Researching Motivation Leads to... Business? Our Little Update #2

Not much writing, but a looooot of thinking.

It became recursive.

To research motivation, I had to look at my own. It sprang a lot of questions, one of them asked what was the point of this newsletter.

I stumbled.

The reason I started Our Little Game was threefold:

• I love writing.

• I love making money (businesses are so interesting).

• I love learning.

This newsletter combined all three passions. Yei. But there was something off.

These objectives clashed into one another.

I like writing about different thoughts but, theoretically, the way to grow and sell stuff is to pick a niche. Writing and business clashing. I felt hollow. I entered Twitter and saw people only pushing their products and rarely communicating stuff of value.

Well damn, I don’t want that.

Also, I couldn’t publish as much if I first learned and researched new topics. Learning and business clashing. So I mainly wrote my own reflections. Which are many. So many. It’s exhausting sometimes. I write 2-3 notes a day on a myriad of different topics. Wouldn’t have it any other way though.

So it seems the culprit is making money! Business sucks!

But actually, online businesses have so much potential and they are beautiful. Almost cero costs, huge potential upside. My main concern is that many feel soulless. They are automated, cold.

But precisely what’s beautiful about businesses is that you interact profoundly with the world. If you just make content for the sake of having something to run ads on, that’s hellish.

As Fanny explained beautifully in The Meta-Creator Economy:

Something that's hard not to notice on digital platforms right now is just how many meta-creators there are. Why is it that so many content creators end up creating about content creation? Those who write on the Internet about how to write on the Internet, those who create online courses about how to create an online course, blogs that are about blogging, Youtubers who make videos about youtubing, tweets that are about how to get Twitter followers, newsletters about how to start a newsletter. It's everywhere.

My theory is that this is a consequence of most mainstream platforms catering better for brands than for individual people. The goal of social media is to drive engagement and this meta-content acts a lot like ads. In turn, creators end up "branding" themselves and devoting their creative practice to that track.

Eventually, these meta-creators do indeed become small businesses of one and get to a point where they just need "stuff" to run ads on, so they keep the same ball of high performing content rolling.

The last sentence made me shiver. They just need “stuff” to run ads on.

I like making money. I really do. But not by making the world a worse place. I could get rich by selling drugs to 15-year-olds. Organized crime is a big business opportunity here in Mexico. I would rather give up a foot than do that.

Obviously selling bloated courses is not the same thing as selling cocaine. Don’t worry, I have not gone that bananas yet. But the principle still stands. You are making the world a worse place.

And since I heard OG Rose say: We should strive to increase the good, beauty, or truth in the world; I was damned. The heart doesn’t use words, but if it talked I knew these would be the words spoken.

If you don’t have enough money to eat you can’t afford the luxury to hear your heart. Thankfully I have food and a roof over my head. I can listen closely.

So…
All these thoughts rose from researching motivation. Yep. Welcome to how my brain works.

Existential crisis to the right. Random thought to the left. Hey, watch out for rabbit holes on the floor! It’s a weird place, but I’m glad to see you here in this beautiful madness. (I say madness for your benefit, I believe I’m *quite* sane).

In conclusion, before I write about motivation I needed to know why I write at all. That’s resolved. Now I have to think of a business model that enhances the beautiful parts of writing, or at the very least, doesn’t get in the way.

If I ever become a meta-creator please shoot me!! (with a nerf gun)

This article was unconsciously written in a chaotic voice, this style is a bit out of my comfort zone. Hope you liked it anyway.

Have a wondrous day! See you in the next one.

Links

The Meta-Creator Economy

I edited the text of the article to make the quote. Is that even legal in academia? I removed some sentences and introductory words; the ideas stayed the same. Emphasis mine also. This is not paraphrasing but it’s also not a direct quote. What should we call this in-between thing?

Also, Fanny is great! You should read her stuff, it’s refreshing and wonderful.

OG Rose

Also linking to the writings of the brilliant OG Rose.