Shaun Connell
A guide to business, investing, and wealth-building.

The Highwaymen: Classic Live Recording from Las Vegas

No analysis here, I just really enjoyed this video from the country super group. I'll be creating a category for these types of media posts so I can visit them later.

The Highwaymen were a country super group comprising of "outlaw country" pioneers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. The music speaks for itself.

Facebook's "trending" news section currently includes a statement by Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma. The soundbite is going viral.

Ma suggested, much to the dismay of business leaders around the planet, that fake goods from China are actually better than the real products.

Most are laughing at Ma, but I think he's making a great point and it's part of a multi-trillion dollar disruption going on in manufacturing and physical product marketing.

What Jack Ma Actually Said

Jack Ma was being questioned about all of the endless fake and counterfeit and "knock off" products that are for sale in bulk on Alibaba.com, a website that is essentially an Amazon.com for people looking to buy products to sell through repackaging.

Here's what Ma actually said:

"The problem is that the fake products today, they make better quality, better prices than the real products, the real names. It's not the fake products that destroy them, it's the new business models."

This isn't nearly as bad as it's being made out to be. It's also not wrong, in many cases. Let's do a quick review of some facts most people don't understand.

2 Facts to Keep in Mind

Jack Ma has a front-seat view of some massive economic shifts going on right now. He understands two very important facts:

  • "Knock off" brands are from the same factories.

If you buy a knock off watch, there's a fairly good chance it's made at the same factory as the big name brands - it just doesn't have the same brand.

This is especially true for easy to make products. Private labeling as an industry is changing how people view products.

That's why some companies, like the app Wish, are based on getting cheap private labeled products into the hands of consumers - they can be just a fraction of the cost, but have the same qualities as the name brand.

  • Branding and quality are often an illusion.

The above point touches on something that is difficult to wrap one's mind around at first: branding is largely an illusion.

If a small firm makes a product with identical quality as Apple, most people will think the apple product is higher quality because they believe in the illusion of the brand.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can make decision making simpler and more efficient. But if you're spending more for a same-quality brand, then you might be missing the point.

This illusion is starting to crumble. It probably won't fully go away, but people are deconstructing what "name brand" means in the first place. This is incredibly interesting, and a sign of things to come, especially in ecommerce.

The Future of Manufacturing and Branding

As things progress, we're going to see more and more "same quality" products that will rival top brands.

Amazon recently started launching more of their own "branded" products that just slap on the Amazon label to a high-quality no-brand (previously, at least) product. This is making huge changes for all sorts of industries, especially in fitness and tech.

This trend is only going to get stronger. If you sell a fairly benign product and make money from your brand value, you'll still have many options for huge profits - but you'll want to make sure you pick the right product.

Generic products like "lase mouse" or "keyboard" are going to run into problems. Specific products like "gaming mouse" and "programmer keyboard" will likely be more promising, but we'll see how it plays out.

This article is going to be a little weird because it will reflect a very, very different mindset than one which is extremely common. Writing this article was weird for me as well, because it's difficult for me to sometimes understand other paradigms - and financial decisions is an area where I generally operate in my own little world.

For example, I delayed marriage and children for financial reasons. I didn't buy a new car until I had enough to literally retire. Right now, I'm reading the same books that I hope my financial planners had to read to become financial planners, because I want to know about every aspect of my financial situation and future.

To read more about my thoughts on careers and developing strategically sound income streams, keep researching this website.

No, I've Never Had a Job

I've never had a full-time job. I've had some freelance relationships as a writer, copywriter, and funnel builder for some financial companies. But I've never actually had a salary or anything along those lines.

It just never materialized. I started learning marketable skills while in high school. In fact, I started my business while in high school. I was doing consulting during my very brief moment at college before I dropped out to work on growing my business.

Yes, I'm a Millionaire

I mention this a lot for a few reasons. First, I don't care to be polite. It's not polite to bring it up a lot. But it's relevant, so I'll do it anyway. Second, as I just said, it's relevant. I'll talk more about this below, but suffice it to say

  • Your boss is fundamentally irrational. One of the fundamental problems with career development, financial advice, and any kind of wealth planning is this: people are nuts. They're almost always incompetent at almost everything they do. Bosses are no different. Relying on your boss to not randomly try to screw you over is something I seriously don't want to deal with.
  • Jobs rarely provide much transparency. Chances are, the business you work for - especially if it's a small or medium-sized business - is just one slip up away from collapse. This has massive impacts on the employees that most never realize. Your entire resume could be shifted at the drop of a hat - and you won't know until after the fact.
  • Careers aren't always as easy to shift as you'd think. Unless you're very adept at shifting directions at the drop of a hat, a career change can be exceedingly difficult. The more unique your skills are, the more this becomes a question of extremes. You can either easily switch or could have trouble for years. The damage can be severe - a year or two of unemployment can severely damage your bargaining power literally for a decade or more. This depends on the person, of course, but it's a massive variable that I never wanted to deal with.
  • Finding good jobs is going to get even harder. As technology progresses, "good jobs" will be few and far between. Those that exist will often be wonderful - but the overall percentage of the population that will have one will likely become more consolidated. This means that not only should you focus on saving as much as possible, but you should also make career decisions with this in mind.
  • If you can "job" it, you can often "business" it. If your job is critical to a business, then nine times out of ten you can turn it into a business. Copywriting? Programming?  Graphics design? Janitor? Accountant? Mechanic? The list goes on.
  • Jobs don't make much money, frankly. Even if you're the top-performing person at your job, the money is almost never going to be that great. If your goal is to generate substantial wealth - like a million per year - there's almost no chance you'll do that with a job.

 

Shaun Connell has built multiple 7-figure earning businesses, including one with a successful multi-million dollar exit. He's obsessed with wealth building, investing, entrepreneurship, and Stoic philosophy. You can learn more about Shaun by checking out his essays or project list.