Richard

For entrepreneurs and business owners, travel is often a necessary part of growing and expanding your enterprise. Whether you’re meeting with clients, attending conferences, or scouting new markets, frequent travel can quickly become one of your largest expenses.

That’s where Matt’s Flights Premium Plan could come in handy. A lifetime subscription is on sale for just $79.97 (reg. $1,800), which gives you access to exclusive flight deals, saving you up to 90% on both domestic and international flights. Just imagine the possibilities when you can travel more often for less, all while keeping your business budget in check.

You can think of Matt as your go-to source for the best flight deals. He constantly scours the skies, finding those rare airline errors and deeply discounted fares that others might miss. The moment he uncovers a deal too good to pass up, it’s sent directly to your inbox. It’s like having an expert in low-cost air travel working just for you, making sure you never overpay for a flight again.

Because travel planning can be tricky, especially when juggling multiple business responsibilities, Matt offers round-the-clock support to help you navigate travel uncertainties. Whether you need advice on booking, tips for finding the best routes, or help with a specific query, Matt’s one-on-one support ensures you’re never alone in your travel planning.

One of the most helpful features of this flight alert service is the custom search requests. Got a specific destination in mind? Need to fly on certain dates? With the Premium Plan, you can submit as many custom search requests as you like, and Matt will find the best airfare that fits your travel needs.

If you want to make the most of your travel budget, this is a good way to do it.

Get a lifetime subscription to Matt’s Flights Premium Plan for just $79.97 (reg. $1,800) through September 3.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

No matter where you are in your business journey, having the right tools can make all the difference in productivity and growth. However, investing in top-tier software doesn’t have to break the bank.

With this terrific all-in-one bundle, you can get Microsoft Office 2019 Pro Plus for Windows and Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for just $45.97 (reg. $428) through September 3. This package offers everything you need to streamline your operations, boost productivity, and stay secure with the latest in AI-driven updates and security features.

Power up productivity.

Microsoft Office 2019 Pro Plus is packed with all the essential productivity tools your business needs. From creating polished documents in Word and analyzing data in Excel to designing impactful presentations in PowerPoint and managing communications with Outlook, this suite has you covered.

It’s a one-time purchase, meaning you can enjoy lifetime access without worrying about recurring subscription fees. While it might not be the latest Office version out there, it still offers the productivity support and functions millions rely on worldwide.

A modern OS with the latest updates.

Windows 11 Pro is designed to keep your business on the cutting edge with its latest security features and AI-driven updates. The OS offers enhanced protection against cyber threats, improved performance, and a sleek, user-friendly interface. It’s built to support modern work environments, whether your team is working remotely, in-office, or a hybrid of both.

The new AI assistant, Copilot, can help you streamline your work by summarizing documents, changing settings, and much more. And the latest AI enhancements can also be seen elsewhere, like in the Paint app, which makes it easy to remove backgrounds from images and other tools.

For small businesses and startups, every dollar counts. Don’t miss this dynamic bundle that has 5/5 stars online.

Order your All-in-One Microsoft Office Pro 2019 for Windows Lifetime License and Windows 11 Pro Bundle for $45.97 (reg. $428) through September 3.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

After running my own advertising and PR company for the past 22 years, I have learned that you always have to think ahead and be resourceful. Whatever worked yesterday doesn’t mean it will work today or tomorrow, especially now in our post-pandemic world.

When the cost of living crisis hit, I could see many companies in trouble. They were struggling with finding leads, filling their calendars with appointments and setting up automation in their business to save time and money. This is something that I have experience with — over two decades of experience, so I created an offer to help companies of all sizes remain afloat. But the challenge I faced was, how do I get this offer out there? So, I turned to Meta advertising — advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

Related: How to Master the Art of Digital Marketing in 2023

With many years of digital marketing and advertising experience under my belt, here are my hacks for scaling the digital marketing side of my business for just $10 a day.

1. Have an irresistible offer

You need to think about what will make people stop and want to speak with you. Put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. If you don’t think that you would want to take up your amazing offer, then would they? Focusing on the benefits of your product or services that your customers will receive will help you craft your luring proposal.

For example, if you’re a real estate agent selling properties, don’t sell a specific home on social media with a photo of the listing, but rather target investors — offering them the opportunity to purchase a great asset without even featuring an image of the property. It’s the return on investment that you’re ultimately promoting rather than the home for sale.

Guarantees can be captivating, too, as long as you can deliver on your promise and it doesn’t sound too far-fetched. The ads that guarantee “we will ensure we provide you with 15 full paying clients within a month” are too unrealistic and actually deter potential customers. Instead, for example, you could have a 30-day satisfaction guarantee if you have a coaching course or “see results in 30 days” if you’re a personal trainer.

Related: How to Craft Irresistible Offers Your Ideal Clients Can’t Refuse

2. Create a scroll-stopping design

The best designs have the foundation of a brilliant, funny and clever headline that grabs attention. I have found that slick, professionally shot and edited videos don’t work at all. People are on social media to catch up on their friends and family’s updates — not to see a fancy video ad. Attention spans are diminishing by the minute. Don’t think for a second that your target audience will watch your 90-second video encouraging them to go to a landing page. Instead, base your design with a simple, easy-to-read font combined with a plain background that pops. When it comes to your static image design, less is more. Your headline should be the only text that makes up the graphic. This will get viewers to stop scrolling right away.

Don’t have a designer? Don’t worry. Programs like Canva make it very easy to create different designs for social media channels and even come with inbuilt size templates so you know that your artwork will be compliant. The Facebook advertising manager platform also has an AI feature that will automatically redesign your artwork for various placements, so you no longer have to design multiple versions.

3. Set your campaign objectives

Facebook and Instagram have recently overhauled their lead form ads, allowing advertisers to get leads inexpensively by using their built-in forms. After all, Meta wants its audience to stay on its channels for as long as possible, so companies that opt to use its in-built forms and keep their audience sticky are being rewarded.

Think about your objectives and structure your campaign accordingly using the platform’s options. If you’re after more sales and leads, lead forms are ideal. Another great way of increasing engagement with potential customers is with an engagement campaign that encourages people to message you directly. This is often a preferred way of communicating with people under 45 years of age.

Related: How Text Marketing Could Be Your Most Powerful Customer Engagement Too

4. Optimize the ROI on your advertising spend

When it comes to your designs, it’s important to see what works and what doesn’t without changing too many variables at once. I always suggest spending no more than $10 a day initially with your ads. By doing so, your ad creative is actually doing all the heavy lifting rather than your budget. If you have a lackluster ad or offer, testing at $100 a day could skew your results because you’re spending more than your competitors. Choosing to test at just $10 a day, you will see within a day or two the return on investment on the creative you are testing. If it’s meeting your objectives, keep going at $10 a day. If not, turn off that ad set and launch a second creative and start again.

Related: You Won’t Have a Strong Budget Until You Follow These 5 Tips

5. Slowly increase your Meta advertising budget for consistent campaign performance

Once you’re seeing results with your creative, it’s time to scale. This doesn’t always mean boosting your budget immediately. It often takes the pixel a little while to go through a learning period. Many of my clients only spend $10 a day, like myself on ads, and get several leads coming in each day. However, if you want to increase the learning phase period, then start off slowly by increasing your budget by no more than 25% every few days.

When it comes to marketing your business on a budget, it definitely is possible and thanks to platforms like Meta, you can now quickly see what’s working and what’s not. Never has there been a time in business where you can turn on or off an advertising campaign so quickly and measure results down to every dollar spent.

Technology is evolving exponentially, and businesses need help keeping up. That’s why EvonSys has dominated the “low code” market for years. Low code refers to developing apps and other tools that require little or no coding. EvonSys already creating enterprise tools for many of the world’s largest banks and governments, but it’s only the beginning.

Eventually, almost every company will need someone to create software tools suited to its needs, both internal and external. Those solutions are typically very expensive and take a lot of time. Instead of hiring a pricey team of coders, companies can use EvonSys’ software platform to assist in the development process.

For a limited time, EvonSys is taking private shareholders. And with the emergence of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and other world-altering tech, they see a tremendous growth opportunity ahead.

Here are reasons to invest in EvonSys amid the next wave of innovation.

$3.6T low-code market opportunity.

The low-code market, valued at $3.6 trillion, represents one of the most significant growth opportunities in tech today. And it’s growing fast.

A great example of the “low code” transition can be found in website design platforms like Squarespace, Webflow, and Wix. These tools help create good-looking websites using minimal code. About 23 million websites have been built using platforms like these. If you do the math based on Wix’s monthly subscription alone ($16), 23 million websites translate to about $4 billion in revenue over the course of a year.

Of course, website-building and management platforms are often priced much higher than that. And this is just a small segment of the vast market potential in low-code software.

EvonSys targets an even deeper enterprise-level niche. Everything from in-house project management tools to customer communication is fair game. That’s why they’ve thrived on the world stage with their innovative SaaS offerings so far.

Proven traction and clientele.

EvonSys has been delivering results and proving market leadership from the start. Over the past three years, the company has doubled its revenue and established a robust client base, including more than 50 of the highest-revenue companies in the world. Notable partners include Microsoft and Salesforce.

Many of EvonSys’ business software solutions are based on Salesforce and Pega. Their platform’s AI-powered decision-making and user-friendly suite of design tools allow businesses to develop custom apps quickly. With that, they can help address specific industry needs and enhance a company’s overall efficiency.

EvonSys’ diverse clientele points to its stability and showcases its ability to cater to various industry needs with its low-code technology.

EvonSys’ pre-IPO investment opportunity.

As EvonSys continues to lead the charge in the low-code revolution, it’s now opening the doors for investors through a Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) investment opportunity. This move represents a strategic step to fuel the company’s ambitious growth plans, with a target revenue goal of $100 million within five years.

The other exciting part is that EvonSys hopes for an IPO by 2026. This investment round, open to accredited and non-accredited investors, is a rare chance to be part of a market-leading technology firm before it goes public.

Investors who join EvonSys will support the company’s future growth and gain entry into a high-potential market still in its formative stages.

With EvonSys at the helm of the low-code revolution, the future of tech looks brighter than ever. See how you can be part of this transformative journey here.

Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for EvonSys’ Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.evonsys.com/. *This roadmap is based on assumptions of technological compatibility, market acceptance, and regulatory stability. It is subject to risks including rapid technological changes, competitive pressures, and shifts in regulatory landscapes, which could alter the feasibility and timing of our plans. The plans on this roadmap are subject to change. Listing on NASDAQ is subject to approvals that cannot be guaranteed.

In the past year, our company has evolved significantly, expanding our services and integrating new internal systems. It’s been a period of retraining and adaptation.

Implementing a major change to a business used to happen once every five or ten years, but with advancements in artificial intelligence coupled with economic uncertainty and digital transformation, businesses are having to pivot and adapt much more frequently. Global spending on digital transformation is expected to hit $3.4 trillion by 2026, and 64% of organizations report needing to build new digital businesses to stay competitive in 2024 and beyond.

We often hear entrepreneurs and business leaders talk about working “on” the business rather than “in” the business but understanding your company from the bottom up has significant benefits. Today, I am the president and CEO of my company, but throughout my career, I’ve worked in every area of my field, from the warehouse to driving a truck. Here’s how it’s given me an invaluable perspective when it comes to change management.

Related: 3 Ways Change Leaders Prevent, Minimize and Manage (or Create) Resistance to Change

Seek to understand workflows before you transform

Earlier in my career, I worked for a company that hired outside consultants to revamp its operations to comply with new customs regulations. More than 75% of its employees at the time were frontline workers, and unfortunately, they weren’t consulted in the process.

When it came time to roll out the new structure, to say the implementation was messy, is an understatement. Oversights led to significant storage fees and operations issues that caused projects to fall off track and employee morale to drop. In the end, the lack of internal consultation caused the company a lot of money and pain.

When it comes to implementing any big change, it’s critical to involve the people working on the frontlines of your business. According to Beekeeper, employees on the front lines often face a disconnect with leadership, with only 23% feeling included in change-related decisions. This exclusion fuels resistance and disengagement, as 74% of employees believe leaders need to understand why people resist change to foster collaboration.

By really grasping the day-to-day responsibilities of your frontline workers and understanding how the change will impact them, you’re more likely to get buy-in and internal advocacy and make necessary adjustments to the plan.

I’ve seen too many businesses make the vital mistake of pushing down a change from top to bottom rather than consulting with their teams to get feedback on critical decisions. In these cases, it almost always leads to staff and client turnover, which has a spiraling effect on culture and morale.

Related: Rapid Business Expansion Can Be a Good Thing — But It Comes With Challenges. Here’s How to Make This Growth Sustainable.

Your frontline employees drive your bottom line

More often than not, implementing a change in a business is an attempt to improve profit margins. However, too often, company leaders fail to understand how much of their bottom line is being driven by their entry-level workers. For example, a high turnover of entry-level staff reportedly costs Amazon $8 billion annually.

To successfully implement a change, it’s crucial to have representation from every department in your organization involved in the discussions. This shouldn’t be limited to team leads and managers; it’s equally important to have representation from frontline employees involved.

Among this mix, I personally like to include vocal naysayers—the team members who are known to influence the culture and not always in a positive way. This serves two purposes: the first is that sometimes the naysayers have valuable feedback that other team members are too coy to vocalize. The second is that if you can convince a vocal naysayer that a change is positive, they often become your best internal advocate.

Double down on education and training

I remember a time when we promoted a frontline employee into a leadership role. She wasn’t a frontrunner for the position. In fact, she had started her career being vocally critical of our operations, particularly of other departments.

In the end, what won her the promotion was the leadership skills she developed through change management education and training. She embraced the training and ended up becoming a champion for the departments she once critiqued, committing to helping them improve and do things better.

When we educate and train our teams on how to embrace and adopt change, we create stronger leaders. Research shows employees who receive proper training are more likely to stay with the company, directly impacting the bottom line through reduced turnover and increased productivity.

This is true at any level. Anytime we host training at work, even if I’ve already gone through it, I try to make a point to attend. As leaders, we are often removed from the practical implications of what we ask of our teams. Attending company training can be a great reminder. It also shows your team you’re not above learning and that you’re going through the change, too.

Change is hard. But when we develop the skills to prepare and adapt for it, we can build stronger businesses with more resilient teams. To do this effectively, it’s crucial for leaders to engage with team members at all levels. The insights and perspectives gained from consulting frontline employees are often what make or break a company.

Many of us expected robots to be a part of our future, but perhaps not in the way we imagined. Instead of doing our chores and serving us hors d’oeuvres (like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons), AI wants to think for us.

ChatGPT and other virtual assistants can give us mountains of information on any topic under the sun in seconds — but how useful are they?

I wanted to see what ChatGPT had to say about marketing. My business, PostcardMania, has helped 118,342 small business owners all over the country with effective marketing strategies for over 26 years. How did ChatGPT’s advice compare to what we’ve learned?

Related: ChatGPT Is Powerful — and Can Wreak Havoc If You Don’t Know Its 5 Fatal Flaws

I put this prompt in ChatGPT and was surprised by what I found.

Prompt: Recommend marketing strategies that will generate new leads and sales for a small business in 100 words or less.

This is what ChatGPT advised:

1. Content marketing: Create valuable content (blogs, videos) that address customer pain points.

2. Social media advertising: Targeted campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

3. Email marketing: Engage potential customers with personalized newsletters and offers.

4. Referral programs: Incentivize current customers to refer others.

5. SEO optimization: Improve search engine rankings with targeted keywords.

6. Partnerships: Collaborate with complementary businesses for mutual promotion.

7. Local events: Host or participate in community events to build local awareness.

It’s a good start. However, ChatGPT missed these three recommendations that can improve the trajectory of your business (I know because they were key to my journey to $100 million in annual revenue).

They neglected reputation management and social proof, which 93% of consumers check before buying

An overwhelming amount of people check Google reviews. One report found a whopping 93% of buyers look to them before making a purchase. This means that you could be losing 93% of prospects if generating good reviews isn’t a priority.

The good news is it’s not as complicated as you might think. People most often go out of their way to leave a negative review — 95% — while only 47% take the time to post a positive review.

The key is simply asking! And this isn’t even a challenge when you can automate requests through email or text message. According to research, 70% of consumers will leave a review if asked.

The online platform Podium was a game-changer for us because you can send review requests for several different platforms from one central dashboard.

After we started using Podium in 2020, the number of our reviews increased 250% from 2020 to 2022. As of July 2024, PostcardMania has over 2,795 five-star reviews on Google, the BBB and Trust Pilot.

Related: 6 Proactive Ways to Promote Good Reviews and Supercharge Your Online Reputation

They didn’t recommend direct mail marketing, which generates 6x more revenue per lead than digital sources

Since 1998, I’ve mailed postcards every single week to generate leads and connect with customers. Since then, I’ve only increased my mailings, and we’re now up to 232,000 postcards a week. The only time I cut my direct mail marketing was in 2008 during the recession, and that mistake crippled our revenue until we corrected our mailings.

I’ve also tracked the growth that mailing postcards has created. From 2019 to 2023, I increased our own mailing volume by 16%. Simultaneously, our revenue has grown an average of 15% each year. This is a perfect example of how the amount of marketing you put out guides your return.

I’ve also found that direct mail leads generate six times more revenue than digital leads. We analyzed 114,373 leads that converted to sales in 2023 and found that postcard leads generated 600% more revenue per lead ($229.41) than leads from digital sources ($37.09).

There is a science behind direct mail’s effectiveness, though. One study that tracked each participant’s eye movement and heart rate while engaging with mail found that people experienced more excitement and desire while interacting with printed advertisements as opposed to digital.

Due to the tangible nature of mail, people also recall printed ads better than digital ads. One study found that when asked to cite the brand of an advertisement they had just seen, 75% of participants could recall the brand behind the direct mail piece. Only 44% of recipients could recall the brand behind the digital ad — a 70% difference.

With so much data backing direct mail, leaving it out of your annual budget would be a huge mistake.

They failed to mention the biggest factor of success: how much you should be marketing — a massive amount

ChatGPT neglected to inform readers exactly how much time, money and effort they should allocate to marketing.

In my decades of experience running a business with over 380 staff, I understand marketing plans might end up on the back burner. So much goes into running a business that all too often entrepreneurs think a simple marketing plan is sufficient. This is the farthest thing from the truth.

In fact, most of my clients hate when I tell them this…

Marketing is the biggest differentiator between businesses that survive and those that thrive.

Related: The Growth Hack My Clients Hate the Most is the One that Promises the Biggest Financial Rewards — Here’s What You Should Know

You need to market like you are an athlete training for your last chance at the Olympic gold medal. The survival and ultimate longevity of your business are on the line; why would you market like you were playing T-ball?

Even if you have a limited budget, put as much money into your marketing as possible. I even suggest you find areas where you could cut back and reallocate the funds to your marketing (as long as it doesn’t put jobs at risk).

Whatever you decide to do — whether it’s social media ads, SEO, direct mail — just give it all you’ve got. You won’t regret it, and you’ll likely not only beat out your competition but win the gold … that is, the gold of increased revenue.

Younger Americans think relaxing on vacation is overrated, according to new research.

A survey of 2,000 Americans who travel (evenly split by generation) looked at how people of different ages vacation and found both Gen X (51%) and Baby Boomers (57%) prioritize relaxation when traveling, while Gen Z (54%) and millennials (45%) are more interested in making memories.

In fact, 29% of those who don’t prioritize relaxation when they’re away find it to be a waste of time — especially millennials (30%).

Related: This Former Flight Attendant and Her Roommate Started a Side Hustle With Just $2,000 Each. Then It Earned Them Nearly $600,000 — and Counting.

Conducted by Talker Research for Apple Vacations, the survey found that these preferences may change in the future, as 59% shared their vacation priorities have shifted as they got older.

A quarter of millennials reported that sightseeing is a thing of the past, and Gen Z is no longer prioritizing learning new things while traveling (28%).

Respondents from different generations recalled the average age they were when their vacation preferences changed. Gen Z preferences shift at age 18, while millennials see it at 27, Gen X at 38 and Baby Boomers at 54.

Something that won’t change is Americans’ love for traveling, with one in four (28%) sharing that traveling is a high priority for them these days.

Although millennials are most focused on traveling right now (38%), Gen Z (35%) is most likely to surpass the average number of trips taken annually.

Looking at the differences in how they enjoy this time away, results showed that Baby Boomers (74%) prefer domestic travel, while Gen Z (14%) is the most likely to enjoy international travel.

Family-friendly (33%) and tropical (27%) destinations are favored across the generations, but Gen Z (25%) and millennials (24%) also share a strong love for theme parks.

In addition to their top picks, Gen X (21%) and Baby Boomers (24%) are also drawn to small towns.

Related: Airbnb and Vrbo Often Have Wildly Different Prices for the Same Listing. This Entrepreneur Built a Platform to Find You the Best Deal.

“Relaxation looks and feels different for everyone,” says Dana Studebaker, vice president of marketing at Apple Vacations. “I feel most relaxed when reading a great book on the beach, knowing that all I need is at my fingertips at an all-inclusive resort, but others feel renewed after a beautiful backpacking trip through the mountains, soaking up history in a big city. This is the beauty of travel: Your vacations can evolve with your preferences.”

Before their trip, Gen Z is especially keen on creating a vacation plan (60%) and Baby Boomers are the likeliest to go with the flow (40%).

Gen X (53%) and Baby Boomers (65%) who prefer going with the flow agree that this helps them avoid feeling rushed or tied to a plan.

Planners find comfort in mapping their day (56%) and say it helps them make the most of their time (54%).

Gen Z embraces the safety they feel when planning things out (46%), while Baby Boomers who prefer to plan ahead also enjoy the feeling of checking off things they want to do (50%).

When travel planning, millennials are most likely to use a travel agent (18%), while Gen Z leans heavily on social media for planning (55%) and inspiration (66%).

Older generations prefer to keep things more classic, with Gen X trusting word of mouth (44%) and Baby Boomers referencing travel magazines or websites for advice (34%).

Related: Her Private Chef Side Hustle Might Earn Tens of Thousands and ‘Seem Glamorous’ — But It’s Not for the Faint of Heart. Here’s an Inside Look.

Before vacationing, millennials are the likeliest to read restaurant menus (34%); instead, Gen X looks at pictures others have posted (36%).

Gen Z respondents are most likely to look at how much things cost and the currency exchange (49%), as well as the transportation options (43%).

Looking ahead, half of respondents plan to travel more as they get older.

Gen Z will take advantage of this the most (73%), planning to travel with their friends (43%), while Baby Boomers will travel to connect with other family members (20%).

Family is top of mind for those who traveled with their parents when growing up, with 77% planning to continue the tradition of traveling with their kids to bond (66%) and make new memories (65%).

“Getting out of the house and spending quality time with family while traveling is the best way to build memories,” says Michael Lowery, senior vice president and global head of consumer business units at Apple Vacations. “When traveling with a larger group with many ages to keep in mind, I always go for an all-inclusive resort because any worries about entertaining different ages are taken care of. Some guests may enjoy a day at the spa, and others can safely be thrilled with resort excursions and activities.”

See a complete breakdown of the survey results below.

Just days after Starbucks announced that it is tapping Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as the coffee chain’s new CEO, Starbucks is setting the record straight on his commuting expectations.

Starbucks will not require Niccol to work in the company’s office in Seattle when he starts his new job in September. Instead, he’ll have a remote office setup in Newport Beach, California, where Chipotle’s headquarters and Niccols are currently located.

Related: Starbucks CEO Steps Down Suddenly, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol to Step Into Role

The two cities are approximately 1,000 miles away from each other.

Bloomberg reported that the flexibility of remote work was a big part of the draw when poaching Niccol.

Niccol will have an office in Starbucks’ Seattle HQ for visits, and the company will pay for housing costs for three months while Niccol finds secondary housing in Seattle. Should he decide to move out of California and to Seattle full-time, Starbucks will reimburse him for relocation expenses.

Starbucks also disclosed Niccol’s lucrative pay package in a filing on Wednesday, which states that he will receive a $10 million signing bonus and $75 million Starbucks stock. His base salary annually will be $1.6 million with the opportunity to earn both $23 million in share-based bonuses each year and an additional $3.6 million cash bonus.

Should everything vest in Niccol’s favor, he could earn over $113 million in his first year alone.

Related: Chipotle CEO Addresses Backlash Over Portion Sizes: ‘There Was Never a Directive to Provide Less’

“I am excited to join Starbucks and grateful for the opportunity to help steward this incredible company, alongside hundreds of thousands of devoted partners,” Niccol said in a Starbucks investor release on Tuesday. “As I embark upon this journey, I am energized by the tremendous potential to drive growth and further enhance the Starbucks experience for our customers and partners, while staying true to our mission and values.”

Niccol made an estimated $22.5 million at Chipotle in 2023.

While AI has been in existence since the 1950s, it has only just recently become a household name with the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT less than two years ago. As an investor in both OpenAI and xAI, I continuously ask myself the ethical ramifications of this new technology, how intelligent it is and whether it is the best path forward for humanity. As an experiment, I asked ChatGPT its opinion about artificial intelligence (AI) systems in today’s society, and this is what it had to say:

“As an artificial intelligence language model, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs. However, I can provide an objective analysis of AI systems in today’s society. AI has brought about numerous benefits to society, such as improved efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making processes. It has also contributed to advancements in medical research, transportation, and various other industries. However, the deployment of AI systems in today’s society also presents potential risks, such as job displacement, privacy concerns, and the possibility of biased algorithms. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that AI is developed ethically and responsibly to mitigate these risks and ensure that the technology benefits society as a whole. In summary, AI systems have immense potential to positively impact society, but their deployment must be done with careful consideration and ethical responsibility.”

Related: The Only Drawback of AI Is Your Attitude. Here Are 4 Things You Need to Change Your Outlook — And Harness AI for Success.

While this response shows AI is still robotic and objective in its methods of “thinking,” it is also, in fact, intimately aware of the ethical concerns bearing over its use. At this critical point in history, where we sit at the precipice of mass AI adoption, we still can’t seem to decide whether AI will be our savior or our villain. Ultimately, it comes down to the applications and responsible management of AI systems.

As an investor, I am in the unique position of being able to help push these new AI companies forward. In the last two years, we have seen a “gold rush” of AI startups. Many have raised impressive rounds; many have faltered, and some have already seen acquisitions. However, the first two I have invested in OpenAI and xAI are now well-known. The former for its ability to have tackled the challenge of global mass adoption and the latter for its commitment to building a more ethical system for the AI ecoverse.

When it comes to applications in AI, it’s safe to say that humans have always strived to create tools to make our lives easier; this is not new. Historically, “mechanical muscles” and outsourcing shifted physical labor. Now, we’re at the point where “mechanical minds” will unleash a cascade of applications across industries. Automation has evolved from more than just the physical.

One major development pushing forward the AI adoption frontier is Microsoft’s continued investment in OpenAI. This partnership will likely lead to everything from optimized Excels to AI-generated PowerPoints and even more support in email management. Upper-class work is now also ripe for disruption.

In finance, AI can be leveraged in various ways. AI algorithms can identify patterns of behavior, such as unusual transactions or identity theft, allowing financial institutions to detect and prevent activities quickly. AI can also analyze market trends and make assumptions about future trends, assisting institutions in making more accurate decisions.

While this is only one sample of industry transformation, there are some areas of work that will be impacted less by AI. These industries are those operating in information asymmetry — such as early-stage venture capital. For AI to work effectively, the model must have access to data. Industries whose data is private, segregated and complex cannot train and build inferences in the same way that a model based on publicly available information can. The strength of AI is dependent on the value of its underlying data and model, which in turn is dependent on the quality of the rules set forth by the humans crafting the algorithms.

In terms of management, we must continue to maintain an element of skepticism and criticism as the growing adoption of AI increases. These tools will continue to develop, but they should not be treated as an all-knowing source of truth. Again, this is critical because these systems only know what is in their underlying systems. As people, investors and business-minded individuals, we must acknowledge the strength of these systems while also considering the fact that they must be constantly maintained. While AI employs a constantly evolving algorithm that learns from itself and experiences, we must still continue to adjust the rules and data sources supporting these AI systems.

Related: AI Will Radically Transform the Workplace — Here’s How HR Teams Can Prepare for It

Diversity of thought and perspectives is critical for those who have the power to develop these systems. A system created by humans with biases will intrinsically be biased as well. We must maintain human values in control of the systems. In today’s society, where truth seems to be subjective, belief in these systems can be both extremely advantageous and extremely detrimental. We must refrain from programming systems to tell people what they want to hear. It is important for people to understand and respect the limitations of AI.

At the same time, just because humanity is capable of doing something doesn’t always mean it should. We could likely replace most jobs with AI, but should we? Where do we draw the line? How do we ensure honesty and integrity in future systems and platforms? This is part of what xAI and OpenAI have committed to tackling and why I have believed in and supported them from the beginning.

AI will undoubtedly transform all of our lives, but this transformation will only be positive if we continue to be critical stewards of truth and information. As investors, I encourage everyone to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when investing in AI-powered solutions. Look at the human beings who stand behind those systems because their beliefs are the ones teaching and driving the solution.

If Donald Trump is re-elected as president, and assuming Congress cooperates, there will be significant changes to personal and business income taxes. Trump’s main tax policy goal is to make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent, which was passed during his first term. Some parts of the TCJA have already expired or are being phased out, and the majority of the other provisions will expire by the end of 2025.

Supporters of these tax cuts say they drive economic growth. Opponents are concerned about the impact on government spending and budget deficits. Regardless, below are ten of the most significant ways your taxes could be impacted by a Trump re-election.

Related: 10 Tax Law Changes You Need to Know to Save Your Business Thousands of Dollars

1. Individual tax rates could reduce

If the TCJA becomes permanent, individuals earning more than $500,000 would be taxed at a top rate of 37%. If the TCJA expires, those making over $426,700 would be taxed at a top rate of 39.6%.

2. Individual tax “standard” deductions would stay high

The TCJA increased the individual tax deduction — used by people who don’t itemize their deductible expenses on their tax returns — to $12,400 for individuals and $24,800 for those filing joint returns. If it expires, these deductions would revert back to their previous levels of $6,200 and $12,400, respectively. However, personal exemptions for the taxpayer, their spouse and each of their dependents — which were as much as $4,050 — could return, and that would offset some of the increased tax cost.

3. Corporate tax rates would go even lower

The TCJA lowered the corporate tax rate from 28% to 21% for those businesses that file C-Corporation tax returns. Trump has said he wants to lower this rate to 20%, which would put the U.S. at one of the lowest corporate tax burdens in the world.

4. The qualified business income (QBI) tax deduction continues

More than 90% of U.S. businesses are considered to be “pass-through” entities. Owners of these firms generally file S-Corporation or partnership tax returns, and the net income from the business flows through to the owner’s tax return and is taxed at individual rates. The TCJA introduced a significant tax deduction — the qualified income tax deduction (QBI) — that allowed many of these businesses to deduct up to 20% of their company’s income before it passed through to their individual returns. Trump wants to make this tax deduction permanent.

Related: How to Get the Most Money Out of Your Side Hustle During Tax Season, From an Expert Who Raised $75.2 Million to Make Filing Easier

5. Estate tax exemptions would stay at their current levels

With more than half of small business owners being over the age of 50, succession and estate planning have become a significant issue. For those looking to pass assets to their heirs, they’ll face a federal estate tax rate of 40%. However, the TCJA increased the exemption for assets that would be subject to this tax to over $11.2 million for individuals and $24.4 million for people who are married. While the rate would remain the same if the TCJA expires, those exemption amounts would fall to $5.6 million and $11.2 million, respectively. This would be in addition to the estate taxes levied by many states.

6. Research and development expenses are once again deductible in the first year

Back in 2022, the ability to deduct research and development expenses (which includes certain materials, compensation and outside contractor costs used to develop new products or improve existing products) in their first year expired. This, unfortunately, forced those businesses taking advantage of this deduction to capitalize and then amortize those expenses over five years, which spread out the tax benefits of these costs. If made permanent, the TCJA would once again allow business owners to take these deductions in their first year.

7. Big deductions would return for capital equipment purchases

Similar to research and development expenses, businesses enjoyed significant deductions for capital expenditures such as machinery, equipment, computer hardware, autos and other fixtures in the first year those assets were placed into service. Those deductions have begun to phase out but would be restored under Trump’s tax plan.

Trump has also announced his intention to pursue two other tax reforms, although details are scant at the moment.

8. No more taxes on tip income

The first is for tip income, which Trump has proposed making non-taxable. This would have far-reaching effects not only on service workers but also on the way small businesses potentially pay their workers, with the incentive to encourage more tipping from customers and less payroll compensation from their pockets.

9. More tariffs

Tariffs are taxes that businesses pay to import goods and ultimately wind up as higher costs for consumers. Under a Trump administration, a baseline tariff of 10% would be imposed on all imports, with a 60% tariff levied on Chinese goods.

Expansion of 529 plans

529 plans have been a popular way for individuals to save after-tax money — and have it grow tax-free – as long as the funds are used for higher education and private and religious school education. Trump would expand the use of 529 funds so that they can be used for homeschooling.

The takeaway is that Trump’s tax positions lean heavily towards lower taxation of both businesses and individuals, which he believes will spur economic growth. This growth would then generate more tax revenues for the government. However, his policies could result in significant deficits if this growth doesn’t happen.