We live in a world where extreme results rule what most people define as success.
95% of businesses fail in the first three years. Of the 5% who survive, only a very few go on to be "successful" ie have thousands of customers and make a lot of money. The same goes for authors and book sales. Millions of books are written every year. Of those millions only a handful or so go on to be massively successful and a couple hundred make the author enough money to get by. The rest? The vast majority don't even get published. The ones that do and don't perform are quickly yanked from bookstore shelves in the hopes they will be replaced by one of the ones that goes on to be massively successful. We call this skewed distribution of results the "winner take all effect".
The winner take all effect should be deeply considered before choosing a career path. Authors, artists and start-up founders are all examples of winner take all industries where the likelihood of success is slim but the upside potential is enormous. Consider carefully decisions in life about the type of life you want to live. Do you place a higher value on stability in the form of a mandated daily routine and regular paycheck or being a world renowned author, business person, singer...etc. If being world renowned is the objective, you've got to be in a career that supports it but BE WARNED! Remember the failure rate to achieving these results is over 99%. If you've in one of these industries, look around you. There's a good chance out of all the people you have met, only one or two have actually been truly successful. Are you really better than the the millions of other people who've tried and failed before you? Truly?
The challenge is yours.
-Austin Carter
