The Digital Monopolist
The Digital Monopolist
Mastering the Internet: How to Become Your Own Digital Monopoly
"The Internet enables eight billion monopolies."
This quote, originally from Naval Ravikant, inspired me to study further and understand why.
In this newsletter, we'll examine how the Internet has transformed opportunities for individuals, businesses, and professionals, allowing us all to become digital monopolists.
Monopoly And The Ecosystem Barrier
A traditional monopoly is a company that supplies the only product to everyone in town, like an energy company providing electricity to millions.
The ecosystem prevents new businesses from coming in and dominating because of the following:
The cost of starting.
The cost of switching products.
Starting a “utility company” from scratch is costly and challenging, especially without a track record and partners to assist you.
Many people waste time replicating monopolies without understanding the ecosystem.
If the ecosystem is saturated, which means there is a fully dominant player, you’ll find it hard to make your mark, like starting a new government in North Korea.
Therefore you need a new “ecosystem” to play, which is the Internet.
The Internet As A New Ecosystem
The Internet was established in 1983, 40 years ago from the time this newsletter was published.
Cities, countries, and even businesses have borders, laws, and rules, but the Internet doesn't.
The Internet is a mixture of all people, governments, businesses, and ideas.
These individuals participate in the exchange of resources, which ultimately generates wealth for one another.
Even though the internet itself has no rules, big players on the internet do establish rules themselves to protect their idea and community.
There is a principle that comes from the psychology of the crowd: People who get attention will attract resources to themselves.
Resources vary from capital (money), idea, talents, technology, power, etc.
Attention can be small or large-scale.
Different players can determine how much attention they want and how much resources they can draw from it and apply the right strategy to get there.
For example, as an economic tutor, I can attract a group of students who needs help with economics and pay me to help them, while Elon Musk can attract investors to fund his mission to Mars.
And if Instagram got shut down tomorrow, people’s attention would move elsewhere. Remember MySpace?
The internet is, in fact, very nimble for you to get people's attention and resources to your idea.
Finding Your Audience And Establishing Your Monopoly
Somewhere on the internet, people are having the same problems that you had in the past, but can't find an answer.
You did.
Now, you can help them with your products and services.
Somewhere on the internet, people are having the same problems that you had in the past, but can't find an answer.
Market yourself well, and you'll expand your audience while retaining the current one, becoming a monopoly in your domain.
As an economics tutor, I discovered tens of sites where I could tutor, set my rate, and make different offers to different students.
It was scary at first, but so was any new experience.
Navigating The Online Landscape
Understanding the ecosystem is key.
It's like navigating your workplace. Know where people are, where they focus their attention, and how to reach them.
Know how to talk to them, communicate with them, and listen to them.
Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube– where are the groups? Where are the groups within those groups?
You can find them and create value for them at zero cost.
Creating Value At Zero Cost
It costs either money or time to create value for people.
If you don’t have money, use your time. If you have a lot of money, use the money, and you get back your time.
If you’re just starting out on the internet, share your school notes, your learning summaries, and your time to give them verbal advice.
Once you have 10 people asking you for help, put the price on your hour or session.
Learn to craft your offer, stack your offer, make your offer unique, and charge a premium for the person who’s working with you.
What if they could go to a different site and hire a cheaper agency? Well, they pay a lower price, but the thing they don't get is YOU.
Once you get started, make it a consistent act for 100 days. Many of us underestimate our effort and time to get good at something - so get rid of that underestimation bias.
If it only costs you 100 days to see the results, which would be your online track records and proof of concept, would you do it?
If there is no result, you still have another 265 days to go to finish your year with a stronger track record.
Many of us underestimate our effort and time to get good at something - so get rid of this underestimation bias.
You Are Your Own Monopoly
We are fortunate to have the internet lay the foundation for us to build upon.
On the internet, you are your own monopoly.
When the laws, policies, and barriers to entry disappear, who else is a monopoly but you?
When the cost of sharing your idea is zero, the return on your time is infinite.