Digital products I feel are becoming more and more "content" nowadays.
Lots of previously "durable" products because there was some kind of technical or ability moat is gone, so everyone releasing software is always racing against each other.
I think this reality is hitting freelancers, agencies, and all the way past funded startups to large SaaS companies. That's why layoffs are hitting across the board.
If this person was "wildly profitable in most years" and made a around $500k over 9 years — that's less than what a junior engineer would make even if they never got any raises. And they wouldn't have to hire a team, pay corp taxes before paying themselves, etc.
I think every kind of work and job is now getting reduced to the content grind treadmill — including for the large companies. That's the final form of business and work.
> that's less than what a junior engineer would make even if they never got any raises
You have to factor in how much time you spend on the content for it to be comparable. A normal tech US salary job would be 9am to 6pm and maybe 15-30 days of PTO a year.
If you have a course or book that made $500,000 over 9 years, you might have spent 4-5 months making it up front and then XX hours per year for support and keeping it up to date. The return doesn't sound bad if you spent 40 hours a year on it. That's 320 hours over 8 years or roughly 2 months of full time work.
> that's less than what a junior engineer would make even if they never got any raises. And they wouldn't have to hire a team, pay corp taxes before paying themselves, etc.
If they first got a job, in the U.S probably, and kept one for that long, which is hardly a given these days.
Also correlates with the rise in people believing that brand -building is just as important as actual skills. As in, the only way to stand out is to be Someone.
It’s ultimately a pick me scenario, and still fundamentally submissive.
> It’s ultimately a pick me scenario, and still fundamentally submissive.
To add to that, it's very easy for platforms to game the system by actually picking winners and then having tonnes of wannabes trying to 'make it'. It's cruel really.
if you take this analysis one step further, it doesn't make sense for the whole world to sustain itself selling entertainment and hobby products to upper middle class Americans.
In no other market is ip and advertising worth much.
Lots of previously "durable" products because there was some kind of technical or ability moat is gone, so everyone releasing software is always racing against each other.
I think this reality is hitting freelancers, agencies, and all the way past funded startups to large SaaS companies. That's why layoffs are hitting across the board.
If this person was "wildly profitable in most years" and made a around $500k over 9 years — that's less than what a junior engineer would make even if they never got any raises. And they wouldn't have to hire a team, pay corp taxes before paying themselves, etc.
I think every kind of work and job is now getting reduced to the content grind treadmill — including for the large companies. That's the final form of business and work.