What's a real-world comparison to show why saving for retirement is like building a direct business?

Imagine you and your neighbor live the same lifestyle for 25 or 30 years. You put money into a retirement account regularly because someone told you that’s how you prepare for the future. Your neighbor never learned that, so they saved nothing. At 65, you retire comfortably with a large nest egg, and your neighbor has to keep working for another decade. It’s not that your neighbor couldn’t have done it—they just didn’t know. The same is true for artists: if no one ever tells you that you must own your distribution channels to have a sustainable business, you’ll reach year 10 or 15 with nothing to show, while artists who learned the lesson early have built thriving, defensible businesses.

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Asked by implied audience question · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-06-25