Hell, I just came off the phone after being inspired by a very special individual across the other side of the Pacific Ocean. And not (I admit) for the first time.
You will not know this of course (how could you) but I am writing this newsletter (well, at least I have started to write this newsletter - because I may yet fall asleep on the job) at 3.46 am Greenwich meantime.
Most sane people (living somewhere within an hour of Greenwich East or West meridian) would of course be in bed by now (long since) but, no, not me; I am sleepy (yes) but committed (or certainly should be),
I sat up most of the night in the hope that I could finally connect with someone on the other side of the World.
Why on Earth would you do that John?
Good question. Because it is important to me.
I was successful in the end. Proof is that I just spent an hour and seventeen minutes on the phone to a guy (my man) in the USA. I consider this guy to be a friend and mentor. The aim of the call was to get a bunch of questions answered that I figured only he could answer - about Bitclub Network.
Because he is one of the guys that started and built Bitclub Network.
And the curious thing about my questions (overall) was, in the end, with most of them, I realised as soon as I asked them that they were mainly the wrong questions and they were in fact, completely pointless. Pretty impressive ha?
And before he even answered those questions, I started to realise that they were not only the wrong questions but also, they were (well most of them anyway) actually questions I already knew the answer to.
They were not (here's the real kicker) even terribly relevant questions given the whole, big, picture. Even though when I wrote them down (oh yes I do that in advance as well, I really do) they seemed to be THE most relevant questions I could have asked.
The result of my one hour and seventeen minute conversation with my man is going to take a few newsletters to do justice to in all probability (hell it is late - or early depending on your point of view). Yes, it definitely will take a few newsletters to say it all.
But as we move forward, I am going to have a real good go at giving you, chapter and verse, not only the answers to the questions I asked but, also, the message underlying the answers to those questions. And I am going to explain why this is the best opportunity you have ever seen!
I am (I assure you) going to try to do it in the shortest time period I can whilst still doing it justice. But I cannot rush this because so much of such importance needs to be considered and delivered in a context that explains not only PURPOSE and BENEFIT to the reader but also the MOTIVE that sits behind and steers the writer.
In addition, it also needs to at least have the potential to be an aid you can use in spreading your Bitcoin/Bitclub story around your world.
Those of you with long (and good) memories will recall me telling you that I met Russ in a restaurant back in June 2015 in Lisbon. And you may also recall that he said things that resonated with me on a level that only my own personal experience made possible.
Three or maybe even four years before this meeting in Lisbon (I hate to admit that I actually forget exactly how long), my absolute best friend in the world told me I should get into Bitcoin. And I foolishly wrote off what he said as a flight of fantasy and another of his mad cap ideas (he used to have a few "out there and outrageous" ideas).
Long story short, he also had a massive heart attack just before Christmas in 2013 and died before I ever got the chance to tell him what he did for me in this curiously indirect way with Bitcoin.
I journal this because it is important to ME, that's all. It is important to me that everyone knows that he was the first person to tell me to get into Bitcoin. And that has proven to be such good advice.
But I didn't act on my friends advice, at the beginning, when it was freely given. I regret that so much now. Not just because the advice was good advice. But because, had I followed that advice, it would have also stood as (in a way) a memorial to his life that went beyond just knowing him.
I will always cherish that particular friendship of course, but no-one, other than me will understand the new and recent value he brought to my life "postmortem" and, how could I ever really begin to explain that?
Thus, the meeting in Lisbon (to get back to the point), admittedly, resonated with me in a way that it may not have resonated with any other in that situation.
Why is this relevant? Because it inspires me to write this. Simple...
And because it reminds me of why I am doing what I do to begin with. Why the hell do I write these newsletters at all? Why do I try, in my own small way, to be a beacon for Bitcoin and, more specifically, for Bitclub Network? Why, oh why? And the answer is way beyond money.
Also, the answer my friend is not blowing in the wind but it is (maybe) blowing in my mind. What sold me on the idea of Bitcoin was the word of my now dead friend subsequently endorsed by what was, very much a chance meeting.
Ultimately two independent sources separated by a good deal of time arriving at the same conclusion.
Russ said, back then in June 2015, that this, as in this opportunity, was the best way that anyone would ever see now, today, a way to experience and share the phenomenon of Bitcoin without being one of the early pioneers and the really brave.
The really brave were those that took the plunge on day one (or shortly thereafter - like my friend) when Bitcoin was no more than a really good idea and could have collapsed in on itself.
And he was so right.
I have never experienced a business opportunity like this one. I invested $599 (at the time about £420) and, without wishing to brag or do those obscene things that Americans are inclined to do when they speak about money, I have realised a return in the hundreds of percentage points above what I invested.
It is a crazy return on what I can really only describe as very small amount of effort and an even smaller amount of cash. And what I realised earlier (through talking again to Russ) is that this return that I have never before experienced with such little input, could have been returned to anyone - not just me - by chance had they, and not me, been in Lisbon talking to him at that time.
Or, had they been so inspired by another as I was inspired by Russ.
You may not (probably will not) get the chance to meet with Russ but you can meet with me and I can do my best to do for you what he did for me. And that is to help you start to really believe in something really special that you were fortunate enough to get involved with.
It matters not how you got involved, just that you did.
So, that is it for now - consider it a trailer if you will. The real McCoy will follow soon enough when I start to share the conversation I had with Russ...
Nb - This was written very late at night (or very early in the morning to be more precise. I am sure there are errors I didn't spot. Forgive me for not spotting them! | 
