Niall Doherty's Blog, page 65
May 30, 2024
What Would a Successful Entrepreneur Do?
From the book Atomic Habits by James Clear…
I have a friend who lost over 100 pounds by asking herself, “What would a healthy person do?” All day long, she would use this question as a guide.
Would a healthy person walk or take a cab? Would a healthy person order a burrito or a salad?
She figured if she acted like a healthy person long enough, eventually she would become that person.
She was right.
Assuming you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, ask yourself…
What would a successful entrepreneur do?What habits would they have?What would they say no to?Start acting like that kind of person, and eventually you will become them 
(Btw, here’s an excellent 28-minute summary of Atomic Habits on YouTube.)…
Launched His Job Board in 2 Hours, Just Hit $1000 Revenue
Nithursan MahendranFounder of Mo AI Jobs $1000 revenue Published May 30, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Nithursan Mahendran from Sri Lanka 
runs Mo AI Jobs, a job board for “AI jobs in machine learning.”
He recently posted that the project has earned $1000 in revenue in ~5 months.
Not a huge milestone, but impressive nonetheless, especially considering the origins 
Nithursan writes…
On December 29, I announced a fun challenge on Twitter – build and launch a product in 2 hours. I shared my idea as well – a job board for AI niche.
I was able to complete the challenge successfully. It immediately got picked up by multiple newsletters including Ben’s Bites. And then Robert Scoble shared the project on his Twitter account (500k followers). I was able to amass good traffic from this virality.
So the “build in public” approach worked well here, and I’m sure the ambition of the challenge helped draw attention 
Attention, but not revenue…
It took me nearly 1.5 months to make the first dollar with this product. It took 5 months to go from $0 to $500. And only 6 days to go from $500 to $1000.
Still, that early attention likely helped Nithursan pick up some backlinks, which improved his SEO 
He went on to build a couple of free tools which also went viral…
Will AI replace me?Review your Job Application with AINithursan monetises the site by charging for paid listings which feature atop of every other listing 
Elsewhere, he mentions how he got his first client….
I saw a founder tweeting about a position for AI software engineer at his company. So, I reached out to him to help him find more candidates for this position. He agreed and connected me with their recruiter to help with the job listing. That went really smooth. They really liked using my site. And they became a repeat customer of mine.
So far, the number one strategy working for me is cold outreaching employers to help them find more candidates. However, I never spam them with automated bulk email sending tools.
I curate all the leads carefully by myself and handwrite all the emails. I actually like it and I hate AI written automated emails.
So it’s been a slow start for Nithursan but I could see his job board doing very well if he sticks with it.
Could you build a job board for a different niche? Or focused on a specific geo? 
Another job board story for inspiration…
Perfect Side Project Has Earned Him $399,109First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
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This AI Flirting Assistant Earns $190,000/Month
Plug AIFlirting App $190,000 estimated monthly revenue Published May 30, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty 
Vlad Verba posted on Reddit…
I found a completely bootstrapped business making $190,000 per month with an app that helps you flirt using AI…
The problem the business solves is quite simple, but niche. You screenshot a message that you get on a dating platform, Snapchat, etc and upload it to the app.
The app then gives you a flirty/ clever response to send back. The idea is that this will make you better at flirting, get you more dates, etc.
While Vlad doesn’t reveal the exact app, he does say it’s a competitor of Rizz.app (demo video on TikTok).
And someone in the comments suggests the app in question is Plug AI (App Store, Google Play).
Which kinda fits with the download numbers Vlad shares
The app has 1.5 million downloads in just 4.5 months, proving that there is a market for this niche, somewhat gimmicky product.
Plug AI has 500K+ downloads on Google Play and a reported 80K downloads per month on the App Store according to Sensor Tower (free account required).
Vlad also says the premium version of the app costs $7/month, which fits with Plug AI.
Apparently the app was listed for sale for $3.5 million and had a 60% profit margin 
but the listing is no longer online.
This kind of thing doesn’t sound all that complicated to create.
They’re likely using OpenAI to read the screenshots and generate clever responses to the user 
You could get started building something similar via this 10-minute YouTube tutorial…
Build an AI ‘chat with image’ app in 10 minutes | Bubble x OpenAI…Vlad again…
[The success of this app] illustrates the fact that just because something is a wrapper, doesn’t mean it’s a bad business.
This company (and others) was able to find a unique angle in the AI space, and effectively capitalized on it…
But I think this business perfectly illustrates that there are endless possibilities and angles out there with AI.
What other unique angles could be worth exploring in the AI space?
Think about something you struggle with on a daily basis
Could you create an AI app to solve that problem?
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May 27, 2024
$12K/Month Creating Books For Kids (With AI)
Tom RyanFounder of Selfarama $12,000 monthly revenue Published May 27, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Tom Ryan is the founder of Selfarama, an AI-powered service that creates “educational books starring your child”
Tom recently shared on Reddit that he’s earning $3K/week from it, so about $12K/month
He writes…
This is about one year in. Completely solo, bootstrapped. Been marketing for about two months…
Spending about $1k to get that [$3K/week]. Otherwise, just hustling any way I can always.
His Reddit post is a good example of marketing simply by telling his story, as attests to…
I’m going to order one for my daughter, she’ll absolutely love this
Tom explaining how the business works…
I put together print-ready documents then a print partner prints, binds and ships. I do all customer comms like tracking codes etc…
I get incoming webhooks for all production and shipping events. Then I keep the customer updated, so they can make sure it doesn’t get left in the rain etc. and I can follow up two days later and ask “hey, do you love it? If not, let’s fix that. If you do, tell your friends!!
He then adds
Last thing about printers… the big global networks are easy and kinda expensive. Using locals is cheaper. Not sure which is better for me… I want this to get on autopilot eventually.
Which brings me to PhotoAI, another AI-powered business. Founder Pieter Levels tweeted a few months back…
First version was an index.html + @Stripe link + @Typeform to upload photos, then I manually dl’d the photos and uploaded them to the GPU
…current version as a web app after 1Y: 100% automated, 1850 customers @ $79K MRR
Point being, you don’t need to automate everything from Day 1 
Do things that don’t scale until you’ve proven your idea has legs.
Returning to Tom’s business, a couple of ideas off the back of that
First, someone could probably do similar with books or greeting cards featuring people’s pets. Or perhaps an AI-powered version of Van Woof, a profitable business that creates Renaissance-style oil paintings of pets 
Second, remember that fun promo video by Marc Lou, where he places himself as a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast?
I’m thinking that could be a service, helping people create funny fake interview videos to promote something.
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Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
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$500,000 in 8 Months By Selling His Sawdust
Marc LouFounder of ShipFast $500,000 revenue in 8 months Published May 27, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Marc Lou is the founder of ShipFast, a code template that gives you the basic features of any app – eg. billing, emails, logins – to help you ship faster 
Back in December, Marc wrote…
After being fired by Tai Lopez in November 2021, I discovered the build-in-public community on Twitter.
It changed my life. In 2 years:
I launched 17 products
I grew this newsletter to 7,000 readers
I grew a Twitter account to 55K followers
I reached $65,000/month at 91% margin and 0 employee
And made new inspiring friends
His journey started back in 2016…
…when I believed I was Mark Zuckerberg.
It took 2 years to make my first $1 online. Later, I grew a SaaS to $3,000 MRR, but I started to see my journey as a failure after 4 years of grind. I got depressed in 2021 and quit entrepreneurship.
He then applied for a job and ended up working for Tai Lopez – knowledge! – but got fired later that year…
It didn’t matter. I had a dream. I discovered my role models on Twitter: Pieter Levels, Danny Postma, and other cool kids working solo on their projects from anywhere in the world, making much more money than needed to live comfortably.
I wanted freedom. I was living in Bali with my Korean wife, $20,000 in the bank, no audience, and bad coding skills.
That’s when he started shipping…
In 6 months, I launched 7 projects without thinking about business, just for fun. I learned much about coding, SEO, writing, launching, and marketing. My Twitter account reached 1,000 followers in July 2022.
Those first projects were earning him “a few hundred $” every month.
Marc was much more into coding than marketing, but enjoyed making fun launch videos like this one, where he edited himself into an interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast 
People enjoyed and shared them, creating a viral loop. Each side-project grew my Twitter following and brought decent traffic.
In 2023…
I was still not making enough to cover my cheap lifestyle.
So I did the 2021 strategy again: Ship startups like a madman. But this time, I applied some rules:
– No free plan
– Only painkiller product
– Move on if no product market fit
I built 8 startups in 8 months. 6 made money. 2 paid the bills. Ship fast, launch viral, repeat.
In July 2023 I was making ~$3,000/month.
By this time, Marc had figured out and simplified his approach to entrepreneurship…
Ship fast, launch viral, repeat.
Until you find something that works, then stick to it 
He ended up selling the 2 projects that were making him money…
I sold my AI landing page generator for $35,000 and my habit tracker for $10,000. It gave me time and clarity.
Then…
On September 1st, I launched ShipFast, a NextJS boilerplate to ship startups fast. I packed 2 years of shipping knowledge in a GitHub repo.
I told my wife we’d be lucky if we made $100 with it. By the end of the month, ShipFast made $40,000. I was blown away. It’s hard to describe product market fit, but when it hits, it’s clear.
In a recent tweet, Marc revealed that ShipFast has since sailed past $500,000 in revenue 
That product is a great example of selling your sawdust: “stuff you already created as a side-effect” of something else.
Also worth emphasizing that Marc started his journey way back in 2016, so it has taken him 8 years of learning and failing before hitting it big 
One of his tips…
Even if it’s a stupid idea, build it. You will get more and better ideas, sharpen your skills, and stay motivated.
First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
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Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
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This 5-Page Website Earns €1000 Per Month
Toni ManolacheOwner of Jimpl.com €1000 monthly revenue Published May 27, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Check out Jimpl, a simple 5-page website that lets you upload an image, then shows you its metadata, like when and where the image was taken 
Per a recent interview, the site makes €1000/month (about $1090 USD) via display ads.
Toni Manolache, the owner of the site says…
I’m a web developer, but I’m not the one who created Jimpl.
I needed to check the metadata for an older photo and that’s how I discovered Jimpl.
I really liked how simple, fast and to the point it was, so I emailed the owner and asked if he was interested in selling…
He agreed to sell it and we met in Budapest to make the deal.
The site was originally launched in 2010 and apparently grew organically over the years
So not exactly something that would be easy to replicate in a hurry.
But there are probably lots of nice little cash-generating sites like this that could be acquired.
Keep an eye out for them as you’re browsing the web looking for a specific solution like Toni was doing
And if you do want to build something like Jimpl yourself, check out this story for inspiration…
300K Monthly Visits From Free Tools (Build With AI)First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
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See our latest profiles of Online Money Makers
Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
Other ways to make money onlineThere are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
Full list of ways to make money onlineMore profiles of online money makers Subscribe to eBiz Insider Every Tuesday and Friday we email 22,795 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.
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One of the Best Ways to Earn $60-90K Per Year
Nic Conley tweets…
The biz you can start in a weekend: Outsourced local services…
If you can make a website and get on phone calls, there’s no reason why you can’t build this.
Step one…
Find a high margin in-person local service.
This can be something like photography, drone photos, closet organization.
Search thumbtack for ideas.
Next
Use thumbtack again to find the contractors to fulfill the services that you sell.
The key is to find contractors who have a few good reviews, but are likely hurting for leads.
You want to find Bob who has 7 hires on Thumbtack, not Samantha with 300 hires and 50 five star reviews.
Do a search on Google for Bob and get his personal number.
Give him a call and tell him you have more business than you can handle, and you’d like to sub some of it out to him.
Get a ‘standard’ price from Bob. You’ll double his price when you sell it to your clients.
Then…
Build your local site and get a GoogleMyBusiness
Get friends to leave 5 star reviews on your Google My Business account…
To generate leads…
Write a bunch of blog posts about photography in your town.
Post in local Facebook groups.
Send all traffic to a “contact us” form on your website.
When you get a new lead, call them as soon as you possibly can. Time is of the essence.
Ask them more about what they want. Once you’ve got a good idea, charge them 2X Bob’s price. That gives you 50% margins.
Of course, it’s easier said than done…
This is a bit over simplified, but I know it works because I’ve done it.
It’s straightforward, but not easy.
Last words from Nic…
Will you make $200K+/year doing this? Unlikely.
But it’s probably one of the best ways to replace a $60-$90K/year salary
We’ve featured people doing this kind of thing before
So it’s definitely doable.
What services could you do this for in your local area?
May 23, 2024
The Scrappy Origins of a $200K/Month Business
Amar GhoseCo-founder of ZenMaid $200,000 monthly recurring revenue Published May 23, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Amar Ghose is the co-founder of ZenMaid, software that makes it easier to manage maid service and cleaning companies 
Per a recent interview, ZenMaid now earns $200K in monthly revenue
Amar shares how they got started back in 2013…
We used cold email to get the first hundred customers or so.
At some point along the way, my co-founder applied to join one of the [Facebook] cleaning groups.
The admin of the cleaning group, who wasn’t happy with her software vendor at the time, contacted us.
I think on the first day that we talked to her, she told us one thing that she wanted in the software.
Me and my co-founder pulled an all-nighter to go back to her the following day and show her, “Hey, this is the exact customized work order that you asked for.”
So that single partnership opened up the next probably 50 or so leads.
So while the business now has 3000+ customers and earns $2.4 million per year, it all started with a scrappy attitude and a willingness to go the extra mile
What also worked well to grow the business…
There’s never been any sort of magic bullet, but the closest thing to a magic bullet for ZenMaid was doing the Maid Summit…
We literally saw that in the following 6 months after doing the Maid Summit, every single one of our metrics across our sales and marketing funnel increased. We saw higher conversion rates, more leads, and all of that stuff.
There was something about the brand building and trust built through this.
In a nutshell, the Maid Summit is a virtual summit in the maid service industry where we bring together [40-60] industry experts.
We’re very focused on people that specifically serve our industry, not random accountants for small businesses or the like.
That’s been massive for us. It has helped to drive a ton of partnerships because we deliver the audience to some of the consultants.
Great idea.
Perhaps something you could emulate if your business targets a specific industry?
Or, maybe you could help organize and run such online events for established companies?
Lastly, some wise words from Amar on X…
Don’t compare yourself to others.
It took us over 3 years to get to 10k MRR while I had friends jumping out to 30k+ in the same time period. Some are still ahead of us, most are not.
Impatience with actions, patience with results.
First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 22,728 legendary subscribers.
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See our latest profiles of Online Money Makers
Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
Other ways to make money onlineThere are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
Full list of ways to make money onlineMore profiles of online money makers Subscribe to eBiz Insider Every Tuesday and Friday we email 22,728 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.
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From Failure to $100K/Month in 5 Years
Marie MartensCo-founder of Tally $100,000 monthly recurring revenue Published May 23, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder app that she launched in 2020 with her partner Filip Minev
She recently tweeted…
March 2021: $1K MRR
March 2022: $15K MRR
March 2023: $50K MRR
March 2024: $100K MRR
Bootstrapped from scratch and far from done.
In her own words…
Tally is an intuitive form builder (you can just start typing as in a text document) and we offer unlimited forms and submissions for free.
They make money by offering pro features like teams, workspaces and custom domains.
How Marie and Filip came up with the idea…
Google Forms is very functional but doesn’t look good, and tools like Typeform, Jotform, and Formstack make you hit a paywall very fast (and can be expensive depending on what type of form you’re building).
It is a very competitive space, but we felt like there was a place for a new type of form builder experience with a different business model.
We wanted to make form building easy, beautiful, and free without limits (so there are no limits on the number of responses, input fields, or forms).
On validation and initial traction…
We shared our MVP for the first time with friends and family in August 2020. Our MVP was a very basic version of the form builder…
After processing their feedback, we started with cold outreach to creators, Indie Hackers, and startup founders who might be interested in our product.
We scanned Product Hunt and Twitter, made lists of hundreds of prospects, and started doing cold outreach, asking for their feedback.
Building on the initial momentum
In March 2021 we felt ready to launch on Product Hunt. We had a small community of 1.500 users and released some of the crucial features to be able to compete with other form builders out there.
Our launch was a rollercoaster and we ended as product #4 of the day. We doubled our user base (from 1.500 to 3.000 users) after the launch and Product Hunt has been an instrumental step in gaining exposure.
The free version of Tally comes with a little branding which surely helps them with exposure. Looks like each free form also links back to the Tally website, which is great for SEO 
Marie says about 3% of their free users eventually upgrade to Tally Pro.
She also has some advice that goes against the “riches are in the niches” approach many people recommend…
Building a business and generating revenue in a large addressable market is easier than in a niche. The demand is there, and there are more people to sell to, which makes scaling and growing easier.
Also interesting to hear that Tally was born out of a crisis…
In 2019, we launched Hotspot, a marketplace for hotels and travel influencers, but when COVID hit we quickly lost half of our clients. A couple of sleepless months later we decided to pivot, and Tally was born.
Here they are, 5 years on from a big business failure, earning more than $1 million per year in a crowded market
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$12K/Month Editing Shorts in the Brazilian Countryside
Erick UlrichCo-founder of Conect $12,000 monthly revenue Published May 23, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty 
Erick Ulrich describes himself as…
…an 18-year-old boy from southern Brazil – imagine like farms, lots of forest, and nothing to do lol.
He’s also the co-founder of Conect, a short-form video content agency
In a recent interview, he says…
Our [monthly recurring revenue] is around $12K
Back in 2021 Erick was working in a video editing agency but the boss made them work long hours…
It was HELL. But that’s where I met my partner Gustavo, who was Head of sales at the time.
Their boss kept screwing the employees…
he promised views & quality & turnaround times to clients which we never delivered on. And he knew that. He did it on purpose just to close the deals.
Erick and Gustavo eventually got fed up and started their own business doing the same thing…
I set up a website using my mom’s company name… the domain was being paid by my mom but it was like $5 a year…
Then…
– December 2022: Design website, socials.
– Started cold dm-ing clients from the boss’ agency that had dropped him.
– On the 28th of December I closed 2 clients and made around $500 rev that month.
So, they basically reached out to the unhappy clients at their old job, offering them a better solution
Also…
In January, we kept sending cold DM-s on instagram, and made around $2800 of rev. Profit was a bit low due to the costs like design, videos, and etc.
What worked…
Cold-Dm a list on instagram / Asking for referrals / Google ads…
With the “worked” methods, we went from 0 to 20 active clients in 3 months which made us $16k (in that 3rd month) – now we have around 35 clients, half of which are active.
To find more clients, they’ve been scaling up to 500 DMs per day, which I assume they are automating somehow
Anyway, I reckon a lot of people could emulate this kind of service business.
Demand for short-form video production only seems to be increasing with lots of bloggers getting into it nowadays and seeking help.
You don’t need expensive tools for this either. AppSumo has lots of lifetime deals on video editing software that you could use to get started.
Could you give this a go?
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Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
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