February 16, 2025 • 24 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Mike Banger, we live? Mike Banger, we live?
(00:03):
I think we are. It's the Nick Oliveri show.
Boom. I'm your host Nick Oliveri. On this podcast
basically talking about great people,
great art, and the many things in between. That encompasses a lot of things.
Almost everything, in my opinion.
(00:26):
Because even when I speak about mediocrity or evil or something that's not great,
it has to do with the many things in between.
That introduction is purposefully vague.
But today we are going to talk about some
purportedly, supposedly great things.
(00:46):
I had a conversation with someone today.
Just today. If you've been listening to this podcast for a bit,
you'll understand how I'll tie pop culture in with history,
or political figures of the past with great art today,
(01:07):
or film with literature, and so on and so forth.
Business and finance with art and the like.
I like to compare disparate things and concepts with...
you know, like...
(01:28):
I like to compare disparate things and concepts
when there's seemingly no bond or connection,
and yet there is one. Because I believe there is some sort of tapestry
that binds the universe. And I'm just trying to find it,
find a little bit more, chisel a little bit more into it and explain it,
(01:51):
understand it, and then, most importantly, use it.
Today we're going to be talking about the power law, a little bit about Peter Thiel,
the publishing industry, of course, per usual,
entertainment, making it as a star, actor, actress in Hollywood,
and really any other industry. So I was talking with someone today.
(02:16):
One of my buddies I called, by the way, today's Saturday,
or actually no, technically it's Sunday Eastern. I'm on Eastern time right now.
Very early in the morning, technically.
So, excuse the voice, I was talking with someone.
I called the buddy up and he immediately goes,
(02:39):
hey man, really sorry, can't talk right now. And I'm like, oh okay,
what's going on? And he goes, I'm at the office, I can't talk right now.
Sorry, can I call you back? I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course.
We're talking about Saturday. He was at the office
doing work on a Saturday.
(03:00):
I commend that, I commend hard work. This particular company he works for,
I'm not going to name him, but he is in a certain line of work
that has to do with money and counting money.
And counting money.
And well, he was at the office basically for
(03:24):
a full work day on Saturday. This is President's Day weekend, mind you.
So it's mid-February as I recorded this, 2025. And he said, I need to call you
back, I have something due at three. It was, folks,
ladies and gents, it was 2 45 pm. He goes, I have something due at three,
I gotta let you go. And I hung up, it was 2 45 pm, check the
(03:49):
time. And I go to someone else, keeping the
story vague, notably, I go to someone else and I say,
oh my gosh, I no longer envy my job when
my buddy is forced to work on a Saturday,
(04:10):
commute into the office on a Saturday on President's Day weekend.
Monday is a bank holiday, it's not some faux holiday,
okay. It's not some fake holiday, it's a bank-fed
holiday in the United States. And he was working his butt off
(04:32):
for very important deadlines on a Saturday. Now,
I work every weekend, but a lot of that is on things that I
enjoy. This podcast being one of them, but, you know, sort of a
vestige to what I mainly do, which is I create narratives, stories, poems,
(04:53):
I put them out there, I produce, I like to make, you know,
disparate words and concepts into things that
make sense and can help people and entertain people
in many ways. And then eventually I'm going to expand into
audiovisual. This person, my good buddy, he was stuck in the office on a
(05:18):
Saturday afternoon. He said he didn't get out,
later on I found out that tonight, basically,
he didn't get out until about 9 pm. And so he just had deadline after deadline
after deadline working, not just working, but under high
stress on a Saturday. Mind you, this man is 25 years old.
So take that for what you want, but like, and now look, I'm a hypocrite in
(05:45):
saying this, but like I think a 25 year old dude should have a Saturday,
especially, you know, this person lives in a city,
and you know, he's around a pretty live scene.
I think that he works his butt off during the week, he deserves a few days
off on the weekend, depending on his lifestyle and what you
want out of life to go and chill, be by himself, or let loose, go out
(06:09):
with friends, whatever, be with family, you name it.
But he couldn't, he couldn't today on this Saturday,
not Friday, not working late on Friday, on a Saturday.
And the important part of this conversation is I go to someone else and
I say, man, I am no long, this my buddy who I'm not going to
(06:30):
name, just made me grateful for my own job
because I work remote, I can work remote, I'm working remote right now.
And, and in a lot of other things, but all remote, really.
Sometimes I absolutely have to travel, whether on tour,
(06:51):
just meeting with colleagues or clients or whatever, but really like
I'm fairly remote, folks. And I just said to this other person,
I go, and by the way, this person's older, a lot older and has a lot more
career experience in terms of just straight years, time and decades spent
(07:11):
in the workforce. And I say, man, I do not envy my buddy,
that is crazy, that his company is having him and expecting him to work
at this time. He is a W2 employee and he does not get
overtime. And by the way, you know, the compensation,
(07:33):
his compensation is not in accordance, in my opinion,
to his work ethic and what he contributes to the company, but that's why I'm not
naming the company or him. So, you know, let's keep it civil.
And you know what this person said to me when I told him
about the struggle of my buddy was, well, yeah,
(07:57):
that happens in that industry, in the finance and accounting industry,
but you know what? In the long term, there's a big,
there, no, sorry, in the long term, there could,
there could be a big payoff. Keyword could. They didn't say,
there's a long-term payoff, definitely. They said there could be a long-term
(08:20):
payoff, definitely. Yes, my friend, my buddy, could make
partner and be very wealthy, considerably at least, the rest of his
life. Once he reaches the age of, I don't know,
40, 45, maybe 30, if he's like really good, I don't
know, probably not though. It got me to thinking,
(08:41):
because immediately my response to that was,
that's the same in every industry. You know what gets
absolutely shit on is entertainment. People who want to become actors and
actresses, anything in entertainment. I'm not a big
fan of calling like YouTube personalities, quote, creators,
(09:02):
but like, because a lot of them are not necessarily creating a lot, they're just
commenting on what's already been created, but
I'm gonna save that rant for another day. A lot of people are,
or rather, a lot, if not every single industry operates on the power law.
(09:23):
There's, there always could be a very large payoff
for a very hard time, for a long time in the beginning,
struggling and suffering to quote, and to quote, a tired old adage,
cutting your teeth, earning your stripes, while you're underpaid and overworked.
(09:50):
When I was talking to the person, I reached out to just kind of expressing
like as a joke, in the same room, like saying, oh man,
I don't envy him, grateful for my job, which I really am. I'm absolutely
grateful for my job. They said that, they said, well,
(10:11):
there could be a lot of long-term opportunity, as in
like, you know, my buddy could be making a lot more
money like 10 years down the line, like a lot, a lot, a lot more,
five to 10x more than what he has now. And to that I said, that's true with
every industry. And then my mind, my crazy mind went to
(10:35):
the entertainment industry, where entertainment,
whether it be sports, whether it be actors, actresses,
writers, playwrights, screenplay writers, let's get into filmmakers, let's get into
late night hosts, let's get into personalities, let's get into YouTube
quote creators, let's get into influencers on Instagram, on TikTok,
(10:56):
anywhere in entertainment. I was just like, well, I work in entertainment
technically, I work in the arts, but you know,
the literary arts for now, eventually visual media, audio visual media, I'd
love to get on the big screen and so on and so
forth, and that's part of the plan. In fact, there are many plans working
toward that. Look, look, look.
(11:23):
I said that,
and the person I was talking with said, well, yeah, but in accounting it's more,
it's more stable. And I just said, I think that's a load of,
it's a load of shit. The fact that people write off
entertainment as a pipe dream and then say,
(11:45):
oh well, in accounting or in finance or in entrepreneurship, granted I know a
lot of those things could be intertwined in
in entrepreneurship, depending on what you're doing,
but the point stays the same in athletics and sports.
Name another industry in mechanics, in electrical engineering, in
(12:07):
engineering in general, computer science, data science,
in, I mean, gosh, what other journalism, right? Anything,
podcasting, pardon, in winemaking. I've seen it, I've worked in wine
for, you know, about three years when I was living in California.
(12:29):
I know all about the power law, which is what we're going to get into in a sec.
It's not just entertainment and it's not just accounting, and accounting isn't
necessarily more stable than something like entertainment or
entrepreneurship. Entertainment, and when I say
entertainment, I mean I'm encapsulating, I'm encapsulating literature, film,
(12:50):
painting, photography, videography, content and social media content, and
influencers, and influencer marketing, marketing in general, whether if it's
digital or or otherwise, writing in any way,
writing plays, novels, screenplays, acting in any way,
and so on and so forth. Entertainment, sports, recreation
(13:13):
as a job, right? Entertainment as a job. That's what I mean by entertainment, and
I think the really big difference between entertainment and something like,
say, accounting or finance is if you want to make it, if you want to
actually make it, quote, make it, and making it means you're making a really
(13:35):
good living, if not you're getting wealthy off your profession,
it's the same thing. It's just that accounting along the way there
will provide you a more stable base, but you're going to need to work just as
hard, if not harder, in entertainment fields
as you do in accounting, with probably just a lot less stability to support
(13:56):
yourself along the way. That actually makes accounting and
finance, follow my logic, that makes accounting and finance
actually more competitive than the highest reaches of entertainment,
because most people are unwilling to not take a stable salary until they
make it and dedicate themselves fully to their craft,
(14:18):
rather than in accounting, when they have a stable salary, granted they might get
worked into the ground for years and years, underpaid for the
work they're doing, but they still have enough to make ends meet.
If they're smart about it, they might even have a good amount of discretionary
income all along the way to making partner,
and if they never make partner, they still have a stable career.
(14:41):
That's not the same in entertainment, however,
however, I would argue that accounting, and no I do not have statistics to back
this up, but I would argue accounting is more competitive.
Does it matter? Well for the sake of this episode real quick, and
as I'm tying this up and really getting to the
big juicy point here about if it actually matters,
(15:05):
my answer and my explanation, which will follow this, is no it
doesn't matter what's more competitive, it matters about the power law.
If you don't know Peter Thiel, I'm not going to explain who Peter Thiel is to
you. Find out about him, google him, you might
say he's like far right, all right, whatever,
just because just because he funds the Republican party
(15:28):
doesn't mean he's some activist. He cares about business interests,
let's just be hitherto, let's be very honest about that.
Once again, separate podcast for a separate day, I'll get into that,
and dark money and PACs and things like that,
money in politics, but Peter Thiel, just look him up if you don't know him, but
(15:53):
he said in the power law distribution, the largest entity
the largest entity is typically bigger, more valuable,
and more powerful, wait for it, than all others combined.
I am going to repeat this, and when I repeat this, think of this as a,
do an exercise, think of this as a blanket statement
(16:14):
for every industry, every person and entity,
in every single industry, concrete industry, construction industry,
IT, IT services, computer science, data science, AI and analytics,
data, you name it, pharmaceutical manufacturing, arts and entertainment,
(16:38):
painting, film.
Use it as a mental exercise to compare every industry, think about every
industry, think about the industry you are either in or want to go in or are
interested in or have a passion on, and think about the power law
distribution, and if you disagree with me, then try to
disprove me on your own or in the comments
(16:59):
after you study or think about it. I don't think I'm
wrong though. In a power law distribution, the largest entity is typically bigger,
more valuable, or more powerful than all others combined.
The second largest is likewise bigger than the total of all those after it
(17:24):
and so on. Also in the power law distribution, the
top 20% of entities typically hold 80% of the value or power.
I know because I'm a novelist and an author, writer,
(17:46):
I like to bring things back to the publishing industry, but
when I bring this back to the publishing industry to tie this up,
think about your own industry or if you are a fellow writer yourself
or someone in arts and entertainment, just think about it along your own
vector.
Top 20% holds 80% of the value or power in any industry that could go by people
(18:12):
or entities or both. That is absurd. That is patently absurd,
at least on the front. Now think about it.
Think about e-commerce, just e-commerce in general.
There's so many new e-commerce stores popping up literally every single day.
There's so many services, GoDaddy, Aero, Shopify,
(18:33):
Squarespace, the list goes on and then there are tools around that
to bilk you out of more money if you're not making any, right?
Well, name one or two companies that you think own most of the market
share of e-commerce. You say there's no way there is
because if there's say 10 million e-commerce companies,
(18:57):
there's no way that one company has more power than
9 million or 9.5 million other e-commerce companies.
Well guess what? That's actually the case.
It's called, it's a little company called Amazon.
Did you know that the Sherman Antitrust Act got invoked,
(19:18):
bringing this back to the publishing industry, to block the merger
of Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House?
And by the way, did you know that Penguin and Random House
merged before they were called Penguin Random House? It wasn't always called
Penguin Random House. Penguin was a separate company,
(19:38):
Random House was a separate company, and they both published books to make money.
Then they merged. Then Simon & Schuster,
who was the second biggest, who was likewise, as Thiel would say,
bigger than the total of all those after it,
(19:59):
wanted to merge with the first most, essentially taking up
anywhere from, oh I don't know, 60 to 90 percent of all traditional publishing
dollars? Gross?
Well it's gross in two ways. Gross revenue in the market, and also
it's rather disgusting. Well it got blocked,
(20:22):
got busted by the Gov, by the Fed. Now why am I saying this? Why did I talk
about my buddy in accounting? Why am I talking about arts and entertainment? Why
am I talking about the power law and some mathematical
principle that I don't fully understand, yet I can see applied
on earth throughout human nature and human systems? Well it's
(20:45):
because of this. Just think about it. If anyone ever
tells you, oh that industry's hard, or oh that market's saturated, or oh
that genre,
it's very competitive, it's too saturated, you're going to have a lot of competition,
(21:07):
oh you know it's a long way to the top, oh well
you may be able to stick it out, but it's a pipe dream,
right? It's a pipe dream. Oh well you're one in a million,
maybe you're one in a billion. Have you ever had things said to you like that?
Have you ever? Well
(21:28):
the power law would suggest, hey whatever you're doing right now
isn't as stable as you think, and either you are
one of the few that get most, or you're one of the many who is
criticizing me that gets the fewest, however much you
(21:49):
think that may be. If my words are abstract, I
well I'm not going to apologize because sorry not sorry, I'm not sorry,
but I'll say that one more time and then we're going to close it out.
I know this episode was fairly conceptual, but
I hope you kind of followed me and my pseudologic here.
(22:12):
I encourage you to look more into the power law, I encourage you to look more
into Peter Thiel, and I encourage you to take this message
as a little kick in the pants, or just a little motivation, or maybe just a little
warm fuzzy today on your long weekend, or whenever you may
be hearing this, which is listen if you've ever been told oh no
(22:34):
don't go into that market it's too competitive, no there are too many
there are too many like you in that genre, oh no
being an actor that's one in a million, oh no that's a
the market saturated, oh no it's a long way to the top, oh
well timing is everything, well
(22:55):
there there I think there are too many people in line,
you know you you got to get in line, you're last in line.
Have you ever heard something along those lines?
That person that is trying to dispel you of your dreams and your desires
(23:16):
is either one of the very few that has the most,
or one of the many that has the fewest. That's it, that's how it goes.
Disprove me in the comments, or in the comments
just go up to the description check out the links, check out the links guys,
check out the links. You could follow me on Amazon, you can check out my novels,
(23:40):
you can check out my website, follow me on X, on Twitter,
on even TikTok,
just uh just do it, Nike just do it, just do it. The power law is going to
pervade everything in your life as a person,
just do it,
(24:01):
just do it. It applies everywhere, everything's saturated, everything's tough,
life is tough, it's not fair, no industry is fair,
corporations are going to try to take your life, humans are going to try to take
your life, individuals, nothing's fair, go for it,
fuck it. Whoops, sorry, sorry grandma.
(24:25):
Check out the links in the description, appreciate you enjoying, and there's
going to be many more on the way. Much appreciated,
Nick Oliveri, I want to be out.
Mike Banger, we live? Mike Banger, we live?
(00:03):
I think we are. It's the Nick Oliveri show.
Boom. I'm your host Nick Oliveri. On this podcast
basically talking about great people,
great art, and the many things in between. That encompasses a lot of things.
Almost everything, in my opinion.
(00:26):
Because even when I speak about mediocrity or evil or something that's not great,
it has to do with the many things in between.
That introduction is purposefully vague.
But today we are going to talk about some
purportedly, supposedly great things.
(00:46):
I had a conversation with someone today.
Just today. If you've been listening to this podcast for a bit,
you'll understand how I'll tie pop culture in with history,
or political figures of the past with great art today,
(01:07):
or film with literature, and so on and so forth.
Business and finance with art and the like.
I like to compare disparate things and concepts with...
you know, like...
(01:28):
I like to compare disparate things and concepts
when there's seemingly no bond or connection,
and yet there is one. Because I believe there is some sort of tapestry
that binds the universe. And I'm just trying to find it,
find a little bit more, chisel a little bit more into it and explain it,
(01:51):
understand it, and then, most importantly, use it.
Today we're going to be talking about the power law, a little bit about Peter Thiel,
the publishing industry, of course, per usual,
entertainment, making it as a star, actor, actress in Hollywood,
and really any other industry. So I was talking with someone today.
(02:16):
One of my buddies I called, by the way, today's Saturday,
or actually no, technically it's Sunday Eastern. I'm on Eastern time right now.
Very early in the morning, technically.
So, excuse the voice, I was talking with someone.
I called the buddy up and he immediately goes,
(02:39):
hey man, really sorry, can't talk right now. And I'm like, oh okay,
what's going on? And he goes, I'm at the office, I can't talk right now.
Sorry, can I call you back? I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course.
We're talking about Saturday. He was at the office
doing work on a Saturday.
(03:00):
I commend that, I commend hard work. This particular company he works for,
I'm not going to name him, but he is in a certain line of work
that has to do with money and counting money.
And counting money.
And well, he was at the office basically for
(03:24):
a full work day on Saturday. This is President's Day weekend, mind you.
So it's mid-February as I recorded this, 2025. And he said, I need to call you
back, I have something due at three. It was, folks,
ladies and gents, it was 2 45 pm. He goes, I have something due at three,
I gotta let you go. And I hung up, it was 2 45 pm, check the
(03:49):
time. And I go to someone else, keeping the
story vague, notably, I go to someone else and I say,
oh my gosh, I no longer envy my job when
my buddy is forced to work on a Saturday,
(04:10):
commute into the office on a Saturday on President's Day weekend.
Monday is a bank holiday, it's not some faux holiday,
okay. It's not some fake holiday, it's a bank-fed
holiday in the United States. And he was working his butt off
(04:32):
for very important deadlines on a Saturday. Now,
I work every weekend, but a lot of that is on things that I
enjoy. This podcast being one of them, but, you know, sort of a
vestige to what I mainly do, which is I create narratives, stories, poems,
(04:53):
I put them out there, I produce, I like to make, you know,
disparate words and concepts into things that
make sense and can help people and entertain people
in many ways. And then eventually I'm going to expand into
audiovisual. This person, my good buddy, he was stuck in the office on a
(05:18):
Saturday afternoon. He said he didn't get out,
later on I found out that tonight, basically,
he didn't get out until about 9 pm. And so he just had deadline after deadline
after deadline working, not just working, but under high
stress on a Saturday. Mind you, this man is 25 years old.
So take that for what you want, but like, and now look, I'm a hypocrite in
(05:45):
saying this, but like I think a 25 year old dude should have a Saturday,
especially, you know, this person lives in a city,
and you know, he's around a pretty live scene.
I think that he works his butt off during the week, he deserves a few days
off on the weekend, depending on his lifestyle and what you
want out of life to go and chill, be by himself, or let loose, go out
(06:09):
with friends, whatever, be with family, you name it.
But he couldn't, he couldn't today on this Saturday,
not Friday, not working late on Friday, on a Saturday.
And the important part of this conversation is I go to someone else and
I say, man, I am no long, this my buddy who I'm not going to
(06:30):
name, just made me grateful for my own job
because I work remote, I can work remote, I'm working remote right now.
And, and in a lot of other things, but all remote, really.
Sometimes I absolutely have to travel, whether on tour,
(06:51):
just meeting with colleagues or clients or whatever, but really like
I'm fairly remote, folks. And I just said to this other person,
I go, and by the way, this person's older, a lot older and has a lot more
career experience in terms of just straight years, time and decades spent
(07:11):
in the workforce. And I say, man, I do not envy my buddy,
that is crazy, that his company is having him and expecting him to work
at this time. He is a W2 employee and he does not get
overtime. And by the way, you know, the compensation,
(07:33):
his compensation is not in accordance, in my opinion,
to his work ethic and what he contributes to the company, but that's why I'm not
naming the company or him. So, you know, let's keep it civil.
And you know what this person said to me when I told him
about the struggle of my buddy was, well, yeah,
(07:57):
that happens in that industry, in the finance and accounting industry,
but you know what? In the long term, there's a big,
there, no, sorry, in the long term, there could,
there could be a big payoff. Keyword could. They didn't say,
there's a long-term payoff, definitely. They said there could be a long-term
(08:20):
payoff, definitely. Yes, my friend, my buddy, could make
partner and be very wealthy, considerably at least, the rest of his
life. Once he reaches the age of, I don't know,
40, 45, maybe 30, if he's like really good, I don't
know, probably not though. It got me to thinking,
(08:41):
because immediately my response to that was,
that's the same in every industry. You know what gets
absolutely shit on is entertainment. People who want to become actors and
actresses, anything in entertainment. I'm not a big
fan of calling like YouTube personalities, quote, creators,
(09:02):
but like, because a lot of them are not necessarily creating a lot, they're just
commenting on what's already been created, but
I'm gonna save that rant for another day. A lot of people are,
or rather, a lot, if not every single industry operates on the power law.
(09:23):
There's, there always could be a very large payoff
for a very hard time, for a long time in the beginning,
struggling and suffering to quote, and to quote, a tired old adage,
cutting your teeth, earning your stripes, while you're underpaid and overworked.
(09:50):
When I was talking to the person, I reached out to just kind of expressing
like as a joke, in the same room, like saying, oh man,
I don't envy him, grateful for my job, which I really am. I'm absolutely
grateful for my job. They said that, they said, well,
(10:11):
there could be a lot of long-term opportunity, as in
like, you know, my buddy could be making a lot more
money like 10 years down the line, like a lot, a lot, a lot more,
five to 10x more than what he has now. And to that I said, that's true with
every industry. And then my mind, my crazy mind went to
(10:35):
the entertainment industry, where entertainment,
whether it be sports, whether it be actors, actresses,
writers, playwrights, screenplay writers, let's get into filmmakers, let's get into
late night hosts, let's get into personalities, let's get into YouTube
quote creators, let's get into influencers on Instagram, on TikTok,
(10:56):
anywhere in entertainment. I was just like, well, I work in entertainment
technically, I work in the arts, but you know,
the literary arts for now, eventually visual media, audio visual media, I'd
love to get on the big screen and so on and so
forth, and that's part of the plan. In fact, there are many plans working
toward that. Look, look, look.
(11:23):
I said that,
and the person I was talking with said, well, yeah, but in accounting it's more,
it's more stable. And I just said, I think that's a load of,
it's a load of shit. The fact that people write off
entertainment as a pipe dream and then say,
(11:45):
oh well, in accounting or in finance or in entrepreneurship, granted I know a
lot of those things could be intertwined in
in entrepreneurship, depending on what you're doing,
but the point stays the same in athletics and sports.
Name another industry in mechanics, in electrical engineering, in
(12:07):
engineering in general, computer science, data science,
in, I mean, gosh, what other journalism, right? Anything,
podcasting, pardon, in winemaking. I've seen it, I've worked in wine
for, you know, about three years when I was living in California.
(12:29):
I know all about the power law, which is what we're going to get into in a sec.
It's not just entertainment and it's not just accounting, and accounting isn't
necessarily more stable than something like entertainment or
entrepreneurship. Entertainment, and when I say
entertainment, I mean I'm encapsulating, I'm encapsulating literature, film,
(12:50):
painting, photography, videography, content and social media content, and
influencers, and influencer marketing, marketing in general, whether if it's
digital or or otherwise, writing in any way,
writing plays, novels, screenplays, acting in any way,
and so on and so forth. Entertainment, sports, recreation
(13:13):
as a job, right? Entertainment as a job. That's what I mean by entertainment, and
I think the really big difference between entertainment and something like,
say, accounting or finance is if you want to make it, if you want to
actually make it, quote, make it, and making it means you're making a really
(13:35):
good living, if not you're getting wealthy off your profession,
it's the same thing. It's just that accounting along the way there
will provide you a more stable base, but you're going to need to work just as
hard, if not harder, in entertainment fields
as you do in accounting, with probably just a lot less stability to support
(13:56):
yourself along the way. That actually makes accounting and
finance, follow my logic, that makes accounting and finance
actually more competitive than the highest reaches of entertainment,
because most people are unwilling to not take a stable salary until they
make it and dedicate themselves fully to their craft,
(14:18):
rather than in accounting, when they have a stable salary, granted they might get
worked into the ground for years and years, underpaid for the
work they're doing, but they still have enough to make ends meet.
If they're smart about it, they might even have a good amount of discretionary
income all along the way to making partner,
and if they never make partner, they still have a stable career.
(14:41):
That's not the same in entertainment, however,
however, I would argue that accounting, and no I do not have statistics to back
this up, but I would argue accounting is more competitive.
Does it matter? Well for the sake of this episode real quick, and
as I'm tying this up and really getting to the
big juicy point here about if it actually matters,
(15:05):
my answer and my explanation, which will follow this, is no it
doesn't matter what's more competitive, it matters about the power law.
If you don't know Peter Thiel, I'm not going to explain who Peter Thiel is to
you. Find out about him, google him, you might
say he's like far right, all right, whatever,
just because just because he funds the Republican party
(15:28):
doesn't mean he's some activist. He cares about business interests,
let's just be hitherto, let's be very honest about that.
Once again, separate podcast for a separate day, I'll get into that,
and dark money and PACs and things like that,
money in politics, but Peter Thiel, just look him up if you don't know him, but
(15:53):
he said in the power law distribution, the largest entity
the largest entity is typically bigger, more valuable,
and more powerful, wait for it, than all others combined.
I am going to repeat this, and when I repeat this, think of this as a,
do an exercise, think of this as a blanket statement
(16:14):
for every industry, every person and entity,
in every single industry, concrete industry, construction industry,
IT, IT services, computer science, data science, AI and analytics,
data, you name it, pharmaceutical manufacturing, arts and entertainment,
(16:38):
painting, film.
Use it as a mental exercise to compare every industry, think about every
industry, think about the industry you are either in or want to go in or are
interested in or have a passion on, and think about the power law
distribution, and if you disagree with me, then try to
disprove me on your own or in the comments
(16:59):
after you study or think about it. I don't think I'm
wrong though. In a power law distribution, the largest entity is typically bigger,
more valuable, or more powerful than all others combined.
The second largest is likewise bigger than the total of all those after it
(17:24):
and so on. Also in the power law distribution, the
top 20% of entities typically hold 80% of the value or power.
I know because I'm a novelist and an author, writer,
(17:46):
I like to bring things back to the publishing industry, but
when I bring this back to the publishing industry to tie this up,
think about your own industry or if you are a fellow writer yourself
or someone in arts and entertainment, just think about it along your own
vector.
Top 20% holds 80% of the value or power in any industry that could go by people
(18:12):
or entities or both. That is absurd. That is patently absurd,
at least on the front. Now think about it.
Think about e-commerce, just e-commerce in general.
There's so many new e-commerce stores popping up literally every single day.
There's so many services, GoDaddy, Aero, Shopify,
(18:33):
Squarespace, the list goes on and then there are tools around that
to bilk you out of more money if you're not making any, right?
Well, name one or two companies that you think own most of the market
share of e-commerce. You say there's no way there is
because if there's say 10 million e-commerce companies,
(18:57):
there's no way that one company has more power than
9 million or 9.5 million other e-commerce companies.
Well guess what? That's actually the case.
It's called, it's a little company called Amazon.
Did you know that the Sherman Antitrust Act got invoked,
(19:18):
bringing this back to the publishing industry, to block the merger
of Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House?
And by the way, did you know that Penguin and Random House
merged before they were called Penguin Random House? It wasn't always called
Penguin Random House. Penguin was a separate company,
(19:38):
Random House was a separate company, and they both published books to make money.
Then they merged. Then Simon & Schuster,
who was the second biggest, who was likewise, as Thiel would say,
bigger than the total of all those after it,
(19:59):
wanted to merge with the first most, essentially taking up
anywhere from, oh I don't know, 60 to 90 percent of all traditional publishing
dollars? Gross?
Well it's gross in two ways. Gross revenue in the market, and also
it's rather disgusting. Well it got blocked,
(20:22):
got busted by the Gov, by the Fed. Now why am I saying this? Why did I talk
about my buddy in accounting? Why am I talking about arts and entertainment? Why
am I talking about the power law and some mathematical
principle that I don't fully understand, yet I can see applied
on earth throughout human nature and human systems? Well it's
(20:45):
because of this. Just think about it. If anyone ever
tells you, oh that industry's hard, or oh that market's saturated, or oh
that genre,
it's very competitive, it's too saturated, you're going to have a lot of competition,
(21:07):
oh you know it's a long way to the top, oh well
you may be able to stick it out, but it's a pipe dream,
right? It's a pipe dream. Oh well you're one in a million,
maybe you're one in a billion. Have you ever had things said to you like that?
Have you ever? Well
(21:28):
the power law would suggest, hey whatever you're doing right now
isn't as stable as you think, and either you are
one of the few that get most, or you're one of the many who is
criticizing me that gets the fewest, however much you
(21:49):
think that may be. If my words are abstract, I
well I'm not going to apologize because sorry not sorry, I'm not sorry,
but I'll say that one more time and then we're going to close it out.
I know this episode was fairly conceptual, but
I hope you kind of followed me and my pseudologic here.
(22:12):
I encourage you to look more into the power law, I encourage you to look more
into Peter Thiel, and I encourage you to take this message
as a little kick in the pants, or just a little motivation, or maybe just a little
warm fuzzy today on your long weekend, or whenever you may
be hearing this, which is listen if you've ever been told oh no
(22:34):
don't go into that market it's too competitive, no there are too many
there are too many like you in that genre, oh no
being an actor that's one in a million, oh no that's a
the market saturated, oh no it's a long way to the top, oh
well timing is everything, well
(22:55):
there there I think there are too many people in line,
you know you you got to get in line, you're last in line.
Have you ever heard something along those lines?
That person that is trying to dispel you of your dreams and your desires
(23:16):
is either one of the very few that has the most,
or one of the many that has the fewest. That's it, that's how it goes.
Disprove me in the comments, or in the comments
just go up to the description check out the links, check out the links guys,
check out the links. You could follow me on Amazon, you can check out my novels,
(23:40):
you can check out my website, follow me on X, on Twitter,
on even TikTok,
just uh just do it, Nike just do it, just do it. The power law is going to
pervade everything in your life as a person,
just do it,
(24:01):
just do it. It applies everywhere, everything's saturated, everything's tough,
life is tough, it's not fair, no industry is fair,
corporations are going to try to take your life, humans are going to try to take
your life, individuals, nothing's fair, go for it,
fuck it. Whoops, sorry, sorry grandma.
(24:25):
Check out the links in the description, appreciate you enjoying, and there's
going to be many more on the way. Much appreciated,
Nick Oliveri, I want to be out.
Host
Nick Oliveri
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