eSignature Word for HR Easy

Arriving early and doing nothing is viewed more favorably than staying late and working assiduously. It’s unfair, but it’s only the first boot of real life to kick you in the ass.HR and the ethics hotline don’t exist as a resource to you; they exist to cover management’s ass. I’ve worked for bosses who have used racial slurs, homophobic epithets, threatened and intimidated staff, used drugs in the office, and misappropriated their expense credits, but they were never so much as suspended. I almost lost my job for marking a sale as closed when I got verbal confirmation from my client (with my manager on the phone), only to get the actual signed documents a few days later.Always, always, ALWAYS document and organize files of communication between you and your superiors and you and problem clients. Did I say always? Discrepancies (read lies) in accounts of your interactions from either of these parties is a fast track to being escorted out of the building. Nothing shuts up a lying SOB like a time-stamped email with the intro, “Per my email on July 15, I mentioned….”Always keep a pulse on the job market. At least twice a year apply for jobs in your industry to get a sense on what your skills trade for in the open market and to sharpen your interviewing skills. It’s also a great habit to be in the orbit of recruiters because they operate within a tight-knit ecosystem, network with, and know one another. If you’re not a great fit for one role, and they like you, they’ll refer you to a friend or colleague looking to fill another role as a courtesy.Even if you’re not interested in a role that they may signNow you for, always try to recommend or refer qualified candidates to recruiters. This pays dividends down the road.Be wise as a serpent, yet as humble as a dove. Many people advise against making friends, but I would advise that you make them believe that you’re a friend. Being too cold and stoic in the office will make your colleagues withhold gossip, news, and politics from you that may be actionable. You can be friendly without being friends. Whatever your line is, find it and stick to it.Never get comfortable. I had a former colleague who never placed photos of his family or accomplishments in his cube and I asked him why. He said he is always prepared to walk out of the building with the items on his person at a moment’s notice. Speaking from experience, there’s nothing more humiliating or anxiety-inducing than taking the security assisted walk of shame with all of your belongings in a box and colleagues peeking above their cubes like prairie dogs to watch you walk the green mile. Work is a place where you should be as productive as possible; your family, spouse, hobbies, religion, proclivities, and creature comforts shouldn’t occupy the work space.Your manager is NOT to be trusted with personal information. Whether your mom has cancer, wife left you, your kids are suspended from school, or you’re late on the rent, these aren’t the people to share your most vulnerable moments with for two reasons; 1. They don’t have the power to do anything about them, and 2. They are more likely to report this things up the chain of command to use against you should it ever become convenient as a manipulation tactic. I know this oversimplifies things for the truly empathic, and supportive managers out there, but for the sake of generalities, let’s leave those 8 people out of this and err on the side of caution.Use your lunch hour as an opportunity to network with people within different departments to grow your customer base. Every employee has internal and external customers, and it will behoove you to learn how to cater to them. If you’re in sales, take someone in Dev Ops, Professional Services, R&D, or Customer Experience to lunch. You’ll learn all the horrible things sales people do that make their job a living hell, so you won’t perpetuate that. You’ll also forge some great individual relationships for emergencies when you need to phone a friend.Stay away from the office complainer. Every office has at least one, and he/she is a cancer on your outlook and productivity. Regardless of how valid their complaints are about the quality of the snacks, the scheduled All Hands meetings, the increased co-pays on the new insurance for annual enrollment, the way management is trying to screw us with the new Comp Plan, etc., the best thing to do is to keep your exposure to this individual AT. A. MINIMUM.Become a Subject Matter Expert in at least one or more topics within your department. This makes you indispensable among your peers and management, because they don’t want to(or can’t do) do the job of training the whole staff or answering all their questions.Volunteer to headline new products or services, and you’ll become more visible with leadership and ahead of the curve when those products/services become mandatory.Make your career decisions for the people who will attend your funeral one day; not the people in that office. Days, or even hours after your death, someone will be posting a requisition for your position, and your duties will fall on the shoulders of another. Make sure you spend your strategic decisions improving the quality of time with the people who will be crying at your funeral. This puts a whole lot of unnecessary office bullshit into perspective.If you’re in the US, talk to your colleagues about your salary. Corporations benefit from dwindling unions and individual, rather than collective bargaining by negotiating salary and compensation on an individual basis. Men, this is our opportunity to gain solidarity with women who work equally to ensure that they’re paid equally. White folks, this is an opportunity to ensure Black folks, Hispanics, and Natives are paid equally. This isn’t a zero-sum equation; corporations make enough money to pay us all equally. They have the luxury of not doing so. Hold their feet to the fire, or have them risk losing the war of retention.Be kind. Especially to the people who least deserve it. 9 times out of 10, they’re fighting prodigious personal battles, and the only place they can funnel their energy is at work. Be gentle, but don’t be a doormat either.Bring your authentic self to work. I’ve seen introverts, extroverts, flashy dressers, frumpy dressers, those gifted with supreme elocution, and those with the longest, strongest Southern drawl succeed in business, which proves one thing. Success doesn’t care how you show up; just that you show up. I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

Any industry involving a large amount of paperwork make use electronic signatures. In other words, all industries make use of electronic signatures because all of them have piles of paperwork to handle. Some examples of such industries include financial, life science, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.Industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, have a number of licenses and other paperwork that they have to handle and keep track of. It can be a tedious task to perform such cumbersome paper processes. Therefore, e-signatures can facilitate an organisation in keeping a track of all this paperwork, by signing electronically.Healthcare industries usually involve time-sensitive documents, which need to be urgently completed. But, it can take days in case of the traditional wet ink paper signatures for the documents to signNow the signer and back, if the parties are geographically scattered. But with electronic signatures, that is not the case. Geographical barriers do not play a role. Documents which earlier needed days to be completed, can now be signed and sent back within minutes, in the click of a button. Furthermore, it takes a long time to bring assets under management. The time taken by the signing process, if wet ink paper signatures are used, may even further delay the process. But by using electronic signatures, the whole process can speed up.Apart from these, there are many paper prone industries which require huge amount of paperwork and with the use of electronic signatures they can make their everyday processes smoother and more efficient.

Traditional documentation done for most of the products is monotonous and tiring to go through. Users often get confused while trying to use a manual.Moving away from static documentation, products are now switching to ‘interactive documentation/user guides’. These interactive user guides direct a user to perform a task from the beginning till the end.Whatfix provides an easy yet efficient way to create interactive user guides without the use of any coding knowledge.It allows users to Learn while Doing. Whatfix helps users navigate within a web application, getting them onboard, trained and providing them with proactive contextual support.One such example of product’s online documentation could be the ServiceNow documentation created with the help of Whatfix. The gif below gives a gist of it.You can list down all the help topics of your website within a self-help widget. Each help topic is a ‘How-to’ question in itself. When a user clicks on a help topic an interactive walkthrough begins. This walkthrough handholds the user till the completion of the task.Now, here’s something even more interesting.Instantly Create & Export Multiple Media formatsThe Interactive walkthroughs that we built here using Whatfix is a one-stop shop for all your interactive content and a great add-on for your product documentation.Once created, the interactive walkthroughs is instantly converted to 5 multi media formats:Annotated VideoEmbeddable SlideshowPDFScreenshotSmart URLAnd all of these can be quickly integrated on any website/web-app.Quick, Easy, Code-free Walkthrough CreationWhatfix’s interactive walkthroughs can be created quickly, without any hassle, and without any code through our point-and-click editor. A 10-step walkthrough generally takes less that 5 minutes to create.You can also make use Whatfix’s widgets for authoring your interactive product documentation.Multilingual, auto-segmented interactive guidanceOnce created, the walkthroughs can be converted to over 50 languages.Auto-segmentation of Whatfix is yet another feature that allows you to segment your walkthroughs on the basis of specific rules, user roles, pages, HTML elements, etc.These features are just the tip of the iceberg.Further on, these walkthroughs can be tailor-made for you according to your usage, budget and product vision.Want to learn more on Interactive walkthroughs, here’s a useful free Ebook - 15 Minute Guide To Interactive Walkthroughs

Looking at the question, it seems you are keenly interested in knowing the basics of performance management. Several writers and consultants assume performance management as a metric for appraisal system. Though this is related to work system, this isn’t considered as a substitute for appraisal of employees. Also, it’s not a form for self-evaluation. Then what is performance management?Well, performance management is a communication process that is established throughout the year between manager and the employees to accomplish the strategic goals of an organization. This process includes goal settings, clarifying the objectives, completing the tasks, reviewing and providing feedback. Performance management creates opportunity for proper interaction between the manager and employees at each of these steps.Concept of performance managementAs mentioned before, it develops environment for managers to assist employees in successfully completing the project. However, it’s not just requires managers assistance, but also the active participation of employees involved in it.It ensures that employees are well aware of their roles and responsibilities in a project, know the performance level expected of them, and receive regular updates on the performance.Key components of performance management systemTypically, a performance management system includes the following components:· Define the clear job responsibilities using the employee recruitment plan that helps the selection team.· Conduct interviews to screen the pool of potential candidates.· Recruit the most qualified and suitable candidates for the project.· Welcome new employee to the organization.· Give proper induction, assign a mentor and integrate them into your office and its culture.· Hold regular meetings to analyze the strengths, abilities, and weaknesses of the employees.· Assign the tasks to the employees according to their skills that they excel in.· Provide training wherever it is needed.When do you think is there a performance management requirement?To know when you need a dedicated performance management system, you should know the type of situations you are dealing with. If you are facing complications at workplace and most of these complications arise due to any of the following, then it’s the time for investing performance management.1. When the HR department is putting more time into administrating work such as paperwork and data entry.2. When the complaints are arising about the time-consuming tasks.3. When there is misunderstanding between the manager and employees on the reviews.4. When each employee is given non-uniform tasks such as an employee getting easiest of the tasks all the time while some get hardest of the tasks.Do these situations ring any bell? Seems familiar? If yes, then it’s time to get adapted to performance management process. There is a plethora of performance management software in the market which you can choose depending on the number of people you need to involve in it. This will not only save your valuable time but also enhances employee’s efficiency at the workplace.

We are far from understanding function of fungi in the human microbiome. Our understanding is at the 1st rung, the most primitive stage, where we continue to examine mammalian-microbial interactions through the biased lens of pathogenesis, as in 'eeks! Microbes are bad, cause diseases'. For the picture to become clearer, this bias needs to go the way of the dodo and that'll take a few years yet.Fungal communities of the human body: the Human MycobiomeI've organized this answer into 4 sections:I. To identify and enumerate the human mycobiome (human body fungal communities) is no easy task. Why?II. Mycobiome-human relationship in health and disease.III. Location-wise human mycobiome in health and disease (skin-scalp, gut-oral cavity, lung, plasma, vagina).IV. Saccharaomyces boulardii, example of probiotic fungus.I. To identify and enumerate the human mycobiome is no easy task. Why?Need to identify to understand function. However, human microbiota fungi are so rare as to make identification a challenge.From 1 Traditionally, fungi were identified by culture. Human mycobiome inhabitants are likely novel and we don't  yet know how to grow them in culture, at least many of them.Taking a leaf out of bacterial studies, where efforts center on the bacterial 18S rRNA locus, now PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)-based methods focus on the fungal genetic locus encompassing 18S, 5.8S and 28S rDNA genes, and the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) that encode nonfunctional RNA transcribed during rRNA synthesis.  Which region of this fungal locus to amplify is still debated, and different studies make different choices. With as many as 6 choices, studies run the gamut in target choice. Problem? Yes, makes it difficult to generalize datasets across studies.Debate also rages on which is better choice, 18S rDNA or ITS, 28S rDNA having been side-lined recently.From 2As expected from a rapidly growing field, much chaos, redundancy and mis-interpretation reigns.While the Fungal Genome Initiative (FGI; Fungal Genomics | Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard) aims to establish genomes throughout the fungal kingdom, such databases prioritize human disease-associated fungi with as yet little or no information on human mycobiome, i.e. commensal, inhabitants.From 3.Fungal databases are puny and growing slowly compared to those for bacteria. For example, a major database on fungal ITS regions maintained by Henrik Nillsson at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was last updated in 2012 Page on emerencia.org.Genome sequences of over a hundred fungal species are publicly available (3) but few of them are human-associated.From 3.Among Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, RNA deep sequencing or RNA-seq offers several advantages for human mycobiome analysis: not hybridization-based; provide insight into transcriptional mechanisms (boundaries, links between exons). RNA-seq studies that pyrosequence (Pyrosequencing) fungal ITS and rDNA genes to study the human mycobiome started appearing in the past 4 or 5 years.Different studies use hugely varying approaches, ranging from different DNA isolation kits, analysis of different genes, different qPCR primer pairs and reactions ranging from 25 to even 45 cycles. Let's remember PCR is not only exquisitely sensitive but also exponential so a 20 cycle difference runs the gamut from entirely missing low abundance species to detecting many artifacts.Molecular techniques such as qPCR are also so sensitive that environmental contaminants turn up frequently in the datasets. Lacking prior knowledge of what to look for, it's difficult to exclude them.Not only do such differences make meta-analyses near-impossible, they make it difficult to distinguish clinically relevant datasets from experimental artifacts, unwittingly generated by sub-optimal experimental design and decisions.Problem with molecular analyses in a field of sparse databases is that in each study, data that doesn't align to database sequences is discarded. Is such discarded data truly irrelevant or is it the missed iceberg?Fungal nomenclature is a major problem. Synonyms and different names for different sexual stages of the same species abound. For example, a recent study re-annotated 'set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi' (4). Careful and methodical curation required? Certainly!From 5.II. Mycobiome-human relationship in health and diseaseCommensal and environmental fungi constantly interact with the human body. How do they cause disease? Typically, underlying body perturbations such as immuodeficiencies and dysregulated immune function promote opportunistic fungal growth.For e.g., environmental Aspergillus spores that normally get killed could instead develop hyphae and invade tissue.From 6or commensal Candida could switch from yeast to biofilms, which in turn provide rich nutritious milieu for variety of pathogenic bacteria as well as an effective barrier against antibiotics.III. Human mycobiome health-versus-disease comparison by locationHuman Skin MycobiomeMalassezia, a common human skin mycobiome inhabitantLipid-dependent fungus Malassezia are the most abundant fungi living on human skin (7, 8)Lack fatty acid synthase, and express lipases and hydrolases, helping them adapt to human skin (3).Almost all epidermal skin cells express aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) (9) and Malassezia synthesizes powerful AhR ligands, indirubin and indolo [3,2-b] carbazole (ICZ) (10). Thus, Malassezia influences skin metabolism and function by exploiting the AhR-AhR ligand pathway.Requiring lipids for its growth, Malassezia preferentially colonizes face, scalp and upper trunk rather than limbs , i.e. the sebaceous gland-rich areas of skin.Malassezia is dimorphic, i.e. has yeast and mycelial (hyphal) phases.Its lipid dependence makes it challenging to isolate and grow in culture. For example, Sabouraud's dextrose agar is a commonly used fungal culture medium. Yet it does not support growth of many Malassezia species (11). Rather all Malassezia yeasts identified thus far grow in the nutritionally complex (containing Ox bile and Tween 60, a fatty acid) and unconventional Leeming and Notham agar (LNA). Even so, such approaches can miss M. restricta. Slower-growing than others in such cultures, it's easily overgrown by related species.Mis-identification is another common problem with purely phenotypic approaches.Careful characterization of microbial species requires isolation in culture, freeze-down and subculture of frozen aliquots. Even this routine task is difficult in the case of Malassezia which, poorly viable in culture, only maintains viability when stored at -80oC, and not at 4 to 12oC, the norm for yeasts (12).Culture-independent, molecular approaches are thus more suitable. Tape or swab is used to take the skin sample, fungal DNA extracted and subjected to PCR. DNA extraction method, and sensitivity and specificity of the particular PCR method used greatly influence the outcome. The specific approach taken to accurately identify Malassezia needs to keep in mind that human skin is after all host to multitude of bacteria as well as other fungi such as Candida.Malassezia in human skinPresumed to colonize immediately post-birth (13).Found in skin swabs from 78 out of 245 British neonates (<28 days of age) on LNA culture, with 41 out of 42 still positive at follow-up (14).M. furfur and globosa found in 60.5% and 7.2%, respectively, cultures of 195 Iranian neonates (15). Melassezia species colonizing human skin are thus neither random nor inter-changeable.M. dermatis found in skin of 19 healthy Koreans aged 17 to 55 years by both culture-dependent and -independent (ITS-1 and 26 rDNA) (16). Geographic difference?Why do we have Malassezia in our skin? Are its lipid dependence and its human skin colonization pattern related to age-related human sebaceous gland activity? Data suggest so.Minimal in children, sebaceous gland activity increases during the teens in response to androgens, and then stabilizes from late teens until old age (17).Sebum, product of sebaceous glands, consists of ceramides, fatty acids, cholesterol, squalene (cholesterol precursor and also popular vaccine adjuvant but that's another story!), triglycerides and wax esters. Sebum fatty acid composition changes markedly with puberty (18).Healthy human skin from 245 Canadians ranked by age (0–3, 4–14, 15–25, 26–40, 41–60, and >60-years old), swabbed on LNA cultures, showed marked increase in Malassezia-positive cultures starting from age 15, with no noticeable difference in positivity between genders (19).DNA analysis of 770 healthy Japanese aged 0 to 82 years also showed marked increase in early teens but had major gender differences, being much more abundant in males. M. restricta predominated in males of all ages, while doing so only in females >23 years, with M. globosa dominating at 1o to 18 years (20). From 20.Similar dominance of M. restricta followed by M. globosa was also found by 5.8S/ ITS2 rDNA analysis in a small Brazilian study of scalp and forehead skin from healthy and seborrheic dermatitis subjects (21).Sampling trunk, arms, plantar heel, toenail and toeweb fungal communities using ITS 1 and 18S rDNA gene in 10 healthy adults, Findley et al found Malassezia dominance at all sites with much greater species diversity in the foot sites (22).Clearly Malassezia colonization of human skin closely mirrors sebaceous gland distribution and activity and sebum fatty acid composition. Malassezia-human skin interactions (adapted from 23) range all the way from Healthy commensalismMild, non-clinical altered skin melanocyte pigmentation and plaques that mildly alter epidermal barrier function (Pityriasis Versicolor)Inflammation without adaptive immune function involvement (Seborrheic dermatitis; SD and dandruff)Inflammation with adaptive immune function involvement (Atopic dermatitis; AD)Hair follicle invasion and inflammation (Malassezia folliculitis). Much less is known about Malassezia's role in psoriasis (20).- Geographic differences in Malassezia distribution: Rare elsewhere, M. dermatis and M. japonica are more frequently found in East Asia, (20, 24, 25), and in India (26).Malassezia and PsoriasisPsoriasis is a chronic skin inflammation marked by hyperproliferation and hyperkeratinization of the epidermis. Malassezia's role in this disease is as yet undetermined. Data are all over the place.While an Indian study that examined ITS 2 in addition to 28S rDNA gene found no difference in Malassezia prevalence in skin from psoriatic and healthy subjects (n=50 each) (26), a Japanese analysis of 28S rDNA gene sequences from skin samples from healthy (n=12) and psoriasis (n=12) subjects found psoriatic skin contained more diverse fungi compared to healthy skin though Malassezia was less abundant (27).Itraconazole, ketoconazole, and posaconazole are the most effective drugs for treating Malassezia infections (28, 29).Malassezia and DandruffIn a French study of 49 volunteers examining fungal ITS 1-5.8S-ITS2 and part of the 28S rDNA genes, Malassezia restricta was found more frequently associated with dandruff (30).Similar dominance of M. restricta (and globosa) in dandruff scalps also seen in comparison of 62 and 57 dandruff and healthy scalp in Japanese volunteers (31).Human Gut MycobiomeHuman Gut Mycobiome is influenced by dietYeasts in human stool were first reported in 1917 (32) so human gut-fungal association is not a novel finding.Geotrichum candidum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were found in gut mycobiome of people who ate cheese and drank sake among French and Japanese, respectively (33, 34).Reduced gut fungal diversity in US urban/suburban residents (Boulder, CO and Philadelphia, PA) eating typical western diets compared to rural Malawi residents eating diets 'rich in maize, legumes and other plants' (35) revives the old question of the hygiene hypothesis, namely, whether loss of our co-evolved microbial diversity triggered the greater autoimmune prevalence in Western populations. Differences between these 2 populations include diet, hygiene and contact with animals to mention just a few of the more obvious ones.ITS 1 pyrosequencing found fungal genome signals in every one of 96 stool samples from healthy American volunteers (36). Proportionally Saccharomyces (89%), Candida (57%) and Cladosporium (42%). Candida correlated positively with carbohydrates and negatively with total saturated fatty acids, while Aspergillus correlated negatively with SCFA (Short-chain fatty acids). Saccharomyces showed no particular dietary trend.The Wayampi people are an indigenous Amerindian tribe living in French Guiana and Brazil in South America. Fungal ITS1-ITS4 and NL1-NL4 PCR and pyrosequencing of stool samples from 151 healthy volunteers on two different occasions, 2006 and 2010, showed not Candida albicans but Candida krusei and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were the most abundant gut fungal species. In other words a very different gut mycobiome in an isolated rural human population from the one observed in humans living in industrialized environments.From 37Human Gut Mycobiome in health and diseaseA 2005 stool culture study of 80 pediatric bone marrow transplant or cancer patients and 61 healthy controls on Sabouraud's Dextrose agar found Candida albicans in 41.2% and 40.5%, respectively, and non-albicans Candida in 50% and 40.5%, respectively (38). In other words, similar Candida proportion in stool.Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies are found more frequently in Crohn's disease (CD) patients compared to Ulcerative colits patients and healthy controls (39, 40). No consensus yet on what this signifies.18S rDNA pyrosequencing of distal colon (rectal/sigmoid) biopsies from 25 children with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) compared to 12 age-matched controls, and 2 adults each either normal or with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) showed that Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant phyla. Fungal DNA was only found in few, not all, subjects (41). Antibiotics or immunosuppression weren't responsible for these differences since these newly diagnosed IBD patients hadn't been administered them yet. Why such poor recovery? Could it be site (colon biopsy versus stool) or choice of fungal gene (18S rDNA versus ITS 1 in other studies)?A Chinese ileal biopsy and stool sample study of 19 CD patients and 7 healthy volunteers (42) found CD patients had increased Candida prevalence and different gut mucosa- and stool-associated fungi species compared to controls. Red: CD; Green: Controls.From 42Human Oral MycobiomeIn a study of 20 healthy volunteers, ITS 1 pyrosequencing found Candida (75%), Cladosporium (65%), Aureobasidium and Saccharomycetales (50% each), Aspergillus (35%), Fusarium (30%) and Cryptococcus (20%) but no Malassezia (43).But a more recent ITS 1 pyrosequencing found Malassezia in saliva of 6 out of 6 healthy adult volunteers, identifying it for the 1st time as a commensal fungal inhabitant of the human oral cavity (44). This raises the question how previous studies missed such a basic finding? Malassezia culture is difficult, requiring specialized culture media, nomenclature is muddled, fungal databases are incomplete and confusing, Malassezia is dimorphic, all possible reasons.Summary of Human Gut-Oral Mycobiome studiesThe table to the right is my original summation of the differences between the major human gut and oral mycobiome studies published thus far.Differences include different diseases, tissue samples and methods, and absence of controls.Boy, are the methods different!Any generalizable observations? Yes, fungal diversity increases in GI tract-associated diseases such as CD, HBV (Hepatitis B). From 45.Human Lung Mycobiome changes with lung disease: cause or effect? Not clear- Mouthwash/gargle (oropharyngeal wash, OW) and BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) ITS PCR and pyrosequencing comparison of lung transplant patients and controls indicated fungi had colonized deeper lung tissues in lung transplant patients.From 46Same group showed clinically relevant fungi like Candida and Aspergillus were enriched in BAL of HIV-infected and lung transplant patients, and more frequently present, i.e. more samples positive compared to healthy controls (47).Comparison of mouthwash, induced sputum and BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) of HIV-infected, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and normal people (48) using 18S rDNA and ITS PCR and pyrosequencing. Showed two things, one, the three sites had overlapping as well as distinct fungi with Candida dominating in mouthwash and sputum, two, Pneumocystis jirovecii was enriched in HIV-infected and COPD samples.Common theme emerging as in human lung mycobiome changes with diseases as it does in gut. Cause-effect distinction not yet clear.Human Lung Mycobiome SummaryFrom 49.Human Plasma and Vagina MycobiomeReports of mycobiome in human plasma, milk, vagina are currently restricted to only one or few peer-reviewed studies.One human plasma study found a surprise. Ascomycota, in particular the order Hypocreales, was dominant fungal signature in 5 of 6 subjects (50). Could source be gut since Ascomycota are prevalent there?A large study of 494 pre-menopausal Estonian women examined fungal mycobiome using ITS1 and 2 pyrosequencing in vaginal fornix and cervix brush samples. They found great diversity consisting of 196 OTUs including 16 for Candida alone (51). As with other mycobiome studies, results were plagued with the issue of air-borne contamination.IV. Saccharaomyces boulardii, example of probiotic fungusEffective against diarrhea in human clinical trial (52) in a study of 35 children each given either S. boulardii (250mg orally twice a day) or not. Children given S. boulardii recovered faster from both diarrhea (3.4 versus 5.5 days) and vomiting (2.5 versus 3.3 days) (statistically signNow).Could such differences be biologically relevant? Absolutely and this table explains why.From 53.Other S. boulardii studies: 11 randomised clinical trials for acute infectious diarrhea (AID), 9 for antibiotic-associated diarrhea (ADD), 4 each for Helicobater pylori infection, and Crohn's disease (CD), 1 for Ulcerative colitis (UC), 5 newborn studies, and 3 for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).S. boulardii is very effective in disease treatment either alone (for AID and ADD) or as an adjunct (for H. pylori, CD, UC).Extensive and larger trials of S. boulardii for CD, UC and IBS are very much warranted.A good place to learn more about S. boulardii, especially its history is here: Saccharomyces boulardiiHow does S.boulardii work against so many diseases? Many hypotheses (adapted from 53): Secretes polyaminesRestores normal levels of colonic Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA)Stabilizes gut epithelium barrier function Restores fluid transport pathwaysInduces enhanced gut mucosal secretory IgA productionNeutralizes bacterial toxins, specifically those of Clostridium difficileIts metabolic functions, such as polyamines, accelerate re-establishment of normal gut microbiotaMycobiome BibliographyHuffnagle, Gary B., and Mairi C. Noverr. "The emerging world of the fungal microbiome." Trends in microbiology 21.7 (2013): 334-341. Page on europepmc.orgCui, Lijia, Alison Morris, and Elodie Ghedin. "The human mycobiome in health and disease." Genome Med 5 (2013): 63. Page on biomedcentral.comSharma, Krishna Kant. "Fungal genome sequencing: basic biology to biotechnology." Critical reviews in biotechnology 0 (2015): 1-17.Schoch, Conrad L., et al. "Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi." Database 2014 (2014): bau061. Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for FungiUnderhill, David M., and Iliyan D. Iliev. "The mycobiota: interactions between commensal fungi and the host immune system." Nature Reviews Immunology 14.6 (2014): 405-416.Iliev, Iliyan D., and David M. Underhill. "Striking a balance: fungal commensalism versus pathogenesis." Current opinion in microbiology 16.3 (2013): 366-373.Page on nih.gov Findley K, Oh J, Yang J, Conlan S, Deming C, et al. (2013) Topographic diversity of fungal and bacterial communities in human skin. Nature 498: 367–370.Grice EA, Segre JA (2011) The skin microbiome. Nat Rev Microbiol 9: 244–253).Gaitanis G, Magiatis P, Stathopoulou K, Bassukas ID, Alexopoulos EC, et al. (2008) AhR ligands, malassezin, and indolo [3,2-b] carbazole are selectively produced by Malassezia furfur strains isolated from seborrheic dermatitis. J Invest Dermatol 128: 1620–1625.Magiatis P, Pappas P, Gaitanis G, Mexia N, Melliou E, et al. (2013) Malassezia yeasts produce a collection of exceptionally potent activators of the Ah (dioxin) receptor detected in diseased human skin. J Invest Dermatol 133: 2023–2030.Gue ́ho-Kellermann E, Boekhout T, Begerow D. (2010) Biodiversity phylogeny and ultrastructure In: Malassezia and the Skin: Science and Clinical Practice. Berlin: Springer. Boekhout T, Gue ́ho E, Mayser P, Velegraki A (Editors), pp 17– 63.Crespo MJ, Abarca ML, Caban ̃es FJ (2000) Evaluation of different preservation and storage methods for Malassezia spp. J Clin Microbiol 38: 3872–3875.Nagata, Rie, et al. "Transmission of the major skin microbiota, Malassezia, from mother to neonate." Pediatrics International 54.3 (2012): 350-355.Ashbee HR, Evans EG (2002) Immunology of diseases associated with Malassezia species. Clin Microbiol Rev 15:21–57.Zomorodian K, Mirhendi H, Tarazooie B et al (2008) Molecular analysis of Malassezia species isolated from hospitalized neonates. Pediatr Dermatol 25:312–316.Lee YW, Kim SM, Oh BH et al (2008) Isolation of 19 strains of Malassezia dermatis from healthy human skin in Korea. J Dermatol 35:772–777.Pochi PE, Strauss JS, Downing DT (1979) Age-related changes in sebaceous gland activity. J Invest Dermatol 73:108–111.Yamamoto A, Serizawa S, Ito M, Sato Y (1987) Effect of aging on sebaceous gland activity and on the fatty acid composition of wax esters. J Invest Dermat 89:507–512.Gupta AK, Kohli Y (2004) Prevalence of Malassezia species on various body sites in clinically healthy subjects representing different age groups. Med Mycol 42:35–42.Epidemiology of Malassezia-related Skin Diseases. Takashi Sugita, Teun Boekhout, Aristea Velegraki, Jacques Guillot, Suzana Hadina, and F. Javier Cabanes. In Malassezia and the Skin: Science and Clinical Practice. 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"The fungal microbiota of de-novo paediatric inflammatory bowel disease." Microbes and Infection (2014). The fungal microbiota of de-novo paediatric inflammatory bowel diseaseLi, Qiurong, et al. "Dysbiosis of gut fungal microbiota is associated with mucosal inflammation in Crohn’s disease." Journal of clinical gastroenterology 48.6 (2014): 513. Dysbiosis of Gut Fungal Microbiota is Associated With Mucosal Inflammation in Crohn’s DiseaseGhannoum, Mahmoud A., et al. "Characterization of the oral fungal microbiome (mycobiome) in healthy individuals." PLoS pathogens 6.1 (2010): e1000713. Characterization of the Oral Fungal Microbiome (Mycobiome) in Healthy IndividualsDupuy, Amanda K., et al. "Redefining the human oral mycobiome with improved practices in amplicon-based taxonomy: discovery of malassezia as a prominent commensal." PloS one 9.3 (2014): e90899. Redefining the Human Oral Mycobiome with Improved Practices in Amplicon-based Taxonomy: Discovery of  Malassezia  as a Prominent CommensalMukherjee, Pranab K., et al. "Mycobiota in gastrointestinal diseases." Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology (2014).Charlson, Emily S., et al. "Lung-enriched organisms and aberrant bacterial and fungal respiratory microbiota after lung transplant." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 186.6 (2012): 536-545. Page on bushmanlab.orgBittinger, Kyle, et al. "Improved characterization of medically relevant fungi in the human respiratory tract using next-generation sequencing." Genome biology 15.10 (2014): 1-14. Page on biomedcentral.comCui, Lijia, et al. "Topographical Diversity of the Respiratory Tract Mycobiome and Alteration in HIV and Lung Disease." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine ja (2015).Nguyen, Do Ngoc Linh, Eric Viscogliosi, and Laurence Delhaes. "The lung mycobiome: an emerging field of the human respiratory microbiome." Frontiers in Microbiology 6 (2015): 89.Beatty, Meabh, et al. "Small RNAs from plants, bacteria and fungi within the order Hypocreales are ubiquitous in human plasma." BMC genomics 15.1 (2014): 933. Small RNAs from plants, bacteria and fungi within the order Hypocreales are ubiquitous in human plasmaDrell, Tiina, et al. "Characterization of the vaginal micro-and mycobiome in asymptomatic reproductive-age Estonian women." PLoS One 8.1 (2013): e54379. Characterization of the Vaginal Micro- and Mycobiome in Asymptomatic Reproductive-Age Estonian WomenBurande, Meeta Amit. "Comparison of efficacy of Saccharomyces boulardii strain in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children: A prospective, single-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial." Journal of pharmacology & pharmacotherapeutics 4.3 (2013): 205.Dinleyici, Ener Cagri, et al. "Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 in different clinical conditions." Expert opinion on biological therapy 14.11 (2014): 1593-1609.Thanks for the A2A, Matt Chanoff.

What should be my first step for becoming an entrepreneur? Start with the correct mindset.Here’s an illustration:Back in 1992, my favorite rock band U2 was on their Zoo TV Tour.The moment I saw the news, I knew I wanted to be in the first row, but it would not be easy to make that happen.This is what I had to do:I called my friends to encourage them to come with me.Some couldn't make the trip, so I called more friends.Finally I got two friends committed.A few weeks later, the moment the tickets were going to be released, I anticipated and was ready to purchase them.I got the the tickets.I billed my friends.I coordinated the trip for the three of us...

3 years ago I was fired from my job and it was the worst g’damn feeling of my life.In the blink of an eye I went from “wealthy” 25-year old who was making bank and on top of the world…To broke ass who couldn’t leave my house and had no idea what I was going to do after that.This scared the hell out of me and I was lost, not sure what I should do next…But I did know one thing, I was never going to work for anybody again in my life.The company I was working for bribed me with a severance check in exchange for a signature saying I wouldn’t talk about it, but let’s just say…My “firing” was a prime example of revenge, where another co-worker made up a blatant lie because they were mad I got a promotion over them.Now that’s all in the past and it’s whatever, but one thing will always stick with me…The idea that one person had so much control over my lifestyle, being able to take away my only source of income and throw me to the wolves — without any heads up.This is the moment where I realized I needed to start my own business, but there was one problem…I had no idea where to start.I didn’t have enough money to start a “traditional business”…And I really didn’t want to do manual labor (i.e. lawn mowing)…So realizing I was stuck, I decided to jump on Google and search around for different ideas I could do for free (or low-cost).At first I came across some “good” ideas, like starting a home-based bookkeeping business or being a dog walker…But nothing really stuck out to me, until I came across an article that changed my lifeThis article, titled “21 Side Hustles You Could Start Today”…Didn’t cover the “traditional” ideas that I’d heard of before, like bookkeeping or dog walking…But instead, it talked about things that were completely new to me.Topics like:Affiliate marketingDropshippingOnline coursesSEO…And 17 other things I’d never heard of before, but they all had one common thread…I could work from anywhere and make money at all times of the day, even as I slept.Now obviously this was something that really pulled me in, as everybody wants the freedom these methods provide…But that was the problem, they all sounded great and I didn’t know where to start.This made me go on another round of research, trying to see what methods other people have used in the past…And that’s when I found exactly what I was looking for, an article from Jeff Rose talking about how he’d made over $1M in passive income with blogging.After reading this article and seeing his success, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do…So that night I began putting together everything he mentioned.I started off by finding my target market…Then I bought my domain…Then I created my website…And finally, I signed up for 20+ affiliate links — giving me everything I needed to start making money right away.The next day, my journey beganI woke up the next morning pretty early as I was excited to start my new venture…And as all the pros told me to do, I started off my creating my posting schedule.I was really excited to start getting traffic from SEO, so I decided to blog twice a day and expedite the results…Then once that happened, I’d reevaluate my strategy after that.I stayed on track for the first 30 days, not missing a beat and posting religiously…Then once day 30 hit, I finally allowed myself to look at Google Analytics and the affiliate marketing sales — seeing how much money I’d made and all the organic traffic I’d created along the way.I remember pulling up my analytics screen like it was yesterday, expecting to have AT LEAST 1,000 views by now as I’d created 60 articles over the last 30 days, following every SEO guideline out there…But then I saw the actual results, and started to panic right away.Here I was hoping for (at least) 1,000 views from my hard work, but as I’m sure you can guess, it was far from it…Coming in at a whopping 79 views, slightly under the mark.By that time I didn’t even want to look at my affiliate account as I knew it wasn’t going to be good, but I figured it couldn’t get worse…So I checked it out anyway, and there it was — the big goose egg. Zero dollars and zero cents.Not knowing what else to do, I doubled downI took a few hours to let the pain wear off before thinking about what I was going to do next, but once I finally did — I realized I had no idea what to do.I was following all the advice I could find…And confident I was doing everything I needed to do, so after a little bit of thought, I realized there was only one thing I could do…Work harder.That’s when I decided to increase my output from 2 blogs to 3 blogs every day for the next 30 days, knowing this would start bringing traffic for sure and solve all my problems after that.Over the next 4 weeks I followed my blogging schedule to the T, and even though I was on the brink of burnout this entire time…I was happy I’d stuck with it and even more excited to see my results.That evening I decided to change things up and check my affiliate marketing sales first, then I’d worry about traffic later…And after logging into my Rakuten account, I couldn’t help but have a mental breakdown.After all that work, putting in 80 hours a week and isolating myself from pretty much all human contact for 60 days…I’d generated a whopping amount of 27 fucking dollars, enough for me to grab a bottle of Vodka and not think about it for a few days.3 days later, I had to make a tough decisionAfter my hangover wore off and I let my brain cool down for a few days, I finally sat down and tried to reevaluate my situation.I started off by going back and reading the articles that had gotten me to this point, trying to figure out if there was something I missed…And after pouring through each of these articles, dissecting every word to see if there was anything I missed…I had to finally face harsh reality, this wasn’t going to work. Not as soon as I needed it to anyway.Scared, broke and not sure what to do…I jumped back on the Google machine and started looking for other ways of making money online.I really didn’t know what I was looking for and had some vague searches at first, but then after an hour of aimlessly wandering around…I came across an article by Ramit Sethi, saying how the biggest problem aspiring entrepreneurs face is that they don’t understand the principles of online business.Really wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first, but as I continued to read on…I started to see some things that made sense.Things like:How most people focused on outdated tactics, not timeless principles…How very few people have the “micro-skills” to properly start a business, something none of the “gurus” ever talk about…And most importantly, how most people skipped over building a foundation. A simple misstep that makes it nearly impossible to succeed online, and if you do — then it’s usually short-livedNow this made sense to some extent, but at the same time…It really didn’t.I mean, I’d worked with business owners the last 5 years and had my MBA, so I had a good understanding of business…But I guess I really wasn’t sure about online business, so I decided to humble myself and email Ramit. Seeing if there was anything I could do to learn online business the right way.To my surprise, he emailed back the next morning and provided a lot of information…But it all came down to 2 things I needed.1. Learn the timeless principles of business that’ve worked for hundreds of years, including:Human psychologyPositioningNichesFunnelsEtc…And he said once you learned these principles, then you had to find a way to deliver them.That was an extremely interesting concept I’d never heard of before, and after asking if he had a favorite delivery method…He responded with one word — copywriting.2. Learning how to freelance as this would allow me to start making money right away, keeping my motivation up and paying the bills…While also providing the opportunity to “immerse” myself in the industry for 6 months, something that’d provide invaluable experience and allow me to see what worked and what didn’t (while getting paid for it).Now this made sense and by this time, I’d actually dabbled with freelancing a little bit as a freelance bookkeeper, just didn’t like it as I’d spent most of my time looking for clients…But after hearing Ramit’s advice, I immediately purchased his copywriting course (that taught all the hidden principles he’d told me about) and got to work after that.Within 3 weeks, I knew my life had changed forever…After getting through the first 3 modules of his copywriting course and learning about most of the hidden principles he’d talked about, I knew I’d made the right choice.Why?Because in these 3 modules I’d learned more about “real-life” business than I did in my 6 years of schooling.Instead of focusing on things that didn’t matter, like reverse supply chain diversification and profit margins, we focused on important things in business — like:Why people actually buy thingsHow to sell to a large audience, without ever picking up the phone or even physically talking to themHow to create a passive stream of income that generates revenue at all times of the day with automation, allowing you to make money without paying salaries…And a bunch of other things that I wish I would’ve come across months before.A few weeks later, I knew I was ready to bring my copywriting knowledge to the freelance world…And after series of random events, I actually came across a course where this guy taught people how to get jobs on Upwork — and the crazy part was how he was a Ramit Sethi student himself.I immediately purchased his course after learning this, essentially spending the last $1,500 I had to my “name” (even though it was credit card debt) and got to work after that.The results?AMAZING!4 days after purchasing this dude’s course on how to get jobs on Upwork, I landed a long-time gig where the client was going to pay me $45/hr.This blew my mind as that’s nearly twice as much as I’d ever made before, even in a field where I had my Master’s Degree (Accounting)…But I wasn’t complaining, so I accepted the job and started working on it right away:This allowed me to not only relieve a lot of financial stress I’d put on myself, but it also gave me the confidence to keep going…And after that, things started to get easy.I was landing clients whenever I wanted:Then after 6 months of experience, I had enough money in my bank account to slow down on freelancing and try out some personal projects instead.I started off by creating a dropshipping store, which scared me as I’d read how over 50% of these stores never get a sale…But since I was able to apply the hidden principles Ramit taught me, along with the experience I’d gained from freelancing…I was able to start a store in 48 hours, getting 102 sales that first week.Now this was absolutely amazing and I LOVED how I was able to get sales at all times of the day, essentially creating a business that had no ceiling…But there was one problem, I didn’t like what I was doing.Sure the money was nice and I think I was making roughly $1K per week, but it wasn’t quite what I’d set out to do…So a few weeks after that, I setup my next business — an online course that helps others start their own freelance side hustle, at a small fraction of the price I had to pay.It took awhile to get everything together as I wanted to make it perfect and spent a lot of time “testing” it, getting real results before launching it to the public…But a month later I was finally ready, and began setting the wheels in motion.I spent the next few days getting my automated funnel in action, creating things like:An effective landing page that’s generated conversion rates 4x higher than the industry standard…An email funnel that turned the casual looksy-loo into a paying customer…Along with a sales page that sold for me at all times of the day…And after that was complete, I started putting traffic into my funnel.Now there’s a few ways to do this and I’m sure you’ve heard of FB ads before, which do work great…But I wanted to take a different approach and see if I could do this without spending a dime, so I created a few blog articles and let the process take care of itself after that.The results?Well, let’s just say I officially created a source of passive income that not only generates around $1,500/week:But it’s also produced extraordinary results, showing others how they can officially start their freelance career and build a foundation as well:How Mike went from skeptic to $37/hr freelancer (even though he had zero experience)Two months ago Mike came across my article, 8 Insanely Profitable Skills You Can Learn For Free (And On Your Time)…medium.comAnd that’s why I wish every aspiring entrepreneur knew these 7 thingsLong story short, after being a freelancer for the last few years and working with countless “entrepreneurs” during that time…I am REALLY tired of seeing people read a few blog posts, learn the tactics, fire up a business and then cry once it doesn’t work right away.Trust me, I get it. I’ve read Pat Flynn’s articles too…Talking about how he was able to write a few blog posts and generate $100K every month, but here’s the thing — he built his online presence before blogging was cool.Now everybody and their dog thinks they can write, and don’t get me wrong…I’m a HUGE supporter in seeing people take the leap, publishing their thoughts to the world…But I’m also pragmatic and realize that just makes it harder to cut through the noise, which is why every aspiring entrepreneur needs to know:Focus on principles, not tacticsI don’t get this much anymore now that I’m established and can show results, but in the early stages of my copywriting career…My favorite thing to hear was always “wait, you’re charging $125 for an email?!?!”Now this obviously came from clients asking me to create a funnel for them, and happened before I raised my rates (so I only work with people who know what they’re doing)…But with all that said, it always made me laugh as I couldn’t help but think — what, you think 5 generic emails are going to sell your course?And in retrospect, I probably could’ve done a better job of explaining why I had to charge that much…But that’s a story for a different time, and here’s where I’m trying to get with this…Don’t focus on the what (emails), focus on why it works (reciprocity, breaking down false beliefs, decompression zone).And this is something many people don’t know, but these are the same principles used for webinars, sales letters and FB funnels…Showing that the tactic really doesn’t matter as there’s always more than one way, but you have to understand the principles in order to execute.The takeaway:Every “tactic” has an underlying principle.Affiliate marketing works because people trust the person giving advice, not because they put a hyperlink in the right place…SEO works because Google ranks the best content at the top, not because you have the fastest site speed or most images…FB Ads work (for e-commerce) because they’re giving a reason to buy (i.e. discount or free plus shipping), not because FB Ads are the godsend everybody is looking for…Copywriting works because you’re able to understand the underlying psychology of things and show people how your product (or service) can help them signNow their goals, not because it’s a bunch of fancy words that makes you sound smart…And I could go on forever, but I hope you get the hint. Always try and figure out why it works, because once you do…Things get easy after that.Start small and growIt’s human nature for us to seek out the easiest method providing the fastest results (what some refer to as “cocaine” brain)…And that’s not always a bad thing, but at the same time — it usually does more harm than good.What do I mean?Well, let’s go back to my story for example.I loved the idea of affiliate marketing as it was the easiest way for me to make $1 Million and I didn’t think it’d take a long time to do.I feel like an idiot for thinking this now, but I was seriously convinced that it was going to happen…And that’s just one of the million examples showing how dangerous these get rich quick schemes can be, but on top of that…It gives us WAY too much confidence as we think we’ve found our way out (i.e. bitcoin).Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of “cutting the line” and do this whenever I can…But at the same time, I’ve studied enough psychology to understand that we need small wins along the way to keep going.Say what?Well, whenever we don’t see results relatively soon…It’s really hard to find the motivation to keep going.We instantly think we’ve made a mistake and need to cut our losses…Which is a surefire way to fail, and that’s why I think it’s extremely important to find something you can start making money in right away (or at least soon).This not only provides motivation to keep going, but it also gives you some extra funds to try out all those tools you’ve been eye-balling.The takeaway:Don’t go for the home run right away, and instead — find something you can start seeing results in relatively soon.This is one of the many reasons why I advise freelancing, as it’s not that hard to learn (you just need a simple skill - like powerpoint design, bookkeeping or even proofreading)…And trust me, there’s plenty of entrepreneurs out there looking for help in these fields (making it very easy to get started).Don’t take the leapOne of the absolute worst things anybody can tell you is to “take the leap”.This advice is usually justified with some sort of “focus” rationale, saying how you’ll only expedite your results when giving it 100% focus…But here’s what they don’t tell you, very few people are able to get results when they’re under an immense amount of stress.This is something I’ve really noticed after teaching students how to freelance, because the ones under a lot of stress will always burn through material and miss out on 50% of the important details…Where students who kept their jobs and learn on the side always succeed, because they’re not having a constant panic attack and actually take the time to learn everything.The takeaway:Trust me, I hate jobs and never want to see anybody sacrifice precious years of their life doing something they don’t want to do…But at the same time, I also know taking the leap is actually a slower option (for most) as it puts you under constant stress and forces you to make mistakes.P.S. On a side note, this is another reason why I teach aspiring entrepreneurs how to freelance…As they can easily make a full-time living working 20 hours a week (freelancing generally pays 3–4x more), giving them more time while keeping the stress away — a win-win for any aspiring entrepreneur.It’s easier to sell (1) $200 product than it is to sell (100) $2 productsAnother huge mistake I see with a lot of new entrepreneurs, and one I’ve made countless times throughout my career…Thinking they need to sell “cheap” products as that’ll make things easier and allow them to get started right away.Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t sit here and say cheap products aren’t easier to sell…As that’s a no-brainer, but I don’t care if you’re selling a 50 cent sticker or a $500 course — getting sales online is very hard.There’s so much noise out there today that people are starting to get fatigued with any type of sales pitch, expensive or not…And trust me, it’s a lot easier to find one interested buyer for a $200 course than it is to find 100 interested buyers for a $2 sticker.The takeaway:Always consider profit margins when finding your product (or service).This is one of the main reasons why I can’t stand dropshipping or affiliate marketing, as it’s a lot of work for little reward…And even though those products are a little easier to sell than digital products (online courses or ebooks)…They hardly ever work out in the long run.Be humanIt’s almost sad to say this, but I’ve literally made a living teaching companies how to be more “human”.What do I mean?Well, think about the last time you read some “professional” text and immediately wanted to work with them:Never?Of course not, because we don’t buy from pretentious assholes…We buy from humans.That’s why it’s important to always be honest and act like you’re talking to your target customer in every aspect of online business.I don’t care if it’s blogging, vlogging or podcasting…Being human is probably the best (and easiest) advice I can give to any aspiring entrepreneur.The takeaway:Create a customer avatar (image of your target market) and always act like you’re talking to them when doing any type of online business.Trust me, this advice alone will separate you from 95% of other entrepreneurs.Choose something you’re interested in6 months ago I had a friend signNow out to me saying he was going to start a dropshipping store.I was glad to see he was interested in a side hustle, and told him I’d provide any advice I could…But when I asked what he was going to sell, I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off.Why?Because he starting a “baby” store.One that sold cribs, diapers, etc…And not because it’s something he enjoyed (or even had a vested interest in, like having a kid) — but he chose it because he thought it was the most profitable.This might’ve been the case, I didn’t even take a second to look at it…But guess how long his store lasted?2 months, and it wasn’t because of profitability or sales either…It was because he hated it and couldn’t do it any longer.The takeaway:Don’t think about what you “should” do, think about what you “want” to do.Starting a business takes A LOT of time and energy, and if you don’t like what you’re doing — then well, you’re probably not going to last long.Learn copywritingSo I obviously have a biased opinion with this…But after studying the greats and having some success myself, I truly think copywriting is the most important skill any online entrepreneur can have.Why?Well, there’s the “business side of things”…Like:Creating ad copy that gets people to click and keeps your costs low…Putting scripts together for videos, explaining your message exactly how you want to…Being able to create blog articles that go viral (and attract more clients)Crafting sales funnels that sell at all times of the day (getting sales as you sleep)And putting together a sales letter that makes people practically begging to work with you…5 things that every entrepreneur either needs to know, or have $5K (minimum) on hand to pay a decent copywriter.Then on the other hand, there’s the micro-skills…And don’t get me wrong, I think the business side is extremely important (I mean c’mon, I’ve made a living off them)…But for me personally, I think the micro-skills provide a lot more benefit.And what are these micro-skills?Some of my favorites are:Understanding your target market and identifying their needs…Know how to talk to a certain segment, showing that you understand their pains and how you can solve them…Knowing “why” people buy, and how you can fit your product (or service) into that why…And everything else a business owner needs to know, even if you don’t want to become world class at it (because “good enough” is better than most others out there)The takeaway:Most people don’t realize this, but copywriting is a lot more than writing.It’s understanding how to talk to your target market, create words that sell (at all times of the day)…And as somebody who’s seen both sides of it (freelance and my own business), I can confidentally say that every entrepreneur needs to have at least a small understanding of this…Because if you don’t, it’s easy to get lost and blow a lot of money with no results.Long story short…Don’t follow the crowd, because if you do — you’ll screw yourself over.Understand “why” things work, start small, eliminate risks…And you’ll signNow your goals a lot faster (counterintuitive, I know).P.S. Want to learn more about starting a lucrative freelance side hustle? Check this out