TL;DR: I work in a 5-star hotel and have noticed clear behavioral differences between wealthy and lower-class guests. Wealthier people tend to be simple, organized, and efficient—minimal luggage, clean car interiors, quick and hassle-free transactions, and they almost never lose their valet tickets. Lower-class guests often bring excessive, unnecessary items, have cluttered cars, misplace their valet tickets constantly, and make things more complicated for themselves. It’s not just about money—it’s a mindset difference. Wealthy people tend to move through life with less friction by focusing only on what’s essential.

I work in a 5-star hotel where rooms range from $200 to $1,000 USD per night, depending on the tier, season, and demand. Even a basic room can go for over $1,000 on New Year's Eve. Because of that wide price range, we get all types of guests—everyone from junkies and average joe workers to wealthy business owners, high-income professionals, and celebrities.

One thing I’ve noticed that often really separates the higher-class guests from the lower-class ones—beyond just money—is their simplicity and organization in how they handle themselves.

Wealthier guests tend to arrive, hand over their keys without hesitation, and move on with zero fuss after the essential info is handed over. They don’t overcomplicate things. Their luggage is minimal, well-packed, and often in a matching set that’s easy to move around. A lot of them just carry their own bags because it’s faster and more convenient, but even when they need help, their stuff is simple to handle. Their cars? Almost always clean and organized inside—regardless of whether the exterior is spotless or covered in dust.

Even one time, we had a very wealthy family from Malaysia visit. Possible political/monarchy connections. They tipped like crazy and often people dont tip in my country. They had 2-3 rooms and a fair amount of luggage. On departure they filled 3 Mercedes vans from the Malaysian Embassy with luggage with the seats folded down. It was easy considering they were all congruent suitcases and easy to squeeze in.

Beyond that, they’re low-maintenance and efficient in communication. Obviously, there are exceptions, but in general, rich people don’t waste time complaining about nonsense or trying to finesse freebies. Even when they do have a legitimate issue, they bring it up in a way that’s calm, direct, and solution-focused instead of being dramatic or entitled. They also tend to trust the process. They don’t hover around the valet, questioning if their car will be safe. They don’t ask the front desk a million basic things they could Google in two seconds. They understand that hotels have systems in place, and they just go with the flow.

Meanwhile, a lot of (not all) lower and middle-class guests operate on a completely different wavelength. They often show up with way too much stuff—excessive carry bags, heavy non-rolling luggage, random loose items stuffed into shopping bags or tossed onto the backseat. I’ve seen people bring massive powered eskies, bags full of groceries, and an entire wardrobe for a one-night stay. One guy even had a whole trunk full of frozen food… for a two-night stay. They tend to bring things they think they’ll need, but in reality, they’re just overpacking and making their own lives harder.

A smaller but very telling detail? Valet collection tickets. In case youre unsure, every peraon is given a valet ticket to collect their vehicle. If they dont have it, we need photo ID and search it up which can be a lengthy process.

Wealthy guests almost never lose them. They keep them in their wallet, a specific pocket, or somewhere they can grab it instantly. The second they return, they hand it over—no fumbling, no searching. Lower-class guests? Constantly losing them. They shove them into random bags, crumple them into their pockets, or straight-up forget where they put them. Half the time, they’ll show up at the valet stand empty-handed, then spend five minutes patting their clothes, digging through their bags, and swearing they “just had it.” Some even argue that they never got one in the first place, like we’re supposed to magically remember their car out of the 50-100+ we park every day.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed? Wealthy and successful people operate like essentialists. They only bring what they actually need. Their approach to travel is smooth, efficient, and stress-free. A lot of them follow the same kind of thinking outlined in Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown—focus only on what truly matters, ignore the rest.

And here’s the thing: it’s not just about money. I’ve seen middle-class people who carry themselves with this level of organization and simplicity, and they stand out just as much as the rich. Likewise, I’ve seen people with expensive cars and money to burn who still roll up with chaos—overpacking, micromanaging, losing things, and just making everything more complicated than it needs to be.

At the end of the day, wealth isn’t just what’s in your bank account—it’s how you move through life. The difference in mindset is clear as day.

I worked in tech for over 10 years as a UX designer — it was my career, my craft, and a big part of my identity.

I started in front-end development, but quickly became more interested in why we built things — what users needed and how design could drive better outcomes. That curiosity led me into UX and product design, where I spent most of my career working on B2B and B2C products, leading redesigns, contributing to design systems, and eventually growing into design management.

Then in 2023, I got laid off.

I still remember the moment. My manager scheduled a “quick check-in” the day before I was supposed to go on vacation — instead, I was told my role had been eliminated. Just like that, everything I’d built over a decade disappeared.

Instead of jumping back into job-hunting, I did something unexpected — I took over a 30-year-old ice cream shop in a small town and ran it for a year.

It wasn’t a trendy dessert bar. It was a nostalgic, mom-and-pop-style place — small space, cash only register, the smell of fresh waffle cones, and regulars who’d been coming for decades. We had old equipment, walk-up windows, and a tiny team of high schoolers.

It was messy, intense, and surprisingly… transformational.

What I learned from running an ice cream shop:

• Managing teenagers is nothing like managing a team in tech It felt more like parenting. Lots of reminders, hand-holding, and repeated training. I had to step into real-time leadership and develop patience fast.
• Systems are the only way to survive Everything had to be documented: opening/closing routines, portion sizes, how to clean the machine, what to post on social. Without structure, things fall apart quickly.
• The saying “if you want to make everyone happy, sell ice cream” is a lie People still complain. We got negative reviews. And ice cream customers? Super picky. One scoop slightly tilted? That’s a problem. It taught me to not take feedback personally — and to expect it in every business.
• UX alone isn’t enough — you have to understand the business I used to hyper-focus on user experience. But running a physical business taught me about profit margins, pricing, retention, operations, and marketing. If your business doesn’t work on paper, it doesn’t matter how great the experience is.

Pivot to an online service business

By the end of 2024, I was ready to return to the digital world — but this time with a whole new mindset. In January 2025, I teamed up with my sister to launch a UX and landing page design service for SaaS and startups.

It felt like starting from zero again — except this time, I had a crash course in sales + marketing reality.

What we’ve done so far:

• Built 4 versions of our website We started on WordPress, moved to Webflow, and went through multiple iterations of copy and structure. We even changed our business name a few times before landing on something that felt right (shoutout to all the unused domains we’re still paying for 💸).
• Read a ridiculous number of books on sales, offers, and positioning I never used to read business books — like, ever. But now? I’ve devoured titles like $100M Offers, Founding Sales, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, and a bunch of newsletters and case studies. I treat books like mini mentors now.I was so eager to make it work fast… but that eagerness often made me more frustrated. It’s hard when you’re pouring in effort and not seeing fast results. But I’m learning to zoom out and look at the long game.
• Started posting on LinkedIn — consistently I used to think people who posted regularly on LinkedIn were borderline psychopaths. Now I’ve become one of them. 😅 Surprisingly, once I got over the cringe, I started having real conversations. Even people I hadn't talked to in years reached out. Some were genuinely interested in our service, others just wanted to cheer us on. And you’d be surprised — even creators with huge followings responded kindly and gave helpful advice.
• Reached out to founders and had real conversations Cold DMs, warm intros, commenting on posts — we’ve done it all. Some people ghosted. Some gave useful feedback. A few turned into warm leads. And all of it taught us how to speak in the language of pain points, not features.
• Built internal systems to stay sane We started documenting everything: outreach tracking, onboarding steps, proposal templates, social content calendars. It’s not glamorous, but it’s what lets us move fast and stay organized without losing our minds.
• Worked 12+ hour days — and felt like the progress bar barely moved I was (and still am) so eager to get traction. But I’ve learned the hard way: early-stage progress often looks invisible. The seeds take time. And the more I push, the more I need to step back, zoom out, and focus on consistency over speed.

📚 What I’ve learned (so far):

• Sales and marketing are just as important as the service If you can’t sell it, it doesn’t matter how good it is.
• People don’t pay for “design” — they pay for outcomes Clarity, conversion, retention. Your offer needs to speak to a pain point.
• Clear > clever Fancy words and visuals mean nothing if your message is unclear.
• Imperfect action is better than no action Version 1 gets you to version 2. Done is better than perfect.
• Progress feels slow, but it compounds Some days feel like a grind, but each effort lays a foundation.
• Business thinking makes me a better designer Now I design with strategy in mind — not just the interface.

I'm not the same person who was laid off in 2023. That vulnerability became my strength. Each rejection, each slow day, each small win—they were building something bigger than a job. They were building resilience.

To anyone rebuilding, pivoting, or wondering if the hard work matters: I see you. Your journey isn't linear. It's a beautiful, messy process of becoming.

We often chase the next big saas or online business but there are some boring businesses which make a ton of money. What are those?

If you know the startup costs of those businesses, comment that as well.

Edit: Boring doesnt mean easy. It’s just work that you wouldn’t fancy doing growing up. Like no one decides i want to become a plumber at 15.

After years of chasing productivity systems, motivational content, and life hacks, I've realised something important: most self-improvement advice focuses on adding more to your life.

1. More habits.
   
2. More disciplines.
   
3. More systems.

But the breakthrough finally came when I started removing instead of adding.

I stopped forcing myself to be a morning person when my natural energy peaks at night.

I quit tracking every minute of my day and instead focused on protecting just two hours for deep work.

I abandoned the hustle 24/7 mindset and started prioritising real recovery.

The thing is, actual self-improvement doesn't come from forcing yourself into someone else's ideal routine. It comes from understanding your unique wiring and building around your natural strengths.

What have you removed from your life that actually improved it? And what are you still forcing yourself to do because some guru said you should?

Our margins just got slashed in half. We have to raise prices or risk going out of business. We dual source from Taiwan and USA, even US goods have some parts from Taiwan and Canada so we will need to also raise prices there. How is everyone else going to fare? Hoping this bloodbath spooks the orange goblin and he backs off. This is worse than I had imagined…

We’ve all had ideas that felt like they could be big, but not everyone follows through. What’s one idea you had but never acted on and now regret?

How did you do it as an introvert?

I don't know when entrepreneurship circles decided that "just use AI" was the answer to everything, but I'm seeing this mindset everywhere lately and it's starting to feel disturbing.

You know what I'm talking about - the posts claiming you can build an entire business with zero engineers, zero designers, zero customer support - just AI doing everything. The LinkedIn "thought leaders" explaining how CEOs and executives will be obsolete within 2 years.

I've watched friends pour money into AI tools thinking they'd save on hiring, only to realize they now need specialized talent to wrangle all these systems together. Or companies that went all-in on AI-generated content and code, only to end up with generic products indistinguishable from their competitors (who used the same prompts).

What really gets me is how quickly people are willing to discard the very employees who helped build their companies. These are the people who believed in your vision when nobody else did, who put in long hours because they shared your values, who stuck with you through the tough early days. And now they're viewed as replaceable because AI can supposedly do their jobs? That's not just bad business—it's a betrayal of the relationships that made your success possible in the first place.

I'm not anti-AI by any means. I use these tools every day and they're genuinely impressive. But there's a massive gap between "AI can help your business" and "AI can BE your business."

The reality is that businesses still need humans for things that actually matter - genuine innovation, understanding complex customer needs, making strategic decisions, building company culture, and creating products that stand out from the crowd.

I worry about where this leads economically, too. If everyone believes they can build businesses without creating meaningful employment, what happens to the broader economy? To knowledge transfer? To the social fabric that businesses help create? What kind of world are we building where loyalty and human connection are considered obsolete?

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but it feels like we're chasing a fantasy that will leave a lot of entrepreneurs disappointed and do real damage to the business ecosystem along the way - not to mention the human cost.

Anyone else noticing this trend? Or am I just resistant to change?

I started my company a few months ago and just hit a realization for my service based business. My marketing has been put towards once the problem has already happened but there’s a whole market for prevention and working with other services to introduce it at the foundational level.

What’s something in your business that you realized as a eureka moment that changed everything? It could be a mindset or something totally small that made a big difference. Something that shifted the perspective

If it costs you as a small business more to buy a product, make it clear that tariffs are at fault for your higher prices. Tape a sign to the counter, post it on social media, your website, whatever.

This not only lets people know that it's not your decision to raise prices, but it lets people who may not otherwise pay much attention to the news know that tariffs specifically are the reason prices are going up.

More awareness means more pressure to change things.

With high overhead costs and infrequent sales, how could they be making a profit?

I’ve seen it more times than I can count, some big company rolls into an industry and uses all their money and resources to push around the little guys. Honestly, it’s frustrating to watch. Most of the business owners I talk to are just regular people, trying to keep things going. That’s actually how I met Ali. He runs a small local business that his dad passed down to him. When we first talked, he told me he wanted to clean things up and finally take marketing seriously, something his dad never really got around to.

At the time, their Google Business Profile was the only thing bringing in calls, and even that wasn’t doing much. Ali came to me hoping I could help, but he was pretty honest, he didn’t expect much. The companies at the top of the search results were huge, with full-on marketing teams and big budgets. I told him all I needed was for him to stay hopeful while I gave it my best shot.

After a couple of months, we started to see some solid movement. By month four or five, we were knocking on the door of the top three. Then, by month six or seven, we actually passed one of the big names and landed in the local pack. Ali was pumped, and so was I, but I told him we weren’t done yet. The next few months were slower. We’d see a little progress here and there, but nothing major.

Then it happened. Almost a year in, we finally took down the biggest competitor and hit that #1 spot in the Google Map Pack. It was a grind, but so worth it. I was proud of the work, but honestly, I was even happier for Ali. That moment changed everything for him, and it’s proof that the size of your business doesn’t have to hold you back when you’ve got the right strategy and someone in your corner.

I’ve noticed that even people making $100K/month are still active on social media, creating content and engaging with their audience.

If you already have a stable and high income, what motivates you to keep producing content? Is it personal branding, networking, enjoyment, or something else?

Hi there! I am a content creator and avid developer who has recently scaled his AI scheduling agent to over $9k MRR this year. The agent helps optimizes the scheduling of workers for manages, small businesses, etc. While I launched this Saas as a desktop app in October of last year, I migrated it to mobile only which every user loved.

My scheduling agent is pretty niche so I charge a subscription of $500/mo for each user. Pretty crazy as in the Saas world this is like a super premium price. That's where I learned this pretty famous lesson: the riches are in the niches! The 3 main reasons I was able to achieve $9k MRR were the following (and hopefully this helps other Saas founders or i guess agent-as-a-service founders haha):

1. For a price of $500/mo, you better be your user's best friends. I developed a good relationship with each individual user and can probably name them all of the top of my head. Customers paying high monthly subscriptions expect your constant support and care. Yes you can hire a VA, but also get to know them personally too.
2. Referrals are your friend. I got a couple of clients through Linkedin Sales Navigator, Instagram, but the most were from referrals. Happy users = they tell their friends who are also probably in a similar space and before you know it, you have over 10+ referred users. I imagine for cheaper Saas it would be even more. I have another Saas for instagram outreach called instadm that's only $70/mo, and I have got over 20 referrals for that (but that's for another story)!
3. Don't overdo the AI. Everyone now a days loves saying "our app has AI" in it. That's cool. But the wow factor should not be the AI, it should be on the result that you are bringing your user. People forget about this in this AI boom we are in.
4. App is best. I love desktop apps but nothing beats being able to use an app from anywhere at anytime. I mean who is carrying their desktop with them everyday ahah. Phone? Everyone has that on them!

I hope these lessons were insightful! Feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments below and I will try to answer as many as I can!

Naval Ravikant said- "The Lindy Effect for startups: The longer you go without shipping a product, the more likely you will never ship the product"

And as someone who has been working solely with entrepreneurs for almost 2 years now, I can completely attest to it.

I develop MVPs for non-tech entrepreneurs, often first time founders, and more often than not I can tell which entrepreneurs will actually get sh*t done and which ones are probably just wantrepreneurs (they'll get stuck only talking, thinking and dreaming about it). It's not even that they're incapable of it as people, it's just that they're not action takers.

They put more importance on "protecting their ideas", "refining their vision" and "planning their strategies" as opposed to just taking action and focusing on execution (the most important part). They lack follow through.

They think if they just think hard enough they can go from level 1 to level 10 without having to face the struggles and mistakes of the levels in between. That's impossible.

On the other hand, the ones who either have that true entrepreneurial spirit start as soon as they can. They're not afraid to do it imperfectly. Experienced or serial entrepreneurs share this trait too.

If you have an idea, you need to execute it imperfectly. And then based on feedback, make it better.

Can't sit in your room and assume what would make it better. You don't decide that. The market will.

Analysis paralysis is one hell of a bi*ch. It'll kill your drive slowly and you won't even realise it. Kill it before it kills you. Start immediately.

Learning about this effect has made me realize that I have unknowingly become an wantrepreneur about a lot of my ideas that I'm underconfident about. So naturally, I'm going to immediately break the chains and start developing one of them

I develop other people's ideas for a living but it's overwhelming to do it for myself (I'm not confident in my non-technical skills like business development, marketing, sales etc.) I've decided to take the leap and figure out the rest as I go! Because let's be real- that's what I'd advise my clients to do. Gotta walk the talk🤞

I'll try to post updates if there are any major developments. Wish me luck guys!

PS: Sorry if I rambled on a bit lol just super pumped! Happy to answer in comments if I have failed to convey something clearly in the post

About six weeks ago I launched an app via a post to reddit. The reception was absolutely beyond my expectations.

I was sitting at my PhD student desk working when to my amazement, I saw a notification from stripe saying that I received my first payment of $7.5. I have never had such a flood of good hormones go through my body. Thank you whoever you are for clicking that purchase button and thank you to the continued interest of people that keep purchasing the app. I even had a $1000 day with a post to r/macapps (reached top of the month). It's now at ~$3700 USD.

This is my 3rd attempt at a startup in the last 3 years and is the first time I have ever received an internet dollar. I spent 2 years on my last project - building tests for this, tweaking styling for that, optimising page load times and what did that get me? $0

What changed is I decided to make something useful, not revolutionary. Something that people search for regularly (you can find this out on sites like ahrefs), something I do regularly and something that I could build and test in a month. I thought: don’t focus on features no one will use until you’ve tested whether there’s interest in the essential features that solve the problem. If no one showed interest, i would move onto the next idea.

I settled on a universal file converter that does conversions locally on your device. There are plenty of file conversion sites, but when you use them, you’re sending your files and data to their servers. I didn’t like that and I wanted to use local tools but with a drag and drop app, so non-programmers could use it. This isn’t a revolutionary idea. It’s something simple and useful for a thing that people have to do a lot.

With my last failure, I honestly thought that maybe I wasn’t cut out for making my own apps/websites. However, this new mindset is working - build it fast and see whether people buy before you spend years on it. I hope this post is a bit of inspiration for people who are in a similar boat to how I was feeling. After your first failure, learn then build and launch to test your next idea. The feeling of having one actually be wanted by a user is the best feeling I have had in years.

My family finds it hard to grasp the fact that I am making money online. To them, I'm just "sitting behind a computer" and being lazy - meanwhile I am working pretty much all day every day

Recently I decided to get into Fiverr to set some gigs up and start making money.

I'm offering a service that helps content creators by researching and identifying trending topics in their niche. I also optimize their video titles and thumbnails for better search visibility and engagement. My goal is to ensure creators can focus on content creation while I handle the research and strategy needed to increase views and growth. I offer several plans, from $150 to 400. Also I gave them an opportunity to book a one-time report for $25.

I think it's a good service with low competition as I searched far and wide and found no other similar services. But the question arises, how do I find my potential clients and start getting orders? How do I eventually scale it up into a big business and start earning decent amounts? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks a lot.

I’m 17, and I’m incredibly motivated to start making money. I don’t want to waste time I want to learn, work hard, and build something valuable. I’m open to different paths—online work, freelancing, business, or anything else that can help me grow.

What are the best ways for someone my age to start earning? What skills should I master to create real opportunities for myself?

I started a glamping business nearly three years ago with $30 to my name. Since launch, we have acquired an investor, funded by my Alma mater, and have had a few local interviews about us.

Basically I travel and setup glamping campgrounds around two night shows —think cozy, curated camp setups with a touch of whimsy. Over time, it grew into a whole experience: community vibes, good music, custom gear. Alongside that, we run a merch line.

One of the things I started doing was custom dyeing our tents. At first it was just to make my experiences stand out and more creative, but after this last event, people loved them. I got several compliments from people not apart of our group and a lot of positive feedback from our online community.

Eventually I thought… why not sell them?

So, today I’m officially selling them. I figured Etsy would be the best store to start, so alongside our website, I just posted a listing there as well.

Looking forward to this new chapter with the business.

This is the first time i ever posted anything on reddit. As the title suggests, I've done the classic mistake of relying on a single client to run my business. Things have been good with this client but its looking that there are some financial issues going on on their side. I have also been working on acquiring new clients but maybe i should have put more effort into it than I have. So yeah now I'm here with my back against the wall. I cant imagine letting all these people go that have depended on me for their well being. If anyone has any tips or pointers on how to get a software client that needs a relatively large project to be developed would be great. Any help would be appreciated.

I wrote the post below in my own words and then sent to ChatGPT for refinement/clarity. So if it reads like AI, it's because it is, but it's conveying the message from my own words a bit better than my original with a few of my own lines written back in. Hope that's not an issue here.

I’m 33, married with two young kids. I have a bachelor’s from a well-regarded public university (though in an underwhelming field—economics adjacent). I used that degree to land a job at a mid-sized distribution company (~$1B annual revenue), where I rose quickly to a project management role and performed well.

In 2018, after four years there, I returned to my family's $3M/yr residential service and repair plumbing business. I saw my father withdrawing from leadership, responsibilities being handed to underqualified middle managers, and overall employee morale declining. I’d worked in the business from a young age, had all the necessary licenses, and earned a degree of respect from the team—not just as “the boss’s kid,” but as someone who had done the work.

I spent my first year back in the field, knocking off the rust. From there, I started chipping away at process issues and inefficiencies, without any formal title. In 2020, I became General Manager. Since then, we’ve grown to over $5M in revenue, improved profitability, and automated many of the old pain points. The business runs much smoother and requires less day-to-day oversight from me.

That said—I’m running out of motivation.

I have no equity in the business. And realistically, I won’t for a long time. The family dynamic is... complicated. There are relatives collecting large salaries despite zero involvement in the business. Profits that should fuel growth get drained, and we can’t make real accountability stick because we rely too heavily on high-producing employees—even when they underperform in every other respect.

I want to be clear—this isn’t a sob story. I know how lucky I am. The business supports my family, and for that I’m grateful. But I’ve gone from showing up every day with fresh ideas and energy to slowly becoming the guy who upholds the status quo. I’ve hit most of the goals I set for myself, but I’m stagnating—and that scares me.

The safe move is to keep riding this out. My wife also works and has strong earning potential. We’re financially secure, and with two small kids, I’m not eager to gamble that away. But I’m too young to coast for the next decade while I wait for a possible ownership shakeup.

At this point, the job isn’t mentally stimulating. One hour I’m building dynamic pricing models; the next, I’m literally dealing with whether a plumber is wiping his ass properly because I've had multiple complaints about his aroma. I enjoy the challenging, high-level work—marketing, systems, strategy—but I’m worn down by the drama, the legacy egos I can’t fire, and the petty dysfunction I’m forced to manage. I'm working on building a middle management gap, but there's something lost in not being as hands-on in a small business like this. I fear that by isolating myself from the bullshit, I'll also be isolating myself from some of the crucial day-to-day that keep us who we are. Hope that makes sense.

(To be fair, most of our team is great. We have an outstanding market reputation and loyal employees—but the garbage still hits my desk when it shows up.)

I’ve toyed with starting a complementary business or launching a consulting gig for similar-sized companies outside our market. I’ve taken some Udemy and Maven Analytics courses (digital marketing, advanced Excel/Power BI, etc.) to keep learning, but I rarely get to apply that knowledge here.

So here I am. Is this burnout? A premature midlife crisis? A motivation slump? I’m not sure what I’m looking for—but if you’ve been here, or have any hard-earned advice, I’d be grateful to hear it.

In entrepreneurship, getting your first 10/100 customers are the hardest. For example, we got our first 100 customers by contributing on reddit subreddits our customers hung out at and going viral on certain subreddits using services like krankly!

So successful entrepreneurs , how did you get your first 10 customers? :)

I made a post here a while back inviting youngster who are looking for a mentor to reach out to me, which many of them did (after a whole lot accused me of spam which i didn't). Here is what I learned about this community from doing that post.

My only condition for the mentorship was them DOING 1 HOUR OF DEEP WORK PER DAY! which I was attacked for by this community because 1h isn't enough

I got around ~20-30 DMs from young founders who were seemingly serous about doing a startup, around %30 of them already had a startup. I was very active in the DMs for a whole day, trying to give advice, and keep the conversation going. I even gave my number to 2 of them, who I sensed where more serious than most.

from those 20-30 DMs, and the 2 who called, none were really interested in doing a startup. I am currently talking to none of them, and I really tried my best to keep the conversation going. They didn't ever have the discipline to close me as a mentor not to mention do the 1 hour of whatever is needed for the startup to be successful.

-one person promised to do the 1h per day, then said he had exams and didn't do work for a week (literally just like my 15 year old nephew).
-one was talking about a startup that does Ai marketing agent which takes long for content and transform it to short form content that is "optimized for virality". whenever I asked "how is it optimized for virality exactly", they kept saying "algorithms".
-2 people thanked me like crazy for agreeing to mentor them then never reached out again.

Now I am %100 sure that the 4 million entrepreneurs we have on this sub, and the 10 million founders on LinkedIn are not founders at all. Maybe the number of real founders in the world is closer to 100k, maybe less. Most people just don't have the discipline to work without supervision.

Design your newsletter so that subscribers can quickly skim it and get value without needing to click on links or read extensive content. Think of newsletters like Morning Brew, which condense information into digestible nuggets. Whether your newsletter is about news, technology, or fitness, the goal is to provide quick, easily digestible information.

When it comes to promotion, reach out to individuals with blogs or their own newsletters. Offer to write free, relevant content for their audience in exchange for the inclusion of a link back to your newsletter at the bottom of your guest content. You can also find relevant groups on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn by searching for keywords related to your newsletter's topic. Join these groups and post the first 200-300 words of your newsletter article within the group. Include a link at the end of your post that directs readers to your newsletter signup page to access the complete article.

As an agency with experience creating communities for brands, we also suggest creating a valuable offering (freemium or opt-in) to incentivize email sign-ups. This could be a gift, a challenge, a blueprint, or a workshop in exchange for an email address. The offer should provide value and ideally give potential customers a "quick win" and a taste of what it's like to work with you. For example, a 30-day challenge, a 14-day focus group, or a workshop on how to grow a podcast.

It is also a good idea to repurpose LinkedIn content into shorter Twitter posts or threads and include a link to your newsletter. Besides, you can use that thread to create short videos and include a call to action to click the link in your bio, which then leads to your newsletter signup.