> be me
before crypto
> building websites for bloggers & infobiz
> close clients, teach junior designers how not to starve
> work with big Russian creators
> feels good but… just “solid web2 work”
2022
> war starts
> stop working with Russian companies overnight
> switch to foreign consulting firms
> get a gig through them
> suddenly doing UI for a Microsoft enterprise project
> “damn, I’m actually good at this”
one day
> random UK ICO team reaches out
> “need a site that doesn’t look like a scam anon”
> design + dev the site
> they wire $10k
> stare at screen
> “who ARE these people and why do they pay like this”
> realise it’s crypto money
> interest.exe launched
decide to go full-time crypto
> quit design, ignore everyone calling me crazy
> start learning tokens, DeFi, all that
> research my first coin myself
> it actually pumps
> panic sell too early, still feel dumb
get scammed
> get DM “you got whitelist bro, mint egg here”
> click link, wallet = 0
> get drained by fake “egg” NFT game
> write angry message to project support
> they answer: “we never DM whitelists, that’s on you anon”
> mentor looks and says “yeah, you’re an idiot, congrats, now you’ll learn”
> first and only time I get scammed
decide to build
> idea for my own crypto startup hits
> apply to HumanDAO-style accelerator
> get first funding
> raise close to 100k overall
> hire strong team, pay ~6k/month
> 17 y/o, leading a proper startup, feeling unstoppable
> build project on NEAR
> account on X grows, NEAR foundation retweets
> feel like “young promising guy in the ecosystem”
then reality
> war rockets hit region where our servers are during mint
> front-end dies mid-launch
> people keep minting through contract, >$30k flows in anyway
> I’m staring at dead site + angry users
> try to restart product six times
> runway bleeds out, startup dies
end up owing around $30k to mods, devs, contributors
could just disappear like many founders do
but..
> go work in another crypto project as a regular employee
> first month salary ≈ $5k
> look at it like it’s a mythical creature
> send most of it straight to people I owe
> rinse & repeat for a year+
> slowly close every debt
> last transfer hits. “okay, I actually made it right”
still obsessed with building
> pitch my startup to investor Dima, guy running ~$20M fund
> he ghosts me for 1.5 years
> I keep sending follow-ups, progress, updates
> finally he replies
> jumps on a call, likes the grind
> invests, becomes mentor & later business partner
> tells me “with this pace you’ll be a millionaire in a couple years”
confidence +100
after the failed startup era
> double down on marketing & growth
> launch my own project
> post every day for a month, one project per day
> all organic, no bots
> account explodes
> “wait… this is reproducible”
now
> full focus on SNRGY
> help founders + investors make their projects actually matter online
> know how to take a random idea from 0 to viral in one cycle
> scars from failed startup, debt and war time launches baked into the playbook
> not going anywhere next few cycles
“sorry, it’s a bear market” is the new “i’ll think about it.”
every creator hears this now.
every freelancer.
every agency.
the same excuse, copy-paste across the entire timeline.
and at first you take it personally
you think your service became too expensive, your work became worse, your offer became less relevant.
but that’s not what’s happening.
clients aren’t broke.
they’re uncertain.
and uncertainty kills purchasing power faster than any red candle.
bear markets flip the psychology:
people don’t want to grow
they want to not lose what they already have.
so here’s the real fix, the shift that lets you charge more even when the charts look like a murder scene:
1) start selling stability
position your service as a risk reducer, not an “opportunity creator.”
2) promise retention
clients care more about not losing users than gaining new ones.
when you do this, something funny happens:
the same clients who said “bear market sorry” suddenly find budget.