Nat, this is the best/worst thing you’ve ever written. You’ve captured the entirety of “making money on the internet” more powerfully than anything I’ve ever seen.
It reminds me of an animated story by Pursuit of Wonder called "The Problem with Nice People" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RAPS8mE94&t=672s. Rather than merely listing symptoms and treatments for passive people pleasing like most other content, the video personifies the message into a relatable story about Fred.
Also, have you announced what your book project is about?
The Mexican Fisherman and the Investment Banker (Author Unknown)
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed. “I have an MBA from Harvard, and can help you,” he said. “You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middle-man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You could control the product, processing, and distribution,” he said. “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “Oh, 15 to 20 years or so.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time was right, you would announce an IPO, and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you could retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos.”
There's so much wisdom in what you say. But the key thing is ... how do we provide genuine value to the audience without being scammers and still make a decent living doing it. Ultimately that's what matters most to me.
BTW I've been listening to Derek Sivers' books which I've found very inspiring. Have you checked them out? Here's one sivers.org/n .... the audio book is available on that page.
Nat put the solution right in there! "Try to get really excellent at pottery, do it right, grow the audience and succeed purely based on your art and skill."
Nat, this is the best/worst thing you’ve ever written. You’ve captured the entirety of “making money on the internet” more powerfully than anything I’ve ever seen.
Hell yeah, thanks Michael 😄
I lol'd
Definitely had fun writing this one 😄
this kind of stuff is harder to write too! more imaginative. impressive!
I kinda want to do a short story based on this, half of it came out that way
i started a digital nomad fiction once along similar vein but it was so bad. damn hard to do fiction
So hard. I feel like an idiot every time I start
Really, it's just missing a main character. Everything else is there.
Maybe I’ll hack on it when I need a break from my other book project
It reminds me of an animated story by Pursuit of Wonder called "The Problem with Nice People" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RAPS8mE94&t=672s. Rather than merely listing symptoms and treatments for passive people pleasing like most other content, the video personifies the message into a relatable story about Fred.
Also, have you announced what your book project is about?
agreed!
A parable of the fisherman for the internet age. Bravo!
Good catch! I had a reference to that in there at some point
Are you referring to the following parable?
The Mexican Fisherman and the Investment Banker (Author Unknown)
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed. “I have an MBA from Harvard, and can help you,” he said. “You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middle-man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You could control the product, processing, and distribution,” he said. “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “Oh, 15 to 20 years or so.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time was right, you would announce an IPO, and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you could retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos.”
Where do you think you stand?
Is it autobiographical (at least partly)?
ha [Updated for 2022] is the cherry on top
The face you made for the thumbnail. Nice touch.
Extremely good, Sir! You captured so much of what's going on in this space
This was amazing! I Loved it. Great work Nat. Any tips on clearing up my trauma behind my left shoulder blade. 😂😅
My toxic trait is both wanting this and simultaneously despising it.
Fantastic piece, loved it.
Don’t we all 😄
I like this article. In its own cheeky way, it educates as well as jests at the ways many creators make a living via the creator economy.
This is the best article I've read on the topic in a long time. Great job!
Thanks Keith!
Sad but true. We all been there 😂
Damn...Shrewd. Hilarious. Bravo.
That was hilarious but also kinda dream crushing. LOL .... Is there no hope for us creators?
No hope for eternal bliss and satisfaction but that’s gonna be true for every career path. Just gotta choose what kinda suffering we prefer.
There's so much wisdom in what you say. But the key thing is ... how do we provide genuine value to the audience without being scammers and still make a decent living doing it. Ultimately that's what matters most to me.
BTW I've been listening to Derek Sivers' books which I've found very inspiring. Have you checked them out? Here's one sivers.org/n .... the audio book is available on that page.
Nat put the solution right in there! "Try to get really excellent at pottery, do it right, grow the audience and succeed purely based on your art and skill."
I just read through this again because I enjoyed it so much! Man you should put this out for the internet to see ... this is gold!
This one’s not behind a paywall or anything, it’s as findable as any normal blog post
brilliant. Thank you
this literally sounds like "how to get filthy rich in asia" LOL - currently reading right now
That's where I got the title idea!
This was a relief to read. Thank you for putting my feelings into words!
THIS was a wild one. Nice humor in this one Nat.