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Morgan Housel’s book, <a href="https://amzn.to/43MMYNk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Psychology of Money</a>, was a welcome departure from <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/bestsellers/?taxonomy=money&amp;date=2025-02-01">money books</a> that simply advised you on how to grow wealth. The bestselling book instead addresses how we think about money and how it affects our lives.&nbsp;



In his forthcoming book, <a href="https://amzn.to/4khblsy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Art of Spending Money</a>, Housel again uses narrative storytelling to offer tangible lessons on how the way we spend money can focus on enriching our lives instead of our bank accounts.&nbsp;







We spoke with Housel about how the way we spend our money directly impacts our happiness and how to spend for a richer life.&nbsp;



This interview has been edited for length and clarity.&nbsp;



SUCCESS: In the introduction of the book, you differentiate between being good at making money and the ability to turn it into a meaningful, better life. What do you mean by that?&nbsp;



Morgan Housel: One of the things that I wrote about in the book is that some people who I’ve met—and I’m sure you’ve met—and other people who don’t make a lot of money, they might make very little money, and they're totally happy. They’re content. They love going for walks and playing Legos with their kids and gardening and watching the sunset.&nbsp;



And then some very, very monstrously wealthy people who I’ve met who are, by every metric, less happy. I think that’s just biology that the majority of very wealthy people have to work 100 hours a week for their entire life. They cannot stop. They cannot retire. It’s completely antithetical to how their brain works.&nbsp;



But this isn’t to say that money can’t make you happier. It absolutely can, but I think we massively overestimate in society the impact that it’s going to have. The people who use money wisely are the ones who use it as a tool to leverage things that will actually make them happier, like friends and family and health.



I use the idea in the book: Can a big house make you happier? And the answer is yes, if that house makes it easier for you to spend time with friends and family, and the friends and family in that situation are actually what’s making you happier. So it’s an indirect <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/finding-happiness-mindset-shifts-to-change-your-life/">path toward happiness</a>.&nbsp;



S: You mentioned the role of subjectivity in how we assess the worth of things. For example, drinking a glass of water when you’re thirsty is going to be better than a cocktail from a Michelin-starred restaurant. Tell me about that.&nbsp;



MH: If you're eating Michelin-starred food three meals a day, compare that to going on a long hike. Let's say you hike 10 miles, you’re done with the hike and you’re famished. You’re so hungry, and then you go to Taco Bell. That Taco Bell burrito tastes better than the Michelin-starred meal.&nbsp;



S: You gave the example of a couple who was being evicted and their comment that they did not have the luxury of thinking about the future. Tell me how readers can use empathy to spend their own money with purpose.&nbsp;



MH: In The Psychology of Money, the phrase that I used was “no one’s crazy.” People make very bad decisions. People make regrettable decisions; people make uninformed decisions. But every financial decision that people make makes sense to them in that given moment.&nbsp;



It’s very easy for me and you, and a lot of other people, to look at someone who is being evicted because they couldn’t save or spent all their money on lottery tickets or blew their money gambling, like whatever it might be, and say, “You idiot. What were you thinking? How could you have possibly done that?”&nbsp;



And I think the vast majority of the time, you might have done the same thing or I might have done the same thing if we were in their shoes. If you’re paycheck to paycheck you might believe anything if that gives you a little bit of hope.



S: You talk about how saving for the future instead of spending money creates independence. Give me a brief summary of the levels of independence and why small saving does actually matter.&nbsp;



MH: I think independence is the greatest <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/long-term-financial-goals/">financial goal</a>. The greatest use of money is to achieve independence. And so many people, if you tell them that, will say, “I'm not independent. Financial independence means I don’t have to work anymore.”&nbsp;



If you think of independence as black and white, like either you have to work or you don’t, then it seems completely out of reach for 99% of people. But all independence is on a spectrum, and every dollar that you save is a piece of your future that you now own.&nbsp;



Let’s just say you’re able to save $1,000, and then you get laid off from your job. If having that $1,000 in savings means you can spend one week looking for a new job instead of having to take the first job that you can find tomorrow because you have no savings, that’s a level of independence that you had that you didn’t have before.&nbsp;



S: You talk about how spending has an impact on kids. As a father, what are the top three things you would like to leave for your kids?



Like any parent, I just want them to be happy. It doesn’t matter to me if they’re successful. I just want them to be happy. And I would say, try to use money as a tool to make you happier, rather than as a yardstick to measure your social progress.



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Author Morgan Housel shares how to spend money in ways that boost happiness—like buying time, not things. Learn to spend with purpose.

Author Morgan Housel shares how to spend money in ways that boost happiness—like buying time, not things. Learn to spend with purpose. | SUCCESS

Money Can Buy You Happiness… But Not the Way You Think

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How to Spend Money for Happiness: A Better Approach | SUCCESS

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Nia Springer-Norris is a journalist, educator and web developer in the Chicago area. She writes and teaches about human-machine communication, social media culture and books. You can find her everywhere as @nianorriswrites

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AI &amp; Technology

AI &amp; Technology Archives

AI &amp; Technology | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

It started with a simple request: I typed “roast me” into <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-use-chatgpt/">ChatGPT</a>. Its response poked fun at everything from the fact that I wanted to “freshen up” my web development curriculum for “students who probably think that HTML is a dating app” to the fact that I am simultaneously teaching four undergraduate courses, applying to Ph.D. programs (I didn’t get in), continuing to freelance as a tech journalist and working on my book when I have time.&nbsp;



“But, hey, you’re clearly making it work,” the chat concluded. “Until you’ve got your Ph.D., five courses, two textbooks, and a bestseller, and you finally hit that point where you need the crisis communications game just to fix your own life!”&nbsp;



Clearly, ChatGPT thought that I was putting too much pressure on myself. But it also revealed something to me inadvertently: It knew a lot about me and might be able to help me with the existential crisis that had led me to overcommit in the first place.&nbsp;



So I started probing it more with questions, like “What kind of work would I be good at?” and “What commitments do you think that I should drop?” And honestly, the tool gives great advice. (With any advice, however, I always step back and ask myself if the advice is good because it’s what I want to hear or if it’s good because it’s actually helpful). 







So, the large language model (LLM) crossed this threshold from being a tool I occasionally used to help prep assignments and outline ideas to somewhat of a life coach.



As a journalist and undergraduate instructor who teaches and writes a lot about human-machine communication, maybe I am better equipped to understand my own relationship with artificial intelligence. But I also wanted to learn more from other people in the game.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-life-coaching">AI life coaching</h2>



Unsurprisingly, if you Google “AI Life Coach,” you’ll find the websites of umpteen startups that have the same idea. Since ChatGPT entered public conversation, entrepreneurs have been pushing the boundaries of AI and our personal lives, offering everything from <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/dating-online-how-ai-affects-romantic-relationships/">assistance with dating app messages</a> to creating <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/eternalized-ai-digital-immortality-app/">immortal replicas of your personality</a> that your loved ones can talk to after you’ve died.&nbsp;



Social media ghost writer Katie Middleton uses ChatGPT for content inspiration frequently, but she also was able to turn to the chatbot for help getting through some burnout a few years ago.&nbsp;



“I was having a hard time keeping up with everything and figuring out how to manage everyday life with ADHD [and] executive dysfunction,” says Middleton.&nbsp;



She had seen TikTok creators who were using ChatGPT to help them manage their own burnout and routines, and she decided to ask the app to help her put together a plan to work within her own capacity.



“It has been life changing,” says Middleton. “It told me when I should work, when I should rest, additional things I could [do to generate passive] income I may have been missing due to burnout.”



Middleton’s experience and mine are not new. In fact, our reliance on AI for life advice goes back to the 1960s.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-eliza-effect-nbsp">The Eliza effect&nbsp;</h2>



While generative AI is a fairly new concept to the general public, the study of human-machine communication is not. In fact, there is <a href="https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an entire academic discipline</a> devoted to its study.&nbsp;



Our tendency to anthropomorphize—that is, assign human traits—to AI dates back to the earliest AI chatbots.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In the 1960s, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum developed a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/25/joseph-weizenbaum-inventor-eliza-chatbot-turned-against-artificial-intelligence-ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mock virtual psychotherapist named “Eliza</a>” that would chat with users via text message. Eliza was not nearly as complex as today’s AI chatbots—it used pattern-matching and substitution rules to generate responses. When it didn’t know a word, it would simply say something like “please go on” or “What is the connection do you suppose?”&nbsp;



Users would often begin to perceive Eliza as human—even when they knew that Eliza was not human, with Weizenbaum’s secretary even requesting time alone with Eliza. This became known as the “Eliza effect.”



Our attachment to AI is less about the AI output than our own human nature and our tendency to form psychological bonds. In 2018, MIT researcher Kate Darling gave a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6XgrYBugo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TED Talk</a> about our tendency to feel empathy toward machines. She explains her own discomfort (and the discomfort of research participants) toward “hurting” baby dinosaur robots.&nbsp;



But even today’s sophisticated AI chatbots are not humans. It is not possible for a computer to have an idea about the world around it. Instead, LLMs learn from large sets of training data and use the data to determine what to “say” or produce as an output.&nbsp;



Despite this, some individuals find it easier to trust machines than other people.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chatbots-as-trusted-confidantes-nbsp">Chatbots as trusted confidantes&nbsp;</h2>



Jaime Banks, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, and she conducts research on human-machine relationships. In particular, she focuses on how we make sense of machines and the perceived outcomes of these interactions.&nbsp;



While Banks does not work specifically with AI life coaches, she says that conversations she’s seen in her research on shared understanding often do ask for life advice.&nbsp;



“I asked people to give me their ChatGPT, like a couple of turns of conversations, so that they can focus on that conversation,” says Banks. “And a lot of them do look like that, right? They’re asking [it], ‘How do I deal with this situation? What should I be doing to advance this way or that way in my career?’”



In some ways, this makes perfect sense. People already have an easier time disclosing private information to other individuals through computer-mediated communication.&nbsp;



“Some of that has to do with anonymity, some of it has to do with control, some of it has to do with perception of distance,” says Banks. And so it’s not unreasonable to think that if we just take the human out of the equation entirely, and it’s just the person in the machine, then that may feel even more safe, right?”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-you-re-still-talking-to-robots">You’re still talking to robots</h2>



Whether you are using AI as a life coach or not, one thing important to remember is that you are talking to a robot, especially when evaluating its feedback. ChatGPT will give you the advice it thinks you want to hear. Its main goal is to give you a desired response, and these responses can still result in hallucinations (where the LLM makes up information) and other undesired responses.



So it is still beneficial to sit with the information that it gives you or do more research on what it says. It’s also important to remember that we are talking to a computer and that its only concept of the world is what we have given it. Although conversations with AI can feel very real, if we step back and return to what it says, we may realize that the help we are asking for is too nuanced for a chatbot to truly understand. 



“There is a distinction between how we think about it when we’re using it and how we think about it when we step away,” says Banks. “And perhaps those are both useful ways of evaluating any kind of feedback it may give us.”&nbsp;



Photo r.classen/Shutterstock.

Whether stuck in a career rut or looking for dating tips, more and more people are turning to generative AI chatbots for life coaching.

It started with a simple request: I typed “roast me” into ChatGPT. Its response poked fun at everything from the fact that I wanted to “freshen up” my web | SUCCESS

My AI Life Coach: How’s ChatGPT as Career Counselor?

Is ChatGPT a Good Life Coach? | SUCCESS

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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/racquel-oden-06277461" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Racquel Oden</a> knows about retirement. This U.S. head of wealth, premier and global private banking at HSBC has been in the industry for over 25 years and has always worked with individual investors, supporting their wealth management and asset management needs.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/generation-x-all-eyes-on-retirement-5224396" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gen X is up next to retire</a>—and for people in their 40s and 50s, that means understanding that retirement is now just around the corner during times of extreme market volatility. But that doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to retire.&nbsp;With savvy investing strategies, Oden still believes that investors of any age can achieve their “financial glow-up” in any market and with any time horizon.&nbsp;



Here are five tips from Oden for how to create a successful retirement plan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-work-with-a-professional-to-understand-your-portfolio">1. Work with a professional to understand your portfolio</h2>



“I truly am a believer [that] it’s okay to seek advice, because these are very complicated markets right now,” Oden says. “There are periods where you feel like you can kind of make sense of all of it and kind of make your own individual decisions. And there are going to be periods in the market where you actually feel the need for professional advice. I think we’re in one of those periods.”



Even the worst market has some strong opportunities—so working with the right person can ensure that you’re making smart decisions about your investments.&nbsp;



“While volatility may feel very extreme on you personally, that means there’s a lot of lows, which means that’s a buying opportunity,” she says. “But you want to make sure they’re in the right sector.”



Knowing how the world around you affects your portfolio can help you make savvier choices about where to direct your portfolio. For example, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/tariff-turmoil-retirement-account/">the effect of tariffs</a> can vary from industry to industry.



“What’s also important in times like this—of volatility—is staying very engaged in what I call active management,” she adds.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-evaluate-your-short-term-versus-long-term-needs">2. Evaluate your short-term versus long-term needs</h2>



“The things people are always going to ask you are, ‘What’s your risk tolerance?’ and ‘What’s your time horizon?’” Oden says.



Your time horizon is the amount of time (months, years or decades) that you need to contribute to an investment in order to achieve your <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/long-term-financial-goals/">financial goals</a>. An individual who plans to retire in five years, for instance, may want to opt for a less aggressive investment strategy than someone who still has 20 years. 



“You could be a lot heavier weighted in equities or riskier products, but you have long-term benefits to gain in that period of time,” she says. “If we have short-term needs in this environment today, things such as treasuries [are] a very good thing to look at.… [And] I think gold is doing extremely well.” 



Whether you’re retiring right now or in 15–20 years, there are still certain things that you should always be doing.&nbsp;



“Make sure that you’re making out on what I call your tax benefits, such as your 401k, your IRA and your HSA,” Oden advises. “[It’s] important that you’re leveraging the dollars that you’re making and [that] you’re getting... tax-deferred benefits from it. So I use that as a fundamental, no matter what stage of life you are [in].”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-define-your-future-expectations">3. Define your future expectations</h2>



“I think people think of [retirement] as like an administrative thing,” she adds. “But that’s why you work so hard now on your investments and gathering of your savings and assets—so you can live this version of the lifestyle that you define for yourself.”



Different people have different expectations of what retired life should be like. For example, if you’re planning on living in an RV after you retire, you probably have very different needs than someone who owns multiple homes and wants to live a snowbird lifestyle.&nbsp;



“What do you want it to look like?” Oden asks. “Based on that is how you should actually be crafting your investment portfolio to help you live that lifestyle that you define.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-begin-to-address-your-debts">4. Begin to address your debts</h2>



It’s also important to work toward <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/ultimate-guide-to-debt-management/">eliminating all your debts</a> when you’re gearing up for retirement.&nbsp;



“In your 20s and 30s, you can take on a lot more debt [since] you’ve got a lot of time,” she says. “As you’re getting to your 40s and 50s and you’re getting 10 years away from retirement, you want to start thinking of things like, maybe you don’t have five homes at the same time.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



If nothing else, it’s especially important to eliminate high interest debts like credit cards, as these can heavily restrict your cash flow and lead to financial strain. 



“That’s what’s really going to change when you hit retirement,” Oden says. “Very little is coming in and a lot is going to go out.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-plan-for-and-embrace-longevity">5. Plan for and embrace longevity</h2>



One of the most important things to remember is that you’re probably going to live longer than you expect—and so are the people around you.&nbsp;



“In the 1970s, the average life expectancy was closer to 69, and today, the average life expectancy is already at 77,” Oden says. “That’s just going to continue to increase as we continue to improve on things such as health care.”&nbsp;



But when you’re responsible for your kids and aging parents, that can feel like more pressure. 



“You are what I call the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/01/30/the-sandwich-generation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sandwich generation</a>,” she says. “You could have your 20-year-old kids that you’re still supporting, and because we are living longer statistically, your parents are around longer—and then you will be around longer. That actually puts a lot more pressure on us in retirement.” 



While you may find that you have extra expenses, like caring for your parents or children, you also need to consider (and celebrate) your own longevity.&nbsp;



“You’re worrying about yourself because you’re going to live way longer,” Oden says. “So that now means you have to have a lot more money for retirement since you’re going to sustain your lifestyle longer.”



Photo courtesy of Racquel Oden

Explore these five important tips to help you start preparing and saving for retirement—before it's too late.

Explore these five important tips to help you start saving for retirement.

How to Save for Retirement in Your 40s and 50s | SUCCESS

5 Tips to Save for Retirement in Your 40s and 50s

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Explore these five important tips to help you start saving for retirement, so you’ll be well-prepared before it’s too late.

Trends &amp; Insights

Trends &amp; Insights Archives

Trends &amp; Insights | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

Korie Mulholland was 21 years old when her brother, Kwinn Mulholland, passed away suddenly. The siblings had begun to establish their own lives: Korie had been away at college for a couple of years, and 19-year-old Quinn was working at McDonald’s.



In 2012, Facebook was only 8 years old, but it had already claimed its place as the most visited social media platform. After Kwinn passed, Korie noticed comments on his page from many of his friends.&nbsp;



“He had all of these friends and people in his life that I didn’t know about,” Korie says. “I remember reading inside jokes that they posted and seeing the side of my brother that I didn’t know about—and I would have never known about, if it weren’t for social media. It gave me an appreciation for all the people he had in his life who cared about him and who missed him.”&nbsp;



Since its conception, social media has changed the way we process grief—in some cases for the better, and in others, maybe not so much. Social media has made it easier to notify others about a loved one’s death while the family is still dealing with the initial shock, and it has also brought opportunity for people to come together and celebrate their loved one. But on the flip side, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/why-social-media-is-ruining-your-self-esteem-and-how-to-stop-it/">social media</a> users may also use public grief for attention or profit. 



Let’s take a closer look at the ways that social media has changed the way we grieve, as well as the pros and cons of using it to express grief for our lost loved ones online.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-notifying-others">Notifying others</h2>



It’s never welcome news to find out that someone you were once close with passed away, and it especially isn’t pleasant to find out via social media. But for families, social media can relieve some of the burden of getting the word out about funeral services and other arrangements.&nbsp;



“Being 19, a lot of [Kwin’s] friends had gone away to college,” Korie says. “I didn’t know his friends from high school and didn’t have contact information, but they were able to find out and come to the funeral and the wake. The place was packed—there was not enough room for everyone who attended.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-grieving-online-together-while-apart-nbsp">Grieving online: Together while apart&nbsp;</h2>



Microblogging, or posting frequent social media statuses, offers a mode of undirected communication that helps people reach out for support. <a href="https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Microblogging-and-Undirected-Communication.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Research indicates</a> that this type of communication helps people feel less alone in difficult times.&nbsp;



“People that are sharing their grief or grieving online are really looking for support [and] community,” says <a href="https://mendyourlight.org/jessica-moneo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jessica Moneo</a>, a trauma therapist who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Although doing this can be cathartic, it doesn’t replace in-person relationships. Moneo still urges her patients to seek offline support outside of those micro bonds.



“That feeling of support and community [online is] beautiful, and there’s certainly a place for that,” Moneo adds. “How do we kind of mesh that while [coming back] to bringing casseroles to people’s houses when someone passes away?”&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/emily-raymond" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emily Raymond, Ph.D.</a>, a pediatric psychology fellow at Stanford, social media can be a space to bond over a shared love for someone who has made an impact on the community.&nbsp;



“If a schoolteacher dies, a lot of their students can come together online and talk about their positive memories of the person,” she says. “[It’s a] positive way that social media can help us <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/invisible-loss-unacknowledged-grief/">process grief</a>.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-attention-seeking-and-monetization-nbsp">Attention seeking and monetization&nbsp;</h2>



Raymond adds that people often rush to publicly grieve on social media, even for people they don’t know well.



“Sometimes it’s celebrities [or] sometimes even just people in your hometown that maybe you don’t even know very well,” she says. “But you can kind of jump on this bandwagon of, ‘Oh, I knew this person; therefore, I can be part of their spotlight of grief.”&nbsp;



She’s also worried about people using <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/trauma-monetization/">grief for monetary gain</a>. “Even if it’s a true personal grief that they’re experiencing, they’re able to monetize that, which is a very ethically and morally complex thing,” Raymond says.  



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-right-way-to-grieve">No right way to grieve</h2>



Do you have to be close to people to grieve for them? Moneo doesn’t think so.&nbsp;



“What if we relabel [attention seeking] as connection seeking? It [might be] the first time that anybody they’ve known has passed away,” she says. “And so for them, it does feel really big. Who are we to say who can and can’t grieve?”&nbsp;



The one caveat is that grieving online must be appropriate.&nbsp;



“If it doesn’t show them in a good light or you’re talking about addictions and [loved ones] don’t want that up, there’s a place to have a conversation around that,” she adds.&nbsp;



As for Korie, she’s grateful that social media has provided a space for the people who loved Kwinn to share about him, as well for his family to see how loved he was—and still is.&nbsp;



“My brother’s best friend still posts on his Facebook,” Korie says. “He’s said [he] could do it in [his] journal but that [he] posts on Kwinn’s wall so that [my] mom can still see that he still cares about him and thinks about him.”



Photo by CandyRetriever/Shutterstock.com

Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.

Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief. | SUCCESS

Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?

Has Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? | SUCCESS

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Business &amp; Branding

Business &amp; Branding Archives

Stay ahead in business: strategies and insights for success

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) globally, currently <a href="https://wordpress.org/40-percent-of-web/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">powering 40% of all websites</a>. So if you’re following the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/29/wordpress-vs-wp-engine-drama-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">current drama</a> between WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg, and managed WordPress hosting provider WP Engine, you might be concerned about what will happen if you use WordPress or are thinking about it. If you haven’t been following along, we’ll get you up to speed and explain why their beef might affect a good chunk of the World Wide Web.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-does-wordpress-work">How does WordPress work?</h2>



<a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordPress.org</a> is an open-source CMS that enables users to create and manage websites. It’s attractive to beginners and experienced web developers because it has high customizability and doesn’t require coding knowledge. WordPress supports most website types, from personal blogs to complex <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-elements-of-a-great-e-commerce-website/">e-commerce</a> stores.



Though WordPress is open source and, therefore, technically unowned, the nonprofit WordPress Foundation holds the <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/why-trademarking-is-a-valuable-asset-for-building-your-new-business/">trademark</a>. The first version of WordPress <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/news/the-history-of-wordpress/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was launched in 2003</a> by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. Mullenweg later founded <a href="https://automattic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automattic</a>, the company that owns WordPress.com, the for-profit wing of WordPress.



Open-source software is free to use and anyone can modify or distribute it. As WordPress grew in popularity, hosting companies began offering <a href="https://wordpress.com/go/website-building/what-is-managed-wordpress-hosting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">managed WordPress hosting,</a> which took care of technical needs like backups, security, speed optimization and software updates.&nbsp;



WP Engine, a prominent managed WordPress hosting provider, is not directly affiliated with WordPress, although the “WP” in its name may suggest otherwise. WP Engine uses WordPress’s open-source code, as many hosting companies do, to power its services. (WordPress.com also offers hosting.)







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-are-wp-engine-and-wordpress-at-odds">Why are WP Engine and WordPress at odds?</h2>



WordPress wants companies that profit from its ecosystem to contribute to its development. On Sept. 20, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnI-QcVSwMU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mullenweg criticized WP Engine</a> (which <a href="https://wpengine.com/why-wpengine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bills itself</a> as the No.1 provider for the most-visited WordPress sites on the web) during a presentation at WordCamp US 2024, the biggest annual gathering of WordPress users. Mullenweg alleged that Silverlake, the private equity firm that owns WP Engine, contributed only <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/05/wordpress-ceo-matt-mullenweg-goes-nuclear-on-silver-lake-wp-engine-.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">47 hours per week</a> to WordPress, compared to Automattic’s 3,786. The next day, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a blog post,</a> Mullenweg lobbed additional jabs at WP Engine.&nbsp;



In response, WP Engine issued a <a href="https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cease-and-Desist-Letter-to-Automattic-and-Request-to-Preserve-Documents-Sent.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cease and desist letter</a> to Automattic, which replied with its own <a href="https://automattic.com/2024/wp-engine-cease-and-desist.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cease and desist letter</a> on Sept. 23. Automattic claimed WP Engine was violating intellectual property by using the WordPress and <a href="https://ma.tt/2024/09/ecosystem-thinking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WooCommerce</a> (an open source e-commerce plugin for WordPress) trademarks in its marketing.&nbsp;



On Oct. 12, WordPress forked (created an independent copy of) a WP Engine plugin called Advanced Custom Fields to create a new plugin called Secure Custom Fields, claiming they removed commercial upsells and resolved a security issue. WordPress also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/05/wordpress-ceo-matt-mullenweg-goes-nuclear-on-silver-lake-wp-engine-.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned WP Engine</a> from using WordPress.org’s resources.



WP Engine <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25237665-wp-engine-injunction?responsive=1&amp;title=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed a motion for a preliminary injunction</a> against Automattic and Mullenweg, arguing that the WordPress community would suffer irreparable harm from Mullenweg’s actions. This was after WP Engine filed a lawsuit accusing them of extortion and abuse of power. Automattic and Mullenberg asked the court to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/31/24284537/wordpress-court-dismiss-wp-engine-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dismiss the lawsuit</a>, claiming that WP Engine was still using the WordPress trademark “in unauthorized ways.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-legal-considerations">Legal considerations</h2>



Nafsika Karavida, an intellectual property lawyer at <a href="https://rpjlaw.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reavis Page Jump LLP</a>, believes WordPress would face difficulties if it pursued legal action against WP Engine for trademark violations.



“WP Engine has been using it for a long time,” says Karavida. “They’ve recently changed and modified their use a little bit, which is interesting.”&nbsp;



For instance, WP Engine <a href="https://wpandlegalstuff.com/wp-engine-changes-use-of-trademarks-on-its-website/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">changed some of the text on certain parts of their website</a>, seemingly attempting to reduce any implied affiliation with WordPress.&nbsp;



“And they have probably done that after they received legal advice from a trademark attorney… The statute of limitations in California is four years for trademark infringement, and [WP Engine’s] use from the beginning has gone back to 2010 if you read the complaint,” says Karavida.



Also, the fact that WordPress has allowed other companies to use its trademark complicates its legal position. There are multiple managed hosting companies that offer “WordPress hosting,” including <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/wordpress-hosting" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GoDaddy</a>, <a href="https://www.cloudways.com/en/managed-wordpress-hosting.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cloudways</a> and <a href="https://www.a2hosting.com/wordpress-hosting/managed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A2 Hosting</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-do-if-you-use-wordpress">What to do if you use WordPress</h2>



If you have a website, you might be wondering about potential business implications, even if you aren’t a WP Engine customer.&nbsp;



Ernie Smith is a freelance journalist and editor of the long-running newsletter <a href="https://tedium.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tedium</a>, which offers “strange and unusual descriptions of common things, explained in extreme depth,” <a href="https://tedium.co/what-is-tedium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to its website</a>. He advises businesses to make decisions based on their involvement in the WordPress ecosystem.



“If you have a website with 10,000 posts, and you’ve been committed to the WordPress ecosystem for a decade, it’s going to be a much different conversation than if [you’re] thinking about a content strategy like WordPress,” Smith says. “If you’re in the former, your best option is to stay the course while keeping abreast of the current days. In the case of the latter, look at other options.”



There are certainly alternatives to WordPress. If you like being able to drag and drop, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SquareSpace</a>’s simple user interface has become a choice option for business owners in a pinch.&nbsp;



Smith notes that the right CMS often depends on a user’s web development skills.&nbsp;



“<a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ghost</a> comes to mind. For my personal website, I use <a href="https://craftcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Craft CMS</a>—it’s also plugin based,” says Smith. “It’s built less for putting in your own things and more with the idea that you’re going to build a design from the ground up. But it’s pretty solid. It’s got a good community.”



While WordPress remains a dominant force in content management, this recent dispute with WP Engine could bring changes to the ecosystem. But if you’ve committed a lot of time to WordPress, don’t bail yet! Just stay informed and remain <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/be-more-adaptable-to-stress-less/">adaptable</a>.



Photo by Primakov/Shutterstock

Learn about the impact of the WordPress versus WP Engine conflict and what it means for businesses in the WordPress ecosystem.

Learn about what it means for businesses in the WordPress ecosystem.

Understanding the WordPress Vs. WP Engine Conflict | SUCCESS

There’s Trouble in the WordPress Ecosystem. What Do Businesses Need to Know?

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Lifestyle

Lifestyle Archives

Elevate your lifestyle for success and happiness

Social justice can be as simple as picking up dog excrement.



“In kindergarten, we had this unit that was called ‘Agents of Change,’ and we had to find something that we saw wrong in the world—but, I guess, specifically Manhattan or New York—and we wanted to try to right those wrongs,” Amadeus Belafonte says. “I always noticed that, a lot of the time, there was dog poop on the sidewalks, and no one would pick it up.”



Amadeus told his grandfather—the late singer, actor and activist <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/harry-belafonte-actor-and-activist" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harry Belafonte</a>—about his plan to change the world through a simple flyer campaign that urged Manhattan dog owners to pick up after their pets. Harry was thrilled.



“He was always wondering what we were doing in terms of rising up, in a sense. I was in kindergarten,” says Amadeus, now 17. “This was a smaller thing, but I told him and he loved it.”



“He placed them, too,” says Malena Belafonte, Amadeus’ mother and Harry’s daughter-in-law. “He was like, ‘We got a real social justice kid here.’ He’s like, ‘I always stepped in poop, and it really bothered me. I’m really happy that you are now trying to take that on.’”



Now, the Belafonte family is using a multigenerational approach to make the world better through the efforts of <a href="https://www.belafontefamilyfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Belafonte Family Foundation</a> (BFF), established in 2020 by Malena; Harry’s son, David; and Harry’s grandchildren, Sarafina and Amadeus.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-activism-of-harry-belafonte-nbsp">The Activism of Harry Belafonte&nbsp;</h2>



When people think of Harry Belafonte, they mostly think about his music. When my children were toddlers, I used to put on Jump in the Line, and we would have a dance party in the living room. As we shook our bodies to the King of Calypso’s energetic warbling, we were simply right there, enjoying the way the tune spoke to us at a cellular level.



Harry’s rendition of the Jamaican folk song Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) is its best-known version, and its chipper melody is beloved by many. But when unpacked, the lyrics of the song dissect the labor of Black people in the colonized Caribbean as they load bananas onto boats until the sun comes up.



Through his career as a singer and an actor, the Harlem-born child of Caribbean immigrants worked tirelessly for the civil rights movement and championed social justice—up until he died in 2023 at the age of 96.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-multigenerational-pillars-nbsp">Multigenerational pillars&nbsp;</h2>



The Belafonte Family Foundation is a multigenerational project that seeks to create access and opportunity across multiple pillars representing causes dear to family members.



This <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-give-back-purposefully/">philanthropy</a> spans across “pillars that are diverse but not unrelated,” according to BFF. The foundation offers a variety of programming that addresses human trafficking, domestic violence, mental health support, education and access to healthy foods.



Although the majority of the pillars are still being developed, the organization announced three full-ride scholarships to students from Haiti at their inaugural gala in October 2023. The scholarship requires that recipients return to Haiti and use their education to serve their community.



“They’re furthering and finishing their education in engineering, nursing, these different areas to bring their services back into the Haitian community,” David says. “It’s a condition that is attached to that…. They’re living with purpose and making it better where they are.”



Additionally, BFF is developing a scholarship to fund martial arts programming for youth. Bright Road Mentoring through Martial Arts is named for the 1953 film Bright Road, Harry’s first feature film. BFF has partnered with Mid-Hudson Valley Camp and Academia de la Costa in the Dominican Republic to develop martial arts programming for youth.



“My preference would be to create healthy humans rather than repair ones that are already broken,” David says. “It was important for me to find ways to bring what I learned through my experiences as a man and as a martial artist, and come up with a mentoring program that we could bring to these kids [who] couldn't afford to have that piece of the puzzle.”



Another program named for the film will be the <a href="https://www.belafontefamilyfoundation.org/about-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bright Road Farms</a>, a container farming initiative that will provide education on vertical farming and equipment to communities that need healthy produce.



“While the programs are very far reaching and they just span a lot of different topics, the red thread is about creating access,” Sarafina says. “What is very important about Bright Road Farms is the fact that it is creating access to these places where there are food deserts.”



BFF is also developing the following pillars: a house of healing, which will serve survivors of sex trafficking and domestic violence; an online space for youth struggling with mental health; and a service that functions like “Meals on Wheels but for legal advice”—for people who cannot afford to hire attorneys.



The foundation is currently funded through <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-create-strategic-partnerships/">strategic partnerships</a> and has partnered with Sony Music Group and the company’s Global Social Justice Fund.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-a-legacy">Preserving a legacy</h2>



BFF is not tied to any political campaigns or directly affiliated with any political parties.



“Harry’s politics were very specific, and he was vocal about that,” David says. “But the lanes were very separate and clear. That is something we try to apply to what we’re doing. It is about creating a quality-of-life scenario.”



But Harry’s legacy was always rooted in social justice and his family does not shy away from that.&nbsp;



“We come from one of the first big Black legacies, and he was always very vocal about what his politics were,” Sarafina says. “His existence was political and so is ours, as an offshoot and as an interracial family in the United States.”



Learn more about opportunities to volunteer, serve on committees or partner to create programming at <a href="http://belafontefamilyfoundation.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">belafontefamilyfoundation.org</a>.



Photo of (L-R) Amadeus, Sarafina, Malena and David Belafonte by George Alex Popescu and Paul Tirado

The Belafonte Family Foundation’s multigenerational activism runs deep. Learn how it honors Harry Belafonte’s legacy of social justice.

Social justice can be as simple as picking up dog excrement. “In kindergarten, we had this unit that was called ‘Agents of Change,’ and we had to find | SUCCESS

Harry Belafonte’s Family Honors His Legacy of Social Justice

Harry Belafonte’s Legacy of Social Justice and Activism | SUCCESS

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An influencer recording a LinkedIn vertical video

LinkedIn is more buttoned-up and carefully curated than other social networking platforms tend to be. While we go to most social media sites to be entertained or catch up with loved ones, this prominently professional networking platform has staunchly remained as such. It’s a great place to catch up on career wins or meet people in your industry, but <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-linkedin-lunatics/">engagement on the platform can often feel inauthentic</a>.



On LinkedIn, your job is to make yourself look good. This means that users often shy away from experimenting with different content types.



Last year, I worked with an executive who occasionally shoots video content with a communication firm. His usual content strategy is to post long videos explaining nuanced industry topics. I had suggested experimenting with short-form, vertical content with the argument that consumer preferences now gravitate toward authentic, user-generated content over polished advertising. He passed—but LinkedIn has now caught up with other social media platforms and added a vertical feed.



A scrolling video feed may just change <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-optimize-your-linkedin-profile/">how we present ourselves on LinkedIn</a> and will perhaps add some levity to a social media platform that has a reputation for being stuffy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vertical-video-a-trendsetter-in-digital-media">Vertical video: A trendsetter in digital media</h2>



LinkedIn has been around slightly longer than Facebook but is one of the last big social media platforms to adopt the standard vertical video format. You probably think of TikTok first, but <a href="https://magneticcreative.com/ideas/vertical-video" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Snapchat was at the forefront</a> of the shift to a vertical viewing experience in 2011. TikTok popularized the format further after first launching in 2016, and Facebook followed with the addition of stories in 2017.







We now consume most of our internet content on our phones. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pew Research Center study</a> found that smartphone ownership increased from 35% in 2011 to 90% as of early 2024. Additionally, 15% of U.S. adults are “smartphone only” internet users, meaning that they don’t use a computer to access the web.



Social media platforms earn most of their money from advertisers. Because of this, these platforms are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/technology/personaltech/tiktok-twitter-facebook-social.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">designed to keep us on the app</a> for as long as possible. Endless video feeds are part of what makes social media so addictive, and presenting the content vertically adds an immersive element that keeps us scrolling indefinitely.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-creators-who-are-already-here">The creators who are already here</h2>



How will vertical videos change how we behave on LinkedIn?



A cursory scroll of my own LinkedIn video feed brought me comedy videos, a “salary hack” strategy and a video with “Get Low” by Lil Jon &amp; The East Side Boyz playing in the background. Creators have already begun to use the platform to poke fun at work culture.



Eliza VanCort, an author, speaker and consultant who publishes regular video content to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, agrees that LinkedIn will experience a cultural shift, especially since vertical videos provide a content creation alternative to the long-form articles that the platform is known for.



“There's no question that the culture will change—and for some people, that change is going to be quite welcome,” VanCort says. “Because obviously, when you start putting out this kind of video content, you’re going to have a more relaxed vibe…. [We’re] entering into the 24-hour news cycle on LinkedIn.”



Jonathan Greye, a partner and the chief branding officer at PersonalBrand.com, argues that while it’s still important to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-build-a-personal-brand-that-breaks-through-the-digital-noise/">build your personal brand</a> on LinkedIn, the new content format will allow users to rethink what that means.



“You have to first unbrand yourself before you start branding yourself,” Greye says. “We’re just so inundated by information, and we kind of get lost in it. And during our process, that unearthing process, it's so important to strip away and to really build from... your personal truth and then [create] a brand around that.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-path-to-visibility-nbsp">A new path to visibility&nbsp;</h2>



New thought leaders will likely gain visibility in a saturated market by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-vertical-video-linkedin-why-you-should-jump-now-karlyn-ankrom-zvg3e/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">becoming early adopters of the new video feed</a>. The most important aspect of this shift will be understanding what content to release.



VanCort recommends creating list-based content. “[This] holds true more on LinkedIn than any other app,” she says. “People tolerate stories on Instagram and TikTok, but on LinkedIn, people like ‘Five things you can do to change this [or] to help your business.’”



Overall, if you promote your business on LinkedIn, it’s prudent to adapt to the new format—and perhaps loosen your buttons a bit as well.



Photo by Anatoliy Karlyuk/Shutterstock.com

LinkedIn is finally adopting a mobile-friendly vertical video feed. Find out how the change could impact your app experience.

LinkedIn is finally adopting a mobile-friendly vertical video feed. Find out how the change could impact your app experience. | SUCCESS

Will Vertical Videos Change the Culture on LinkedIn?

Culture Shift: Will Vertical Videos Change the LinkedIn Experience?

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North Carolina State University student Ethan Clark doesn’t often use phrases like “catastrophic impacts.” But he'd forecasted ahead of the storm and knew that Hurricane Helene was going to be worse than people expected. On Sept. 26, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ncweatherauthority/posts/pfbid02VaNQwDi15umiRq95qq8Jz7wWxVE78BdnF2sVu3sCoJ57gkURgPxkzHRAae2W8Vpcl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he made a Facebook post</a> on his Facebook page, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ncweatherauthority">North Carolina’s Weather Authority</a> (NCWA), calling the storm “life-threatening.”&nbsp;



As North Carolina reels from the aftermath of the storm, <a href="https://www.bpr.org/live-updates/live-blog-hurricane-helene-wnc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">which reportedly “decimated” small mountain communities like Hot Springs and Chimney Rock</a>, Clark has continued to post real-time information and updates. He has especially focused on some of the smaller towns that were less likely to have strong media coverage. Most of this information has come from tips and photos sent through Facebook Messenger. Many people who are looking for information about nearby towns and loved ones have been watching this page for information, which they claim has provided updates more quickly than local news coverage.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-7th-grade-hobby">A 7th grade hobby</h2>



Clark never expected to be the most reliable source of information during a natural disaster. In fact, he really just likes to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/weather-adam-krueger/">forecast weather</a>. In April of 2016, when he was in 7th grade, Clark set up the NCWA page as a hobby to entertain his family and friends.&nbsp;



“I had this email chain. I would send out weekly emails to my, like, friend and family group. And then as technology was advancing … I was like, well, I can do this,” Clark says. “And it originally was called "Ethan Weather." No grammar, nothing good…. Then I finally decided to change the name to something more broad and do [weather for] the whole state.”



Now Clark is a senior at North Carolina State majoring in environmental science with a concentration in meteorology, natural hazards and climate change. His page has attracted a following, especially from rural areas that are news deserts and communities that have limited access to credible, comprehensive news. The page shot up to between 75,000 and 100,000 followers after Hurricane Florence and has about 543,000 followers at the time of writing.



“I do focus very hard on these small areas that are often forgotten about [in] media coverage,” Clark says. “The media cannot focus on everything…. That's why I focus on these small towns.”&nbsp;







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-lives-via-facebook-updates">Saving lives via Facebook updates</h2>



Since western North Carolina has largely lost power, water and cell service, finding information and resources has been challenging.



Waverly Jones, owner of an aerial arts studio in Asheville, came back from a vacation the Wednesday before the storm. She slept through the worst of the storm Thursday night and was woken by an alarm on her phone around 5 a.m. on Friday.



“I think we, like, had already lost power by that time,” Jones says. “We opened up all the windows and went back to sleep for a few hours and then got up, and none of our phones were working. We had no way to contact any friends or family or access the internet for news outlets or anything like that.”



Although Jones’ cell service returned over the weekend, internet service remained spotty. “I made contact with a couple friends, and I had one of them post on my Facebook that she talked to me and that I was okay,” Jones adds.&nbsp;



Asheville resident Amy Hales says that people are relying on neighbors and the fire station for access to the internet.&nbsp;In a text message, Hales told SUCCESS, “Everyone would gather at the fire station because there was WiFi access. They posted paper updates, and people would write in updates.”&nbsp;



Clark has received many text updates from people who are in trouble. In <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ncweatherauthority/posts/100-people-stuck-on-a-mountain-in-black-mountain-north-carolina-address-is-129-m/550493717373095/">one NCWA post</a>, he requested assistance for “100 people stuck on a mountain in Black Mountain, North Carolina,” including “a lady giving birth.” Soon after, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Bc9EaCFAoa5SW1zK/">Clark posted</a> that North Carolina Emergency Management saw the post and was able to send assistance. He has been told by other social media users that he has saved their lives as well.&nbsp;



“I still haven’t wrapped my [head] around this,” Clark says. “I didn’t realize I was <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/would-you-risk-your-life-to-save-a-stranger/">saving lives</a>, but I guess I am now.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-photos-we-re-better-off-not-seeing-and-the-halt-of-misinformation">The photos we’re better off not seeing and the halt of misinformation</h2>



The majority of the stories that Clark hears are overwhelmingly sad. He has also been sent photos and videos that he would rather not see.&nbsp;



“Some stuff I [have been sent is] too gruesome,” he says. “As a human, I can’t post [it]. I have had photos of bodies sent to me.”&nbsp;



Clark has also been working hard to combat misinformation, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/kWe38MiuTP4zKDFn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">including AI-generated photos from other pages</a> and TikTok rumors that another storm is on the way.



Although Clark is grateful that he’s had the opportunity to help in a time of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/8-habits-of-people-who-thrive-in-crisis/">crisis</a>, he says that he normally shares resources only until the media puts out more information about what’s happening and where to go for help.



“I won’t continue once there’s enough information [for me to] go back to this weather forecasting,” he says. “I’m not a news organization—but during times of critical information that can’t really get out, I’ve just been doing that.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-helpful-hobby">A helpful hobby</h2>



Despite his following, Clark does not have plans to monetize his page or turn his reporting into a career. He would like to continue to run it as a hobby.&nbsp;



“I just say what I want [people] to know,” Clark says. “I'm not trying to get clicks… because I don't make money from it. I've got some donations, but I don't have ad revenue because I'm also ad free for now. And that's the plan as long as I can get a job and I can just do this as a side job…. If I wanted to make this a job, I would need to figure out a better way.”&nbsp;



Photo by BEST-BACKGROUNDS/Shutterstock

Ethan Clark’s 7th-grade Facebook project now helps over 500K NC residents with real-time disaster relief info. Learn how it saves lives.

Ethan Clark’s 7th-grade Facebook project now helps over 500K NC residents with real-time disaster relief info. Learn how it saves lives. | SUCCESS

A 7th Grade Project Is Providing Resources for North Carolina Victims of Helene

7th Grade Project Offers Relief from Hurricane Helene for NC | SUCCESS

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Anna Rodney of Chicago Family Doulas and birth and baby university

<a href="https://annarodneydoula.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anna Rodney</a> never set out to start a doula agency. It became a necessity when her one-woman birthworker operation attracted more inquiries than she could accommodate.



Today, <a href="https://chicagofamilydoulas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chicago Family Doulas</a> is one of the largest doula agencies in the country and has an education branch called <a href="https://birthandbabyuniversity.com/meet-anna/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Birth &amp; Baby University</a>, which Rodney founded to meet the need for self-paced, remote birth classes during the pandemic.



We spoke with Rodney about how she realized she needed to form an agency, the business of managing doulas and the payoff and flexibility of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/entrepreneurs-advice-for-becoming-self-employed/">working for herself</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-anna-rodney-of-chicago-family-doulas">Anna Rodney of Chicago Family Doulas</h2>



SUCCESS+: Tell me about your journey starting Chicago Family Doulas.



Anna Rodney: When I had my first [child], I realized [that] being gone [for] set hours is really hard. Then I had my second 20 months later, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, child care is really expensive.’ So when [my first] was 6 months old, I took a doula training, but like many people, I just could not figure out how to make that into a business, and I was really nervous about taking that leap.



But then after I had my second, I was teaching at a school that I really was having a hard time with. It was really an intense job, and I was coming home and feeling so depleted and not appreciated at all at work. So I was like, ‘You know what, I don’t think I have the capacity to do this anymore. I don’t want to do it anymore.’ So I just kind of took baby steps. I took a part-time job teaching online while I built up my business. And I became a hypnobirth instructor and a postpartum doula. I was already a labor doula. And I took a business class.







[When I started the business], it was just Better Birth Chicago. And then, it was just going to be me, and I built the website with just me. Within about three months, I was realizing that it was becoming an agency, so I rebranded as Chicago Family Doulas pretty quickly, and then it just kind of took off from there. I still have the core team that I hired back then, and they’re still working with me.



S+: How many people did you bring on at first?



AR: [For] my first hire, I actually hosted a training at my house, and I hired about, I believe, six people: some labor doulas, some postpartum doulas and some that did both. And it was a slow start. I filled my schedule first. And then I filled up the doula schedules.



I got pregnant with [my daughter]... [and had] to give away all of my birth clients, all of my postpartum clients that I had booked. So I really turned it into a true agency where I was the administrator. I had people working for me, and I was not taking any of the hands-on work. My business exploded when I did that. [I kept] my doulas busy, which kept them loyal to me.



S+: Why did you decide to bring your doulas on as contractors?



AR: I think in all states except California, doula work is contractor work. People have a super varied schedule. Some months they might have six births, [and] some months they might have three.



There’s a lot of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-five-hour-club-and-the-future-of-flexible-work/">flexibility</a> with it, which I think [is] one of the reasons people become doulas. A postpartum doula might do a live-in job and work 100 hours a week, and then they might take two months off.



S+: When you hire doulas, what do you look for?



AR: The best doulas are the people that truly care about other people. So that is [the] biggest [quality I look for]. It doesn’t matter to me how many years of experience somebody has. Somebody can be super experienced, but if they don’t have that care for other people, they’re not going to be amazing.



S+: What services does Chicago Family Doulas provide?



AR: The two that we offer… are birth doulas and postpartum doulas. Birth doulas’ families can hire us in pregnancy at any point, [whether] they’re newly pregnant or [it’s] later in [the] pregnancy. We support [them] in pregnancy [by] answering questions, helping them make choices, finding classes, finding resources, preparing them for birth, preparing their partners for labor… then we go with them to their birth and support them… [so they] have an empowering and positive birth experience.



I always say [postpartum doulas] take over where the birth doula leaves off. So they start supporting families immediately postpartum or at any point postpartum. We provide daytime and overnight support. Our focus [is on the baby]... but also [at] the center of our support is [the] mom. So we care for [the] mom. That hierarchy is [the] mom, baby, family, household. So we take care of all the things they have to take care of, or usually take care of, so that they can rest, recover and bond with their baby.



S+: How does having your own business pay off?



AR: I so appreciate the flexibility of owning a business. I get to be present for [my kids], and there’s definitely an energy that comes with owning a business. Every accomplishment is mine, and it feels big and exciting.



I was always afraid of business because I… [thought] I would have to not be true to myself. That has been probably one of the biggest lessons: I get to be true to myself on a really big level and [have] a positive impact on people.



This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of <a href="https://offer.success.com/success-plus/?utm_medium=navigation&amp;utm_source=website&amp;utm_campaign=success-plus&amp;utm_content=dts&amp;utm_term=early-adopter">SUCCESS+</a> magazine. Photo courtesy of Anna Rodney

Anna Rodney’s search for job flexibility as a mother led her to found the successful Chicago Family Doulas. Learn more in our interview.

Anna Rodney’s search for flexibility as a mother led her to found the wildly successful Chicago Family Doulas. Learn more in our interview. | SUCCESS

The Business of Birth: Anna Rodney Discusses Her Successful Doula Agency

Anna Rodney of Chicago Family Doulas | SUCCESS

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A hand holds out several one hundred dollar bills.

In July, OpenResearch released the results of its <a href="https://www.openresearchlab.org/studies/unconditional-cash-study/documentation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Unconditional Cash Study</a>. This study is the largest unconditional cash study to date, and the results have shown that increased access to cash does improve financial well-being and savings. The results of this study have provoked dialogue concerning the role of unconditional cash and <a href="https://basicincome.stanford.edu/about/what-is-ubi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">universal basic income</a> (UBI), particularly as technology continues to improve.



The Stanford Basic Income Lab defines UBI as “a regular cash payment to all members of a community, without a work requirement or other conditions.” By its true definition, UBI payments must be recurrent (e.g., every month), a cash payment, universal (paid to all), individual (not household-based) and unconditional.



In recent years, the concept of UBI has swiftly moved from a largely utopian concept to a policy that politicians and business leaders, particularly in tech, have increasingly supported. Notably, <a href="https://hai.stanford.edu/news/radical-proposal-universal-basic-income-offset-job-losses-due-automation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andrew Yang proposed a monthly “Freedom Dividend”</a> of $1,000 during his 2020 campaign for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination.



However, unconditional cash studies are not to be confused with UBI—which, in its truest definition, must be paid to everyone.



As the concept of unconditional cash has moved closer from a pipe dream to reality, more studies are testing the concept. The Stanford Basic Income Lab provides a <a href="https://guaranteedincome.us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dashboard to visualize data</a> from over 30 guaranteed income pilots nationwide.



Now that there are more results to play with, one question we had is whether access to unconditional cash would give people the freedom to dream big and pivot into entrepreneurship. But the answer is quite complicated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-techno-utopian-imagination">The techno-utopian imagination</h2>



Many argue that with today’s rapid advancements in technology, UBI may be the solution to job displacement that will inevitably occur (and already is occurring, in many cases) due to advancements in AI technology. In fact, leaders of big tech companies are often the most vocal supporters of UBI. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/technology/ubi-openai-silicon-valley.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sam Altman of OpenAI, Twitter (now X) co-founder Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk</a> have all endorsed the policy.



OpenResearch <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/361749/universal-basic-income-sam-altman-open-ai-study" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grew out of the tech accelerator Y Combinator</a>, which Altman previously ran. Although it is not directly affiliated with OpenAI, it has received funding from both Altman and OpenAI’s nonprofit arm. But despite its relationship with Altman and OpenAI, OpenResearch itself has provided no comment on how AI and UBI intersect—or on the future of work in general.



“The goal of this research is to understand how unconditional cash transfers affect people across various outcomes like health, labor and effects on children,” research director Elizabeth Rhodes told SUCCESS in an email. “Our participants’ household income at the time of enrollment was, on average, less than $29,000. Our research is not connected in any way to AI or its effects on work.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unconditional-cash-and-entrepreneurship">Unconditional cash and entrepreneurship</h2>



One question that many have asked is how access to cash affects entrepreneurship. 



The OpenResearch study randomly assigned either $50 or $1,000 monthly unconditional cash payments to participants from November 2020 to October 2023. It showed some promising results concerning participants’ desire to start a business but not the actual business startup. However, higher income participants were more likely to take the plunge.



“Although recipients who had lower household incomes at enrollment reported more interest in starting a business, recipients who had higher household incomes at enrollment were more likely to report purchasing business materials,” Rhodes says. “This suggests that although the cash had an effect on <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/quiz-do-you-have-the-entrepreneurial-mindset/">entrepreneurial interest and mindset</a> for recipients on average, those who were in better financial positions at the start of the transfers were more likely to be able to act upon these interests.”&nbsp;



In general, the study data found that <a href="https://www.openresearchlab.org/findings/key-findings-spending" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most of the cash transfers were spent on needs compared to wants</a> and that higher income households were significantly less likely to spend more in general compared to lower income households, suggesting that the higher income individuals were more likely to have met those needs already.



But there are other factors that affect whether individuals are likely to act upon their entrepreneurial visions. There is more to entrepreneurship than access to money, especially for Black and female entrepreneurs. 



“Further research on Black and female recipients would provide additional data on necessary conditions that sustain business long term or might lead to profitability,” Rhodes says. “It would also be interesting to look at the effects of offering additional resources—even just informal advice or connections to existing resources—to individuals who express interest in starting a business to see if additional information or non-monetary support would facilitate more entrepreneurial activity.”&nbsp;



The current findings are not peer reviewed and are only a preliminary analysis of data.&nbsp;



“Our current project on unconditional cash transfers will be ongoing, including the analysis of additional topic areas and a goal of making the de-identified data set publicly available,” Rhodes adds. “OpenResearch will continue to work on the big, open-ended questions that require uniquely interdisciplinary, comprehensive or long-term research.”



Photo by wertinio/Shutterstock.com

Learn what the results of OpenResearch’s Unconditional Cash Study mean for entrepreneurship and the discussion around universal basic income.

Learn what the results of OpenResearch’s Unconditional Cash Study mean for entrepreneurship and the discussion around universal basic income. | SUCCESS

Does Universal Basic Income Improve Entrepreneurship?

Unconditional Cash: Does Universal Basic Income Increase Entrepreneurship?

Does Universal Basic Income Improve Entrepreneurship? | SUCCESS

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Three women of different ethnicities smiling and working together at a laptop in a modern office.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Archives

Entrepreneurship | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-mindset-secrets-of-5-successful-female-entrepreneurs/">Female entrepreneurs</a> are denied on business loan applications more frequently than men and also often end up with lower loan amounts and higher interest rates. This disparity makes it less surprising that there is a <a href="https://mendoza.nd.edu/news/entrepreneur-gender-gaps-greater-in-societies/">$1.7 trillion worldwide financing gap</a> for female founders.



Despite this gap, businesses owned and controlled by women make an incredible impact on the United States economy. According to the <a href="https://www.wippeducationinstitute.org/2024-impact-of-women-owned-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2024 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses Report</a>, women entrepreneurs generate $2.7 trillion and represent 39.1% of all business owners, employing over 12 million people.&nbsp;



There are several grants available that were specifically created to help female entrepreneurs access capital and other opportunities like coaching, mentoring and education.



We’ve created a roundup of grants that are currently (or soon will be) open to applications that are meant specifically for <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-women-are-rising-in-business/">women in entrepreneurship</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-vistaprint-and-female-founder-world">1. <a href="https://www.femalefounderworld.com/grant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VistaPrint and Female Founder World</a></h2>



VistaPrint and Female Founder World have teamed up to launch the Female Founder World Grant, which offers a $15,000 cash grant to businesses in the United States. This grant can be used for marketing, manufacturing or research and development, and grantees must demonstrate how the funds will be used.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements">Requirements:</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Grantees must be engaged with the Female Founder World community and sign up with full business details.</li>



<li>Annual revenue must be at least $40,000 and no greater than $1 million.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Applicants must have fewer than 10 employees.</li>



<li>They must have a demonstrated product-market fit.&nbsp;</li>



<li>They must sell a physical product or good.</li>
</ul>



Deadline: Applications close September 17, 2024.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-high-five-grants-for-moms">2. <a href="https://themamaladder.com/grant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">High Five Grants for Moms</a></h2>



This grant was created by Mama Ladder International to offer funding opportunities for moms who are entrepreneurs. The goal of the grant is to help more moms hit the $1 million revenue mark in their companies. The grant is open to all women caregivers, regardless of their child’s age, and provides funds up to $10,000.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements-0">Requirements:</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Grantees must be a mom; parents of adult children, expectant mothers, stepmoms and foster moms are also eligible for a grant.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Applicants must own at least 50% of a for-profit or service-based business.</li>



<li>Annual revenue must be between $10,000 and $500,000.&nbsp;</li>



<li>The business must be located in the U.S. or Canada.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



Deadline: The application period for fall 2024 grants is September 1–30.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-galaxy-grants">3. <a href="https://galaxyofstars.org/galaxy-grants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Galaxy Grants</a></h2>



Through its partnership with <a href="https://www.hiddenstar.org/">Hidden Star</a>, Galaxy Grants offers $4,250 in funding for women and minority entrepreneurs. The application is a very short form, and the company also has an online community with a free or paid membership option that gives users access to an online forum and information about other grants.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements-1">Requirements:</h4>



There are no requirements other than that the grantee must be a woman or minority.&nbsp;



Deadline: The deadline for the current grant application is September 30.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-empowher-grant">4. <a href="https://theboundlessfuturesfoundation.submittable.com/submit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EmpowHER Grant</a></h2>



The EmpowHER grant offers up to $25,000 to female social entrepreneurs whose business model directly addresses a social issue. These social issues are defined as poverty and hunger, sustainability and the environment and strong communities. The businesses must be in their early stage, and there are quarterly opportunities to apply for the grant.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements-2">Requirements:</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>This grant is open for female entrepreneurs ages 22 or older.</li>



<li>Businesses must be registered for-profit entities operating in the United States.</li>



<li>The business must address a social issue through its business model.</li>



<li>Businesses must not be more than three years old.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



Deadline: The application is open for the first two months of every quarter:&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Q1: January–March&nbsp;</li>



<li>Q2: April–June&nbsp;</li>



<li>Q3: July–September&nbsp;</li>



<li>Q4: October–December</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-amber-grants-for-women">5. <a href="https://ambergrantsforwomen.com/all-grants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amber Grants for Women</a></h2>



These grants by WomensNet are always open for applications. Each month, Amber Grants award $10,000 to women-owned businesses in any category and $10,000 to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/7-ways-to-support-women-owned-businesses/">women-owned businesses</a> that are still in the ideation phase. There is also a monthly grant for a business category. The company also awards three $25,000 grants annually to one of the winners of the $10,000 grant.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements-3">Requirements:</h4>



Other than the requirements for startup grants or business type grants, these grants are open to any woman-owned business, including nonprofits.&nbsp;



Deadline: Since these grants are awarded monthly, applications are always open. There is a $15 application fee.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-herrise-microgrant">6. <a href="https://www.hersuitespot.com/herrise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HerRise MicroGrant</a></h2>



Women of color entrepreneurs across diverse fields can apply for the $1,000 HerRise MicroGrant from the Yva Jordan Foundation, the nonprofit arm of HerSuiteSpot. Like the AmberGrants, this grant is open to applications every month and can be used to fund coaching, capital and community so that women of color can scale their businesses.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-requirements-4">Requirements:</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Companies must be 51% owned by women of color.</li>



<li>Businesses must be registered in the U.S.</li>



<li>They must have less than $1 million in gross revenue.</li>
</ul>



Deadline: There is rolling admission for grants. Applications close on the last day of each month.



Photo courtesy of Dragana Gordic/Shutterstock

Discover the 6 best grants for women in business. Learn about funding, eligibility and application deadlines.

Discover the top 6 grants for female entrepreneurs in September 2024. Learn about funding, eligibility and application deadlines. | SUCCESS

Funding for Female Entrepreneurs—6 Opportunities to Check Out N

Funding for Female Entrepreneurs (The 6 Best Grants) | SUCCESS

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Diverse group of professionals looking at laptop in office

Personal Development

Personal Development Archives

Personal Development | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

Anu Gupta wants us to rethink the way we approach anti-bias training.&nbsp;



The lawyer, scientist, educator and <a href="https://www.bemorewithanu.com/about-anu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Be More</a> CEO developed the PRISM toolkit. PRISM, which stands for perspective-taking, prosocial behaviors, individuation, stereotype replacement and mindfulness, draws upon two decades of training and original research to create a set of practices that are backed by neuroscience to effectively teach how to reduce bias.&nbsp;



Gupta’s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Bias-Stereotypes-Prejudices-Science-Backed/dp/1401977316" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From—And the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them</a> offers a practical framework for reducing biases in the workplace.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-amp-a-with-anu-gupta">Q&amp;A with Anu Gupta</h2>



We spoke with Gupta about his life, his work and how we can address our own biases.



(This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.) &nbsp; &nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-success-tell-me-about-yourself">SUCCESS: Tell me about yourself.</h3>



Anu Gupta: I’m an immigrant from India. I personally experienced a lot of biases because of my intersectional identities. I’m a cis man, also queer; I’m a man of color. I’m a person of faith with lots of different backgrounds. As a result of that, I’d internalized a lot of these biases, which eventually led me to contemplate suicide.&nbsp;



I started taking advantage of as many tools as I possibly could to understand why I would take such a drastic step. I realized that the tools I was using, what I call the PRISM toolkit, are also the tools that science has shown to measurably reduce bias. That kind of became my calling.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-i-appreciate-you-sharing-your-own-struggles-so-many-people-believe-that-we-live-in-a-post-bias-world-and-that-acknowledging-diversity-is-irrelevant-why-is-it-so-important-to-continue-to-acknowledge-bias-and-look-for-solutions-to-move-forward">S: I appreciate you sharing your own struggles. So many people believe that we live in a post-bias world and that acknowledging diversity is irrelevant. Why is it so important to continue to acknowledge bias and look for solutions to move forward?</h3>



AG: The fact that we deny bias is one of the main challenges around bias. I define bias [as] a learned habit, and there are two forms of biases:&nbsp;



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Conscious bias: These are learned false beliefs.</li>



<li>Unconscious bias: These are learned habits of thought.</li>
</ol>



This shows up in workplaces across the board. Now, when people say that we live in a post-biased world, well, how could that be? There [are] so many <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-discrimination-in-the-workplace-impacts-black-womens-health-well-being/">discrimination</a> lawsuits out there. Sexual harassment is still a challenge in the workplace. We [still] see disparities with respect to compensation across gender lines, across class lines, across racial lines.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-you-also-talk-about-the-role-of-social-contact-in-bias-can-you-tell-me-a-little-bit-more-about-that">S: You also talk about the role of social contact in bias. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?</h3>



AG: The idea of social contact actually comes from a social scientist named Gordon Allport. He was kind of a seminal scholar… of prejudice studies. He wrote this book called The Nature of Prejudice in 1954, and he basically said that social contact is one of the ways we can break bias.&nbsp;



Even though social contact is a way to break bias, it actually reinforces bias too... because we’re so hypersegregated. We often just interact with people who share the same views as us, watch the media we watch or who look like us or who are in our faith tradition.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-you-talk-about-how-emphasizing-intersectionality-can-help-people-address-their-own-biases-tell-me-more-about-that-nbsp">S: You talk about how emphasizing intersectionality can help people address their own biases. Tell me more about that.&nbsp;</h3>



AG: Intersectionality is one of the words that has been highly misunderstood in our society. But basically what intersectionality means is the uniqueness of every human being based on all of their different secondary identities.&nbsp;



I think this concept actually helps us because it helps us be more intimate with people for who they are versus the ideas we’ve been fed about one another. And at a time of polarization where it’s so easy to trivialize a person because of one or two identities they may have, we have to really come together.&nbsp;







<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-how-can-entrepreneurs-follow-your-method-to-address-their-own-biases-nbsp">S: How can entrepreneurs follow your method to address their own biases?&nbsp;</h3>



AG: [As] entrepreneur[s], we have clients that we support, we have customers that we support and we have stakeholders and teams. For us, the opportunity is… to really become aware of it and transform it.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-and-this-awareness-can-come-from-mindfulness-nbsp">S: And this awareness can come from mindfulness?&nbsp;</h3>



AG: [<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/mindfulness-at-work/">Mindfulness</a> is] awareness of what’s happening in our own experience. Our thoughts, our emotions, as well as our somatic experience. When we’re with someone, whether a client, customer, employee [or stranger], just notice whatever arises.&nbsp;



The idea isn’t just to suppress thoughts… they’re gonna arise. What we need to do is become aware of them, mindful of them, and then we can replace them with a real example.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-s-i-know-you-do-training-are-there-any-other-tools-that-you-have-available-that-our-readers-can-look-up-nbsp">S: I know you do training. Are there any other tools that you have available that our readers can look up?&nbsp;</h3>



AG: We have courses on breaking bias, you know, breaking unconscious bias, breaking racial bias, compassion, of course, breaking bias with mindfulness. So all of those tools can be found on <a href="https://www.bemorewithanu.com/about-anu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Be More With Anu</a>.&nbsp;



Photo courtesy of insta_photos/Shutterstock

Discover Anu Gupta’s PRISM toolkit, a new approach to anti-bias training, using mindfulness and intersectionality to effectively reduce bias.

Discover Anu Gupta’s PRISM toolkit, a new approach to anti-bias training, using mindfulness and intersectionality to effectively reduce bias. | SUCCESS

Anu Gupta Shares a New Approach to Anti-Bias Training

Anu Gupta’s New Anti-Bias Training Approach | SUCCESS

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a boss and his staff having a work meeting in a workplace conference room

I never planned to be a marketing strategist. When I was wrapping up my master’s in journalism and beginning to look for Ph.D. advisers, my partner had a “come to earth” talk with me. My children didn’t have any more tolerance for mommy being in graduate school.



I quickly realized that there are not very many jobs for AI ethicists with a terminal master’s degree. But there were lots of organizations looking for marketing executives with <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/meet-ai-leaders/">AI expertise</a>. I found myself a nice, flexible position as a vice president of marketing at a consulting firm and continued to write for magazines on the side.



I first learned how to write for consumers instead of thesis committees (too long; didn’t read). Then, I began to notice other writing. I realized that to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/10-marketing-rules-the-best-entrepreneurs-live-and-die-by/">deliver a better marketing product</a>, we needed to avoid the buzzwords that plague most ad copy. I began coaching my intern to do just that.



Here are some tips for avoiding marketing copywriting clichés:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-avoid-the-usual-marketing-copywriting-culprits">1. Avoid the usual marketing copywriting culprits</h2>



If you’ve recently been advertised to, you’ve likely noticed that companies have a tendency to use words that offer very big promises.



I recently logged into Zoom and was immediately confronted by a dialogue box inviting me to “elevate” my communications. On websites I have worked on, I have seen promises to “streamline” everything from recycling processes to meeting cadences. Then, there are the offers to “propel,” ”accelerate” or “skyrocket your business to the next level” and “maximize your profits.”



When reading ads, take note of the words that you see the most frequently. Do these ads stand out to you? Are there more meaningful marketing copywriting strategies you can use? If there are, you may be able to craft a campaign that audiences are more likely to remember—and get a higher return on investment for your <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/chris-orzechowski-email-marketing/">marketing</a> and efforts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-don-t-rely-on-journalese-to-get-your-message-across">2. Don't rely on journalese to get your message across</h2>



My friend and I were lamenting our hastily thought up <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-name-your-business/">business names</a> the other day. Hers contains the word “elevate,” and my DBA contains the word “innovative.” We have all fallen back on tired tropes, whether intentional or not.



However, the overuse of clichés in marketing copywriting may not be as ineffective as writers say. <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2021/10/20/new-cognitive-research-princeton-peoples-eyes-reveal-cliches-are-underrated" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Research at Princeton</a> discovered that peoples’ pupils dilate when they read clichés, an indication of engagement. But engagement doesn’t necessarily indicate success.



In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On Writing Well</a>, which was originally published in 1976 and has been reprinted in several editions since, William Zinsser puts it like this: “There is a kind of writing that might be called journalese, and it’s the death of freshness in anybody’s style. It’s the common currency of newspapers and magazines like People—a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and clichés that have become so pervasive that a writer can hardly help using them.”



Although Zinsser’s disdain is directed at journalists, the same sentiment is found in articles about marketing. An <a href="https://www.marketingprofs.com/4/warda1.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">article published by marketing training company MarketingProfs</a> argues that “clichés are grammatical abuse of the worst kind because they’re worthless. Worthless in advertising. Worthless in business memos. And they're worthless because they carry no weight. And since they’re insubstantial, they can’t punch through the skin.”







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-be-authentic-in-your-marketing-copywriting">3. Be authentic in your marketing copywriting</h2>



Market research suggests that millennials and Gen Z deem brands inauthentic when they hide behind tired buzzwords. These generations have seen it all and heard it all, and they can see right through it right away. They were raised with technology, so brands have to stand out to catch their attention through the noise.



A survey conducted by <a href="https://roundel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Roundel-Gen-Z-Insights-eReport_Web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roundel</a>, the media arm of Target, found that Gen Z consumers want authentic and transparent marketing. A <a href="https://www.vistaprint.com/hub/millennial-marketing-branding" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VistaPrint</a> survey of its millennial workforce also listed using clichés as its number one “don’t” in marketing to millennials.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-make-sure-you-are-marketing-better-than-ai">4. Make sure you are marketing better than AI</h2>



Visit ChatGPT and feed it this prompt: “You are a digital marketer for a company in [your industry]. Write five emails for a drip campaign promoting [product].”



Count how many times it spits out words like “elevate,” “maximize,” “innovative” or any of the other words I named in this article.



As technology improves, we must distinguish our expertise and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/human-centric-marketing-strategy/">create work that machines can't replicate</a>. There will always be jobs for expert copywriters, but there might not be many left for mediocre writers.



My prediction? Brands that hire expert writers instead of leaning into machine-generated writing that is riddled with cheap buzzwords will see a higher return on investment for their commitment to being memorable and real.



Photo courtesy of ADAB Creativity/Shutterstock

Learn about the most common marketing copywriting pitfalls and why you should avoid them when creating content for your business.

Learn about the most common marketing copywriting pitfalls you should avoid.

Marketing Copywriting Clichés to Avoid in 2024 | SUCCESS

Marketing Copywriting Clichés to Avoid to Make Your Brand Stand Out

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Headshot of Hal Elrod with colorful backdrop

<a href="https://halelrod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hal Elrod</a> has been through a lot in his lifetime. In 1999, at age 20, he was hit by a drunk driver and found dead at the scene. He stopped breathing, and for six minutes, his heart didn’t beat. Despite 11 broken bones and permanent brain damage, he was miraculously revived. When he woke up from a coma six days later, he was told that he would never walk again.&nbsp;



Yet, Elrod defied the odds and walked three weeks later. In 2012, he created his Miracle routine, which evolved into a book, a documentary, an app and an online community.



While filming the documentary, at age 37, he was diagnosed with a cancer that has a very low survival rate. Elrod continued his documentary while going through treatment. His cancer is in remission.



We’ve put together a roundup of Elrod’s offerings so you can begin your own Miracle Morning.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-book-the-miracle-morning-nbsp">The Book: The Miracle Morning&nbsp;</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/TheMiracleMorning_RevEd_FrontCover_OnlineFinal_5-18_CMYK-683x1024.jpg" alt="Hal Elrod's book cover The Miracle Morning" class="wp-image-78148" style="width:208px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Limelight San Antonio/Courtesy of The Morning Miracle</figcaption></figure>



Elrod created <a href="https://thenewmiraclemorning.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Miracle Morning: (Updated and Expanded Edition): The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)</a> to get through some of the hardest days of his life, but he never planned for it to be a book.



“It was never a book idea. It was my own desperate attempt to turn my life around when I was struggling,” Elrod says. “Financially, I was at the lowest point in my life. Mentally and emotionally, I was at the lowest point in my life. When I started this <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/this-7-step-morning-routine-helped-me-build-a-billion-dollar-brand/">morning ritual</a>, I just kind of combined the best practices that I could find into one ritual.”



Then, his ritual turned into a book: The Miracle Morning. The first edition—which sold over 2 million copies and was translated into 37 languages—has spun off into a series, with books written for a variety of audiences, including (but not limited to) salespeople, parents, entrepreneurs and those in addiction recovery. The book outlines Elrod’s six-step morning ritual called SAVERS (Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribing) that he created in 2008 during the Great Recession.



The “updated and expanded edition” of Elrod’s book came out Dec. 12, 2023—nearly 11 years since the first edition’s 2012 debut. The updated edition includes more than 70 new pages of content, including two new chapters titled “The Miracle Evening” and “The Miracle Life.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-documentary-the-miracle-morning-2020">The Documentary: The Miracle Morning (2020)</h2>



Director Nick Conedera convinced an originally skeptical Elrod to do a film about the Miracle Morning practice. Elrod was concerned about the time constraints of making a movie; Conedera felt that the story needed to be told visually for an audience that doesn’t read <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/25-self-help-books-you-havent-read/">self-help books</a>. Finally, after months of check-ins, Elrod agreed.



In 2016, Elrod was halfway into filming <a href="https://miraclemorning.com/movie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Miracle Morning</a> documentary when he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer: acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Given only a 20-30% chance of surviving, Elrod told Conedera that the movie needed to be placed on hold.



Instead, Conedera convinced Elrod to continue filming through his cancer treatments to show his ability to overcome the diagnosis.



“We weren’t planning on filming the cancer journey,” says Elrod, who’s now in remission. “But when you watch the movie, you’ll see: Thank God we did. The last 30 minutes of the movie are me trying to beat cancer while I’m still speaking and sharing the message, and The Miracle Morning community is rallying behind me. That really made the movie much more than it would have been without that experience.”







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-podcast-achieve-your-goals-with-hal-elrod">The Podcast: Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod</h2>



The Achieve Your Goals podcast offers weekly “practical advice and strategies to achieve your goals and dreams,” according to its Apple Podcasts description. Most episodes feature a guest. Past guests have included: Michael Breus, Ph.D., (aka “the Sleep Doctor”) and Shawn Stevenson (The Model Health Show podcast and Eat Smarter Family Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes to Transform Your Health, Fitness and Connection).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-app-the-miracle-morning">The App: The Miracle Morning</h2>



If you’re working to incorporate The Miracle Morning into your routine, there’s now an app for that, too. The Miracle Morning app visually takes users through the SAVERS steps and features helpful content that aids in their process.



The app contains hundreds of personalized <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/create-a-bulletproof-routine/">morning routines</a>, and users can complete all six steps of the process in as little as six minutes.



The app has both free and paid versions available.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-community-the-miracle-morning-facebook">The Community: The Miracle Morning™ Facebook</h2>



The Miracle Morning also has a thriving Facebook group, which had more than 360,000 members at the time of publication. In this group, members often share their own journeys of using the SAVERS method to change their lives. Elrod says that some of the updates for his book were inspired by the community and its members.



“I’m engaging in there,” Elrod says. “I’m learning not only from my own practice but from what other people are doing.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-school-program-the-miracle-morning-in-schools">The School Program: The Miracle Morning in Schools</h2>



The Miracle Morning program for schools offers self-guided, virtual and in-person wellness training for faculty. According to its website, the mission is “to equip schools with resources to bring The Miracle Morning into their communities with practices that invite mindful living, set future intention and encourage conscious action for today’s scholars, teachers, administrators and parents, one school at a time.”



Reviews on the program’s website note that it has been a valuable resource for eliminating teacher <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-recover-from-burnout/">burnout</a> and helping educators make deeper connections with their students. Educators also said that teaching the program to students helped improve attendance and behavioral issues in schools.&nbsp;



This article originally appeared in the September/October 2024 <a href="https://store.success.com/by-media/success-magazine-september-october-2024-daymond-john.html">issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>. Photo courtesy of Hal Elrod

Start your day with Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning routine. Explore the book, app, and community to transform your life and begin your journey.

Start your day with Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning routine. Explore the book, app, and community to transform your life and begin your journey. | SUCCESS

Hal Elrod and The Miracle Morning Ecosystem

Discover Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning Routine | SUCCESS

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Young business women explains fuel inc sales strategy to her team

Peloton’s business model was brand new when it came out. Take a whole bunch of successful fitness instructors and livestream their classes directly to the people who would want to take them, and suddenly their reach goes beyond how many people fit inside a studio. So when sales author <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddduncanofficial/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Todd Duncan</a> and serial entrepreneur <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/salesboomerang/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alex Kutsishin</a> came up with the idea of using the same model to coach salespeople, it just made sense.



Their platform, <a href="https://www.myfuel.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FUEL Inc.</a>, was released to the public last month. FUEL Inc. takes the same concept of Peloton and breaks down courses on sales strategy into microlearning that can be consumed in small pieces. Participants can actively analyze their performance on a leaderboard where they can compete against other learners.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-fuel-inc-works">How FUEL Inc. works</h2>



When you log into the FUEL platform, you are greeted with lessons to choose from. Although the platform was originally created for salespeople, there are also lessons to help with <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/what-is-personal-development/">personal development</a> and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/leadership-soft-skills/">leadership</a>.



At the time of writing, there are 12 instructors with 12 unique courses available, including a social media course focused on video production from Josh Pitts of Shred Media and a course on empowering buyers with information called “Mastering the Buyer Consultation” from Denise Donoghue of The Mortgage Nerd Academy. Each lesson is about three minutes long and followed by a knowledge check.



“Our technology actually stops the video [to test] for the person's knowledge, because we all know that learning is not the answer,” says Duncan. “Learning is part of the answer… knowledge is power.”







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fueling-sales-through-self-competition">Fueling sales through self-competition</h2>



Duncan and Kutsishin saw the opportunity for a collaboration because they shared a vision of “democratizing learning.”



“Many people can't learn because they don't have access to learning, or can't learn because the learning is one-size-fits-all, or can't learn as they have to sit in a seminar. Then [there’s] the unfairness of people coming into a business… and needing a whole different kind of learning than somebody who might be a 10-year veteran or 15-year veteran that needs a reset.”



Traditional learning, according to Duncan and Kutsishin, is not designed around the unique learning needs people have or the practicalities of how business functions today. There’s not much that can be accomplished by attending a conference once a year, and technology has made it easier to spend less time on more things.



“We feel that traditional learning is broken,” says Duncan. “We feel that the micro-modality is going to give a leg up for companies to help equip their people to be the best versions of themselves.”



Having the opportunity to see and beat your own personal records—like Peloton users can—adds an element of challenge that could engage many learners.



“You can pretty much measure everything that would be important to you about learning a skill that you want to go about executing,” says Duncan. “And, all the time, you're competing against yourself. And so, [good salespeople] are gonna get equipped, and they want to compete [with] themselves. They're never done trying to break their own records.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-fuel-of-joyful-accountability">The fuel of joyful accountability</h2>



The sports metaphor is one that is often applied in business, but Kutsishin insists there is a good reason for this.&nbsp;



“The sports model has perfected accountability and autonomy,” he says. “[The] professional sports autonomy and accountability model works like this… so, let's say, you play for a professional team—sports team—whatever it is, you are accountable to the team.”



There’s no place on a professional team for people who don’t want to work with the rest of the team. Athletes who play sports have to come to practices and also understand what the whole picture looks like between knowing the plays, the coaches and the other players.



“You can't just be like, ‘I'm really good. I'll see you at every game, but I'm not coming to practices’... that doesn't work in professional sports and organized sports at all. And so, the accountability is that you play for the team,” says Kutsishin.



If a company decides to buy FUEL Inc. for their <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/jeffrey-gitomer-the-ten-traits-of-high-sales-performers/">salespeople</a>, they can track whether they are completing the lessons and obtaining the knowledge and skills meant to be developed.



“I think we've solved a repositioning of a word that is not very fun to hear when you're not doing well. And that's ‘accountability,’” says Duncan. “One of the things that we said early on is we want to create between people—leaders and followers—we want to create this joyful accountability.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-response-so-far-nbsp">The response so far&nbsp;</h2>



Duncan and Kutsishin have been thrilled with the response to FUEL Inc. since they rolled it out in July. They initially envisioned it as a sales app, but have had customers say they felt the skills on the app could be useful for the whole team. And although fifteen companies have already signed up, they are also being discovered by individuals.



“We approach this as enterprise only, but people are finding it and they’re signing up,” says Kutsishin. “It’s the Netflix or the Peloton of personal and career development.”



Photo by PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock.com

Todd Duncan and Alex Kutsishin of Fuel Inc. explain how they set out to create an app that delivers microlearning for salespeople. Learn more.

Todd Duncan and Alex Kutsishin of Fuel Inc. explain how they set out to create an app that delivers microlearning for salespeople. Learn more. | SUCCESS

These Entrepreneurs Have Created the Peloton of Career Development

Fuel Inc: The Peloton of Career Development | SUCCESS

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hand typing on computer with cybersecurity code on screen

Earlier this year, I called my son’s pulmonologist at Lurie Children’s Hospital to reschedule his appointment and was met with a busy tone. Then I went to the MyChart medical app to send a message, and that was down as well.



A Google search later, I found out the entire hospital system’s phone, internet, email and electronic health records system were down and that it was unknown when access would be restored. The next week, it was confirmed the outage was <a href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/cybersecurity-matter-forces-lurie-childrens-hospitals-communications-mychart-offline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">due to a cyberattack</a>. The systems remained down for more than a month, and a ransomware group called Rhysida claimed responsibility for the attack, seeking 60 bitcoins (about $3.4 million) in compensation for the data on the dark web.



My son’s appointment was just a regular appointment. But when my son, a micro preemie, was an infant, losing access to his medical team could have had dire results.



<a href="https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/learn/topics/security/what-is-cybercrime.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cybercrime</a> is a concern for large corporations, hospitals and governments, but it also <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-keep-prying-eyes-off-your-companys-data/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">affects small businesses</a>. In January 2024, McAfee and Dell produced a resource guide for small businesses <a href="https://www.mcafee.com/en-gb/consumer-corporate/newsroom/press-releases/2024/20240117.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">based on a study they conducted</a> that found 44% of small businesses had experienced a cyberattack, with the majority of these attacks occurring within the last two years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-are-the-weakest-link">Humans are the weakest link</h2>



When most people think of cyberattacks, they think of a hacker in a hoodie sitting in front of a computer and entering a company’s technology infrastructure using a few lines of code. But that’s not how it usually works. In most cases, people inadvertently share information through social engineering tactics like phishing links or email attachments containing malware.



“The weakest link is the human,” says Abhishek Karnik, director of threat research and response at McAfee. “The most popular mechanism where organizations get breached is still social engineering.”



Prevention: Mandatory employee training on recognizing and reporting threats should be held regularly to keep <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/7-cybersecurity-tips-for-remote-workers/">cyber hygiene</a> top of mind.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insider-threats">Insider threats</h2>



Insider threats are another human menace to organizations. An insider threat is when an employee has access to company information and carries out the breach. This individual may be working on their own for financial gains or manipulated by someone outside the organization.



“Now, you take your employees and say, ‘Well, we trust that they’re not doing that,’” says Brian Abbondanza, an information security manager for the state of Florida. “We’ve had them fill out all this paperwork; we’ve run background checks. There’s this false sense of security when it comes to insiders, that they’re far less likely to affect an organization than some sort of outside attack.”



Prevention: Users should only be able to access as much information as they need. You can use <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-101/what-is-privileged-access-management-pam" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">privileged access management (PAM)</a> to set policies and user permissions and generate reports on who accessed what systems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-cybersecurity-pitfalls">Other cybersecurity pitfalls</h2>



After humans, your network’s vulnerabilities lie in the applications we use. Bad actors can access confidential data or infiltrate systems in several ways. You likely already know to avoid open Wi-Fi networks and establish a strong authentication method, but there are some cybersecurity pitfalls you may not be aware of.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-employees-and-chatgpt">Employees and ChatGPT</h3>



“Organizations are becoming more aware about the information that is leaving the organization because people are posting to ChatGPT,” Karnik says. “You don’t want to be posting your source code out there. You don’t want to be posting your company information out there because, at the end of the day, once it’s in there, you don’t know how it’s going to be utilized.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-use-by-bad-actors">AI use by bad actors</h3>



“I think AI, the tools that are available out there, have lowered the bar to entry for a lot of these attackers—so things that they were not capable of doing [before], such as writing good emails in English or the target language of your choice,” Karnik notes. “It’s very easy to find AI tools that can construct a very effective email for you in the target language.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-qr-codes">QR codes</h3>



“I know during COVID, we went off of physical menus and started using these QR codes on tables,” Abbondanza says. “I can easily plant a redirect on that QR code that first captures everything about you that I need to know—even scrape passwords and usernames out of your browser—and then send you quickly onto a site you don’t recognize.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-involve-the-experts">Involve the experts</h2>



The most important thing to remember is for leadership to listen to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/my-way-diana-b-allen/">cybersecurity experts</a> and proactively plan for issues to arrive.



“We want to get new applications out there; we want to provide new services, and security just kind of has to catch up,” Abbondanza says. “There’s a large disconnect between organization leadership and the security experts.”



Additionally, it’s important to proactively address threats through human power. “It takes eight minutes for Russia’s best attacking group to get in and cause damage,” Abbondanza notes. “It takes about 30 seconds to a minute for me to get that alert. So if I don’t have the [cybersecurity expert] team that can respond in seven minutes, we probably have a breach on our hands.”



This article originally appeared in the July <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/subscriptions/">issue of SUCCESS+ digital magazine</a>. Photo courtesy Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock.com

Learn about major cybersecurity threats to your business and prevention methods. Experts discuss ransomware, insider threats, and strategies.

Learn about major cybersecurity threats to your business and prevention methods. Experts discuss ransomware, insider threats, and strategies. | SUCCESS

Expert Tips to Protect Your Business From Cyberattacks

Cybersecurity Threats: Protect Your Business | SUCCESS

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man artist using virtual reality glasses drawing at art studio

Imagine a virtual coffee shop with an AI-driven barista (a digital avatar) who already knows you’re all about the oat milk latte. You start chatting with another avatar, and you’re half-convinced they’re a real person. This isn’t some science fiction story—it’s where virtual reality technology and the AI-powered metaverse are taking us, right now.



<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/ways-to-get-comfortable-using-ai/">Artificial intelligence (AI)</a> in virtual spaces is flipping how we work, connect and play online. From tutors who understand how you learn to digital rooms that shift to match your mood, we’re stepping into a world where online feels more like the real world. Discover how it works, why it’s a big deal and how it shapes the future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-the-metaverse-and-why-does-ai-matter">What Is the Metaverse and Why Does AI Matter?</h2>



The metaverse is a collection of shared online spaces where you appear as a digital you and interact in real time. It brings together physical and digital worlds via virtual reality (VR) headsets and augmented reality (AR) glasses. In other words, picture a 3D internet where you hang with friends, take a class or browse a shop, all while feeling like you’re there.



AI is the one making it all work. In the AI-powered metaverse, it handles the heavy lifting—making digital avatars act natural, adjusting environments to your vibe, even building new spaces as you explore. That’s virtual world-building, and it’s wild. Step into a virtual room, and AI’s running the show—keeping chats real, suggesting stuff you’ll like, creating areas on the fly.







Most importantly, AI eliminates the main limitation that has been holding virtual reality back—the need for developers to keep building new environments to expand the metaverse. Artificial intelligence will generate new environments and content in a fraction of the time humans would take.



The metaverse isn’t just for gamers. Businesses are setting up virtual offices where teams collaborate like they’re in the same room. Schools are rolling out mixed reality experiences where kids learn with AI tutors. Even shopping’s different—<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/25/amazon-rolls-out-a-new-ar-shopping-feature-for-viewing-multiple-items-at-once/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">virtual stores let you “try” stuff in 3D</a>, with AI guiding you. It’s human connection meets machine smarts, and it’s blurring what’s real and what’s not.



Tip: Mixed reality is a combination of augmented and virtual reality that blends the real world with fully digital environments and allows you to interact with both concurrently. For example, you can place a virtual object on a real table, move it around, or walk around it in real time.



Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/should-you-invest-in-the-metaverse/">Should You Invest in the Metaverse?</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-augmented-reality-and-ai-driven-metaverse-applications">Augmented Reality and AI-Driven Metaverse Applications</h2>



We have just learned that AI functions as the core element that brings virtual spaces or the metaverse to life. Here are examples of how AI is used to achieve this:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Digital avatars with AI capabilities mimic human conversations by detecting your emotional tone and personal preferences. The system stores your preferences to modify room arrangements and provide activity recommendations according to your past activities.</li>



<li>Virtual worlds modify their structure according to individual user preferences. The AI system controls crowd movement and optimizes visual presentation when you attend digital concerts. In a meeting? AI provides instant language translation during meetings.</li>



<li>Augmented reality and mixed reality systems unite your physical environment with digital content through combined experiences. For example, using your phone to view a street will display customized information (such as cafe reviews) directly on the screen. AI provides real-time feedback through virtual training by monitoring your actions and offering helpful tips.</li>
</ul>



Because of these features, every interaction becomes significant. AI maintains personalization throughout your experience, whether you explore a virtual city or work in a digital office. The technology represents a fresh approach to online interaction rather than basic technological functionality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extended-reality-and-the-role-of-ai-in-virtual-worlds">Extended Reality and the Role of AI in Virtual Worlds</h2>



AI is like that friend who’s always got your back, handling the boring stuff so you can focus. In the AI-powered metaverse, virtual assistants guide you through spaces, while AI tweaks graphics or sound to match your actions.



This is a big deal because:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>It’s for everyone: AI makes virtual worlds accessible. It translates chats across languages in real time, adjusts interfaces for different needs and builds shortcuts that fit how you roll. No one’s left out.</li>



<li>Work gets easier: In virtual offices, AI pulls up data during meetings or tosses out ideas to solve problems. It’s like having a genius sidekick who’s always on.</li>



<li>Learning that fits: Schools use AI for classrooms that adjust to your pace. Virtual tutors know when you need a nudge or a challenge. It’s learning that understands exactly what you need to excel.</li>



<li>Shopping is next level: Businesses build virtual stores where you test products in 3D. AI chatbots answer questions instantly, making it feel like a real shop.</li>
</ol>



These systems don’t just run smoothly—they feel natural. You’re not wrestling with tech. You’re in a world that’s got your number.



Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/success-interview-amanda-archer/">SUCCESS Interview: Amanda Archer</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digital-avatars-ai-ethics-and-the-challenges-of-immersive-tech">Digital Avatars, AI Ethics, and the Challenges of Immersive Tech</h2>



Let’s not kid ourselves. The future of artificial intelligence in the metaverse is awesome, but it’s got some baggage. It has challenges, ranging from privacy concerns to unhealthy addiction to this kind of technology.



Privacy is a big one. With every step you take in a virtual world, AI is watching your moves, your chats and gestures. That’s a pile of personal data, and it better be locked up tight. Who’s got the keys? What’re they doing with it? These questions would keep anyone up at night.



Then there’s the “what’s real” problem. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/metas-movie-gen-ai-may-be-double-edged-sword/">AI can churn out fake content</a>—videos, voices, entire digital avatars—that looks way too real. In the AI-powered metaverse, how do you trust what you see? Lies could spread faster than you can blink.



Spending tons of time in super-realistic spaces is another worry. Will folks get sucked into the virtual reality technology and ditch real-life connections? We’re already <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/12-steps-to-breaking-smartphone-addiction/">screen-obsessed with our everyday smartphones</a>—this could crank it up to eleven.



Access is a pain, too. Not everyone’s got the cash for fancy VR gear or good internet. As metaverse applications take over work, school and socializing, some people might get stuck on the sidelines. That’s not a good thing.



And then there’s control. When AI starts guiding your decisions in virtual worlds, you’ll notice it’s a tricky path. You’ll want to know who’s really controlling things behind the scenes. Clear guidelines are a must to ensure these spaces stay fair and secure for you.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-metaverse">The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the Metaverse</h2>



According to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/30/the-metaverse-in-2040/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PEW Research survey</a>, 54% of tech specialists see the metaverse becoming part of everyday life for at least half a billion people by 2040. Similarly, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg envisions AI companions playing a critical role, possibly even mimicking and eventually <a href="https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/mark-zuckerberg-says-meta-is-developing-ai-friends-to-beat-the-loneliness-epidemic-after-bill-gates-claimed-ai-will-replace-humans-for-most-things" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">replacing human friendships to eradicate loneliness</a>.



Governments, though, struggle to keep up with these changes. Legal experts expect to see new laws for data privacy, fake content, and user rights finally take shape. Companies building the AI-powered metaverse need to show they’re protecting users while pushing the tech.



To stay ahead if you own a business, you will need to:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Train your team on virtual reality technology and metaverse applications.</li>



<li>Get everyone comfy with AI tools.</li>



<li>Keep security and privacy first.</li>
</ul>



For others, it can be helpful to sort out how extended reality works in your daily routine. Try it for work or play, but don’t get too caught up; keeping a balance is key.



The aim is to ensure the metaverse works for everyone. With straightforward AI guidelines, tools to catch fake content and virtual reality technology that doesn’t break the bank, everyone will be able to join in.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-metaverse-platforms-with-ai-integration">Metaverse Platforms With AI Integration</h2>



Here is a list of metaverse platforms leveraging AI, where you can see how the latter is shaping virtual worlds:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.meta.com/experiences/worlds/2532035600194083/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meta (Horizon Worlds)</a>: Real-time avatar animations and content moderation.</li>



<li><a href="https://www.roblox.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roblox</a>: Being a gaming application with user-generated content, AI is being used to render environments faster, recommend new experiences to players and make non-playable characters more natural.</li>



<li><a href="https://sensoriumgalaxy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sensorium Galaxy</a>: Powering autonomous DJs and performers.</li>



<li><a href="https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/omniverse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NVIDIA Omniverse</a>: Uses AI to simulate real-world behavior, lighting and physics in virtual environments.</li>



<li><a href="https://amzn.to/4n24uoz" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon’s View in 3D, View in Your Room, and Virtual Try-On</a>: AI integrates with augmented reality to give buyers a more fulfilling shopping experience by allowing them to test their purchases virtually.</li>
</ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-navigating-the-evolving-digital-landscape">Navigating the Evolving Digital Landscape</h2>



AI and virtual reality technology are changing how we connect and work. The AI-powered metaverse has seemingly endless potential, from digital avatars to spaces that shift to your needs. However, we need strict rules to protect data, ways to discern real from fake, and tech that everyone can understand how to use.



The AI-powered metaverse is growing quickly. Find and engage with the augmented reality tools or virtual workspaces that best suit your needs and stay informed of privacy and safety concerns as you explore them.



Photo courtesy of Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock

Brian Abuga

AI in the metaverse makes virtual spaces smarter, more interactive and personal—from lifelike avatars to immersive digital tools.

Alvin Graylin and Louis Rosenberg discuss how AI will change the world.

How AI in the Metaverse is Changing the World | SUCCESS

How AI in the Metaverse Is Changing the World

AI in the Metaverse Is Changing Our Virtual Worlds | SUCCESS

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Learn from immersive technology researchers Alvin Graylin and Louis Rosenberg on how AI and extended reality will change the world.

The silhouette of a woman hiking against a sunset.

I was at the round kitchen table in my grandmother’s condo in Pittsburgh where she still lives at 90-something years old, and she was writing me another check. This one to replace the rent check that had been stolen from my mailbox and somehow cashed.&nbsp;



“I want you to talk to your manager and ask him for more responsibility. Tell him that you are there to grow and ask what steps you need to take.”&nbsp;



Another time, I remember her yelling at me when I gave her some sass back.&nbsp;



“You need to be independent! I have never had to depend on anyone.”&nbsp;



I didn’t get it at the time because I was on my own path. A college dropout who was quite frankly a mess, I could not imagine a life where I could even afford my rent, let alone learn independence. Never one to date for money, I had found myself supporting a boyfriend who knew I had a family that was easy to turn to when I needed a bailout.&nbsp;



But I took each piece of my grandmother’s advice and I tucked it away. What I didn’t know was that her anecdotes about her career and her offhand, scolding advice would be the force that pushed me forward many years later.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-queen-of-pittsburgh-nbsp">The queen of Pittsburgh&nbsp;</h2>



I grew up with very big shoes to fill. My grandmother, <a href="https://www.arcsfoundation.org/news/member-receives-lifetime-achievement-award-sustained-volunteerism-and-philanthropy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cecile Springer</a>, built her own path to success. A chemist, her <a href="https://prints.carnegieart.org/detail/501202/harris-portrait-of-cecile-springer-in-organic-chemistry-laboratory-at-the-university-of-pittsburgh-november-december-1961" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photo is on the wall of the Carnegie Museum of Art</a> in Pittsburgh as part of the Charles “Teenie” Harris collection. I happened across the photo online one day (and I keep promising myself to buy a print) and was struck by how serene she looks in her lab—and she wears the same knowing smile I saw throughout my childhood.&nbsp;



She had big ambitions from the start. When we would talk about my career, she would often tell me about her career.&nbsp;



“I wasn’t making enough money. So I went to my boss’s boss and I told him that, and I asked him what he was going to do about it.”&nbsp;



This attitude took her all the way to her role as the president of the Westinghouse Foundation, <a href="https://www.arcsfoundation.org/news/member-receives-lifetime-achievement-award-sustained-volunteerism-and-philanthropy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the first Black woman to head a major foundation in western Pennsylvania</a>.&nbsp;



When I was growing up, her name was beside my grandfather’s name as major donors to every theater in town. And when she retired from Westinghouse, she created her consulting firm, Springer Associates (my LLC, <a href="https://www.springercreative.net/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Springer Creative Associates</a>, was named with a nod to her business), and was known for her own philanthropy and for her ability to convince major donors to open their pockets for the causes she championed. If you needed to raise a lot of money for your organization, you went to Mrs. Springer.&nbsp;



She’s the person who taught me that you always put out brie when you have company. And she would use her parties to teach me how to network. She would place me on one side of the room and instruct me to introduce myself to everybody and ask them what they did, and then we would meet in the middle and compare notes.&nbsp;



We would go to benefits: the Dress for Success gala, the NAACP banquet and whatever else was going on at the time, and we would see jazz performances and sopranos and the ballet. And as a child, I never knew how hard she had to work to be able to afford to take me to any of this stuff.&nbsp;



After my grandfather’s funeral, we sat together on the couch in her condo, and she told me about how much she missed going out.&nbsp;



“I was the queen of Pittsburgh,” she said. And she was right.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-on-hard-mode-nbsp">Life on hard mode&nbsp;</h2>



Despite having every opportunity in the world, I chose to live life on hard mode. After suffering two life-threatening blood clots (a clot in my brain and a pulmonary embolism), I ended up dropping out of college. Instead, I learned how to tip at bars and push people back into the pit at punk shows.&nbsp;



After spending most of my 22nd year unemployed, one of my mother’s friends politely suggested that I might want to consider applying at the call center for a local bank. So I did, and I got the job.&nbsp;



It was a retail banking call center job, nothing fancy, no education required. But my grandmother was so proud of me. I would spend the next 10 years working in retail banking.&nbsp;



Once, we were having dinner at her second home in North Carolina with the former ambassador to South Africa and she told him that I worked “in banking” with a big smile on her face. And because she was proud of me, I was able to be proud of myself.&nbsp;



My life choices eventually took me to California, and then to Illinois with my ex-husband who grew up there. And soon, I was pregnant.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-meaning-with-freedom-nbsp-and-learning-independence">Making meaning with freedom&nbsp;and learning independence</h2>



It was 2020, and I was a stay-at-home mom to three children, each a year apart. I was also freshly sober. I was contemplating the fact that I was going to need to get a divorce—and that I didn’t have the means to support myself and my children.&nbsp;



Our children were temporarily living with their grandparents, and I had a lot of time on my hands. I began to write.&nbsp;



I published an essay about myself, and then another. Then I found the joy of journalism. The first reported story that I wrote was for the nonprofit solutions journalism newsroom Next City, and I would write many more stories for them and eventually for several other publications. That same year, I completed my bachelor’s degree. In 2021, I left my husband and moved into an apartment of my own to start a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/furthering-your-education-on-a-budget/">fully funded</a> MA program in communication studies. 



As I made each tiny step, I reminded myself that my grandmother was always independent. She and my granddad were married for 60 years, but each held their own financially though they clearly loved each other deeply.&nbsp;



I could find the same independence within myself. And that’s what I did. I pushed through my MA, supporting myself and the kids on my tiny teaching assistantship stipend and whatever writing work I could drum up. I was very busy with school, so I stopped chasing work, but I had a few editors that I had built rapport with who would occasionally send me an assignment.&nbsp;



When I completed my master’s I was earning enough money to buy a house of my own. My first job out of grad school was a flop, but now I work half time as a marketer (at a consulting firm and independently by referral only) and the rest of the time <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/entrepreneurs-advice-for-becoming-self-employed/">for myself</a>, doing what I do best: writing. 



I will likely never be the president of any foundation or have my name on any major donor lists. But I have learned independence, and when I speak to my grandmother, I remind her that it was her advice I once shrugged off that brought me to a fulfilling life doing what I love.



Photo courtesy U__Photo/shutterstock.com

Follow one woman’s journey to self-sufficiency as she shares how her grandmother’s advice pushed her to learn independence.

Follow one woman’s journey to self-sufficiency as she shares how her grandmother’s advice pushed her to learn independence. | SUCCESS

My Grandmother Taught Me the Value of Independence: That’s What Drove My Success

My Grandmother Taught Me How to Learn Independence | SUCCESS

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Most of my audience knows me as a journalist, but my alter ego is a digital marketer. Recently, someone I work with told me that you can’t measure the return on investment in marketing. I called BS.&nbsp;



Marketing is a long game with many touches. While you may not be able to assign a specific dollar amount, you can certainly identify the <a href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/digital-marketing-metrics-kpis/#toc-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">key performance indicators</a> that gauge the success of your campaign. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-solopreneurs-guide-to-email-marketing/">Email open rates</a>. Ad conversion rates. SEO metrics like traffic and position on the search engine response page. Each of these indicators can help you determine your overall digital marketing ROI.&nbsp;



But your marketing budget and your revenue should have a correlation, and if you don't see results after working with a marketer for some time, it's likely that you should reevaluate your strategy and look closely at what's working and what isn't. Are you spending enough? Are you spending too much? What are your rates for the KPIs listed above?



A meaningful marketing campaign should deliver something in return. You can certainly look at social media analytics and web traffic results, but what should you actually expect from your marketing efforts?&nbsp;



Let’s talk about what you should expect to get when you hire a marketing agency and how to determine if what they’re doing is working.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growth-marketing-roi-applies-the-scientific-method-to-campaign-results-nbsp-nbsp">Growth Marketing ROI Applies the Scientific Method to Campaign Results&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>



Growth marketing is a form of marketing that <a href="https://mailchimp.com/resources/growth-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">uses the data from experimentation</a> to understand the full customer journey instead of just the top of the funnel.



“One of the characteristics of growth marketing is that we're very experiment focused,” says Mariana Gonzalez, the head of growth marketing at <a href="http://customer.io" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Customer.io</a>. “We love running experiments to help measure impact and so have done that kind of impact to ROI measurement, both on the acquisition side and on the engagement side.”



According to Gonzalez, the acquisition and engagement sides of marketing are easier to measure ROI on than the harder-to-quantify marketing strategies like brand marketing.&nbsp;



“It's definitely measurable,” says Gonzalez. “It can start from just the most basic level. For example, you can measure your customer acquisition cost. So you measure how much you spent on a campaign and how many people clicked through and signed up and how many converted.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-roi-of-brand-marketing-nbsp">ROI of Brand Marketing&nbsp;</h2>



Brand marketing can be harder to measure, but it’s not impossible. As a content marketer and a storyteller, this is one of my favorite types of marketing. Creating <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-has-grassroots-marketing-evolved-with-social-media/">human-centric campaigns</a> has become important, especially as consumers <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-has-grassroots-marketing-evolved-with-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">increasingly prefer authentic marketing strategies</a>. 



Although it can be harder to determine the effectiveness of brand marketing, there are definitely ways to quantify certain aspects of it. 



“If you are spending a certain amount on Google and Meta, you can run brand lift studies that help measure the impact of media on awareness and sentiment,” says Gonzalez. “They run your ads and then run surveys to understand the lift.”&nbsp;



Basically, brand lift takes a <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9049825?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sample of your target audience</a> and surveys them about your brand. The sample is split into people who have seen your current campaign and people who haven’t. Google or Meta then measure the differences in responses between people who have seen your campaigns and people who have not, helping you assess the impact of your paid content.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-roi-of-search-engine-optimization">ROI of Search Engine Optimization</h2>



Here’s the thing about search engine optimization: It’s incredibly hard to explain, impossible to do unless you have done it, and it’s often difficult for clients to see the impact in it. They get the gist of it: Increasing your ranking on search engines brings more traffic to your website, which means more eyes on your product, which will hopefully lead to more conversions.



But good SEO is notoriously time consuming, expensive and it can take three to six months (or even up to a year in more extreme cases) to see measurable results. Billy Wright is the lead SEO strategist at <a href="https://www.directom.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Direct Online Marketing</a> and has been doing SEO for 15 years.&nbsp;



“When calculating the ROI of SEO, you need to take into account the tangible: Your current traffic, your current leads and your current conversion rates depending on your business,” says Wright. “And [you also have to consider] the intangible. SEO doesn’t just stop as soon as you stop paying for it, and it can deliver a return on investment for potentially months or years to come.”&nbsp;



SEO has gotten a bad reputation because of unscrupulous practices in the industry. You may have heard the terms <a href="https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-Reasons-Why-SEO-Has-a-Bad-Reputation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“white hat” or “black hat”</a> (which are terms taken from the cybersecurity world and applied to SEO). When an SEO uses black hat practices that are designed with the intention of fooling search engine spiders instead of providing content that is helpful to humans, it can actually hurt your business.



“Be VERY wary of any agencies that try to promise immediate success,” says Wright. “They are either scamming people or using tactics that are less than savory and could result in your website being blacklisted from the Google search results.”&nbsp;



When you hire an SEO practitioner that is ethical and skilled, they should set realistic expectations that take the whole picture into account. It’s great to end up on the first page of Google, it’s better to end up on the first page of results that your target audience is actually looking for.&nbsp;



“While an SEO agency should never give you a direct, expected result from their SEO efforts in a pitch, a very talented agency will be able to determine the percentage growth you’re likely to expect based on their ability to help you rank higher for keywords that can drive traffic and potentially conversion,” says Wright. “Good SEO shouldn’t only drive up traffic, but it should be targeted enough to increase rankings for terms that will actually drive more of your target customers to your site.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-takeaway-on-digital-marketing-roi-nbsp">The Takeaway on Digital Marketing ROI&nbsp;</h2>



The key to understanding your digital marketing ROI is to take into account the goals that you’ve set, the cost of the campaigns and the results of these campaigns. Marketing should be targeted to the people that you want to see it and should deliver a predefined impact.&nbsp;



Your marketers should also be tracking the <a href="https://www.hotjar.com/blog/marketing-campaign-success/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">effectiveness of campaigns</a> by using website tracking tools, user data and KPIs like clickthrough rates and conversions. When I work with my clients, I use the data from the platforms we use to deliver a measurable explanation of the success of campaigns. I also ask questions about information that I may not see.



For example, one question that I ask my clients about their Google ads campaign is, “Are the leads generated from the form on your landing page representative of the type of client you would like to target?” I can see numerical data about how many people filled out the form, but if it’s not generating useful responses, it’s time to regroup and revise our strategy.&nbsp;



Although you may not see a dollar amount right away from all forms of marketing, your company’s marketing should eventually bring results in the form of conversions and customer loyalty.&nbsp;



No matter what marketing strategies you decide to implement, you should always have a good idea what your return on investment is and how long it should take to see results.



Photo courtesy sasirin pamai/Shutterstock.com

Marketing performance can be hard to quantify. Learn the best ways to measure and calculate digital marketing ROI.

Marketing performance can be hard to quantify. Learn the best ways to measure and calculate digital marketing ROI. | SUCCESS

Don't Let Digital Marketers Tell You that You Can't Measure ROI

Don&#8217;t Let Digital Marketers Tell You that You Can&#8217;t Measure ROI

Yes, You Can Calculate Digital Marketing ROI | SUCCESS

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Chicago skyline at dusk. Guide to Chicago

I’ve lived in cities as large as London and as small as Asheville, North Carolina (the latter of which packs a punch of flavor that hits harder than many major cities twice its size). Suffice it to say, I would have never anticipated landing in a tiny college town in the cornfields, but I’m only an hour from the Second City, and Chicago enthralls me every time I hop on the Metra and ride into the city.



This guide to Chicago contains 10 stops that you might not have already thought about, with destinations both in the city and within a 45 minute Metra ride, for those of you who are bold enough to hop on a train. I know you will likely go to the Bean and the Shedd Aquarium or check out a game at Wrigley Field. But many of the locations in this guide are very close to typical tourist spots like these, so you can also add them to a “by the book” Chicago <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-take-a-guilt-free-vacation/">vacation</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-fun-guide-to-chicago-shopping-spots">A fun guide to Chicago shopping spots</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-milk-handmade">Milk Handmade</h3>



Andersonville



If you’re looking for sustainable, handmade fashion, be sure to check out <a href="https://milkhandmade.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Milk Handmade</a> in Andersonville, otherwise known as the “Buy Local” capital of Chicago. Its clothing offerings include a variety of options from local designers, and it also offers apparel from its in-house brand, Milk Private Label. Milk carries accessories as well, and its apothecary features soaps, candles and perfumes from local brands.&nbsp;



Milk Handmade works exclusively with independent designers, which ensures that you’ll leave with a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-market-your-uniqueness/">unique</a> product that shows you’re in the know. Check out its sister bridal shop, <a href="https://www.honey-bridal.com/about">Honey Bridal</a>, for handmade, slow fashion wedding gowns.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-silver-room">The Silver Room</h3>



Hyde Park



An intentionally curated space for global fashion with a focus on African American jewelry, <a href="https://thesilverroom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Silver Room</a> also hosts art shows and music parties. Its mission is to create a global community through art and culture. The store often hosts pop-ups with Black-owned brands to keep its collection fresh and eclectic.



Before you go, check out what events are happening on the venue’s <a href="https://linktr.ee/thesilverroom?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR38VK9rZUPju17eZC08aBN5ZYJd54k2SLMKSr_9y480cVqisWIf6NmytaE_aem_Z8K50rSNEjJvUkKu8Ab9SA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Linktree</a>. You might be able to catch a poetry reading or another cultural event.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-great-places-to-eat-in-chicago">Great places to eat in Chicago</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-proxi-chicago-nbsp">Proxi Chicago&nbsp;</h3>



West Loop



If you’re looking for a combination of global street food and sexy cocktails, as well as a comfy front lounge to linger in, head to <a href="https://www.proxichicago.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proxi</a>. The Michelin Guide Restaurant offers a chef’s menu with shareable starters and individual entrees, and it also has a nonalcoholic cocktail list that is as glamorous as its full-proof options.&nbsp;



I tried the Python Boot, a mocktail that contains papaya, ginger, cilantro stem and salt. It had a spicy bite, and I liked it so much that I ordered a second. The tempura elotes were the perfect starter, and the Thai yellow curry with bass, shrimp and mussels rounded out dinner.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-all-chocolate-kitchen">All Chocolate Kitchen</h3>



Geneva, IL



We’re going to send you out of the city for this one, but we promise it's worth it. Hop on the Metra from Ogilvie and take the Union Pacific West to Geneva, Illinois, to taste some goodies dreamed up by celebrity chef Alain Roby at the <a href="http://www.allchocolatekitchenprimo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All Chocolate Kitchen</a>. When my partner and I went, we had dessert first and later marveled at the intricate details on the sugar sculptures, which include an iguana, an astronaut and a castle with little edible bricks. We also tried the chocolate gelato, and I’ve heard great things about their truffles and baked goods as well.&nbsp;



Geneva is worth visiting for a full day trip, as it boasts a variety of shopping options and enough restaurants for a roundup of its own. The <a href="https://www.ppfv.org/fabyan-japanese-garden" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fabyan Japanese Garden</a> near the river is a nice spot for a walk. There are lots of enticing options nearby (<a href="https://www.theburgersocial.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Burger Social</a> is great), but if you can go ten minutes out of your way, check out <a href="https://swordfishsushi.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sword Fish Sushi</a> in Batavia as well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chicago-entertainment-you-can-t-miss">Chicago entertainment you can’t miss</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-salt-shed-nbsp">The Salt Shed&nbsp;</h3>



Salt District



Located in the former Morton Salt factory, <a href="https://www.saltshedchicago.com/experience" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Salt Shed</a> hosts a variety of music events, both indoors and outdoors. Their acts have included the Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie. The venue was constructed to preserve the building’s architectural integrity, which is a Chicago icon in itself.



One word of advice: Find out what the food situation is in advance. Although the venue often hosts food trucks and is connected to the new <a href="https://www.gooseisland.com/saltshedpub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goose Island Pub</a>, it can be busy. When I went for an indoor show, the on-site food options were sparse, and the restaurants within walking distance were booked solid.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kit-kat-lounge-and-supper-club">Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club</h3>



Northalsted (aka Boystown)



You can’t write a guide to Chicago without mentioning a fun visit to Boystown. The <a href="https://kitkatchicago.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club</a> is a twofer because it has excellent food and hosts drag shows every night—as well as a Sunday drag brunch. The venue is home to the iconic Kit Kat Divas and has a menu with standard fare that includes many vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options.&nbsp;



Walking around the neighborhood is also an entertaining experience, and if you like to shop secondhand, there are some excellent <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-give-back-purposefully/">charity</a> shops nearby. I found some shockingly cheap designer handbags at <a href="https://outofthecloset.org/">Out of the Closet Thrift Store</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chicago-art-and-design-to-appreciate">Chicago art and design to appreciate</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-south-side-community-art-center">The South Side Community Art Center</h3>



Bronzeville



The oldest African American art center in the United States, <a href="https://www.sscartcenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the South Side Community Art Center</a>, is located right in Bronzeville—a neighborhood with a rich history of being an African American cultural center and the home of Ida B. Wells, Louis Armstrong and Richard Wright, among other notable and influential Black figures.&nbsp;



The art center boasts an enviable permanent collection and hosts exhibitions as well. If you have kids in tow, you can take them to the <a href="https://bronzevillechildrensmuseum.com/?r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bronzeville Children’s Museum</a> afterward as a prize for patiently looking at art with you.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-merchandise-mart-nbsp">The Merchandise Mart&nbsp;</h3>



Downtown



The Merchandise Mart, or <a href="https://www.themart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">THE MART</a>, is the world’s largest commercial building and design center and was the largest building in the world when it was built in 1930. If you’re into architecture and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/maximize-productivity-with-an-updated-office-design/">interior design</a>, the 4.2 million square foot, 25-story art deco building is a great place to get lost in with its commercial and residential design showrooms.&nbsp;



Stop by at night to see <a href="https://artonthemart.com/art" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Art on THE MART</a>, one of the largest permanent digital art projections in the world. Its lineup of artists rotates annually. It’s a very quick walk from the <a href="https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/visiting-chicago-theatre-district/chicago-theatre-district-map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Theatre District</a>, so if you have tickets to one of the many Broadway shows that visit Chicago, you can pop over to THE MART beforehand to visit the showrooms or afterward to view the art installation.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-good-hotels-in-chicago">Good hotels in Chicago</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-acme-hotel-nbsp">Acme Hotel&nbsp;</h3>



River North



If you’re looking for a boutique hotel with a counterculture vibe, the <a href="https://www.acmehotelcompany.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acme Hotel</a> is an ideal place to stay. According to its website, the hotel has partnerships with local music venues, and it also features on-site art exhibits, including a mural, graffiti art in the stairwells and an outdoor installation of painted mannequins. Acme also has a <a href="https://www.theberkshireroom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hotel bar</a> with a craft cocktail menu and a variety of antique whiskeys. The famous <a href="https://www.pizzeriaunodue.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pizzeria Uno</a> is steps away as well, so you can easily get your Chicago deep dish pizza fix.&nbsp;



Have a private party planned? Inside the Acme Hotel is the <a href="https://www.bunnyslopechicago.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bunny Slope</a>, an intimate bar with a hot tub that is only available for private parties of up to 20 people.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hotel-versey-nbsp">Hotel Versey&nbsp;</h3>



Lincoln Park



Don’t want to stay in the Loop? Neither do I, most of the time. <a href="https://www.hotelversey.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hotel Versey</a> is situated in Lincoln Park and is only a 21-minute walk from Boystown and a 32-minute walk from Wrigleyville. The hotel is located in a fun commercial neighborhood with a variety of places to eat and unpretentious retail options. For a laid-back, inexpensive lunch, stop by <a href="https://5411empanadas.com/menu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">5411 Empanadas</a>, which is a two- to three-minute walk away. There are many other places to eat as well, with a variety of cuisines. And if you’re in town for a concert, <a href="https://www.jamusa.com/venues/the-vic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Vic Theatre</a> is about a 15-minute walk from the hotel.



The hotel was recently acquired by <a href="https://rejournals.com/nexgen-hotels-acquires-chicagos-hotel-versey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NexGen Hotels</a>, so some things about it may change, but its iconic status as a destination for rock bands (the hotel boasts that it has hosted Radiohead, Alanis Morrisette and Nirvana, among other A-list bands) and tight operations were part of what attracted the hotel management company to the deal. Hopefully this means that NexGen will leave Hotel Versey’s artsy aesthetic intact.



Photo by Checubus/Shutterstock.com

The Windy City is full of underrated attractions and hidden gems. Discover them all with a guide to Chicago that you won't find in your tourist book.

The Windy City is full of underrated attractions and hidden gems. Discover them all with a guide to Chicago that you won't find in your tourist book. | SUCCESS

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