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I understand the sentiment that if you work hard you should get paid a proportional amount of money. But, well, welcome to real life. There are things in life t

by gedrap 11y ago

I understand the sentiment that if you work hard you should get paid a proportional amount of money. But, well, welcome to real life. There are things in life that pays the bills and others that don't, no matter how hard you work at it, therefore, you have to decide how much time and resources you can afford to spend on it. It seems like for these people, they are making a trade off in terms of income and self-realization balance. I feel a bit bad about this slightly cynical comment but, well, that's what I think. It would be absolutely amazing if we all could make a living from what we enjoy. On another note, I might have missed it in the article but I didn't see the author talking about the target audience? Shouldn't it make a huge difference in terms of CPM and therefore revenue? Because I'd imagine that advertisers are willing to pay totally different amounts of money if your average subscriber is in late 20s or 30s, from the USA, UK or Canada and with middle or higher level of income, compared to just a bunch of high schoolers who have little spending power?

jfoutz 11y ago
That's not really how it works though. First "hard" work isn't really relevant at all. Effective work, that's huge. Second, (but perhaps a variation) quality matters a lot. Since the internet lets everyone talk to everyone (mostly) you get this power law effect. The best take the lion's share of the money. Everyone else struggles. it's a tournament. the very best, or at least most popular, take home millions. Everyone else is bush league and take home pretty much nothing.
- gedrap 11y ago
  >>> That's not really how it works though. First "hard" work isn't really relevant at all. Effective work, that's huge. Oh absolutely, no doubt about that. It's just that people (outside small circles like HN) don't talk about it and is definitely not romanticized as much as hard work. You work 20-40 hours week, no overtime, and make decent living? Ha you got it easy, shut up now. But look at that struggling poor dude who works 80 hours/wk. Narrative like this, implying that if you are struggling, etc, then you deserve something automatically is quite common in the mainstream. Maybe it's just a cynic inside me but I got this vibe from an article. But probably that's just me. I'd assume because a large share of population can be categorized as 'struggling' and relate to this narrative, making it popular and safe choice.

by gedrap 11y ago

jfoutz 11y ago

That's not really how it works though. First "hard" work isn't really relevant at all. Effective work, that's huge. Second, (but perhaps a variation) quality matters a lot. Since the internet lets everyone talk to everyone (mostly) you get this power law effect. The best take the lion's share of the money. Everyone else struggles. it's a tournament. the very best, or at least most popular, take home millions. Everyone else is bush league and take home pretty much nothing.

gedrap 11y ago
>>> That's not really how it works though. First "hard" work isn't really relevant at all. Effective work, that's huge. Oh absolutely, no doubt about that. It's just that people (outside small circles like HN) don't talk about it and is definitely not romanticized as much as hard work. You work 20-40 hours week, no overtime, and make decent living? Ha you got it easy, shut up now. But look at that struggling poor dude who works 80 hours/wk. Narrative like this, implying that if you are struggling, etc, then you deserve something automatically is quite common in the mainstream. Maybe it's just a cynic inside me but I got this vibe from an article. But probably that's just me. I'd assume because a large share of population can be categorized as 'struggling' and relate to this narrative, making it popular and safe choice.