I was in New York City last month, in a Lyft, and I asked the driver how he was doing. He said it was a slow day. I’d heard that it was slow for the service industry in January. I asked him how much money he makes on an average day. Four hundred dollars. Four hundred dollars times 5 days a week times 52 weeks a year… is $104,000. He explained that he works for Lyft, Uber, and two other public apps. He also works for two other private app companies that allow him to pick up and drop off at the airport. He takes whichever job comes in first and off he goes. He’s working six different apps so he can maximize his time and his profits. He’s found a way for technology to work for him. Instead of waiting on one or two apps for a job to come through, especially in the slower months, he doesn’t wait. He goes from one app to the next so that he’s always on the go, always making money throughout his work day. He’s leveraging the technology to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time. That’s what the new internet is going to enable for everyone. The new internet will be layered with blockchain technology. The tokenization of all forms of value and the transfer of crypto will happen seamlessly, with minimal friction and miniscule fees. As blockchain technology allows for a more efficient means of value transfer, micro-payments will be made over the internet like credit card money transfers are now, only it will cost less and it will happen almost instantly, and in most cases there will be no big banks or interemediaries taking a cut. Soon, making $104,000 a year will become even more commonplace for anyone interested in leveraging their time through efficiencies inherent in the technology. The new internet will allow users to make money (by earning convertible tokens) — doing things we do now for free. Soon, and in some cases even now, we can make money by listening to podcasts, watching ads, writing blog posts, exercising, playing video games, and more things we do everyday anyway. If we’re going to do these things anyway, why not make money for doing them? Back to the Lyft driver I met. $104,000/year works out to $50/hour. That’s more than 3x the newly increased hourly rate for minimum wage and almost double the average American household income for 2018. There’s a new internet being built right now, and with it, new opportunities. It’s not just for the tech savvy. Making money over the new internet will one day be for everyone.
