TCC Podcast #303: All About Blockchain with Joel Bergeron

Joel Bergeron is our guest on the 303rd episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Joel is a copywriter who specializes in blockchain technology and web3. His interview dives into the world of blockchain and how copywriters can learn more about this new technology and even pivot their careers into blockchain writing. Here’s how the interview goes: His transition from being a military policeman to international disaster services in Asia. Why he decided shift into marketing and how he found copywriting. How he infuses his past lives into his copywriting career. What the heck is blockchain? What’s the difference between blockchain and web 3.0? How to know when to pause and slow down vs. push and go harder? The thing that helps Joel take a step back and remember his why. Building a lifestyle business and realizing when you need to pivot and make changes. The benefits of blockchain – more than just money? What it means to be 100% in control of your money. The downsides of blockchain and decentralization. How blockchain can apply to copywriters. Breaking into the blockchain niche as a copywriter – what’s involved? Finding a niche that aligns with your values and finding the right business to work with. How to find out more information about blockchain. The philosophy behind blockchain technology and how it has the potential to change world. Tune into the episode or read the transcript below. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: The Accelerator Waitlist The Copywriter Think Tank Kira’s website Rob’s website Joel's Website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Free month of Brain.FM   Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:  Today's episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast is a little different than usual in that our guest is Joel Bergeron, who is not only a copywriter but an expert in web 3.0 and blockchain technology, something that we have to admit we didn't know much about before our interview. And maybe we still don't know that much about it after the interview. We've spent a lot of time asking Joel about blockchain and the opportunities that are there for copywriters in this emerging industry. But how does a copywriter become an expert in blockchain? Joel's path is a bit serendipitous, going from the military to international development and disaster Services, ultimately ending up where he is today, but we'll let him tell you how he got there. Kira Hug:  Before we jump into the interview with Joel, we've got an announcement. We have something coming up for you soon. On August 23rd, we're hosting two different master classes, free master classes, and we are really excited to hopefully see you there. Rob, can you just kind of tease the subject matter that we're going to be diving into? Rob Marsh:  We call it Flip Switch, and it really is about finding leverage in your business. Anybody who's taken a physics class in high school or whatever, you know there's this idea that a lever can help you move really big weights. Well, we apply that to a few things in your business. And there are certain levers that you can use to make progress a lot faster. Of course, as a copywriter, you can try to figure out all of this stuff on your own. You can go through the process trying to figure out who your clients are, what kinds of things they need to buy or will buy, or how to price yourself so that they'll say yes. You can figure that out on your own, or we can show you how to use these levers to do that in your business too. So check out the master classes coming up. I think it's pretty good training. Kira Hug:  Yeah, it's great. So it's August 23rd. If you have any interest, you can jump into the link in our show notes and check out all the information and reserve your spot. So we hope to see you there. Rob Marsh:  All right, let's get to our interview with Joel. Joel Begeron:  I'm originally Canadian from a small town, a very, very small town. Very rough town. And so at that time, there weren't many opportunities, and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So I joined the army actually. I always had this thing of wanting to help. And so, I was actually transferred to the military police, which was quite an interesting experience. And then I spent about three or four years in the military, and then this was during Iraq and Afghanistan, so I was a little bit uncomfortable with that obviously. And just what was happening, I just wasn't comfortable. So I ended up getting out actually, because they kept asking me to go overseas, overseas, and you can only say no so many times before it affects you. So I ended up getting out. And then, I went back to school for International Development and Globalization in Ottawa. So I guess that thing again of wanting to help, wanting to help change the world, wanting to do something great, I guess. And so international development was quite interesting. And then, I worked in the international development sphere in disaster services, disaster management for about five years, mostly in Asia. That was amazing as well. I was always traveling, really interesting work, but it was really I got emotionally and spiritually burnt out, to say the least. I think if I was to sum it all up, it would be, you have all these NGOs with big hearts and awesome ideas, but really deep down, it's really like all NGOs are just bandaiding systematic problems. So it's great that they're doing that, but I just got really burnt out where "We can't keep doing this forever. We have to actually fix the problems with society you hate." And so I ended up getting International Development. I was really lucky. I ended up getting hired randomly by a tech startup. I don't know why they hired me. I think it was because of languages. I had no experience in that at all. And it was called BroadbandTV actually. I think I was the 18th or 20th hire. And then we ended up going to 400 globally in a year, bought by a huge European company. It was amazing. So because of that experience, when I applied to other tech roles or other things, I was able to get some great roles. So I basically spent about eight years in marketing and technology mostly. And I really, really enjoyed that. However, I guess there are two big life events that kind of steered me into the copywriting side of things. The first one was, I was also getting a little bit burnt out from marketing because I feel like with marketing you're doing everything for everyone, right? You're not really great at one thing. You're just trying to pull it all together for the company. And the goal post is always moving, right? So you might hit your target, and then there's always a new target. There's always a new sale. There's always a new product. And so I wanted to become really good at something. I wanted a vocation, if that makes sense, like a true vocation. Working in sales in the technology sector and marketing, I was also doing a lot of writing, and I noticed that I could write all day and it didn't drain me, and I really enjoyed writing sales materials. It was fantastic, writing sales pages for websites or website copy, those kinds of things. I didn't even consider it copywriting. I was like, "Oh, this is part of my job," right? That was really, really the catalyst for me to really decide. I was about 37, when I just decided, "Yes, I want to do copywriting. I want to do it full-time. I want to become a great writer. It's going to take some time. It's going to take lots of stuff, but I want to focus and really have that true vocation." So that's what steered me into copywriting. And I dove into it head first like I do everything. So I read all the books. I took as many courses as I could. I joined the Think Tank. Yay. And yeah, it's been really fantastic. And then I guess the second life event that kind of ties into that would be, at the time that I was working in technology, I also was working in Bali, Indonesia. This guy kept pestering me at the co-working space I was working at to come to this event, this meet-up at night. And I was like, "Ah, he's so annoying." He kept asking me every day, "Something about Bitcoin. Something about Bitcoin." And I was like, "Fine. I'll go to your thing," right? And so I went to this evening event, and I watched two Indonesian farmers be able to pay each other for the rice crop who had never had a bank account. And I just knew at that moment, my mind was blown, that this technology was going to change the world. And so this was way back, I think, 2015. So just when things were starting really, really early. I think Bitcoin's price was like $20. We used to play poker with Bitcoins. Like six or seven Bitcoins to buy in. Yeah, it was intense. And so after that event, I volunteered, I joined associations, I read all the books I could. And then, because of my marketing and writing experience, I got hired by what you call blockchain of web 3.0 technology companies. And I held three senior roles on that. And that brings me to today. I think it's like the Fast and Furious part of my story, but yeah, between the blockchain, crypto, web 3.0 stuff, and I guess the wanting to have a true vocation, those were just super important to me. Rob Marsh:  Lots to cover. Let's come back to... I started to jot down a few questions, but I want to go back to what you were doing when you were doing disaster management, and we can kind of step forward through your career. I'm curious. Some of the stuff that you were doing or dealing with, I mean, share maybe an experience from that. But more importantly, what are the lessons that you took from those experiences that apply to marketing and copywriting and what you're doing today? Joel Begeron:  I think in those roles when there's a disaster or something wrong, people get really raw and really real really quickly, right?