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richardhutnik on 13 July 2011
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HappySqurriel said:
richardhutnik said:
HappySqurriel said:
I'm not entirely sure I understand the point you're trying to get across ...

Unpaid work has always existed and people accept these terms of "employment" because they believe the potential payout is worth the lack of one initially. Often these individuals are getting valuable skills in exchange for their free labour, which can translate into far greater employment opportunities elsewhere even if their current internship doesn’t land them a job with the company.

Commissioned sales are the ultimate in performance pay and, while there are lots of negatives with this approach, it tends to attract and keep people who are good at the job. If you walk into many small and medium sized companies the highest earning people in the company are the commissioned sales people (often earning more than the executives) so they’re hardly being exploited by taking no salary in exchange for their labour.

Every year the amount of "Internet Monies" is growing primarily because people will pay you to get access to your audience if you build a popular enough site/service. People are earning 6 figures on youtube posting dumb videos, web-comic artists and bloggers have built significant empires, and countless websites have become profitable without charging users a penny for their services. Media outlets are failing to take advantage of this because they cling to a business model that is broken and refuse to see its flaws.

 

I am looking at something, not trying to get any point across.  It is a case of, "If this is true, then what do you see as the impact on the economy"?

If the end result ends up being an entire economy shaped so only 10% of people actually are profitable doing this, and can make a living, and supports a 90% failure rate, and that is the normal model, what happens to the economy?  If all you have are winners and losers, and not the middle guys, then what happens?

 

First off, I suspect that the success rate is far higher than 10%; after all, the people who enter into unpaid internships tend to have little/no experience and even if their internship doesn't become a job they're far more likely to be able to get a job after it is done, and few people who would be particularly bad at commissioned sales would apply for a position that was strictly commission based.

With that said, I don't see how any thing you have mentioned is any worse than people going to University. People spend tens of thousands of dollars and 4 (or more) years working towards building skills they hope will be valued, and there is virtually no direct opportunity for employment from these institutions; and the majority of students are being let down because they're developing skills that are worthless outside of University.

Well, this trend I am talking about looks like it is going to run Universities out of business also.  Once businesses shift to not relying on paper degrees, but other things, universities will have problems.  If you shift to where it is boom or bust, then you dont' have a middle class.  All that is left is for businesses to stop using them as filters for people, and they have big problems on their hands.  No one is going to borrow a ton of money just to buy a lottery ticket in hopes maybe they can land a middle class lifestyle.

As far as 10%, how many you think make good money on the internet?  I would say about 10% as being reasonable.  I speak of YouTube stars.  90% is just make no money place.  The thing about the Internet is that it scales.  You end up either doing real well, or end up not making it.  There isn't room for the middle in it at all.  That is because of the viral effect that leads to things breaking out.  And because of the scaling, a small team can end up doing a lot.  Once you hit it, you hit it, like the Epic Meal Time guys or Equals 3.