At Age 23, He Started a Side Hustle While on Welfare. It Led to a 7-Figure Business and a Stay on Richard Branson’s Private Island.

Key Takeaways

Turner’s Stand4Socks, a B Corporation, has distributed more than 750,000 pairs across the UK, Europe and Ukraine.
Consistent revenue came after about five years, and the bootstrapped business continues to grow with no outside investment.

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features New York City-based entrepreneur Josh Turner, 34. Turner is the founder of Stand4Socks, a sock company that, for every pair sold, donates another to someone in need. The B Corporation has distributed more than 750,000 pairs across the UK, Europe, and most recently, Ukraine. Stand4Socks now sees more than $1 million in revenue a year. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks. Josh Turner.}

What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I’ve been entrepreneurial since the age of 8, starting little businesses throughout my early years of life. When I was still in school, I did club nights, eBay, power selling, etc., and this laid the foundation for being a lifetime entrepreneur.

Being dyslexic, I eventually had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Richard Branson, one of the most famous British entrepreneurs who also has dyslexia, and he has been a real inspiration throughout my life.

I studied business at university, and when I started my career, I went to an entrepreneur accelerator program called NEF (New Entrepreneurs Foundation). I was placed in a big corporate job and, unfortunately, fired within six months on Christmas Eve. I never wanted to work in a big company, but as I looked for another job while on welfare benefits, I had the opportunity to launch this side project. In the UK, they give a little extra money to start a company on welfare. That was the starting point — being close to homelessness — but the extra money and time I had to pursue this when I lost my job was the launchpad.

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
In 2015, TOMS Shoes was huge at the time for its “buy one, give one” concept, and I saw how the mash-up of business and charity was actually an attainable and scalable concept. I liked the idea of a hybrid model of doing good as you do business, not the old school definition of “make money, then give to charity.” Rubber wristbands like Livestrong were also popular at the time, raising money, showing support and spreading awareness. However, at the end of the day, they were just rubber wristbands, and I figured there had to be a more meaningful and sustainable way to wear your values. That’s when the idea clicked: Why not use colorful socks to show what we stand for?

We started in 2015 doing donations linked to the United Nations Global Goals. You wear one sock, and we plant 10 trees. Another sock supports gender equality and educates a child in Afghanistan. A third reduces child mortality; sales of the baby blue sock would help vaccinate kids against measles. One HIV and AIDS design wasn’t popular in the middle of 2016, so I started donating them to homeless shelters. I was quick (and surprised) to learn that throughout this donation process, many shelters told me no one ever donates socks — yet socks are the most requested item. Homeless people walk up to 10 miles a day, and not having fresh socks can lead to very severe foot health issues. That’s when the penny dropped. I realized we were putting so much effort into supporting causes worldwide, but we had missed something close to home: homelessness. We still do 10% of other causes (Ukraine, dyslexia, NHS socks, etc.). But now, the majority of our “buy one, give one” model supports people experiencing homelessness, which we use broadly to help refugees, people in Ukraine, children in poverty, older people and more.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground?
At the time, I was a 23-year-old millennial who saw the power of the internet and how big of a factor that could be on the success of my business. One of the first things I did was learn to code and build a website; this was before even having socks or a factory. In my mind, I thought getting socks would be easy (turns out it wasn’t) and learning to code would be one of the harder business challenges to overcome. Secondly, I couldn’t afford a graphic designer or really any external expertise. So, I took it upon myself to learn graphic design using Illustrator and how to design socks. I used YouTube to learn both things, not courses, because I couldn’t afford them.

I saved up my welfare money to use on travel to go to big trade shows to find a factory for sock production. I went to Paris, Hong Kong and Turkey for trade shows, staying in hostels and taking cheap buses (at the time I couldn’t afford direct flights or hotels). I would speak with people on site and say, “We’re from Stand4 Socks,” and we’d receive the same reaction: They had never heard of us. They knew of the big brands, but not us, because we didn’t have a factory yet. While not surprising, it presented a challenge for 23-year-old me, as it was a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation to get a factory to believe in us. After a lot of hard work, we eventually landed a factory that believed in us, one that we still have a longstanding relationship with now. They took a chance on us when no one else did. And now the people there are like family — they even came to my wedding!

Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business?
As I mentioned earlier, YouTube was massive for us. I frequently call it my co-founder. It taught me anything I needed to learn. Being dyslexic, I learn best from visuals and at my own pace. If I got lost, I could rewind or find another video on the topic. Shopify has also been a game-changer, especially as we’ve grown. It allowed us to launch a website quickly. As we expanded, we added apps and features to compete with bigger companies, which took time but has helped us scale effectively.

If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach to save you time, energy or just a headache, what would it be, and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
To save time and energy, I would get a grip on our financial numbers earlier. I’ve had mentors who emphasize financial details, and my dad has an accounting background. I’ve had times when we nearly ran out of money because we donated socks before sales came in or spent too much on stock without adequate cash flow. Using the accounting software Xero has been phenomenal for our business. It allows me to see our balance sheet in seconds, compare year on year and month on month, providing real-time financial insights and comparisons. Instead of having just annual business plans and cash flow forecasts, we are now able to review our numbers on a weekly or monthly basis, empowering us to stay closely attuned to the numbers. This, in turn, has created opportunities for us to take more calculated risks, know when things are tight and change strategy when needed.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
We were fortunate enough to pitch on the UK’s version of Shark Tank called Dragon’s Den. One of the biggest obstacles we stumbled on was how we presented and understood our financial numbers. As someone with dyslexia, handling many different numbers under pressure was difficult, especially when we were thrown a ton of questions all at once. Since filming in 2019, we’ve grown significantly and recognized the value of having a grip on our numbers year-round as opposed to waiting until year-end. This is something we weren’t acutely aware of in the earlier stages of our business, but have grown to recognize how tremendous a difference it can make.

Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong? How did you fix it?
Given how unexpected the pandemic was, challenges in our business escalated quickly, despite being an online business. Our factory shut down, and our supply chain was severely disrupted. We came up with the idea of launching a special “Help for Health Heroes” sock to support frontline workers and to address the PPE gap with quality socks. We started by launching a pre-sale as a way to support frontline workers and keep our lights on, with the caveat to customers that they likely wouldn’t get the socks for three months. We sold over 30,000 pairs of socks in that period, which helped keep our business alive and support a worthy cause. It really taught us the strength of our customers and mission and showed that a little creativity can go a long way.

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
It took about five years before we had consistent monthly revenue. For the first five years, I put a majority of my time into this business, but my income came from freelance work with digital marketing consulting for brands and other big companies. I actually learned these skills from building my business, and that’s how I was able to sustain myself and the business in the early days. I worked from my mom’s shed for the first five years, which helped me keep costs low and save up to eventually move out and continue to grow the business. This time period was invaluable for learning how the business operates, enabling more rapid and sustainable growth in the subsequent five years.

What does growth and revenue look like now?
We’re now a consistently seven-figure business annually and profitable. We’ve remained bootstrapped, though, and haven’t taken any outside investment. Our focus is to prioritize sustainable growth, our bottom line and profitability. With our expansion to the U.S. market, we expect 3x growth of the whole global business, and 10x in the next five years is what we’re working towards.

What do you enjoy most about running this business?
What I enjoy most about my business is also what makes it the hardest: No one tells you what to do. On one hand, you have to figure out everything yourself. There isn’t a playbook; no one is handing you a to-do list. But on the other hand, that’s exactly what makes it so rewarding. You get to set the direction, trust your gut and follow your instincts, rightly or wrongly. When working for a large corporation, I often saw inefficient decision-making. At this stage in my career, being so junior, I had no say, even though my gut was telling me there was a better way. Running my own business gives me an opportunity to take risks and course correct in real time. Sometimes those risks lead to flops, but other times, they’ve led to great success. The sense of freedom to build something your way is what keeps me going.

What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
Enjoy the journey. It’s going to be way harder than you think when you set out, but also way more rewarding than you’d ever expect. Don’t get overly caught up in milestones — appreciate the process.

Also, the answer is always “no” if you don’t ask the question. So many people stop themselves from reaching out because of the fear of being rejected. But if the answer is already “no” in your head, and you reach out and get a “no,” then nothing’s changed. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people because you might just get a yes.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

That mindset has taken me to some wild places. One of the most surreal examples? I ended up spending a week with Sir Richard Branson on his private Necker Island. That experience didn’t come from deep connections or privilege: It came from asking bold, often unreasonable questions and walking through doors some may have felt they had no business knocking on.

Richard gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me: “Hire people smarter than you, and then get out of their way.” It’s brilliant in theory, but when you bootstrap and are living in places like New York City, you often can’t afford to hire those people. So my approach has been to learn just the basics — whether development, sock design, marketing, etc. — and then delegate effectively. Don’t try to be an expert in everything, but have enough foundational knowledge to guide someone who is.

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OpenAI’s Partnership With Legendary iPhone Designer Jony Ive Has Already Hit a Snag: ‘We Don’t Agree With the Complaint’

Former Apple designer Jony Ive, who began at the tech giant in 1992, is famous for his work creating the iPhone and iPad (among other products). Ive left Apple in 2019 to found his own companies, including “io,” an AI device startup, which was just purchased for $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal last month by ChatGPT-maker and AI behemoth, OpenAI.

Or was it? If you check OpenAI’s website or social media, you will no longer find any mention of it.

When the deal was announced, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive posted a video together announcing the partnership. Altman called one product he interacted with “the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen,” while Ive complimented Altman, calling him “a visionary.”

Now, the page is blank except for the text: “This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name ‘io.’ We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”

Spokespeople for Ive and OpenAI told Bloomberg that the public content was removed because of a recently filed trademark lawsuit by a company called IYO Inc., which also builds AI devices and wants to bar OpenAI from using the “io” name.

“This is an utterly baseless complaint and we’ll fight it vigorously,” a spokesperson for Ive said on Sunday, per Bloomberg.

But until then, the launch of the “coolest” tech ever is going to have to wait.

‘Consumers Are Frustrated, and So Are We’: How These Founders Built a Platform to Fight Fake AI-Generated Product Reviews

Frustrated by AI-generated product reviews flooding platforms and confusing consumers, four former colleagues came together to build and launch InMyExpertOpinion, a site devoted to providing “trustworthy, insightful, and authentically human advice.”

Here’s how co-founders Avi Buchbinder, Brie Dyas, Will Kenton, and Nick Leftley created the site and are planning for its growth.

Please give the elevator pitch of your business.
Will Kenton: InMyExpertOpinion, or IMEO, is a new kind of review platform — built by humans, for humans. At a time when AI slop and fake reviews flood the internet, IMEO offers something rare: honest, first-hand product reviews from real experts. Founded by veteran journalists and trusted reviewers from major outlets like TIME, AP, and HuffPost, IMEO emerged after the 2024 Google update pushed credible content out of sight. We’re reclaiming the web for quality, transparency, and trust — one expert opinion at a time.

What inspired you to create this business?
Avi Buchbinder: The inspiration for this business struck me as I observed two significant shifts happening simultaneously. Firstly, after Google’s policy changes led to layoffs for many talented journalists, and with the rapid rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and AI Overviews, I was wondering if people actually wanted to learn about products from people, or if the information slapped together by AI is enough. So, I started to dig into that question. It became pretty clear from talking to coworkers, friends, and seeing posts on Reddit that a lot of people were skeptical of AI-generated content when it came to product reviews. They were really searching for authentic takes from real people they could trust. That’s when it clicked.

Brie Dyas: I have the unique perspective of having been an editor who has worked in shopping-related content since 2012, and also a consultant who has worked with ecommerce brands and startups. I strongly believe in a consumer-first perspective because the purchases we choose to make with our hard-earned money (at any income level) impact our lives. No one wants to spend thousands on a mattress that keeps you up at night or an e-bike with a faulty battery, a hundred on running shoes that contribute to foot problems or fall apart on your workout, or even a $15 moisturizer that could give you a rash. Consumers are frustrated. So am I.

Nick Leftley: Google’s AI updates were a moment of brutal clarity for all of us: Not only had our already sickly industry been further decimated by these updates, but the millions of people who rely on Google daily to find helpful buying information were being screwed over en masse, all, supposedly, in the name of making a “better” user experience. We’re tackling both issues at the same time: Firstly, providing a reliable, unbiased platform for well-written, useful reviews written by real journalists. Secondly, making sure those journalists get fairly compensated for once! That’s why we came up with the revenue-sharing model we’ve built, where the revenue every article makes is split 50/50 on a monthly basis, with half going to the writer and the other half being invested back into the business itself.

What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking for funding?
Avi Buchbinder: If you don’t 100% believe in your product, no one else will.

What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you?
Avi Buchbinder: To me, it means a person with a vision whose passion and self-starter mentality fuel the drive to actually make it happen.

Brie Dyas: I think of someone who isn’t happy with the status quo.

What is something many aspiring business owners think they need that they really don’t?
Avi Buchbinder: A perfect product. In the world of business, you don’t need perfect — you need good enough for now.

Brie Dyas: Second, third, and fourth opinions. There is comfort in consensus, but I’ve often found (when working alongside founders, VPs, and CEOs) that their gut feeling is usually right. Don’t overthink things.

Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation?
Brie Dyas: As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, Jalen Hurts is an endless supply of motivation. I always loved his quote, “I didn’t walk through fire just to smell smoke.” To me, it’s a reminder that no matter the challenges you face, remind yourself of your purpose and keep going.

Nick Leftley: This is going to sound super basic, but mine comes from a Tarantino movie. There’s a scene in Reservoir Dogs where Joe says, “You knew how to handle that situation: S*** your pants, dive in, and swim.” It’s a quote that pops unbidden into my head any time I’m about to do something scary. (As someone who’s been set on fire, wrestled an alligator, dangled under a flying helicopter, and worse, all for various magazine stories, I can speak with authority on doing scary stuff.) I still think it holds water. Sometimes, you just have to embrace the fear and do it.

Avi Buchbinder: A saying that I hold as a strong personal motivator is, “A day that you learned something new is a day not wasted.” This simple yet profound idea is something I actively use to drive me to grow and improve. It serves as a powerful daily reminder that progress, in any form, really hinges on continuous learning.

Will Kenton: For me, it’s a quote from Walt Disney: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” This has been our philosophy from the start. We conceived of IMEO as a place for people who will do, instead of letting their opinions get outsourced.

‘It’s Coercion’: Compass Sues Zillow Over Its Listings Being ‘Banned’ Online

“Gatekeeping” has become unfashionable, as Gen Z wants to know the secrets of everything, from who’s-your-surgeon to finding the perfect apartment. But the latter is becoming harder and harder, as home prices are still high and mortgage rates remain well over 6%. In fact, May 2025 was the slowest month for existing home sales since 2009.

Now, adding to the housing woes, two real estate giants are battling in court: Top-selling real estate brokerage Compass is accusing Zillow (the top real estate website in the U.S., with approximately 160 million properties listed and 227 million unique visitors monthly) of being a “monopolist gatekeeper” and “breaking federal antitrust laws,” per the New York Times.

“In a free and competitive market, competitors’ products and strategies should rise and fall on merit — not the whims of a monopolist gatekeeper like Zillow,” Compass wrote in the lawsuit, which was filed in New York federal court on Monday.

In late May, Zillow put a rule into effect (announced in April) that bans listings that have appeared elsewhere for 24 hours before going on Zillow. The company says this gives buyers “fair access to listings without having to get access behind a velvet rope controlled by any one company.”

Compass alleges that the “Zillow ban” violates federal antitrust laws. The company offers “Private Exclusives,” where Compass agents and the public can view its listings exclusively. But now, they’d be banned from Zillow.

“This lawsuit is about protecting consumer choice,” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said in a statement, per CBS. “No one company should have the power to ban agents or listings simply because they don’t follow that company’s business model.”

“That’s not competition. It’s coercion,” Reffkin added. “Imagine if Amazon banned a seller for offering a product on their own website first. That’s what Zillow is doing in real estate. Consumers should have the right to choose how they sell their homes.”

A Zillow spokesperson told CBS Moneywatch that the company will fight the “unfounded” claims in court.

“At the heart of this issue is a simple principle: When a listing is publicly marketed, it should be accessible to all buyers — across all platforms, including Zillow,” the statement said. “Hiding listings creates a fragmented market, limits consumer choice and creates barriers to homeownership, which is bad for buyers, sellers and the industry at large, especially in this inventory and affordability-constrained environment.”

3 Truths Every Founder Learns the Hard Way

Key Takeaways

Relationships matter more than money — don’t burn bridges.
Don’t just look for a job — build a career that points forward.
Go to college — but not for the reasons you think.

Growing up, most of us were raised on a handful of core values: Be respectful, work hard, go to school, and try to find a “good job.” That kind of advice served a purpose — until you stepped into the world of entrepreneurship.

Once you start building companies, managing risk and making decisions that impact other people’s livelihoods, you quickly realize that much of the real-world playbook wasn’t passed down at the dinner table. There are rules no one told you — lessons that only become clear through experience, failure and a few bruises along the way.

Here are three truths your mom probably didn’t mention, but every entrepreneur eventually learns.

1. Relationships matter more than money — don’t burn bridges

Money gets a lot of attention. In business, it’s often treated as the ultimate scorecard. But ask anyone who’s been through multiple cycles — booms, busts, exits, restarts — and they’ll tell you the same thing: Relationships are the true long-term currency.

Too many people early in their careers treat business like a zero-sum game. Win the deal. Beat the competition. Squeeze every cent. But what they don’t realize is that business is a marathon, not a sprint. And the bridges you burn now could be the ones you need to cross later.

People remember how you made them feel. They remember how you showed up when things were good and how you behaved when things weren’t. I’ve seen incredibly talented people sidelined from opportunity not because they lacked skill, but because they left a trail of scorched relationships behind them.

Business isn’t just about capital — it’s about trust. When the tide turns, it won’t be your profit margins that save you. It’ll be the people who trust you enough to bet on you again.

So, here’s the bottom line: Protect your name. Don’t burn bridges. Stay in touch with the people who helped you early on. And never underestimate the value of loyalty, humility and consistency.

2. Don’t just look for a job — build a career that points forward

Most people are trained to look for stability. A job with a paycheck, a title, maybe benefits. But entrepreneurship requires a different mindset — one that’s focused not just on the next role, but on the next direction.

If you’re constantly looking straight ahead, reacting to what’s in front of you, you’ll miss the bigger picture. The best founders don’t just ask, “What should I do next?” They ask, “What kind of life do I want to build? What impact do I want to have?”

Looking up means identifying a bigger vision. It means saying no to short-term moves that don’t serve the long game. It means thinking in terms of legacy, not just tasks.

Every great company starts with someone who wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. Someone who refused to settle for “just another job” and instead chose to take a risk on a bigger idea. If you’re serious about entrepreneurship, your job isn’t to chase opportunities — it’s to shape them.

Stop asking what’s available. Start asking what’s possible.

3. Go to college — but not for the reasons you think

We’ve been told since childhood: “Go to college. It’s the only way to succeed.” And sure, if you’re planning to be a doctor, attorney or engineer, that advice still holds up. But for the rest of us? The real value of college has little to do with the diploma and everything to do with the people.

College isn’t just a classroom. It’s your first real network. Your first taste of navigating relationships, learning to pitch an idea, convincing others to join your vision and failing publicly — then bouncing back. That’s not something you learn in a lecture hall.

Some of the most successful founders of our time didn’t finish college, but they were smart enough to immerse themselves in a social ecosystem where ideas, ambition and bold personalities collided. College is where you find your tribe. Your co-founders. Your early supporters. Your future business partners.

So if you’re going to invest in college, don’t do it for the framed degree. Do it for the four years of social capital you’ll never get back. Skip the resume-padding clubs and find the circles where ideas get challenged, risks get taken and relationships get built.

Because ten years from now, no one’s going to ask what grade you got in Econ 101 — but they will ask who you built something with.

Entrepreneurship is one of the toughest and most rewarding paths you can take. But it doesn’t come with a manual — especially not one your parents had. The lessons you need to succeed often fly in the face of conventional wisdom.

So let this be your updated guide:

Prioritize people over profit.
Think in decades, not quarters.
And recognize that your social intelligence will often carry you further than any degree.

Your mom gave you the basics. Now it’s on you to learn the rest — and write your own playbook.

6 Social Media Trends Defining Gen Z’s Shopping Behavior

Key Takeaways

Gen Z shops where they scroll — social media is the store.
Authentic content from creators beats polished ads in driving trust.
Mobile-first, community-driven experiences build loyalty and brand engagement.

Landing pages have been replaced by in-app storefronts that turn moments of inspiration into instant purchases. In 2024, more than 53% of Gen Z ordered directly through social media, and 58% of all US users said they made a decision to buy once they saw a product in their feed. Social platforms are no longer just communication channels — they are the marketplaces where discovery, inspiration and purchase go together.

1. Social commerce as the default discovery channel

In 2024, 68% of Gen Z consumers discovered new products on social media, up from 60% in 2023. Nearly 60% went on and made an order, nearly doubling from the previous year. Gen Z buys while scrolling TikTok, Instagram and other social media, mixing their leisure time with shopping with no need to turn to search engines and, moreover, physical shops.

Take Luxe Collective, a luxury resale brand that has generated £2 million through TikTok Shop since April 2024 by combining live shopping events with influencer collaborations. Or YOZY, a UK-based women’s wear brand that sold nearly 400,000 items in just three months through affiliate partnerships and shoppable content.

How brands should act: Invest in your social platforms to make a perfect mix of entertainment and advertising: from short videos to live demos, from real reviews to shoppable storefronts. Be part of the scroll and turn inspiration into action with clickable, shoppable content.

2. Influence of peer reviews and content creators

Gen Z trusts people, not polished ads. Around 80% say they rely on influencers who share real experiences, and more than 60% say reviews and content from beloved bloggers are the most influential factors in their purchasing decisions. This data only proves we’ve all been facing for a while: this generation wants authentic, ongoing endorsement, not a one-off exposure to an ad.

Think Glossier. This beauty brand collaborates a lot with micro- and nano-influencers who create simple, authentic content that feels personal, not promotional. Over 70% of Glossier’s sales are driven by peer recommendations rather than traditional marketing.

How brands should act: Work with smaller influencers who speak in a relatable, honest voice and share the vibe of the audience you want to engage with. Encourage real customers to share reviews, unboxings and video reactions. Reward user-generated content through loyalty programmes and special campaigns.

3. Mobile-first experiences and in-app community building

Smartphones reign supreme in Gen Z’s world, also defining their shopping habits. Over half of Gen Z shoppers have made in-app purchases, and 75% say that a convenient brand’s mobile app or site can make a whole difference when choosing what brands to support. Yet, a clear interface and digital checkout are not enough — focus on community-building.

Nike understands this well, thus transforming their mobile app into a whole lifestyle space rather than an online shop. With personalised workout plans, live trainer chats and social sharing tools, Nike’s app blurs the line between fitness and commerce, and reap the benefits with over 75% of Gen Z users saying this whole ecosystem is vital to their relationship with the brand.

How brands should act: Turn your mobile experience into a hub of interaction. Add features like live chats, ratings, user forums and social feeds. Offer app-only exclusives and create content-based challenges or rewards to encourage ongoing engagement.

4. Path from inspiration to engagement

Gen Z rarely goes straight from awareness to action. Instead, they might discover a product on Instagram, research real-life reviews on YouTube, compare prices on diverse sites and then buy it (or not).

How brands should act: Support every stage – discovery, validation, purchase, re-engagement – with relevant content. Share behind-the-scenes videos, customer stories, comparisons and FAQs. Create events or experiences that blend online and offline touchpoints.

5. Two-way engagement and active conversation

Around 80% of Gen Z use social media for inspiration but seek validation through peer comments and real conversations. Transparency and co-creation become paramount, and brands that act more like communities than corporations are more likely to win. This trend only intensifies with the rise of AI.

Spotify Wrapped is a brilliant case in point. It transforms individual user data into shareable content that feels personal and celebratory. Gen Z isn’t just consuming the campaign – they’re sharing it and sparking conversations.

How brands should act: Build communities, not campaigns. Let your audience co-create product lines, vote on designs or share ideas, and spark dialogues in comments. Be transparent about changes and even mistakes so your audience is more likely to trust the brand.

6. Viral speed means instant adaptation

91% of Gen Z are on Instagram; 86% use TikTok, and these are the platforms that keep changing daily. Over half of Gen Z made a purchase after seeing a product in a review or viral video in 2024. Brands must adapt if they want to stay relevant.

How brands should act: Monitor trends in real time and always be ready to respond, even if it means sacrificing perfection for speed. Find your perfect creators who can creatively interpret your product in a fun, ironic and culturally relevant way, yet maintain your tone of voice.

Gen Z’s shopping behaviour is shaped not by impulse, but by identity and the desire to express. For brands, this means adaptation to new rules: the agile and authentic ones. And brands that want to thrive need to meet Gen Z not where they are, but where Gen Z lives.

This Keepsake Reminds Me of My First Dream — And Why I’m Grateful It Never Came True

At age 24, I planned my life out: I got a job at the State Department in Washington, D.C., which I planned to use to enter the Foreign Service, which I thought would help me achieve my ultimate goal — to become a diplomat. But then life got in the way. I fell in love with a friend who would become my husband, and he got a job in Houston, my hometown. So in 2012, I chose to follow him home, giving up one dream for another. As I prepared to leave D.C., I bought a small, porcelain dish engraved with the U.S. Department of State’s seal. It was touristy, but it felt like a souvenir of my old life.

My job search in Texas was frustrating. I’d stare at that porcelain dish and feel nostalgic. I didn’t want to take some random job just to make money. I was looking for a path — something meaningful and reliable, like the predetermined career framework I’d left behind. I was passionate about sustainability, and kept wondering: Who will give me a job in this field?

Honestly, I never considered entrepreneurship. I thought I needed a specific set of credentials to be in business. After all, that’s how government and corporate jobs work: You must be qualified. I had no MBA and no big consulting firm on my resume. But after a year of dead ends, I came to realize something: Nobody is going to do this for me. And isn’t that the seed of entrepreneurship?

I started a consulting firm. I had no idea what I was doing, but I worked hard, found good advisors, and followed the breadcrumbs. As it turns out, I didn’t need qualifications! All I needed was curiosity, a trust in myself, and an acceptance that most paths aren’t as predictable as the one I had left behind. My consulting firm grew and thrived. My partner and I sold it in 2021, and then I decided to pursue another business for which I had no qualifications: I launched MendIt, a platform for clothing repair, where I’m now figuring things out all over again.

I still have that porcelain dish sitting on my desk, but it no longer makes me nostalgic. Now it reminds me that, sometimes, our “plans” can blind us to the greater opportunities ahead. Anything is possible when you relentlessly follow your passion, drop the stories about credentials and worthiness, and simply roll up your sleeves to get started.

The Overlooked Shortcut That’s Helping Founders Scale Faster, Safer and Smarter

Key Takeaways

A micro-acquisition is the strategic purchase of a small business, often in the range of $50,000 to $500,000.
Micro-acquisitions can instantly provide revenue, customers, a product or tech, a team and SEO/traffic.
You don’t need to raise millions to acquire a small business. It can be done through seller financing, revenue-based financing or cash flow from your existing business. You can also co-acquire a business with a partner who brings cash, skills or time.
Red flags to look out for include the lack of clear documentation, customer churn, overdependence on the founder and platform risk.

Most people assume that business acquisitions are reserved for massive companies with deep pockets and teams of M&A lawyers. But here’s the truth: You don’t need a war chest to buy and grow another business. In fact, you can scale faster, safer and smarter by using micro-acquisitions — small, strategic purchases of businesses that cost less than what most startups raise in a seed round.

Micro-acquisitions aren’t just a shortcut to growth; they’re a powerful way to buy revenue, talent and capabilities without the slow grind of building from scratch.

Here’s how entrepreneurs can use them to scale without raising millions and without the typical risk that comes with starting everything from zero.

What exactly is a micro-acquisition?

A micro-acquisition typically refers to the purchase of a small business, often in the range of $50,000 to $500,000. These deals usually involve solo founders or very small teams and are often bootstrapped businesses. You’ll find them in SaaS, ecommerce, media, digital services and even niche B2B verticals.

Unlike larger deals that require complex due diligence and outside investors, micro-acquisitions can often be done quickly and creatively financed, sometimes even with seller financing or revenue-based payments.

A great place to browse real-world examples is MicroAcquire (recently rebranded as Acquire.com), which has become the go-to marketplace for buying and selling small internet businesses.

Why micro-acquisitions make strategic sense

When you build a business, you’re investing time and money into acquiring customers, building a product and refining operations. But when you buy a business, even a small one, you skip ahead in the game.

Here’s what a micro-acquisition can instantly provide:

Revenue: You’re buying cash flow from day one.
Customers: You inherit a base of users or clients without the CAC (customer acquisition cost).
Product or tech: If you’re in software, buying a product that’s already functional saves months of development time.
Team: Even one or two experienced people onboard can supercharge your capacity.
SEO/traffic: Media sites or content businesses often come with valuable search rankings.

This is why seasoned entrepreneurs often say, “Build if you have to. Buy if you can.“

How to find the right micro-acquisition target

The key to smart acquisitions is alignment with your goals, capabilities and existing infrastructure.

Here are three practical ways to uncover acquisition targets:

Marketplaces: Acquire.com, Flippa and Tiny Acquisitions all list small online businesses for sale. You can filter by size, revenue, industry and growth.
Your own network: Many small business owners would sell if they knew someone they could trust. Put out feelers in your LinkedIn network, communities and industry groups.
Inbound interest: Once people know you’re open to acquiring, founders may reach out directly. It happens more often than you think, especially if you’re known in your niche.

Look for businesses where you can add unique value. Maybe you have distribution they don’t have or operational strengths that could increase margins.

How to fund a micro-acquisition without VC money

You don’t need to raise millions — or anything, in some cases. Micro-acquisitions can be financed in surprisingly flexible ways:

Seller financing: The seller agrees to let you pay a portion up front and the rest over time. It’s common in smaller deals and shows the seller’s confidence in the business continuing to perform.
Revenue-based financing: Platforms like Pipe or Capchase let you borrow against predictable revenue, especially for SaaS.
Cash flow from your existing business: If you already run a profitable company, you may be able to acquire a smaller one with internal cash flow.
Partnership or joint acquisition: You can co-acquire a business with a partner who brings cash, skills or time.

Because these are small deals, you don’t need to be a finance wizard. Just ensure that the business you’re buying can at least cover its own debt payments and ideally contribute profit from month one.

What to look out for before you buy

Not all micro-acquisitions are worth it. Some look good on the surface but are hiding churn, tech debt or founder-driven sales.

Here are red flags to watch:

No clear documentation: If the financials are murky or inconsistent, move with caution.
Customer churn: In SaaS or subscription businesses, ask for cohort data. A leaky bucket is hard to fix.
Overdependence on the founder: If the owner is also the top salesperson, developer and customer support agent, you’ll have a lot to replace.
Platform risk: Is all their revenue coming from a single ad platform or one ecommerce channel?

Do your due diligence, even if it’s light.

Post acquisition: Make the first 90 days count

Buying the business is only the start. The value is in what you do after the deal closes.

Here’s how to make your acquisition pay off:

Stabilize: Keep existing operations running smoothly and avoid major changes immediately.
Communicate: Let existing customers and any team members know what’s changing (and what isn’t).
Integrate: Plug the acquired business into your existing stack, whether it’s tools, processes or branding.
Optimize: Use your strengths to unlock growth. Can you improve pricing, add new marketing channels or reduce overhead?

Think of your acquisition as a new product line or revenue stream and manage it like you would any core part of your business.

If you’re running a business, you already know how hard it is to build. Buying a business, even a small one, can be one of the smartest, most leveraged moves you make.

Micro-acquisitions put growth within reach without the dilution, risk or grind of raising capital. You get to skip the messy zero-to-one phase and jump into something with traction.

As more platforms and tools emerge to make small business deals accessible, this strategy is only going to get more popular. The earlier you start learning the playbook, the further ahead you’ll be.

Tesla Robotaxis Are Now Driving Themselves in Austin: ‘It Was Awesome’

Key Takeaways

Tesla’s driverless taxi service rolled out in Austin on Sunday, with a handful of retail investors and social media influencers taking the first rides.
Each robotaxi ride cost $4.20 and was supervised by a (human) Tesla employee in the passenger seat.

Tesla officially launched its first robotaxis on Sunday to a small group of invited users, marking the beginning of what CEO Elon Musk envisions as a promising new business.

The robotaxis are driverless 2025 Tesla Model Y cars outfitted with “unsupervised self-driving technology.” For the launch, which took place in Tesla’s hometown of Austin, per TechCrunch, a Tesla employee sat in the passenger seat as a safety precaution, but the passenger seat did not have a steering wheel or pedals.

The first riders were a small group of retail investors and social media influencers selected by Tesla. One recipient, Herbert Ong, said in a video on X that Tesla had extended invites to 14 people.

Ong, who conducts daily interviews with Tesla experts on X, noted from his experience in the robotaxi that the car was able to speed up and park well on its own. Passengers paid $4.20 for each ride.

Other early invitees also took to social media to livestream their experiences. In a Sunday video viewed 1.6 million times on X, Chuck Cook, one of the invitees to try the Tesla robotaxi, said he was impressed when the car navigated a parking lot “confidently,” taking pedestrians and other cars into account. The robotaxi asked for a tip at the end of the ride, then said it was “just kidding.”

Another influencer, Sawyer Merritt, who has over 900,000 followers on X, said on the platform that his robotaxi experience was “awesome” and that it was “pretty wild” to see a Tesla with no one in the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, Dongjin (DJ) Seo, a co-founder and vice president of implants at Musk-led Neuralink, wrote in a post on X on Sunday that the robotaxi ride he took was “an incredible display of real-world AI.”

The videos taken by early invitees show the robotaxis driving short distances, navigating turns and intersections, and parking successfully.

Here is my experience (in 4K) from earlier today in one of the world’s first ever public Tesla Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas with FSD Unsupervised! No-one is in the driver seat and the safety monitor in the passenger seat does not have a steering or pedals.

It was awesome. pic.twitter.com/2Ied9SYvUT
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 22, 2025

The best tech feels like magic because it’s so normal you don’t even notice it… until you do.

Took a ride in a Tesla Robotaxi today.

In this clip, it pulls aside on a narrow street with construction, making room for an oncoming car that illegally turns into our lane.

The… pic.twitter.com/UZ9S13xGDO
— DJ Seo (@djseo) June 23, 2025

Musk congratulated the Tesla AI software and chip design teams on Sunday, calling the robotaxi launch “successful” and noting that both the AI chip and software for self-driving cars were built from the ground up at Tesla.

“Culmination of a decade of hard work,” Musk wrote.

Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!!

Culmination of a decade of hard work.

Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2025

Musk said last year at Cyber Roundup 2024, Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, that Tesla robotaxis could quickly expand around the country. There are already millions of Teslas on the road, with nearly 700,000 Teslas sold in the U.S. in 2024 alone. A software update could allow existing Teslas to act as robotaxis and earn money for owners.

“You can add or subtract your car to the fleet whenever you want,” Musk said at the event.

The only other carmaker offering fully autonomous paid rides in the U.S. is Alphabet’s Waymo. Waymo’s cars rely on sensors and software to drive on their own. The company has a head start on robotaxis compared to Tesla: Waymo provides more than 250,000 paid robotaxi trips per week to cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, and Austin. The company is planning to bring autonomous ride-hailing services to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington D.C. next year.

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In-Office, Remote, Hybrid — My Global Company Does All Three. Here’s How to Find Success in Any Setting.

Key Takeaways

Success in a distributed work environment relies on a leadership strategy that prioritizes results, customer focus and a flexible, yet structured approach.
A shift from location-centric views to performance and culture-centric measures is essential for global team alignment and driving growth.
Tools and practices such as digital workflows, transparent knowledge bases and intentional relationship-building are vital for fostering productive global teams.

In-office, remote or hybrid? It’s a question that dominates headlines and board discussions, but often overlooks the complex dynamics of global teams.

Instead of being guided by where employees work, let’s reframe the narrative to ask ourselves more meaningful, customer-centered questions. How can we build stronger teams and cross-functional alignment? How can we embed a culture of customer obsession? What actually fuels performance?

Global growth requires flexibility, nuance and a purpose-driven approach. As we scale, success is not defined by location, but how we lead.

Beyond the remote work debate

Rigid work models no longer serve high-performing teams or high-growth businesses. The moment your operations outgrow one office, timezone or region is a milestone to embrace, not a problem to solve.

Location-agnostic leadership requires intentional design and execution. Yes, collaboration requires more effort. Yes, culture must be nurtured. But we shouldn’t shy away from the challenge. If anything, we should run toward the opportunity. Resisting distributed work is resisting growth.

A distributed model expands your talent pool, opens up your business to diverse perspectives and reduces employee turnover:

Hybrid work has been found to have zero effect on workers’ productivity or career advancement, while boosting retention rates.
83% of recruiters say they believe remote work has improved the quality of the applicants they attract.
45% of workers who quit their jobs cite lack of flexibility in their work hours as a major factor.

How to lead distributed teams for global success

At Maropost, the way we work is shaped by the distinct needs of our global teams. We operate remotely in North America, in-office in India and hybrid in Australia. Our leadership team travels regularly and meets in person quarterly. In addition to monthly all-team town halls, each region also hosts its own virtual get-togethers. Day-to-day, we rely on one-on-one check-ins and tools like Jira to collaborate.

We strive to maintain a system that balances structure with flexibility. We adapt to regional requirements while remaining grounded in our shared customer focus.

1. Invest in results-driven leadership

Leadership should prioritize results and relationships over micromanagement. A culture of trust that empowers employees is fundamental in any workplace, but it is acutely important in distributed environments. To cohesively manage teams across time zones and markets, hire leaders who can build rapport and inspire performance without constant oversight.

When hiring for leadership roles, I look for candidates who show strong communication skills and who can clearly set and achieve goals with their teams and work through challenges. During interviews, I always ask for specific examples of how they motivated remote team members.

An example of a question I might ask is, “Tell me about a time you had to rebuild trust with a remote employee or team.” I find that the best answers to questions like these focus on proactive communication and problem-solving, which are key for the success of remote teams.

2. Reframe the concept of collaboration

Collaboration can — and should — work differently in a global environment. Resist the urge to impose legacy practices on new dynamics. Embrace tools and tactics that facilitate distributed teamwork and prioritize quality over immediacy. Digital-first workflows, asynchronous communication and open knowledge-sharing aren’t just workarounds; they are powerful productivity tools.

At Maropost, we focus on building transparent knowledge bases in Confluence that the whole team can access and contribute to anytime. Our team leaders routinely establish shared documentation where meeting notes, insights and project decisions are recorded. Then, regardless of time zone, everyone can reference and build on each other’s work asynchronously. This works well for us because it creates a living knowledge base that strengthens the more we collaborate.

3. Nurture culture and connection

How can we recreate spontaneous brainstorms and organic conversations between colleagues who might never meet in real life? Physical proximity doesn’t always equate to connection — nor does it guarantee alignment or innovation. Foster a culture that transcends location with intentional relationship-building and value-informed leadership. Give employees the purpose and clarity to work together, even when apart.

We have a monthly all-team town hall where we openly discuss our progress, invite questions from anyone and explain how what we’re working on now connects to our long-term goals. We’re aiming to foster trust and connection through honest leadership and promote transparency.

4. Restructure KPIs at all levels

Structure goals, KPIs and employee evaluations to reflect impact and outcomes over optics. Set clear objectives, schedule regular check-ins and balance autonomy with accountability throughout the organization. No matter the environment, performance should be measured based on what gets done, not where or when work happens.

Across our organization, each team has pushed itself to publicly share quarterly goals, how achieving them impacts business goals and how we will make it happen. It helps everyone understand how their work contributes to success, and we’ve noticed that performance discussions are more focused on meaningful progress than arbitrary metrics.

5. Avoid distributed downfalls

Distributed work isn’t without its challenges. Leaders must communicate generously and favor public channels over private DMs to fight information silos. Encourage calendar blocks and honor everyone’s right to log off to avoid multi-timezone burnout. Global teams can power round-the-clock productivity, but only when they operate within a sustainable, people-centered system.

As CEO of a global company, my team knows that I am often messaging and posting in public channels around the clock. But I make sure they know that they don’t need to respond outside their normal work hours. This way, we can keep important work rolling without creating burnout.

Location-agnostic leadership defines the future of work

Where we work is an oversimplified debate that deflects from deeper questions of performance and culture. Growth is determined by how we lead and why our teams show up. Management structures that falter in a distributed environment won’t suddenly flourish in a fixed location. Invest in a leadership strategy that is adaptable, results-driven and guided by customer obsession to succeed in any setting.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Score 400% Pay Raise. Here’s How They Did it.

The second season of the Netflix series “America’s Sweethearts,” which chronicles the lives of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, reveals a pretty big touchdown for members of the storied squad: They will be receiving a 400% pay increase this coming season.

Per the New York Times, this marks the end of a long battle for higher wages that began in 2018 when former cheerleader Erica Wilkins sued the team for unfair pay. In her suit, which was settled out of court in 2019, she stated that cheerleaders were paid approximately $7 per hour with no overtime pay and got a flat rate of $200 per game — less than the team’s mascot.

The suit read in part: “Plaintiff and other cheerleader employees of [the Dallas Cowboys], who were all female… are/were paid at a rate less than [team] mascot, ‘Rowdy,’ who, at all times relevant, was male.”

Speaking to the New York Times, former cheerleader Jada McLean explained that the cheerleader pay scale is based on experience, and said that she made $15 an hour and $500 for each appearance in 2024. With the new increased wages, she said veteran cheerleaders could now be making more than $75 an hour.

She noted that the team does not provide health insurance, but has access to a team doctor and a physical therapist.

As many viewers of the top ten-ranked Netflix show know, cheerleading is basically a high-profile side hustle, and many of the squad members hold down full-time day jobs.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad director Kelli Finglass described the changes as “60-plus years long overdue.”

How to Turn Big Business Moments Into Lasting Brand Momentum

Key Takeaways

Momentum after big wins is where true ROI is realized.
Lead prioritization and timely follow-ups drive meaningful business conversion.
Long-term engagement turns prospects into loyal, repeat customers.

Big Wins. Product launches. Funding rounds. These are the moments in a company’s journey that come with a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes. You work hard to get to those big moments; don’t let all that effort fall flat once the moment has passed.

Savvy businesses understand that the actual return on investment of effort often comes in the days and weeks that follow, when fresh leads and heightened brand visibility create a prime window to convert interest into lasting impact. From strategic email follow-ups to leveraging public relations to highlight key wins, a strong post-moment plan is essential for turning momentum into measurable results.

Why momentum matters

Many teams get overly focused on short-term goals rather than long-term success. I equate this to the “launch and forget” mentality, where attention quickly shifts from one project to the next. This results in missed opportunities to connect the dots and build on the momentum gained from the significant event. If you don’t have a clear follow-up plan, you risk losing the value that’s just been generated.

A consistent, cohesive program that builds on success helps create a lasting impact. Follow-up strategies that foster continued engagement, lead nurturing and reinforcement of the company’s messaging are key for building momentum and long-term business growth.

Businesses face several key challenges when transitioning from the big moment to the follow-up, including:

Effectively managing and prioritizing leads generated during an event
Staying top of mind: sustaining consistent engagement with prospects after the headlines fade
Maintaining momentum: ensuring follow-up communications are timely and relevant
Measuring success: accurately measure follow-up impact like conversions, engagement and return-on-investment (ROI).

Strategies for managing and prioritizing leads

Effectively managing and prioritizing leads after a significant company achievement can be the difference between missed opportunities and meaningful conversions. Intelligent lead management starts with a lead scoring system that ranks prospects based on job title, buying intent, budget and engagement level. By assigning scores, businesses can focus resources on the leads most likely to convert.

To maintain momentum, immediately import contacts into a customer relationship management or lead management system. This will help you organize, track and manage ongoing communications. Speed is critical. Making early calls or sending prompt emails to prospects captures their interest while it’s still fresh.

Staying top-of-mind

Nurturing hard-won leads is crucial. Targeted email marketing is key in converting leads. First, this maintains personalized, contextualized and relevant communications that reinforce the connections made during the big moment. Address specific interests, challenges or needs in your follow-up emails to nurture relationships and guide leads through the buyer’s journey. Include relevant content and offers to keep the conversation going.

Other effective strategies for nurturing leads include:

Automated drip campaigns to deliver timely, relevant content that provides value.
Social media retargeting to stay top-of-mind by serving tailored ads, exclusive content, such as access to a demo, case studies or whitepapers.
Personalized phone calls or video meetings can add a human touch. This lays the foundation to build trust, nurture and deepen ongoing relationships.

Businesses can also use creative and/or unconventional methods to stay top-of-mind with leads after the fact. Create personalized content summarizing your event or milestone or sharing insights relevant to each prospect’s interests. Curate a customized bundle of resources based on specific interests and focus areas. Content could include eBooks, case studies, webinars or whitepapers that directly relate to the lead’s business challenges or interests.

Turn outreach into a game with incentives for actions like sharing content, completing surveys or interacting on social media. Create a leaderboard with prizes or rewards for the most engaged leads. Post personalized social media shout-outs to leads, thanking them for interacting with you and encouraging them to stay connected.

Measuring success

There are six essential ways to measure the momentum success of your efforts:

Lead conversions show how effective follow-up is in converting interest into sales.
Email open and click-through rates measure the effectiveness of email campaigns in re-engaging leads and driving them to take a desired action (e.g., signing up for a demo, downloading content).
Lead engagement shows how well you maintain interest and keep the conversation alive.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) assess the quality of the leads.
ROI evaluates the revenue generated from post-event conversions against the cost of attending the event.
Customer retention/repeat business tracks customer retention and repeat sales from leads and can measure the effectiveness of nurturing efforts.

Maintaining momentum

How can businesses maintain momentum to drive long-term growth? It starts with shifting the focus from short-term success to the long game of building lasting relationships and taking a continuous engagement approach. Here are a few specific recommendations.

Provide leads with content that educates, nurtures and positions your business as a trusted resource, not just a vendor hawking its wares. Focus on fostering long-term relationships that can evolve into loyal customers.

Segment your leads based on their stage in the buying process, interests and needs. Then you can deliver more personalized follow-ups that resonate and nurture them more effectively.

Create a community, Customer Advisory Board and/or loyalty program to keep leads and customers engaged. This gives you the best chance of creating advocates/brand ambassadors and repeat buyers. Vendor certification programs are a great example: individuals and partner organizations trained and certified on a specific technology tend to buy that brand. Communities and customer advisory boards are also a source of valuable feedback and insight for product improvements.

Make testimonials, case studies or success stories part of your momentum strategy. People want to buy from people they trust. Social proof like this helps build trust and creates a sense of community around your brand. Track key metrics and continuously optimize your strategies. Adjust your tactics based on this data to improve ongoing engagement.

Work those strategies

To maximize your effort and investment, you need comprehensive strategies for leveraging marketing, PR and lead conversion after significant events and achievements. Use the best practices outlined above to realize ROI as leads become buyers. This will optimize the value of those leads, increase the chances of conversion and create a community of engaged buyers for the long term.

This Apple Laptop Makes Working on the Go Easy, and Now It’s 77% Off

It’s estimated that more than 75% of entrepreneurs operate remotely or from non-office locations. That’s likely why many people go out on their own — for the freedom to work from anywhere. The only caveat? You’ll need a dependable laptop.

If you’re looking for power and portability, you can’t beat the MacBook Pro. Right now, you can get this powerhouse laptop for just $329.97 (reg. $1,499) through June 29, while supplies last.

Take work anywhere with this powerful MacBook Pro

The life of an entrepreneur is not for the weak. But a good laptop makes the late nights and lengthy hours more manageable, allowing you to handle tasks from anywhere.

This MacBook Pro is up for the challenge, with a powerful 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor ready to handle all of your multitasking. It also features Turbo Boost Technology, which enables processing speeds of up to 3.5GHz when needed.

At 3.02 pounds, you’ll be able to take this MacBook Pro along everywhere. Its 10-hour battery life lets you power through a full day without plugging in. This model also includes a Touch Bar, which offers customization and shortcuts to streamline your workflow.

A Force Touch trackpad provides precise cursor control, and a backlit keyboard facilitates typing in any light. 512GB of storage allows you to save files locally and download the apps that help keep you running, while four Thunderbolt 3 ports make connecting and charging a breeze.

You’re saving 77% due to this model’s grade A refurbished status. That means it will arrive in near-mint condition, with virtually no signs of prior use, while you take advantage of the deep discount.

Handle everything the entrepreneur life throws at you with this MacBook Pro, now just $329.97 (reg. $1,499) through June 29.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

‘Send a Man Next Time’: How an Entrepreneur and Her Daughters Built a $2.5 Million Franchise in a Male-Dominated Field

Key Takeaways

Becky Edgren left a lucrative manufacturing position to build something of her own for her family.
She devised a three-year plan around her daughters’ strengths to integrate them into operations, ensuring the business could support each of them in distinct roles.
Edgren experienced pushback when she entered the business as one of only a few women in the industry, but she now she chairs PuroWomen’s Growth Group.

When Becky Edgren left her leadership role in manufacturing, she wasn’t looking for a fresh start; she was looking to build a generational legacy. She had spent her career working in the Dayton, Ohio, tooling and machining business her father had started. But when her family sold the business, she found herself working as the CEO under the new ownership and something didn’t sit right.

“Once you’ve been a business owner, it’s really hard to go back and work for somebody,” Edgren tells Entrepreneur.

She realized she no longer wanted to grow someone else’s dream; she wanted to create something lasting for her own family — and not just a business, but a legacy her daughters could one day lead.

“I made a decision that I wanted to find something I could turn into a family business, for myself and my three daughters,” she says.

Image Credit: PuroClean

Finding the right business

From the start, Edgren was thinking long-term. She began searching for a business to buy and nearly purchased a small independent restoration company from a friend.

“I didn’t even know what restoration was,” Edgren says. “But I knew I wanted something I could grow into a multi-generational business.”

When that deal fell through at the last minute, she kept searching, eventually discovering PuroClean in 2007. With no prior experience in restoration, Edgren recognized the franchise system offered the structure and scalability she needed to get up to speed fast.

“I had no baseline, no industry knowledge,” she says. “Franchising gave me a foundation, and PuroClean gave me a roadmap.”

Building a 3-year plan

She bought two PuroClean territories in 2008, planning to eventually bring in her three daughters, each of whom had careers of their own. Together, they mapped out a three-year plan to make it happen. Her middle daughter joined first as operations manager, followed by her marketing-savvy youngest. Eventually, her oldest daughter left her corporate job to handle the accounting.

Together, they’ve grown the business into a $2.5 million-a-year operation serving the Dayton–Cincinnati region with a team of about 20 employees. But running a family business isn’t without challenges. Edgren says setting clear boundaries and defined roles is the key to success — and sanity.

“Family businesses can either be the best thing that ever happens or the worst,” she says. “Without setting clear expectations and boundaries, it can wreak havoc.”

The boundaries include a strict prohibition on work talk during personal time, despite restoration being a 24/7 business. At family gatherings, the daughter who’s on call may have to step away to handle a job, but once she returns, business talk is off-limits.

“You have to be intentional about separating work from home,” she says. “Otherwise, it consumes everything — and that’s where resentment can build.”

Changing the industry

Edgren’s leadership has helped shift perceptions in an industry that hasn’t always been welcoming to women. Restoration, like the manufacturing sector she came from, remains heavily male-dominated, especially when it comes to ownership and fieldwork.

Early on, Edgren found herself being underestimated, especially on job sites. She recalls one instance at the start of her career when she arrived at a mold inspection with her ladder and tools, ready to get to work. “An elderly couple answered the door,” she says. “They looked past me for someone else.”

Then came the comment that would stick with her.

“I explained everything, answered all their questions, and, before I left, I asked if there was anything else I could do for them. They said, Yes — send a man next time,” Edgren recalls. “I just laughed and said, Well, I’m the best you’re getting.“

Moments like that could have shaken her confidence — but instead, Edgren leaned in. Through her role as chair of PuroWomen’s Growth Group, she has made it her mission to help other women gain the confidence needed to succeed in the restoration industry. The group, which started as a small support circle more than a decade ago, now includes franchise owners, spouses, and female leaders from across the brand.

“It started out with women just needing to support one another. Now, it’s also about strategy, marketing, hiring, profitability,” she says. “There’s a powerful bond among us.”

Her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed at PuroClean, either.

Margaret Chebat, PuroClean’s vice president of account management, told Entrepreneur that Edgren “embodies the very best of what our brand represents — integrity, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”

“Her leadership, both in her business and through her role in guiding the PuroWomen’s Growth Group, has been instrumental in shaping the culture of our network,” Chebat adds.

Edgren believes the shift toward more women entering franchising, especially in blue-collar or field-service businesses, is partly because of this growing support system. “Some women hesitate to jump into industries like restoration because they’ve never been encouraged to thrive; we’re changing that.”

Working with family

If you’re considering starting a business with your children, Edgren has some hard-earned advice: Set roles and expectations early and treat them like professionals.

“You have to allow them to make mistakes,” she says. “That’s how they learn. If you try to protect them from every failure, you’re holding them back — and possibly the business too.”

She also encourages prospective franchisees to build a strong support network outside of their family. “You’re going to have bad days, and you need someone to lean on who’s not emotionally tied to the business,” she says. “Whether it’s another franchisee or a mentor, that outside perspective can make all the difference.”

0425_Franchise_Article Franchise Quiz Ad Unit vC

This Windows 11 Pro Upgrade Is a No-Brainer at $15

You don’t need to overhaul your company’s hardware to boost performance. Sometimes, the smartest investment is in the operating system itself. Right now, business leaders can grab a lifetime license to Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for just $14.97 (regularly $199) through July 20—a powerful upgrade for any professional environment.

Whether you’re running a solo consultancy, scaling a startup, or managing a growing remote team, Windows 11 Pro offers the security, productivity, and performance enhancements your operation demands. It’s designed for power users and professionals who can’t afford downtime, slow systems, or limited features.

With tools like BitLocker encryption, Hyper-V virtualization, Azure AD support, and Windows Sandbox, this version goes far beyond the home edition. For entrepreneurs juggling sensitive data or developers working in isolated environments, these are necessities.

The modernized interface and snap layouts make multitasking a breeze, while Windows Copilot, the built-in AI assistant, helps you summarize content, generate code, or change settings in seconds. It’s a productivity win, especially when paired with Teams and voice-to-text capabilities.

For small business owners navigating hybrid teams or IT managers juggling multiple devices, Windows 11 Pro also simplifies device management. With features like Group Policy support and remote desktop functionality, you can easily configure, monitor, and secure multiple machines from a single point of control.

This is especially useful for businesses with distributed teams or those handling sensitive client data. Plus, compatibility with Microsoft Intune and third-party endpoint management tools means you can streamline onboarding and enforce security policies—without having to invest in expensive IT infrastructure.

This is a lifetime license, so you only pay once, and never worry about renewals or subscriptions again.

Get Windows 11 Pro for just $14.97 (reg. $199) through July 20.

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

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