DON’T FEEL INSECURE BY PEOPLE YOU PERCEIVE TO BE BIGGER THAN YOU
We all compare ourselves to others. Either we’re above or below them. One thing about coming to America that I still find it hard to initially deal with is meeting people who I perceive to be more “successful” than me.
(Major disclaimer: This may just be my niche)
I rarely met people like that in London. Here, many people are doing it very big. Half the reason I start my talks by saying I was on welfare is to try and cut the “I could never be like him” negative self talk from people’s heads when they see me. I have no special skills
(Can’t code, no notable business achievements of any descriptions prior to my first startup, etc) everything I have I owe to growth hacking. But once you leave your bedroom, you’re gonna encounter people in the real-world, and your ego is gonna take a hit. So here are some things to remember:
Investors
If you’re running a business, people in startupland and investors always be like “How will this scale”,
Making six figures a year from your “little area” puts you in the top 10% of earners ($350k puts you in the top 1%)
Most people will never get there. They only want you to scale so they can invest in you and make money off you- you are no good to them if only you and your partner get rich. Also, most startups pay themselves next to nothing (like I did during Planet Ivy days), so unless you’re the one in 100,000+ that exits, you make nothing from your idea.
Kickstarter millionaires
MOST BIG KICKSTARTER PRODUCTS MAKE $0 NET PROFIT ON INITIAL KICKSTARTER. I was with one of the top Kickstarter agencies in Toronto recently and found them talking about how many millions their clients “make”, and I asked them what the net profit margin the founders get to keep is. I was SHOCKED to find out “Breakeven is good”. Things always take longer to produce, they need to keep staff on for 4–6 months to fulfill orders, they get hit with unexpected costs, etc. Yes, the entire point of an E-commerce business is to have a customer email list, and it launches a company, but don’t think the people “making it” get to keep half the money. Or…any of it. Y’all know I’m gonna have to add in the disclaimer that info products have insane margins. Me and Austen get to keep something loopy like 85% of gross profits from our book/video course.
“Millionaire” lifestyle gurus
Any of these guys without an organic fanbase (and normally, nothing on Google about them) spend an insane amount on paid traffic, and their margins go to pot because of this. They are at the mercy of affiliates and Facebook/Google ads, taking huge bits out of their revenue
Influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers
These kids are almost entirely at the mercy of brands giving them stuff. And brands love to nickel and dime them with bad deals as there are so many to choose from now, they have lost a lot of their power. The top 1% become millionaires, but most make less than they would working in Walmart. Virtually every influencer I spoke to at Tai Lopez’ party told me the same thing: Can’t get management/consistent brand deals. They also often end up pushing products they hate and their fanbase hates them for it
Virtually all creative people
ALL of us creep on musicians, models, actors. Because of supply and demand economics, they aren’t all that valued and are very replaceable. To make it, most will do things you would never consider doing, and face serious internal and external problems marketing themselves because of the fragility of the personal brands they are creating for themselves. In many cases, they can market using the types of techniques in this group. But at the same time, they need to give off an appearance of aloofness and effortlessness for fickle crowds. They’re also fighting the “old momentum” of the record label/publisher doing all the work for them, and they just create the art. This actually stopped working in the 90’s.
Point with all of the above: Things aren’t always what they seem.
We’re moving beyond the age of the celebrity and influencer and an age where anyone can be a micro-influencer (YEs, even you reading this).
People quietly making good money and living amazing lives (traveling, getting to work from home so spending a lot of time with their families in a stress-free environment, having people who care about every piece of content you produce).
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I’ve started an online accelerator for startups, entrepreneurs, and anyone ready to grow their business online. See details here: Beam me up Scotty!
