You Must Avoid These 5 Bitcoin Mistakes

It can be really exciting getting involved with Bitcoin. But a number of newcomers keep making the same mistakes when they get involved. Some of these mistakes can be very costly so we bring you 5 mistakes that you must avoid at all costs to ensure that you get the most out of your participation with Bitcoin.

 

1. Using your Exchange Wallet to Store all of your Bitcoins

 

Bitcoins are now worth a lot of money which makes them attractive to new investors. It also makes them attractive to hackers and thieves as well. Most people purchase their Bitcoins from a cryptocurrency exchange. When they do this the exchange provides them with an online wallet to store their Bitcoins.

 

Keeping all of your Bitcoins in your exchange wallet is a bad idea for two main reasons. The first of these is security. It is almost impossible to hack the blockchain for Bitcoin but online exchange wallets are a much easier prospect. If a hacker gets into your online exchange wallet, they can then take all of your Bitcoins.

 

The second reason you should never keep all of your Bitcoins in an exchange wallet is because they can suspend or even close down your account for a variety of reasons. If they close your account down altogether then you lose any Bitcoins in your exchange wallet.

 

2. Not having Secure Places for your Bitcoins

 

There are different types of wallets that you can use to store your Bitcoins. The online or mobile wallet offers the highest level of convenience but the lowest level of security. You can use these wallets for small and regular Bitcoin transactions.

 

You can get a more secure wallet which is an application for your desktop or laptop computer. Some of these are free and some require a small payment. These are medium security Bitcoin wallets as you can disconnect your computer from the Internet.

 

Paper wallets are more secure. As the name suggests you print off your vital Bitcoin information to paper and then you can store this where nobody else will have access to it (such as in a safety deposit box). 

 

Finally, the most secure wallet is the hardware wallet. This is a USB stick where you can store your Bitcoins. You only need to use the hardware wallet when you are making transactions. Take it out of the computer when finished. Hardware wallets are fairly expensive but they are worth it.

 

3. Price Change Panics

 

It is no secret that Bitcoin is a volatile currency. Price swings of around $100 a day up or down are commonplace. Sometimes newcomers to Bitcoin investing panic when they see these price changes – particularly price drops.

 

There is no need to panic. Bitcoin tends to go up and down in price in cycles. It has steadily risen in value over the years and there is no reason to think this will not continue.

 

4. Shifting from one Cryptocurrency to another

 

If you are going to invest in Bitcoin then stick with Bitcoin. Jumping around from one cryptocurrency to another never works well. Don’t be tempted by Altcoin as this is not as well established as Bitcoin. 

 

5. Not knowing enough

 

You need to know as much as you can about Bitcoin to get the most out of it. Understand how it works and study its price change patterns. There are many Bitcoin communities that you can join on social media.

 

Bitcoin Scams And How To Avoid Them

The value of Bitcoins has risen significantly over the last few years so it is no surprise that there are scammers out there that want to steal Bitcoins or take your money for no return. Here we will discuss the most common Bitcoin scams and how you can avoid them.

 

The Fake Bitcoin Exchange

 

Buying and selling of Bitcoins is usually performed using a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency exchange. Some of the exchanges will allow you to purchase Bitcoins in your native fiat currency while others will allow you to use other cryptocurrencies to exchange for Bitcoins.

 

There are many cryptocurrency exchanges available and more joining the group all of the time. Not all of these exchanges are legitimate and some exist to steal your Bitcoins or your money – or both. 

 

To all intents and purposes these exchanges look and feel like real ones. They will display the real time prices and have a trading platform. But they will just take your Bitcoins and siphon them off to their accounts or take your currency and never provide you with the Bitcoins you paid for.

 

Malware Scams

 

Malware is a small computer application that downloads onto your computer. Recently there has been cases of malware that have keyloggers detecting all of the keystrokes you make. These can discover your private keys for Bitcoin or your login details to a cryptocurrency exchange.

 

When this happens hackers will use this information to steal your Bitcoins. You can download malware without realizing it and the cyber criminals are getting better at this with each passing day. Never click on a website link that you don’t entirely trust.

 

Email Phishing

 

This is another popular scam. Thieves purchase domain names that are similar to the reputable exchanges. For example, they might get their hands on Coinsbase.com rather than Coinbase.com.

 

They then send fake emails using these domain names and ask recipients to check their cryptocurrency accounts. They provide a link in the email which goes to their fake website. It looks exactly like the real login page of the legitimate exchange. 

 

The user has to enter their login details which the hackers steal. Hackers can prevent the user from logging in to their real accounts and very quickly they divert any Bitcoins in their wallets to their accounts. You need to thoroughly check any link in an email that has supposedly come from your cryptocurrency exchange.

 

Bitcoin Doubling

 

You may have come across websites before that claim that they can double the amount of Bitcoins that you hold or provide you with a guaranteed return on your Bitcoins every day. Nobody has the power to double your Bitcoins and with the volatility of the digital currency guaranteed daily returns are impossible as well.

 

If you see any websites making these claims then stay well away from them. There only intention is to steal your Bitcoins. Sometimes they will pay out for a few days and then completely disappear along with your Bitcoins.

 

Bitcoin Cloud Mining

 

The thought of free money compels a lot of people to look into Bitcoin mining. It is very expensive to buy and run the computer equipment needed to do this on your own so lately cloud mining solutions have emerged where you can pay a company to do this for you.

 

There are some legitimate cloud mining services but there are scammers as well. It is not cheap to get involved with cloud mining and the scammers take your money and of course they do not perform any mining on your behalf.

The Lowdown On Bitcoin Wallets

The blockchain technology used for the Bitcoin network is very secure. But some Bitcoin wallets are not so secure. You need a wallet to store your Bitcoins in and to make transactions. There is no need for you to confine yourself to one type of wallet. In fact, we strongly recommend that you have more than one.

 

If a thief or a hacker accesses your Bitcoin wallet then they can transfer all of your currency into their accounts. And remember that blockchain creates immutable records that you can’t change so there is no chance of you getting your Bitcoins back if this happens. So let’s take a look at the different types of wallets.

Online Wallets

 

If you use a cryptocurrency exchange to buy and sell Bitcoins as most people do, they will provide you with an online wallet to store your Bitcoins in. These are very convenient as all you need to do is to connect to the Internet and you can use your online wallet to perform transactions. A mobile wallet is an online wallet for mobile devices.

 

Online wallets are “hot wallets” which means you can call them into action immediately for your Bitcoin transactions. You can access your online wallet with an Internet connection from anywhere in the world. The problem is so can thieves and hackers.

 

The other issue with online wallets provided by cryptocurrency exchanges is that the exchange can block your access to your wallet if you have your account suspended for some reason. If they close your account for good then you will lose everything.

 

Desktop Wallet

 

A desktop wallet is a software application that you download to your laptop or desktop. It is a medium security wallet. If you disconnect your computer from the Internet then there is no way that a hacker can access your desktop wallet. But as soon as you connect again you are somewhat vulnerable.

 

It is a lot more difficult for a hacker to access your desktop wallet than it is an online wallet. But it is possible. If your computer becomes inoperable and you haven’t made a backup copy of your desktop wallet then you will lose everything.

 

Paper Wallet

 

In this scenario your Bitcoin wallet is a piece of paper with all of your private key information on it. You might think that the idea of using pieces of paper to store your Bitcoin information doesn’t really match up with modern technology but actually it is a very safe way to store your Bitcoins.

 

There are no recorded cases of cyber criminals hacking pieces of paper and nor are there likely to be. The biggest issue with paper wallets is where to keep the paper so that nobody else can find it. If you have a lot of Bitcoins then consider a safety deposit box.

 

Hardware Wallet

 

A hardware wallet is the most expensive option and is usually a USB stick that you can carry around with you wherever you go. These are the most secure Bitcoin wallets out there and if you are going to be a serious investor then we highly recommend that you get one.

 

All you need to do is to plug the hardware wallet into your computer when you want to make a Bitcoin transaction. When you complete the transaction remove the hardware wallet and keep it in a safe place.

 

Communicating Your WHY Statement To Others

When you make a commitment to create a truly powerful WHY statement, it is a good idea to share it with other people in your social circle. You can share your new personal WHY statement with your family members, your close friends, your employer and anyone else that is important to you in your life.

 

Some people are not going to know what a WHY statement is and why you have bothered to create one. Explain to everyone that you have now found your true life purpose and that you intend to stand by your WHY statement from now on. 

 

Sharing Provides Accountability

 

By sharing your WHY statement with the important people around you will make yourself accountable and more motivated to live by it. You may not feel that you need this added accountability because you have a strong will, but you will be surprised how much this can help you to be the person that you truly want to be.

 

Not everyone that you share your WHY statement with is going to hold you accountable. Some of your family members and friends may not even notice that you have deviated from it. Others may notice, but then show sympathy to you and say things like “well you tried and that was the main thing”. This is not going to help you.

 

Think about who will make a good WHY statement buddy. This is a person who will truly hold you accountable to your WHY statement and will let you know in no uncertain terms of you fall of the rails. They are not going to be sympathetic to any deviances and will give you a hard time if you do not live by your WHY statement.

 

Is it necessary to Share your WHY Statement with everyone?

 

There are going to be some people in your circle that just don’t get it. They may even laugh at you for creating a personal WHY statement and tell you that you have just wasted a lot of time and effort. 

 

Some people are going to tell you that you will never live by your WHY statement. They know you very well and feel that you will deviate from your WHY statement at the earliest opportunity. We all have these kinds of people in our lives who see the negative in everything.

 

So, should you share your WHY statement with these people? To be honest only you can answer that question. If you know that a person is going to hit you with a barrage of negativity when you share your WHY statement with them then you need to decide if you are going to be able to handle this.

 

Some people can handle this kind of negativity well. It actually makes them even more committed to their WHY statement. Others will find this negativity difficult to deal with and it may make them think that they are wasting their time with a WHY statement.

 

You need to assess what kind of person you are and how you will react to any negativity. If you think that any negativity will affect you badly, do not share your WHY statement with these kinds of people. 

 

The truth is you can never totally predict how people you are close to will react to you telling them about your WHY statement. Some will be enthusiastic and show encouragement. But others that you expect the same reaction from may be negative about it. You need to be prepared for any eventuality.

Getting The Most From Your WHY Statement

There is no doubt that any good personal WHY statement takes time and effort to create. So having made this investment in your WHY statement you will want to get the most that you can from it. 

 

Quite rightly you took quite a long time to write and refine your WHY statement so that it was as clear, concise and powerful as it could be. So now it is time for you to reap the benefits of your new powerful WHY statement and in this article, we will show you how to do that.

 

Motivate yourself with your WHY Statement

 

Inspiration alone is usually never enough to achieve your goals. There are going to be times when you are not in the right frame of mind and just cannot be bothered to take action. When you have a strong personal WHY statement you can use it to provide you with a significant motivational boost.

 

We strongly recommend that you have a copy of your personal WHY statement by your bedside. Every morning after you get out of bed you should read your WHY statement out loud so that it motivates you and gives you the energy that you need for the day ahead.

 

It is also a good idea to keep a copy of your WHY statement with you so that you can access it at any time. If you feel the need for a motivational boost at any time of day, and wherever you are, get out your WHY statement and read it again.

 

There is no limit to how many times you should read your WHY statement each day and be motivated by it. That is one of the main reasons that you spent all of the time and energy writing it so use it as often as you need.

 

Set your Goals using your WHY Statement

 

You are very unlikely to achieve goals that you are not truly committed to. Maybe you were persuaded by others to set certain goals in the past or you just thought that it was the right thing to do. 

 

With a strong WHY statement you can forget about what others say and any other influencers. You know what your purpose in life is now and you have clearly defined this in your WHY statement. This clarity is essential for you to set goals that you are inspired by and truly committed to.

 

You are aware of the contribution that you want to make to the world and the impact that you want to have. So, use this to set goals that will move you forward with both of these. Create your goals and plans around your personal WHY statement and you will be totally driven to achieve them.

 

Make Decisions using your WHY Statement

 

You should find it easier to make decisions going forward now that you have a strong and clear WHY statement. Instead of making some decisions without considering the consequences as a lot of people do, your WHY statement will guide you to make the right decisions.

 

Your WHY statement has provided you with direction and purpose for your life so always have it in the back of your mind when you are making decisions. Ask yourself if making a particular decision will move you closer to your life’s purpose or move you away from it.

 

How To Create A Strong Business WHY Statement

Writing a strong and effective mission statement for a business is not a 5-minute job. You need to think carefully about what you want to include in your mission statement as it needs to be congruent with all of the parties in your business including your customers, employees, suppliers and stakeholders (owners etc).

 

We recommend that a strong mission statement needs to include these three important elements as a minimum:

 

1. What does your business do for your customers?
2. What does your business do for your employees?
3. What does your business do for your stakeholders / owners?

 

So good mission statements include a fourth element which is what the company will do for the community. These are certainly the most important factors of a mission statement so make sure that you include them in yours.

 

What does a Strong Mission Statement do for a Business?

 

It is very similar to a personal WHY statement in that it provides clarity of purpose. There is more to a mission statement than a personal WHY statement as a business is more complex. A strong mission statement should be used to:

 

• Set the main business goal(s)

• Determine the company culture

• Define the ethics of the business

• Provide guidance for decision making

 

Unfortunately, most mission statements are poorly written and you wonder why the business owners bothered to write theirs at all. Some of the largest businesses are guilty of this – it is not just the smaller companies. 

 

If you create a vague mission statement this doesn’t help your customers or your employees at all. You are not going to garner commitment if people do not understand what your mission statement really means. So, in this article we will show you how to create a clear mission statement that all parties can commit to.

 

What is the Purpose of your Business?

 

The first important step to writing a strong mission statement is to define clearly what your business is about. Consider the customer here and map out the process of how they find out about you right through to making a decision to purchase your products and services.

 

You need to think about these 3 main aspects:

 

1. Why do your customers want what you have to offer?
2. How will customers find your business?
3. What’s in it for your customers?

 

In your mission statement you need to inform your customers why they need to buy from you. Write a list of what your business does as well as the things that it doesn’t do to help create a clear picture.

 

What does your Company do for your Employees?

 

If a business does not take care of their employees there will be high turnover which is expensive. So, use your mission statement to retain your employees for longer. Think about how you motivate and train your employees. Here are some ideas for this:

 

• You provide the best training

• You are fair with your employees

• You respect the ideas that your employees have

• You empower your employees

 

All of these things really matter to your employees. You need to tell them that you see them as your most precious asset and you want to take care of them. To avoid your mission statement being too long, you can create an external one for your customers and an internal one for your employees and stakeholders.

 

Mission Statements and Owners

 

You need to include what is in it for your owners in your mission statement as well. If you are not the owner of the business then talk to the owners to find out what is important to them. The value of shares and return on investment are almost certainly going to be of interest.

Ways That You Can Get Bitcoins

The only way to obtain Bitcoins when it first launched was to use the peer-to-peer network. You could do this anonymously and you didn’t need permission from anyone to acquire Bitcoins. With the growth in popularity of Bitcoin there are now several ways you can acquire them.

 

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

 

You can register with a cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase.com and purchase Bitcoins using your native currency. Some countries do not allow the purchase of Bitcoins so you need to check this first. 

 

When you sign up with a reputable exchange like Coinbase.com you will need to provide a number of personal details. This certainly includes your name and address and other financial information. This is to comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) laws that exist in a lot of countries.

 

This defeats one of the key cornerstones of Bitcoin which is anonymity. The network was set up so that you could perform Bitcoin transactions without anyone knowing who you were or where you were from. 

 

There are some cryptocurrency exchanges that allow you to use fiat currencies to purchase Bitcoins and there are others where you can only make purchases with cryptocurrencies. You need to check that an exchange provides the service that you need.

 

A cryptocurrency exchange charges a transaction fee for every purchase of Bitcoins. The good news is that these fees tend to be a lot lower than those charged by traditional financial institutions.

 

Bitcoin ATM

 

In the last few years Bitcoin ATM’s have emerged in North America and Western Europe. They are now in other countries too. Here you can use funds from your bank account or a credit card to purchase Bitcoins.

 

Most of the ATM’s will allow you to make transactions as well. So if you want to send Bitcoins to another person or receive them then you can do this. The rise in the number of Bitcoin ATM’s proves the growing popularity of the digital currency.

 

Work for Bitcoins

 

A lot of freelancers in different parts of the world like payment in Bitcoins. Employers like it too because sending Bitcoins is a lot cheaper than setting up a bank transfer to another country. It takes a lot less time to receive a Bitcoin payment than it does a bank transfer payment.

 

There are freelancing websites where you can receive payments in Bitcoin. One of the biggest freelancer websites, Fiverr.com, will pay you in Bitcoins if you want and so will other big sites such as Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, Guru.com and PeoplePerHour.com.

 

Complete Tasks for Bitcoins

 

These days you can join websites that require you to perform small tasks and receive Bitcoins as a reward. Some of these tasks include:

 

• Watching videos

• Completing surveys

• Online shopping

• Signing up to free trial offers

• Playing online games

 

These tasks will take you a few minutes to complete and you will receive fractions of Bitcoins called Satoshi’s for doing this.

 

Sell Products and Services for Bitcoins

 

If you own a conventional brick and mortar store or an online store you can receive Bitcoins as a form of payment. In a brick-and-mortar store all you need to do is to print out the QR code for your wallet and then customers can use their smartphones to scan the code and pay you using Bitcoin.

 

With an online store there are a number of scripts and plugins available that create a Bitcoin payment gateway.

 

How To Write A Good WHY Statement

Once you have discovered your true calling in life you want to create a WHY statement around it. Your WHY statement needs to be compelling because you want to use it to motivate you every day to do the right things to attain fulfillment in your life.

 

There are a number of formats that you can use to write your WHY statement but at the end of the day it is up to you. There are no hard and fast rules here. The most important thing is that your WHY statement really resonates with you and that it is effective.

 

Four Elements of an Ideal WHY Statement

 

Although you don’t need to conform to any set rules there are four elements to a good WHY statement that we strongly recommend that you follow. Your WHY statement need to be very clear and as concise as possible for you and any people that you choose to share it with. So we strongly recommend that you include these 4 elements in your WHY statement:

 

1. Make your WHY statement clear and simple

 

It is really important that your WHY statement provides you with clarity about your life’s purpose. It needs to be simple to understand and as concise as you can make it. At the end of the day it needs to make sense and resonate with you.

 

2. Your WHY statement needs to promote action

 

Your WHY statement must inspire action. There is no point just writing a WHY statement and then do nothing with you. It needs to inspire you to work towards your true calling in life and motivate you to work on this every day.

 

3. Include your Contribution to others in your WHY statement

 

If you can help others then you will help yourself. Every good WHY statement needs a contribution element to it so make sure that yours does as well. Having a contribution element will inspire you to move forward each day.

 

4. Make your WHY statement positive and ensure it resonates with you

 

It will actually be pretty difficult for you to create a WHY statement that is negative but ensure that it is really positive. When you read your WHY statement it needs to resonate with you and motivate you to take action towards your life’s purpose.

 

How long should your WHY Statement be?

 

Again, there are no strict rules to follow here. Your WHY statement needs to be as long as you need it to be. Having said that we recommend that you keep your WHY statement as short as you can. 

 

The most important thing is that your WHY statement contains the 4 important elements that we discussed above. While others may be able to write their WHY statement in one sentence this may not be enough for you. This doesn’t matter at all so please do not concern yourself with this.

 

Aim for an Evergreen WHY Statement

 

An evergreen WHY statement is one that you will not have to change very often, if at all. You want to use your WHY statement in all aspects of your life both in your work and personal life. 

 

When you are writing your WHY statement, think about it as a way to express the value that you provide to others at work and in your personal life. There is no need for you to write two WHY statements to cover this.

How To Live By Your WHY Statement

Having invested a lot of time and energy finding your true purpose in life and writing your powerful WHY statement it is essential that you live by it going forward. You need to make the right choices in life that fully support your WHY statement and avoid those choices which move you away from it.

 

If you have made a statement of contribution to help others in your WHY statement then it is not a good idea to go to the bar every night and get drunk. You are not going to be able to help a lot of people in this condition, are you? 

 

OK this is a pretty extreme example, but it is a real one and if this is something that you currently do then you are going to have to change this behavior right now. In fact, anything that you currently do that doesn’t fit with your WHY statement is going to have to stop.

 

Take Stock of your current Lifestyle

 

A lot of people that find their true calling and write personal WHY statements find that their current way of life is far away from where they really want to be. We recommend that you examine all of your current habits to see if they align with your WHY statement.

 

If your habits are not in alignment then that is OK. You will need to commit to making adjustments so that you can align with it. Give yourself time to do this as it may take longer than you think to break certain habits.

 

Persistence will Win the Day

 

You will need a good deal of persistence to change your life to align with your WHY statement if there is a significant gap. By making small changes on a regular basis, you will get there in the end. 

 

The best results will come your way when you are persistent. Each day make a list of the things that you need to do to align your life with your WHY statement. Review your progress at the end of each day and plan for the next day. By taking small and regular actions you will develop your persistence and get the results that you want.

 

Focus on Providing Value to Others

 

In your WHY statement you made a contribution to help others. Make this your focus going forward. Most people tend to focus on money and are always looking for ways to make more. When you change your focus to helping other improve their lives then you can do it in such a way that the money will follow.

 

Don’t get hung up on small things. Too many people focus on the minutia of life and never achieve anything. Your WHY statement will provide you with the “big picture” so use it to focus on the important things that will get you where you want to be.

 

Living by a WHY Statement is not easy

 

The reason that so many people just drift along in life is because it is an easy option. It doesn’t take much effort to sit in front of the TV for hours eating snacks. When you are committed to a WHY statement then there will be no easy options for you. It is all or nothing.

 

Accountability will help you here. Share your WHY statement with people that you know. Try to find a WHY statement buddy who will hold you to your mission in life and quickly point out to you if you are going off track.

 

The Benefits Of Bitcoin For Businesses Explained

Since Bitcoin was launched in 2009 over 80,000 businesses have adopted it. The reason that these businesses and many more, like dealing in Bitcoin is because it offers them some incredible benefits. In this article we will examine all of the major benefits that including Bitcoin as part of a payment system works so well.

 

The Risk of Fraud is much lower

 

When a business allows their customers to use Bitcoins to make payments it is an advantage to the buyer because they do not have to share any of their confidential financial details such as debit or credit card numbers.

 

With conventional payment methods a business usually stores the customer’s financial data for future transactions. This is fine if their systems are secure and they do not suffer from any data breaches where cyber criminals can steal their information.

 

Trading in Bitcoins is really a form of digital cash and hackers cannot intercept a Bitcoin transaction. Also, this protects your identity and in the event of a data breach your financial details are not at risk.

 

There is no Inflation or Deflation with Bitcoin

 

With traditional currency the government of a country can manipulate the money supply by increasing or decreasing it. There are no governments involved with Bitcoin and therefore it doesn’t suffer from any inflation or deflation.

 

There are a finite number of Bitcoin tokens so creating more of them is not possible. When there is no possibility of inflation an investor can choose Bitcoin as a more stable investment than fiat currency.

 

The Transaction Fees are lower

 

The transaction fees associate with credit card payments and wire transfers are pretty high from banks and other financial institutions. In comparison, Bitcoin transaction fees are very low. 

 

Most businesses accept credit cards and end up passing on the cost of the transactions to their customers. With the low fees associated with Bitcoin payments they can reduce the sale prices of their products and services.

 

Payments can be Faster

 

Although credit card payments are usually fairly fast, there can be problems where a business will not receive their money for a number of days especially if customers initiate chargeback’s. 

 

Once a Bitcoin transaction goes through then it is irreversible. It normally takes less time to receive a Bitcoin payment than it does a credit card payment. It is common to receive a Bitcoin payment in around 2 business days.

 

Bitcoins are Safer

 

There are no third parties involved in Bitcoin. No government can seize your Bitcoins or freeze your account. It is very difficult to steal Bitcoins as well if you secure them in the right way. 

 

Faster and less expensive International Payments

 

These days a lot of businesses look to outsourcing specific tasks for their business to freelancers who are located in different countries. This is fine but usually there are high transaction fees associated with making international payments.

 

Also the freelancers have to wait several days to receive their money. International bank transfers are notoriously slow. You can make a payment in Bitcoins anywhere in the world for a very small transaction charge. The recipient also receives the Bitcoins a lot faster than an international bank transfer.