Living in a world where independent success is quickly becoming an illusion...

[circuitbored]

Sounds grim doesn't it?

The saying that "50% (of any fraction thereof) business are doomed to fail no matter what you do" is grim in itself, especially when contrasted with volumes of get rich and positive business motivation videos you're pelted with every time you go on LinkedIn or TikTok.

As the algorithms work very hard to manipulate you into giving ad revenue for your latest idea to whatever platform you're on at the moment (Not this one, we don't use algos or run ads here), pause and ask yourself "if success is truly attainable at all?" on the modern day Internet.

Success is becoming an illusion for many as psychological manipulation rises on social platforms. Social platforms in the past years have become inclined towards increasing their own revenue, rather than being simply friendly places that help people to communicate and collaborate, social platforms have realized that by limiting functionality users previously had so they now want and need it (like visibility among their peers) suddenly platforms could charge users for those same features (converting a prior free service into a paid service).

If you walked into a fitness gym and gave them your personal info because they told you that membership was free, and then encountered equipment that didn't work at all when you tried it, only to find out there WERE undisclosed hidden charges for using the equipment, how would you feel? If success increasingly involves starting out with a network of employees, huge sums of money for marketing and overhead, fans already in tow, and key connections that open doors for you, it creates quite a toxic environment for the people who don't have access to all those things, and it also insulates the wealthy and connected from hardship and understanding of what it takes for those who weren't born with money and influence.

Many who are struggling to start a business are indeed saying that success is becoming an illusive illusion, but few hear them speaking, because modern day platforms demote negative and contradictory opinions that clash with their business models. Social Platforms also in a very non-transparent manner censor posts that criticize them and their affiliated business. It becomes very easy to only be surrounded by toxic positivity on social platforms and an idea that anyone who complains should be ousted for that same reason.

On the other hand, many platforms and companies manufacture their celebrities and influencers in order to carefully control how they are perceived, and to shape the guidelines for success on many of these platforms... This is why you'll never hear a popular influencer complain about things they don't like, or having an opinion on politics, or why you won't catch a sponsored influencer on a day they have mental breakdowns until their undercover sponsor "disowns" them (See Brittney Spears [No Offense]).

One could also begin to question how effective and fair social platforms and the Internet are in general now that everyone is fighting for visibility on one single time line... Independent artists and musicians struggle for attention against wealthy individuals and even major companies that literally crush them with ad expenditures... This type of scenario is impossible without some sort of segmentation based on "who is who". If you look closely enough, the social platforms prefer to maintain one single competitive timeline because it encourages everyone to pay in competition for visibility... This increases profit for the platforms, while returning very little to small and risk-seeking investors in the advertising games on each platform.

As we grow into people that seek the independence of running our own businesses and becoming financially independent of employers, we've really got to evaluate our individual ability to succeed in the world, and if the methods we use so often now work to help or hurt us...

Take the music industry for example --

It's hard to grasp how music artists these days come out of nowhere and suddenly become the face of an entire genre all of a sudden, but that's the world that social media has created. Some would say the many attempts for social platforms combined with major record labels to create "Ai" driven influencers is a direct move to eliminate the human aspect altogether from music industry profit along with physical aging and life outside of work for the actual artist.

Fast charting/rising music artists are often secretly funded by their parents and sometimes even criminal enterprises. They magically have tons of cash to buy already popular social media accounts, polished music videos, ghost written lyrics and beats, and of course paid post/ad boosting to make them instantly look like a celebrity.

Jaden and Willow Smith are obviously the children of Will and Jada Smith, which shows a direct link to how they got initial funding, connections, and attention for their careers.... When you parents are that rich, resourceful, and connected, it's hard to fail in an entertainment career. This is not to say who is deserving of success or who isn't, but if you consider a young person with gallons of home grown talent living in the Inner city to lower income parents, like say Prince, or even young Michael Jackson, chances are these days, they are far less likely to be able to break past the "glass money ceiling" social media creates for artists these days.

If you have enough cash to boost social media posts of any kind, even mediocre and terrible music/content can make anyone or anything become popular... Just remind yourself of the "Dancing Frog Ring Tone Era" as an example, there have been many many other gimmicky songs since that have generated millions of dollars for their makers. Statements about quality of presentation and music composition serve to gaslight and patronize many who struggle while obviously weak and mediocre music frequently generates tons of money for already wealthy and popular musicians... It's becoming a really frustrating world to live in for many with real talent and passion for music, and that's a problem that results in many doing harmful things for popularity and even in suicidal behavior of artists.

Tell tale signs of secret music industry backing for planted artists are releases that heavily use well known samples where the artist doesn't get sued... Sample clearance is extremely costly, especially for sampling prior hits, it also involves a deep level of money and connections to make clearances work. Also if an unknown artist suddenly has polished collaborations with well-known artists, it's a sign that they are affiliated with major interests under-cover, but presented as independent artists to appear more organic, but it's still deeply destructive towards and anti-competitive against truly underground and independent music artists...

A lot of success in music and other forms of business depends on being aligned with (or backed by) other successful people and ventures, we can all save tons of time and be far more effective if we quickly realize that.

I write this because the mysterious success threshold that many previously unknown people were quickly crossing on social media seemed to be magical, but learning the real truths about how things work helps to prevent wasting time and being burnt out on finding business success for many that I speak with. I hope communicating this offers a bit of sanity for you as an entrepreneur, artist, or creator, as understanding how the world works can be quite illusive in itself. I am always happy to discuss ways of finding success in our complicated world, many of the posts here detail just that, or you can contact us at info@circuitbored.com for business consultation or in order to influence our upcoming posts.

We also need to resist the urge to fund bad success schemes as independent business people, because it's very hard to compete with big industry tactics if we don't realize the tricks the industry uses against us all, and now many of those tricks disadvantage us more because they also take our hard earned money on top of delivering very little in return.