Survivor bias. Plus the mere act of "making it" is a great marketing tool on its own.
People love to hear success stories, and in turn they might spend money on hearing those stories in order to learn the secrets of the survivor as it were. This is why there are so many such stories, yet one may wonder how many simply live off selling stories like that, instead of actually reaping the rewards of their purported success...
IMHO if a guy can give out good advice for free, because he's already making enough on his success, then it's more authentic than a guy who sells his success stories. OTOH I get that successful people might be pressed for time, and that time taken away to tell the story might get in the way of following up on his actual success. In this way I guess success breeds success. And that's why you see a lot of people pushing their success stories due to survivor bias.
We're actually talking pedagogy here. The perspective of a survivor is quite different than a guy still struggling. So the question really being asked is, how can the survivor better explain to the struggler how to succeed? It's difficult to answer, and it may entail such things as silent knowledge, or details that are hard to convey. The path to success is different for people, and some do indeed have it far easier than others.
So how do you learn from that? Is the lessons from one-who-had-it-easy valuable? Well, sure, if those lessons lead to finding an easier route. But it could equally be a dead end. There is little to learn from one who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, for instance, if your own spoon is made of lead.
On the flipside, there might not be as much to learn from someone who struggled a lot, because what if that person simply made a lot of mistakes? Perhaps he is cognizant of those mistakes; well, then you may learn from them. But if not, then perhaps it isn't as valuable. Though in general, when you reflect over mistakes—your own, or others—there is perhaps a lot to learn from that, as you'll at least learn what to avoid.
People love to hear success stories, and in turn they might spend money on hearing those stories in order to learn the secrets of the survivor as it were. This is why there are so many such stories, yet one may wonder how many simply live off selling stories like that, instead of actually reaping the rewards of their purported success...
IMHO if a guy can give out good advice for free, because he's already making enough on his success, then it's more authentic than a guy who sells his success stories. OTOH I get that successful people might be pressed for time, and that time taken away to tell the story might get in the way of following up on his actual success. In this way I guess success breeds success. And that's why you see a lot of people pushing their success stories due to survivor bias.
We're actually talking pedagogy here. The perspective of a survivor is quite different than a guy still struggling. So the question really being asked is, how can the survivor better explain to the struggler how to succeed? It's difficult to answer, and it may entail such things as silent knowledge, or details that are hard to convey. The path to success is different for people, and some do indeed have it far easier than others.
So how do you learn from that? Is the lessons from one-who-had-it-easy valuable? Well, sure, if those lessons lead to finding an easier route. But it could equally be a dead end. There is little to learn from one who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, for instance, if your own spoon is made of lead.
On the flipside, there might not be as much to learn from someone who struggled a lot, because what if that person simply made a lot of mistakes? Perhaps he is cognizant of those mistakes; well, then you may learn from them. But if not, then perhaps it isn't as valuable. Though in general, when you reflect over mistakes—your own, or others—there is perhaps a lot to learn from that, as you'll at least learn what to avoid.