Author: Editor

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sameera Sullivan. It has been edited for length and clarity.As far back as high school, I loved giving people dating advice. My mom could see that I had real skill, and she encouraged me. Yet, I didn’t even know that matchmaking could be a business.Then, in 2012, I was recruited by a matchmaking agency. Before then, I’d studied psychology and worked in education and defense. The agency thought that background would make me good at helping others find love. When I started matchmaking, I knew I’d found what I was supposed…

My heart flutters every time I spot a unique vintage treasure in the tchotchke aisle at the thrift store. But then I realize it has a chip or a crack, so I decide to put it back. The object may have sentimental value, but it’s not a match for my vintage shop, where I always try to feature high-quality items that have survived the test of time.When my younger sister, Hillary, and I turned our love for vintage collecting into a small business nearly three years ago, we had no idea how hard it would be or how long it…

For decades, Richland Parish remained a small farming community nestled in Louisiana’s northeast corner.Residents living in the parish — a spattering of rural towns and unincorporated communities — had come to know their home for its slower pace of life. Much of the area is filled with winding back roads, sprawling farmland, and a skyline free of towering skyscrapers. The closest major regional city is Monroe, about 30 minutes west, with a population more than twice that of Richland Parish.It’s the kind of place where everybody claims to know everybody, or at very least, has heard of them. Then, Meta…

When Julia Andrusiak was in college, she noticed one of her professors repeatedly pausing his lecture. Eventually, she realized that she was the disruption: Her slow, two-finger typing was so loud that he couldn’t concentrate.”It was the first moment I realized that I may not be the best at this,” Andrusiak said.So she began drilling: First, she typed out books. That made her faster, but she was still staring at her keyboard. Then, she advanced to touch typing — typing without looking at the keyboard. She’s still working on her speed and accuracy. Now 26, Andrusiak has an AI-focused job…

Brent Franson spent four years building a mental-health app that users liked, but that didn’t ultimately work as a business.The product wasn’t an obvious flop. It had enough promise, he said, to make further rounds of changes seem worthwhile — the trap of something that seemed “pretty good,” though ultimately isn’t viable.”Mediocrity is so dangerous,” Franson said.In late 2024, seeing a need for a fresh start, he shut down the app, called Most Days, and discarded the codebase that his team had spent years building.The San Francisco-based staff then shifted their attention to building a consumer-health product called Death Clock,…

AI may be transforming the world of work, but the core ingredients for a successful career haven’t changed, David Rubenstein says.”For a young person, the best thing to do is: Learn how to read and enjoy reading, learn how to speak effectively and persuasively, and learn how to write reasonably well,” the billionaire investor told Business Insider in a recent, wide-ranging interview.The cofounder of private equity giant Carlyle also said to “find something that you really enjoy and make it your life’s work.””If you really enjoy something, it’s not work, and you’ll do much better at it,” he continued. “Nobody…

This is an as-told-to conversation with Daniel Dantus, a former BCG partner who’s now a senior vice president at Skan AI, a startup that analyzes how work happens across a company. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.I came into consulting as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan’s business school. I joined a student consulting club and landed at Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, first as an intern, and then full time.What was special about BCG was that you were given a lot of rope from day one. My first week was training. By the second, I…

Over the last few years, Linda Barton watched as her mom and stepdad progressively shifted from active 80-year-olds to, in her words, “children.” Her mom with dementia became unable to take care of herself, while her stepfather, whose health has also declined, “acts like he’s 6 years old.”The commute to see them, which was an hour each way from work, wore her down, and she didn’t want them to move in with her because of space constraints. She did the next best thing: move them into her yard. Linda Barton and her husband bought two tiny homes for their three…

We’re in a golden age for apocalyptic thinking.The threat of AI has taken center stage, but there are omens anywhere you’re motivated to look: countries trading ballistic missile fire, ballooning national debt, soaring energy prices, and, of course, that old standby, the climate crisis.It’s no surprise, then, that Gabriel Shahin, founder of private wealth advisor Falcon Wealth Planning, has seen the steady increase in doomerism among his clients since the COVID shutdown reach new heights this year.Now, Shahin’s firm is spending more time than ever protecting its clients from making financial decisions based on fear rather than logic.”Our job is…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Heather Waughtel, 47, a project coordinator based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Business Insider has verified her income and her dad’s funeral costs. It has been edited for length and clarity.Before my dad died, I felt we had been responsible by discussing things like finances and the power of attorney. Dad had life insurance and said the cremation would be covered.I soon learned that when a loved one dies in the US, you must deal with financial and legal questions while in the rawest stage of grief. Did you take on debt or…