4 ms·

"I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being

"I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job." -- Bill Murray

wmeredith 11mo ago
I've heard a similar maxim that being rich is fantastic, rich and famous is good, poor is bad, poor and famous is a nightmare.
- jongjong 11mo ago
  I was poor and recognizable in a tiny niche related to open source tools and 100% this was true. The recognition creates envy and ambitious people invest extra effort to sabotage you... Often, people who are rich see you as a threat and go all out war on you... And you don't have any buffer or support so you have to be 10x better just to stay afloat. Convincing people to work with you is much harder since you can't offer them any money and must offer pure equity... And your reputation, which fades over time, is the only thing that makes such equity potentially valuable. OP has the problem that his product is much more well known than he is. That's probably why he is not richer. Though at least his product is a mainstream brand by now. He can get recognition by association once he does the reveal "I'm the guy who created Mastodon" this creates opportunities... Though perhaps not as big opportunities as one may think. It depends on the degree of control he has over the product. In general, with open source or other community-oriented products, the control is limited.
- groundzeros2015 11mo ago
  The quote from the “jackass” crew is the opposite. If you’re famous you don’t need money. You just walk up and ask.
weinzierl 11mo ago
In addition to that: With money you can always buy popularity easily, but converting popularity into money is hard work at least. I'd even say that turning fame into significant wealth is an art only few have truly mastered.
- RobotToaster 11mo ago
  And if you can't buy popularity you can always buy a really high wall.
- michaelt 11mo ago
  > With money you can always buy popularity easily I don’t know if Elon Musk is an example or a counter-example. Maybe both?
  - forgetfulness 11mo ago
    What he can’t buy is being at peace and content with the popularity he already has
  - Tool_of_Society 11mo ago
    Well he was doing a good job at buying popularity until he fired his PR team so..
    - mlindner 11mo ago
      Elon Musk has never had a PR team... Which is maybe the better point. (Or if he did, he hasn't had one in the 15+ years I've been watching him.)
      - plorkyeran 11mo ago
        After the taking Tesla private tweet that got him in trouble with the SEC he hired some people, but that didn't last long. Tesla had a PR team until a few years ago but he probably did not listen to them very much.

wmeredith 11mo ago

I've heard a similar maxim that being rich is fantastic, rich and famous is good, poor is bad, poor and famous is a nightmare.

jongjong 11mo ago
I was poor and recognizable in a tiny niche related to open source tools and 100% this was true. The recognition creates envy and ambitious people invest extra effort to sabotage you... Often, people who are rich see you as a threat and go all out war on you... And you don't have any buffer or support so you have to be 10x better just to stay afloat. Convincing people to work with you is much harder since you can't offer them any money and must offer pure equity... And your reputation, which fades over time, is the only thing that makes such equity potentially valuable. OP has the problem that his product is much more well known than he is. That's probably why he is not richer. Though at least his product is a mainstream brand by now. He can get recognition by association once he does the reveal "I'm the guy who created Mastodon" this creates opportunities... Though perhaps not as big opportunities as one may think. It depends on the degree of control he has over the product. In general, with open source or other community-oriented products, the control is limited.
groundzeros2015 11mo ago
The quote from the “jackass” crew is the opposite. If you’re famous you don’t need money. You just walk up and ask.

weinzierl 11mo ago

In addition to that: With money you can always buy popularity easily, but converting popularity into money is hard work at least. I'd even say that turning fame into significant wealth is an art only few have truly mastered.

RobotToaster 11mo ago
And if you can't buy popularity you can always buy a really high wall.
michaelt 11mo ago
> With money you can always buy popularity easily I don’t know if Elon Musk is an example or a counter-example. Maybe both?
- forgetfulness 11mo ago
  What he can’t buy is being at peace and content with the popularity he already has
- Tool_of_Society 11mo ago
  Well he was doing a good job at buying popularity until he fired his PR team so..
  - mlindner 11mo ago
    Elon Musk has never had a PR team... Which is maybe the better point. (Or if he did, he hasn't had one in the 15+ years I've been watching him.)
    - plorkyeran 11mo ago
      After the taking Tesla private tweet that got him in trouble with the SEC he hired some people, but that didn't last long. Tesla had a PR team until a few years ago but he probably did not listen to them very much.