The online creators are powering a new cultural renaissance. They are the driving force for the future of content, learning, social networks, Direct-To-Consumer brands, start-up ideas, and open source projects. The creator community is the new start-up school for entrepreneurship.
- Everybody being able to spend all day creating things, whether "practical" or not, is what Karl Marx envisioned as the communist utopia (Perhaps a neo-Marxist, Andrew Yang also believes that once people are given $1000/month, they will spend more time writing poetry and making sculpture, etc)
- Another Marxist aspect of the creator economy: An important attribute of a creator is that she owns her output and is directly in touch with her customers. This is unlike polishing screws at a big factory, where you don't get to see your final output and have no idea who your customers are -- a phenomenon that Marx labeled "alienation"
- In a way, a, say, 10-person startup is a bit like a creator's studio, where employees all see the final output, are connected with the end customers, and enjoy a familial camaraderie with each other. YC and Naval Ravikant both champion a world where most companies are small, tightly-knit, and highly productive. Maybe this is a version of the creator's economy as well
I'm particularly interested in how people have time to learn, and if learners follow a certain pattern. That is:
How does anyone have time to do anything anymore, let alone learning? White-collar jobs, jobs that typically associate with learners, seem to take up so much of one's active hours. And myriad forms of lazy entertainment (netflix and video games) are huge time sinks too.
Who has the luxury of time to learn? Does this break down by income, age, education level, gender, race, geographical location?
I think the trick is to realize that you'll get ahead faster the more you learn. So for white collar people, you can sink 60 hours per week and get ahead so much, or you can sink 50 hours in and 10 hours learning and get ahead faster - because you'll make better decisions, course-correct faster, persuade better, be more efficient, etc.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People illustrates this with a 2x2 matrix of urgency and importance. Essentially the more time you dedicate to important but not urgent things, the less the important but urgent things take over your life. If you don't actively learn then you only get better as you yourself gain direct experience. But learning allows us to get better from other people's experience.
As for mindless entertainment, just limit it to the weekends or sitting on the pot. You're only going to sit there for so long watching Netflix ;)
Yeah I guess there are courses that teach you directly about making money (investing, coding interviews, SEO tricks, how to make websites, to a lesser extent productivity boost classes etc) and then there are courses with non-obvious monetary benefits (learning for its own sake, more or less).
I was curious how courses in the latter category get marketed and can we pattern-match those who generally enroll in them.
I think they still fall into the Quadrant 2 things. They make you better, which will have a return. Writing better for example makes you a better research, thinker, and persuader... those things move you up the biz ladder to higher paying positions OR allow you to command higher rates in gig work.
The China angle is also interesting and can be its own piece!
BTW what have you learned from musical theory? Could you provide a summary? Would love to learn!
- Everybody being able to spend all day creating things, whether "practical" or not, is what Karl Marx envisioned as the communist utopia (Perhaps a neo-Marxist, Andrew Yang also believes that once people are given $1000/month, they will spend more time writing poetry and making sculpture, etc)
- Another Marxist aspect of the creator economy: An important attribute of a creator is that she owns her output and is directly in touch with her customers. This is unlike polishing screws at a big factory, where you don't get to see your final output and have no idea who your customers are -- a phenomenon that Marx labeled "alienation"
- In a way, a, say, 10-person startup is a bit like a creator's studio, where employees all see the final output, are connected with the end customers, and enjoy a familial camaraderie with each other. YC and Naval Ravikant both champion a world where most companies are small, tightly-knit, and highly productive. Maybe this is a version of the creator's economy as well
I'm particularly interested in how people have time to learn, and if learners follow a certain pattern. That is:
How does anyone have time to do anything anymore, let alone learning? White-collar jobs, jobs that typically associate with learners, seem to take up so much of one's active hours. And myriad forms of lazy entertainment (netflix and video games) are huge time sinks too.
Who has the luxury of time to learn? Does this break down by income, age, education level, gender, race, geographical location?
There might be an interesting space in learning as entertainment. Think Masterclass.
I have personally found Twitter as the best teacher. A mix of educational and entertaining material as you scroll along!
I think the trick is to realize that you'll get ahead faster the more you learn. So for white collar people, you can sink 60 hours per week and get ahead so much, or you can sink 50 hours in and 10 hours learning and get ahead faster - because you'll make better decisions, course-correct faster, persuade better, be more efficient, etc.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People illustrates this with a 2x2 matrix of urgency and importance. Essentially the more time you dedicate to important but not urgent things, the less the important but urgent things take over your life. If you don't actively learn then you only get better as you yourself gain direct experience. But learning allows us to get better from other people's experience.
As for mindless entertainment, just limit it to the weekends or sitting on the pot. You're only going to sit there for so long watching Netflix ;)
Yeah I guess there are courses that teach you directly about making money (investing, coding interviews, SEO tricks, how to make websites, to a lesser extent productivity boost classes etc) and then there are courses with non-obvious monetary benefits (learning for its own sake, more or less).
I was curious how courses in the latter category get marketed and can we pattern-match those who generally enroll in them.
Any examples on the latter?
Courses that teach you to write better, focus better or be a good father, for instance
I think they still fall into the Quadrant 2 things. They make you better, which will have a return. Writing better for example makes you a better research, thinker, and persuader... those things move you up the biz ladder to higher paying positions OR allow you to command higher rates in gig work.
Sure, all classes have some terminal practical utility.