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☆ My blog that I started as a side gig made 6 figures in revenue last year — and it's helped me pay off $40,000 of debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Latasha Peterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Latasha Peterson started her blog, Arts and Budgets, in 2016 to help people find ways to earn money. How can I help my target audience with my product and services this month? Should I create a new product or service to help my target audience on a deeper level? What do you want to accomplish in the next three to six months with your side hustle or blog business? Consistency has also helped me develop relationships with my target audience, brands, and collaborators, which has helped my blog become profitable.

☆ 5 writers break down how they launched careers from their copywriting side hustles and now make up to 6 figures
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Alexa Nizam started freelance copywriting on weekends and in the evenings alongside her job in 2020 using the freelancer-platform Fiverr. She left her day job one year after she started copywriting when she realized she'd made $8,000 in a month from freelancing. Read more: I make up to $13,000 a month on Fiverr doing freelance copywriting. Courtesy of Elna CainElna Cain started freelance writing in 2014 when her maternity leave was coming to an end. Emilina LomasEmilina Lomas started freelance copywriting while earning her master's degree in 2018.

☆ I help people start side hustles. Here are 5 tips to build lucrative gigs that only take a couple hours a week.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She spent at least 30 minutes a day on her side hustle and blocked out time in her day. Then, after my friends asked me for help with their own side hustles, I started a time-management-coaching business as another side hustle in April 2020. I started spending about four hours a week coaching clients and marketing my coaching services on Instagram and Facebook outside of that. What do you need to sacrifice through the day to make sure you're working as efficiently as you can in your nine-to-five? I would block out hours in my day so I could get my projects done early in the day.

☆ 4 SEO strategies that'll supercharge your website's ranking, from real small business owners who use them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

SEO can be a cheap and effective way to drive traffic to your small business's website. Business owners and SEO experts said a good URL and strong meta descriptions are key. This article is part of "Marketing for Small Business," a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business. Small business owners and SEO experts shared with Insider the strategies that have helped them improve their site rankings over time and build a meaningful flow of organic traffic from search. "SEO grows over time," Fabio added, "so by 12 months, you should see much stronger results than at six months."

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ I made 6 figures as a pharmacist and still struggled to pay for childcare and my student loans. Here's what it was like, and why I left.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Pollyanna Brown | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Luckily, I got into the one pharmacy school I applied to in the area and got my PharmD — a doctorate of pharmacy. I used student loans to pay for pharmacy school, and because my school was private, I had to take out as much loans as a dentist or a physician, but my pharmacist salary was only a fraction of what they make. Pharmacists can take many clinical roles in a hospitalThere are infectious-disease pharmacists, cardiology pharmacists, transplant pharmacists, and critical-care pharmacists. As a clinical pharmacist, I'd do rounds with the physicians in the morning, weighing in on the drug regimens the patients were on. Hospital pharmacists usually need to work every other weekend.

☆ How a 30-year-old mom made $120,000 in passive income in 9 months selling digital products online and only working 5 hours a week
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Since starting in March, Puls says she's earned roughly $120,000 selling three digital products: an ebook, an email course, and an ebook template. A big social media presence isn't required to find successPuls says social media is her biggest driver of customer traffic. That said, she's seen plenty of people without massive social media followings find success selling digital products. While she says most people sell digital products through platforms like Etsy, using her own website is ideal for her. Given her success with digital products, Puls says she's often asked why she hasn't made more of them.

☆ Gen Zers and millennials are turning to freelancing in greater numbers than ever before. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Zers and millennials were more likely to pursue freelance work, it found. The reasons for freelancing vary, but common factors include flexibility and the desire for control. The platform's "Freelance Forward 2022" report, which studied 3,000 professionals, found Gen Z and millennials were the most likely to explore freelancing: In 2022, 46% of millennial professionals and 43% of Gen Z professionals surveyed performed freelance work. Insider spoke with Lilani, two millennial freelancers, and two Gen Z freelancers to learn why the type of work had attracted two generations of young professionals. For instance, Iyana Jones-Reese is a freelance photographer on top of her full-time job, while Levi Newman writes Amazon product descriptions for a living.

☆ Insomnia is a $5 billion business — and this former sleep doctor thinks it's time for a new approach
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Daniel Erichsen, founder of the Sleep Coach School Daniel ErichsenDaniel Erichsen spent about a decade as a sleep doctor, primarily seeing patients who were struggling with sleep apnea and insomnia. According to market research firm Imarc, the global insomnia market will hit $5.1 billion this year and climb to $6.1 billion by 2028. Other apps, including some backed by venture capital firms, promote cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. That therapy is meant to change the way people think about sleep and incorporates behavior changes like sleep restriction and stimulus control. Kendall's message, which mirrors much of Erichsen's teachings, is that sleep is simple, but insomnia makes it seem complex.

☆ Substack is having a moment, again. But can the startup live up to its massive $650 million valuation?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

He provided a place where readers could find him "in case the bird app spirals into oblivion": his Substack newsletter. The epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding began promoting his Substack newsletter to his 722,000 Twitter followers in early November. They have been a welcome addition, Substack writers say. Substack has also recently rolled out mentions and cross-reporting functions, where writers can mention other Substack writers and share existing posts with their audiences. The irony, of course, is that many Substack writers rely on their Twitter audiences to promote their posts.

☆ Factbox: Elon Musk's Twitter polls - from stake sales to CEO decisions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

** Reinstating former-U.S. president Donald Trump's accountIn a poll started on Nov. 18, Musk asked Twitter users to vote if they would like to reinstate former-U.S. president Donald Trump's account or not. 51.8% users voted "yes". Musk asked users when Twitter should unsuspend accounts that posted his exact location in real-time on the platform. About 58.7% users voted "now", while 41.3% users voted for the option "7 days." loading** Stepping down as Twitter CEOIn a poll concluded on Monday, 57.5% of more than 17.5 million users voted "yes" after Musk asked if he should step down as head of Twitter.

☆ A financial coach shares 9 ways to earn $8,000 a month in passive income to prepare for a recession, inflation, or layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alexandra York | Junior Entrepreneurship Reporter | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Andrea outlines 9 of the easiest ways to earn passive income, including resale and blogging. She took her experience building passive income streams and teaching herself the fundamentals of financial literacy to launch the financial-advice blog The Financial Cookbook in February 2021. Julia CheskyAndrea said companies typically contact her about brand partnerships, but she encourages other entrepreneurs to be more proactive when looking for passive income avenues. She recommends selling old clothes, coupons received in the mail, or finds from garage sales or local stores. Nicholas Waskosky, a Poshmark seller, earns five figures a year selling old or upcycled clothes on the platform.

☆ Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc on Monday disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. More than a 1,000 have resigned, among them Yoel Roth, the company's former head of trust and safety. As part of this process, we have decided that the Trust and Safety Council is not the best structure to do this," an email sent to the Trust and Safety Council members, seen by Reuters, said. Last week, three members of the Council resigned citing concern for the safety of Twitter users. Musk had responded on the micro blogging site accusing council members of refusing to take action on child exploitation, a claim former CEO Jack Dorsey said was "false".

☆ A stay-at-home mom started freelance writing on the side and now makes 6 figures a year — here's how
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Brina Patel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Engaging with potential clients on social media before reaching out directly also helped her. So she turned to job boards like Freelance Writing, ProBlogger, and Blogging Pro, as well as LinkedIn, to find higher-paying gigs. But, she said, her business really took off once she optimized her website, started guest posting for blogs in her niche, and reached out to potential clients through social media. One guest post on Blogging Wizard, she said, drove an increase in potential clients reaching out to her. She'll then take a look at her potential clients' websites and examine areas she can improve.

☆ Twitter to hike Blue pricing to $11 for iPhone app users -report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 7 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc plans to change the pricing of its Twitter Blue subscription product to $11, from $7.99, if paid for through its iPhone app and to $7 if paid for on the website, the Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person briefed on the plans. The move was likely a pushback against Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) 30% cut on any payments made by users via apps on the iOS operating system, the report said. The lower pricing on the website was also likely to drive more users to that platform as opposed to signing up on their iPhones, the report said. It did not mention whether pricing would change for the Android platform as well. Twitter, Apple and Google, which owns the Android operating system, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Japanese billionaire Maezawa picks K-pop star TOP, DJ Steve Aoki to join SpaceX moon trip
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa reacts as he speaks with his family after donning space suits shortly before the launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Shamil ZhumatovTOKYO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Friday revealed that K-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki will be among the eight crew members he plans to take on a trip around the moon next year, hitching a ride on one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets. The picks were announced by Maezawa on Twitter and at a website for what he dubbed the #dearMoon Project. Maezawa used the micro-blogging site to recruit eight crew members from around the world to join him on the moon trip, saying 1 million people had applied. U.S. Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were named as backup crew members.

☆ Andreessen Horowitz's buzzy tech publication Future is shutting down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Rob Price | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

A source familiar with Andreessen Horowitz's content strategy confirmed to Insider that Future is shutting down. An Andreessen Horowitz spokesperson declined to comment on the record. Joe LonsdaleIn this new climate, many tech and venture firms' media strategy has shifted from glorified marketing to a more full-fledged editorial operation. In 2021, an army of more than two dozen marketers at Andreessen Horowitz doubled down on this approach. Disclosure: Melia Russell's husband is a former employee of Andreessen Horowitz.

☆ I've made $974,000 in revenue in the last year as a freelance copywriter and only work 5 hours a day. Here's how I taught myself the skills needed to win clients.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In the past 12 months I've made $974,000 in top-line revenue — collected before expenses and taxes — from my copywriting business, and I have clients in more than 30 countries. I was crushed, but my copywriting business had started to take off. I'd work on my side gig on my lunch break and after I'd get home at 4 p.m. until about 9 or 10 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays I'd log anywhere from four to eight hours of extra work. When I started copywriting full time, I tried everything to get clientsA lot of people recommended cold-emailing. I wound up giving the same slideshow presentation 24 times in two weeks to entrepreneurs who wanted to learn about email copywriting.

☆ I make $1,000 a month by promoting Amazon products on social media. It only takes 5 hours per week — here's how I set up my side hustle.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

She earns commission by promoting beauty products to online shoppers via livestreams and lists. By encouraging her TikTok followers to buy products from her Amazon lists, she earns $1,000 a month. I make at least $1,000 in affiliate commissions a month by sharing my favorite beauty products on Pinterest, TikTok, and my blog. I've also started doing Amazon Live and it's been quite lucrativeAmazon Live allows you to create branded livestreams featuring any products you like. I like doing Amazon Live because it's a fun way to interact with viewers and showcase products.

☆ I'm a virtual assistant who makes $6,000 a month while traveling the world. Here's how I got my start.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Lucie Grace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Erin Morris, 32, is a virtual assistant who's worked in places like Northern Europe and Myanmar. She's held various jobs but says becoming a virtual assistant gave her true location independence. I came across the 90-Day VA course in an ad onlineI knew nothing about being a virtual assistant. You can specialize as a virtual assistant. Three months ago, I was charging $600 for a sales page, and now I charge $1,500.

☆ I left my 10-year engineering career behind to become a full-time blogger. I may never match my $112,000 salary again, but I'm at peace with my choice.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

All my friends were also into science and math, and we all applied to engineering school and became engineers together. I started my career working in traffic modeling, which in part consists of collecting traffic-count data at critical intersections and projecting existing traffic volumes to the future. Throughout my career, I'd worked with engineers from different firms and engineering disciplines who would often complain they were overworked and needed more people ASAP. It's also thanks to my engineering career — I was making $112,000 by the time I left — that I was able to afford and purchase a property, which I refinanced to access its equity so I can support myself and my new blogging career. Ultimately, I feel at peace with my choice, as I listened to my mind and body and have stayed true to myself.

☆ I have 3 passive income streams that bring in more than $5,100 a month—here's how I got started
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Jen Glantz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

After serving more than 125 weddings, I've been able to use my brand to create three passive income streams that generate more than $5,100 a month. Sharing products I lovePassive income earnings: $3,000 a month I have been blogging about wedding planning since 2011. I love sharing behind-the-scenes looks at my life and business with my 100,000 social media followers and 40,000 newsletter subscribers. Creating online coursesPassive income earnings: $2,000 a month In 2017, I created my first course to teach people how to start a wedding business. I typically do this by sending them surveys and polls, either on social media or through my newsletter.

☆ Major ad firm Omnicom recommends clients pause Twitter ad spend - The Verge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Advertising and marketing conglomerate Omnicom Group Inc (OMC.N) has recommended that clients pause their spending on Twitter in the short term, The Verge reported on Friday, citing an internal memo. Omnicom serves over 5,000 clients in 70 countries, including McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), Apple (AAPL.O) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N). "The risk to our clients' brand safety has risen sharply to a level most would find unacceptable," the report added, citing the Omnicom memo. Last month, U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N) said it had temporarily halted paid advertising on Twitter. read moreReporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 9 affiliate-marketing programs that influencers use to earn money from sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Many influencers earn money when their followers buy recommended products through affiliate links. Influencers typically earn between 1% and 20% commissions from these sales, but the exact rate varies by platform and brand. "There's a very low barrier to entry to using affiliate programs," Harms told Insider in an email. Some creators use MagicLinks, an affiliate network that partnered with the text-marketing startup Community to drive sales through texts. There are also brand-specific affiliate programs that are run independently of networks.

☆ Shopify's new C-suite: After a year of high turnover, the new leaders at Shopify include a CFO poached from Morgan Stanley and a new HR lead who is working to overhaul the e-commerce company's perform
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Here are the people leading the e-commerce company through its next phase. Leinwand was previously senior vice president of engineering at Slack, and before that he was CTO at ServiceNow. Tia Silas, chief human resources officerTia Silas, Shopify's chief talent officer. John Asante, chief information-security officerJohn Asante, Shopify's chief information-security officer. Bobby Morrison, chief revenue officerMorrison joined Shopify as chief revenue officer — a new role for Shopify, reporting to the COO — in August.

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