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This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features 20-year-old college student Jacob Shaidle, founder of Ontario-based barbecue cleaning business Shaidle Cleaning. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

^{Courtesy of Shaidle Cleaning. Jacob Shaidle.}

What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I was a 15-year-old high school student when I started my side hustle, Shaidle Cleaning. I always liked physical labor, so this was a natural fit. Before I started my business, at the age of 14, I worked full-time summers at a tree farm, but when my parents told me I had to pay my way through university, I wanted to make more than minimum wage to ensure I could pay tuition. I was shocked when I found out how expensive school really was! Today, I am a full-time university student during the school year and a full-time business owner during the summer. I plan on pursuing Shaidle Cleaning full-time after I graduate.

Related: This 52-Year-Old Started a Side Hustle That Brings People Joy — and It Earns Up to $30,000 During Wedding Season: ‘There Was Real Demand’

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I started Shaidle Cleaning in the summer of 2021. My mom asked me to clean our barbecue at home and suggested that I go knocking down the street after I did such a good job. My parents mentioned cleaning neighbors’ grills to make more money than what I made at the tree farm. I never would have thought to start a business cleaning grills if they didn’t suggest it!

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground?
I needed the proper cleaning supplies to get Shaidle Cleaning off the ground. Luckily, I already had a pressure washer at home from my Dad, and I spent $400 on other equipment (100% of my savings at the time). That first summer in business, I put everything into two grocery bags and walked about a half-mile radius from my house to clean grills — I didn’t have my driver’s license or a car, so walking was my only option. By the second summer, I made enough money to buy my own car, which allowed me to expand my service area and double my revenue.

Related: She Started a Creative Side Hustle That Made $100,000 in 10 Months — Now It Earns Up to $10 Million a Year: ‘Find Your Niche’

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building your side hustle, and how did you navigate them?
My three biggest challenges with the business have been ensuring amazing quality even after hiring people, maintaining a great online presence and managing such a high volume of clients. To ensure quality of service, I found that good, well-planned training was very important. Even more important, though, was hiring hardworking, passionate people — people who had similar goals and mindsets as me and could work toward a shared goal. Having an amazing team has been the driving factor in our business’s success.

Maintaining a great online presence is really challenging as a small business competing against all these “sharks” with more clients and money to outspend us on ads. With the help of my friend Aran Giffen, we have been able to establish a great online presence, selling people on the story and our youth, passion and drive rather than the actual service we provide. We want to make it clear that we are all students with the goal of helping other students, and that is how we present ourselves.

Lastly, going from managing 100 clients a summer to more than 700 has been a huge jump. As the owner, I want to have personal conversations with each client, get them excited about the service and make sure they have the best experience every time. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough time in the day for me to do that. Instead, I have utilized the great personalities of my own workers to message, follow up and ensure the happiness of customers. We have also made client management easier with Jobber, which automatically stores all of our clients’ information, sends automated messages and keeps everything organized for me as the owner.

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
Since this is a seasonal business, I work hard each summer to ensure I increase my revenue from the previous season. In my first two months of operation in 2021, I made $5,000. The following summer, when I had my car, I doubled my revenue to $10,000. These were two-month summers in grades 11 and 12. In my first university summer, I hit my first $10,000 month and finished the summer with around $30,000.

This summer, which was my fourth summer in business, we did $100,000 in revenue in 75 days, ending the summer with roughly $150,000 in top-line revenue. As a one-man operation, it wasn’t too challenging to see consistent revenue in the summers. This is because I would typically knock on doors for one or two days to fill up my schedule for the week. This past year, we had seven technicians and 20 people in total, so it was much more challenging to stay consistent with the revenue. We had to learn quickly how to train employees, manage our sales team and deal with hundreds more customers. My best friend, Aran Giffen, has been a huge help in ensuring revenue stays consistent by managing our website, reach-out and online ads.

Related: The Side Hustle She Started in a High School Locker Room Hit Multimillion-Dollar Revenue — and Taylor Swift Is a Fan: ‘Invest in Yourself’

What does growth look like now?
I’ve been able to expand my one-man side hustle into a thriving business that has allowed me to hire dozens of high school and university students, helping them pay for their own education. With a growing, passionate and hard-working team, we aim to eventually break seven figures in revenue. Automation is a large part of being able to scale a business. We recently automated our customer communications by partnering with Jobber last summer, which has helped us tremendously. This partnership has allowed us to expand our customer base to hit 1,000 grill cleanings and six figures in revenue this year. Before Jobber, I spent a lot of my time scheduling cleanings and manually sending reminder messages to customers about their appointments — it ate up most of my day. Jobber completely takes that over by allowing customers to book their appointments online, automating reminder messages and sending invoices at the end of our service, which has freed up my time to focus on growing the business. We wouldn’t have been able to hit six figures in revenue or hire employees without this partnership.

What do you enjoy most about this side hustle?
By far, the most rewarding part of owning Shaidle Cleaning has been enabling my employees to afford their tuition and university costs. I am so proud of my team and happy with what we have accomplished so far, and I sincerely only want what is best for them. We are building a company around hardworking, dedicated and passionate students, and I value their work and effort more than anything else. My business is so much more than just cleaning grills — we’re creating a tight-knit community of students and helping them build and grow as people.

Related: She Started a T-Shirt Side Hustle as a Recent Grad Working at ‘People’ Magazine. It Led to a DM From Levi’s and $400 Million.

What’s your advice for others hoping to start successful side hustles of their own?
Find great people to surround yourself with. I used to think it would be so great to reach my big dreams on my own — more rewarding, efficient and impressive. But I was totally wrong. One of my favorite parts of my job is meeting new people who can help and enable me in different ways. It is much more rewarding to gather a group of people around a singular goal and lead them all to success than it is to do it alone. It is way quicker to build off the amazing knowledge of others to propel yourself forward in business, and it is more impressive to stick with the plan with the people around you than to hike up the mountain alone, leaving people behind.

With this message, there are four very important people I would like to mention who have helped me do amazing things in business. Aran Giffen, Brendan Quinlan and my parents. Aran joined along for the ride in year three and has been one of Shaidle Cleaning’s biggest assets. Brendan has acted as my mentor for just over a year now and has given me more knowledge, skills and advice than anyone else in business. Along with my mom and dad — who have always been by my side encouraging me no matter what and have had the pleasure of watching this grow since the very first BBQ — I am eternally grateful for these people and only wish to continue growing with them.

This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.

Tesla’s sales numbers have been down for the first two quarters of this year, but its most recent earnings report shows that numbers are up, indicating increased demand overall in the industry.

Tesla reported on Wednesday that it produced 469,796 electric cars overall, including its popular Model 3 and Model Y, and delivered 462,890 cars in the third quarter of 2024. Of those deliveries, the $29,490 Model 3 and $30,990 Model Y made up 439,975 of the vehicles shipped altogether.

Related: ‘Next Tesla’ Electric Car Startups Hit Speed Bump: ‘Investors Want To See Demand’

Compared to the 430,488 cars Tesla produced at the same time last year and the 435,059 cars it delivered at the time, production is up by about 9% and deliveries are up by about 6%.

According to Bloomberg, increased international demand for electric cars drove shipments up overall.

Demand in the electric vehicle industry is slowing down for new cars but accelerating for used ones, per CNN Business. Ford also recently attempted to drive up demand by offering free home chargers and installation with the purchase or lease of one of their cars.

^{Tesla supercharging station. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images}

The numbers in Q3 are also better than Q2 and Q1 of this year. In Q2, Tesla produced 410,831 electric vehicles and delivered 443,956 electric vehicles; in Q1 the EV maker produced 433,371 cars and delivered 386,810 cars.

The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling electric vehicle in the world last year, according to Statista estimates, with over 1.2 million cars sold. The Tesla Model 3 was the third-best, with about 530,000 vehicles sold.

Related: What Is Elon Musk’s New Master Plan For Tesla? Original Blueprint Disappears From Tesla’s Website After 18 years

Bank of America customers reported issues accessing their accounts on Wednesday, from log-in problems to balances incorrectly listed at $0.

Bank of America has acknowledged in a statement that “some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts” and the company is working on the problem.

“These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved,” the statement read. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”

According to Downdetector, there were more than 12,000 queries around 1 p.m. EST. As of 5 p.m., more than 3,000 people were still reporting issues. Reports say the problem is widespread, with people reporting outages from Los Angeles to Nebraska.

Bank of America did not yet publicly say what caused the issue but told CNN that service was mostly back to normal.

It’s true: If your business doesn’t have an online presence and a digital marketing strategy, it might as well be invisible. But digital marketing largely depends on search engine optimization (SEO) for success.

Being involved in SEO for nearly a decade, I can comfortably say that SEO isn’t easy. It requires continuous adaptation and learning because it comes with challenges. I’ve discovered though, that using artificial intelligence (AI) to address these demands is a big time and money saver in SEO.

Below, I highlight a few ways in which you can leverage AI for greater SEO efficiency and success. Let me begin by focusing on link building.

Related: Want to Elevate Your SEO Strategy? Here Are 4 Emerging Link-Building Trends You Need to Know About.

Leveraging AI for efficient link building

Although Google may shroud the inner workings of its algorithm in secrecy, one thing we can all agree on is that building effective links into your content is a ranking factor for the search engine.

The “link juice” that passes between authority websites and yours is a clear signal that your content is authoritative and trustworthy enough to link to. But everyone involved in link building knows that this is a goal that’s achieved through a lot of hard work. This is where AI steps in and what it can help you with:

• Prospecting for link opportunities: Finding prospects is no longer a long and arduous task that takes hours of research. You can simply use AI tools to help you find suitable candidates, such as web owners, organizations and bloggers, in a fraction of the time.

• Automating outreach and follow-ups: I know from experience that outreach and the follow-ups involved can be mind-boggling and oh-so-time-consuming. You need to be highly organized, but this is often hard. With AI, your outreach and follow-up efforts are automated, meaning you can focus on core tasks.

• Analyzing link profiles and identifying gaps: Analysis of link profiles can also be highly time-consuming, as is identifying potential gaps for link inclusions. Tools such as Harpa AI help you analyze broken links, enabling you to make the necessary fixes before they affect your rankings.

• Monitoring backlink performance: Wondering how well your backlinks are performing? AI tools can help with this, too. Whether it’s checking the quality of your backlinks or monitoring for unnatural link patterns, AI tools are capable of highly intelligent analysis that helps you identify patterns and areas for improvement.

Automating content creation and optimization

With generative AI tools to maximize creativity and productivity, your content ideation and generation process becomes infinitely more streamlined and efficient. Here are just a few ways I use such aids to help me:

• Research topics, keywords and content ideas: Looking for gaps in content where your blog can improve? What about high-traffic, low-competition keywords? Platforms like SE Ranking not only offer you a massive portfolio of SEO tools but can also help you with its AI-powered writing assistant.

• Generate draft content with AI writing assistants: A tool like Agility Writer can be instructed to craft your content for you. You feed it a primary keyword and it generates a draft title. You can also give it up to three external sources to study, provide it with a list of keywords, and it will generate three possible outlines that you can choose from first before proceeding to generate your article.

• Optimize content for SEO through AI-powered analysis: Using the power of natural language processing, AI can help ensure that your content is fully optimized for search engines by suggesting relevant keywords and phrases to include in your text while exploring what your competitors have ranked for. A tool such as NeuronWriter also gives you an overall content optimization score to let you know what potential your content has for ranking above the competition.

Naturally, I need to emphasize the importance of human oversight in maintaining your brand voice and content quality. After all, the last thing you want is to risk penalties from Google for AI content that does not meet its E-E-A-T guidelines for being of too low quality or “thin” and not meeting user intent.

Related: 4 Ways This SEO Expert Uses AI to Create Content — and How You Can, Too

Improving workflows and decision-making

Another area where AI tools can shine is by enhancing your SEO workflows and decision-making processes. I use various tools to help me do the following:

• Automate repetitive tasks such as keyword research and technical audits

• Provide data-driven insights to inform strategic decisions

• Enable real-time monitoring and optimization of campaigns

It’s essential to strike a balance between AI and human expertise, though. It’s about using AI as an enabler and not a final decision-maker. Its main purpose is to help you improve your productivity, but the real decision-making should be left to people.

Ensuring quality and avoiding pitfalls

While Google doesn’t necessarily penalize AI-generated content, and while AI content can rank, it’s essential to use AI responsibly to maintain content quality. A few guidelines I always stick by include:

• Establishing content guidelines and review processes

• Always looking at user intent first to answer search queries

• Leveraging AI as a tool, not a replacement for human expertise

• Adding value and original angles to content whenever possible

• Continuously monitoring the performance of AI-assisted content

Related: 3 Principles for Scaling Content With AI Without Sacrificing Quality

If you’re still doing SEO the traditional way, you’re in for a treat — because with the right AI tools, you can immensely and immediately improve your efforts and efficiency. It’s about taking the time to explore which tools work together with and not against your workflows.

In the beginning, you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed by all its capabilities. Just remember it’s there to help and not hinder. But ultimately, you need to strike the right balance between automation and human oversight for best results.

Does Bill Gates, the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of $163 billion, think he’s too rich?

Gates avoided answering “yes” or “no” in a September episode of the Netflix series “What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates.” Instead, he stated that it was “kind of wild” that billionaires even existed.

“It’s a huge amount of wealth, which if you even tried to consume it would be kind of absurd,” he said.

Related: Bill Gates Recommends These Books for Your Summer Reading List

On a podcast episode of On with Kara Swisher, which aired Monday, Gates specified that he would set up a different tax framework for the ultra-wealthy if he were in charge of tax policies, and set the rate around 62%.

“I would set tax rates quite a bit higher for rich people,” he said in the episode, titled ‘How to Tax the Rich, AI, Misinformation, & the Election.” He referenced Senator Bernie Sanders and stated, “I would not make it illegal to be a billionaire. [Bernie Sanders] would take away over 99% of what I have. I would take away 62% of what I have. So that’s a difference.”

^{Bill Gates. Photo by Mike Lawrence/Getty Images}

Gates is one of the co-founders of the Giving Pledge, an organization started in 2010 to inspire billionaires to publicly commit to philanthropy. He has given away $77.6 billion so far through the Gates Foundation.

His ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, left the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in May and announced that she would be giving $1 billion to organizations fighting for women’s rights.

Related: ‘There Is More To Life Than Work’: Bill Gates Delivers Emotional Message To Graduates About Learning To Take A Break

When was the last time you took stock of what your business has accomplished and what its legacy will be after you’re gone?

Understandably, most of us are caught up in the day-to-day demands and challenges of running our company or organization while trying to manage our personal lives. Few of us ever take the time to consider what we are working towards in the long term. Where will your business be in 10 years? In 20 years? And what if, through some unforeseen tragedy, you died today and your enterprise was forced to close – what would your obituary say, and what would be written about your business?

The “obituary test” or “eulogy test” is an exercise often used by individuals to assess their personal lives. It helps ensure they’re living in a way they’ll be proud of when they look back on their lives.

It may seem like a morbid process, but it can be a powerful tool for determining whether or not you and the organization you’ve invested so much time, effort and energy into are aligned with your personal values in a way that will endure after you’re gone. Clearly, there are many business metrics for determining the material value of what you’ve built: stock price, dividends paid out and market cap, among dozens of others.

Related: 5 Factors for Planning Your Entrepreneurial Legacy

But what if you had to answer the following questions: What is your business’ legacy? What will people say about you and your business after you’re gone? Are you happy with what they will say? There are plenty of examples of companies that have left behind terrible legacies. Think of the energy company Enron, which defrauded investors, price-gouged customers and evaporated its employees’ pensions due to its corporate greed and illegal accounting practices.

Or consider Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that was revered for over a century before its reputation was swiftly erased in a few weeks during the early days of the 2008 financial crisis. Initially, Lehman’s heavy investment in subprime mortgages helped them record astronomical profits, but when the market crashed, Lehman’s downfall was rapid and brutal. Lehman’s demise led to the biggest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history — $619 billion, with investors and U.S. taxpayers left holding the bill.

Legacy is not just about how you hope you and your business will be viewed 20 or 30 years from now. It’s about creating a business culture now in which every decision, big or small, is aligned with the ultimate legacy you hope to leave. It’s about living your legacy today and every day.

For years, the corporate model was based on maximizing profits at all costs while doing damage/reputation control through charitable donations. That’s exactly how companies like Purdue Pharmaceuticals operated. They made billions by misrepresenting the data on their highly addictive drug, OxyContin, which greatly contributed to the opioid crisis that continues to haunt America today. At the same time, the Sackler family, which ran Purdue, donated millions to the arts, charities and universities. Today, with the family’s legacy in tatters, most charities and institutions refuse to deal with the Sacklers or their trust.

What these examples illustrate is that both your personal and business legacy are determined by your actions throughout the history of their existence. It’s not just the end output of profits for shareholders or a big donation to a charity after years of unscrupulous business conduct.

Consumers want companies that are committed to more than just the bottom line of profit. They want authentic companies that walk the talk. That’s why companies like Costco are both profitable and trusted. The Reputation Management Company says that Costco has “a legacy of excellence and member satisfaction,” which is one of the reasons they are the second “most trusted company in America” (behind only Patagonia), according to a 2023 Axios survey.

They offer low prices, quality products, treat their employees well and support their local communities through charitable donations, partnerships and they pay employees to “volunteer” in the community. They walk the talk and are living their brand’s legacy from CEO to frontline employee.

Related: Leaving A Legacy: Your Business’ Success Requires A Sustainable-First Approach

So, what does the obituary test tell you about you and your company? Is your company or organization creating a legacy you can be proud of that aligns with your values? If not, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Create a legacy statement: We all know about mission statements, but consider also creating a legacy statement that articulates the impact you want your business to have in the long term – whether in your community, country or the world.

It should reflect the values you want your company to uphold and the kind of legacy you want it to leave behind. Work with your team to develop the legacy statement and incorporate it into your strategic and long-term planning to ensure your company is working towards it daily.

Carry out a legacy audit: Just as you might conduct a financial audit to assess your company’s fiscal health, a legacy audit can help evaluate the level of alignment between your operations and your values. The legacy audit should cover a thorough review of your company’s values, practices, products and culture. Identify areas where you’re on track and where you’re falling short so you can create a plan to address the gaps.

Implement a values-based decision-making matrix: To ensure that your business decisions consistently reflect your legacy statement, consider implementing a values-based decision-making framework. This framework should include a set of guiding questions or criteria that you and your team can use to evaluate key decisions. For example, “Does this decision align with our company values?” or “How will this decision impact our long-term legacy?” This approach ensures that your legacy remains front and center in your day-to-day operations.

We all want to be proud of the legacy that we leave behind. If you don’t like what you see, get to work on creating the legacy you want.

Amazon doesn’t want its employees to talk to any other AI chatbot — except Cedric.

A Tuesday report from Business Insider revealed that Amazon has a new internal AI bot called Cedric that securely allows employees to get their questions answered and generate document summaries — without ChatGPT. Amazon drew the comparison in a leaked internal document, stating that Cedric is “safer than ChatGPT” and that the tool aims to boost productivity.

Amazon’s caution with third-party chatbots isn’t new. In a January 2023 document, an Amazon lawyer warned employees from sharing code or Amazon confidential information with ChatGPT and wrote that there had already been occurrences where ChatGPT’s output aligned with internal data.

Amazon joins companies like Accenture and Edelman in creating custom AI tools for employees.

Related: Amazon CEO Mandates Employees Work in the Office 5 Days Per Week Starting January: ‘Strengthening Our Culture Remains a Top Priority’

Amazon also plans to incorporate AI into other parts of its business. Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told employees in August that in the next two years, “it’s possible that most developers are not coding” because AI will fill in the gaps.

He said that software engineers will be tasked more with innovation and thinking about customer needs than with coding.

In the second quarter of 2024, Amazon had over 1.5 million employees.

Related: Amazon Is Reportedly Tracking ‘Coffee Badging’ Workers and Their Real In-Office Hours

Real estate is one of the biggest industries in today’s world. From buying property as an investment to buying your own home, real estate impacts every person’s life in one way or another. Although it’s a beast of an industry, you do not necessarily have to work in real estate to invest in it. In fact, many people buy properties simply to make a passive income with no intention of making it their full-time job.

Here are some reasons why commercial real estate could be a great investment for you.

Related: Tap Into the Wealth Potential of Commercial Real Estate With These 5 Tips

Passive income

By investing in a property, you are going to be able to make a passive income — a check you don’t have to actively work for. Depending on the property you buy, you can rent out the space to tenants and get paid each month that they occupy the building. In turn, the income can be recycled to pay for the property and its expenses or be used to invest in other properties without having to touch other funds. This is great because this is monthly income that you do not have to actively work for.

Tax advantages

By investing in real estate, there are many deductions and breaks that can actually help when it comes to paying your taxes. Also, any money you make on the sale of the property will be seen as capital gains and not an income, therefore lowering the amount of taxes you would have to pay on that money.

Cash flow

As you rent out the property and the tenants pay their rent, you will create a steady cash flow for yourself and increase your own income. As the mortgage gets paid, this will also help build your equity, which can help you invest in more properties and build up overall wealth.

Diversification

When investing money, it is always good to invest in different types of assets to ensure you have stable and reliable returns. Commercial real estate can diversify a portfolio — and in case of a market crash, properties remain unaffected, whereas stocks and bonds plummet. It’s also a tangible asset that you can touch and feel, unlike other forms of investments. Tangible assets can help minimize the total risk in investments and help you build a profitable portfolio.

Related: 6 Key Questions You Should Always Ask Before Investing in a Commercial Real-Estate Property

Leverage

Most times, buying a piece of real estate requires an initial cash investment. That investment can gain a very high return that can completely cover the debts of the property. For example, if you pay a down payment of 20% and the other 80% is debt, the property only needs to appreciate 20% for the invested equity to be 100%. However, this comes with the risk that if the property does not become profitable, it may have to go into foreclosure if the monthly payments cannot be made.

Appreciation

Real estate investments offer a lot of potential growth and appreciation that you may not have in more classic avenues of investing. For example, an investor can choose to buy and develop a property in an area they believe is up-and-coming. In that case, as the popularity of the neighborhood increases, the value of their property significantly rises and can lead to great capital appreciation.

Inflation hedge

As the economy grows and inflation rises and falls, commercial real estate doesn’t feel the long-term impacts. Luckily, rents can be adjusted accordingly to the inflation rate and offset the impact. This results in strong rent growth and appreciation for your property, despite any worsening conditions in the economy. With other investments like stocks and bonds, inflation almost always has a negative impact.

On the flip side…

Commercial real estate, like any investment, has downsides as well.

For starters, it’s a time commitment. Investors need to put time into managing and taking care of the property and its tenants. All of the building concerns and problems fall into the lap of the owner, so that aspect needs to be taken into consideration.

This leads to another downside — managing and taking care of the building usually requires outside help, like property management companies. These companies are not cheap and can be costly. However, this is really the only way to properly run the building and avoid running into issues.

This leads to the need for cash. Unlike residential real estate, commercial properties need a lot more capital for the initial investment and then cash that needs to be put into the property to maintain it. This makes commercial real estate investing unappealing since there are a lot of costs to carry the property, and it can take time for the revenue to outweigh the costs.

Related: 5 Proven Steps to Become a Real Estate Millionaire, According to an Investor

At the end of the day, every investment comes with risks. No investment is guaranteed. However, some may be a little bit more secure than others. Commercial real estate is a great idea if you’re someone looking to diversify your portfolio and find another way to increase your wealth. Although it may be daunting, and the initial investments can be scary, the returns can be very high and worth it!

As a busy entrepreneur, you know that your time is extremely valuable. Why should you take time away from your business to focus on investing? Investing not only protects the money you’ve worked hard to earn; it also helps it grow and compound over time. If you want to do something really well, focus on mastering the fundamentals first.

This concept applies to sports, cooking, construction and anything else you can think of. In this article, we will go over three foundational strategies you are already applying within your business to excel in investing.

Whether you’re investing in gold, cryptocurrency, real estate or stocks, these three tips could transform your investing strategy. Let’s dive right into them.

Related: Why Investors With an Entrepreneurial Past Are Crucial to Startup Success

1. Ignite your portfolio with purpose

In business, everything begins with a vision. Let’s shine a light on Michael Jordan for a second. When he was asked what the number one factor to his success was, people guessed practice, hard work and luck. His actual response to that question was: “It’s an amazing thing about passion. If you love something, if you have a strong passion for something, you would go to the extreme to try to understand it or try to get it.”

Think back to when you started your business. More than likely, you were highly encouraged to pick something that genuinely excited you. This grandiose vision and enthusiasm probably made it easier to navigate through tough times and keep your eyes on the end goal.

Now, let’s apply this to investing. Are you just chasing random stocks you don’t know about because everyone else is doing it? Are you actually interested in it? Do you truly see and believe in what you’re investing in?

If things were to go south tomorrow, would your faith in the long-term vision stand firm? Having a strong vision and being enthusiastic about what you’re investing in is a key business strategy you can apply right now to elevate your investing game. You probably won’t feel the effects of this right away, but you will notice a significant difference when bumps are encountered in the road.

2. Align your gut with solid data

Gut feelings are important. As an entrepreneur, you know this. It would be nice to immediate take actions on our feelings but it is important that it is backed up by some sort of relevant data. This is especially true when it comes to investing. It’s okay to get emotionally invested in an idea or company but if the numbers don’t add up, you need to rethink your strategy.

Imagine you’re considering investing in a business that’s doing good for the world — donating a portion of profits to charity, for instance. It sounds great, and it might give you the warm fuzzies, but if the financials don’t make sense, that business won’t last. In the end, emotions are a great starting point, but it’s the data that will guide you to the right decision, ensuring that your investments not only feel good but also perform well.

3. Adapt, evolve and thrive in the new age of investing

In the fast-paced world of business, it is not the biggest, the strongest, or the richest that survives. It’s often the fastest, the most open-minded, and the most adaptable that wins in the long run. The same can be said for investing.

As Alex Hormozi said, “Maintenance is a myth. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Nothing in the universe stands still.”

The investment landscape is constantly changing, especially with emerging trends like artificial intelligence, remote work, alternative foods, health tech and green energy. You don’t need to be the first to jump on every new bandwagon, but you do need to stay informed and be ready to pivot when the opportunity presents itself.

Take a look at history. Since the beginning of time, all great fortunes were gained or lost through the various trend cycles. This includes trend cycles in civilizations, weather, food, technology, and health cycles.

Those who can spot and adapt to trends early — whether in business or investing — are the ones who reap the biggest rewards.

Related: Want Success? Invest in Your Biggest Enemy

Final words

As entrepreneurs, you already possess the mindset and skills needed to succeed in investing. The strategies that have helped you build a thriving business. Having passion, staying data driven and adapting to the trends are the same ones that can make you a successful investor.

As stated at the beginning of this article, it’s not the fancy gadgets, software or strategies that make you successful. Success comes from understanding and applying the essentials until they are mastered.

When you combine the fundamentals of vision, data and keeping up with the trends, you’ll build a portfolio that’s not only strong but also a portfolio that’s resilient, just like your business.

X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that Elon Musk bought in October 2022 for $44 billion, is now worth $9.4 billion, according to new estimates from Fidelity.

Fidelity marked down the value of X by nearly 80% (exactly 78.7%) in its Blue Chip Growth Fund annual report, filed Saturday. The filing showed that Fidelity’s initial investment of $19.66 million in X just before Musk took over was worth $5.5 million as of July 31. The Blue Chip fund invests in established companies and aims for long-term growth.

^{Elon Musk. Photo Credit: Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images}

This isn’t the first valuation cut X has received from Fidelity.

Related: Elon Musk Is Officially Moving X Out of San Francisco: ‘No Choice’

In December, Fidelity disclosed that X was worth 71.5% less than when Musk acquired it, at a valuation of $12.5 billion. In October 2023, Fidelity valued X at $19 billion.

A September 2024 media reactions report from analytics company Kantar showed that over one in four (26%) marketing firms plan to cut down ad spending on X next year, the biggest withdrawal from any major social media platform. X also had the lowest overall percentages of marketers who thought ads on the platform were trustworthy and innovative compared to Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

In October 2023, Apple, IBM, and Disney pulled ads from X after an antisemitic post from Musk. They were the eleventh, fifth, and eighth-largest advertisers on X.

Related: X Is Losing Users and Struggling to Attract Creators, According to New Data