Interview

Episode 121 – Reinventing Yourself and Currency for Everyone with Sir John Hargrave

In this episode Mark interviews Sir John Hargrave, the author of MIND HACKING, SIR JOHN HARGRAVE’S MISCHIEF MAKER’S MANUAL and the bestselling book BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE.

Prior to the interview, Mark discusses listener comments from recent episodes and also shares a word from this episode’s sponsor, Findaway Voices…

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

Mark offers a personal update in which he shares a writing tip gleaned from Dean Wesley Smith at the recent WMG Publishing anthology workshop in Vegas that Mark had been speaking at earlier in the week.

He also shares the result of this year’s PLR Program (Public Lending Right Program) check.

Mark’s latest PLR Program cheque

In their discussion John and Mark chat about:

  • The origin (which was a prank) where the name Sir John Hargrave came from
  • The concept of reinventing yourself and how John went from being a human author to a geeky self-help author, to discussing rebuilding the global economy
  • The common threads that move through all of John’s books
  • The many mini careers that people tend to have in today’s day and age that draw upon the same core skills. In John’s case they are humor and technology
  • How BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYBODY is about the reinvention of the self as an accessible book with humor
  • What blockchain is and how John got into the technology
  • The interesting origin of Bitcoin and the mystery of the creator who has vanished
  • The concept of “one world money”
  • How John had to write the book BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE twice
  • The great promotional opportunity that John had for the book
  • Finding the strength to go on when things are dark, and how you successfully respond to challenges
  • How John had done his own audiobook using a professional recording studio that his son created in their home
  • The new book BLOCKCHAIN SUCCESS STORIES that John is co-authoring for O’Reilly
  • And more…

After the interview, Mark reflects on something John mentioned in the interview regarding persistence and personal growth in the face of adversity, and reads from two poems that he feels address the sentiment: “If” by Rudyard Kipling and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.

Links of Interest:


Sir John Hargrave is author of MIND HACKING, SIR JOHN HARGRAVE’S MISCHIEF MAKER’S MANUAL and the bestselling book BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE.

He is also the CEO of Media Shower, his company publishes the blockchain investor website, Bitcoin Market Journal which reaches 100,000 blockchain investors monthly. He is a frequent speaker, lecturer, and was a hoot to interview.

2 thoughts on “Episode 121 – Reinventing Yourself and Currency for Everyone with Sir John Hargrave”

  1. I listened to your Canadian Library story thinking man Canadians got it good. And then the end where you couldn’t buy the bitcoin seems like hey Americans got it good. I think the real questions are why don’t Americans get a Library payout and why don’t Canadians have the right to buy bitcoin (especially since bitcoin is supposed to be a truly free (as in access) currency.

    So I work in the software industry and I find the idea of blockchain daunting when I am trying to figure out how to use it in everyday work.
    I enjoyed the interview with Sir John. He sounds like he understands the subject matter really well and this book like say Liar’s Poker or Moneyball take a complex subject and explain it through story and character.

    Finally, Those two poems are awesome. I heard about If a while back and even attempted the Art of Manliness challenge to memorize it but fell short. I have been researching a counter part to it for my daughters because ending the last line as “you’ll be a woman, my daughter” throws off the rhythm. I am going to see about finding the Maya poem and getting them both on the wall at the house for everyone to reference.

  2. I am actually really optimistic about bitcoin. You can see that in the last few years the number of investors who turned to bitcoin increased dramatically. Also, the number of both giant companies like Sfox and smaller brokers like this one https://thejingstock.com/ keep entering the market every day which means there is a demand. Imo there is a bright future for crypto in the next 5-10 years.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.