicroPets community as a member. I started providing value every chance i got. Jumped on VCs multiple times a day and connected with others. I dipped my hands into everything, including project development and multimedia. The more value I provided, the higher the authority level got. I did that for 13 months and documented my entire journey. Case studies, case and point, & networking with web 3 existing builders. My first offer was life changing money for some people, but I rejected it. This is where greed takes over character and most people fall into the “influencer” wormhole. I was offered 36K for 3 months of community management. But before I accepted, I needed to know who I will be working with. Even though the money was offered upfront, I knew I wanted to build a good reputation for the long term sustainability of my web 3 services.
Many red flags came up and I decided to reject the offer. I am glad I did.
Who you work with in web 3 is going to follow for the rest of your journey. If you choose to work with someone who has a bad reputation, know that it will follow you. You might not care about this, but for me personally this is important. Especially since I am committed to serve the web 3 community for a while to come.
Services You Can Provide In Web 3 With No Technical Background
- Community Management: This is a more direct approach and it is not an easy position as it requires a lot of time and connection to be considered a good community manager. This is often paid weekly. I suggest that you do not take on a role like this one without a written contract to secure your income as many projects fail to establish good fundamentals and are unable to pay their team members.
- Advisory Board: Less of a direct approach. These services can be offered to new projects that have yet to establish a foundation for the project. Your community manager is one of the most important team members. But community management in web 3 can pay anywhere between 60-120k a year for a good and established project. Projects that cannot afford to hire the right person can hire someone for planning. The execution will heavily depend on the CEO or/and founder to implement.
- Private Coaching & Education: Weekly/Biweekly sessions for communities who offer to provide educational value and content to their community members. I trust that this position will be most sought in the future of web 3. Start building a name around this.
- Team Training: Web 3 and community building are quickly moving, and unless you are very involved and know what works and what doesn’t, often times teams make inefficient decisions that require a long time to execute and do not deliver the results they are expecting. Team training/Building is something you should consider monthly as the market develops and your community is growing.
Where Should YOU START?
Depends where you are going. If you are thinking of providing any of those services mentioned above, then you better start leading by example.
If I was a project owner, and you reach out to me asking to help build a community and fail to provide case studies, references, or skills & ask for a “pay to work” structure, I’d probably block you. Sorry for being this direct, but this is what most project owners will do if you ask to be paid with no web 3 presence.
However, if you are providing any of those services to an existing community, and proved to be a great community leader, then I would probably consider jumping on a call with you to see how we can help each other. Sure, your services are needed, but they are needed where it’s proper.
Currently I am serving 3 communities publicly & 4 others that I don’t get paid for.
Why do I choose to work for a community for free? Purpose. That’s why. If you want to help build web 3 and be part of its journey, start… And start now and for free. Offer your skills to others and bring value into their lives and I promise you that your name will grow with time.
At some point you wont need to ask to fill positions. Projects will reach out to you knowing your value and they’ll offer more than what you think.
Which Projects Should You Serve?
What are you passionate about? What causes do you believe in? Which humans do you want to connect and network with?
Answer these questions and that will help you find the right community and project to serve.
Here are a few projects that I highly suggest you get involved with. In my personal view they have a bright future, and being there as a community leader from the start will show your true intentions.
Gaming & NFTs
MicroPets.io ( https://micropets.io/ )
Buy/Sell/Trade NFTs on the BSC chain. Use its market place and utility to participate in the community events monthly
A P2E game with a unique structure that allows the users to benefit from playing the game without having to sacrifice the main token price as it’s giving out to users for playing the game. They have a solid community & are constantly trending on social media by being one of the most active communities in BSC. Team has proved they’re here to stay and continually pushing the boundaries.
Metaverse
Wolf Den Labs ( https://www.wolfdenlabs.com/ )
Buy/Sell/Trade Wolf Pups NFT (5K Collection) on the ETH blockchain. This gives you access to the entire ecosystem including The Guardian Academy education.
Wolf Den Labs is a publishing company that has launched multiple projects under one ecosystem and is currently building their metaverse at a crazy speed. The ecosystem is powered by $GUARD on both BSC & Polygon chains.
Education
The Guardian Academy. ( https://guardianacademy.io/ )
A community by educators and positive influencers. The community holds some of the brightest minds in business and entrepreneurship. They use their skills to educate others. The best way to put this is that it is a community of go getters that do not settle for average and constantly trying to improve their lives in and outside of crypto. You can find a ton of content under the Guardian Academy umbrella which can help you learn how to make better decisions. With that, the sky’s the limit my friend.
Purpose & Positive Influence
RecoveryPunks ( https://www.recoverypunks.com/ )
Buy/Sell/Trade RecoveryPunks (10k collection) on the ETH Blockchain.
A Wolf Den Labs project. It is a community led project that focuses on delivering support and education to addicts and their families. They meet addiction with compassion and less judgement by asking “Why the pain?”. They are connected to Artists for Addicts who use art as a force of good. 100% of the royalties go towards research about addiction and connection.
Fun & Collective
The Penguin Posse ( https://mint.penguinposseclub.com/ )
Buy/Sell/Trade Penguins (10k Collection) On the Polygon blockchain
Another Wolf Den Labs project that focuses on charity work as well. The royalties split into two different percentages, both contributing positively to the ecosystem and society.
2.5% of royalties go towards buying $GUARD which we have mentioned above that is the token powering the entire Wolf Den Ecosystem. More $GUARD means more votes for governance. This is important for investors who want to contribute to the project decisions. So buying Penguins directly benefits you as a $GUARD investor
2.5% of royalties go to a charity of the community choosing. More penguins, means more votes for you to choose the charity you think will be best to use this money.
_________________________________________________________________________
So after reading all of this, do you still want to contribute to web 3? Good! I hope this gave you a reality check so you have a chance to lead, and lead properly with good and proper intentions.
Any of those communities would welcome you with open arms if you are bringing the right intentions with you.
And when the time comes, I look forward to seeing you kick ass and help with building web 3.
Good Luck
Malek
Resources
Is Winning In The NFT Game All Luck?