Issue 17: Don't pitch my Venmo account
Sophia Amoruso
Investing in winners at Trust Fund, NYT Bestselling Author, Serial Founder, Keynote Speaker. Returned the dress I wore on the cover of Forbes. ?? Pitch us at trustfund.vc ??
by Sophia Amoruso and Melanie Ehrenkranz
Business Class is a weekly newsletter for people who work for themselves. Have a scoop? Wanna partner? Email us ([email protected] )
Notes from a Messy Desk:
When I heard the cha-ching! of a Venmo notification today, I thought I was getting my share of last night's poker pizza.
Instead, I got a five-dollar pitch.
I appreciate hustle as much as the next investor, but diving into my personal Venmo account? That's like showing up uninvited to my birthday BBQ with a PowerPoint presentation. It's not just crossing a line; it's pole-vaulting over it with a business plan in hand.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good creative pitch. Send me a singing telegram, skywrite your startup name, get Jenny Holzer to project your revenue projections onto a building. But there's a fine line between being resourceful and feeling like I need to change my locks (and my passwords). While part of me admires the chutzpah, the other part is wondering if this founder's next move is going to be pitching me through my Nest doorbell.
In the end, I want to invest in someone who can disrupt industries, not my personal life. And let's be real, if you're resorting to Venmo stalking, maybe it's time to pivot your business plan.
I may be a cheap date, but $5 ain’t gonna cut it. Sorry, bud.
Relevant fact: I have a Jenny Holzer tattoo on my forearm that says “words tend to be inadequate.” That might have been good to research first.
– Sophia
PS: What's the weirdest way you've been pitched? Or pitched someone?
In today’s issue:
This newsletter is brought to you by Sunsama , which we covered in a previous issue because we love it. The team there saw our enthusiasm for their product, contacted us, and were like “hey, talk about us more” and I was like “that’s perfect because my ADD ass uses it every day.”
Sunsama is like a digital assistant: it pulls in my calendar for the day, proactively prompts me to budget time for those items and reminds me to add time blocks for to-do items I wouldn’t typically schedule, like writing this newsletter.
I then turn my computer on do not disturb, and press play. Sunsama then goes into focus mode, shows me the time I’ve budgeted for the task, and even plays a cute little sound that reminds me to take breaks in between.
We’ve talked about a lot of productivity and mindfulness apps, and of them all, this is the one that’s actually stuck.
– Sophia
Phrase of the day: "Buffalo market"
Turns out, buffalos love to roam.
Which is why Bank of America is calling the second half of 2024 a “buffalo ” market period.
“In the first half of 2024, the bull market was powered by resilient consumer spending, better-than-expected corporate profits, and investors’ unchecked enthusiasm for a handful of technology companies. Moving forward, the bull is most likely to turn into more of a buffalo as it roams, or drifts sideways, into the summer months against a backdrop of softening economic data, elevated geopolitical risks, and the upcoming U.S. presidential election,” the bank’s Chief Investment Office wrote last month .
Side hustle idea: Ghostwriting on LinkedIn
Career creator Courtney Johnson ?? Social Media broke down a straightforward blueprint for how to get into ghostwriting for executives on LinkedIn . If you have any copywriting, marketing, journalism, or even social media experience, this is one way to make some extra cash by writing someone else’s LinkedIn posts for them.
Let’s dive in:
Become a thought leader: That involves posting and figuring out what’s working and what’s not. It’s also a great way to build up your credibility and show your work off to potential clients. And, this is the big one, make sure it’s clear in your bio that you are available to contract for LinkedIn ghostwriting (or auditing, optimizing, whatever you want to call it.)
Add powerful people as connections: When a potential client views your profile, they see social proof that you’re well-networked with people they either know or admire. If you have a certain niche, that’s a good place to start. For instance, if you have a ton of experience writing about the beauty industry, add a bunch of CEOs and executives at beauty brands. You don’t need a niche, though, you just need to have the writing chops and a sense of what performs well on LinkedIn.
Start making connections and build relationships: Send a note to potential clients to let them know you’re available for ghostwriting services. Make sure you highlight relevant past experience and, most importantly, what you can do for them. Did your social media captions for a previous client grow their audience by 5% a week? Did your copywriting work increase traffic to a brand’s website? Connect your past successes with their future ones.
Know what to charge: Johnson recommends charging between $500 and $3,000 a month for 1-2 posts a week. Figure out what rate makes sense for you, but our advice is to always take what you think you’re worth and add some more on top (because you’re probably worth more than you think). Plus, this is a growing side hustle space, so you have the opportunity to develop your own benchmark for what the work is worth.
Schedule ~quarterly interviews: You don’t live inside your client’s brain, and you might not even know them that well, so you’ll want to have recurring conversations that you can transcribe and refine into the LinkedIn content. We recommend using Otter.ai or Rev . If someone is incredibly busy and uninterested in hopping on a call, see if they have any existing articles, interviews, or social media posts online you can use for inspiration.
Create a content flywheel: If you genuinely enjoy writing for certain clients, see if they have copywriting needs outside of LinkedIn. Maybe they need help with their website, their newsletter, their social media. What started as the occasional LinkedIn post can turn into deliverables that extend beyond just one platform. And a higher monthly retainer.
Sell the transformation, not the tech
It turns out consumers are less likely to buy something if there’s a mention of AI in the product description .
If artificial intelligence is your product’s entire value proposition, consider how you’re talking about it. Rule 101 of marketing is to sell the benefits, not the product. Sure, it’s important to share that your product uses AI to do the job. But first, explain how your product can remove the friction your customer is experiencing.
Here’s an example: You’re selling an alarm clock that generates personalized bedtime stories (this product exists, by the way .) Instead of describing the value as “AI-powered bedtime stories,” think about why that might be enticing for someone. It’s probably not the technology that’s the most interesting, but the fact that it’s personalized, hands-free, and knows what will help you wind down better than you do. Instead, take a cue from Loftie’s website: “The Loftie Clock doesn't just wake you up, it enhances your sleep routine.”
Everyone and their mother seem to be bolting AI onto it these days, so it’s not even original enough to be a selling point on its own. Go deeper.
People aren’t more keen to buy, and it’s not good for sales .
On that note, if you are creating your branding strategy for a new AI product or feature, don’t look to Google or Meta or most of the big players for inspiration. They’ve got their own AI branding problem .
And it’s all related – consumers aren’t romanticized by the idea of artificial intelligence displacing our creativity and humanity. AI is not romantic. It’s not aspirational. But it can inspire those feelings, and that’s what consumers find appealing. The beauty, though, is in the subtlety. If you want to sell it, hide it.
OpenAI's controversial new tool
OpenAI allegedly has a tool that can detect its own text with 99.9% accuracy . It was deemed fit for a public launch, but never saw the light of day because of internal debate .
Why? The general sentiment is that they’re worried it could hurt sales. One might be slightly less inclined to post ChatGPT-generated content if someone can call their ass on it.
Let’s vote:
Do you want OpenAI to release a ChatGPT detector?
And if you work in AI and have info on the future of AI-detection tools, please hit us up.
How to turn scope creep into more money
If you’re a creator or freelancer, you’ve probably experienced scope creep. That’s when your client asks you to do more work beyond what was originally agreed upon in your contract. For free.
Working for yourself is an endless practice of self-advocacy. A gentle reminder that gratitude for the work you have and asking to be paid what you deserve are not mutually exclusive.
Self-employed creator @mynameisdeya shared a template (which is just two sentences) to share with a client if they ask you to do more work for the same pay.
“I’d be happy to do that for $___ extra since that’s out of scope. Let me know if that’s approved and I can start on ____ date.”
Get that money.
ChatGPT as a manifestation "bestie"
Manifestation is the belief that you can create your life based on your thoughts, actions, and feelings. “I’m manifesting.”
One way people manifest their destiny is through visualization, but even the most spiritual people can hit a creative roadblock. And there’s a growing scene of manifesters using ChatGPT to help manifest .
Chloe Dechell? , an empowerment coach, said that she created a fill-in-the-blank prompt for her clients to generate their own visualizations because she didn’t have the time to do it for each person. Hustle, girl.
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“The prompt I created is meant to connect you to the desired reality you want to manifest,” she told someone in an Instagram comment . “ChatGPT just fills in the visualization based on your input.”
Side hustle idea: Sell your AI likeness
Persona is a digital modeling platform by venture-backed startup AI.Fashion of Los Angeles. They have transformed fashion photography by merging AI with people, and have made it possible for anyone interested in becoming a model to get paid for every project their digital double gets booked for, without needing to attend physical photoshoots.
This means more opportunities for both professional and aspiring models to collaborate with top fashion brands and dramatically expand their reach, all while keeping their IRL day jobs.
How to profit off your digital double using AI.Fashion ’s Persona:
Upload Your Photos: Simply upload your photos to the platform
Get Notified: AI.Fashion will notify you when a brand wants to work with you for an upcoming digital photoshoot.
Approve the Booking: Approve the booking, sit back, and relax as our software generates the photoshoot!
A Chrome extension to speed read your 693 open tabs
Wiseone is a free Chrome extension that generates a brief summary and key takeaways of a website or PDF you’re reading.
It’s great if you’re reading an article or study or something and feel like an idiot, because it will also show the definition of words you don’t know and recommend more articles if you want to learn more.
AND, in a huge move toward media literacy, it also cross-checks information and claims by showing supporting information to know whether what you’re reading is indeed legit.
You can watch AI educator Sophie Jane testing out the tool here .
A free (no-coding) course on Generative AI
If you want to start automating some of your workflows but can’t afford an AI consultant , then you should learn the basics of generative AI.
NVIDIA has a free two-hour class on the basics of generative AI for beginners. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how to actually use tools built on the tech.
You can enroll here .
Stuff we're into
These gorgeous stemless martini glasses from Ghia x Sophie Lou Jacobsen
These zero-nicotine vapes so you can puff on some strawberry or jasmine or passion fruit and not ruin your lungs
A necessity if you’re downsizing your space but not your closet
A red flag tracker designed for dating but can be used for any potentially toxic person in your life
A website that spits the water out of your phone speaker
Exclusive deals from the Trust Fund portfolio
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Carry is also hosting an IRL conference for business owners, called the The OOO Summit , that’s happening on August 17 in New York City.
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Business Class gets litigious
Our members are amazing – they are developing SPF haircare, dominatrix coaching brands, personal style platforms, burn clinics, chronic pain communities, and so much more.
What they all have in common – the need for legal know-how to protect and grow their businesses. So we are bringing in lawyer and educator for creative entrepreneurs Magdalena Fisher to host a Legal 101 workshop for Business Class members this month.
Magi will share insights on contracts and negotiating them, different business structures, intellectual property, and other essentials to run a successful and legit business.
We’re stoked.
Want more?
Host a workshop for our community of 3k+ entrepreneurs ! We’re looking for domain experts to share their genius. Email [email protected]
Promote your business to over 130,000 subscribers! Email [email protected]
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