This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
You heard of non-fungible tokens or NFTs. Listen, I have received so many questions about this topic over the past two weeks that we're gonna bring Failure Friday, our new segment. We're gonna bring that back next week. But today I wanna look at this very timely question, just one of many that I have received here about this topic. So we'll try to combine some things here.
NFTs, if you've not heard of them yet, NFTs and basically what they are, I'll try to explain this. Digital art made on a blockchain and sold as originals. Okay, so non-fungible, that means something is unique, it can't be replaced with something else. But again, the key is digital, all right? So the NBA, for example, has made $200 million from selling highlight reel videos.
These are all videos that anyone can go online and see, but they're selling the so-called original, the non-fungible token. You can buy a video of LeBron James dunking in basketball. You could buy an original music track from Grimes or lots of other musical artists. You can buy an autographed tweet from Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter. Just in case you aren't missing the most amazing and unbelievable detail to all of this, all of these items are available for free online.
You can watch all those videos, you can see the tweets, you can even save the videos to your own computer for free. So the sale of NFTs is for the original version of something that could be copied over and over. It's crazy, it's wild. Is it a bubble? What's going on here?
Seth Godin hates them. I just read this blog post from Seth Godin. He said in a recent post that NFTs are a dangerous trap for creators and that we should all walk away. So interesting stuff here. Let's look at it in this episode.
Can you make digital art and sell the originals for millions of dollars? Because that really is what some people are doing. All right, can you do it? That's what we're gonna talk about in this episode. Stay tuned.
[Music]
Hey Chris, this is Daniel. I've been listening to the show for about two years now. Thanks for all the helpful advice. Speaking of advice, what's happening with NFTs? I keep seeing all these stories about people paying millions of dollars for digital art that already exists online for free.
It sounds crazy, but we've had several years of other craziness, including cryptocurrencies, GameStop and Tesla stock price. And I just heard that Zoom is worth more than every U.S. airline. So maybe it's a bubble, but that also means an opportunity, right? How can side hustlers get in on the NFT market?
Can I sell my art this way if I'm not Banksy and don't have an NBA highlight reel like LeBron James? Looking forward to your thoughts. [Music]
Man, it is a crazy time. I mean, it is a crazy time between, you know, the cryptocurrency, the GameStop, everything else that Daniel mentioned, Zoom. Stock in Zoom is worth more than every U.S. airline.
I mean, I don't even know what to say, okay? But let's talk here about NFTs. WTF is up with NFTs. I like that line, WTF, NFT. So there's a great article by The Verge.
Go to theverge.com and look for the article, NFT Explainer. Has lots of detail, including a pretty informative and also hilarious frequently asked questions section, which includes questions such as, can I build an underground art cave slash bunker to store my NFTs? The answer to that one is not really because they're stored digitally. And could I pull off a museum heist to steal NFTs? The answer to that is potentially yes.
Okay, so lots of detail there in that Verge article. You know, what I think here is I always find it interesting when really smart people are on opposite sides of an issue. So there's lots of opinions about this out there. If you think about Bitcoin, for example, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, two pretty smart people, right? They believe completely different things about Bitcoin, like Elon Musk, Pro Bitcoin, Bill Gates, Anti Bitcoin.
And so I think that's interesting because I'm like, who's to say who's right? Like obviously they can't both be right. And the same thing is happening here with NFTs. So Seth Godin, somebody I admire very much, he says this is a waste of time. It's a distraction, which could totally be true.
But meanwhile, there's an entire economy being created around it. So for me personally, I don't have any plans to experiment with it, but I do think it's interesting and notable. And so as for whether you should do something about it, well, you know, I described this kind of phenomenon, whether it's about NFTs or something else. I wrote a book called "Born for This" and I used this phrase gold rush. And I was like, these kinds of things are like a gold rush.
And so when a gold rush comes along, you know, by definition, it's not going to last forever. It's not going to be the most sustainable thing. It's probably best to not stake your future to it. But meanwhile, there are a lot of people benefiting from it. Okay, so if you have no idea what this is and you're busy with other stuff, you should probably sit it out, you know, listen to Seth.
If you're in a position to benefit from it and you do understand it and you are trying to sell art or you feel like there's something you could do in this world, then get to work, you know, like go read that post, go read some other stuff. Go to niftygateway.com, which is where people are selling some of these digital items. And, you know, whatever you do in that world, move quickly because it is happening so fast. That's why we kind of wanted to bump this question up in our calendar. Otherwise, you know, if that's not you, then just enjoy the entertainment of living in interesting times.
That's what I think about it. It's a gold rush, you know, don't stake your life on it, but who knows, you know, some people are really benefiting from it. So with that said, would you like to purchase the digital token of this podcast? Actually, it's not really for sale, but if you wanted to transfer $5 million, I would not say no. Like I would, I just want to put that out there and say I would not turn that off or down.
But if you decide to pass on that, you don't want to own the original, of course. Well, you can just listen for free every single day, a new episode. Come back tomorrow. Come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. You've got a question of your own.
I look forward to this conversation. I look forward to all this to come and whatever you're up to in the world today, I am cheering you on. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
