Niall Doherty's Blog, page 93
September 25, 2023
Compression is Needed to Explode Gunpowder
You might have heard of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, The Count of Monte Cristo
It’s about an innocent young man (Dantes) who is betrayed by a jealous rival and spends 14 years in prison, much of it in isolation.
Eventually he escapes, finds a hidden treasure, and returns home to exact his revenge
While in prison, Dantes befriends a wise and industrious old priest who has been in captivity for many years.
After getting to know him well, Dantes says to the priest…
I was reflecting, in the first place, upon the enormous degree of intelligence and ability you must have employed to reach the high perfection to which you have attained. What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?
The priest replies…
Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced — from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.
Sure, being in prison sucked.
But the priest saw that there were some advantages to his situation, compared to being a free man, and he sought to exploit them.
Might be a good thing to keep in mind when you’re going through a tough time yourself
In the words of Napoleon Hill…
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
Fiverr Freelancer to $24K Website Projects

Published September 25, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Linda Groeneveld is the founder of Studio Soaked, a web design agency based in the Netherlands
I stumbled across her story via a recent video interview…
From Fiverr to $24k Websites…Linda started out as a graphic designer in Amsterdam, working for various agencies. After a while, she wanted to branch out on and start her own agency (around 2008).
Linda realized that when clients would ask her to design their website, she could provide the visual designs but not actually build the site
She also noticed that clients were willing to pay more to the developers who would implement her designs. So she set about gaining those technical skills herself.
She tried learning to code but realized it wasn’t her thing. But she eventually came across Webflow (around 2018-19), a no-code website builder.
To find her first Webflow client…
I just put myself out there with a profile and I got my first Webflow website client through Fiverr.
This was Linda’s first ever Webflow site, but the experience gave her confidence
It went so well, good and easy. And the client was super happy.
From that initial client, Linda started getting more Webflow projects through referrals from friends and family.
I didn’t really have a niche. So it was all over the place.
As her portfolio grew, businesses noticed her work and reached out looking to hire her.
Over time, as Linda honed her skills in Webflow and developed a portfolio of high-end website projects, she began getting inquiries from bigger companies who liked her style
By this time she had worked on a couple of projects for financial companies.
She explains….
I [helped] launched a [financial] website and just a couple of months later, a company from the financial district in Amsterdam called me and they were like, yeah, we want to rebrand and redo our Webflow website.
Financial companies became a niche for Linda…
I think by having a good design website, you can really establish trust and show that these people or companies are the experts within their niche.
Now Linda works almost exclusively with financial companies, law firms, and other professional services…
It’s much easier to work with premium clients. The communication goes faster.
And premium clients = premium prices
Which is how Linda can charge $24,000 for a no-code website nowadays.
To me this is another great example of how taking on small projects can lead to much bigger things.
Linda doesn’t say how much she charged for her first Webflow project on Fiverr, but I suspect it worked out to something like $2 an hour
But it was that crappy project that led to $24k clients down the road.
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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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Works 1 Day a Week, Earns $11K/Month

Published September 25, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Check out Bank Statement Converter, which allows you to…
Easily convert PDF bank statements from 100s of banks world wide into clean Excel (XLS) format.
According to live Stripe data, that project is earning $11,000 in monthly recurring revenue
Founder Angus Cheng lives in Hong Kong and shared his story in a recent interview…
I had just quit my job [and I] was looking for something to build. A friend of mine wanted to work with me on something so we were both on the lookout for ideas.
One day I wanted to analyze my spending so I logged onto my online banking account in search [of] a CSV feed. They didn’t have one, all they could give me were PDF bank statements.
I downloaded all the statements, then wrote some code to extract the data I wanted. It was incredibly fiddly. I thought it would take about an hour, but I think I spent 10 hours on the script.
He adds…
I thought “If I have this problem, maybe someone else does”.
So I pitched my friend the idea “Let’s make a web app that extracts transaction data from PDFs”. He was keen. I went over to his place two or three times and we hacked out an MVP and got it into production.
To get their first users, Angus tried Google Search Ads, spending about $1000 per month.
But the return was poor: $200 revenue for $858 in ad spend. His partner soon dropped out, saying he found the project to be “a bit too boring”
Angus persisted and eventually switched to a subscription model priced at $20 per quarter. He also improved the PDF processing.
Revenue jumped to $740 from just 20 users that month
Around that time, Angus came across this article which convinced him to try content marketing.
He started writing blog posts, got lucky with one hitting the front page of Hacker News – see all his HN submissions here – and began ranking better on Google
Angus writes…
At this point I learn that content marketing is a much more effective marketing strategy than paying for clicks. Good content can bring in traffic for years, whereas once you stop paying for ads, they stop bringing in traffic.
More simply, I wasn’t able to make money while running ads. It was clear to me the strategy had to stop.
Today Bank Statement Converter makes money from monthly and yearly subscription plans ranging from $5 to $20 per month.
Revenue has steadily grown to $11,000 MRR while costs are only around $1000 per month
Angus also notes…
At the moment I dedicate one day a week to the business.
On that day he responds to user messages and fixes any issues reported.
Such a simple, low-maintenance product earning him 6 figures a year… gotta love it
Angus’ advice for anyone starting out…
Get your product live immediately. Talk to your users. Keep the product simple.
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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.
Other ways to make money onlineThere are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
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September 21, 2023
PDF App: Zero to $16K/Month in 3 Months

Published September 21, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
PDF.ai is an app that lets you “chat with any PDF document”
Owner Damon Chen recently tweeted…
PDF.ai hits $200K ARR in 3 months. Let me explain to you how you can replicate the same “overnight success”:
1. Invest $20k in a new product with zero revenue.
2. Spend $10k on a new domain for rebranding.
3. Launch a lifetime campaign to validate the market.
4. Transition pricing plan to subscription.
5. Use LTD revenue to hire a full-time influencer for daily videos.
6. Hire a dedicated full-time developer.
7. Keep exceeding customer expectations, every single day.
8. Create non-stop hype on social media.
You call it luck, I get it, so do I! But without steps 1-8, luck is nowhere.
The app was originally called Looseleaf, and it was generating $0 in revenue when Damon acquired it for $20k
We covered the story of Looseleaf here…
Sold His App for $20K Within 48 Hours of LaunchingApparently the app now has “300,000+ happy users” and generates $16K/month (ie. $200,000 ARR)
How did Damon make that happen in only 3 months?
I reckon a key move was hiring the “full-time influencer for daily videos”
Looks like this was one of their first Reels that went viral (2M+ views)…
I wish I had this as an undergrad…Damon tweeted…
We post the same to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Instagram performs 10x better than TikTok
I see he’s also adding PDF related tools on the site as a way to grow traffic from SEO
Damon on his marketing strategy…
The strategies I use are nothing but social media, videos, SEO, sponsorships, and ads. I do nothing beyond these.
Some strategies may work for PDF.ai, some may not. But one common strategy that works for all is being consistent. Consistency is the strategy for everything.
Every day, I will be thinking about what content I can create for my products, just trying to keep them hot for as long as I can.
Past features on Damon in this newsletter
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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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Underpricing By $14,700
Patrick McKenzie talks about meeting up with a business friend for coffee…
A couple of minutes into the coffee date, he locked me in a conference room with him and one of the cofounders of the company and said, “We just want ask you some questions about the stuff that you do, in terms of search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization, that sort of thing.”
Patrick had experience and liked to be helpful. So he went ahead and dropped knowledge bombs for the next 3 hours
At the end of it all, his friend said…
I just want you to know that if today had not been a coffee date, you could have charged for this conversation and I would be pulling out my checkbook right now and write you a check for it.
Patrick was a young engineer when this happened, and figured his time was worth about $100 an hour
He said as much, and got back an astonishing reply…
“No, I think I’ve got $15,000 worth of value out of this. I would write you a check for $15,000 right now.”
He asked his cofounder, “Do you think $15,000 is about right?” His cofounder said, “Well, I don’t know about $15,000.”
I’m like, “Oh, thank God. Sanity.”
His cofounder said, “For $15,000, I would need to see a printed report about it too. But $5000, yeah. We could pay that out of the petty cash.”
It blew my mind.
So…
Patrick wasn’t even thinking to charge for those 3 hoursIf he did charge, he figured his contribution was worth $300 maxOne “client” figured Patrick’s contribution was worth $15,000Another figured it was worth at least $5,000Patrick’s takeaway
If you are genuinely creating value for businesses, you are no longer in the “trade defined small units of time for defined small units of money” business model. This is what most employees do. This is how you have spent most of your life working. You have left that life behind.
Failing Forward: $10,144 in 100 Days

Published September 21, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Marat Miftakhov is a software engineer from Serbia who recently challenged himself to earn $100,000 in 100 days.
He wrote about his experience on Reddit.
Marat had no prior experience in sales or entrepreneurship, but he decided to push himself outside his comfort zone
During the 100 days he tried…
Creating a mobile appCreating some digital productsOffering mentoring services for new programmersMaking YouTube videosFreelancingIn total, after 100 days, Marat ended up earning $10,144… far short of his ambitious $100K goal
He writes…
I failed. I’ve made 10X less than I aimed to make…
…I’m happy that I’ve made 10K and I believe if my goal was $10K I would make only $1K or so.
Also…
I learned something new about myself. I’m happy to know that I can work hard and be disciplined. It gives me confidence that I can achieve anything I want, that I won’t quit.
So it seems there might be something to that saying…
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
But here’s the most interesting part to me
$8000 of Marat’s earnings – ie. the vast majority – came from…
a freelance project where I work as a backend developer, just like my main job. I understand it’s not very entrepreneurial because it’s just a job
Next best was the $2115 he earned from mentoring other programmers.
Which means he earned only $29 from all his other efforts combined
Through this experience, Marat realized…
at this stage it seems like [freelance programming is] the best option to make some money, because I already have the skill
True, freelancing may not be “very entrepreneurial,” but who cares?
Money is money
If freelancing is the best way to earn a living online – and it usually is, especially for people just starting out – then embrace it.
In my experience, this progression works well for most folks…
Start with freelancing or a remote jobAs you gain experience, increase your rate

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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.
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

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Musician Makes $50K Passive Income From an Ebook

Published September 21, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Emmett Cooke tells his story in a recent video…
Back in 2008, I worked in a call center taking AOL tech support calls from the elderly who needed help with their dial up internet connection, which as you imagine was about as fun as sticking cornflakes in your ears. But luckily we all lost our jobs and so I began following my real passion which was writing music
He started composing stock music and licensing it to various projects. After a few years, Emmett had established himself as a bit of an expert in the industry.
He was active on forums and social media, answering questions and writing blog posts about the topic. As a result, he started getting emails from other composers seeking his advice.
It got Emmett thinking: could he package up his knowledge into an ebook product?
He knew he first needed to validate the idea before investing significant time into it.
So he did just that…
I made a mockup of the e-book, bought a domain and used a free service called LaunchRock to build a quick and easy email signup form where I could direct users to so they could enter their email address and get notified when I had a product ready.
Within a week, Emmett had 300 email signups from people interested in the ebook. This validated there was demand
Then it was time to create the content. Emmett turned the common questions he received into chapters and outlines. He continually asked his email list and social media followers for more feedback on what to include.
After a month of writing, the ebook was complete: The Business of Music Licensing
By the time he launched in 2013, Emmett had over 2,100 subscribers waiting for the product.
The results?
The ebook brought in over $10,000 in sales its first month, $46k over the first 4 years, and more than $50k overall
(The book was priced at $9.99 initially but later increased to $24.99.)
Emmett’s total costs to produce and market the product = $839.
So his profit was probably more than $50k as well
The main things Emmett did to market the ebook…
1. Email: In the first month, my email marketing plan was to email everyone [multiple times]… almost 50% of the list purchased using this method within the 1st month.
2. Facebook ads: At the time, Facebook trialed a feature that allowed you to show an advert to your friends and their friends, so I used that really successfully… Unfortunately this was a temporary feature that Facebook killed faster than a sneeze in a library.
3. Continued posting on my social media to my pretty small following
4. I reached out to as many blogs and reviewers as I could find asking them to write about the release and offering them review copies.
That was it.
If Emmett could do it over again…
I should have set up a blog on the website, taken content from the eBook and re-write it into more digestible content which could be used as a traffic source from Google, resulting in more sales from organic traffic.
My key takeaway here is the value of building an audience before creating a product.
As Emmett’s story shows, it’s fairly easy to validate an idea and pull off a successful launch once you have a tribe of people who see you as an expert
Reminds me of that tweet by Jack Butcher…
Build distribution, then build whatever you want.
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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.
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

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September 18, 2023
1st Year Affiliate Marketing = Less Money Than Working at McDonalds
Gael Breton tweets….
We surveyed over 2,200 affiliates in the biggest industry survey EVER!
See all the results of the study here.
Gael highlights one of the key findings
How much do affiliates make?
The average is $8,038 / month
But in your first year you probably will make less than a job at McDonald’s at $636 / month average.
Only those who stick to it tend to make 5 figures / month or more.
That holds true for all higher-level businesses, IMO.
You should expect to earn very little from them in the first year or two.
Only if you stick with it and put in lots of work up front do you stand a chance of eventually earning significant passive income
Even in my own journey with eBiz Facts, I worked my ass off but didn’t earn much money in the first year or so.
Almost a year after I started, my business expenses for one month amounted to $2210 while my affiliate income was only $192
(I actually worked at a McDonald’s many years ago, and they definitely paid me more than that.)
But, by the same month the following year, my hard work had really started to pay off…
$16,699 affiliate income$5,326 expenses (including a new laptop)
Back to Gael’s insights from that survey…
Who makes more money?
Affiliates who pick niches based on market research or affiliates who pick niches based on interests
Answer: Affiliates who pick niches based on market research.
BUT early on, niches based on interests outperforms.
I’d add that ideally you’d pick a niche that checks both boxes…
You’re interested in it
It’s supported by market research
Again, that’s what I did with eBiz Facts.
I had a strong interest in my niche, but I still did a ton of market research upfront to make sure it had good earning potential before committing to it.
That said, I’m often surprised by super-niche projects that earn good money online.
For example…
The Dancing Sausage Charging $50,000 Per Post$40K/Month With Line Drawings of Unicorns (And Other Things)She Earns $5000/Month Redesigning People’s SignaturesI never thought there would be a market for any of those, but it goes to show that you can earn a living doing pretty much anything online if you combine large doses of passion and patience.
As I always say though, if your goal is to earn a living online within weeks rather than years, you best start with freelancing or a remote job
$14K/Month College Sports Newsletter

Published September 18, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Matt Brown was recently interviewed on the Send & Grow Podcast
Matt was a sports writer at Vox before being laid off in April 2020 due to the pandemic.
With lots of free time on his hands, he decided to start his own newsletter called Extra Points which covers the business side of college sports: media rights, coaching changes, budget analysis, and more.
Matt already had expertise in data analysis and college sports, which allowed him to create a newsletter with unique insights.
Extra Points quickly found an audience, gaining 100 paid subscribers within 48 hours of launch
Matt attributes his fast start to having an existing following on Twitter and relationships in the industry.
About a year in, Matt found it difficult to manage the day-to-day of producing the newsletter while also trying to grow his audience. That’s when he sold to D1.ticker, a company that covers the latest news in college athletics.
Matt said in the interview…
I was also fortunate because when this started… the business of college athletics was becoming a more important news vertical. Many entities reached out about buying me.
And I talked with several of them and I had a partner with a company called D1.ticker… they are a B2B focused just college sports industry publication.
And so the way that it works now is that I’m a 1099 employee there. I have full editorial control over the newsletter… [and] they share some of the operational expenses in exchange for revenue share.
D1.ticker has a full-time sales person who spends most of his time selling subscription packages for Extra Points. And we share some of the tech costs.
Extra Points now has around 16,000 total subscribers and ~3,000 paid.
The payment plans are $8/month or $75/year. So my conservative estimate is that the newsletter generates over $150,000/year from paid subscribers (after discounts on bulk orders).
And they make another $15,000/year or so from sponsorships and affiliate deals. (Matt says 90% of their income is from paid subs.)
In total, that’s about $165,000 a year or $14,000 a month
Matt’s advice for anyone thinking to launch a newsletter…
The mistake [most people make] is not really focusing enough on what differentiates your product.
I think the thing that has made Extra Points successful has been the fact that I write a lot of information that our consumers really can’t find anywhere else… whether that is through original reporting, whether that’s picking up the phone and getting other analysis…
… If I had decided to make this… “Here’s five links with a paragraph of analysis about the sports business world” … I might have a larger audience, but I would definitely not make as much money and… I wouldn’t have some of the professional relationships so this wouldn’t be as deep.
In other words, Matt didn’t just do the easy thing of starting another curated newsletter.
There are a ton of those nowadays. And while they can add some value, Matt’s approach of offering original insights and analysis clearly has more potential
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Turning her Passion for Rome into $16K/Month

Published September 18, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Elyssa Bernard is the founder of Romewise, a website for travelers to get the most out of their trips to Rome
She shared in an interview…
I met my husband traveling, with a backpack, back in 1997. We got married in 1999, and were living in the States… in 2001 we decided to move back to Rome and open a bed and breakfast.
Elyssa writes on her site
I used to sit with all our guests, and talk to them about what they were going to do that day. I’d say, wait a minute, you shouldn’t do that, or you should try this restaurant, or you should consider going there, etc.
She wanted to help travelers avoid the mistakes she made on her first visit to Rome.
Over the years of running their B&B and answering guests’ questions, Elyssa amassed a ton of insider knowledge about Rome. She realized this information could benefit many more travelers, not just their hotel guests.
So in 2009 she launched Romewise to share her passion and expertise about the city
The site took off thanks to the helpful, in-depth content.
Elyssa explains…
When we create pages for this website, we pour hours of research, planning, information, photograph curation and writing into it. It usually takes about 2-4 weeks to write one page.
Such effort and diligence has led to over 100,000 organic visitors per month
Elyssa monetizes the site through a mix of display ads, affiliate links for tours and tickets – eg. on this page – and her own ebooks and other products.
Elyssa is a subscriber to this newsletter and recently told us via email…
I think this year we will be close to grossing just under 200k. We also recently launched florencewise.com and we believe it will turn a profit by the end of the year.
So that’s about $16,000 per month, mainly from one website about a popular tourist destination
Reminds me of a couple of other stories we’ve featured…
$12k/month website about San Francisco$50k/month blogging about Mexico$2500/month website + newsletter about MallorcaI reckon there are plenty more opportunities to create profitable sites like these.
Really, there should be one for every popular tourist destination.
Google around and see if any sites exist for places you’re familiar with.
Even if there are, ask yourself: how could I make something even better?
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Sign up to get the next edition of eBiz Insider delivered to your inboxHPWe'll first send a confirmation email to make sure it’s you
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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

Every Tuesday and Friday we email 18,594 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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