Do you know that I love Cal?
If you know me, then you know I studied at UC Berkeley. Now I use the term “studied” loosely because all it means is I hung out in Berkeley for many years. I went to class, but clearly not as much as I should have. 🙂
I tell you that because Cal has a special place in my heart and I'm constantly reading about the research they're doing there – after all one of my first jobs was at Berkeley Lab – the government research lab behind the university.
Check out this Research
Anyway, a recent study over there had me thinking. They grabbed students to perform an experiment. They grouped them into threes and put them in different rooms. They arbitrarily picked a leader and gave them a problem to solve – and waited 30 minutes while they talked.
Then, at the thirty minute mark, they brought in a plate of 4 cookies – for three people. You know what happened, don't you? Yup – in far more cases than not, the leader grabbed the fourth cookie and ate it. Even though they'd done nothing to earn their spot. Even though they'd not done anything different for 30 minutes.
You know the secret to the success of most of the billionaires you can name? Luck. Why do I say this? Because if they were born 100 years earlier and in another country, to another family, they wouldn't be where they are. Pure chance. They had as much control over their early childhood, education and opportunities in front of them as that arbitrarily selected “leader.”
You and I are lucky
We live in a time and with access to things that others have never had.
Take for example my desire to create an online marketplace. Now I've had some history with online marketplaces – my second startup created one. And the one after that did too. And my fifth did too.
So I know what it takes. And ten or fifteen years ago, it meant a team of 5 programmers (at least), several months (if not a year) and some decent cash.
Do you know what it costs today?
You can download Easy Digital Downloads today for free.
You can buy the commissions extension for $40.
And now you can buy the Front End Submissions for $83. (I just did)
You can call this progress. You can call this insane. You can call this plain crazy. But you can now build a marketplace for under $150.
We're Seriously Lucky
I can't end this little happy Friday, enjoy your long weekend post, without a favorite clip of mine – done in a different way. It highlights how lucky we are.
So do me a favor – go check out Easy Digital Downloads – I think you're going to dig it.