This is a transcript from our weekly YouTube live AMA:

SPEAKERS: Anita Mlakar, Sandi Bitenc and Dustin Plantholt.

About AMA: Join us for an exciting AMA as we speak to Dustin Plantholt, CEO of Plantholt Advisory Group. A self-confessed Digital Asset enthusiast, Dustin Plantholt is the Founder of Plantholt Advisory Group, a Forbes Monaco Editor “Crypto”, and the Founder of LifesTough.com Aside from being a renowned connector and a 32nd Degree Freemason, Plantholt is also a Published Comic Book Author, TV Contributor, Gala Emcee, and Host of the highly regarded LifesTough.com and Bitcoin.com podcast.

AMA Duration: 38:00

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:02

Hello, everybody, and welcome to 3air’s AMA. I am so happy to have you here. I’m happy that you’re live with us. And of course, I hope you will be enjoying this AMA, I have to say, it is something special, or at least it will be because we’re not sure if Sandi will be able to join us or not. Why am I saying this? Because we just stopped. I think it was at the latest AMA, that we have like a chain of AMAs, every Wednesday going live and or Sandi or me, we never have missed this AMAs. And I hope that he makes it today, he’s somewhere in Africa, in Safari. And he will get connection just to say hello, then he will be with us. But in the meantime, Anita Mlakar is my name. I’m the host of these AMAs and it’s really nice to have you here.

00:55

I would also like to invite to be a part of our communities. We are on Discord, on Twitter, on Telegram and everything is happening there. So, you can just join us, you can ask questions, you can find out all about what 3air is doing. And I would really like to see you there. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, we are live here every Wednesday, of course, you will get notified when we’re going live. And you can also recommend us to a friend, if you think this would be something that he or she would like. Yes, this is what we’re doing. And every time I’m just giving a short introduction of our project. So, if you’re not familiar with it yet, you will be now.

01:35

What we’re trying to do, is connect the unconnected, bank the unbanked and we are actually connecting Africa and people of Africa to internet. We’re doing that with two technologies K3 Last Mile Solution and our 3air internet. And once you are connected to internet, you get digital identity from us. And of course, you can identify yourself with it. We also create your digital bank account, we are giving you a wallet. And all this time we are educating you. And this is the real empowerment. So, once we put you through all these steps, you are connected, you are banked, and you are empowered. And you have financial tools, the revenue streams, and you have the knowledge. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for being a part of this mission that is doing a wonderful job. And we have, like I said a very special AMA today. May be Sandi will be joining us in a couple of minutes. But we have a very special guest with us today. And I’m really happy that I can invite him in. Hello, and welcome. Dustin Plantholt, CEO of Plantholt Advisory Group is with us.

Dustin Plantholt, CEO of Plantholt Advisory Group Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 02:50

Hello, and welcome, Dustin.

Dustin Plantholt: 02:52

Thank you for having me, Anita. And it’s a pleasure to virtually meet everyone who’s tuning in today.

Anita Mlakar: 02:58

Thank you for being with us. Thank you for taking time, I know that you’re a very busy man, with a reason, of course. But we would really like to hear more about you today and about your work. And this is actually a great opportunity to have this interview, let’s say, one on one since Sandi is not with us today. Just let me say two more sentences about you, if of course you allow me. So, you are a self-confessed digital asset enthusiast, the founder, like I said of Plantholt Advisory Group, the founder of LifesTough.com. Forbes Monaco, event magazine granted you the title: “The Count of Monte Crypto”, and so on and so on. So, it is really special to have you here, Dustin.

Dustin Plantholt: 03:45

Well, it means a lot. What I have is experience. I’ve been able to ask a lot of questions of a lot of very smart people and I ask them, where they see things are likely to go and, you know this Anita, success leaves clues and so do failures.

About Dustin Plantholt:

Anita Mlakar: 04:02

Well, Dustin, because I did say something about you at the beginning. And there is so much more to say we will eventually come to that. I would really like to find out, where were you inspired? And how did you get this idea to be where you are right now, to do what you’re doing? How did it all start?

Dustin Plantholt: 04:25

It started with being curious. I had heard about this thing called Bitcoin. I had heard about this technology called blockchain. And I wanted to know more about it. And I went on Google. And there’s only so much information while Google can give you a lot. I wanted to interview people. I wanted to ask them what their thoughts were. And so, I owned a media company and I still do, called LifesTough.com. I have a mission in life and my mission is to help others tell their stories. For no fault of my own, I was born into a family where I ultimately went into foster care, and I recognize that life’s tough for people around the world. And now I use my brand, I use my voice to help elevate.

05:05

When crypto started to become fascinating to me, it was right after the first initial big crash. And I reached out to Roger Ver, the founder of Bitcoin.com. And I said, “Roger, I’d love to ask you what you saw in the early days.” And he came onto my show, we developed a really good relationship. And then I had on Hadera Hashgraph, and then Jesse Lund. And then from there, I decided to do a documentary series and highlight this world of cryptocurrency and I called it Cryptonaires, and I went around the world to tell the story about the space, but to do it in a way, that will be something, that you and I and our heirs would be proud of. And that is the true story of those who are taking the risk, those that we’re doing right by those that they’ve made promises to. Much like your way into this industry, It was my curiosity, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And I went to go explore it.

Anita Mlakar: 06:02

One of my guests says, “Educating people is real empowerment. It is something special.” And yes, of course connection and internet, we need that, of course, also to be educated. But I think that we need, like me or you, we need this within ourselves to seek for knowledge, to know as much as we can.

Dustin Plantholt: 06:24

Absolutely. So, I’m an editor for Forbes magazine, out of Monaco. And I tell people this all the time, so I have access to ultra-high net worth individuals, some of the world’s most famous people, and I will tell you that knowledge is the new rich, that knowledge is power. And that knowledge will allow you to level up. But it’s by being curious, you’ve got to remain a learner. And that’s what my advisory practice Plantholt Advisory Group, where it’s now been announced that 3air and Plantholt Advisory is working together, is helping to stand out in this world, to be uncommon. And that’s exactly the mission of 3air to do something that’s life changing for all of those that you will ultimately touch. And as someone who came from true poverty, and then throughout the foster care, I will tell you that there are many around the world specifically in Africa that need what 3air is bringing, they need inclusion, and they need a fair level playing field.

Anita Mlakar: 07:27

Well, you said it so nicely. Thank you very much, Dustin. Before we continue, let’s just check, because I think that Sandi managed to be with us now.

Dustin Plantholt: 07:37

We got him! Oh, my goodness.

Anita Mlakar: 07:39

He was on right now. And now he’s off. Let’s just wait maybe for a second or two, we’ll continue this conversation. I think he’s really trying hard to be a part of this AMA just for a couple of minutes.

Dustin Plantholt: 07:54

And I love that, Anita, because I get to work with founders around the world of Blockchain companies. It can be AIBC or the Meta Week, or Gamium or some other really unique Blockchain enabled or Blockchain powered companies, these founders, they’re under a lot of pressure. And they’re expected to work 24 hours a day and seven days a week. So, when I come in on an advisory and I’m working with projects is, I help them to priorities and I will tell you, that’s what I love about Sandi. There he is! Sandi prioritizes, one of the best leaders in the space.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air Joins the AMA:

Anita Mlakar: 08:31

You are here.

Sandi Bitenc: 08:33

How are you? Yeah. Finally. I don’t think I’ll have more than few seconds. We have been literally driving around here for one and a half hours to find some signal. It is and it isn’t, and it is, and it didn’t do anything. Are you hearing me or not?

Anita Mlakar: 09:03

We do hear you. We also see you and I’m glad that you managed to come for at least a couple of seconds or minutes wherever you are in Safari, in Kenya, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 09:13

Yeah, we are right now in Tsavo East. It’s really nice. We’ve seen some lions. It’s really nice.

Anita Mlakar: 09:35

Yes, they do. If you don’t understand it, I think it was more than 100 elephants, right? More than 100 elephants and some lions. And someone is writing right now. “Don’t get eaten by lions.”

Dustin Plantholt: 09:49

Sandi, you gotta be very careful.

Sandi Bitenc: 09:52

Really, I do that. So, I wanted to pet them. But I didn’t pet them, I wonder why.

Dustin Plantholt: 10:02

Well Sandi, I know you’re a an accomplished free diver, no swimming in any of the lakes.

Sandi Bitenc: 10:10

Their specialty here is hippo swimming. So, there were I think 12 hippos in the lake where we are staying at the lodge.

Anita Mlakar: 10:21

Wow, that’s impressing. Sandi, thank you very much for being with us, just for a couple of minutes. And so, we managed to continue our chain, being here every Wednesday, both of us for almost a year. It’s amazing.

Sandi Bitenc: 10:38

So, enjoy your time with Dustin. He is really, really a good guy to talk to. He knows a lot about the space. And he is excellent in what he does. So, I’m pretty sure this will be a great AMA. And we’re looking forward to our launch right on the 22nd. The tokens have been minted and they’re invested. So, everything is already on chain, set in stone. So, this is for sure happening now.

Anita Mlakar: 11:10

Thank you very much, Sandi, stay alive and enjoy.

Dustin Plantholt: 11:15

I’ll talk to you soon, brother.

Sandi Bitenc: 11:17

Yeah. Talk to you soon. Bye.

Dustin Plantholt: 11:21

Wow, that’s cool. I’ve got a studio green screen behind me, and you’ve got a cool house and look at him. He’s out on Safari.

Anita Mlakar: 11:29

Yeah, we were talking earlier about busy people, of course, the leaders, those who are trying to make a change. And Sandi is one of them. And what’s so special about him, and we were talking also about that in our community is, that he’s always there for people. He’s really trying to make an effort to be here every Wednesday to answer every questions in the community. And people are building actually a big circle of trust around 3air and everything that is going on, maybe or let’s just say I’m sure also because of Sandi, the first man, and he’s giving them a sense of safety. And this is something serious. What do you think about that?

Dustin Plantholt: 12:16

I think that the ideas are always easy. I get to work with entrepreneurs around the world. And I get to hear a lot of good ideas. Ideas are easy. Execution is the hard part. So, what I love to do is work with teams that can deliver, where they can deliver on the promise, they can do exactly what they say they can do. And that comes down to the leadership of what’s the time commitment, I have messaged Sandi at two in the morning and three in the morning. And he responds back to me. So, knowing just my interactions with him, again, this is my opinion. But he’s hands down one of the most committed entrepreneurs that I’ve seen in this Blockchain space.

About Plantholt Advisory Group:

Anita Mlakar: 12:55

Well, that’s nice to hear. And I’m sure he will be happy to hear you too. later on. So, you were starting to talk about your story, about your purpose. Dustin do tell us a little more about Plantholt advisors. What do you do?

Dustin Plantholt: 13:10

So, on the advisory side, I work with companies, brands and individuals to bring them into the Web3, to bring them into the Metaverse, to bring them into Crypto, to bring them into NFTs or to Decentralized Finance, to make it easy for them. It’s very complicated, and you make it look easy, and Sandi and some of the others. You make it look easy because you now have the experience. You’ve been doing it, you’ve been hearing the terms. But there’s a lot of people on the sidelines, a lot of major brands, that you’ve heard about, that don’t really know what to do, they don’t know how to come in. And so, my advisory practice works with nonprofits like the March of Dimes, out of the United States that supports moms and babies. And we help them to build out their Web3 presence, how they can get back or they can create NFT auctions, for those that have lost little ones, to start to bring back this united front, because COVID unfortunately, stopped these events.

14:09

It prevents a lot of people from getting together and raising money for good causes. So, we’re actively involved from a charitable bringing, my background, as I said before is foster care. So, I raise money for orphanages, for children who need it, and they need help. And the parents that, some of them made some bad decisions. Others were born into a situation that you were I couldn’t even imagine. And then we also work with companies that are in Blockchain, that are the best of the best, and we help them grow strategically. And with that comes the learners, we work with 3air, and I will tell you Sandi s a learner, and Anita, you are as well. You guys always ask good questions, because our advisory practice has some of the top talent in it globally. I’m very proud to say that we help companies level up the ones that should.

Anita Mlakar: 15:01

Such amazing stories. There are so many great minds in Africa. I am from Europe. And we don’t have that feeling, how many startups, how many great companies, how many young people with great ideas are there in Africa, but they are. And I was talking to so many people already. There were also guests n these AMAs. And I’ve learned about that. And so, what they’re trying to do is show themselves to the world, it is really difficult to do that if you’re not connected, or you have to always seek for some connection, to be able to show yourself, of course, they are doing that inside their communities. But this connection plays a big role.

Dustin Plantholt: 15:44

It does. And I remember many years ago, I went to Morocco. And I wanted to buy an item in the desert. And I remember the person that I went to the Berbers, I call them Justin Bieber, but one of them were Berbers. I was trying to buy it. And there wasn’t any internet signal. There wasn’t any connection, I remember thinking back then, “Boy! if only you could just sync up to a satellite and not use a local telecom. Or imagine that you could get access to internet without having to pay a monthly subscription. Could you imagine being able to have that live on demand.” And to me that’s what’s fascinating. These blockchain powered companies that are out there, that are innovating, or solving real problems, maybe problems that you or I say, “Well, that’s not a problem to us.” But in certain countries, it is. In certain places around the world, that is not as united as the country that you’re in, or the group that you’re a part of.

16:38

I sit on the board of advisors for the European Women’s Association, and we have this great opportunity to cover all of Europe. In Africa, each country is a little bit unique. And they’re a little bit different. One of my business partners, and one of my companies is Akon, the big R&B artist. And so, I work with his project called Akoin, and they’re focused on Senegal. And those are the kinds of partnerships and alliances relationships that we’re looking to create, bringing companies like 3air into that mix, and others as well that are looking to make a change, to make a difference to deliver on a promise, not just promise and under deliver.

What attracted Dustin Plantholt into 3air:

Anita Mlakar: 17:19

Yes, Dustin you’re working with really a lot of great minds, a lot of great ideas, also startups, entrepreneurs. But you have to have that feeling to recognize a good project from a bad project. So, what was it that attracted you to 3air?

Dustin Plantholt: 17:41

That’s a great question. I work with an executive coach. So, while I’m now at this level, where I coach people, I have coach myself and he’s 85. So, I’m the ripe old age of 39. And I asked him this recently, I said, “When do you know?” And he said, “You need to trust your gut.” Now I have a bunch of boxes that I go through, ‘Okay, do they check this box? Do they check that box?’ I’m at a stage in life, where only quality people. Now, obviously, you never know everything about anybody. But I asked questions of people. And some of those questions are confidential. But the questions I asked people and the questions I asked of Sandi were pretty in depth. It comes down to: “Will someone be able to deliver on the things that they said they’re going to do.” And then also: “What’s their work ethic?”

18:26

I get on meetings at five in the morning, and four in the morning and eight in the morning, and all hours. And I’ll do that on the weekend as well. And I’m at a stage where I don’t necessarily have to do it. But many times, I get on because I want to know, well, the founder come on as well. But it’s to the trust your gut. And I do have enough experience now to know if something doesn’t feel right. Like when someone says, “We’re going to help a billion people.” And they can’t help someone in their backyard, you’re not gonna help a billion people. If you can’t help your backyard first. If you can’t get a letter of intent, or you can’t get a memorandum of understanding, if you can’t get some alliance partners before you launch, then what makes you think they’re all going to jump on board. And that’s what I like about Sandi, it’s his ability to go out and create activity, because activity does create activity.

Anita Mlakar: 19:13

Yeah, trust in your gut, listening to your heart, whatever that is. And this is actually what attracted me also to this project. And I’m not working in Blockchain. I didn’t know a lot about Crypto. I am a PR consultant, public relations. I do host events and stuff like that. And I was invited to this, and I said, “Oh my God, this is not something that I’m familiar with. This is not so much my field.” And then I started to learn from Sandi, he told me what they were doing, and the way he was talking about it made me think, I want to be a part of this. So, I’m learning as I go.

Dustin Plantholt: 19:51

There’s so much to learn. I mean, Anita, isn’t it interesting? So, I have a new company that’s launching called Crypterns. So, think of it like, you have an intern in crypto, Cryptern, because I’m a Cryptern. I’m still in learning phase. And while I’m the Forbes Monaco editor for blockchain and crypto, I still ask questions of smart people. Because I’ve learned that when you ask questions of a wise man or wise woman, you gain knowledge and knowledge is the new rich.

Anita Mlakar: 20:19

Yeah, you’re so right. We should just do a dot here and start with: No, we have so much more to say.

Dustin Plantholt: 20:25

All right let’s keep going.

Anita Mlakar: 20:28

I was gonna ask for those who really would like to start a new life or business or someone who’d like to be like you, for example. What does one have to do to become Dustin Plantholt?

Dustin Plantholt: 20:42

Wow, that’s a really good question. I will tell you that it will take commitment and prioritizing your life. I have a lot of mentors. A lot of older mentors, and I have mentors that are both men and women. There’s a lot of people out there a lot of men that will say, I don’t have a goal, you should have a female mentor. Absolutely. And there’s a lot of women, I’d say, I’d recommend having a male mentor, someone that can give you that advice and give you a little bit of tough love and reality. I look at ideas and I go: “Is this idea something that’s important to me? And can I monetize it? Or will it give me my peace? Or will it check something in my life and bring me happiness or bring me joy or help to bring back my family members.”

21:25

Entrepreneurship is hard. If you think you’re going to succeed just by telling people, “Hey, I got a business,” it’s not going to work like that. If you do not come from ‘Lucky sperm club’, and that means you weren’t born with a famous last name, a great Rolodex, then you’re going to have to outwork everybody else, you’re gonna have to be the first one in and last one to leave. My hours each week, or 80 to 100 hours. It took me nine years before I even took a vacation when I started my business. Why? I had earned it. Like there are people that were outworking me. How can I say that I earned a vacation? You have to want it more than those around you, at any one time you have hundreds, if not 1000s of competitors around the world, looking to do the thing that you say is your dream.

22:08

I ask people and I asked them this all the time? Was this really your dream? Or was this someone else’s dream? Because as our species, we like to see what others have and say, “I want that,” and I go, “But do you really want it?” I mean, I’ve met with some of the world’s greatest minds. I have interviewed some of the most powerful people in the world from, from Nobel physicists to Jerry Springer to Evander Holyfield to Gene Simmons to Wyclef Jean to Jim Rogers. And I will tell you, they’re not competing with anybody but themselves. They ask themselves at the end of each day, “Did I give it all I had? Did I give it all I got?” Because when you’re judging it based on yourself, then you’re going to succeed. Because if you’re truly in a business, or creating something that is sustainable, then there’s going to be others out there like you. They say, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

22:57

There’s going to be someone out there like you that say, “I want to partner with you. I’d like to work with you.” But not all ideas are good ideas. And not all ideas should be done right now. Some of them might take five years. But it comes with a cookbook. What is your cookbook? If you don’t have a recipe, you won’t succeed. Chaos rarely wins. It takes order, but you can take all that chaos and turn it into a recipe. So, Anita, I don’t know what your favorite meal is. But I love banana cream pie dessert. In order for me to have banana cream pie, it’s a recipe. And if I follow the recipe, I will have a positive outcome. Now how many people treat their goals like that? How many people treat their dreams like that?

23:37

Here’s the recipe to get there. And are they asking people? So, Dan Peña, one of my mentors, said, “Dustin, show me your phone.” I gave him my cell phone, he was flipping through. And he said, “Show me your friends. And I will show you your future.” If you want your business to succeed, if you want to be different than everybody else, that I would say, “Who are the people that you’re looking to for advice? Who are the people that you’re looking to for counsel?” You expect to level up, yet you have people around you they’re amateurs, it’s always good to have at least one or two high performance people around you. Even that boss that you might think is a narcissist. You can learn from them because high performance people level you up. I do a lot of talking, so thank you whoever gave that lovely comment.

Anita Mlakar: 24:25

But like you said, surround yourself with people that know more than you do, that know different things than you do and then of course you will be able to learn from them. I have one question Dustin. I would really like to hear your opinion. There is so much talk about self-love lately. If you’re doing enough of self-love and first, you have to love yourself then of course everybody else will love you and you will be good at your business. But I do have that feeling sometimes, especially people in business or a lot of times hiding behind this self-love. Like, I’m not doing this now, because I love myself. I will not be here at this meeting today because first I have to take care of myself. Like, I do love myself. And because I’m not good at voice today, I wouldn’t be here right now. So, is this something that we should consider self-love so much? Or is it something being misused?

Dustin Plantholt: 25:22

That’s a great question. And I don’t know which personality I can only tell you from my experience, is unless you know yourself, you got to get to know me. Most people will go their entire lives not even knowing what they want me. Could you imagine that? That you don’t know what you want. And to me, if you don’t know what you want, that it’s going to be like the wind. Every day is going to be something new, every day is going to be something different, and some people will eat their whole lives. I believe that most people at the end of their lives will regret all the things they didn’t do. The business they should have started, the relationship that they should have healed, that they should have mended. The place they should have travelled to for the experience, the company that they should have worked for, but fear kept them and paralyzed them.

26:07

This idea of self-love. If there’s an old saying, that goes, “You’re never alone. So as long as you like the person, you’re with.” So, to me, your goal is a as a person, your goal, as our species really should be that is to get to know yourself, to become a better you. Because that’s what your heirs need. You’re the heir to their story. You inherited your Mom, dad’s Mom, dad’s, mom, dad. Many people complain that they’re not a Rockefeller family. So, your ancestors made some different decisions. So, make it different for your heirs. What are you doing to make it, it’s not going to be easy, no one’s going to hand it to you. No one’s gonna walk in and say, hey, you’ve earned $100,000 a year ago? No, you’re gonna have to work for it. And this new digitization of things, to me one of the biggest opportunities of both wealth creation and education, the knowledge, the transfer of power is happening in this Web3. And yet there are people on the sidelines still asking themselves, how do I fit in?

27:04

There are people waiting right now. And I’m not saying go buying a speculative cryptocurrency. I’m not a shill or it’s not what I do. I look at value and utility, you have a business, there are opportunities to build your business on blockchain technology, to give yourself a competitive edge, to stand out. And there are grants available in the blockchain ecosystem. There’s also a plethora of institutions and mentors to help you. But it starts with you prioritizing your life, I get to work with some very unique people around the world, many high performance people, they know what they want. Now, they’re impulsive. Sometimes you’ll get what you want, and you realize, it ultimately wasn’t what you want. So, I would say to look at your day, turn it into a pie. I have a business partner of mine, Eric Weir, that wrote a book called: Who’s Eating Your Pie? And it creates a pie chart where, who’s taking a percentage of your pie every day? And where’s your time going? And that will ultimately determine if you’re going to succeed as who’s getting your time.

How is it going with crypto in current situation?

Anita Mlakar: 28:05

Well, so many great thoughts today, I’m really enjoying this. Let’s just get back a little on crypto and what is going on? We were talking a lot also with Sandi on our latest AMAs, that it was in a way a difficult time. Because it’s not such a positive situation. But right now, it is important, how you’re thinking, what you’re doing, how you’re planning. How did you look at the situation. Is it an opportunity to learn or to just give up?

Dustin Plantholt: 28:37

Yeah, I look at the opportunity itself. And I still believe this. And that is, for those that are patient, it still represents the greatest opportunity you’ll probably ever have in your lifetime. If only to know more than everybody else, it makes you popular among your friends, it makes it a good conversation starter, maybe in this world, Web3 world, that you’re not very talkative. Maybe you’re an introvert, this knowledge gives you power to go create conversations. I mean, you could be in a taxi cab in Ireland, and Iceland or in Ireland, and you can start talking about crypto, some of those: “Me too!” You have immediate connections around the world. So, I think that if someone’s looking to make friends, they’ll make friends. They say, “To have a friend, you gotta be a friend.” You can get to know entire communities, you can hang out in the 3air chatroom and get to meet people.

29:27

Some people might not be a good fit for you. Others, well, birds of a feather flock together. I think this represents the greatest time in history. I think right now when everybody’s afraid when people are panicking. That’s the time you should dig in and go, “What are they so afraid of? Why are they scared? Why are they running away?” You look at the stock market, the New York Stock Exchange. It was launched over 130 years ago. 130 years ago, yet people are racing and rushing out to go buy every month. I go, “They still act like it’s new.” This is a baby asset class. It’s just the beginning. I have a friend of mine that is one of the most prolific, most influential NFT collectors in the world, he is deemed to be the most influential. 30,000 NFT’s, 100 million dollars’ worth. And I will tell you, if you ask him, he would say, “If you only knew how everything is getting digitized, every major brand and global influencer is trying to figure out how they fit in. Because it fixes a broken system. It allows transparency, it allows freedom.”

Impact of blockchain:

Anita Mlakar: 30:33

Yes, the world is changing. And everything around us is changing. But yet a lot of people do not know a lot about crypto, about blockchain at all, everything happening in this digital world, about digital assets, NFTs, what will they bring to the future? So, what do you think? What impact will they have?

Dustin Plantholt: 30:59

So, I think that right now, what each person should do that’s hearing this, is to learn one new thing, to dive into something that just don’t know enough about. I get asked a lot of questions of things. My mentor, Gene Simmons told me once, “Hey, Dustin, it’s okay to say, I don’t know.” And no one will look down on you for saying, I don’t know. And there’s a lot of things I don’t know. But each day, when I hear something, I don’t know, or I don’t know enough about I dig in. I’m curious about it, because I know this, that my ears right now. And my future ears, that what I’m doing today will make the impact, what I’m doing today can make the difference, that it could give them the edge, it could allow them to level up.

31:42

So, for those that are frustrated, that they were handed a bad set of cards or weren’t given the life that that I always dreamed I go, “Well this new digital world, it’s an internet of connected things, it creates a level playing field.” In this new world, you can create, you can be a part of, you can build. And there’s no more excuses. Because your avatar will matter, the digital representation of you and that’s why the things that you’re doing in this realm or this neighborhood, it will matter and why you want to create a good bio for yourself, because it gets pulled into your avatar. And that’s what the blockchain represents, it represents a public ledger. And for those of you want to get down even further, think of it like Linux, open source.

Anita Mlakar: 32:30

Dustin, you have a lot of knowledge, but you have also a lot of experience, you have done so many different things in your life. I have also information you have published comic book, you’re an author, you’re a TV contributor, Gala, MC, you’re also the host of this highly regarded LifesTough.com and Bitcoin.com Podcast. Would you say that everything that you’re doing is making you now the person that you are, or still trying to find what you want to accomplish?

Dustin Plantholt: 33:05

I love that. I’m a learner. I will tell you, the thing that gets me excited every day is, I get to ask super smart people questions. Because I don’t know, I only know based upon the variables I have, I only know based upon what I’ve read. And I will tell you, the media has this unique way of shifting you, of making the decision for you, indoctrination. When you find when you get outside of that, and you start to collect information from other sources. When you start to become really curious, you start to put together your own pieces, and you come to your own conclusion. And what I do is, I do things that inspire me, I’m at a stage in my life, where, to me, it’s all about, I read a quote, and it went like this that, “To start each day with a task completed. Define someone to help you through life, to know that life is not fair, and that you’re going to fail often. But if you take risk, and you step up, when the times are toughest, you face down the bullies. If you do this, then this generation, and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. And what would have started here would have changed the world for the better.”

34:13

That is my philosophy, that if you do those things, if you start each day with that task completed, and you find someone to help you through life, because life’s tough. I started a website LifesTough.com to help others through their journey. Because I’m convinced that every story has a purpose, and everyone has a story. And I think it’s those stories that unite us and it’s not our strengths that unite us. It’s our weaknesses. And there’s communities out there that, just like you, they don’t know enough about blockchain or crypto and they’re coming together to learn that allows us to connect with each other, to figure out collectively, you go alone, you go far, together you go further.

Did you ever consider about your legacy? What would you like it to be?

Anita Mlakar: 34:53

Just one more question. Dustin. Did you ever consider about your legacy? What would you like it to be?

Dustin Plantholt: 35:02

I have, and it’s something that I call your greatest aspiration, personally set their goals, your greatest aspiration, in my opinion should be the one that lives past you. It’s the one that your heirs get impacted. The ones that make it easier for them. When I was a little boy, nearly two years, my mother left the family, the heart wants what the heart wants, she left for, for a partner, leaving my father, pretty dysfunctional dad to take care of two little kids, he was a member of a pretty notorious gang. And then when I was four years old, I lost him for 16 years as he got sentenced. So, I will tell you that my legacy, and the thing, that is important to me, is to let others know that they’re not alone.

35:45

Then I understand it’s hard, it’s really tough, but not to become that volunteer victim. And that there’s enough people around you that you can learn from, there’s enough knowledge around you that you can take, and you can implement in your life. And to me, I think that a great person draws a circle around his or herself, Anita, and they take care of people in that circle. And I’m able now to use my influence, my little bit of influence in the world, to help, to force my really super successful friends and rich buddies to give back and they already do that stuff on their own. But to make the difference with what I can, because if you lack resources, be resourceful. And that’s what I do. I’m just resourceful. I have an amazing network of some of the most beautiful people on the planet. We’re all weird. We’re all different. But we just seem to work together. It’s the frequency. And when you find your frequency, stay on it.

Anita Mlakar: 36:40

Thank you very much. Dustin, do tell us where can we see you? Where can we follow you? Where can we learn from you.

Dustin Plantholt: 36:47

So, my website is DustinPlantholt.com. I speak at events around the world, I actually take that back, I’m the MC or the moderator. I do my best to help others, I talk way too much as you can tell, I just get very excited. And to me, passion is contagious. It sits on your shoulder, and it likes to jump around. So, you can find me at a number of events globally. But I’m sure you’ll hear about me behind the scenes. Making a difference and making an impact as I would challenge each one of you as well. Donate your time, give back, make a difference. To me, that’s what we need more than ever. We need a heart of givers, not takers.

Anita Mlakar: 37:27

Thank you very much for being part of 3air, as the advisor, your knowledge will be well used. And I’m really looking forward to that. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for being with us today. And I do hope that there will be some other opportunity where we’ll be able to talk again.

Dustin Plantholt: 37:44

Anita, it was my pleasure, and thank all of you for tuning in to this AMA.

Anita Mlakar: 37:49

Thank you very much. Have a great day. And thanks for all of you, of course for being with us, for following us. And stay tuned. We have a lot more coming up. Thank you, Dustin.

Dustin Plantholt: 37:59

Thank you.

Anita Mlakar: 38:00

Bye.

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