Not a speculative bubble like an overvalued stock, but an aspirational bubble like panning for gold or trying to become the next Michael Jordan or Lionel Messi.
Hence Li Jin's piece about the creator economy's lack of a middle class:
On Patreon, only 2% of creators made the federal minimum wage of $1,160 per month in 2017. On Spotify, artists need 3.5 million streams per year to achieve the annual earnings for a full-time minimum-wage worker of $15,080, a fact that drives most musicians to supplement their earnings with touring and merchandise.
I don't suspect this is the worst thing in the world though. As long as a culture has heroes, it'll have aspirational bubbles. And in this case, the aspiration is toward using modern tech to create things of value — which produces a far more transferrable set of well-rounded skills than, say, trying to become a famous rock star or basketball player. (I speak from experience.)
Either way, as we invest more in the creator economy, we'll create a) more tools and resources that make it even easier to succeed as a creator, and b) more jobs, since the increasingly successful creators and infrastructure companies will keep hiring at record pace.
I kind of feel the same way about indie hacking in general. It feels like the vast majority of people fail or make very little, and then there are the top % that are making a killing (or not even necessarily a killing - just more than their best other option as an employee or freelancer).
This is definitely true. Of course it's perhaps more accurate to regress toward the mean: entrepreneurship in general is an aspirational bubble — almost by definition. Indie hackers and content creators are just types of entrepreneurs.
The reason we lose sight of this is because the umbrella has expanded to include people who couldn't previously become entrepreneurs. But we should remember to temper this excitement: a wider umbrella means more people can take the risks of entrepreneurship. But it doesn't mean more people can avoid the downsides of that risk.
The creator economy is a bubble.
Not a speculative bubble like an overvalued stock, but an aspirational bubble like panning for gold or trying to become the next Michael Jordan or Lionel Messi.
Hence Li Jin's piece about the creator economy's lack of a middle class:
I don't suspect this is the worst thing in the world though. As long as a culture has heroes, it'll have aspirational bubbles. And in this case, the aspiration is toward using modern tech to create things of value — which produces a far more transferrable set of well-rounded skills than, say, trying to become a famous rock star or basketball player. (I speak from experience.)
Either way, as we invest more in the creator economy, we'll create a) more tools and resources that make it even easier to succeed as a creator, and b) more jobs, since the increasingly successful creators and infrastructure companies will keep hiring at record pace.
I like how you've phrased this.
I kind of feel the same way about indie hacking in general. It feels like the vast majority of people fail or make very little, and then there are the top % that are making a killing (or not even necessarily a killing - just more than their best other option as an employee or freelancer).
What are your thoughts on this @channingallen ?
This is definitely true. Of course it's perhaps more accurate to regress toward the mean: entrepreneurship in general is an aspirational bubble — almost by definition. Indie hackers and content creators are just types of entrepreneurs.
The reason we lose sight of this is because the umbrella has expanded to include people who couldn't previously become entrepreneurs. But we should remember to temper this excitement: a wider umbrella means more people can take the risks of entrepreneurship. But it doesn't mean more people can avoid the downsides of that risk.