Depends. If you’re in a brick-and-mortar style business or a home services type business, absolutely get some business cards. Be sure and have your website or, better still, a QR code that takes them to your website without them having to type it out.

If you’re in tech, though, specifically anything to do with software or marketing? I’m finding that at most events I go to, everyone’s just scanning each others’ LinkedIn QR codes these days. And an instant connection request means you’re more likely to remember where you met that person, too.

That’s exactly where my mind went!

The people saying ChatGPT revolutionized their business are of 2 camps:

1. People who use it to “help”. It gets you started quickly - like you mentioned, it’s good at creating first drafts of outlines, helping you brainstorm. It’s not (yet) able to really craft good content, but it’ll definitely speed things up. I know people who are using it as an online helper for their consultancy businesses because it’s so good at the brainstorming.
2. People who are really not good at writing. For them, the boilerplate that ChatGPT churns out is miles better than their own efforts. AND it’s quick. So think someone in a third world country trying to pitch services to people in the west: their written English may be good by local standards but sounds stilted or even downright wrong to native English speakers. ChatGPT is life changing for that person.

The bottom line is, it’s not a panacea. The buzz is deserved in some scenarios, but can be very misleading. You cannot (yet) trust it to do all your writing for you. BUT, keep using it, and I predict within a few years, it or another LLM will be actually good enough to do a lot of the work you’re doing right now.

In med school, you won’t be making much money, and you’ll have astronomically high expenses. Save up as much as you can before you start, so that you can avoid massive student loans. Assume you won’t be living in that luxury penthouse while in school (you won’t have the income necessary to support that).

Once you’ve graduated and are making a 200k salary, you can live wherever you want.

Keep your eyes on the prize. Focus on getting through the years of service and then on getting your degree. If you can have that degree of patience, you will literally never know want again. Again, read I Will Teach You To Be Rich to understand how a powerful vision will propel you to your goals.

You can do sponsorships, for sure. That seems to be what the big newsletters are doing. How much to charge depends on the value of the people signed up. So if it’s auto afficionados who tend to be big spenders on accessories, you’d be able to charge a higher rate (I think). You’ll have to experiment - I don’t think there’s a one size fits all where you say every 1k readers equals 30 cents or 50 bucks or whatever.

Also, affiliate links. There are affiliate products in literally every niche. Definitely consider becoming an Amazon affiliate.

I don’t know your niche, but if, say, you’re an artist and people are signing up for art tips, you could have a post on your blog that talks about “my favourite art supplies” and stick Amazon links on every item mentioned in that post. Link to that post from all your other posts and from your newsletter - this is a 2-fer: there’s internal link juice plus also the potential of a tiny Amazon payout. Note: it’s important that these links be in a blog post (or a social media post) because it’s against Amazon’s TOS to include affiliate links in an email (yeah, I know).

Or if you’re in the health and fitness niche, list your tried and trusted equipment or supplements - jump rope, hula hoop, skates, basketball, etc. Photography? Links to your favourite equipment. Etc., etc., etc.

You did nothing wrong. An SEO audit is exactly that. If doofus didn’t want to be caught with his pants down, he should have done properly the job he was paid for.

Now Ralph? That’s a whole different beast. Why are you giving away free advice, and, worse, a free SEO audit? All that’s done is given good ol’ Ralph something to hold over his PAID, cheap SEO agency.

Cut Ralph off. He’s not only a free loader, he doesn’t even have the basic decency to elide the details (or he’s clueless enough about how to do that) when he’s taking the paid SEO agency to task.

You’re better off spending time with business owners who value what you offer.

Check your nearest dollar store - they should have things like hair scrunchies and other hair accessories for cheap. Also, pens! Everyone needs a pen. Glitter sticks and glue. Washable tattoos.

Think of the things YOU buy, see where you can find some for cheap.

Mmm - never take investment advice from some random person on the internet. For all you know, I could suggest you “invest” in the latest crypto scam. No, don’t do that. If anyone tells you they’ve got an investment that yields super high returns … really take that with a giant pinch of salt and preferably just walk away.

I’d recommend educating yourself. You have lots of time before you hit retirement. Study personal finance as a hobby (a second hobby after those entrepreneurship goals!) and act upon the lessons you learn. Don’t get into debt. Don’t follow charlatans like the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The book I’d actually recommend is Ramit Sethi’s “I Will Teach You To Be Rich”. He’s also got a weekly YouTube show/podcast with the same name. I like what he’s saying there - it’s not just about blindly saving or “making more” or sticking to a budget or eating beans and rice so you can save an extra buck. His focus is two fold:

1. Figure out what your ideal “rich life” would look like
2. Set up simple automated systems and processes that will get you there

He’s not telling people to have 5 different bank accounts and to check their spreadsheet every day and to stick to a budget. Rather, he recommends simply watching the larger trends of how your money is growing (or not) and acting to quickly course correct where necessary.

He’s had people from different backgrounds and different current wealth status on his podcast, and it’s really inspiring how straightforward getting to a million (many times over) can be if you just start early and set up those automated systems. Listening to those episodes, and to the ones where people have made poor financial choices and now are trying to course-correct are absolutely eye-opening and are great for thinking “how would I handle this if I were in their shoes?”

You’ve already got multiple factors in your favour, indicating you’re on the right path:

1. You’ve already saved 10k as a high school student [this is the biggest tell - you respect the money you’ve earned]
2. You’ve got minimal expenses right now, thanks to your parents
3. You’re getting a good education, again, thanks to your parents

All of this means you’ll likely wind up in a high paying job, or will strike out into entrepreneurship if that’s the right path for you, and you’ll likely stick to it until you make it succeed.

So just take your time, figure out what ETFs make sense for you, and start planning for that rich life you’re going to have in the not so distant future. :D

For a teenager? It’s HUGE, even with inflation.

If they put it in an ETF, and add to it regularly, and add more in proportion to their salary as they work for someone else after college, they’re going to retire a multimillionaire even at just 5% year over year. And that’s the safe way to do it.

u/Slatt_29, your best bet is to put it into an ETF that tracks the stock market and keep adding to that over time. THIS is the nest egg that will let you take risks in other parts of life. If you want to become an entrepreneur, go make some more money and play with that money.

Or take 1k from this money and experiment with buying stuff cheap and selling for a profit or even dropshipping some item from China or whatever. That’s your play money - you’ll learn a lot and the majority of your capital will be safe. You’re in an enviable position that your parents have your back regarding the big expenses. Leverage that to get the business chops you need: Alex Hormozi did a great bit on YouTube about how college students can make 10k easily, for example, but there are plenty of options to make money even while you have a full time job or school obligations.

The thing is, whenever you make money, be sure and SAVE and INVEST a good chunk of it. Don’t put all of it into the business. EVER. Because businesses can and do fail, sometimes through no fault of the owner (well, that’s debatable). Having money safely earning interest every year is what makes you unstoppable.

No.

ChatGPT is so very easy to spot …

Love this! Good job, OP!

You’ve got some excellent advice here.

I’ll add, bring a friend. Or have someone come by occasionally to spell you.

Why? Because you will need someone to mind the booth while you take a bathroom break, or just go stretch your legs or grab a bite, or whatever. Also bring something to sit on, and some snacks and water.

You could just swap “watch my booth for 5 minutes, willya?” favours with someone at the next booth, but what happens if they get swamped with customers?