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Like clockwork, every few years viral relationship tests or theories will resurface online, prompting renewed discourse about the state of romantic unions. The latest test doing the rounds: the bird theory.” The idea first went viral two years ago but has recently resurfaced on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The concept is simple: Point out something mundane to your partner, like spotting a bird, then watch how they react. If your partner matches your enthusiasm or reacts with curiosity, then congratulationstheyre a keeper. The thinking goes that if they respond with interest to your attempts at connection, they’re emotionally invested in the relationship. If they ignore you, react with indifferenceor worse, get frustratedwell, your relationship might be in trouble. The theory resurfaced after a video by @keketherealmrsjones went viral this month. The day I realize Husband doesnt want me the caption read, as the clip shows her trying, and failing, to engage her husbands attention. The video currently has over 56 million views. Before anyone gets married please test the bird theory, one commenter wrote. I keep telling people about the bird theory and they just wont listen, another added. Many have also jumped on the trend to test their unwitting partners, mostly to positive results. Turns out, the bird theory is not just TikTok pseudoscience: It’s grounded in real research by psychologist John Gottman. Gottman refers to bids (not birds) as the fundamental unit of emotional communication. His research suggests that the way in which partners respond to these bidsby “turning towards” and engaging with the bid or “turning away” and ignoring itis a strong predictor of a relationship’s long-term success. A bid for attention, affirmation, affection, or any other positive connection, could be as simple as smiling, reaching for a hand, requesting help, or, yes, pointing out a bird. Gottman published a paper in the Journal of Marriage and the Family in 1998 sharing the results of a study based on 130 newlyweds. Six years later, the couples that were going from strength to strength were the ones who, 86% of the time, turned toward each other’s bids for connection. The couples who didn’t? Only 33% were still together. According to Gottmans findings, couples who ignore each others bids about 5080% of the time are far more likely to divorce. While microtesting your relationship isnt always advised, use at your own risk.
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E-Commerce
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that he is about make good on a threat to revoke millions in federal funds for California because he says the state is illegally issuing commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens.In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said Gov. Gavin Newsom has refused to comply with Department of Transportation rules that require the state to stop issuing such licenses and review those already issued.“So, one, I’m about to pull $160 million from California,” Duffy said. “And, as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.”Eva Spiegel, a spokesperson for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said the Trump administration “has no legitimate basis” to withhold federal highway transportation funds.“The federal government previously allowed commercial driver’s licenses for asylum seekers and refugees and on September 26 announced emergency regulations to cease this practice that went into effect on September 29. California is in compliance with these regulations and will remain in compliance with federal law,” Spiegel said via email.When Duffy threatened to revoke funds last month, a spokesperson for Newsom dismissed the attack and noted that CDL holders from California have a significantly lower rate of crashes than both the national average and that of Texas, which is the only state with more licensed commercial drivers.Last month the Transportation Department tightened commercial driver’s license requirements for noncitizens after three fatal crashes that officials said were caused by immigrant truck drivers. Only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible for CDLs under the new rules and states must verify an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database. The licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant’s visa expires sooner.Duffy said last month that California should never have issued 25% of 145 licenses investigators reviewed. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired sometimes years after. The state had 30 days to come up with a plan to comply or lose funding.A nationwide commercial driver’s license audit began after officials say a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. It found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.Duffy said Sunday that California has unlawfully issued tens of thousands of these licenses to noncitizens.“So you have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” Duffy said. “They’re driving fuel tankers, they’re driving school buses, and we have seen some of the crashes on American roadways that come from these people who shouldn’t have these licenses.”Duffy said earlier this month that he would withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers. California defended its practices in a formal response to the Transportation Department, but federal officials were not satisfied.The investigation launched after the Florida crash found what Duffy called significant failures in the way California is enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the crash. Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Life with a fluctuating income is a lot like being left-handed: The world isnt designed to meet your needs, so you need to adjust accordingly. Those who make the leap into solopreneurship are often struck by all the little things they took for granted as salaried employees. Things like having health benefits, taxes and retirement savings deducted from their earnings, knowing exactly when the next injection of cash is coming, or what theyll make next month. Even monthly billing cycles for things like rent, student loans, and car payments are based on the assumption of predictable monthly earnings. Most dont ditch the corporate life because theyre really good at finance and tax planningunless, of course, theyre venturing off to become an independent accounting professional. For most, having to suddenly act as your own finance department is not just jarring, but also distracting from the countless other challenges that come with establishing an independent business. Solopreneurs have so much on their plate already; adding money stress is siphoning off creativity that would be much better spent making their businesses successful, says Ashley Lapato, personal finance educator for budgeting software provider YNAB. Once they get a handle on it, they tend to see more success. Here are some expert tips to help solopreneurs put away the calculator and spreadsheets, and get back to the things they do best. (Unless, of course, that thing also involves a calculator and spreadsheet.) Know your baseline When you dont know how much will be in the earnings column each month, it’s even more important to get a handle on expenses. According to Lapato, the first step is understanding the bare minimum you need to support your lifestyle. That might not include your Netflix subscription, but it’s things like your mortgage, minimums on any debt, your car payment, and groceries, she says. Then add irregular expenses. Because once you make that leap into solopreneurship, those irregular expenses can feel like emergencies. For example, if you travel to visit family each year, want to send your kids to summer camp, or have a big annual auto insurance bill, Lapato recommends breaking up those expenses and incorporating them into your baseline. Knowing that number, she says, allows solopreneurs to cover the necessities and then, once they earn that minimum, start saving for the next month. If, for example, that baseline is $8,000, Lapato says every dollar you earn in a given month after reaching that $8,000 minimum can be put toward next months baseline, longer-term savings, discretionary spending, or investing in the business. I would want at least three months of baseline buffer covered before taking the leap into full-time solopreneurship, she adds. Set up a legal entity There comes a point at which American solopreneurs can start seeing big tax savings by setting up a limited liability company (LLC) and registering as an S corporation, establishing a formal business for their solo venture in the United Statesthough similar tax structures exist elsewhere, too. If you make $70,000 and you’re going to get to $100,000 in the next couple of years, its the right solution, says Ran Harpaz, the CEO of Lettuce Financial, an accounting and tax software platform for solopreneurs earning six figures. People on our platform see annual average savings of $15,000, so the S corp election and the structure of the company are very meaningful. Harpaz explains that having an S corporation separates business earnings and expenses; your customers pay into the company, and the company pays you what the government considers a reasonable salary. The salary portion is subject to traditional tax requirements. The rest is taxed at much more favorable corporate rates. Creating a separate business entity also allows you to open business bank accounts and credit cards. It’s the right thing to do compliance-wise, but it’s also the right thing to do for financial management, Harpaz says, explaining that having separate accounts makes it easier to keep tax-exempt business expenses separate from personal spending. Put money aside for taxes There is perhaps nothing more sobering than seeing your first tax bill as a solopreneur. For those accustomed to having their taxes automatically deducted from paychecks, that bill will make you go numb, especially if you havent planned accordingly. Though its hard to predict how much youll owe when you dont know how much youll make, solopreneurs can often make an educated, conservative estimate and save accordingly. Every Monday, my wife and I fill out a sheet that says how much income we made [the previous week], how much we have to set aside for taxes, and what we spent, says Justin Welsh, a content creator and author of The Saturday Solopreneur newsletter. We pay our credit cards off, and then we set aside the money for taxes, we save and invest anything that’s left over, and that is a weekly recurring meeting that we’ve done for over five years. Over time, Welsh says the weekly fluctuations can be used to calculate a more predictable average, which helps the couple anticipate which tax bracket theyll fall into at the end of the year, and avoid overspending on the good weeks or panicking on the not-so-good ones. The goal is never to get too high with the highs and too low with the lows, he says. You just pretend you’re average every single week. Use tools, but keep it simple As the community of solopreneurs expands, so does the market for tools and technologies to make their lives easierYNAB and Lettuce among them. Welsh, for his part, is bullish on AI, but warns solopreneurs not to over-subscribe themselves. The whole goal of solopreneurship is simplicity, he says. I think you can do that through smart planning, using a simple spreadsheet and a thought partner in an LLM. For example, Welsh says solopreneurs can input their income and expense details and ask an AI platform to create a customized financial plan for them, or a contingency plan for when earnings drop unexpectedly. My advice to solopreneurs is to start simple and only add software or tools when it absolutely keeps you from making a big mistake or gives you a large percentage of your revenue back through tax optimization, he says. Other than that, just try and make as much as you can, try and keep as much as you can, and try and spend as little as you can.
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E-Commerce
In 2018, Joy DasGupta walked away from a steady job in marketing at Starbucks after 13 years to work for herself as a rewards program consultant. As a caregiver with a young child, DasGupta says the corporate life proved too inflexible, and the logistics of balancing her personal life and career were becoming overwhelming. Starbucks was also undergoing restructuring, and DasGuptas once-secure corporate job was starting to feel a little shaky. She explains that for most working mothers, if you get the opportunity to make as much moneymaybe even a little lessand get flexibility, many will take that option. She adds that there aren’t enough companies that are innovating around ways to compensate people with time, as opposed to just money. Instead, shes earning what she calls a good income as a solopreneur, while enjoying the flexibility to structure her own schedule in a way that allows her to show up for her daughter and her clients. The hourly [rate] is great in terms of the return on my time. Between return to office mandates, AI-driven job insecurity, and a struggling labor market, American employees are feeling disengaged at work, inspiring many to seek an alternative. At the same time, solopreneursor those with full-time independent businesses and no desire to hire staffare thriving. It pays to be a solopreneur According to a recent study conducted by online payroll and HR provider Gusto, solopreneurs typically earn about one-third less than similarly skilled employees in year one, but catch up quickly. By year two, the average solopreneur is making about 15% more than a similarly-skilled employee, and that goes up to about 25% by year five, says Gusto economist Nich Tremper. According to the study, the average solopreneur earns about $41,000 in year oneand over $83,000 by year three. The most popular industry for solopreneurs, according to the study, is professional, scientific, and technical services, followed closely by transportation and warehousing, each accounting for about 13%. Those in the information sector typically see the sharpest annual revenue growth at over 51% per year, followed by arts, entertainment, and recreation at about 30%. Real estate, rental, and leasing professionals placed third with nearly 12%. When people think about small businesses, they tend to imagine folks that are on Main Street, with stafflittle shops, little restaurants, says Tremper. In reality, 80% of small businesses dont have any W2 employees, so solopreneurs are really foundational to the economy in a lot of ways. Since the pandemic the United States has seen a significant spike in new businesses, and that entrepreneurial boom includes both traditional business owners and solopreneurs. Why more workers are going solo Not long ago, starting a business required a formal business plan, a loan, a lease, and a staff. Then the internet and mobile technology allowed individuals to open a digital storefront at almost no cost and connect with customers around the world. Now, AI is enabling solopreneurs to create professional quality marketing materials, websites, apps, presentations, proposals, and more without hiring help. Its become a solopreneurs silent business partner, says Caroline Castrillon, a Forbes senior contributor and founder of Corporate Escape Artist, which helps individuals transition into entrepreneurship. What once required teams is now available to one person, so AI is really an equalizer. But its not just tech thats made the solopreneur lifestyle more appealing. It really took off around the pandemic as people’s priorities and values changed, Castrillon says. Millennials and Gen Z in particular want autonomy, meaning and control. Work used to define our identities, now people are designing work around their identity. An entrepreneurial pull, a corporate disengagement push As solopreneurship becomes more appealingand more attainable, thanks to technologyperceptions of the corporate lifestyle have simultaneously moved in a more negative direction. We have all these RTO mandates, there’s layoffs left and right, people don’t feel secure in their jobs, salaries aren’t keeping up with inflation, so what incentive is there to stay in the corporate world? Castrillon says, adding thats especially true for caregivers. Companies often claim to support families, but they rarely back that up with meaningful programs, and for women especially, solopreneurship is one way to find the flexibility that they need. That is ultimately what drove DasGupta from Starbucks to solopreneurship. Seven years later, she says she has no regrets. Corporations are really meeting-centric, and there was this really amazing transition to actually being able to dedicate myself to producing work for people, she says. I wouldn’t trade it. It’s been a great experience.
Category:
E-Commerce
Well, friends. I did it. Ive now had my highest-income month of my life again. So begins a TikTok video by content creator Chelsea Langenstam detailing her $56,244 income month breakdown, along with deductibles, as a solopreneur. Langenstam then outlines her various income streams: budget templates, brand deals, referral fees. I dont share to brag, she says in the video, currently sitting at over 100,000 views. I share because I want to show you whats possible in real time. Her videos are among hundreds on TikTok and Instagram, lifting the curtain on how much solopreneurs of all kinds actually earn month to monthand exactly where each dollar comes from. These income breakdowns sit within a wider trend toward financial transparency online. From loud budgeting to no-spend challenges, talking about money is no longer taboo for the online generation. They are bucking the decades-old trend of silence: 53% of Gen Zers and 58% of millennials say they would post how much money they make online. Show me the money Solopreneursor businesses with no paid employeescontribute $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy, representing 6.8% of total economic activity, according to recently published U.S. Census Bureau data. But when striking out on ones own, the honest truth is that few have any idea what theyre doing at first, let alone where the next paycheck is coming from. Now, social media is democratizing the process, with a number of content creators breaking down the financials of running a business solo. Not every month is a five-figure month for Langenstam. She has also divulged what a lower-income month looks like, for the sake of transparency. Others reveal their financial particulars to advocate for the solopreneur life, breaking free from the corporate grind and embracing the freelance economy. Freelance social media manager Mila Holmes has been sharing her project rates since 2020, but only recently started opening up about income breakdowns. The whole reason I make content on TikTok is to advocate for freelancing, she says, explaining which streams of income made her $14,616.99 over the past three weeks. These include consulting calls, freelance influencer marketing, and hosting classes on brand partnerships. I want people to know financial security and prosperity are possible through nontraditional means, Holmes tells Fast Company. I think a lot of people view freelancing and/or content creation as a temporary thing between real jobs. I believe it can be more than that. It’s one thing to tell them that’s possible, and another to actually show earnings. A new model of transparency Income breakdowns push the needle further by modeling how the money is made, as well as how much. But, as with anything you see online, influencers announcing regular five-figure months should be taken with a grain of salt. In particular, you should be wary of any income breakdowns by those who try to sell you quick fixes, with a promise of achieving similar results. Still, thats not to say solopreneurship cant be lucrative. According to MBO Partners 2025 “State of Independence” report, 5.6 million independent workers reported earning more than $100,000 annually. This was up 19% from 2024, and nearly double the number of six-figure earners in 2020. The average U.S. worker salary, by comparison, is $66,000. When I started freelancing, the idea of a $10,000 month felt like it was a world away, and a $20,000 month felt even further, solopreneur Grace Lemire says in a TikTok video, reporting an income of $10,700 for the month. But when I started to see other entrepreneurs break down their revenue streams, it started to feel within reach. Lemire doesnt reveal her top-line revenue, but she did start sharing what she charges clients, as well as certain monthly earnings, a few years ago. I share because I want people to see what’s possible, Lemire tells Fast Company. I want to show people that there is more out there for them than they might be able to conceptualize with the information they have available to them. For a younger generation already seeking a fast track to success, the allure of solopreneurship is clear. A 2023 study found that Gen Z places greater importance on being rich than any other age demographic. And with the traditional career ladder shakier than ever, young and ambitious workers are forging their own paths and not risking their future in anyone elses hands. Thanks to social media, its never been easier to go it alone. Instagram, YouTube, Patreon, and TikTok give solopreneurs a number of platforms to establish their brands and get their products or services in front of millions of people worldwide. Thats something these young female solopreneurs understand better than most. Finance is a big player, and content earnings are high, Holmes explains. Creating under #financialtransparency, #income, #money, and #budgeting opens up a whole new world of opportunity for me. Not only on the brand partnership side, but also on the digital product side. For young solo business owners online, sharing income breakdowns not only promotes financial transparency, but its also a smart business strategy.
Category:
E-Commerce
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