A scientist can spend 40 years researching a question; we read the essence of it in a month for $5–15. So why do so few people use this?
An opportunity that a lot of people ignore.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I often repeat the thought that we live in a remarkable time.
Just 40 years ago, our parents and relatives couldn’t have dreamed of the possibilities available today to anyone holding a smartphone.
Living in the USSR, you couldn’t walk into a shop and buy any book on a subject that interested you. You couldn’t open Google or ChatGPT, ask your question and get an answer for free.
We gained access to the global web, and with it access to other people’s experience. That’s a magnificent opportunity.
Right now, any of us who wants to can buy a book, watch a video on YouTube, or read articles online about any question at all.
A scientist, an entrepreneur or an author can spend 40 years researching something and set out everything essential in a book that we read in a month and pay $5–15 for.
When I think about how much the world has changed with the arrival of the internet and computer technology, it genuinely staggers the imagination.
I was born in 1991 in the Kherson region. I remember how in those years practically every adult went out to work. For some it was an office, for some a shop, for some a building site, some worked in the fields — but everyone worked outside their own home.
These days I couldn’t find ten people in my circle who have a 9-to-5.
Most people in my information bubble live and earn without being tied to a schedule or a location. The internet has made it possible to earn from anywhere in the world, in a huge variety of ways.
I watch kids start dancing on TikTok — everyone laughs at them at first, and then at 16 they’re earning more from advertising contracts than their parents.
I see creative people who love writing music. They share their work online and earn from streaming, from donations, from services to other beginning musicians, from performing and teaching.
I see a mother on maternity leave spend 20–30 hours learning Photoshop, start making simple covers and social media graphics as a freelancer, and earn $500–1,000 a month.
I see other people learn video editing in 10–15 hours and become remote editors for content creators.
There are hundreds of examples like this.
So why do so few people use the internet’s potential? Why do millions keep struggling financially or enduring soul-crushingly dull work for pennies?
The internet is effectively free. People don’t value what comes to them easily.
Then for some, dismissal and disbelief kick in — the conviction that it won’t work out for them. Because everyone knows someone who tried to earn something online and got scammed.
If you don’t want to be scammed online, simply take payment for your work up front. It’s that simple.
Some older people believe their train has left and they’ll never get to grips with all this internet technology.
I don’t think that’s true. My father is 65. I spent one hour showing him how to use Notion, and now he helps me with some tasks as a personal assistant.
You can, of course, convince yourself that none of this is for you and it won’t work out. But just consider what your life could look like if it suddenly did work out and you figured it out.
How much simpler and easier can our life be if we know how to earn money and set our own schedule? If we get to choose who we work with and how?
We can either roll up our sleeves and work out what the global web makes possible, or we can go on living exactly as our parents and grandparents did. That’s our choice.
Do you feel you’re using the internet’s potential?