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Subscriptions aren’t new. People have been paying for regular access to things like newspapers and books for many years. But these days, it feels like everything is turning into a subscription. We see them everywhere, from TV and music services like Netflix and Spotify to food delivery and beauty product boxes. Believe it or not, the average American spends $219 a month on subscriptions. I’m not saying subscriptions aren’t useful; even I have 1–5 of them. It all started when I decided to go with Canva Pro, and it turned out to be a smart choice for my work. But while subscriptions can be useful, they also have downsides. We often end up paying for many apps that we don’t use much. This can waste our money and make our digital life more complicated than it needs to be. This got me thinking about how I can cut down on those subscription headaches. After trying various solutions, I found something interesting: Setapp, essentially a “Netflix for Mac apps.” Instead of paying separately for my productivity tools and other apps, I now get 250+ premium apps for a single fee. But bundles aren’t the only way to save money. You could also explore open-source tools, which are free and often just as powerful. For example, OpenSourceAlternative.to is a great resource to find them. But before you jump into any new service, it’s worth doing a quick “subscription audit.” Here’s how: 📝 Make a list of all your subscriptions 🕰️ Check how often you use each one 🌟 Ask yourself if it makes your life better 🔗 See if you can combine some subscriptions (like using Setapp for multiple apps) 💰 Think about whether each subscription is worth the money Once you review your subscriptions, you’ll be in a better position to keep only the ones that make a real difference and cut out the ones that don’t. This simple step can help you save money and make your digital life less complicated. Cheers, Minosh. |
Business and marketing insights from smart founders, researched and handed to you every Thursday.
Every business advice article says the same thing. Run a discount. Offer a freebie. Set up a referral bonus. Get people in the door. And I get why it feels right. When you’re just at the starting phase of your business, you need customers, and you figure a little reward will push people over the line. It’s what you see big brands do. So you copy it. Here’s the thing, though. There’s actual science behind why this backfires, and not a small thing either. It’s called the overjustification...
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There’s a guy on Reddit who built a scraper that watches Craigslist for used cars priced way below market. The moment one shows up, he gets an alert. He started flipping cars on the side and eventually turned the scraper into a paid tool. Cool story. But most of us have no idea how to build one. So I started thinking, what’s the version of this idea that doesn’t need any code? And I think I found it. Flipping stuff from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist is a real side hustle. People make a...