đŸ’€ The magic of monotony in business

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Fun fact: the day began as a celebration honoring one (or maybe more) martyrs named Saint Valentine. It wasn’t until the late 1300s that it became associated with romantic love. 

Fast forward to 2023, and you could argue it’s become just as associated with consumerism — Americans are expected to spend more than $25B this year. That’s a lot of chocolate and roses.

Discussed in today’s edition: Twitter, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Plus why monotony is the magic ingredient in business, and one free tool that’s a must-have for international freelancers.

Read time: 2 minutes and 36 seconds

Making the Rounds

  • Over half of Twitter’s top 1,000 advertisers paused spend as of January. According to analytics firm Sensor tower, 625 advertisers including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Jeep, and more, have paused paid advertising on the platform.
  • Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts both showing strong growth. According to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Shorts exceeded 50 billion daily views in Q4 of last year, while Reels attracted 140 billion daily views in Q3, as both their parent companies race to make up ground in the battle against TikTok for short-form video supremacy.
  • These are the top 10 U.S. cities to work remotely, according to the WSJ. They compiled the list after conducting a nationwide poll to discover the top 10 factors when looking for cities to work remotely. In other news, Gig HQ may be moving to Kansas City.

Working For Yourself

Why Monotony is the Magic Ingredient in Business

Enthusiasm is a superpower


But it’ll only take you so far in business and in life.

Eventually, everything becomes a grind when you’re chasing big goals.

That’s why we really enjoyed this episode of Earn Your Happy, where entrepreneur Lori Harder and her husband Chris talk about how to fall in love with monotony


As well as the unexpected benefits of doing so.

Click below to check it out:

[LISTEN] #1007: Find The Magic And Money in the Monotony

Tools We Love

This Free Tool is a Must-Have For International Freelancers

Inflation may have finally peaked


But the U.S. dollar remains strong.

Which means international freelancers *should* still be pocketing a little more than usual on every invoice


Only problem is:

PayPal and local banks offer terrible rates on currency conversions.

That’s why we use Wise instead.

With Wise, you can:

  • Get better rates on currency conversions than PayPal or a local bank
  • Send money cheaper and easier than old-school banks
  • Get paid like a local in 10 different currencies
  • And convert & hold up to 53 different currencies.

In fact, Wise is 6X cheaper than other international accounts on average.

That’s why over 13 million people trust them to handle their international payment needs.

So if you’re an international freelancer


Set up a free Wise account today to start saving big every time you get paid.

Gig Alerts

Looking for clients? These freelance jobs were posted on Upwork in the last 24 hours:

NOTE: We only share job postings from Upwork. We’ve found it to be the most trustworthy platform with the highest-quality clients. 

Furthermore, job postings must be for high-income skills like copywriting, media buying, funnel building, graphic design, remote closing, etc in order to qualify.

Quote of the Day


“Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” 

— Sadie Delany

There are no guarantees in life.

Entitlement and empowerment are allergic to each other.

So it’s up to you to discover what fills you up, then optimize for more of it.

Share this on Twitter 🐩

Tools of the Trade

Looking to upgrade your toolkit? Here are some of our favorite tools we use to powerful our freelance business:

  • ConvertKit — Email marketing for creators. Simple, easy to use, and very cost-effective.
  • Kinsta — Super fast website hosting trusted by 25,000+ small businesses.
  • Fireflies — AI note-taker that can record client calls + create searchable transcripts.
  • Krisp — Eliminates echoes and background noise on calls and meetings using AI.
  • Wise — Unbeatable rates on currency conversions. Saves you a ton of money if you’re an international freelancer.

* Some of these are affiliate links. This means we may receive a small commission if you sign up for a paid subscription (at no extra cost to you.)