At some point as an entrepreneur, you’ll face a challenging decision: When is it time to hire your first employee? After incubating the idea of your startup. then deploying your resources and making it all happen, at some point you may realize it’s time to bring someone else in to help you achieve your vision and grow the business. It’s exciting, but at the same time, can be daunting. What if the new hire doesn’t work out? What if you hire too many people or too few?

Entrepreneurs are inherently self-starters and ambitious, and shifting responsibilities to new workers can be difficult – but it’s a necessary step for growth. A company needs support to grow and thrive. You can’t do it all on your own, which makes hiring employees — especially the early ones — a crucial step toward entrepreneurial success. Before you do anything, though, ask yourself: Is this the right time to hire?

Knowing when you shouldn’t hire

Before addressing best practices for hiring, it’s vital to recognize common pitfalls entrepreneurs face when starting to grow their workforce – that starts with knowing when not to hire. Similar to making big life decisions, you should avoid hiring employees out of anxiety or uncertainty. Your choices should be deliberate and strategic. Take a step back and reconsider hiring employees if you find yourself in the following situations:

You’re desperate

If you have more work than you can humanly handle and you just need to get another body behind a desk, it’s tempting to find someone right away. However, a hasty decision born of desperation is rarely a good one. Take the time to find the right person for the job.

You don’t have specific responsibilities for an employee

Unless you have a defined set of tasks and expectations for your new hire, do them a favor and don’t hire anyone. A new hire at this stage will rightfully be confused and ineffective. You may need help, but if you don’t know exactly what that help will look like, consider hiring a coach instead of an employee.

You’ll take anyone

If you’re lucky, the first applicant will be an absolute rockstar who can bring your business to the next level – but that’s not the norm. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, the applicant market and your own position by interviewing more candidates. The variety of skill sets on display can also hone your focus for what your future employee will do.

Hiring your first employee

Hire someone too early and you could have cash flow problems, a worker who has nothing to do and the added stress of management. Hire too late, and you could be inundated with work you can’t accomplish, which could lead to missing deadlines and losing out on business.

Finding the right moment to hire, therefore, can make the difference between a failed enterprise and a successful business. But how do you know when the time is right? The following tips can make this process a little less painful and provide options for making that first hire:

Start with a cofounder

If you’re a solopreneur looking to make that next step, bringing on an employee can be intimidating. Instead, hire a cofounder, or at least someone who thinks like one.When making that first hire, look for someone with cofounder potential and traits, such as complementary skills, similar values and vision, teachability, passion, emotional intelligence, flexibility and honesty. Your first employee will hopefully be one of your longest lasting and most knowledgeable.

Ask yourself: Will these tasks generate money?

It’s been said that the only two purposes of an employee are to: 1) make money for the business, or 2) save money for the business. If you’re confident a new hire will do at least one of those two things, go for it. In the early stage of a company, making money is more important than saving it. Typically, these early roles involve creating products (designers, developers, etc.), marketing products (growth hackers, content marketers, etc.) and supporting products (customer support, help desk, etc.).

Know your desired skill set

Before you search for an employee, you need to know what kind of candidate you’re looking for. It’s not enough to simply know that you “need some help” or “need a developer.” Get specific: You don’t want just a “developer.” You want a Javascript developer with GitHub experience able to create machine learning algorithms with educational applications, for example. The clearer your set of responsibilities are, the more effectively you can hire someone to fulfill those duties r.

Delay the decision by hiring a contractor

You may still be undecided over whether or not it’s time to hire. Don’t sweat it. Instead, test it. Try hiring a contractor with the same set of parameters you’re looking for in a full-time employee. The introductory hassle of onboarding a contractor is relatively low compared to that of hiring an employee. You can create a contract for one month, six months or a year. If it works out, you can transition this person into an official hire or look for a full-time employee.

The differences between hiring freelancers, contractors and employees

The major differences between freelancers, contractors and employees has to do with their relationship with the business owner. Freelancers and contractors are self-employed individuals, while employees are hired by the company. Freelancers and contractors typically set their schedules based on the needs of their clients and work out a payment schedule (typically upon completion of a job).

Employees, on the other hand, work the schedule established by the company and receive a regular paycheck on a schedule set by the company. As a business owner, you’re responsible for tax reporting on your payroll employees. But since freelancers and independent contractors are considered self-employed, they are responsible for reporting their taxes.

So what’s the best decision for your company? It depends on your needs, your resources and your ambitions.

When should you hire a freelancer?

Some people use the terms “freelancer” and “contractor” interchangeably, but there is a difference in the type of professional you are hiring. Freelancers usually work on smaller, short-term projects, while contractors work on larger, more long-term projects.

Freelancers are great options for specific support — for example, bringing on a digital marketer to get your social media up and running. If you’re not financially ready to bring on full-time employees for whom you have to provide employee benefits, a freelance relationship may be a better setup.

When should you hire a contractor?

Contractors generally come with a team of expert professionals who can get you the help you need, whatever it may be. They can handle specialized projects, such as IT, remodels, design and consulting. As your business grows, financial consultants can keep you on track with your financial goals. If you need highly specialized work that requires a team, contracting a company will ensure the job gets done right.

When should you hire an employee?

Not every company needs a large number of employees, but if you hold frequent meetings, rent an office space or interact with customers, you’ll want reliable employees to help support the business. Remember, just because someone looks good on paper doesn’t mean they’re a good fit for your business. They must fit into your company’s culture. Consider bringing on full-time staff if they can make you more money or improve the customer experience.

Why hiring globally might be your best move

The growing popularity of remote work has meant dramatic growth in the pool of available talent. Don’t limit yourself to just domestic workers, though. By hiring workers outside your country, you can save money, increase efficiency and still provide customers with superior service. Consider the following benefits to hiring globally.

A wider talent pool

As unemployment levels drop, the demand for skilled workers rises — especially for roles in software engineering or data science. By looking past your own borders, you can grow your pool of potential employees and have access to a wider swath of workers. For example, Poland, Slovakia and India are renowned for their pool of highly qualified tech professionals available to work remotely for international companies. Tap into this talent network to find the right fit for your company.

Cost efficiencies

Hiring overseas means access to employees who live somewhere with a much lower cost of living, which generally means lower salary expectations. The requirements for compulsory employer contributions and payroll taxes that increase business costs also vary by country. For example, countries like Germany and Japan generally require that employers deduct a certain amount of the employee’s pay for health insurance. But Australia and New Zealand, with public healthcare systems, do not require such employer insurance contributions.

Access to resilient international markets

If you run a growing, ambitious business, you may be eyeing overseas expansion. One of the biggest factors in your success will be having employees familiar with that market. You have a few options for growing an international presence: set up a local entity or subsidiary (abiding by local employment laws) or use an Employer of Record (EOR) solution, in which you designate a third-party company to handle payroll, HR compliance and employee tax withholding.

Compliance benefits

Employer compliance can vary depending on the country, and some are more strict than others. Whether you’re concerned about at-will employment, parental leave allowance or pension contributions, you can hire from countries whose labor laws align with your needs.

24/7 customer support

Customers expect fast and capable support, no matter where they’re based or when they contact the company. With just 9% of customers able to solve business queries on their own, customer service channels are more important than ever. Having staff in multiple international locations and time zones ensures someone will always answer the support line and provide 24/7 support for your customers.

Before you hire globally, though, you should look into any logistical challenges it might create. Despite the many benefits, hiring international talent can lead to internal communication challenges, scheduling conflicts across time zones, cultural differences, and discrepancies in pay scales. While these challenges can be overcome, they’re worth considering before building a continent-spanning workforce.

Related: 10 Pros (and Cons) of Hiring International Employees

Can college students solve your employee needs?

Different hires provide varying solutions for business, and hiring college students can infuse your company with young energy and ambitious workers. Whether you develop an internship program or employ them part time or seasonally, college students are often more affordable to hire than full-time employees and can support your team’s specific needs.

Creating a pipeline between universities and your business could be a worthwhile investment. Students are trying to get their foot in the door, and they can also provide your company with much-needed help. Here are a few benefits of hiring college students:

They bring fresh perspectives and new ideas

College students are at a unique stage in their lives and are just beginning to form professional identities. Eager to develop skill sets and apply classroom lessons in the professional world, they often bring welcome new perspectives to the table. This can be especially valuable in industries that are constantly changing or in need of innovation.

They’re highly motivated and ready to learn

The most ambitious college students are proactive and eager to take on new challenges — both promising traits for future employees. When you empower college workers, they’ll go above and beyond to learn and contribute to your organization. Additionally, young people are generally tech-savvy and comfortable with digital tools and platforms — a huge asset in today’s business landscape.

They’re cost-effective employees

Because school is the main priority, students are often willing to work for less pay than more experienced candidates; they’re also more open to part-time or internship positions, helping small businesses bring in new talent without breaking the bank. These internships can act as trial runs for potential full-time employment.

How to attract and hire the best salespeople

Just about any business needs persuasive salespeople. In order to sustain and grow your company, you need someone who can bring in new clients while you focus on the business itself. No matter what role someone in your company fulfills, everyone does some kind of selling on a regular basis — pitching investors or bankers, selling coworkers on a new project idea or vision, providing customer service, negotiating with vendors, etc.

Ultimately, though, it will be your sales team that drives your company’s growth. If you want to add top-notch talent to this group and increase your revenue, keep these things in mind:

Your mission should be exciting and purposeful

What are you looking to achieve with your business? Most people these days are looking to join a company because of its mission — its goal to change the world in some meaningful way. According to a 2021 McKinsey study, 70% of Americans say work defines their sense of purpose. Your mission doesn’t need to save lives, it just needs to inspire workers and point to a larger goal. Find salespeople who buy into this mindset, and they’ll evangelize the company or product for you.

Be the best salesperson you can be

If you’re looking to hire salespeople, you should also know how to sell. You may get to a point in your business where you’re not the main person bringing in new clients, but you still have ideas you need to sell to investors, journalists or marketers — and your own team. When interviewing a potential candidate, pay attention to your own energy level. Are you charismatic? Are you enthusiastic about the position and the opportunity? When the interview is done, you’ll want the candidate to feel like they’re ready to jump on your bandwagon and get started right away.

Know what else you can offer

If you can’t compete in the market with a high salary, you can at least offer other incentives that attract top talent and keep your business afloat. Many employees are looking for better work-life balance. Can you offer a flexible work schedule? Consider offering profit sharing or a higher commission in the near future. If your product or services are innovative or revolutionary, that can also be an incentive, as employees are eager to join a business that’s about to rapidly expand.

The best recruiting platforms for small business hiring

When it’s time to hire, finding quality candidates doesn’t need to be complicated. Job search sites can help you recruit and retain talent no matter your company’s budget or size. Some companies advertise jobs across a variety of platforms, and the sites you choose will determine who applies for your open roles.

Similar to reaching a target audience, you want to meet candidates where they already are — think industry-specific forums, alumni networks or on social media. But there’s also value in casting a wide net and posting on major job boards with millions of visitors. With so many platforms to choose from, which will best support your mission? Here are some of the top recruiting platforms to consider:

ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter allows you to post job openings and receive applications from relevant candidates, as well as organize applicants in a resume database. Applicant tracking tools, including providing candidates with notes and feedback, also help you manage the hiring process.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is particularly effective for recruiting candidates in the business, finance and technology sectors. To help you find and hire top talent in — and outside of — your network, it offers job postings, resume searches and applicant tracking.

Indeed

One of the world’s largest job search websites, Indeed allows you to search for candidates based on their location, experience and skills. It also provides rates for sponsored listings that prioritize your job openings in the search results.

Glassdoor

In addition to job postings, Glassdoor features reviews from people who’ve worked at various companies. By providing insight into a company’s culture and employee satisfaction, the site can help attract candidates to your open positions.

Workable

With affordable pricing plans and an easy-to-use interface, Workable is a recruiting platform that’s particularly effective for small- and medium-size businesses looking to streamline their hiring process. It offers a variety of features, including job postings, applicant tracking and candidate sourcing.

Writing job advertisements to attract remote workers

The pandemic ushered in a widespread adoption of work-from-home policies that may be here to stay. These policies allow for more flexible working situations, and they’re an excellent way for businesses to stay competitive in the job market.

When writing your job advertisements, keep in mind it’s still just a listing, so you need to effectively communicate the benefits of working remotely and the job requirements. Consider the following tips for writing job advertisements to attract remote workers:

Communicate the remote nature of the job

Specify that the job is a remote position and include details about the type of work environment and equipment that will be required. Does this person need to work certain hours or be in a certain time zone? Spell everything out. If the job advertisement doesn’t say remote up front, many people will assume that it’s not.

Highlight the benefits to employees working remotely

Make it clear that the job offers the flexibility and autonomy of working remotely. Mention any perks or benefits that come with the position, such as a flexible schedule or the ability to work from anywhere.

Clearly outline the job requirements

Your job advertisements should clearly state the skills, experience, and qualifications that are required for the position. This will help you attract the right candidates and weed out those who are not a good fit.

Use language that resonates with remote workers

Use language that speaks to the realities of working remotely. For example, mention the ability to work from anywhere or the need for strong self-motivation and discipline. Also mention skills necessary for collaborating remotely, such as clear and concise communication.

Include information about your company culture

Whether in-person or working remotely, employees place a high value on company culture. In fact, this may be even more crucial in a remote environment, where your only coworker interactions are happening in chats and on video calls. Include information about your company’s values and mission in your job advertisements to help attract candidates who are a good fit.

It’s time to start hiring

By following these tips, you can make the most effective hiring decisions for your business. Keep in mind: no two companies are the same. Before you make a hire — or post a job, for that matter — consider the work you need done, the kind of worker you need to complete it, and where that person should be located. By outlining your needs early, you’ll save money (and headaches) in the long run.

If you are considering starting a business, don’t take the big leap from dreamer to entrepreneur. One common mistake new business owners make is not understanding the five critical essentials before they dive into the world of starting a business. Knowing these critical pieces of information can mean the difference between starting a thriving, successful business or crashing and burning out before your entrepreneurial plane can even get off the runway.

Read these five essentials carefully to understand how to prepare yourself and pave the way for building a successful business.

1. Determine the difference between a hobby and a business

Many believe that if you are making minimal sales or not selling full-time, you do not have a business and instead have a hobby. It’s important to understand both the national and local rules regarding your sales to make sure you are compliant and avoid unexpected penalties and fees.

The IRS states that if you earn $400 or more after your expenses are taken out (known as your net income), then your income is NOT considered a hobby, and all of your self-employed income must be claimed on your tax return.

Additionally, most cities and counties state in their information for new businesses that you must register your business before starting any business operations. This means that if you intend to make sales to customers, in most cases, you do not have a hobby; you do, in fact, have a business, and this will require several steps to be completed before you can make any sales.

Related: The 6 Startup Essentials for a Business That Will Succeed

2. Understand your legal obligations

To determine what you are legally obligated to do to register your business and stay compliant, you must first decide what type of business structure you will have. A business structure defines how a business is registered and operates and what type of taxation options it may have.

The most common form of new business is either a sole proprietorship or an LLC. Deciding which type of business you will operate is important because each type has different registrations and tax implications.

Once you have determined the type of business structure you would like to start, you will need to register your business. The types of registrations and permits required differ depending on whether you are starting a sole proprietorship or an LLC, the type of business you will be starting, and where you are located. Research your county’s information on starting a business. Often, counties have a particular resource area on their website that will outline your obligations and where to obtain required permits.

Related: 5 Common Legal Mistakes Start-Ups Make When Launching Their Business – And How To Avoid Them

3. Understand your finances

Registering your business will require various fees to ensure that your business operates legally according to city, county and state requirements. These fees vary depending on your location. Additionally, some industries require specific licenses and registrations that must be renewed regularly.

4. Understand taxes

Businesses are obligated to file and pay three different types of income taxes: self-employment tax, federal income tax and state income tax. An LLC is also required to pay an annual LLC tax. These taxes are calculated and paid when you file your end-of-year tax return. If you expect to owe $1000 or more in self-employed taxes, you are also required to pay estimated quarterly taxes – which is a prepaid estimated amount of what you think you will owe at tax time, spaced out into four equal payments throughout the year.

If you sell tangible goods, you are obligated to collect and remit sales tax on those goods. This will mean applying for a seller’s permit, collecting sales tax from your customers and filing/paying sales and use tax returns.

Next, plan a method for keeping business financial records. You are obligated to keep business financial records — this means tracking your sales and expenses and the cash flow in and out of your business. This can be done through using a software such as quickbooks or xero, hiring a professional CPA or bookkeeper or keeping a simple spreadsheet to track your cash flow.

LLCs will also be required to have business bank accounts — no personal transactions can be conducted using your business bank accounts. It’s important to track all business expenses so that you can enter them into your tax return — this will lower your taxable income.

Related: Five Tips for Small Business Owners this Tax Season

5. Operational obligations

Creating your products, conducting services and making sales are important parts of your business; however, operating a business on a day-to-day basis has many other elements required in order to keep your business up, running and growing. Think through and make a plan for how you will handle important things such as:

• marketing
• bookkeeping
• inventory
• shipping
• customer service
• scheduling
• operational software
• booking, scheduling and contracts
• invoicing and payments

Ready to start a business?

Congratulations if you have carefully considered these important factors and are ready to start! The decision to start a business and the planning involved deserve to be celebrated. Consider creating a formal business plan to provide structure, organize your goals and start planning the logistics of starting your business. Starting and growing a business is an incredible journey, and with proper planning, consistency, time and dedication, you are well on your way to building the business of your dreams.

One week before National Small Business Week, a new study examines some surprising things that the millions of small businesses across the U.S. have in common.

A Pew Research Center Survey released Monday delved into Census Bureau data points associated with 33 million small businesses across the U.S. The study defined “small business” as a firm with less than 500 workers, with at least one location.

In the report, small businesses overwhelmingly shared one major commonality: they rarely had employees. In fact, 27 million, or about 82%, did not have any workers, and about 3 million businesses with employees only had one to four people on their payroll.

Still, small businesses employed 56.4 million people in 2021 and achieved more than $16.2 trillion in revenue. Larger businesses with more than 100 employees scored bigger pieces of the revenue pie, though they made up less than 1% of the overall picture.

Related: How to Go From Side Hustle to 7-Figure Business and Beyond, According to 3 Women Who Did It

Also, most small businesses are not mom-and-pop shops, according to the survey. One in 10 businesses in the U.S. were equally owned and operated by spouses, and just 27% were family-owned overall.

It’s also not usually franchises. The majority of small businesses (95%) reported that they did not fully or partially operate as a franchise.

A majority of the businesses surveyed, almost three in five, have been running for at least six years, and 15% were operational for over a quarter of a century.

Related: They Designed One Simple Product With a ‘Focus on Human Health’ — and Made $40 Million Last Year

Small businesses also share a positive public perception. Most Americans (86%) indicated that small businesses positively impact the country in a separate Pew Research survey conducted in January. In contrast, only 53% thought positively about tech companies and colleges.

A Constant Contact survey released Monday presents a global picture, showing that over 80% of the 1,300 small businesses surveyed in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and Canada expressed concern about how the economic climate will affect their business this year.

Pew Research reports that the number of U.S. business applications has trending up, with almost 1.8 million applications filed last year.

Lauren Sánchez has found herself in the public eye, thanks to her high-profile engagement to Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos — and now one national news outlet is looking for a specialized reporter to cover her every move.

The Daily Beast announced that it is looking to hire a full-time senior reporter to cover Sánchez and her daily dealings — from business to social to space.

“The Beast plans to cover tech moguls and their ecosystem, as part of the site’s return to its roots as a ‘smart tabloid,'” per Axios.

This follows trends of other publications, such as USAToday and the Tennessean, which have hired specialized Taylor Swift and Beyonce reporters in an attempt to make sure full coverage of the subject is reported.

Related: Lauren Sanchez Gives Vogue Details on Jeff Bezos Engagement

Not much is known about the specifics of the role, though Joanna Coles, the outlet’s new chief content officer, wrote on Instagram that she was accepting applications through editorial@thedailybeast.com, and told the New York Post that benefits and salary would be comparable to other senior positions listed at the company, which range between $100,000 and $200,000.

“I’ve never seen anybody land on the radar of Americans as fast and as brilliantly as Lauren Sánchez,” said Coles, who is the former chief content officer of Hearst Magazines. “I’m just very excited to find out all about her. There is no detail too small that I am not fascinated by.”

Sánchez is a licensed pilot and former TV anchor who is currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, which just announced it is donating $100 million to AI efforts that fight climate change.

Related: Lauren Sánchez Is Heading to Space on a Girls Trip

The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur‘s request for comment.

When running a business, it’s important to keep your company’s branding in mind around the clock because you never know when inspiration might strike. For example, when choosing a color palette for your design materials, you don’t have to stick with whatever you come up with off the top of your head. Live with it. Go out in the world, and when you see the right colors, you’ll know it.

Now, to get the exact shade that inspires you, you’re going to need to show up at the paint store or on Photoshop with more than just “yellow.” That’s where a color-matching sensor comes into play. From April 15 through 11:59 p.m. PT on April 21, you can get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor on sale for just $59.97 (reg. $99).

This pocket-sized scanning device can scan any surface and match it to any of over 100,000 brand-name paint colors, as well as sRGB HEX, CMYK, and LAB colors. Once you scan a color, you can access the color details via the Nix Paints and Nix Digital apps available on Android and iOS devices. From there, you can take that information and use it to get the exact color you want for your branding materials.

Craft the branding of your company and your product to your exact specifications, and never stop perfecting it. Empower yourself with tools like this color-matching sensor, which is remarkably affordable.

From April 15 through 11:59 p.m. PT on April 21, you can get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor on sale for just $59.97 (reg. $99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

According to TeamStage, 31 percent of employees waste about a half hour each day, and the top 10 percent of them can waste as much as three hours in a day. Part of that might be attitude, but the other part might be hangups caused by internet speed and advertisements. To nip that lost time in the bud, consider equipping yourself or your team with a tool to help stay on task.

From April 15 through 21, this five-year subscription to Control D Some Control Plan is on sale for just $34.97 (reg. $120). This is the best price for this deal online. This tool is designed to help users browse and use the internet faster while also blocking ads.

Control D is described as a “one-touch solution” for taking control over the productivity of your computer and internet usage. The deal supports use for up to ten devices, and it empowers each user to block advertisements, enjoy faster browsing, and set internet safety rules and restrictions for kids.

Control D’s bandwidth is substantial. It can accommodate up to 10,000 custom rules, block more than 300 servers, support multiple profiles, and unlimited usage. This robust and well-designed tool is a reliable option for any business leader who wants to liberate themselves or team members from distractions online.

Control D is rated a perfect 5/5 stars on Product Hunt.

Remember that from April 15 through 21, this 5-year subscription to Control D Some Control Plan is on sale for just $34.97 (reg. $120)—the best price on the web.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Microsoft published a research paper this week highlighting a new AI model called VASA-1 that can transform a single picture and audio clip of a person into a realistic video of them lip-syncing — with facial expressions, head movements, and all.

The AI model was trained on AI-generated images from generators like DALL·E-3, which the researchers then layered with audio clips. The results are images-turned-videos of talking faces.

The researchers built on technology from competitors such as Runway and Nvidia, but state in the paper that their method of doing things is higher-quality, more realistic, and “significantly outperforms” existing methods.

Related: Adobe’s Firefly Image Generator Was Partially Trained on AI Images From Midjourney

The researchers said the model can take in audio of any length and generate a talking face in accordance with the clip.

The only image that wasn’t AI-generated that the researchers experimented with was the Mona Lisa. They made the iconic image lip-sync to Anne Hathaway’s “Paparazzi,” which starts with the lines “Yo I’m a paparazzi, I don’t play no yahtzee.”
^{A screenshot of the video mid-frame. Credit: Entrepreneur}

The Mona Lisa was one example of a photo input that the AI model was not trained on — but could manipulate anyway. The model could also transform artistic photos, take in singing audios, and handle speech in languages that weren’t English.

The researchers emphasized that the model could work in real-time with a demo video that showed the model instantly animating images with head movements and facial expressions.

Deepfakes, or digitally altered media of a person that could spread misinformation or take someone’s likeness without permission, are a risk posed by advanced AI that can generate digital media with relatively few reference points.

Related: Tennessee Passes Law Protecting Musicians From AI Deepfakes

Microsoft addressed that concern generally in the paper, with the researchers stating, “We are opposed to any behavior to create misleading or harmful contents of real persons, and are interested in applying our technique for advancing forgery detection.”

The researchers stated that their technique had potentially positive applications too, like improving accessibility and enhancing educational efforts.

Google demoed a similar research project last month, showcasing an AI capable of taking a photo and creating a video from it that the user can then control with their voice. The AI was able to add head movements, blinks, and hand gestures.

Taylor Swift delighted fans Friday, April 19, when she released a surprise double album, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” her 11th studio album.

In celebration of the highly anticipated release — and upcoming next leg of her “Taylor Swift: The Eras” tour — United Airlines is offering a special deal for Swifties to garner the best prices for flights to her shows at the end of this summer.

The airline is offering a 13% discount on select domestic flight routes purchased Friday for travel between August 21 and November 13 of this year. In the fall, Swift brings the tour back to the U.S. for shows in Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis.

Related: Taylor Swift Is Making Vinyl Cool Again — and Profitable. Here’s How Her Surprise Double Album Is Bringing Back the Old-School Medium.

“Let’s say after exploring Cornelia Street, Louis wants to travel from New York to Miami, Florida for a long weekend,” a representative for United Airlines told ABC News in an emailed statement, cheekily referencing one of Swift’s songs. “By using the code ‘April19’ in the United app, Louis can save more than $50 on a round-trip ticket before August slips away. Of course, the total amount of the discount depends on the fare selected.”

The 13% is intentional, as 13 is Swift’s lucky and favorite number, and the dates selected align with the musician’s next leg of tour dates in the U.S.

To cash in on the deal, United customers can log on to the app and use the code ‘April19’ for a chance to snag the deal.

Swift has had quite the year thanks to her “The Eras Tour” and subsequent in-theater experience, which helped boost her to billionaire status in October. She stands beside Rihanna as the only two female musicians to reach the financial feat.

Related: Taylor Swift Just Filed a Trademark That Could Mean Even More Sales

According to Pollstar, the Eras Tour is estimated to bring in anywhere from $1 to $1.4 billion by its end, with roughly seven months left to go.

There’s no denying that long-term, buy-and-hold investing can produce remarkable results. Berkshire Hathaway is the best example of that. I’m a day trader and find value in long-term investing. Because it’s enough for me to focus just on day trading, I have an investment advisor who manages the long-term portion of my portfolio.

The contrast between what he does and what I do could hardly be greater: My average hold time for a stock is five minutes, and sometimes, I’ll be in a stock for mere seconds. With those hold times, it doesn’t take long to find out if my investment strategy was right, wrong or dead wrong.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that day trading can be like compressing a lifetime of investing into a year. I’ve made over 20,000 trades so far and plan to keep trading for many more years.

Two common phases day traders go through

The first phase is beginner’s luck. I actually think it’s a thing with day trading, and I experienced it myself. In my first year of trading, I made about $30,000. Was I pumped! Yes, it was work, but it sure beat pumping gas, which I had done a few years back, or working for a bad-tempered boss, which I also knew about.

Over the years, I’ve heard enough similar stories from other traders to believe beginner’s luck is quite common. However, a hard reality always waits in the wings for those happy beginners, and it even has a name: regression to the mean.

After my second year of trading, I gave back those early gains and was now at breakeven. But in my third year of studying and hard work at trading — I wish I could say I turned the corner, but I didn’t. I lost a lot of money and was down to my last chance before having to get a “real” job.

Some people can look back at turning points and identify a mentor who said the right thing or a chance encounter that made a difference. In my case, keeping a journal of all my trades saved my day trading career. I recorded not only the trades but also my strategy at the moment I took the trades. In scouring that journal, I discerned a trading pattern that resulted in losing transactions and a different set of characteristics for my winning trades. With this knowledge, I turned my ship around.

This leads me to the second common phase, “investing friction.” Sometimes, when day traders experience a hard loss, they fear taking more risks. They mentally box themselves in, and it becomes more difficult to regain their trading confidence. It can be the beginning of a downward spiral.

But here’s the really interesting thing: The same phenomenon sometimes happens with wins. After an especially memorable win, traders will pull back and make progressively smaller trades.

Back to my trading journal: There are about 250 trading days in a year. I’ve found that my top 10 trading days usually account for over 20% of my entire year’s profit. On those golden days, am I just throwing caution to the wind? No, and this is where the flying analogy comes in.

Related: How Cognitive Biases Can Impact Your Trading and Investment Decisions — and How to Reduce Their Effects

Trusting your instruments

When you learn to fly, you only practice on days with good weather. You’re operating under what’s known as “Visual Flight Rules.” But if you stick with it, you’ll learn “Instrument Flight Rules.” When you’re cleared to fly with those rules, the good news is you can fly in all kinds of weather. The bad news is you must ignore your gut and learn to trust your instruments, or you’ll go into the ground.

The same is true with day trading. Successful day traders are not gamblers or cowboys but more like experienced pilots. They do a profit-and-loss calculation before ever taking a trade. They will see a recognizable pattern in the behavior of the stock price, including other factors like trading volume, news about the company, and so on. If it adds up, they take the trade.

The next part is where successful traders earn money: They stick with the parameters they set up. That means if the stock goes up, they have a process for taking some profits off the table while letting the stock continue to rise. But if the stock begins to go down, they don’t let it ride “a little longer,” hoping it will turn around. Instead, they sell without hesitation and cap the loss.

Either way, they trusted their instruments and would live to trade another day.

Related: Day Trading: How To Get Started

Don’t get me wrong: Even after 20,000 trades, I can control my emotions and trade according to my instruments. It never gets “easy” because I can always follow my parameters. Sometimes, emotions will get the better of me, and I’ll think: What just happened? Then, my journal review will reveal that on that day, my emotions got the best of me for that trade. It’s then up to me to become more disciplined in the heat of the moment, so I apply what I learned from that last trade.

There’s no way to turn day trading into a sure-fire system for profit-making. You can improve your chances of doing well in this most unforgiving of environments. You achieve that by doing three things:

1. Record what you were thinking at the time and how it worked out;
2. Analyze that transaction and how you might adjust your parameters in the future; and
3. Have the discipline to stick to those course corrections on the next day.

There is no guarantee of profits, but it’s the only way I’ve found to stay in this profession for the long term.

Four-day workweeks might have all the buzz, but one major tech company is going in the opposite direction.

Samsung is implementing a six-day workweek for all executives after some of the firm’s core businesses delivered lower-than-expected financial results last year.

A Samsung Group executive told a Korean news outlet that “considering that performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co., fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to inject a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis.”

Lower performance combined with other economic uncertainties like high borrowing costs have pushed the South Korean company to enter “emergency mode,” per The Korea Economic Daily.

Related: Apple Is No Longer the Top Phonemaker in the World as AI Pressure and Competition Intensifies

Executives at all Samsung Group divisions will be affected, including those in sales and manufacturing, according to the report.

Samsung had its worst financial year in over a decade in 2023, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that net profit fell 73% in Q4. It also lost its top spot on the global smartphone market to Apple in the same quarter, though it reclaimed it this year.

Though employees below the executive level aren’t yet mandated to clock in on weekends, some might follow the unwritten example of their bosses. After all, The Korea Economic Daily reports that executives across some Samsung divisions have been voluntarily working six days a week since January, before the company decided to implement the six-day workweek policy.

Entrepreneur has reached out to Samsung’s U.S. newsroom to ask if this news includes executives situated globally, including in the U.S., or if it only affects employees in Korea. Samsung did not immediately respond.

Research on the relationship between hours worked and output shows that working more does not necessarily increase productivity.

A Stanford project, for example, found that overwork leads to decreased total output. Average productivity decreases due to stress, sleep deprivation, and other factors “to the extent that the additional hours [worked] provide no benefit (and, in fact, are detrimental),” the study said.

Related: Samsung’s Newest Galaxy Gadget Aims ‘To See How Productive You Can Be’

Longer hours can also mean long-term health effects. The World Health Organization found that working more than 55 hours a week decreases life expectancy and increases the risk of stroke by 35%.

The same 55-hour workweek leads to a 17% higher risk of heart disease, per the same study.