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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, 62, has begun selling Nvidia shares under a new trading plan that allows him to dispose of up to $865 million worth of stock by the end of the year.

According to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Huang offloaded 100,000 Nvidia shares, worth $14.4 million, between Friday and Monday, his first sale of the year. Another filing shows that Huang sold another 50,000 shares on Monday, valued at over $7 million.

The transactions fall under a new 10b5-1 plan adopted on March 20 and disclosed last month in Nvidia’s quarterly report. The plan allows Huang to sell six million shares in total by December 31, which would equal $865 million worth of shares at Monday’s closing price of $144.17.

Related: ‘The Decade of Autonomous Vehicles’: Nvidia CEO Predicts Major Growth in Robotics, Self-Driving Cars

Nvidia’s quarterly report also revealed that the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Colette M. Kress, and its Director, A. Brooke Seawell, also adopted 10b5-1 plans in March. Kress has the option to sell 500,000 Nvidia shares by March 24, 2026, and Seawell can sell over 1.1 million shares by July 31.

Huang’s trading plan gives him and other executives the option to cash in on stock on a pre-arranged plan. Huang has sold more than $1.9 billion in Nvidia shares to date, per Bloomberg.

^{Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images}

Huang is the 12th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $126 billion at the time of writing. Most of his fortune, or about $124 billion worth, consists of Nvidia shares, and the rest is cash. Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has been leading it ever since, owns about 3.5% of the AI chipmaker as of March.

Related: How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Transformed a Graphics Card Company Into an AI Giant: ‘One of the Most Remarkable Business Pivots in History’

Nvidia recently reported strong earnings. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, ending April 27, the AI giant reported revenue of $44.1 billion, up 12% from the previous quarter and up 69% from the same period last year. Nvidia expects revenue to be even higher for the second quarter of 2026, predicting $45 billion.

Nvidia shares have been climbing for the past month and are up over 8%. The company is the No. 2 most valuable in the world, with a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, second to Microsoft.

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

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

Related: ‘The Coolest Piece of Technology the World Has Ever Seen’: OpenAI Is Acquiring Former Apple Designer Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion

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

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

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

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

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

Related: Steve Jobs Gave Jony Ive an ‘Impossible Task’ the First Time They Met. It Saved Apple from Bankruptcy.

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

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

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

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

Related: After a 12-Year-Old’s Side Hustle Made Over $4,000 in 1 Day, He and His Dad Grew the Business to Nearly $50,000 a Month: ‘It Takes Commitment’

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

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

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

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

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

Related: This Nashville Mom Started a Flexible Side Hustle on Facebook — Then Grew It From $1,000 to $275,000 a Month: ‘Like a Scavenger Hunt’

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

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

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

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

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

Related: This Former Firefighter’s ‘Hidden’ Side Hustle Turned Full-Time Business Helps Keep Homes Safe — and Saw ‘Explosive Growth’ to Over $27 Million Revenue

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

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

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

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

Related: She Quit Her Job at Trader Joe’s After Starting a Side Hustle With $800 — Then She and Her Brother Grew the Business to $20 Million

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

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

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks}

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

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

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

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

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

Related: 5 Truths About Entrepreneurship You’re Better Off Knowing From the Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related: What No One Tells You About Entrepreneurship — 5 Hard Truths

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related: The 6 Scary Truths About Becoming an Entrepreneur

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

So let this be your updated guide:

• Prioritize people over profit.

• Think in decades, not quarters.

• And recognize that your social intelligence will often carry you further than any degree.

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

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Jaqi Saleem is the founder and CEO of digital experience agency Qualified Digital, and founder of Jaqi Purpose Co., a mission-driven investment fund. Here she breaks down her best advice for sustainable growth, fundraising, and creating a culture of collaboration.

Please give us the elevator pitch of your business.
My company, Qualified Digital, is an award-winning digital experience agency that competes with top consultancies 100-1,000 times our size to serve Fortune 500 clients like Mayo Clinic, CVS, Hitachi Vantara, CommonSpirit Health, Kaiser Permanente, Novo Nordisk, Bristol-Myers Squibb and TransUnion. Our 360° approach, in partnership with industry leaders like Adobe, blends B2B and B2C expertise to craft seamless customer journeys. Our tagline is “The Experience of Connection”.

Or, if you want a simpler soft pitch, we can use my Mom’s description: “I think they put the buttons on the internet.” You are not wrong, Mom, we do that too.

What inspired you to create this business?
The truth is, I started this digital customer experience agency completely by accident. After over 15 years at agencies — and getting the feeling I had hit a glass ceiling — I decided to give independent consulting a try. A couple of months in, a customer offered me an opportunity to build and fund my own guerrilla dream team to pick up some business-critical projects after an unexpected and rapid split with their previous digital agency. I didn’t hesitate — I called all of the smartest people I knew and asked them to join me. I was gratified and humbled when they did. Fast forward 7.5 years, Qualified Digital is private equity backed by Stella Point Capital, and has 100+ teammates composed of the smartest people I now know.

Related: ‘We Didn’t Know We Could Do That!’ These Co-Founders Built a Unique Photography Business That Tapped an Unexpected Need — And Now Is Found in 60 Cities

What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking for funding?
Make sure you are looking for a partner who adds value and is aligned to your vision, not just a check. Don’t be pompous, but be curious in ways that show you need to know about the potential investor, as well. Don’t ask them questions you could find on their website; welcome them into the conversation; leave room for their voice, as the dynamic changes and creates more opportunity to connect. They are investing in you as a leader, as much as in your business, so be human, not a well-dressed robot. While you want to be prepared to speak the entire time, hope and invite a dialogue and anticipate what they might ask so you don’t freeze or skip a beat. Practice, practice, practice, not just for presenting your investor deck in the order it is laid out, but for any direction that the conversation may go. I often keep an appendix of items that likely wouldn’t make it into a brief pitch, but may be a confidence builder if they ask a pointed question and you can show you are on top of it.

Lastly, and this is extremely important: ensure they don’t see you as a project. Investors don’t want to do your job; they need to believe that you can execute on an incredible idea, not just that you have one. Especially if you don’t have a track record to point to, develop a clear plan or include a partner who can lead on the business front. Clear plans are important, either way, so they feel they can press the easy button by just funding and advising.

Female-owned businesses only get 2 per cent of VC funding — what specific advice can you give to women business owners seeking to emulate what you achieved in getting PE investment?
Knowing that stat can be intimidating, but don’t let it get in your head. It might stop you from asking at all, and we need to change that number, not perpetuate it.

I did not run into any resistance in my process, and ran a competitive one, which I highly recommend. This allowed me to command the value I knew Qualified Digital was worth, gender identity aside.

If you are at the right stage, really consider bringing on a banker to represent you. They come with fees, but the right ones, with the right network, are worth their weight in gold.

Related: He Hated Furniture Shopping. So He Built a Business to Do It for Him. Here’s How This Unconventional Founder Is Finding New Customers and Growth.

What kind of growth have you seen?
In the early years, starting from scratch, Qualified Digital grew 100% YoY+. As our revenue numbers increased, that percentage has naturally changed. Last year, we delivered 45%+ growth. This year, through the combination of organic growth and our recent acquisition of Xpediant Digital, we are on track to deliver another 40% growth year for 2025 and are projecting $31.5M in revenue.

What tips can you give to other founders on maintaining company culture when your team is either partially or fully remote?
I’m proud of the work-life balance that we’re able to give our team by being a fully remote company. We have over 100 employees and FTE equivalents on our team, based all across the US and around the world, and that team is able to pick up and drop off their kids at school, take care of their mental and physical health, and do the things they love like travel, or whatever passions or hobbies they have. QD’s company culture encourages a mindset that is both entrepreneurial and collaborative, and I feel that is one of the things that really sets us apart.

My advice is: create an energy that multiplies, and it will. Culture cascades from the top, so your team has to want you to win, they have to want each other to win, and they have to want to win themselves. And most of all: hire great humans and interesting people. Your team is the magic, and it is your job as a leader to protect that culture from those who draw down on it.

What advice can you give about making the decision to acquire another company, such as your recent acquisition of Xpediant Digital?
See a clear 1+1 = 3. Do not buy revenue, buy a value multiplier, whether that is a new capability, new industries, or products that accelerate what you do. Is it a value add to your existing clients, or is it all about new clients you can add value to? Either way, just ensure you have a clear vision that helps your team and their team get excited to execute on that vision. Make sure the company is a culture fit; that your team and their team will be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder and excited to collaborate.

Remember, when you are hungry, everything can look like a steak (or a portobello mushroom burger if that’s more your style).

Related: They Started a Side Hustle in Their College Dorm and Bootstrapped Their Way to a Massive Business: ‘It’s Always Been About Being Scrappy’

You also make investments through your investment fund, Jaqi Purpose Co. What tips can you give entrepreneurs seeking to pitch to investors like you?
Show me the problem, show me that solving that problem adds a social or mission-oriented outcome, and then show me the solution you have for that problem and how you are doing so. Show me there is a market or need for it, that no one else is doing it (well), and that if you had the money, you would be able to deliver what and by when. Be ready to show me that you are ready. I want to invest in things that matter, which means I want that investment to be successful. It cannot just be an idea, it needs to be a plan. A plan that you can execute on with guidance and money, not one that would be a project I would take on.

What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you?
If I am honest, the word entrepreneur is still a word that I have to remember to match myself to. I love this question, because it challenges old thinking I had around the word.

Taking a step back, acknowledging that I am an entrepreneur, I would say this: It is someone who is relentlessly passionate about the business, product or problem they are solving; someone who is not afraid of failing, but mostly because they think they won’t in the long run; know that controlled failure is an essential part of the process in any kind of meaningful success; someone who teeters the line of confidence and delusion, just enough to take the big risky swings necessary to drive meaningful impact, but with the humility and pragmatism that keeps them grounded and taking the right swings; someone who builds with the end in mind, making space for the right amount of uncertainty and evolution, but with some sense of what success looks like in the end.

Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation?
“I have no particular talents — I am just passionately curious” – Einstein. I love this quote, and in fact, “passionately curious” is one of our five core values at Qualified Digital. It was just so relatable to me. It eroded some of that “them but not me” impostor mindset. If Einstein says he has no special talents, and his superpower is curiosity, well then, that is a recipe I could put to action.

If you’re running a business, leading a team, or wearing multiple hats as a founder, you already know time is your most valuable asset. So when it comes to hiring—or even pivoting into a new opportunity—LoopCV offers the automation edge you didn’t know you needed.

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LoopCV is an AI-powered job automation tool that is designed to take the exhausting manual grind out of the job search. Whether you’re a business owner looking for fractional work, a founder exploring consulting gigs, or a team leader who is coaching laid-off employees, LoopCV can handle the repetitive outreach for you.

Upload your résumé, define your ideal roles and target locations, and LoopCV will automatically apply to jobs daily, send personalized emails to recruiters, and track your results with real-time performance data. You can even A/B test different résumés to see what resonates best in your industry.

And it’s not just for job seekers. Small-business owners and startup founders can also use LoopCV to scout freelance talent, build partnerships, or explore new verticals—all without committing hours to job boards. Need a project-based marketing consultant or a part-time developer? Set up a loop targeting those roles, and let LoopCV surface the candidates or opportunities.

For entrepreneurs, this tool can help you generate project leads, land speaking opportunities, or even explore strategic hires with minimal lift. It integrates with over 30 job boards, including LinkedIn, Indeed, and USAJobs, so you’re always in the loop.

Time is money. Let LoopCV hustle for you in the background while you stay focused on growing your business.

Get lifetime access to LoopCV Premium while it’s on sale for just $39 (regularly $599) for a limited time.

LoopCV Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

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StackSocial prices subject to change.

AI is omnipresent in 2025 in all areas of the business sphere, including customer service. And for good reason. Used right, AI can provide invaluable insights into your customers’ behaviors and preferences, boost the efficiency of your customer service team and increase overall satisfaction.

Between dynamic personalization, streamlined purchase processes and predictive customer support, many small businesses are leveraging AI to level the playing field and provide enterprise-grade customer service.

However, despite AI’s massive potential, there are several potential pitfalls when using AI in customer service. At worst, AI can scare off customers or generate frustration, rather than helping to streamline processes.

Here are the four most common mistakes — and how to avoid them.

Related: How Small Businesses Can Leverage AI Without Breaking the Bank

1. Frustrating generic chatbots

To start with, chatbots can be a great asset to your team members and customers alike. They can speedily handle routine queries, free up your agents’ capacities, respond to customers even outside regular business hours and reduce wait times.

However, to be effective, chatbots need to be well-trained and personalized.

Unfortunately, many companies — in a rush to stay ahead in the AI race — deployed chatbots that ask too many questions, give generic answers and fail to solve queries.

In one hilarious example, NYC’s MyCity chatbot kept giving wrong answers even six months post-deployment and after $600,000 in investments, misinforming users about legal requirements for business owners and even basic facts such as the minimum wage.

Overall, 80% of people reported that interactions with chatbots have increased their frustration rather than leading to quicker solutions to the issues they were facing.

To avoid this, it’s crucial that chatbots are trained well on company-internal data. Ideally, they should be able to leverage customer-specific data across a number of different channels in order to provide personalized, efficient support to every person who reaches out.

2. Unaccessible siloed data

On that note, another common pitfall to avoid when implementing AI in customer service is data siloing. One of AI’s greatest strengths is its capacity to process huge amounts of data and unearth patterns and trends, condensed into actionable insights. These insights can then be leveraged for personalization and targeted strategy adjustments.

However, that’s only possible if AI actually has access to all the necessary data elements — and that is a challenge many small businesses are currently facing.

In fact, a recent study by Nextiva, a market leader in customer experience software solutions, found that among company leadership, data siloing was identified as one of the most common barriers to AI implementation. In the study, 39% of respondents agreed that they “struggled with accessibility, aggregation, integration and structure of real-time and historical data.”

To avoid this limitation, it’s essential to audit data storage and integration as soon as you start planning your AI implementation strategy. Making sure from the start that the systems you are considering integrate well — or that bridge solutions are at least available — will avoid unnecessary siloing and frustration down the line.

Related: AI Can Give You New Insights About Your Customers for Cheap. Here’s How to Make It Work for You.

3. Going overboard on hyper-personalization and automation

On the other end of the spectrum are businesses that go overboard in their enthusiasm for AI, to a degree that can appear off-putting to many customers. This includes hyper-personalization and automation processes.

While personalization is a key advantage of AI and can boost the efficiency of customer service agents and the satisfaction of the people they interact with, you don’t want to appear omniscient either. Having the impression that a company knows everything about them before they even talk to you is seen as acutely creepy by many customers.

Salesbots, in particular, often trigger the uncanny valley effect, or scare off potential customers by leveraging information they don’t feel they ought to have access to.

To steer clear of this particular pitfall, it’s essential to carefully calibrate the level of personalisation you implement and weigh its potential benefits in boosting conversions against customers’ perception of intrusiveness.

4. Forgetting human escalation options

Finally, a widespread mistake small businesses make in leveraging AI for customer service is to neglect human escalation options, especially in customer support. No matter what your AI can do, it’s always necessary to offer customers the option to talk to a human agent instead.

There is nothing more frustrating for a customer facing an urgent problem than being stuck in an ineffective conversation loop with a chatbot or a virtual phone agent when an actual person would clearly help them reach a solution far more efficiently.

Outside business hours, when AI is the only one holding down the fort, it’s often enough to offer customers the option to leave a message and assure them you will contact them as soon as possible. Other than that, though, you need to give people the option of a human lifeline to help put out an urgent fire.

Related: Does AI Deserve All the Hype? Here’s How You Can Actually Use AI in Your Business

Conclusion

In 2025, AI is an incredible asset that small businesses can leverage to elevate their customer service. It is, however, not a panacea.

To effectively harness the potential of AI and avoid common pitfalls, it’s necessary to carefully plan and train the systems you’re deploying, exercise discretion with respect to personalization and implement a human failsafe option.

By sticking to these tenets, though, you’ll be able to make the most of the opportunities AI has to offer for small businesses in customer service and increase your overall customer satisfaction.