Tom Nicholas
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My next video is about... | The Friday Update
🕑 Added 2023-05-19 13:46:00 +0000 UTCWelcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.
What have I been up to this week?
I’m now well in the midst of writing my next video. Compared to the last video, it’s going to be a bit of a contrast. Making a mini-series (and shorter videos) was a lot of fun, and relatively successful in terms of views. Nevertheless, the next video calls for something quite the opposite. So…
…the next video is going to be a little bit chunkier than usual. I don’t know exactly how chunky just yet, but I think it’s likely to be my longest video to date.
And, it’s going to be about grifts. Online grifts. Specifically the kind of “passive income” schemes which are often pushed on YouTube, TikTok and elsewhere online. In comparison to some other videos on the topic of grifts and other money-making schemes, however, the goal is to go bigger.
I want to take a step back from the nuts-and-bolts of how these schemes work (although there will be some discussion of that) to explore what the appeal of these schemes is and how their rise relates to transformations in the “real” business world.
Whenever I make videos, I’m always keen that I’m using people’s time well. So, although it’s going to be a long video, my promise to you is that it will be worth the longer watch!
And outside of work?
Evenings this week (and probably for the foreseeable future have mostly been about planning my wedding. Which I feel like I need to avoid writing too much about lest this merely become a wedding blog!
Last weekend and this week, I’ve mostly been looking at trying to find a wedding ring. Now, I don’t think I’ve ever owned any jewellery myself so, other than buying the occasional gift for my partner, am fairly inexperienced in this area. While my partner only took about an hour to pick hers, then, mine’s taken a little longer.
It feels a bit like when you need to buy a new duvet or washing machine or sofa and suddenly find yourself having to learn a bunch of lingo to be able to workout what’s a good deal and what isn’t. Nevertheless, I’ve just put an order in for a ring which has an inlay of Cornish tin in it which I think is going to be really special!
What have I been reading/watching/listening to?
Over the past couple of days, I made my first tentative steps back into Hyrule. Which is to say, I’ve been playing the new Legend of Zelda game.
For the last year or so, I’ve mostly only been playing incredibly short games. I recently finished off Portal (and had got most of the way through Portal 2 before I was distracted by Zelda. I also recently returned to Cuphead. As a relatively busy person, I usually prefer games along those lines where levels are relatively well-contained.
The consequence of this was that, when I saw the crafting mechanisms in the new Zelda, I wondered whether it was going to be a little more involved than I would like. I had really enjoyed Breath of the Wild but was a bit wary of spending-out on a big game I was likely to abandon halfway through.
But, I actually really like the crafting and physics elements. It feels pretty unique (although that might be a consequence of me not having played loads of games recently) and I’m sure is going to be loads of fun to mess around with.
That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.
Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!
Comments
Tom Nicholas
Thank you! It’s been okay, we started planning everything early so it’s been fairly smooth. Although, at this stage, it is mostly a case of finishing work for the day and then instantly switching over to doing some wedding-related task or other! And thanks for sending over this paper, this looks really interesting!
Tom Nicholas
I’m glad to hear you’re looking forward to the video! Yeah, there are certain proponents of these scams that I see so often that I can picture them perfectly in my head at a moment’s notice!
ben t
Congratulations to you and your partner, Tom! I'm amazed you are managing to both run a youtube channel and plan a wedding! It might have already come onto your radar and/or might have a slightly different focus to you, but I thought this paper ("The financialization of anti-capitalism? The case of the ‘Financial Independence Retire Early’ community") was a really interesting look at the moral economy of passive income and "FIRE" schemes: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2021.1891951 Look forward to the video!
A username far far away in a galaxy
Hello Mr. Nicolas, Congrats for the wedding plans! I am happy about the choice of the grifts and passive income schemes. These ads are so annoying! Below are some tips for research for the slimy delivery and costume of the typical scammers. Best A username far away If you need some inspiration for the slimy delivery and dress of theses scammers, look to Jan Böhmermann from “Neo Magazin Royal” (German public broadcasting, channel 2). It is like John Olivers “Last Week tonight”. The topics are just more mainstream. Since it is classic television, dress and makeup are more elaborate than normal YT creators. With the YT subtitles, the German should not be a problem. Since it is German public broadcasting, it may be geofenced content. In that case a VPN might help. Focus on Business Coach Scams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdDeklnVGrM Trailer for the Business Coach Scams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSc2mb5mcDw Focus on tax fraud scams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcBqW0CkpM Financial advisor scam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdcTGQvhKI
