The Secret of Selling XRP to Family and Friends
The secret is…. don’t sell. I don’t mean don’t talk to your family and friends about XRP. I mean don’t sound like you are selling XRP.
I know it’s hard to not be excited about all the good things Ripple and XRP offer. It is also complicated to explain the relationship between Ripple and XRP. And when you feel like you have to defend XRP as a “bank coin” it feels like one step forward, two steps back. Even the chart these days seem to be doing the same.
Just get out of sell mode.
The secret to companies like Apple and Facebook are, they make products that people use in everyday life, to answer questions they didn’t even know they had. Apple didn’t become as successful as they are, selling towers or laptops. They started to take off when the iPad and iPhone came out. Basically they allowed people to bring their computers with them everywhere they went. And they didn’t even know they wanted to, until they started to.
Facebook provided a platform for people to share information, for which otherwise they didn’t have time. When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter to someone? Did you used to wish this many people happy birthday before Facebook? Did you ever get to brag as much about your kids before?
Everyone in my family knows I invest, but only a few of my friends know. I have never once started the conversation by saying, “you should invest…”
The only people I have ever said anythink like that to is my nieces and nephews. And they just smile at me and shake their heads. I am sure they are not too happy I give them XRP for special occasions now. If only you could force XRP on everyone, like you can in a virtual birthday card.
But you can’t, so here is what I have found to be the next best thing. The art of not selling.
My niece just graduated from Susquehanna University, and her graduation present was XRP– with the instructions, she is not allowed to sell it. I know she will thank me for it one day.
I also offered to have a graduation party at my farm. It was mostly family, but about 10 of her friends came. I had never met them before. As they arrived I introduced myself as Alexas’ fun aunt (because I am), and said, they must have heard all about me (which they did.) They all ended up sitting at a table together. I decided to do a personal experiment to see what they knew about cryptocurrencies and/or Ripple. I went over and hung out with them. I wanted to see if this group of young millenials would bring it up.
I started the conversation by asking them what they studied. They were mostly accounting and communication majors. Perfect. One by one we talked and the conversation led to different topics. I knew I didn’t have to talk about investing or messaging.
We got to Anna, a political science major. We talked about what she wanted to do. She is actually an immigrant, and ultimately wants to work in Washington DC. So we talked about my own frequent visits, and mentioned I wished I lived there. She eventually wants to move down there, but for now she is going to live at home and work nearby, to save money. There were several others in the group that I noticed shook their heads in agreement. I took the opportunity to mention how, when I was living at home and making money, I started investing. It started with mutual funds. Every month I would have money taken out of my check book, so it was gone, before I had time to spend it. I slowly added more and more mutual funds, and was surprised at how quickly it accumulated and also grew. Eventually, I started getting in to the stock market.
We talked for a few minutes about that, and then I said, I’m probably telling you more than you really want to know. But then one chimed in saying, they actually want to invest and wanted to know more. So we talked about the things to look for in the stock market and investments. They were actually rivetted to their chairs for about 20 minutes.
I did tell them that now I am into cryptocurrencies and asked if anyone knew about them. They did not, so I left it at that.
Why didn’t I push? TMI. They at least have the basics of investing now. They know about dollar cost averaging, and they even know the types of things that historicallly can make the market volatile. They know about value stocks and growth stocks. I am pretty sure that in the near future, they will have conversations with their parents, or with each other, about investing. Unless they live in a bubble, they will probably hear mention of cryptocurrencies again. They will build their knowledge of the technology and then make decisions. Being in accounting and communication, that should happen fairly quickly.
Did you see what I did? I offered valuable information that was actually a solution to something that related to their personal circumstances. I then gave them basic information. Very basic information, because they are no longer seniors in college, they are now freshmen (or I should say women) in the working world.
Indirectly I laid the groundwork for entrance into investing in blockchain technologies. I don’t need to tell them anymore either. From here they are going to figure it out on their own. They are the technology generation. They may not know about investing but they know about Venmo and how to make money move digitally.
I have two adult friends that currently invest in XRP, and that came about indirectly as well. They were asking me a few months ago about starting an investment club. I told them I would help.
One of their daughters, works for me. A few weeks later I mentioned something about XRP to someone in the room, and she said, you mean like bitcoin? She is in high school and was only working for a few hours here and there, so we didn’t start payroll yet for the season. I jokingly said to her, do you want me to pay you in cryptocurrency? Her eyes lit up. I realized I better get her parents to okay that. The next time I saw her mom she told me it was ok to pay her in XRP for now, and then, she said her and her friend wanted to invest.
The reason they wanted to start an investment club was because they don’t feel they have savings for their future, and having children that are just starting to go to college is not going to help. The minute they read about Ripple and XRP, they got it.
I see a lot of people on social media share that they tell their friends or family about XRP, but no one listens. Look for everyday situations like what I have described to introduce XRP. However, don’t oversell, because right now the markets are volatile, and emotions are high. Telling someone about a hot stock tip that doesn’t pan out, creates more harm than good. It is better they understand what they are getting into, and the decision ultimately be theirs.
In the past few months numerous women have asked me about investing. Coincidentally, their stories where the same. Again, I never really come out and suggest someone invest in anything. Even if they talk about how difficult it is to keep up with their bills, or that they can’t afford health insurance.
At most in conversation, I may casually say something like, I’m going to see if I can buy stock in that company. In fact, just yesterday I was checking to see if Sweet Baby Rays BBQ was privately held. I saw they have a honey mustard dipping sauce available at my supermarket. That excited me. Anyone that has ever had BBQ at my house knows it’s all about the Sweet Baby Rays. When I get compliments, I always tell them it’s not anything I did, its the BBQ sauce. I only use Sweet Baby Rays. I even have stories I can share about Sweet Baby Rays. In fact, if I told those that know me, they could buy stock in that company, they probably would. And not because I tried to sell them on it. It’s because in casual conversation over a meal, we agree, it’s good stuff.
Try not to be discouraged when people don’t respond how you think. But don’t be surprised if they are, in fact, listening. If you just concentrate on educating them as the ocassion arises, the stars will align one day and they may soon be fellow hodlers.
Some of you may be listening to me, and some of you may be reading this saying, this girl is so stupid, she thinks XRP is a cryptocurrency. It’s a digital asset. That is, if you even made it to the end of the article.
That’s ok. Because I don’t have to convince you to buy XRP. You are already sold. But I wonder if you are going to run out and get some Sweet Baby Rays for the upcoming 4th of July. LMK
