As a brand strategist and designer for the past 15 years, I've gotten to work on plenty of big, exciting projects (with big budgets to match) for brands like Netflix and Timberland.

But I've also worked with plenty of startups and smaller companies who want their brands to look decent at a discount.

The answer isn't to hire the cheapest designer you can find. More often than not, when you hire cheap work, you end up going through rounds of revisions and redesigns — and paying more in the long run.

Instead, here's a better path to cutting costs while still getting great design work.

Start with simple assets

The best way to get killer designs for less is to not aim for killer designs in the first place.

So many companies — especially startups — don't take into account how many pivots they'll go through before they figure out what they really need from the designs they're paying for. And, believe me, switching up your company strategy ends up in a lot of costly back and forth with designers.

Instead, start with simple assets. I like to think of this as "black dress design"— it's nothing revolutionary, but it looks sleek and timeless. And in many cases, you can even create it in house.

For instance, a wordmark— your company name in a polished, professional font — can easily take the place of a logo in your early days. There are so many free resources online for creating simple-yet-sophisticated color palettes, like Adobe Color, which lets you choose from trending palettes or build your own using basic color theory.

With these brand basics, you can customize a multitude of design templates (think Squarespace for websites and Canva for social-media graphics) to make them your own.

Test and iterate

Design assets today get used in a lot of different environments. Your company logo needs to work on everything from your website header to your tiny social-media icons to brand packaging. Graphics need to look as good on a phone screen as they do on a billboard.

One of the exercises agencies go through is testing various design possibilities and uses to see what works and what doesn't. To save money at the start, you can do some of this yourself.

When you create a simple logo or wordmark, test it everywhere you already know it'll be used, and make sure it looks good and is readable at different sizes. As you start to use design elements in more places, be okay with the fact that you may need to tweak them a bit to get things just right.

Get aligned internally

As you go through this testing and iteration process, hopefully two things will start to happen.

First, you'll learn what your design needs really are, so you aren't paying for more than you need when you do hire a designer.

Secondly, by putting your assets out in the world, you'll learn more about your brand strategy and positioning, which any good designer will want to dig into so they can create graphics that truly represent you.

Approach designers you're considering hiring with a well-defined brief that clearly outlines your needs and vision, and ideally elect a single decision maker to work with them.

So much of high design costs comes from endless meetings where everyone in the company wants a say. Do the work on your own time to reduce that as much as possible, and your designer will thank you (and likely be able to charge you less).

When you do pay, pay for the best

When you're ready to work with a designer or agency to create truly stand-out branding, hire a designer whose work really speaks to you. Even better if they have previous experience in your industry so they already know about any norms or special considerations.

And when you find the right fit, be willing to pay a little more to work with them. You'll likely pay less in the long run — and end up with designs you're truly thrilled to put out into the world.

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Just as they were gearing up for a rebound, business owners are now concerned they'll experience more setbacks as Delta-variant coronavirus cases rise. And with mask and vaccination mandates varying from state to state and city to city, there's a lot of uncertainty to navigate.

In a recent survey from Alignable, a small-business referral site, 76% of 5,164 small businesses said they feared Delta surges would hurt their recovery. About half said another wave of government-mandated closures was their top concern. The survey found that these concerns were more pronounced among minority-owned businesses and those in hard-hit industries such as restaurants, travel services, and event planning.

Every business owner's approach will be different based on their needs, but business professors and seasoned small-business owners say that some best practices can help entrepreneurs prepare for the months ahead.

If you're a small-business owner, here's how to stay sane and maximize your chance of recovery and growth.

Set company policies that support your employees

Denise Rousseau, a public-policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University, gave five ways companies could make their employees feel safe, valued, and supported.

1. Establish baseline safety standards and avoid inconsistency.

Keep a baseline safety protocol for everyone, and ensure company leaders follow it. "If the managers don't comply, that says they're not serious or sincere," Rousseau said.

2. Keep company policies flexible.

Allow reasonable accommodations to adapt to employees' needs and schedules. Some people may need to work their hours around family time or caring for a loved one. "People don't leave an organization that they find supportive," she said. "They leave an organization that doesn't give them what they need to deal with their personal lives."

3. Treat employees like stakeholders.

While pay is important, companies retain employees through meaningful contribution, training, and purpose. "A job that gives people an attractive future is a valuable job," she said.

4. Ask for feedback and follow up.

As you learn what works and what doesn't, involve employees in the decision-making. Get their feedback frequently to better understand their concerns and needs. Then show that you truly care by following up on any questions they raised.

5. Demonstrate integrity rather than posturing.

Companies should have high standards if they want employees and customers to feel that their well-being is just as important as, if not more important than, making money. "Make it about our service to others," she said.

Meet your customers online

Angelica Gianchandani, a marketing professor at the University of New Haven, gave five strategies for adapting your business and engaging customers online.

6. Prepare for lower foot traffic by establishing a digital presence.

If you don't already have an online store or social-media accounts, setting these up is the first step to build your business and mitigate interruptions. You'll be better prepared for government-mandated closures and declining foot traffic when customers have 24/7 access.

7. Offer contactless pickup and delivery.

The more options you have to get your goods and services to customers, the better you'll be able to accommodate them while putting their safety first.

8. Maximize sales with gift cards and special offers.

Gianchandani's local coffee shop offered $50 gift cards for $30 — a smart tactic that she said encourages returning customers and leads to more revenue than a one-time purchase.

9. Narrow your social-media-marketing focus.

Businesses don't need to master every platform right away. Gianchandani suggested investing in the platform where your customer demographic spends the most time. "Focus on building that social-media presence and incrementally adding," she said.

10. Find a support group in your community.

By connecting with other business owners in your area, you can learn their best practices while supporting one another through difficult times, Gianchandani said.

Stay nimble and flexible

Alex Faherty, a cofounder of Faherty Brand, shared five ways his company was planning to deal with the new variant and how others could follow suit.

11. Be realistic.

Faherty told Insider his company became more cautious with spending, figuring the pandemic could quickly get worse. So far it has discussed putting a hold on hiring and has become selective with when and where to spend marketing revenue.

12. Plan for the fall and the holiday season.

Faherty has shifted dollars back into its e-commerce platform for the fall and the holidays in case the physical retail world suffers from more shutdowns.

13. Implement mask and vaccine rules.

Faherty requires all store employees to wear masks and all office employees to be vaccinated to enter the headquarters. Faherty added that the company was prepared for customers who won't want to wear masks and was expecting a dip in foot traffic if other markets reimplemented mask policies.

14. Pay attention to your own mental health.

It's important to take care of yourself, Faherty said, suggesting exercise, meditation, and reading fiction as hobbies to indulge in during these stressful times. "It will help you stay clearer" and focused, he said.

15. Don't let fear stop your business.

Don't spend every second of the day reading every news story about the pandemic, Faherty said. "Looking at case levels gets in the way of running a business," he said, adding that he expected the economy to remain strong even as the Delta variant spreads.

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Rebekah Campbell is a serial entrepreneur having founded four successful businesses, ranging from music to retail.

She launched her first venture at the age of 22 — a music company that went on to represent Evermore, Operator Please, Lisa Mitchell, Matt Corby, and more.

"It kind of unexpectedly became a business," says Campbell, who started managing bands out of a passion for music.

"At the time I was 22-years-old and lots of my friends worked at record companies.

"I remember at the time being really jealous of them because working at a record company gave you all these really cool benefits like money coming into your bank account every fortnight," she joked.

"You've got a business card and a fancy title that became a part of your identity … and it seemed like they had a lot of security in this stable job.

"In contrast, being a band manager, I was out there hustling, trying to convince bands to let me manage them, trying to get them gigs … all to try to scrape together enough money to pay for my rent every week.

"It felt like it was really risky. My parents at the time were not very happy about the career direction I was on and thought I should get a stable job."

Campbell likened such a career to an escalator: you get on, ride it to the top where you make it as "a GM or you have a C in front of your job title … and then you retire, and make room for the rest".

But as it turned out, the music industry was one of the first sectors disrupted by technology, dramatically reducing the number of companies and jobs available, and therefore putting the friends she once envied out of work.

"A lot of my friends really struggled because they had this idea that their career was going to look like, and had this expectation that they were going to progress up this escalator. Suddenly they were kicked off and didn't have much of an idea about how to pick themselves up or know what to do next," Campbell said.

"Whereas I had a lot more security. Even though I wasn't particularly wealthy, I was self-sufficient in that there wasn't really a chance that I was going to be made redundant.

"That really made me start thinking about how should we think about ourselves … and the way we develop our careers."

A few years, and startups later, Campbell has launched Zambesi — a platform that connects leaders at high-growth technology companies with other organizations and individuals looking to learn.

Experts from companies including Canva, Showpo, Atlassian, Hipages, Google, Facebook, and more, are already offering workshops to share their skills. Sessions average about $600 each.

"They're all people who are doing it now, so they can share insights that are super cutting-edge," says Campbell, which is a benefit at a time when advancing technology means new processes and information are being developed every day.

From employee to entrepreneur

She says this shift in the workforce also means people need to start thinking of themselves as "entrepreneurs" rather than "employees".

"That doesn't mean everybody is going to necessarily start a business. But it means everybody is the CEO/founder of their own business, which is their own career."

She says people should be thinking of themselves as a product that's continually evolving and looking for new opportunities. People should also be considering their personal brand and network.

"What are we known for being an expert in? What are our culture and values as a person, and how is that reflected in our online presence? Who is going to refer you?" she says.

Campbell's advice, reflects a recent Business Insider article in which experts say too many people suffer from a "delusional belief" that a career should follow a linear path.

Psychology researcher Tania Luna and Weight Watchers International executive Jordan Cohen say that modern employees suffering from their belief in the "career myth" are being held back from success.

They argue that it's no longer the case that employees can expect incremental chances to advance up the career ladder, rather people need to embrace uncertainty by changing roles, or even industries, without a final destination in mind.

"When we envision a career, we imagine a direct path with a final destination," the authors wrote. "And not long ago, this concept was useful."

They added: "This vision of career growth no longer matches reality. We no longer need to be good at predicting the future; we now have to succeed when the future is unpredictable."

But that doesn't mean taking the jump is easy.

Tame the mammoth

Expert360 co-founder and CEO Bridget Loudon says: "It's super scary."

She had a successful career at management consulting firm Bain & Company, when she quit her job to launch her business.

"I actually had one idea, but that was terrible and I won't go into that, but I left Bain and became a freelancer to order to pay for this other startup that I was doing," she says.

It wasn't until she realized how difficult it was to be a freelancer that she saw a gap in the market, and launched Expert360.

Despite her subsequent success, she says leaving the security of a stable job "is always scary for everyone no matter who you are or what generation you are".

"There's this really awesome article called Taming the Mammoth on a blog called 'What Wait But Why'," she says.

"It's this concept that there's always this woolly mammoth that when we're thinking about making decisions in our life that's actually saying things like 'no, don't quit everyone's looking at you.' And we all have those mammoth in our life, that we think 'what will they think of us,' when making a decision.

"I always used to think about Bain partner Simon Henderson, what would he think of me?

"We all have a mammoth – for some of us it's our mum or dad, and I think that making that leap is seeing who your mammoths are … and thinking 'I see I'm thinking about what you think of me, but actually I'm going to think about what I want to do'. And, actually, no one really cares, particularly Simon Henderson, about what I do."

Take the jump

Hiam Sakakini, former head of leadership at Google APAC, is familiar with this career change terror.

She also chose to jump off the linear career path into a venture of her own.

"As a veteran of an organization that has literally changed the world by democratizing information, and that infiltrates your every cell with a new way of thinking and behaving, I can tell you that leaving Google felt … terrifying," she says.

"The culture of this company made you fall madly in love with going to work every day.

"For me, it was a sense of collaboration, camaraderie, exploration, experimentation, fun and accomplishment. Doing 'sh-t that matters' kept me in that wonderful place for 10 years. A fifth of my working life was gone in what felt like nanoseconds."

She wondered whether she could manage without the comfortable salary, great benefits, and luxurious work surroundings.

But when she heard people talking about "the good old days" she likened it to "a couple whose relationship had gone stale," and knew it was now or never.

There were "heart-stopping moments of pure panic" but she made the jump and "starting my own business was in fact the smartest decision I've made for the times we are in".

"The writing is on the wall in terms of large-scale layoffs happening right now due to new models of working, the effects of automation, and the globalization of the workforce," she says.

"An executive assistant can be replaced by a virtual assistant at a fraction of the cost. A website designer can either be hired for very little on Upwork or an online website-builder makes it easy for a five-year-old to build a website these days.

Sakakini says automation will change the very fabric of how we live, and as a result, full-time permanent roles will be very few and far between.

"At some point in your career, you will need to think about how you will commoditize your valuable knowledge, expertise and skills in the free market," she says.

"In other words, become a freelancer. You will need to learn the art and science not only of consulting, but pricing, packaging and selling your services, building a client portfolio, navigating tax, contracts, and employment laws.

"Take a deep breath now … and build."

SEE ALSO: How to land a new job when you're pregnant from the executive who did it

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For years, New York City's freelancers and side-hustlers have worked out of their local coffee shop for the lowly price of a drip coffee, but now there's a place designed especially for these creatives and entrepreneurs that's free of charge.

Shopify, the $988.6 million ecommerce tech company, just opened its coworking space in the trendy SoHo neighborhood, and anyone can use it. There are no membership fees and you don't have to be a Shopify customer to attend workshops on marketing, shipping, or "How to Be a Successful Plant Parent."

Additional services do come at a cost. For $100 you can book the podcast recording studio for two hours or rent a small photo studio, Canon camera, and lighting equipment. 

Shopify declined to share the economics behind paying for the new space, which the company rents. Arpan Podduturi, director of retail and apps, said only that the company's incentive is "creating a pathway for entrepreneurship," and that the new space facilitates that goal at a time when more people than ever are quitting their jobs to launch businesses.

"We make money when our entrepreneurs make money," Podduturi said. 

And New York City is already teeming with those customers — one out of every 250 residents is a Shopify merchant, Podduturi said. "We really felt like now is the time to help more merchants get started, help our active merchants in New York get advice, and just build a community hub for those who are looking to start businesses."

Insider toured the space to see what it offers — and find the sunniest nook for getting into productivity mode.

Shopify's space is located at 131 Greene Street, between Prince and West Houston.

It's open on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 am to 5pm and on weekends from 10 am to 4 pm.

On Mondays, the space is open by appointment only. 

When you first walk in, you enter through a retail space.

The shop displays products from Shopify merchants.

For now, Shopify selects the merchants displayed here, but Podduturi said they may open it up to applications in the future.

There's a variety of clothing, accessories, and household goods.

Each item has a QR code which brings you to the product page on the brand's Shopify site.

The retail shop leads to the cafe.

The Cha Ching Cafe is located in the middle of the ground floor.

They serve Birch coffee and an assortment of bottled drinks. A small drip coffee costs $2.50 and the most expensive drink, a medium mocha coffee, costs $5.75.

On this particular Tuesday morning, they had fresh croissants.

Next to the cafe is a work area with tables, chairs, and iMacs.

Hand sanitizer, disposable masks, and pencils are stocked at every workstation.

And each work station has plexiglass dividers.

Shopify's event coordinator, Megan Glassman, was one of the few early risers who came to get some work done.

The work area has a balcony that looks out onto the lower level.

The walls feature fun murals, like this one of a pigeon sitting in a NYC subway car.

The mural even gets the train car door right with a sign that says "Don't lean on door." 

On the opposite wall, there's another mural with a motto written in a New York Magazine style font.

The mural art was designed by local artist and Shopify merchant Naomi Otsu.

Downstairs is the event and workshop space.

The interior architecture appears to have remnants of an old factory, with its brick walls, archways, and high ceilings.

There's lots of bench seating and greenery.

You can connect to the free WiFi by scanning a QR code.

Morning sunshine pours into the room through three windows.

And skylights bring in even more sunlight.

A podium, monitor, and speakers are set up for events.

And stage lights sit ready for ambiance.

A sign reminds people to wear a mask and maintain social distancing.

The photography studio is tucked in a corner. It's not much bigger than a NYC apartment kitchen, but sufficient for product flat-lays.

The photo studio is equipped with a camera, lights, a tripod, a couple props, and a selection of backdrops.

If photography isn't your strong suit, you can book a freelance photographer through Shopify.

In the middle of the space, Shopify advertises its fulfillment and logistics services.

The service allows merchants to ship their inventory to a Shopify fulfillment center where they pick, pack, and ship your orders. 

Two standing work stations are tucked in another corner.

An exit sign leads to a hallway where the recording studio and bathrooms are.

There's a Shopify-branded 'on air' sign above the recording studio door.

The recording studio includes enough chairs, microphones, and headphones for four people.

There's also a monitor, speakers, and optional cameras for video recording.

The room has soundproof foam panels and plenty of lights.

Outside the recording studio is a continuous line drawing of New York's famous slogan.

This piece is from artist Andy Blank. 

My wife and I are business partners and firm believers in having multiple streams of income. 

Because we have 19 different income streams, we were able to easily shift our attention last year when the pandemic stopped some of our projects in their tracks and focus our energy on other areas.

Here are our five favorite ways to make money — not necessarily because they pay us the most money. Some pay really well, some help grow passive income, and others line up with our passions and lifestyle.

Airbnb and real-estate investments

I hopped on the Airbnb wagon in 2013. I was already opening my home up to couch surfers at the time. We sold one of our Airbnb rentals last year because of our heated local real-estate market in Mobile, Alabama. 

We operate two more in Mobile and use different strategies for each. We don't own one of the units. Instead, we asked the owner if we could lease and then sublease it as an Airbnb property.

Last year, we generated $28,400 in revenue from this property, making a net profit of about $7,000 after factoring in the cost of maintaining it. We'll look to start more of these, since the cash outlay is lower than purchasing the unit. To make sure our units are competitive with other Airbnb properties, we search the competition in our local market.

We love real-estate investing, and since we're self-employed, it's part of our retirement plan. We generated $65,800 last year in total income from our Airbnb units.

We also own a standard single-family-home rental that we plan to hold long term but doesn't fit well into our Airbnb business strategy.

Affiliate income

Affiliate marketing pays you a commission when a product sells because you recommended it. We all do this already — we just don't necessarily get paid for it.

For example, you might recommend a mechanic to your friend because the one you went to did a great job on your car and had excellent customer service. You don't think twice about it. Your friend goes and gets their car fixed. The mechanic just made $1,500. But what did you get paid? Nothing.

Affiliate marketing gives you that opportunity. I love this income stream because I get the benefits of business ownership without worrying about the product, customer service, or overhead. It also can be passive, as I get traffic to my blog from search engines when people are looking for answers. I help provide solutions and get paid for them.

We can make sales from dozens of companies that we know, like, and trust. I'm averaging $23 a day in affiliate income, and it increases as my online traffic increases.

I create content on my blog that helps entrepreneurs with their businesses. So when I recommend email-marketing software, a podcast host, or website hosting, I get paid a commission when my website visitors make a purchase.

You have to sign up with the companies and get approved before you can refer them. I started with companies that are best for beginners.

YouTube sponsorships

I've been working for a few years to grow my YouTube channel, where I make videos for other solo entrepreneurs. I record videos covering marketing, real-estate investing, making money online, and personal finance.

I recently crossed the 1,000-subscribers mark, and I'll make money directly from my videos with the YouTube Partner Program by sharing revenue from the ads that play on the videos people watch.

But there are a lot of ways to make money from YouTube, and one of them is sponsorships.

I've been hired to create videos for companies showing their software or tools and how I use them in my business.

Based on the size of my channel, I was paid $500 a video. What's great is I got paid to make videos that I would've made anyway for my channel.

Most people mistakenly think that you have to have a large channel to get sponsors on YouTube, but it's just not true.

Print ads

Who says print is dead? Not us. 

We started a local media company in our hometown nine years ago. After growing our online presence, we had the idea to launch a magazine that promotes nonprofit organizations in our area.

Creating a print publication wasn't part of our business plan, yet this project generates thousands in net profit for our company.

I love this income stream because it shows that if you can find the right target audience, niche print publications can be pretty successful — and do good for your community in the process.

Selling our belongings 

We make the least income from this method, but it's my favorite because it allows us to stay flexible and mobile. 

You could say that selling items you already spent money on isn't making income, and I can see this perspective — but if you keep unused items, they'll become permanent sunk costs.

I like to think of items as long-term rentals. Maybe I'll find a set of weights for our home gym that haven't been used in the past year. If I'm savvy with my purchase, I can often sell an item for the same price I bought it for.

Sometimes, you get to sell items at a profit. My wife still rolls her eyes every time I talk about the chair I bought for $30, used for a year, and then sold for $100. I got paid $70 to sit in that chair.

If we haven't used an item in 12 months, it goes on the sale list.

We sell things the quickest on Facebook Marketplace and its local sell groups. If we need a wider reach, and we're OK with shipping, we'll sell on eBay. We haven't needed to go outside these platforms, and we generate thousands in income every year from this method.

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When Olly Smith was in his 20s, he set a goal: He wanted to start his own business by the time he was 40. 

Fast-forward to last year: The 40-year-old Smith wasn't running a company. Instead he was working remotely as a restaurant consultant from his home in upstate New York. When his employer asked him to return to the office in July, while new cases of COVID-19 fluctuated between 50,000 and 70,000 a day in the US, Smith remembered his entrepreneurial dreams.

"My personal health was being decided by somebody else," said Smith, who quit his job last summer to open the gourmet-food shop Westerlind Pantry, just one year after his target. "I didn't like that."

Smith is part of a growing cohort of people who quit their jobs during the pandemic, a trend that peaked at 4 million in April, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last year, Americans launched 4.4 million businesses, a 24% increase from a year earlier, according to the think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics. A flurry of startups also launched during the Great Recession, such as Airbnb, Square, and Uber.

It has business and marketing experts everywhere calling it "the best time to start a business in more than a decade." On Monday, Shopify CEO Harley Finkelstein tweeted that it was "the entrepreneur equivalent to the gold rush."

Changes in how we work and shop removed some startup barriers

Launching a food shop during a pandemic might sound intimidating, but Smith was surprised to find that his startup costs were relatively low.

Before the pandemic, entrepreneurs might have explored opening a brick-and-mortar storefront, but today many are launching fully online so they can work remotely and avoid the high costs of commercial real estate.

Instead of hiring a developer to build their websites, entrepreneurs can use platforms like Squarespace or set up digital stores on e-commerce sites like Shopify, Ross Buhrdorf, the CEO of the business-formation service ZenBusiness, said, calling this the increased "digitization of microbusinesses."

An increase in saving and spending helps new businesses

While many small businesses suffered financially last year, and entrepreneurs struggled to get emergency aid, money accumulated in other corners of the economy.

Personal savings — the percentage of people's income left after taxes and spending — jumped to a record 32.2% in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and reached a total of more than $2.3 trillion last year.

"This means there are folks sitting on money who may be willing to lend to their friends and family who are starting new businesses," said Deepak Hegde, an associate professor at NYU's Stern School of Business. "It also means there are consumers who create demand for these businesses."

Additionally, venture-capital investors poured a record $156.2 billion into US startups last year, according to data by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. In the first quarter of this year alone, investors deployed $69 billion to companies, a 92% increase from the same period last year.

Workers are looking for jobs that fit their needs

The pandemic also forced many people, like Smith, to reexamine their careers through lenses like job security, work-life balance, and personal passion. Sixty-six percent of unemployed people in a Pew Research Center survey said they "seriously considered" changing their field of work.

This means companies are competing for talent, which gives a fighting chance to small businesses that create workplaces matching the needs of employees today.

"The pandemic caused a shift in the way people think about their lives and work," said Luke Pardue, an economist at the small-business payroll and benefits platform Gusto. "They are more concerned about having control over their work environment, the times they work, and the work they do."

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Name: Anne Onyeneho

Age: 34

Location: Alpharetta, Georgia 

Business: The popularity of healthy meal prepping isn't slowing down anytime soon — just ask Anne Onyeneho. 

Last November, she authored a cookbook full of plant-based recipes called PlantBaed to help people prepare their own healthy dishes at home. Then, in March, she launched a meal prepping service, named after the cookbook, so customers could buy healthy dishes directly from her. Next year, Onyeneho is opening her first restaurant, putting her meal prepping skills to the extreme test. 

"People are more conscious of how they eat," Onyeneho told Insider. "It's interesting how many people hit me up about food, on how to prepare things and what they need to do. You would think I was a doctor."  

Growth: Onyeneho is projected to net over six figures by November, per documents seen by Insider. Her company has spread mostly word of mouth, seeing a 400% increase in sales for meal preps since June and a 200% increase in cookbook sales month-over-month since last November. 

Her service counts Rai Vereen, head custom designer at Tyler Perry Studios, as a fan, and the PlantBaed Instagram account has over 45,000 followers. There's also a YouTube cooking show she's set to co-host with actress Crystal Haylsett, whose Instagram has over 230,000 followers. 

When Onyenheo opened presales for her book last year, it sold $10,000 worth of copies in three days. PlantBaed also hosted virtual dinner parties seeing over 500 people in attendance. Onyeneho now plans to turn her meal service into a restaurant, set to open late next year in Alpharetta. 

Before PlantBaed: Onyeneho worked at Piedmont Healthcare as an executive associate. She studied Health Care Management at Howard University, before obtaining a graduate certificate in ​​Health Informatics at George Washington University. 

Challenges: Self-publishing a cookbook has been hard, she said. Onyeneho had to study copyright and trademark laws, learn how to put together a manuscript and find the right editors to help her. "I had to use my personal money and my savings and bet on myself," she said. "I could write a book on how to write a cookbook."

Business advice:"All entrepreneurs should first research and understand their targeted customer needs before executing any business idea," she said. 

Business mentor: Onyeneho credits AJ Nolson, founder of Bizology Academy and Bizology Ventures, for teaching her how to manage her business. He tells her "never hire for where you are, hire for where you're going," she said.

Onyeneho also counts her father, who runs an insurance business, as a mentor. He stressed the importance of making sure she had all her business credentials, such as a federal tax ID and a business bank account, before launching her company. 

Is now the best time to start a business? "Absolutely," she said. "There is always a need, especially in the health space … you just have to figure out what problems you want to solve, and then that's going to be your business." 

Hiring in today's labor shortage: Onyeneho's team consists of four people and she plans, for now, to keep the business in the family to help build generational wealth. "Eventually I'm going to need to grow," she continued. "But sticking with the family is the best way to avoid a labor shortage." 

Managing burnout: She spreads tasks throughout her team so pressure never falls solely on one person. "I can't do everything by myself," she said. "I take help wherever I see I can get it."

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Many business owners are worried the Delta variant will hurt their recovery, especially if there's another round of government-mandated closures. Navigating that uncertainty can feel overwhelming, as if you're lost at sea. 

But according to business coach and personal branding strategist Maya Elious, it can help to reflect on all the challenges you and your business have gone through, and endured, to prepare for what may come next.

In fact, in 2020, Elious made a trip to Mexico to do just that. 

She took time off from her responsibilities as CEO of Built To Impact, her coaching and consulting company, to look back at 2020 and look ahead to 2021. She left in November and mapped out what went wrong, what went well, and how she can grow from those experiences. With a busy schedule, it helped to block off that time on her calendar to make sure she got it done. 

"When you are intentional about what you specifically want to do with your time, then you show up for yourself more," she told Insider.

She's used this planning exercise, and taught it to clients at her retreats, for the past two years. She said she's seen results in meeting her revenue goals. In 2017 she made $107,000; two years later she made $331,000; and in 2020 she hit $1 million, according to financial statements verified by Insider.

Elious broke down how she reflects on three key areas of her business and sets goals for the next year. The process takes time — she spent about two and a half hours — so don't rush it. 

"You're always going to come back to this to make sure that you are hitting your revenue goal and you are spending the right amount of time and money on the right things," she said. 

Reflect on 2021

The first part of Elious' process is to reflect — and it's important not to skip this part. "If you don't learn the lesson, you are going to repeat the assignment," she said. 

Skipping the reflection could lead you into the next year or quarter repeating old habits. "There's so much clarity when we can look back and see what happened," she said. "You're looking back at a wiser version of yourself." 

What worked?

Take stock of all the things that worked last year, it could be big changes or little tweaks you made that led to more sales, higher traffic, more followers, or new opportunities. 

Focusing first on what went well begins the exercise with gratitude so the next steps are a bit easier, Elious said. "It's going to be easier to pivot your mindset into 'what did I learn?' when you first look at the quote-unquote failure from a place of gratitude."

What didn't work?

Next, evaluate what didn't work well over the past year, whether it was business functions that didn't pan out or your own mindset that got in the way. 

In 2017, Elious operated her business as an agency and didn't hit her $1 million revenue goal. When she realized how much she hated having an agency, she shifted into an events and coaching business. She said her company wouldn't have grown as quickly if she hadn't made that change. 

"A lot of times we just look at something not working as failure or as a loss, but not really understanding that there's a learning lesson to it and that we can pivot from that moment and really turn it into a win," she said.  

What did you learn from those challenges?

The last question can uncover your greatest takeaways from the past year. Ask yourself what you learned from the highs and lows. Maybe it was pivoting to digital offerings, cutting down on inventory, or increasing your prices. Maybe 2021 challenged your leadership, pushed you to hire smarter, and to improve your management skills. 

"When you recognize what you learned, then you can now start creating different habits to go into your next season," Elious said. 

Despite her fear of committing to a 12-month program, the past year taught her that she could do it. At the end of her six-month program, her clients still wanted to work with her. "My learning lesson was that I can actually commit to clients for that length of time and I have the ability to provide value," she said. Going forward, she plans to offer 12-month programs. 

Set your goals for 2022

Now that you've reflected on the past year, you'll have a better idea of what you need to achieve in the coming year. Elious examines three main areas of her business to set her new year goals. 

First, she writes down her annual revenue goal for the year, then breaks it down by month. This will help to inform what she needs to accomplish in the next three steps. 

Sales

List out your current and future products, offers, or services, including the price points. Then figure out how many of each you need to sell to hit your monthly and annual revenue goals. If your revenue goal is more than $500,000, Elious recommends tracking weekly as well. 

For example, an aesthetician would need to calculate how many facials, waxes, and lashes they would need to do each month to hit their revenue goal.

Marketing

Next, list the marketing platforms that are most effective for your business. Figure out how you'll meet your sales goals and convert customers with these marketing channels. 

With the aesthetician example, how are you making sure your business is seen by people who want waxes? How are you marketing your facials so that people will want them? 

"If you need to be doing more waxes because people are not coming in for waxes, then that means there's something off with your marketing," Elious said. 

And if your plan isn't working a few months in, you can always go back and revise it. "There's no point in spending marketing dollars on something that people are not excited about or they're not buying," she said. 

Operations

The final step is to look at the inner workings of your business to better understand the logistics of meeting your revenue goals. This might include partnering with a new supplier or vendor; or maybe you'll need to hire new employees to have the capacity to fulfill higher volumes. 

For example, if you're booking 10 waxes per day, who is performing those? Are you the only person running your business operations or do you have a team supporting you so you can prioritize other areas? 

"When you have all of those things in play, you can generate the money that you need to, and then also be mindful of the amount of time that you're putting in your business," Elious said. 

Even if you don't hit all your goals by the end of the year, Elious says it's another opportunity for growth. "Shifting for the better, not shifting because I'm inadequate or because I'm not good enough," she said. 

"When you give yourself that permission upfront, you're pivoting towards a better destination."

SEE ALSO: A step-by-step guide to creating a Shopify store so you can finally launch your business and start selling

SEE ALSO: 12 ways to fund your small business that don't involve venture capital

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If you earn six figures on resale apps like Poshmark, Depop, or eBay, we want to hear from you. Contact this reporter at jortakales@insider.com. 

Nicholas Waskosky was just 14 years old when he turned his thrifting hobby into a side hustle. 

He began flipping his finds from garage sales and thrift shops at "buy, sell, trade" stores like Plato's Closet. Then he created an account on the resale app Poshmark, listing a pair of Birkenstocks for $20. "I undervalued them and they sold almost instantly," he told Insider. "I got hooked and I've been doing it ever since."

As a teenager, it was just a fun way to earn some spending money, but when he turned 18 he registered NCI Resale as an official business. He also sells on other platforms like ebay and Instagram. On Poshmark alone, he made $34,607 in sales in 2020, and he's made $26,835 in sales so far this year, which Insider verified with documentation. 

Waskosky, now 20, is returning to classes at the University of Minnesota this fall where he's studying retail merchandising and sustainability. "There is no more sustainable option than buying something that's already in existence," he said. "It makes me really happy that my generation in particular, Gen Z, is so over the stigma behind secondhand clothing."

Here's what his daily routine looks like while he's in school full-time and running his resale business, as told to Insider.

The following has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

I wake up at 8:30 a.m., make my coffee, and check Poshmark orders.

I am not a morning person, but I usually get up at 8:30 a.m., unless I have an early morning class. I make myself coffee — I am a sucker for a cold brew with a little bit of hazelnut creamer and ice. The first thing I do while I sip my coffee is sit on my bed and open up my platforms. 

I see if I sold stuff overnight, respond to offers or questions, and I always send out offers to likers on anything that has been liked in my Poshmark closet. Then some mornings I will share my Poshmark closet. 

Around 9 a.m., I get dressed and go to class.

I get ready for my day and go to my classes. In my downtime between my classes, I might list something really quick on my phone. I always have all of my photos on my camera roll. I usually spend two hours on a Sunday taking pictures of 50 to 100 things. Then throughout the week, I'll steadily get through that amount. I try to do five to 10 new listings a day. 

After I take pictures, I always take measurements. You don't have to do measurements, but I personally do it for all of my clothing items that I sell. Then I take pictures of my notebook that I write them all down in so I'm able to [list] anywhere I am, whether I'm in line waiting for Starbucks or waiting for a class to start. 

When I'm out and about during the day, I go to Starbucks.

I get an iced caramel macchiato. That's my poison.

I'm usually finished with classes by 1 or 2 p.m.

My classes have been fully remote for the past year and a half. Starting this September, I will be returning to in-person classes so I will probably be getting a bit of an earlier start.

The end time for my classes typically vary, but I'm usually finished by 1 or 2 p.m. depending on the day and my class schedule.

After classes, I pack up orders...

Typically every afternoon once I'm done with classes, I do all of my shipping. I pull all of my items that I may have sold on various platforms, and I package them all up and I go to the post office. 

...and head to the post office around 5:30 p.m. in my bright yellow Jeep.

I am notorious for running to the post office about 10 minutes before they close every day, because I'm chronically late to everything. So I'm usually whipping up to the post office in my bright yellow Jeep. Everybody can see me coming.

They usually make fun of me if I ever come earlier than 10 minutes before they close. I'm friends with all of the people at my post office because I am there every day. So I usually pull up, I drop off all of my packages on their counter, and I go home.

I get home around 6 p.m., have me time, and eat dinner.

When I'm not working or doing homework, I'm also a dancer. I grew up as a competitive dancer throughout middle and high school, and I continued on in college. I'm part of a student run dance company called The Dance Collective. I also enjoy going to coffee shops, reading, and learning about fashion!

Then I do homework for a few hours.

I'm very much a night owl, so I always joke that I accomplish all of my work between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. I have to separate my business from my personal life very explicitly, otherwise I will lose my bananas. 

I'm a list person, so I'll make myself a list and I usually alternate and do an hour of schoolwork, and then after the assignment, I'll list three things and I'll send offers to likers, and then I might do another assignment and then go back.

I join my reseller friends on Clubhouse at 9:30 p.m.

For the last eight months I've joined a really great community of other resellers who are also night people and we call it the Reseller Nightclub and there's about 10 to 15 of us that join every night at 9:30 p.m. 

It's been really great because they're like my coworkers. We all have it on in the background while we do work, list items, and edit pictures. It's fun to have a group of people to do that with and we've become really good friends. I actually just flew out to Atlanta three weeks ago and I met one of the people that I've been talking to on Clubhouse every night and we were able to go thrifting for a day. 

I usually get ready to go to bed between midnight and 1:00 am. And then I get up and I do it again the next day.

A veteran tech CEO has added to Silicon Valley's growing list of idiosyncratic productivity hacks with his five-year search for the perfect notebook.

David Selinger cofounded the online real-estate firm Redfin, valued at $5.2 billion, as well as search firm RichRelevance. He is now the CEO of the security firm Deep Sentinel.

He previously worked with Jeff Bezos at Amazon in 2003, working on the retail giant's product-recommendation system. He now counts Bezos as an investor in Deep Sentinel.

Selinger spoke with CNBC Make It about his daily routine and productivity hacks.

The CEO said he writes a to-do list every couple of days and said he spent five years experimenting with different notepads until he found one that suited him best.

He now has a stack of $15 notebooks, produced by the Spanish brand Miquelrius, in exactly the same size, with white nonrecycled graph paper.

His checklist process involves moving items over to a new list every couple of days. If he has to move an item twice, then he knows it's either deprioritized or that there's a problem, he said.

"Writing it every time forces me to review: Is it important? Am I ever going to get to it? Or can I delegate it?" Selinger said. "Those three things: boom, boom, boom. That cycle helps me stay focused on the things that are meaningful."

He said he has the same breakfast every day — a Bulletproof coffee and six slices of kielbasa sausage — so that he doesn't have to think about it. Bulletproof coffee is coffee mixed with grass-fed butter, or ghee.

Selinger's habits are in keeping with other work-life rituals of big-name CEOs.

Steve Jobs famously pioneered wearing the same outfit every day to reduce decision fatigue, a technique adopted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Rose Marcario, the former CEO of ethical-apparel brand Patagonia, meditates every morning and night for at least 10 minutes, while Arlan Hamilton, founder of VC firm Backstage Capital has said she remains more productive by simply choosing to forgive people and not ruminate on interactions.

Selinger described knowing how to manage your time as one of life's most important lessons.

He also provided insight into his former boss Bezos, describing him as "intimidating,""precise, definitive and wicked intelligent." He said he would meet the Amazon CEO weekly while developing what would go on to be the company's product-recommendation service.

"We would show up and we'd say, 'Well, here are our new graphs.' And he was, like, 'I didn't hire you guys to make graphs — I hired you to make money. Where's the money? The only way you make money is if you're writing software.'"

Selinger also told CNBC his No. 1 leadership lesson is not to lie, and that he makes his CFO at Deep Sentinel tell the company's employees how much money there is in the bank each week.

He referred to the concept of "radical transparency"— whereby leaders are upfront with employees about every aspect of the company — as being more difficult when startups inevitably go through tougher times, but that employees know regardless of whether a leader is hiding things from them.

"Most people think it's worse than it actually is. So by being transparent, at least everybody knows, and they know exactly how bad it is," he said.

The hedge-fund investor Ray Dalio, of Bridgewater Capital, is perhaps the most high-profile proponent of radical transparency. All the firm's meetings are recorded, and employees score one another using "baseball cards"— a system known as the dots.

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NOW WATCH: Navy SEALs share how being a good leadership is all about balance

When I was a 19-year-old wannabe journalist, I attended a roundtable discussion at my university about what the 21st century reporter looked like. One of the lecturers asked the small group of students a seemingly simple question: "What are you?" 

We all took turns to answer individually. "Student journalist!""Aspiring producer!""Photographer!""Entrepreneur!"

"Wrong," the lecturer said. "You're all businesses." 

I'm 27 now, and I think about this statement a lot as a freelance writer. 

I didn't agree back then that I, a living breathing human being, could be a business. But in many ways today I am. I sell goods and services at a competitive rate to well-paying customers. And I also market myself as one. 

But that's always been the tricky bit: Self-promotion has always made me feel icky, like I'm begging people to pay attention to me, hire me, read my writing, and give me money. 

It's especially torturous having to promote myself on social media in an attempt to build a following and attract potential clients. I have to be personable yet professional, which can often feel like a performance. 

But I don't have a choice — not really, anyway. If I didn't self-promote, I wouldn't make any money. No one would know I exist. And no one would know I'm open to work. 

Marketing myself as a business has also come with its own mental toll. One person can't take on the role of an entire business without becoming very, very tired. 

And I am. And so are many other freelancers. It's exhausting to put yourself out there over and over again and be subjected to some of the cruelest corners of the internet. 

Coupled with a pandemic — and compounded by the revolving-door feeling of burnout — I have to wonder: Can it be made easier? 

The short answer? Yes. But it requires freelancers to be honest with themselves about what they hope to achieve with self-promotion, understand who they're trying to attract, and create boundaries for when it becomes overwhelming. 

"Marketing is part of the job," Matthew Fenton, consultant and founder of Winning Solo, which offers coaching to freelancers, said. "Get very good at the work, and get very good at the things that bring you the work. If you do just those two things, you're going to do just fine." 

Be honest about your embarrassment

When Ed Zitron got COVID-19 last year, he decided he wanted to write more. So he revived his Substack, Where's Your Ed At, where he's recently focused on the topic of remote work. 

That's the precise moment when Zitron, who works in media relations but has a background in journalism, came face-to-face with a unique predicament: If he wanted people to read his newsletter, he'd have to share it — no matter how much it made his stomach churn.

"Promoting yourself means you have to be constantly willing to put yourself out there," he said. "And I've definitely had to fight my other instinct of being too embarrassed to ask friends for retweets and having to be judicious in who I ask and how often I ask."

"My whole technique is just to be honest with the embarrassment and not feel bad about it," he added.

His approach to "honesty" as a tool for marketing himself worked out well. Since the beginning of this year, his newsletter has grown from less than 400 subscribers to over 3,000. 

"I enjoy people reading my stuff and saying I'm smart. I think every writer does, and anyone who says they don't is a flipping liar," Zitron said. "And the happy accident of this is there is a branding to it and helps people find me, but also it legitimizes me and separates me on some level from being just a PR person." 

Focus on one or 2 main platforms

Toronto-based digital marketer Janine Maral recently took her part-time freelancing business full time last November. 

For six months, she consistently posted on Instagram, creating short-form videos on Reels with tips on how to market a creative business, and introduced herself and her expertise in niche Facebook groups to attract entrepreneurs in need of brand strategy consulting. 

Then, she hit a wall, and decided to stop promoting herself for the foreseeable future. 

"It felt like I was putting a ton of time into content that wasn't going to matter in five minutes," she said. "You think you are posting consistently enough and spending enough time on one post, but it doesn't matter because the algorithm has control."

The mental stress of "having" to post and send many "cold DMs" on all platforms to attract clients made Maral feel burnt out fast. So she refocused the energy she would've spent marketing herself and took on more "task-relief" work for her clients. 

"With freelancing, there is already so much stress and pressure because of the inconsistency with income and lack of job security," Maral said. "Self-promotion means making sure you are standing out in a crowd of people in a saturated social-media algorithm. You want to make sure you are coming across so people like you because your freelance work relies on who you are." 

Maral knows she can't go forever without using social media to market herself, so now she's planning her return. She said instead of trying to juggle every platform, she's planning on only utilizing one: Instagram. That's where she feels she can cast the widest net for the creative-type work she hopes to attract. 

"Being on all platforms is not the best strategy for your audience or the work you're trying to gain," she said. "Your potential clients aren't going to be on every platform." 

See yourself as your own manager

A few weeks ago, Abby Lee Hood was "spiraling" after someone online called them a "grifter" for promoting their newsletter, Bitchin' Pitchin', which offers free pitching advice and resources for freelance writers. 

"My newsletter is the thing I promote the most because I really need those Patreon dollars," Hood said. "That's really valuable income for me, and I feel like it does provide a service — I'm giving something back. So that comment was really hurtful." 

Entrepreneurial journalists like Hood, who write for various outlets and publish a newsletter of their own, have become increasingly common in the media industry as jobs dwindle due to mass layoffs and freelancing becomes more of the norm. Promoting both themselves and their product online, however, has always been somewhat "frustrating," Hood said. 

However, as a former social-media manager, Hood knew what they had to do to make the promotional side of the job easier and shake off unkind comments quicker.

"Hire yourself as your own social-media manager and take that job seriously," Hood said. "When you feel like you're running things professionally and you're doing it with a purpose, you start to understand that this is the way it is, and it becomes less about your ego." 

A few of the ways Hood was able to remove some of the "shame" they felt about self-promotion was to stop using social media recreationally, know what their promotional priorities were, and schedule out content ahead of time using apps like TweetDeck and Hootsuite. 

Fenton, the freelance coach, recommended "soloists" spend 20% of their time marketing — in the early days, that might be as much as 80%. 

"You need to spend time letting people know who you are, because while you might have a fantastic referral base and network that loves you, at some point that's going to dry up," he said. "So you have to keep putting yourself in front of new people."

Avoid using social media as a megaphone

Social media isn't the only tool for self-promotion for freelancers, but it's the most popular and easiest to use for those who are just getting started. For freelancers trying to make an impact and gather more business, Fenton recommended using social media as a chatroom as opposed to a soapbox. 

"You don't want to use social media as a megaphone, it's not a one-way conversation," Fenton said. "You want to interact with others, you want to share interesting things, you want to make jokes. And on days where I don't feel like I can contribute meaningfully, I step away."

This is advice freelance writer Britany Robinson also follows. She believes "there's a stage fright associated with hitting send" and a feeling of vulnerability that comes with the pressure of marketing oneself as an independent. Robinson believes creating a boundary between yourself and being always on is the first step in acknowledging there's not an "obligation" to always be present online as a freelancer.

"The pressure to always self-promote, on top of the mental fatigue of the pandemic, made it hard to be consistent and to do the promotion we are supposed to do," she said. "There's a fear that if you aren't consistent, people will forget about you, but that's not true. Show up when you have something to say, instead of burning out just to be there." 

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NOW WATCH: Here's what would happen to life on Earth if the moon disappeared

Since starting his career, 22-year-old Zack Ahmed has been on one mission: to help creatives and entrepreneurs connect, build, and grow with one another.

As a digital native, he realized early that even the most established companies struggled to connect with next-gen creators and professionals online. So he began consulting with companies on how to strike partnerships and collaborations in the digital sphere with young upstarts like him.

To date, Ahmed has worked with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Adidas, and the content creators Ketnipz and Vision, previously known as Tech Vision.

The digital-consulting market, worth more than $20 billion, has had an increase over the past five years in Gen Z-led consulting firms looking to take a slice of the pie. Through his company, Ahmed and his team of two now manage more than 50 global creatives in industries including luxury goods, sports, and technology.

These past years, he's helped clients build and implement strategies for their projects which helped earn seven figures. Ahmed's company takes a percentage of the cuts and has netted six figures this year, staying on track for next, according to documentation provided to Insider. 

Ahmed shared his top tips for helping businesses digitally connect with what's set to become the world's largest cohort of consumers, whose spending power already tops $140 billion. 

Capitalize on the attention economy  

Most companies are overthinking their approach in connecting with new audiences, Ahmed said. He tries to teach them how to streamline their vision — for example, making sure their apps don't have too many features.

"It's the simplest things in life we enjoy," he said.

At the same time, he tells them to adopt a diversified approach toward marketing.

For instance, if a company wants to start a podcast, Ahmed might tell them to look at launching a merchandise line to capture all possible avenues of reaching clients. As of 2019, the US apparel industry was worth $368 billion. (Even Baby Nut, the reincarnation of Mr. Peanut, had a merch line.)

Ahmed also has his way of revamping traditional marketing. For example, at Sony and Universal, he helped design and animate album covers, winning a Brit Award for his work with the musical group NSG. In 2018, he helped the musician Safone launch a pay-per-view event by buying a domain, renting cameras, and livestreaming it. It was the first pay-per-view concert ever to be held in the UK. 

Strike imaginative partnerships 

Ahmed said most clients come to him, but if he sees someone he really wants to work with, he reaches out cold. Part of his strategy is connecting big and small brands — established entrepreneurs and novices. 

For example, he reached out to Alex Masmej, founder of the NFT gallery Showtime, on Twitter to discuss a possible collaboration. After, he connected with the rappers D Block Europe through a mutual friend, introduced them to Masmej and helped turn a photoshoot of the rappers into a social-media campaign that Masmej turned into an NFT to sell in his gallery.

"There were a couple of buyers, and we made $8,000 in two days," Masmej told Insider. "It was super fast." 

This type of collaboration between large brands and smaller ones is essential to building an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs can successfully collaborate, Ahmed said. Furthermore, creating content and striking partnerships that don't necessarily lead to consumers purchasing products is also a good strategy to attract potential customers. 

Translate the digital world for non-natives 

Companies should also remember that young people use the internet as a means of community building, Ahmed said. Creating strategic partnerships that tap into these communities can help brands find relevance. 

"These communities allow young people to find escapism and connect with others who share common values and interests," he said. 

Connecting with others has always been important to Ahmed. He was born in East Africa, and his mother died when he was 3. From there, he briefly lived with an aunt in Cyprus before moving from one family to another around the UK.

He learned to relate to people easily, picking up four languages and the ability to translate seamlessly. "I was able to see a range of cultures early on and was adaptive to change," he said, adding he went on to study media and communications at Cardiff University. 

As a child, he used the internet to build virtual worlds; within the digital crevices, he realized many entrepreneurs struggled to become socially fluent. Today he's doing a different kind of translation — helping to decipher the online world for others. "I grew up in the digital world, and it has opened all these opportunities I've been fortunate to have," he said. "If I am able to connect others to do the same, why not?"

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Venture capitalists want to be convinced.

Ask David Rose, and he'll tell you VCs wouldn't be hearing your pitch in the first place if they weren't interested in investing. Rose runs Gust, a digital platform for early-stage entrepreneurs and investors, and Rose Tech Ventures, an angel investment fund and incubator.

He said investors are just hoping you'll give them a compelling argument for why they should partner with you.

We asked Rose, plus a series of other successful investors (listed below), what persuades them to sign on — and what leaves them skeptical. Below, we've compiled their best advice, on everything from building a pitch deck to writing a thank-you note.

• Patrick McGinnis is the managing director of the investment and advisory firm Dirigo Advisors.
• David Selverian is an investor at Bessamer Venture Partners.
• Laura Sachar is a cofounder and managing partner of StarVest Partners.
• Dan Estes is a partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners.
• Dave Munichiello is a general partner at GV.
• Anu Duggal is the founding partner at Female Founders Fund.
• Ashton Kutcher is cofounder of Sound Ventures.
• Vanessa Dawson is founder and CEO of the Vinetta Project. 

Mark Stenberg contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Show how your product will benefit people

Estes previously told Business Insider's Lydia Ramsey that biotech investors want to know how a new tool will fit into the current standard of care. "The biggest mistake I see is when someone spends more time talking about how a product would affect the market than they do talking about how it would affect the disease it's designed to treat," Estes said.

The same is true for any investor, who wants to know how your business will make people's lives easier.

Don't be cocky

In an interview with Business Insider's Becky Peterson, Munichiello pointed to Stewart Butterfield, founder and CEO of Slack, as an example of an entrepreneur who didn't pretend he had all the answers. (GV invested in Slack in 2014 as part of a $120 million round that valued the company at $1.12 billion, Peterson reported.)

"Stewart's conversation with me wasn't about all of the reasons why Slack was awesome," Munichiello said. "It was, 'Here's how I think about the business. And you may think about it in a different way.' And 'Here are the metrics that I use to measure the business. How do you think about the business?'"

Hold your ground on the issues that matter most

"Entrepreneurs can, and should, articulate deal breakers to their prospective investors,"Selverian wrote on Business Insider. "If there's something that's important to you and your business, don't compromise. As long as the entrepreneur's reasoning is justified, many investors will be impressed by the vision and leadership conveyed through deal breakers."

Read more:A CEO who launched her company 14 years ago says too many founders have it all backward

Show that you can sell your idea

"One of the critical tests that I try to run when I'm sitting across from a founder is: Can you sell me your idea?"Kutcher said at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2018. If not, he worries about the company's future.

"If you can't sell me, how are you going to sell your first hire, your second hire, your third hire?" Kutcher said.

Demonstrate your path to execution

At Business Insider's Startup 2012 conference, Sachar said she needs to believe the entrepreneur can turn their idea into a successful business.

"If you can't execute, you don't have a company," she said. "A lot of people have ideas."

Read more:The glitz of 'entrepreneurship porn' leads startup founders to make fatal business mistakes. Here's how to avoid them

Create a comprehensive pitch deck

The pitch deck is your chance at a solid first impression. According to McGinnis, creating "a decent-looking pitch deck" is crucial in convincing investors "that you can build an app or a product that will be excellent."

Explanations as to how you will run your company, why and how your product will work, and any other necessary details must be clearly explained in the deck. A decent pitch deck should be exciting, but also error-free. All information regarding  your company metrics, competitors, or the current market must be accurate. Inaccurate information will cause investors to question your preparedness and the legitimacy of your proposed success.

Typos or grammatical errors are other mistakes to check for. Even the smallest oversight could distract from the key points of your business proposal, McGinnis says. 

And even if the investor decides they are not the best fit for your company, a flawless and comprehensive pitch deck could encourage them to connect you with an investor who might be. 

Tell investors how you plan to expand

Duggal previously told Business Insider every pitch deck should include a five-year growth plan.

Duggal added that she wants to see the costs of building your product or service, the potential profit "on a unit basis," and how that changes at scale. In other words, she said, "As your business grows, do the margins get better?"

Prepare a detailed appendix in addition to the deck

Your deck should be simple and straightforward. During the pitch meeting, Selverian recommends having a detailed appendix that will answer any questions that come up.

Address the potential competition

One common mistake Duggal sees in pitch decks is "not addressing competition or figuring out the market landscape."

She added, "When we think about investing in a company, we want to understand — that's great that you have an interesting idea or you spotted something that has the potential to be an exciting business — but we also want to understand what is already in the market."

Explain why you could fail

In 2009, when entrepreneur Jim McKelvey began raising money to launch Square, McKelvey did something very few founders do when trying to secure funding: he listed all the reasons his company would fail, 140 in total. 

"We had robot uprising, Amazon attacks — we had all this stuff — and we made a serious examination of all the things that can kill a startup, and it turns out that nobody does that," McKelvey said in a webinar address.

VCs loved McKelvey's candor. They loved being presented with problems to solve, rather than watching yet another founder try to paste over their startup's weak spots. And they loved how different the pitch felt.

Propose an action plan in a thank-you note

In your follow-up note after the pitch meeting, McGinnis said, "propose concrete next steps for them to react to — amorphous communication conveys amorphous management." Reiterate specifically what you're asking for, and ask whether there are other people you should meet who the investors can introduce you to.

You can also create FOMO by letting them know when another VC has already agreed to invest.

Determine whether you need to raise capital in the first place

If you're bringing in a maximum of $1 million a year in revenue, "it may be a great, wonderful, much-needed business," Rose said. "You may enjoy it and support your family." But he emphasized, "the economics are just such that there is no way that you can get an investment from me at any reasonable number for that to make economic sense."

This is because outside investors expect outsize returns on their money, often a large multiple of what they put in. And if there's a low-millions ceiling on the revenue your startup can generate or eventual exit price, there's not much incentive for a venture capitalist to write you a check.

In other words, your company may be a "lifestyle startup," which doesn't require venture capital and probably won't ever be worth $1 billion.

Wait to raise capital until you have proof of concept

An entrepreneur's pitch is a "combination of science and faith," said McGinnis — but you want to stay more on the side of science than faith.

McGinnis often sees founders who don't have any proof their idea is viable. You'd be wise to keep your day job and acquire customers and data before you ask a VC for money.

Read more: Keep your day job, move slowly, and don't worry about building a unicorn: A New York 'startup school' eschews everything Silicon Valley ever preached

Meet your 'B list' investors first

Start with the "B team," McGinnis said, i.e., the VCs who would be nice to have but aren't your first choice. Get feedback from them so you're more than prepared when you meet the VCs you're really targeting.

Show why you — not just your business — are worth investing in

Remember that you're pitching yourself, Rose said — not just your business plan. "You bet on the jockey, not the horse."

Show why yours is a "no trade off" product

Vanessa Dawson, founder and CEO of the Vinetta Project, is looking for businesses with "no trade off," meaning customers get your service or product without having to sacrifice something in return. For example, consumers want to clean their home but don't want to use chemicals that can do harm, such as adding to the increase in antibiotic-resistant bugs. 

"How are you producing opportunities and products that service the customer without a trade off?" Dawson asked. "I call it a triple bottom line: What's positive for the environment, health, and all other things?"

What to do when you're turned down

One failed pitch doesn't mean investors are uninterested in your business. It may just indicate that you're pitching to the wrong people or at the wrong time. Take it from founders who have been rejected by numerous VCs.

One of those founders, Kathryn Minshew, who is the cofounder and CEO of job-search platform The Muse, said in a podcast that she was rejected 148 times during the company's seed round.

She took any meetings she could get, but in her Series A round, she was more deliberate and gave investors a specific timeframe to meet. She found that the investors who fit her into their schedules were really interested in her company, whereas the investors who didn't make the time were probably not going to back her anyway. 

Jon Werner is the cofounder and CEO of a gift payment app Koya Innovations. One of his previous ventures was an app that pioneered using GPS in mobile phones before it was built into cell phones. He told Business Insider that investor rejection didn't deter him, rather, it gave him time to refine his technology and connect with customers.

"We stuck to our guns, we talked to our customers, we did our research, and we kept going," he said. Once customers were sold on the idea, investors began approaching him. 

Steve Martocci is the CEO of the music-creation platform Splice and the cofounder of GroupMe, which he sold for $85 million. In an interview with Business Insider, Martocci said timing is a major factor to meeting the right people.

He met one of his first lead investors at the same conference where he met his Splice cofounder and VP of engineering. "Timing and luck is at least one third of anyone's success in entrepreneurship," Martocci said. 

SEE ALSO: The best advice for entrepreneurs, from 16 real people who started their own companies

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It's Christmas come early for entrepreneurs this year — very early, unfortunately.

A year after many retailers ran out of stock by Thanksgiving; post offices filled with panicked shoppers mailing gifts to loved ones; and worker shortages due to COVID-19 caused severe delays, 2021 is already shaping up to be a repeat of Christmas past.

In July, UPS announced it expects peak demand this holiday season to exceed capacity by five million packages daily. Now in the midst of sweltering summer days, retailers are already stocking up on holiday inventory, preparing gift sets, and planning seasonal email campaigns.

If business owners have any chance of meeting the holiday rush, according to entrepreneurs and retail experts, they'll need to focus on several key strategies. If they wait, they risk losing critical sales in the busiest season of the year, three months before it even gets started.

Stock up on inventory now

Cindy Cortez is used to planning for long lead times to stock her retail shop, Newtown HQ, in Queens, New York, with clothing, collectibles, and novelties. She ran out of some products last holiday season and she says she's still waiting on the ones she ordered this spring. 

To get a head start, Cortez ordered $9,000 worth of Christmas inventory at a trade show in July. "I'm purchasing Christmas stuff in summer which is crazy," she said. "Usually I purchase in early October and it's just a lot to put in advance when I have to sit on this product until after Halloween."

But she's grateful she did, because there were even bigger lines this month at the NY Now trade show for the same vendors. And with a sizable basement stock room underneath her store, Cortez has the space for when her holiday orders come in.

Pivot to products with shorter lead times

A few blocks away from Cortez's store, Eduardo Silva owns Incasa, a home goods shop where he used to sell couches. But since customers don't want to wait six months for manufacturer delays, he says, he's stopped ordering. 

Instead, he's stocked smaller items like honey and candles with shorter lead times, many of them locally made. "I cannot depend on one item," he said. "Sometimes you have to switch to get more sales." 

This strategy is exactly the type of flexibility retailers need in fickle times, said Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, CEO and founder of retail publication Retail Minded. "It's absolutely critical to be proactive in planning your inventory."

Push sales now to account for holiday inventory

The downside to ordering inventory early is that it's money out of your pocket that you may not recoup for months. Cortez doesn't plan on putting her holiday products out until after Halloween. "I can't make any money on those products until Nov. 1," she said. 

So she's doing everything she can to push sales now, hosting events, markets, and artist collaborations throughout the summer and fall.

Encourage earlier shopping

Ultimately, Reyhle said proactive messaging is the best thing retailers can do to ensure customers' gifts arrive on time.

"You have to almost train your consumer to understand it's not to [their] benefit to wait," she said.

Cortez, for example, plans to launch her holiday products on her site the day after Halloween and send an email blast telling customers to do their holiday shopping right away. And she won't give any shipping deadlines this year.

"That's kind of giving them false hope that they're going to get it," she said.

Silva plans to do the same. He'll be promoting gift baskets and customized products as soon as Halloween ends. "So now," he said, "Christmas is coming in October."

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Stay-at-home measures across the country last year led to a surge in traffic to adult-entertainment websites, namely the subscription-based platform OnlyFans. The site became known for its many successful sex-work creators.

On Thursday, OnlyFans announced an upcoming ban on sexually explicit content. The site will still allow users to post nude photos and videos, as long as the content doesn't violate OnlyFans' acceptable use policy, which prohibits illegal content, including footage of minors or content not owned by the creator.

In the wake of the news, it's likely sex-work entrepreneurs will have to move their content to a competing site, many of which have recently emerged as OnlyFans creators have said they receive a lack of respect from their home platform. In May 2020, one content creator told Rolling Stone that the platform had mistreated them, mishandled their money, and sometimes kicked them off inexplicably.

These competing sites include FanCentro, IsMyGirl, PocketStars, ManyVids, AVN Stars, Frisk, and JustForFans, among others, and many have systems in place that champion the content created by their entrepreneurs.

Creators can profit directly off their content with a subscription model and similar payout rates, as well as use social medialike components on the platforms.

"The main reason I decided to leave was because I have read articles and seen people talking on Twitter about how OnlyFans has been deleting sex workers' accounts with no reason and no warning, and sometimes people have lost thousands of dollars,"Jamie Zella, a sex worker, said in a YouTube video. 

Below is a list of OnlyFans competitors that employ similar business models but more openly support their sex-work creators.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of an OnlyFans creator who makes up to $100,000 a month off explicit content

SEE ALSO: Adult content creators on OnlyFans rely on more than subscriptions to make 6 figures. Here's how the masters of the upsell make up to 60% of their income from tips and add-ons.

FanCentro

Website: FanCentro

Founded: 2017

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 75%

Features: Subscriptions, tips, clips, messaging, private stories

Standout attribute: The site has been heavily "gamified." It encourages users with "quests,""achievements," and a personal dashboard.

PocketStars

Website: PocketStars

Founded: 2020

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 80%

Features: Subscriptions, customized videos, tips, messaging

Standout attribute: The site emphasizes LGBTQ and nonbinary sex workers and trans inclusivity.

ManyVids

Website:ManyVids

Founded: 2014

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 90%

Features: Subscriptions, clip sales, items sales, tips, customized videos, phone sex, messaging, contests

Standout attribute: ManyVids predates OnlyFans and was started by Bella French, a former adult entertainer.

AVN Stars

Website:AVN Stars

Founded: 2020

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 80%

Features: Subscriptions, tips, private stories, messaging, clip sales

Standout attribute: AVN Stars is a product of Adult Video News, a trade magazine and major figure in the pornography industry.

IsMyGirl

Website: IsMyGirl

Founded: 2017

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 80%

Features: Subscriptions, clip sales, private messaging, premium Snapchat subscriptions, livestreaming, customized videos

Standout attribute: IsMyGirl's "timeline" is a tool that helps people discover models, and it teases prospective customers with free media.

Frisk

Website: Frisk

Founded: 2018

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 80%

Features: Subscriptions, paid chat, tips, clip sales

Standout attribute: Frisk emphasizes "following" models, which allows creators to tease users with their content more easily.

JustForFans

Website: JustForFans

Founded: 2018

Percentage of revenue creators keep: 70%

Features: Subscriptions, customized videos, cam shows, clip sales, messaging

Standout attribute: JustForFans is also a "blogging" platform, and creators can write posts in addition to adding media.

Once shrouded in controversy after former President Donald Trump threatened to ban it last year, TikTok is now the most downloaded app in the world, surpassing Facebook, according to Nikkei Asia.

With more than one billion users, the platform stands as a powerful way for small businesses to reach new audiences and market their brands to a global audience.

In an episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, host Michael Stelzner spoke with TikTok growth expert and consultant Michael Sanchez who helps entrepreneurs cultivate their following and community. He also hosts a free Facebook group of more than 11,000 members to give the latest TikTok tips and hacks. 

In the podcast, Sanchez said that TikTok is fundamentally different from other social media platforms in the way its algorithms are tailored to each user. "It looks at more of the user engagement and activity, what your interests are, how you interact with videos, and then finds content that's very specific to those," he said. 

Sanchez listed seven key data points that TikTok's algorithms use to evaluate content to curate for its users. Businesses looking to build up their presence on the platform can analyze these points to ensure their posts are engaging their audiences.

1. Video views
2. Likes
3. Comments
4. Actions taken from watching your content (followed, saved, or shared)
5. Average watch time
6. Completion rate (or the percent of viewers who watch the whole video)
7. Video integrity

Sanchez said that people tend to overlook video integrity, which is an evaluation of the video's content. TikTok looks for signifiers like whether each element is original or copyrighted. For example, the image recognition software will flag content that uses logos from other social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. "You'll notice that your views just stop — it just plummets all of a sudden." Sanchez said. 

A video could also get flagged if it contains violent, inappropriate, or risky behavior that could result in injury. 

The goal for marketers is to appear on TikTok's "For You" page, the function that allows users to discover content from accounts they don't follow. Videos that are flagged for unoriginal or violent content will be suppressed on that page. 

To make the most of your content, and to build up an audience, Sanchez suggested brands post on TikTok at least once a day. According to venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, users spent an average of 52 minutes a day on TikTok last year. If you don't post consistently, they're likely to find new content to watch and accounts to follow. 

"TikTok really values consistency and not even just from the algorithm," he said. "It's also the actual creators themselves and the viewers themselves."

SEE ALSO: How the TikTok ban will change businesses' social media strategies, according to brands that thrive among Gen Zers and partner with influencers on the app

MUST READ: Instagram's 'explore' page is the best way to grow your brand's audience. Here's how an entrepreneur gets an average of 300 followers per day.

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An exclusive preschool is promising to teach tots skills like grit, adaptability, and empathy to survive the digital age.

Trehaus preschool in Singapore, which accepts children between two months and six years of age, told Insider that it will be accepting its first intake of students in September.

According to the preschool, costs are $1,867 per month for a full-day program and $1,711 for a half-day program.

After adding in various fees and a refundable deposit, the cost of enrolling a child in Trehaus under the full-day program will set parents back $22,680 per year.

Calling itself a "Silicon Valley-inspired preschool", the school's curriculum was designed by early education experts from institutions including Stanford's Bing Nursery and Silicon Valley's Khan Lab School.

The school's six programs are each themed after a career path — CEO, engineer, philanthropist, athlete, creative, and chef — and aim to teach children the skills associated with it, such as entrepreneurship, coding, public speaking, teamwork, design thinking, and cooking.

Trehaus' school head Carolina Sam said that grit, which "encompasses determination, toughness, and resilience", would help children look at failures and mistakes in a positive way.

"This plays a large role in their ability to be successful in school and in life," she added.

She said that children would be taught about grit through a "no failure, only feedback" policy that encourages them to work on their abilities and treat failure positively.

Teachers also teach children to take calculated risks, expand their comfort zones, and learn emotional skills, such as how to self-soothe and self-regulate.

Apart from a bilingual English and Mandarin program, Trehaus is also offering a pure Mandarin immersion program to give students a head start in reading and writing Chinese.

Trehaus founder Dr. Elaine Kim said the preschool hopes to prepare children for "a future disrupted by technology", where soft skills become more important than hard skills.

"More than 50% of the jobs that [sic] exist in the next 50 years don't even exist today," said Kim. "The skills children learn in our program will prepare them for this future."

To help children gain skills quickly, "loving" and "nurturing" teachers will act as co-parents, Trehaus said.

The school boasts a teacher-child ratio of 1:5, which is at least twice as much as the recommended minimum.

In comparison, the country's government guidelines stipulate that preschools must have a teacher-child ratio of at least 1:12 for those aged two to three, 1:18 for those aged three to four, 1:20 for five-year-olds, and 1:25 for six-year-olds.

SEE ALSO: Starbucks has opened a 'coffee sanctuary' featuring a coffee nursery and lavender lattes

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Most aspiring entrepreneurs I know are just waiting for that unique idea to strike them that will kickstart their new venture, put them in control of their lifestyle, allow them to achieve financial independence, and maybe even change the world.

Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive, and focusing on the wrong ones won't bring you that business success and satisfaction you crave.

Thus, in my role as mentor to young entrepreneurs, I always recommend that you first take a hard look at your own values and priorities before jumping into any new startup, as the founder or even as a side hustle.

Here is my list of key questions to ask yourself to best route your passions to a business that will bring you more visibility and respect than pain.

Read more: I have multiple streams of income. Here are 5 of my favorite ways to make money, from print ads to affiliate marketing.

1. When is the best time to embark on this journey?

Timing is critical for every startup. I know too many who have failed because of pending family commitments, lack of preparation, or health failure. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start. I do first recommend getting some business experience, building relationships, and managing risk.

Some advisers recommend that the best time for a startup is immediately after academic studies, or even earlier, but I find that real business experience, perhaps many years in business, is the best education on the realities of business, current tools, and processes.

2. Should I start out alone, or assemble a team first?

For me, the acid test of a leader and an idea is whether you can persuade other people, and perhaps a cofounder, to join you in your quest. A business is never a solo operation. You need complementary skills for marketing, financials, and operations. If you find no takers, you may not have a future.

3. Is monetary return or helping others your priority?

Only you know whether you can find passion in creating the next Amazon, or bringing joy to people who are suffering. I often hear that the people who have made a lot of money are still not happy, and wish they had taken a different path. Think twice before committing to a business that is work.

A winning strategy today is to combine these objectives, by committing a portion of your profits for a higher cause. For example, Toms shoes agreed to donate a pair of shoes to the needy for every pair sold. The return was far greater than the cost of donated shoes.

4. Do I rely on my own resources or seek investors?

Bootstrapping is always a great alternative, because you can retain full ownership and make all your own decisions. Yet I find that most of us don't have the financials for that option, so we must share the equity, control, and reward, and rely on funding from family, friends, and professional investors.

5. How do I assign responsibilities and compensation?

Usually, people who are capable and willing to join a startup, especially for a key role, expect to be given a big title and real equity, if not top cash compensation. It takes real work and skill on your part to recruit the right people to the right roles. Friends and family should not be your solution.

6. Would I prefer a local business or global enterprise?

If your comfort level is local, and you don't like too much complexity, then a small successful business will serve you well. If your goal is to compete with Jeff Bezos, then be prepared to manage thousands of locations and employees around the world, with all the issues to get exponential growth.

7. What do you see as your legacy and exit strategy?

Some people like the challenges of building a product and starting a company, and then doing it again, while others look forward to scaling the business and driving a worldwide public enterprise. Your legacy may be that of a serial entrepreneur, or an industry giant and a worldwide leader.

For example, Richard Branson relishes the satisfaction of initiating innovative startups and rewarding strong team members with the opportunity to run a joint spinoff. His Virgin Group now encompasses over 400 companies, and his legacy as a leader is assured.

Not recognizing these dilemmas early has cost many an entrepreneur their sanity, as well as their businesses. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and are driven by different values and expectations.

Only you can turn these questions and related decisions into your competitive edge, as well as satisfying results. It's easier to set your direction early than to change it later.

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This summer, the NCAA opened up a whole new market of influencers and entrepreneurs by instating an interim policy allowing college athletes to earn money off of their image and likeness. These students are the next round of power players in their generation with the ability to sign onto sponsorships, brand campaigns, and ambassador programs.  

In this webinar, experts will explain how businesses of any size can maneuver this new market. We'll talk about how to navigate individual college guidelines and state laws, the legal parameters of drafting contracts for student athletes, what incentives these burgeoning influencers will request to sweeten their deals, and what these partnerships could do for small businesses. 

Join us for our free event on September 8 at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST. 

Meet our panelists: 

• Tim Nevius, NCAA investigator and founder of Nevius Legal
• Jon Chanti, executive vice president of influencer marketing agency Viral Nation
• Third panelist, TBA

Topics to be discussed include: 

• The latest developments of the NCAA's policies and how colleges across the country are responding. 
• What legal considerations businesses should keep in mind when working with student athletes.
• How businesses can get student athletes to represent their brands. 
• What student athletes look for in brands and what they expect in their contracts. 

There will also be an opportunity to ask questions live during the webinar. 

You can sign up here for our event.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Robert Schwartz, a college and graduate school admissions essay consultant and founder and president of Your Best College Essay from Brooklyn, New York, about how he built his company. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My first break in Hollywood was as a scriptwriter on the staff of several highly forgettable TV sitcoms. It got me in the writer's room and into the union. 

But being successful meant befriending the next great showrunner, having the right agent, and parlaying one job into the next — things I wasn't very good at.

From the late 1990s to mid-2000s, when movie studios were flush with development money, they made 25 movies a year and had 100 scripts in development — this was before the studios decided to just make five movies and didn't develop as much, so my end of the business dried up — so there was lots of work for writers like me. There were always dozens or more writers working on scripts for the dwindling number of stars who could open a film. 

It wasn't uncommon for an actor or actress to have half a dozen scripts in development. The hottest writers were always working on a few scripts at once ("stacking") and regularly subcontracted out vast portions of the scriptwriting work to another writer, or "ghostwriters."  

If you couldn't get a writing job on a TV show or weren't on the "approved writers" list for studios — and your self-worth was not a consideration — there was money to be made as a ghostwriter

A ghostwriter is hired by the script's credited writer or by the producer or studio to write, fix, or rewrite a script

A ghostwriter understands they're doing so without credit.

The pay was often good, you made your own hours, and no one except the people who surreptitiously hired you knew you even existed. 

I was a freelancer/contractor on the scripts I ghostwrote. My fee was negotiated. As an example, the writer who sold the script might've been paid $250,000, and for my ghostwriting work, I was paid $25,000, along with a bonus if the film got made. 

The drill was this: A script assignment sale would happen, there was a splashy announcement in the trade publications, and my phone would ring offering me a flat rate to write some portion — or occasionally, large portions — of the script. 

I had to be fast, easy to work with, and not prone to complaining. I'd be provided an outline for the script, write scenes or a few in a row, then read drafts and rewrite pages along the way. 

Over five or six years, I ghostwrote scripts for films starring Will Smith, Jim Carrey, Angelina Jolie, and others, along with a TV pilot or two. 

It was good fun until it wasn't

Ten or 15 scripts into my tenure, I looked at where I was. I could work for weeks straight, then not again for half a year. 

I started to see less movies developed, less writers hired, less work for someone like me. The anonymity lost its allure, and I started to complain. 

I didn't see a future for myself. So I walked away and started working in journalism instead, freelancing as a journalist for Entertainment Weekly, Variety, ESPN Magazine, The Daily Beast, and other publications. 

A few months later, I spotted an online job listing from a grad school essay company looking for a writer with a background in TV, feature film, and journalism 

Their thinking: A TV writer is witty, a screenwriter can construct a story, and a journalist can get strangers to confess everything to them. They saw these three skills as essential to helping graduate school applicants with their admissions essays.  

I had, coincidentally, just finished helping my lawyer's daughter with her Brown essays. I had fun, her essays were stellar, and she got accepted. 

On the phone interview, one of the owners complimented me on my experience, my resume, and that Brown acceptance. But when he asked where I went to college and I didn't say Yale or Princeton (they wanted to sell me as their Ivy League advisor), the call ended quickly, and I never heard from them again.  

The following day, my lawyer said, "Just do it yourself," which didn't seem like a totally idiotic idea.

Over the next 2 weeks, I opened an LLC, registered a domain name, found someone to throw together a website, and opened a business

To get applicants those first couple of years, I did everything I could. I went to college nights or SAT test days at local high schools and plastered promotional postcards on car windshields. I sent out mailers — thousands and thousands of mailers. I did my own SEO. I shoveled money in Google's direction for ads. 

My first year, I had four applicants, but steadily over each year, I got better and busier. 

This past year, I had nearly 100 applicants, including undergraduates and med school, law school, and business school applicants. Just last year, applicants I worked with were accepted to Yale, Brown, Columbia, UChicago, Cornell, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Berkeley. I've worked with applicants accepted to Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, too.

I'm now part tutor, part shrink

Up to nearly half of my day is spent talking to an applicant applying to college or graduate school.

I engage with them trying to figure out who they are, what they want, how they're exceptional, and what they should write about in their essays. I see it as a fact-finding mission.  

These five strategies helped me turn my idea into a fun, viable, and lucrative business:

Respect and know your competitors

When I first started out, there were very few competitors. The college essay consulting business was done by the local English teacher. 

But now, it's a crowded field. My potential customers are talking to them now, too. I had to be better and smarter than they are to get clients. I had to adapt my marketing strategy to differentiate myself. 

Some of the other admissions advisors had a limit to the number of drafts and consultation calls they offered clients. I decided to offer unlimited drafts and calls. Some admissions advisors had strict hours of operations, while I basically work all the time. 

Also, my marketing strategy was to pursue applicants applying to only elite schools, rather than top 25 schools. 

I researched who my competitors were and did my best to understand how they work, what their process was, and how much they charged. When I knew who was out there, I tweaked everything I did so it made sense from a personal and business standpoint. 

I noticed that many of my competitors charged applicants by the hour — so I set flat-rate plans based on the number of schools a client was applying to.

Work for dirt cheap in the beginning

When I started, I made sure my prices were low to get applicants in the door, but still enough to make my time, effort, and expertise worth it. Some clients I took on pro bono because I wanted to get some great results early to know how to do my job.

And I took on any applicants I thought I could help get results. Once I started to understand my business and what my value was, I raised my prices. 

In the beginning, my average per-client fee was $800. Now it's four times that. Currently, I make five times now what I made as a ghostwriter in Hollywood. 

Accept that you'll make a million mistakes

I made so many mistakes early on, I've forgotten half of them. I knew nothing about online advertising and wasted thousands on Google. I spent too much on mailers.

I underestimated how much work it would be to work with kids over the phone and took on applicants I shouldn't have. Over time, I made adjustments when I made a mistake, changed my way of doing business, and prioritized what needed to be done.

Make it easy for customers to understand your services

I can't even estimate the amount of time I spent on the phone explaining my services and trying to get people to "yes."

To save time, I crafted documents explaining in meticulous detail my process, what they can expect from me, and what I expect from them, and another with terms and fees.

Present these documents first to a prospective client, so they know what you do and how much you charge before committing to a long phone call. 

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