Back in 2013, my friend Jake was obsessed with this newfangled thing called Bitcoin. He'd spend hours mining on his souped-up gaming PC, which I thought was just a waste of electricity. One day, he convinced me to buy a few coins for $100, just to see what would happen. I shrugged and went along with it, mostly to stop him from nagging me about it.

Fast forward to 2017, Bitcoin hit $20,000. I had completely forgotten about my tiny investment until Jake called me, ecstatic. I logged into my long-abandoned wallet and there it was—my $100 had turned into a small fortune. I sold half, paid off some student loans, and took a vacation. Jake? He held onto his stash, convinced it would go even higher. 

While Bitcoin's value has fluctuated wildly since then, that experience taught me the unpredictable power of innovation and, of course, to always listen to Jake's tech tips!