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In the most glamorous, dream-driven niches, business models, or careers, the harsh reality is that very few people reach the top. For example, the vast majority of actors are broke. Most novelists make peanuts. Wannabe influencers will never reach the high level of success they expect. Most bloggers will quit before they start making any money, let alone reaching five or six figures.
Knowing the harsh reality (or perhaps ignoring it?), most people still pursue these most popular businesses, thinking that they'll be special, that the statistics apply only to other people. Sometimes it's caused by their belief that you need to do what you love. But often it's not even that. They just see so many people making a living in a given niche (say, YouTubers) that they think they can do it, too. But the competition is so fierce that the odds are stacked against them.
How do you protect yourself against this naive thinking that the harsh reality doesn't apply to you? I mean, if most novelists end up making pennies and just a handful of authors make most money, what makes you think that you'll be better than them? Why not launch a business with very few competitors where you have much higher chances of success?
Or do you believe that if you really care about pursuing a given business, you'll succeed no matter what the reality is for most people?
Knowing the harsh reality (or perhaps ignoring it?), most people still pursue these most popular businesses, thinking that they'll be special, that the statistics apply only to other people. Sometimes it's caused by their belief that you need to do what you love. But often it's not even that. They just see so many people making a living in a given niche (say, YouTubers) that they think they can do it, too. But the competition is so fierce that the odds are stacked against them.
How do you protect yourself against this naive thinking that the harsh reality doesn't apply to you? I mean, if most novelists end up making pennies and just a handful of authors make most money, what makes you think that you'll be better than them? Why not launch a business with very few competitors where you have much higher chances of success?
Or do you believe that if you really care about pursuing a given business, you'll succeed no matter what the reality is for most people?
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