• Jennifer McMahon is job hunting for the first time in 20 years.
• She said more competition and a lengthy interview process have changed the job-search landscape.
• McMahon said her AI knowledge has helped, along with a job coaching service and networking.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer McMahon, a Gen X job seeker based in Connecticut. Her employment history and identification have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

About five months ago, I was informed that my organization at Google was getting moved to Mexico City.

I felt like the rug was ripped out from under me. I've been working in marketing and sales enablement continuously for over 20 years, and it's been so long that I've forgotten the feeling of not working.

The job market has also changed. Gen X was always told, "No bragging, let your work speak for itself." That's not the case anymore. You have to put yourself out there now, and it's uncomfortable and new for me.

The volume of applicants has also increased. I'll look at a job that was posted 10 minutes ago, and there are already 100 people who have applied. So that's kind of freaking me out, as I don't know how I'm going to showcase my value when there are thousands of applicants.

There are also fake jobs being posted out there for phishing purposes. So, I'm often like, "Is this job real?"

The interview process itself has also shifted. I've gone through several interviews where I have to build a presentation. I'm like, "Whoa, I'm not a CEO." I'm not going for the highest-level position here, but it's still super competitive.

It's been tough. It's been a roller coaster. I'm not a job-hopper, and in this process, I've realized that I'm a control freak. It's been challenging to surrender and just trust, but I have to have faith that I'm going to find the right position.

I haven't landed anything yet, but these three things have helped improve the process.

1. AI knowledge

Having had the opportunity to work at Google has definitely been a blessing for my résumé. I think it makes a difference because of how tech- and AI-forward the company is.

I've been trying to look at the job hunt as an opportunity to continue to grow and learn new technologies. ChatGPT has helped me come up with an elevator pitch and I even generated a NotebookLM podcast on myself by putting in my profile and résumé. After listening to the podcast, I was like, "Wow, I am good at this."

For one interview, I even used AI to build a one-pager prototype concept of what an AI coach would entail. It's so incredible right now what you can build with AI. I was like, "Hey, I haven't done this type of training before, but look what AI can help your company do, and here's the prototype."

I think I have a little advantage due to my experience with AI, and I think people want to hear that.

2. A job coach

One of the benefits of working with Google is that they'll help you with the transition for six months if you don't find a new role internally. I've had an incredible benefit from that experience.

The service they provide helped optimize my résumé and provided me with a one-on-one job coach. The company also offers resource hubs and webinars with recruiters so you can ask them questions about what they're looking for in candidates.

We also have a weekly group meeting where people get together, share stories, and try to uplift each other. It's sort of like a community of folks in the same situation, and it's been really helpful.

3. Years of experience

Networking has to be the most important piece right now.

If someone doesn't come in with that, "Hey, we know Jen, she's good at what she does," I don't think I'm getting that call back. Since the end of June, I've applied for about 25 external roles, and I've been able to get about seven interviews out of that. I got referrals on all except for one.

After 20 years of industry experience, I'm able to rely on my network to be supportive, helpful, and put in a good word.

• James Bascharon became a veterinarian, hoping to take over his father's business.
• When his dad had other plans, Bascharon quit his job at the family clinic to start a pet health company.
• Vetnique, which Bascharon started in his garage, was sold to a private equity firm for millions.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with James Bascharon, the founder and CEO of Vetnique. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I always begin my story with my parents.

My dad is a veterinarian, and my parents immigrated to the US from Egypt with almost nothing. My father started out cleaning dog cages, and my mother — a trained pharmacist — cleaned hotel rooms.

Eventually, my dad earned his veterinary license and opened two animal hospitals. Watching him build something from the ground up inspired my deep appreciation for both animal care and entrepreneurship.

Growing up in suburban Chicago, I was the kid who always said I wanted to be a vet. But I was also inventing product ideas and brainstorming businesses before I even understood what a startup was. I was equally drawn to the white coat and the balance sheet.

When it came time to choose a path, I decided to follow the family legacy. I studied pre-vet at the University of Illinois, then took a risk and left early for veterinary school in Grenada. After completing my clinical year back in Illinois, I returned home ready to join the family practice.

But reality hit hard.

Working with my father wasn't what I'd hoped for

I thought I'd be part of growing the family business — scaling our two clinics into a larger network, maybe even becoming a national player. But my dad had other plans: He wanted me to be a vet, not a partner.

It was clear I wasn't going to get a seat at the table the way I'd imagined. So I took a second risk: I applied to two emergency vet clinics for night and weekend shifts. Despite little ER experience, I got both jobs. I needed space — professionally and emotionally — from my father's clinic. And I needed the income. At the time, new vets earned less than nurses for humans, and I had loans to pay.

Still, I wasn't satisfied.

To reclaim a sense of independence, I launched a house-call veterinary service around Chicago. It was just me and my wife, who helped out with scheduling and support. We provided high-end, in-home care, often euthanasia — helping pets pass peacefully under their favorite tree or on their family's couch.

It was fulfilling and proved I could build something myself. But it wasn't scalable, and I was exhausted, juggling three vet jobs and always on call.

That's when I began to brainstorm product ideas. I didn't sleep much that year. I thought about everything from franchising the house-call model to launching new pet supplements.

Then one day, a lightbulb went off.

I saw the same problem again and again — and realized no one was solving it

As a vet, I saw countless dogs with anal gland issues. They'd scoot across the carpet, sometimes rupture glands, and end up needing expensive surgery. The only solution we had was adding fiber to their diet — canned pumpkin or prescription food — neither of which was very effective.

One client came in frustrated. He'd been back every three weeks for months. "Is there anything else we can do?" he asked.

I didn't have a good answer, and I hated that.

So I went home and started researching. No product was on the market tailored specifically for this common condition, so that night, my idea for Glandex was born.

I created the formula myself, mixing soluble and insoluble fiber with other gut-supportive ingredients. I made the first batches in five-gallon Home Depot buckets in my basement. My wife and I packed and labeled everything by hand.

Eventually, I launched Glandex online with a tongue-in-cheek campaign: "Boot the Scoot."

It wasn't an overnight success, but early Amazon reviews called it a miracle product. That was my proof of concept. We earned two patents and built the company — Vetnique — on the idea that science-backed, vet-formulated products could fill critical gaps in pet care.

I didn't have money for major ad campaigns, so I leaned into my network. I knew that if I could get veterinarians to recommend Glandex, it would spread faster — and more credibly — than any influencer campaign.

We sold directly to consumers and through Amazon and Chewy, but I also started building distributor partnerships and exhibiting at vet conferences.

It worked. By 2015, we were in PetSmart and Petco. We expanded into grooming products, probiotics, and joint supplements. Slowly, I stopped practicing clinical vet med and went full-time at Vetnique in 2017.

I sold the company in a multimillion-dollar deal — and stayed on to grow it

In 2023, I sold Vetnique to a private equity firm, Gryphon, in a multimillion-dollar deal. I still own about 10% of the company and remain CEO. We now have over 200 employees globally, including about 55 in the US.

Since the acquisition, we've doubled in size by acquiring UK-based pet supplement brand YuMOVE, entered Walmart, and expanded to over 25 countries. Our growth continues at over 30% year over year.

Our mission is to help pets thrive for life by addressing the biggest health needs: digestive issues, joint health, allergies, dental care, and ear care. But more than that, we aim to raise the bar in pet wellness by delivering science-based, vet-developed products that solve real problems.

More than 100,000 veterinarians worldwide recommend our products, and we now support the health of over 5 million pets each year.

I never imagined the path would take me from my father's clinic to building a global company — but I'm proud of every step.

And yes, my dad is proud, too.

Do you have a unique side hustle, or has your side hustle replaced your full-time job? Email Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert at [email protected].

• Jacob Frehling co-owns Maude's Coffee and Clothes, which is a short drive from the Sun Valley Lodge.
• When billionaires come visit for an annual conference, his sales dip during a normally busy time.
• Frehling grew up in the area and said he's never met a local who is excited about the conference.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jacob Frehling, the co-owner of Maude's Coffee and Clothes in Ketchum, Idaho, about a six-minute drive from the Sun Valley Lodge. It's been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has seen sales data from last year that indicate Maude's saw a drop in transactions during Sun Valley week compared to the week immediately after in July. Representatives for the Allen & Company Sun Valley conference did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

I've lived in Sun Valley, Idaho, practically my entire life. My family has been pretty dug into the community for a long time — my mom owns a clothing store, my cousins have a restaurant, and my dad used to run a restaurant, too. About eight years ago, my wife and I opened our own business: Maude's Coffee and Clothes, a café and vintage shop.

Allen & Company's Sun Valley Conference has been around since I was a kid. When I was a teenager, I remember some of my friends getting hired as nannies or to develop photos, and I was jealous of their opportunity to make an easy chunk of money. Now, though, my perspective on the whole thing is a little different.

We have an incredible local following at Maude's, but this whole area is a visitor's economy. Practically everyone in the retail and service industries relies on tourists. When the billionaires fly into the area every July, they go straight to the Sun Valley Lodge just outside the heart of Ketchum to have a catered experience. Most of their dollars don't flow back into town, unless they're booking out a restaurant.

This is usually the busiest time of year for my business. But when the conference comes, guests rent out tons of rooms and book all the fishing guides, outdoor adventures, and restaurants. Other tourists can't really visit the area that week. The Sun Valley Lodge is big; that's hundreds of people who aren't there and aren't circulating their dollars in local stores.

It's not a zero-sum game, but my number of sales drops at least a bit every year. The billionaires at the conference throw a weird wrench in the cog of the summer economy, stepping on the brakes for regular people during what should be a very, very, very busy time.

That's not to say it's all bad. I'm sure the conference is great if you're directly involved, but many locals I know aren't. I've gotten to know some members of the billionaire entourage, like dancers and bodyguards, who come each year. They're great, and I actually always look forward to seeing them.

Overall, though, I wish I could leave town during Allen & Co. week, but someone has to run Maude's. I'm born and raised here, and I've never met a single person who is from this place that's happy when the jets touch down.

• Jaylyn Jones landed over 12 interviews without tailoring her résumé for ATS scanners.
• Jones, a recruiter, emphasizes showcasing job competence over keyword stuffing in résumés.
• She shared which advice she found least helpful when she submitted her résumé through the scanner.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jaylyn Jones, a 32-year-old recruiter based in Pittsburgh. It's been edited for length and clarity.

One of the biggest job-seeking myths I've heard is that aggressive Applicant Tracking System (ATS) scanners will filter out applicants whose applications are formatted a specific way. That's just not the case.

I've been a recruiter for three years, and about a year ago, I started hunting for a new role. When I was applying for new recruiting jobs in 2024, I took my personal experience using ATS systems into account and proved that I didn't need to tailor my résumé for ATS scanners to land a position.

Here's how I formatted my résumé to stand out among the rest.

I've used ATS scanners to recruit people for jobs

My first recruiting job was at JP Morgan from 2021 to 2024, in which I used Greenhouse, a popular ATS system, to help streamline the recruiting process.

Greenhouse rejected or flagged candidates based on straightforward questions like "Are you over the age of 18?" and "Are you authorized to work in the US?" However, no applicants were filtered out by keywords or formatting. If 1,000 people applied, I saw 1,000 applications.

I could manually search for keywords if I wanted to look for someone with specific experience, but that didn't get rid of applications that lacked that keyword.

On my résumé, I focused less on keywords and more on showing my ability to do the job

I went bullet-by-bullet on every job description and made sure there was something on my résumé that showed my competence in that area.

When reviewing my résumé, I'd simply ask myself, "Would a reasonable person look at what I have on my résumé and say, "Yes, they can do this job?" My strategy worked; I got interviewed by over 12 companies, and I got hired to recruit at a tech company in less than three months.

In my current role, I receive a lot of résumés that are filled with a page worth of keyword fodder before getting to actual experience. Once it reaches the experience section, that part is just as filled with buzzwords. When I see a résumé like this, it's not a red flag. I see it as somebody who has not been given the information and tools to be successful.

Jobscan gave my résumé a failing score

Recently, I plugged the résumé that landed me my most recent job into Jobscan, an online résumé scanner that ranks how strong a résumé is, just to see what the platform would say.

The biggest critique I received was that I was missing keywords. For example, the scanner said something like "the job description says the word "recruiting" 13 times, but your résumé only says it twice." Then it prompted me to add the keyword more times.

It was also very particular about language, such as bumping my score down for saying I was a "campus recruiter" at JP Morgan instead of a "university recruiter." It gave my résumé a 16% score.

As a recruiter, I honestly didn't see any tips from the résumé scanner that would be useful for a job seeker. If anything, it can be harmful to an applicant's success if they're more caught up in using the word "evaluate" than actually citing their experience evaluating.

My biggest tip is to focus on providing evidence over keywords

So many job seekers are having such a difficult time in this market, and they're doing everything they can possibly think of to be more successful, but if you're going to use AI, don't be sloppy.

A common ChatGPT prompt that job seekers might use is "Tailor my résumé to this job." AI often responds to this by shoehorning keywords from the job description into haphazard bullet points. Using keywords isn't helpful without proper context.

I prefer uploading the job description and using the prompt "analyze my résumé for any gaps in skills or qualifications based on this job description, and make suggestions about what to change." This might cue you to add any missing skills that the job post is looking for.

The right prompt allows job seekers to own their experience, not just blindly trust ChatGPT. This helped me during my job search.

Editor's note — A representative from Jobscan sent the following comment to BI : "A Jobscan Match Rate isn't a grade on your career; it's a risk assessment against a frustrating system. A low score doesn't mean you're unqualified; it means you're at high risk of being invisible to the automated or manual filters that 88% of employers admit will vet out good candidates. Based on third-party research and our own surveys and conversations with job seekers and recruiters, Jaylyn's job search experience is certainly an exception to the rule."

If you are professional with helpful résumé tips you'd like to share, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• Kim Gravel is the founder of two top-performing QVC brands.
• She's also a mom to two teenage boys.
• Gravel has learned a lot from her failures and is determined to let her sons fail too.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Gravel, the founder of Belle by Kim Gravel and Love Who You Are. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was 19 when I won the Miss Georgia pageant. Even more exciting than the crown was the $100,000 salary that came with it.

This was back in 1991, so that was serious money. For the first time, I felt like I was being paid not just for the task I was doing but for my talent.

Since I was little, I knew that I wanted to be paid for the value I brought. My first job was washing hair at a salon. I was making something like $3 an hour, but I knew I was providing more value than I was being paid for. I wasn't just washing hair: I was talking to the ladies about their families and their churches, giving them one-on-one attention.

After my year as Miss Georgia, I was hired as a Goodwill Ambassador to Japan. That came with a nice paycheck, too. I realized that if I got lots of bookings like that, I could make as much as I wanted. I started to develop my speaking and performing skills. I realized my value was whatever price tag I put on it.

That realization helped me become a multimillionaire.

I landed a reality TV show while I had an infant

A few years later, I was married to my husband, Travis. We had an infant and a 2-year-old, and I was bored to death as a stay-at-home mom. I knew my most important job was being a mother, but I wanted more. I needed a sense of purpose.

I Googled reality TV shows and found a contact for a producer. I remember sitting at home, no makeup and no bra, with spit-up on my shirt as I reached out to him. That led to a reality TV show about coaching pageants. It got picked up by Lifetime, and I was so proud to be a stay-at-home mom who had landed a television show.

When the show was canceled 18 months later, I was devastated. I didn't know that would be the turning point in my life.

I love running my company

At the time, I wasn't thinking about myself as an entrepreneur. I just thought I had a slick mouth and a big personality, and I knew how to use them.

After the show was canceled, I whined to my parents, who told me to cut it out and put on my big girl panties. My mom had an idea for soft jeans that wouldn't stretch out throughout the day. I started trying to make her vision come to life, and 18 months later, I was selling them on QVC.

Today, I've created two of QVC's most successful brands. Over the last seven years, I've sold over $1 billion in clothing, and last year my companies did $283 million in sales. I love that I run the company, and my husband is the chief financial officer. I'm not licensing my name or brand; I'm making decisions and developing this company.

Failure has helped me learn

The beautiful thing about being successful and having financial wealth is what you can do with it. Travis and I have built outdoor classrooms and have redone a girls' locker room for our local schools. We also started a nonprofit to teach girls about entrepreneurship.

I grew up middle class, but my dad, a banker, was cheaper than dirt. He taught us to save 70% of our money and live and give with the remaining 30%.

In some ways, I'm still cheaper than dirt. If our family goes out to dinner, we drink water or get one soda to share. My 16-year-old got a hand-me-down car when he got his license: a 2014 Nissan Rogue. I try to be like the millionaire next door.

Throughout my life, I've learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. If my show hadn't been canceled, I wouldn't have started making products.

I want my sons to experience failure, but I'm worried that they're part of a generation that doesn't know how to fail well. I don't want them to experience serious failures, like mental health issues or financial scams. But if they don't make the sports team, I'm not the parent calling the school to express outrage. Failure is our friend in finances, romance, and life. It's where we learn.

• Shannon Liu Shair and her husband started saving for college for their children when they were born.
• She puts money into 529 plans and custodial Roth IRAs for both of them.
• The 529 plans have around $100,000 each, and she plans to grow them to $200,000 by college time.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shannon Liu Shair, a 38-year-old estate planning attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It has been edited for length and clarity.

As an estate planning attorney at Liu Shair Law, I work with families to plan for the future and establish their legacy. Many of my clients have children, and their primary goal is to ensure their children are provided for through college and beyond.

In addition to understanding each client's goals, I ask how they've already invested and saved for their family. This is something that's deeply personal for me, too, as my husband and I have faced the same questions.

These conversations in my work and my own life have given me a unique perspective on how to get started and stay committed. It helps my clients to have someone they can trust with their sensitive information who also "gets it."

Saving and investing for our kids was not instant or overnight; it's taken years of learning and contributing. First, we had to make sure our own retirement and savings were healthily funded.

Here's how I set up my kids for financial success.

I started 529s for each of my two kids when they were born

529s are special accounts that allow you to save tax-free for education expenses. My parents did the same for me before I was college-age. Not needing to worry about finances, loans, and tuition made it much easier for me to focus on my studies.

We set up these accounts because we want our kids to have flexibility. I want them to be able to comfortably search for their ideal job fit since they already have a savings cushion.

My husband and I have saved over $100,000 in each of their 529s. I fund their accounts so that they'll be similarly situated based on the year they attend college.

Every state has its own 529 providers. I decided to use California's plan, Scholar Share, because it was easy to set up. I want to save 100% of what is expected for a public university in California. The target goal for each of the 529s is $200,000.

We don't have a specific backup plan for the money if one of the kids doesn't attend college, but up to $35,000 can be diverted to a Roth IRA. Additionally, the funds can still be withdrawn (with a penalty on earnings), which is not an issue for us.

We could also change the beneficiary to a different family member (e.g., hypothetical grandchild). I'd rather be over-prepared financially than under-prepared and have to scramble to figure things out.

I also set up custodial Roth IRAs for them

Custodial Roth IRAs are retirement accounts in which a child can deposit earnings from a job while they're minors, allowing them to start their retirement savings early. I've saved five figures in each of their custodial Roth IRAs.

For business owners, there are ways to employ your kids to set up a Roth IRA legally. Now that my kids are 10 and 8, they've been able to help me with shredding paperwork and other small tasks. They know that they're earning money for the work that they contribute to my business.

Anyone can set up a 529 for their loved ones, but custodial Roth IRAs are only available if a child has earned income. If someone is not a business owner and their child is old enough, the child can work and still have a custodial Roth IRA. The work can be with an established business, or even helping others in the community with babysitting and other chores.

They also have their own bank accounts

Their UTMA bank accounts are kept leaner, in the hundreds of dollars. UTMA bank accounts hold money that your child owns, and an adult is the custodian until the child becomes an adult. A portion of birthday money or gifts goes into the UTMA account.

Birthday and Christmas gifts in cash are typically from grandparents or other family members. Because these gifts are not earned income, the "save" goes to UTMA accounts and not to their Roth IRAs.

I don't have a set savings strategy. I add funds when I have more money in my account.

There are 2 things I could've done differently

I could do better at automating a monthly amount to ensure consistency and streamline the process.

Another thing I could've done differently is deeper research into 529 providers. I'm OK with our California provider, but researching more couldn't hurt. 529s can have differences, such as the types of investments available, the funds set up, the minimum amount required to get started, or the maintenance fees.

I tell my clients it's a good idea to teach financial acumen at a young age so their children don't spend their savings inappropriately. Our kids know how much is in their retirement accounts because I want them to learn cause and effect.

They used to get annoyed about helping me with the administrative tasks, but since I've educated them, they understand these funds will help alleviate stress when they enter the job market.

My advice to parents is to see this as a long game

There will be dips, and people need to understand the time value of money and compounding. If they move things around or make big shifts every time there's a decline in the market, it could be counterproductive and go against their goals.

For 529s, I've taken a more passive approach and use age-based funds (enrollment-year portfolios) rather than risk-based portfolios or guaranteed investment options. I have not changed the fund allocations during market shifts.

If you're just getting started or aren't in a position to make big contributions, saving even a few dollars a week or a month is better than nothing. It makes a difference. It's especially helpful if your children are young and time is on your side.

• Debbie Boyd moved to Panama with her 97-year-old mother for lower costs and healthcare options.
• Boyd, a retired real estate broker, sought a more affordable lifestyle with different politics.
• Boyd said Panama has offered a vibrant culture and supportive community for her and her mother.

This as-told-to interview is with Debbie Boyd, 71, who moved to Panama from Atlanta with her 97-year-old mother, Doris Britto, who has dementia. Boyd and Britto moved in early 2025 and have enjoyed their time so far. Boyd has particularly appreciated the medical resources and lower cost of living abroad. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I moved to Panama in March this year, and my mother followed a few weeks later. I had always considered the possibility of relocating outside the US and had looked into moving for a couple of years before I retired. I read about the lower cost of living being less, but I think what spurred my action was the political climate.

My first impression is that I love it here. The people in Panama are very friendly and caring. Our goal now is to get more entrenched in this new life.

I've had a number of different careers

My mom and I are both native New Yorkers. She was a long-distance operator for the New York Telephone Company for over 40 years. I relocated to Atlanta in 1983, and my mom followed me there in 1986, when she retired. We were in the Atlanta area up until this year.

She traveled with her friends and helped me raise my son. She became active in some senior citizen groups in the area.

I had a couple of careers. I've been a real estate broker with my own residential real estate firm, worked as an administrative assistant, and taught classes in criminal justice for online universities as an adjunct professor. I retired in 2016.

I found that I was becoming bored and wanted to make better use of my time. After retiring, I took swim classes, got together with friends for lunch, and traveled.

After I initially retired, I took about one year to decompress and give some thought as to what I wanted for the next phase of my life. I spent mornings reflecting over a healthy breakfast and good coffee. I enrolled in Water Zumba classes and started a walking regime. I also used this time to reconnect with friends and making quite a bit of lunch dates with my former tennis team members.

I went back to work after a couple of years in a work-from-home position.

In 2018, I got a bladder cancer diagnosis, and it involved a serious surgery. I wasn't well enough to take care of my mother, though she and I lived together. She moved into a nursing home and lived there for seven years.

Once I determined earlier this year that I was going to move to Panama, I asked my mom if she wanted to come. She said she did.

I decided that it was probably best for both of us. Otherwise, she would be in Atlanta, and I would be abroad. My son and grandchildren are grown up and have very active lives, so I knew she would be pretty much alone in the nursing home, which I didn't want for her. Panama checked a lot of the boxes. Healthcare seemed excellent, and I had a friend who retired there who answered my questions.

At the time, we were doing fine financially. We're not wealthy people, but we've worked our whole careers, paid bills on time, handled finances responsibly, and have good credit. But things have gotten so tight in the US; it's really hard to make ends meet as a retiree living off of Social Security and a small pension.

As an African American, I feel we are being targeted and knowledge of our proud heritage is constantly under assault.

The first few weeks abroad involved managing many logistics

I did three scouting trips. I wanted to come first to find a place that was suitable for us logistically. My mother's in a wheelchair, so I looked for a place that was more level. We got as much paperwork done as we could ahead of time so she could leave her facility.

My son made time to help me out by bringing my mother a few weeks later. I set up an appointment with a doctor, and he was able to see her within a week of her getting here, making sure we could transfer her medications and prescriptions.

My mom told me that since I'm here and I've handled everything, she's happy and has enjoyed it so far. She came down with a cold a few weeks ago and lost her appetite, but she started eating again and felt better. She's happier to not be in a nursing home environment. We're now looking to find more activities we can participate in together.

My friend who retired here introduced me to another person who had a sister with MS and who connected me with a home care agency. A young lady comes in six days a week to tend to my mom; she helps bathe her, prepare her meals, change her sheets, and do her laundry.

I get much more home for the same price here

Rental prices are a little higher than what I expected they'd be, but there's a gamut of price ranges. I've seen everything from $500 a month up to beyond $3,000 where I'm located. I have a four-bedroom house, an in-ground pool in the backyard, a very large living room, dining room, and kitchen.

The rent is $1,500 a month, a bit more than what I was paying for my mortgage on my house in the States, the mortgage on which is $777 a month. I still own my home. However, there have been recent property tax and home owner insurance increases and I estimate my mortgage will be approximately $250 more in 2026. I get so much more for the same amount of money.

The utilities aren't too bad. One month, I had a $70 bill, but the next month was $300. Each bedroom has its own individual air conditioning unit, so we're trying to figure out when to run it and for how long.

I'm still doing some paperwork and making phone calls to get things settled. A couple of friends have come to visit, and my son has come three times. I have a lot more company coming over the next two months.

I handle my business here like I would at home; I go to the grocery store, the bank, and the pharmacy. I take Ubers because I don't want to drive here; they drive really fast. An Uber one-way is about $2.20.

I'm still getting acclimated

I've discovered, though, that Panamanians love to party and love music. There are also always dogs barking early in the morning and late at night, so I'm trying to get used to the noise.

We don't live in an expat neighborhood. I wanted to be immersed in Panamanian culture. It's been about two months since we've been here, but I haven't had much of a chance to meet our neighbors yet. All of the houses are gated individually, so it's not like you can just walk up to your neighbor's front door.

But when I go to the mall, people talk with me. When they realize I only speak a little Spanish, everybody's helpful, pleasant, and willing to help me find things.

I haven't gotten to eat out much, but I've gotten really into going to the market and getting fresh fruit and vegetables. The hospital near me has a program where they will accept Medicare Advantage if you have an emergency situation and are hospitalized, which I'm applying for. I'm also applying to a program that's $220 a year to have any tests, blood work, or lab work done. I have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and I was on oxygen when I was back home. I haven't had to use it since I've been here.

My goal now is to get more involved with expat groups. I joined one recently and went to a very nice luncheon, where I met new people. I hope to continue expanding my social network. I plan to make this my new home and get more involved in volunteering.

• Lily Wu, now 31, was born in the US to Chinese parents and grew up in Boston.
• Her response to the question "Where are you from?" has evolved over time.
• She moved to Hong Kong in her early 20s and now says, "I grew up in the US, but I'm ethnically Chinese."

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lily Wu, a 31-year-old Chinese American compliance professional who moved to Hong Kong in her early 20s. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.

If you'd asked me where I was from 10 years ago — before I moved to Asia — my answer would've been very different.

"Where are you from?" has become the poster question for how Asian Americans are often treated as foreigners in their own country. I used to reply, "Boston," very matter-of-factly. I grew up there. I'm American. I speak English. It was a defensive answer, like: "Don't challenge me."

Now, I just say, "I grew up in the US, but I'm ethnically Chinese." It's honest, efficient, and I'm less defensive about it than I used to be.

American, born and raised

I was born in Ohio but spent my early years in China while my parents studied in the US as part of the first wave of Chinese students to leave under Deng Xiaoping's 1980s reforms.

We eventually settled in Boston, my hometown. I grew up surrounded by other Chinese or Chinese-American kids, and it felt like a little cultural cocoon.

Later, when I started middle school at Boston Latin School, I met kids from around the world — including China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mexico. A lot of kids at my school were local to Boston, but most non-white students, like me, were children of immigrants.

That shift gave me my first understanding of how wide the world was.

I grew up in a Chinese enclave and went to a diverse, progressive school where overt racism wasn't socially acceptable, at least not in my circles.

Cantonese was my first language — my mom's family is from southern China — but over time, I stopped using it. One day, I started answering my parents in English, and they let it stick.

Eventually, we became an English-speaking household.

Looking back, I wish I spoke better Cantonese and Mandarin. Like many Asian Americans, I wanted to fit in — and while maybe my parents could've pushed harder, my brother and I were probably just stubborn.

As a kid, I didn't think much of it, but now I feel a growing pull to reconnect with my roots. I was still surrounded by Chinese culture: I went to Chinese school, played the yangqin (a Chinese instrument), and watched "My Fair Princess," a TV drama, with my mom.

Now, there's so much I still want to learn — not just the language, but everything that comes with it.

Next stop: Hong Kong

I studied international relations and economics at Tufts University, then joined a rotational finance program working across departments. My first role was in asset management in Boston.

For my final rotation, I asked to be placed in Hong Kong, and the company made it happen. I'd spent most of my life in Boston, with a study abroad year and an internship in London, so moving to Hong Kong — a city I'd only visited once as a kid — felt like the right kind of adventure. I was 23 and ready to see more of the world.

The transition was surprisingly smooth. Hong Kong is easy for foreigners to navigate — English is widely spoken, and the infrastructure is world-class.

But being Asian American here is complicated. You blend in until you open your mouth — then people switch to English. It's efficient, but also a reminder that you're not quite "one of them."

Culturally, I'm a "gwei mui" — Cantonese slang for a Westernized girl. I used to feel embarrassed by that, but now I've learned to accept it.

Still, I see the value in understanding Hong Kong more deeply through its language and customs. It's ironic: I spent my childhood trying to be fully American, and now I find myself wanting to be more Chinese.

Asia shifted my perspective

When I visit the US now, I feel a kind of reverse culture shock — the streets are wide and quiet, and hardly anyone walks.

Growing up in the States, I was constantly told how amazing it was, but I was rarely told how great other cities around the world were, too.

That's starting to change, thanks to social media showing things like food delivery robots in China, high-tech toilets in Japan, and Hong Kong trains that run every few minutes. You'd never see that in Boston — I don't miss waiting 30 minutes for the subway in the freezing cold.

Things just run more efficiently here. Still, I love going back to the US to see my parents and friends. I appreciate the space and calm.

But these days, landing in Hong Kong feels more like coming home.

Got a personal essay about moving to Asia that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: [email protected].

• Patrick Lyons was laid off from Microsoft twice and worked there for a total of six years.
• Despite layoffs, Lyons maintained financial stability through side businesses and severance.
• Lyons advises pursuing monetizable passions to mitigate the impact of potential layoffs.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Patrick Lyons, a 29-year-old ex-Microsoft employee, based in Austin. It's been edited for length and clarity.

After five years at Microsoft, the last three of which I was a technical product manager for Microsoft Teams, I felt fulfilled and completely secure in my job.

I learned new things every day, pushed boundaries, and collaborated with brilliant minds. I saw how people needed me and called upon me at work for my expertise, and it brought me a real sense of purpose.

I had also been running three side businesses outside of work for several years, namely an online fitness coaching company. This allowed me to pursue my fitness passion while having bidirectional income streams. I had no plans for anything to change.

Then, in October 2024, I woke up to an early call from my VP letting me know that my role had been permanently eliminated due to business restructuring. I was shocked, but my next thought was, "How can I get rehired?"

During my unemployment, I enjoyed my hobbies

The next day, I started looking at Microsoft's internal job portal, which I'd only have access to for two more weeks. I didn't have any success in that period, so I started applying to jobs at other companies while keeping an eye on Microsoft openings.

Despite the stress about my sudden layoff, I was financially stable because of my businesses and a generous severance.

I spent the next few months applying to jobs and pouring my time into hobbies like improv comedy, fitness, and movies. It was one of the best times of my life. I started having such a good time away from work that a big part of me started questioning if I shouldn't go back to corporate at all and just fully commit to my fitness businesses.

I kept finding myself coming back to how much I missed Microsoft

I missed the ritual of logging into Microsoft Teams, doing my job, and collaborating with the same great people. I loved feeling as though I was really contributing to something larger than myself.

Microsoft's work culture is unbeatable. The idea of a growth mindset was tangible in our daily work, and our expectation was not to be a "know-it-all" but a "learn-it-all." I was surrounded by brilliant minds who wanted to help me become just as brilliant, not put me down for making mistakes or questioning the status quo.

A few months into unemployment, a former mentor of mine at Microsoft forwarded my résumé to a hiring manager, and I got rehired at Microsoft as a program manager for Azure, a cloud computing platform.

I got rehired and laid off in two months

When I returned to Microsoft, I treated my job the same as before, but I doubled down on my communication to make sure I was always on the same page with my team and superiors. It might sound counterintuitive, but I felt even more job security this second time around, because Microsoft had invested a massive amount of money into Azure.

Two months later, I woke up to a nearly identical message inviting me to a meeting where I would be laid off again. It was so jarring. I've already started applying to jobs again, but to be honest, I would still go back to Microsoft if I had the chance.

Even though Microsoft can be political at times, as there is a clear hierarchical structure in which you often have to cater to leaders' preferences, I feel as though I've learned how to navigate it. I can't always just "do" things; I need to consistently present and seek out buy-ins from various leaders.

My advice for people going through layoffs

I've stayed so level-headed while navigating two layoffs because I have diverse income streams.

My businesses allow me to completely support myself and remain in a comfortable financial position. However, I'm still choosing to seek out full-time employment because of health insurance and my desire for multiple streams of income.

I don't think it's possible to be lay-off proof, but you can limit the ability of a layoff to cause harm to your life. If you have something outside of work that you're passionate about that you can realistically monetize, do it.

If you have a unique layoff experience you'd like to share, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• Emma Bayer of Georgia has been applying for scholarships since 9th grade.
• She's secured a lot of in funding, enough to pay for two years of college.
• When her dad died unexpectedly, the scholarship funds gave her peace of mind.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with college student Emma Bayer. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was never worried about paying for college. I'm an only child, and was the only grandchild until I was 15. I knew that my extended family would help me pay for college. My parents and extended family felt that college was important in order to have a career, not just a job.

Yet, I've always been someone who is driven. I like doing things that are worth my time and effort. I realized early on that applying for scholarships would pay off — both figuratively and literally.

Today, I've secured more than 20 scholarships, which is enough to pay for at least my first two years of college. I'm studying equine barn design and farming infrastructure, and just finished up my freshman year. Although I'm now working toward my degree, I'm still applying for scholarships and hoping to get more.

I started applying in the 9th grade

Early on I knew that scholarships would be available through organizations that I was part of, like Girl Scouts and H4. Once that was on my radar I started joining organizations that had scholarship opportunities, like the National Society of High School Scholars.

I won my first scholarships my freshman year of high school, through a local youth organization. They were worth $300 and $500 — not the biggest sum, but those little amounts added up.

Receiving those scholarships upped my motivation. When you see yourself succeed and know that's an investment in your future, it makes you want to apply yourself.

I spent hundreds of hours applying for scholarships

Throughout high school I applied for more and more scholarships, reaching a peak my junior and senior years.

Senior year, I applied for more than 70 scholarships; during my freshman year of college I applied for about 40 more. I have a spreadsheet with deadlines, reward amounts, and application requirements.

I've spent hundreds of hours applying for scholarships. Sometimes that impacted the time I spend with friends. Still, the sacrifice was worth it. I really saw the value in what I was doing.

By the time I started my freshman year at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, I had enough scholarship funding to cover tuition, plus room and board.

That removed so much pressure; I didn't have to worry about finding a job or cutting costs because I had already put in the work.

Scholarships gave me peace of mind after my dad died

During my freshman year, my dad died unexpectedly. It was devastating. I decided to transfer to Kennesaw State University and live at home for my sophomore year. It was just too hard being away from my family after my dad died.

Amid my grief, my scholarships gave me huge peace of mind. It was a massive weight off my shoulders, knowing that my first year of school without him will be paid for. I can focus on education, my horses, and healing, without having to fight to keep my opportunity for a college education.

The funding has been a confidence booster

Getting so many scholarships has boosted my confidence. It's not about my ego, but more about the fact that people are recognizing the work I'm doing in my communities.

It was especially meaningful when I received an athletic scholarship. As an equestrian, it was great to see my sport recognized when it's often overlooked for more mainstream sports.

I've realized there's a scholarship for everybody, especially if you're involved in your community. Applying takes work, but it's worth it. Student loans are such a burden, and for me, scholarships have meant that I don't need to dig myself a financial hole when I'm really trying to give myself a leg up by securing a college education.

• Shahad Ishraq was a systems development engineer at Amazon in Germany for just over three years.
• He quit at the end of May after the company implemented a five-day RTO.
• Ishraq said Andy Jassy's memo wasn't surprising, and he isn't concerned about his future career.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 30-year-old Shahad Ishraq, from Germany. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Reading Andy Jassy's new memo on generative AI, I'm not surprised by anything.

I worked at Amazon for nearly three and a half years and left in late May because of the 5-day RTO mandate. My commute took an hour and a half each way, so I wanted to move to another job where I could still see my career progressing and do interesting work.

The memo feels consistent with what I'd been hearing from management and Jassy while working at Amazon. I think Jassy's comments are to show shareholders he's invested in the technology.

I initially worried about AI when I wasn't as familiar with the products. However, using AI will give you a better understanding of what it's capable of and what skills you can develop to differentiate yourself.

At Amazon, there were some eager adopters of AI and some skeptics

I joined Amazon in 2022 as a systems development engineer, working in Leipzig, Germany. My day-to-day work involved designing and implementing software and performing operational tasks.

When AI tools first came out a few years ago, we were told we could use them, but we should be very careful and follow the company's policies on their usage.

Amazon is a huge company. Within it, I spotted and heard about different approaches to AI adoption. There seemed to be a bunch of excited early adopters who shared their findings with everyone. There were people like me who followed the first bunch and saw what went well. There were also some skeptics and a small number of engineers who were outright against using AI.

For me, the dawn of AI was a bit scary at first. Everyone was saying it would put me out of a job. Unless you test the technology yourself and see what it can do, you'll fear the unknown. AI wasn't part of my job until sometime in 2024.

There were also some barriers to using the technology. When I first joined Amazon, ChatGPT wasn't even available, but when it did come out in 2022 we couldn't use it that extensively because of data security issues that come with copying our code into those models. When Anthropic's Claude became available within Amazon Bedrock — the company's internal service for developing generative AI applications — we were able to make more use of AI.

In my last few months at Amazon, I started experimenting a lot with approved AI tools, doing extensive tests with them. They don't do everything for me, but I've integrated these tools into my workflow, such as by asking it to create a plan for my tasks or spot differences between documents.

I noticed it often fails, and I have to make changes, but overall, it has improved my speed and increased my throughput significantly.

AI won't eliminate software engineers anytime soon

Andy Jassy's memo feels very consistent with what I've been told internally before I left Amazon and what the company has communicated publicly.

News articles talking about the memo focus on Jassy saying that a lot of jobs will be taken by AI. However, in the same sentence, he also says jobs will be created.

I've tried creating production-level applications using AI, and it takes a lot of effort to get these products ready. A company like Amazon can't roll out an application that breaks and causes havoc. They have to have firewalls, checks, and tests.

I don't see people going out of jobs in huge numbers soon. Amazon went on a hiring spree during COVID. If we see more layoffs, I think it will be associated with cutting back after that spree, rather than the impacts of AI.

AI agents are helping out software engineers a lot, and the amount of work agents do will probably increase gradually. I'm able to get agents working on three different things, while I look into other tasks.

But AI hallucinates quite a lot. It does things it's not asked to do. I often have to correct an AI agent producing code. Humans will be required to build guardrails and act as guardrails themselves. Implementing these guardrails will take time, and I think this will slow down the AI agent hype.

There's nothing new in Jassy's memo

I think Jassy's comments about AI are to show shareholders he's invested in the technology. Memos have to come out. Jassy has to place a lot of optimism around AI; otherwise, shareholders will think they're not doing anything with AI.

My advice to Amazon employees is to start using AI as much as possible to overcome their fear of the unknown. I now work as a software engineer at a utilities company. The more I've been using AI, the more comfortable I feel about myself. I can see what skills I have that I can use to stay relevant.

In tech, languages and developments come really fast. My guess is that people will need to use AI to write code and increase their throughput, and pure software engineers will gradually be replaced by people who have both software engineering and AI skills.

I'm personally trying to learn these skills because I think they'll become more important.

A spokesperson for Amazon told Business Insider, "Amazon employees use internal generative AI tools every day to innovate on behalf of our customers. We have safeguards in place for employee use of these technologies, including restrictions on sharing confidential information with third-party generative AI services."

Do you have a story to share about the AI job market? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Excel Dryer, a hand dryer manufacturer, makes its products in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
• COO William Gagnon says being made in the US is a company priority, but that it has not been easy.
• He said the company has gained business amid the tariffs as its costs have remained stable.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with William Gagnon, executive vice president and COO of Excel Dryer, a hand-dryer manufacturer based in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Their main product is the XLERATOR Hand Dryer. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

We are a family-owned and operated company. I own it with my father, Dennis, who always wanted to own his own manufacturing company and make quality products that were American-made, dependable, and that people like to use. That was his criteria.

The apple didn't fall far from the tree. We've worked together over the years to make sure that it stayed that way.

It's certainly been difficult, with the easy route being to simply source overseas and get things cheap from China and keep costs down and make more margin. But that wasn't who we were.

We always tried to find a better way to do things — to be more efficient, reduce material and labor costs, and have quality employees making a living wage — and still be able to produce an American-made product that was high quality at an affordable price.

We are Made-in-USA certified, which requires a minimum of 84% of materials sourced domestically, but we have far surpassed that. We're really in the upper 90% of being sourced in the US, and almost 50% of our materials are sourced in Massachusetts from very local vendors.

For a while, we couldn't find a motor manufacturer domestically that could compete with motors from China in performance, price, size, and other things. But we have since found a domestic partner and shifted all of our motor manufacturing to be with a partner out of Tennessee.

It has not been easy, and it took a consistent, dedicated effort to always be looking and always be trying to find new vendors as close as possible.

Being made in America differentiates us from other hand dryers and certainly makes a difference to our customers and the buyers.

The recent tariffs have also been good for business. We've been able to control our supply lines and our materials and their costs because they're all domestic. With everyone living in uncertain times and not knowing really where the materials they were buying from people were coming from, we've known, and that has put us in a very competitive position.

One of our top distributors put out an e-blast saying that several of our top competitors were raising their prices, but our name was not on that list. We asked them to put out that same e-blast to say that XL Dryer is American-made and will not be having a price increase because we're tariff resilient and domestically sourced. We have absolutely gotten new customers as a result of this.

We are also a global company. We just put almost 600 hand dryers into the new Istanbul airport. But to get our American-made product into Turkey, there are substantial added costs, such as tariffs and value-added tax. It's a barrier to entry there and makes our product more expensive and less competitive. If those costs can come down through trade negotiations, it's going to open up more international markets for us.

Uncertainty is never good, especially for business, so that the sooner things can be negotiated and put into place, the better it's going to be for all involved.

We're a small manufacturer of a niche product, and everyone's story is different. But for us, in the way we've been doing business and doing it harder than most and making it a part of who we are — and being proud to be American-made in Massachusetts, which is where America was born — it is an exciting time for us.

Being American-made is just who we are. It is in our DNA. But I feel it's as if we almost were looking into the future a little bit to be ready for this moment, and it's maybe a positive for all the hard work over the years that we had to put in to keep it this way. It's nice for it to be paying off.

Do you have a story to share about American manufacturing or tariffs? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Shu Cheng has been collecting and selling high-end sneakers for over 20 years.
• He opened Queens' first sneaker consignment shop in 2011, where he deals with fakes regularly.
• Fakes are harder to spot now than ever, but some things he looks for are color, shape, and smell.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shu Cheng, co-founder of New York City's sneaker consignment store .IMAGE. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've loved sneakers since I was in elementary school. In fifth grade, I begged my mom to get me these Air Jordan 13 "He Got Game" sneakers, but they were $100. She got me Filas instead.

Years later, I saved up and bought the shoes myself. My two best friends and I would go around NYC collecting and selling sneakers. Then, in 2011, we opened Queens' first sneaker consignment shop, .IMAGE.

Sometimes, when my mom mentions those Air Jordan 13s, I joke and say, "Listen, you didn't want to buy me those shoes. So I bought a whole shoe store instead."

Fake sneakers used to be easier to spot

My friends and I at .IMAGE have spent two decades buying, selling, and authenticating shoes. We've built a collection probably worth over $1 million.

One of my favorites is this pair signed by Kobe Bryant, probably worth about $30,000.

I've handled hundreds of thousands of sneakers — Jordans, Dunks, Air Forces — and I'd say about 20% of those are fake.

Counterfeits used to be easier to spot, but these days, the fakes have gotten so much better.

Sometimes the only way to know is to bring them into a buy-sell-trade shop like mine. Even then, we have to get really close and look at every detail.

One of the most obvious giveaways is the color

Take the Jordan 4 Retro Red Thunder, for example. I'd estimate that about 80% of the time this shoe comes into our store, it's fake. I have no idea why this specific model is so popular among counterfeiters.

Right off the bat, you see that the tongue on the real pair is a darker red compared to the fake ones, which are a lighter red.

However, it can be the opposite case where the fake pair has a darker color, like with these white Air Jordan 4s. The toe box coloring on the fake is darker than the real version.

Shape and form are other clues

You can also usually spot a fake by looking at the shape.

For example, the tongue on this real Jordan 4 Retro Red Thunder is a little puffier than the fake one. The legit one looks like it would be cozier on your foot, too.

Other times, the real shoe will have a sleeker look. Like this white Air Jordan 4, if you look at it from the side, you can see that the real one has a pointy shape and structure, whereas the fake looks bulkier.

Smell, touch, and imperfections can be dead giveaways

We even smell the shoes because the fake pairs often use a toxic glue that's easy to detect.

Fakes also often use low-quality pleather, which feels stiffer. By comparison, the real pair feels soft and plush.

Ironically, real pairs often have little imperfections from the factory, but fakes are almost too perfect. That's actually a red flag. If it looks too flawless, I start getting suspicious.

Like these legit ones have a little glue mark that was a manufacturing mistake, but the fake ones don't.

Look at the box

Sometimes, it comes down to the box. For the example, the little dots on the real pair are more metallic silver than on the fake pair. The counterfeit is a little more solid gray.

Even the color of the red Jumpman logo can look slightly different. It's darker on the fake one.

Be wary of really popular models

These are the Air Jordan and the Travis Scott collaboration. This is one of the most counterfeited shoes because it's the most valuable on the market right now.

We have authentic pairs available to double-check any time this pair comes in. We make sure the threading is good and the sole color looks right.

The fake market is always changing and we have to keep up

We used to use black lights to catch where fake factories would mark the shoes for gluing or stitching, but the counterfeiters caught on and stopped using those markers. Now, black lights don't tell us anything.

Nike tried adding RFID tags to help with authentication, but guess what? The fake company would copy those, too.

Spotting a fake is not an exact science. Every day brings a new challenge. A new colorway hits shelves, and you have to relearn the signs.

These fake companies are making sneakers that are so good, sometimes a one-to-one replication, that the general public doesn't even know how to tell them apart. So you've got to come to reputable shops like ours.

We compare, cross-check, and trust our gut.

We don't want any fakes to leak out and hit the shelves because if a customer buys it and finds out, then our reputation is tarnished.

If I'm not sure if a sneaker is legit, I'll put it off to the side. I'm not even going to try and sell it. We've taken losses in the past to ensure our customers get a real product.

This story was adapted from Shu Cheng's interview for Business Insider's "Big Business" series. Learn more about Cheng and the counterfeit industry businesses in the video below:

• Karyn Farr is a travel advisor who has visited more than 125 countries.
• Of all those places, Farr told Business Insider that Mongolia was one of her favorites.
• She said Mongolia's natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, and hospitality make it worth visiting.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with travel advisor Karyn Farr, a Californian who has traveled to 125 countries. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a travel advisor for 24 years and have visited over 125 countries.

My travels have taken me to Canada, all across Europe, the United Kingdom, the Nordic and Baltic countries, India, South and Central America, the Middle East, Asia, coastal Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.

Of all the places I've been, Mongolia is one of my favorites. It's incredibly beautiful and unique, with a lifestyle and culture that not many people get to experience.

I first visited in the summer of 2018 with a small group of people, and we traveled the country extensively. While Mongolia is very welcoming to foreigners, you'll want a guide — unless you're just staying in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where a lot of the population lives.

If you're heading to more rural and remote areas, you need guides who speak English and transportation arranged in advance.

The country certainly isn't one of the more touristy destinations. I had to fly from Los Angeles to Beijing — a two-day journey just to get there. It requires a truly adventurous spirit, but it's absolutely worth visiting and experiencing for yourself.

Mongolia's scenery is stunning

One afternoon, when I was in Ulaanbaatar, I was walking around when a local man approached me and asked, "Where are you from?" I said, "California," and his eyes widened. He said, "Well, that's far down there," and said, "Welcome, I hope you enjoy your stay in Mongolia."

I did. I spent about two weeks there and visited many different regions, each so different.

Mongolia has a beautiful landscape. There are many lakes, pine forests in the North, which have a climate similar to the northern United States, and open spaces filled with greenery, where cows and horses freely graze.

In the South, there are a lot of mountains, including the Gobi-Altai Mountains. The southern region is also home to the Gobi Desert, which has a lot of sand dunes.

One afternoon, while my group and I were exploring the dunes, our tour guide showed us a natural spring flowing up from the ground. I spent the afternoon watching the spring feed nearby horses. I just felt very connected with the land.

Mongolia is best known for Genghis Khan, a conqueror who founded the Mongol Empire, which became one of the largest empires in history. If you head east, you can visit the Genghis Khan Statue Complex. It has massive statues of Genghis Khan and his warriors.

The country is also known for its horseback riding, made famous by Genghis Khan's army. I had several opportunities to ride the horses when I visited, and it was wonderful.

I had many adventures in Mongolia

There's a lot to do in Mongolia. When my group was in Ulaanbaatar, we stayed in a small Western-style hotel. During the day, we visited a Buddhist monastery. In the evening, we went into town and enjoyed entertainment like traditional music and dance. Mongolians have a distinct vocal style: they throat sing.

When we were in the Gobi Desert, my group stayed at the Gobi Nomad Lodge, a resort with many gers, also known as yurts, which resemble tipis in Native American culture.

At night, we would sit outside and watch some of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen.

In the desert, we saw camels, horses, sheep, and yaks. I also tried my hand at archery. Hunting is a historic tradition in Mongolia, and there was an archery range set up. I wasn't exactly accurate, but I was proud to get my arrow to the target.

In Ömnögovi Province of the Gobi Desert, we visited a local family and spent time in their yurt home, where they served us traditional food and fermented mare's milk.

We also explored the Flaming Cliffs, also known as Bayanzag, famous for their glowing orange rocks; the Singing Sands, sand dunes that make music when shifted by the wind; and the Khavtsgait Petroglyphs, ancient rock carvings dating back to the Bronze Age.

I feel incredibly special and blessed to have had the opportunity to experience this. It's not something everyone dreams of doing, but I grew up in Iowa, where you don't see much beyond the familiar.

As a child, I would read books and imagine distant places. I always wanted to travel. One time, my mother asked me, "Why do you want to go to all these places?" And I simply said, "Because I can."

I would definitely return to Mongolia — I had so many great adventures, made unforgettable memories, and even made a friend.

Our group's guide, who shared so much about her lifestyle with us, later came to California to visit me and a few other members of our tour group. She and I cooked a Mongolian dinner for everyone in California, giving us a chance to reminisce about our time there.

• Victor Schwartz's business VOS Selections is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Trump's tariffs.
• Schwartz thought imported specialty wines were his edge in the business until tariffs hit.
• Despite a stressful year so far, Schwartz says the positive response he got is energizing.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Victor Schwartz, owner of VOS Selections, a wine importing company based in New York. His business is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's use of emergency powers to impose tariffs. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

Suing the government was not part of my business plan, and we have taken a big hit from the tariffs, yet in a strange way, it's been incredibly energizing to be involved a this case that could help so many.

I founded my business about 39 years ago as an importer and distributor of fine wines, spirits, and sakes. We have 19 people in the company, including me and my daughter.

I started my business in France, and we work with very small producers for cutting-edge products. The idea was to bring in things you don't find everywhere, and I thought that was really going to be my edge in the business, until the tariffs hit.

I knew I was sticking my neck out as the lead plaintiff of the case, which goes further than just throwing my hat in the ring, but I still decided that I needed to do this.

Tariffs made an already tough business even harder

There hasn't been enough information on just how complicated this process is.

The prelude to the tariffs is already bad. In our first quarter, we were down 16% compared to last year. Restaurants and retailers we work with are complaining heavily, cutting back products either in anticipation of tariffs or because consumers are not buying.

Then the main tariffs hit in April. My daughter and I spent two full days looking through every product in our book to determine what the tariff impact was going to be, which products we needed to drop, and how much tariffs we could afford to eat. As we all know, all the numbers changed in a few days, and it just keeps happening.

Keep in mind that alcohol is a heavily regulated business. Under regulations in the state of New York, for example, we have to post prices by the fifth of the month prior to the month of sale. Combine that with the time it takes for products to cross oceans and get through customs, this means we have to think about May pricing in March.

We're in that position of having to make firm decisions about what our pricing is going to be under very uncertain situations. As a small business with more than 600 mostly imported products from 350 producers, that just became impossible.

By now in June, the contraction I have feared is playing out. We go back to a good customer and say, "Hey, you've been using this product, but now we have to bring more of it in. Are you interested in this product at the new price?" Most of the time, they say "no." It's not like they're going to buy a domestic product. They're just going to buy another imported product that is less expensive.

Also, the customs are not going to release our container unless we pay them upfront. A 10% tariff means 10% less of our cash flow, and that means being much tighter on our inventory, reducing and stopping some orders where we could, and not moving forward on new projects.

As we run out of more products and have to raise prices on new imports, it's only going to get worse as we get into August and September.

I stepped up because bigger players won't

Retaliation was something I had to take into account when I decided to become the lead plaintiff.

One of the big motivating factors for me to step up is that the big guys in business were not getting involved. The big guys who have the money and power are cowering or defending their own self-interest.

The administration could come after me in many different ways to harm my business. Because this is a heavily regulated industry, we have to work with the government all the time. We deal with the TTB, the FDA, and Customs and Border Protection.

There have always been glitches here and there, but now whenever there is a glitch, I always think in the back of my mind, "Is this a real glitch or is this somebody coming after me?" So far, there is nothing. But I did have to consider potential consequences. If I hadn't been in this industry for 40 years, I may have made a different decision.

About 99% of the contacts I have gotten are positive, and this has really made me feel energized. It really blows me away that people have taken the time to write me cards and letters — not just "thank yous" but long letters too.

It seems that I have really struck a chord. I guess most lawsuits, in a certain sense, are just you looking out for yourself. But with my case, I just feel like we are trying to do something that's going to help a lot of people, and that is very empowering.

• Eric Morrow was diagnosed with severe prostate cancer at age 49.
• He had no symptoms aside from a slightly enlarged prostate that showed up during a colonoscopy.
• His primary care physician never tested him for prostate cancer despite Morrow's family history.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eric Morrow, a prostate cancer survivor, US Air Force veteran, and volunteer advocate for Zero Prostate Cancer, a nonprofit focused on supporting patients and eliminating prostate cancer. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer on June 8, 2021, at 49. It was shortly before my 50th birthday.

I'll admit I did not know a lot about prostate cancer then. I knew it was fairly common and, to the best of my knowledge at the time, I thought it primarily affected older men in their 70s and 80s.

Five years prior, in 2016, I'd learned that my father had previously had prostate cancer and that he was in remission after being successfully treated.

So, the next time I saw my primary care physician, who was assigned to me through the Air Force, I told her about my family history and asked if I should get checked for prostate cancer.

She said that I was too young and didn't need to worry about getting screened until my 50s.

The phone call that probably saved my life

In 2020, my PCP said I was old enough to have a colonoscopy to check for colon cancer. That's when it all started.

After my colonoscopy, the gastroenterologist said my colon looked great, but my prostate looked a little enlarged, and I should schedule an appointment with a urologist.

I had no other symptoms to suggest I had prostate cancer. Also, this was during the height of the pandemic. I got distracted by work and didn't make the appointment immediately.

I was really lucky that the doctor called me back a month later to see if I'd seen the urologist. It was a really simple follow-up, but that phone call prompted me to make the appointment and probably saved my life.

My PSA level was in the hundreds

The urologist scheduled me for a digital rectal exam and an MRI, and then drew my blood for a PSA test, which measures specific proteins in the blood to identify possible prostate cancer.

I got a call a few hours later about my PSA level. I was told that anything over four would be a concern for a man of my age. My PSA level was 225.

The urologist said there could be many reasons for my extremely high PSA levels, but a later biopsy revealed that I had prostate cancer with a Gleason score, which measures how aggressive the cancer is, of nine. The highest the scale goes is 10.

I got the trifecta of treatment: surgery, radiation, and pills

I was lucky enough that the Department of Defense's Center for Prostate Disease Research at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, was nearby, and my case was aggressive enough to qualify for their treatment.

There, I had a cancer team including a urologic oncologist and radiation oncologist who recommended a multi-step treatment involving surgery, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy to turn off testosterone production in my body.

I started surgery in July 2021, after which I had issues with incontinence. Despite physical therapy to improve it, I never regained full control of my bladder. This made the radiation therapy, which came about five-and-a-half months later, very challenging.

Each time, I had to come in with an empty rectum and a full bladder. The full bladder basically pushes the rectum, so it's not as much in the field where they're going to shoot with radiation.

Each of the 39 radiation sessions I completed only lasts about 15 minutes, but I had a hard time getting my bladder full enough and then holding it long enough for the therapy.

To get through it, I'd play a game with myself: They had music going, and I would just listen to the music and try to memorize it. Then, I went on Facebook afterward and posted a list of all the songs — it became my "Playlist of the day" for friends and family.

The androgen deprivation therapy, aka hormone therapy, was a shot that I got every three months, along with pills that I was taking every day. I did this therapy for about 24 months.

The side effects were pretty harsh. I experienced hot flashes, mood swings, additional abdominal fat, loss of muscle mass and bone density, and it killed my libido. I got back into lifting weights that I hadn't been doing for probably more than a decade, and that helped minimize some of the weight gain and muscle loss.

Since coming off hormone therapy, my testosterone has luckily gone back to pre-treatment levels, and my PSA level has remained undetectable.

I quit my job after getting cancer

I wouldn't wish cancer on anybody, but the one thing it does give you is perspective. I realized I wanted to do something more.

So in December of 2022, I left my job with a medical device company I'd been with for over nine years. I was ready to give back to the prostate cancer community.

I'm now doing a lot of work on a year-round basis with Zero Prostate Cancer. I also volunteer at Walter Reed, where I received my cancer treatment.

I also speak with new prostate cancer patients and try to give them hope. I tell them, "Four years ago, I was sitting right where you are and I thought I was going to die. But I'm still here, and I'm doing OK."

• Taylor Nissi is a senior VP and wealth advisor at the wealth management firm Farther.
• He shared his top tips he would give to clients navigating recent market volatility amid tariffs.
• Nissi said everyone should have three buckets: emergency fund, growth strategy, and retirement plan.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Taylor Nissi, a wealth advisor at Farther. It has been edited for length and clarity.

It's important that people have a financial plan they can refer to during times of economic uncertainty.

In the current climate, people may want to reevaluate their risk strategies for their investment portfolios and cash management.

As a wealth advisor, it's my job to help both small business owners and employees through this time of economic uncertainty. Here are my top tips.

Make a plan and prioritize your emergency fund

We like to say you should have three buckets. The first bucket is your emergency fund, the second is your taxable growth strategy, and the third is your long-term retirement plan.

Having a financial plan gives people a reference point to return to during market fluctuations. It can help with decision-making in times of high anxiety.

Everyone should prioritize building their emergency fund or "first bucket." Your emergency fund is a way to prepare for market risk and life risk.

If your household has one income, you should have at least six months saved in your emergency fund. If you have two incomes — either two income earners, one person with two incomes, or a person with one income and a trust fund — that number could drop to three months.

Any other money you know you'll spend in the next 24 months, a college tuition to pay or a house down payment, for example, should all be added to your emergency fund.

This money should be held somewhere that it can be easily converted to cash without affecting its market price. You want something safe, easy to access, and earning a little interest: High-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, or short-term CDs are all good.

If you're not coping, remove volatile assets like stocks and add bonds

The "second bucket" is your taxable growth strategy: investments to help your money grow, even in accounts where you pay taxes, like a regular brokerage account. We've been talking with a lot of clients about how they felt when the market crashed in early April. Our clients hold a lot of wealth in stocks and were very uncomfortable.

If clients were very stressed or couldn't sleep at night, then we'd look at their "second bucket" and change the allocation of their portfolio to more bonds and fewer stocks.

However, we'd also tell people that selling stocks and buying bonds can impact your long-term financial goals. If you sell stocks when prices are down, you lock in those losses. Buying bonds instead may mean you miss out if the stocks rebound.

If you were emotionally OK during a volatile market, I'd say continue buying stocks. They're the best way to compound wealth. You want to buy companies with strong balance sheets and a strong moat around them.

Do not make reactionary portfolio decisions

If you make an emotional decision to sell everything and go to cash, there could be a knock-on impact on achieving your financial goals.

If my clients call me and tell me they want to sell everything, I generally try to walk them back, share historical data about why that might not be a good idea, and tell them to sleep on it.

Taking your money out of the market, say the S&P 500, when you're most uncomfortable and returning after a couple of days will reduce your annual average returns.

Knowing when to invest back in is the hard part. The best days in the market often come immediately after the worst days. So if you take your money out on the worst day, and wait for some kind of "all clear sign," you will almost certainly miss the best days.

I talk a lot about what we learned through the 2008 financial crisis. A lot of the people who got hurt the most were the people who reacted emotionally.

Consider long-term investments

If you're younger, under 50, I'd advise clients to own mostly stocks in their "third bucket," their retirement savings plan. Stocks have much more growth potential compared to bonds. If you didn't cope emotionally with what happened in early April, you could adjust to having fewer stocks and more bonds, but that will have a downstream impact.

If you are nearing retirement, you should be thinking about moving some of your "third bucket" assets into more stable investments. Or if you cannot handle the market swings, think about building a more stable and less growth-oriented portfolio.

I always try to help my clients who are getting ready to retire be conscious of the "sequence of returns" risk. This is when you have to pull money out of your retirement fund during bad market conditions, which can drain your savings faster than you planned for.

If you retire during a market decline, you'll be forced to sell assets at a discount rather than their fully appreciated value, which will decrease your future value. Selling investments while they're down means you'll have less money left to grow in the future, so your total retirement fund shrinks faster.

If you're preparing to retire in the next two or three years, your third bucket should have an emergency fund of its own. You want to have two years of expenses in cash in addition to the emergency fund you already have. It will protect you against stagflation and market uncertainty.

• Magnus Grimeland, the CEO and founder of the VC firm Antler, said demand for software engineers will only grow.
• AI will continue to make errors, and only software engineers will optimize this technology.
• AI will also lead to further specialization among software engineers, he said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Magnus Grimeland, the CEO and founder of Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm. He also cofounded Zalora, a fashion e-commerce platform in Asia. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

There have been a lot of headlines about software engineering being replaced by AI, based on the assumption that anyone can just go in and code any program with natural language. It's actually much more likely that the need and demand for great software engineers will grow in the next couple of decades.

Even the best software engineers today make errors. AI models will also continue to make errors, at least for a very long time, and the only ones who will optimize this technology are software engineers.

At least over the next 20 to 30 years, what you will see is the best software engineers getting a tremendous amount of leverage to be more efficient and deliver better products faster. Software engineers will work in a different way than before.

In the not-too-distant future, we also need to adapt to an entirely new computer ecosystem, and the ones who are going to be able to do that are software engineers. We've already started investing in a few companies that are preparing for that.

Further specialization

AI will also lead to further specialization.

Today, software engineers are grouped a bit more generally. Some work on hardware, some on different types of software languages, and some are great mobile developers.

The complexity of the type of roles that you'll see for software engineers will increase significantly because the way this is being implemented in different industries will require specialized goals.

You'll also see fewer general engineers and more people who are really good at one specific thing.

Software engineers will work closer with businesses. AI will enable business leaders to work better with engineering departments because they can tinker with the early versions of the products themselves.

This should lead to more efficiency in terms of how the technical and less technical parts of the business work together, and that should actually give software engineering an even more important role in the business.

A new era of learning

When we were building Zalora and now at Antler, some of the best engineers we hired in Southeast Asia were self-taught.

They didn't have computer science degrees from universities. They read up on the internet, tinkered, and built their own programs.

AI has made it better than ever to teach people — as long as they have the right drive and basic intrinsics to learn how to become a great software engineer.

You'll see many more self-help people who are just as good as people who've done a full university degree.

• Julie Beckham is a financial educator and mom of two.
• Her daughter is a high school senior, and her son is about to graduate from college.
• She's had honest conversations about the cost of college since they were young.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Julie Beckham, assistant vice president of financial education and development and strategy officer at Rockland Trust Bank. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in a middle-class family and was lucky to have my parents pay for my education at New York University. NYU was still expensive back in the 1990s, but it was the type of expensive that a middle-class family could still afford with a moderate amount of sacrifice.

Today, as a financial educator, I still consider myself middle class, but there's no way I could pay the entire cost of college education for my two kids, who are 18 and 21. That's true for many families, thanks to the skyrocketing cost of college.

Because of that, I've been very intentional about talking with my kids about paying for college — from the time they started high school.

Here's how we've planned together to manage the cost.

Choose more affordable schools

Schools with a lower profile yet more affordable tuition can offer a better return on investment for many families. Getting kids to consider these can be tricky since colleges are so good at marketing. Sometimes, going to a "name brand" school is less about the degree and more about the swag.

Ask your kids what they love about a well-known school. Then, provide alternatives that have that same characteristic, at a lower price point. Boston College is popular near where I live because of its football culture, but the same vibe can be found elsewhere for a much lower price.

I've told my kids to consider schools that may not be well-known or have all the swag but are nonetheless special. These schools can give talented students more financial aid and a chance to stand out.

Understand what you can afford, and tell your kids

As my kids approached college age, their dad and I talked about the amount that we could afford to pay toward their education. It's based on what works for each of our budgets.

My kids are expected to pay the difference between the cost of their college and what we're able to cover as their parents.

I recommend parents be very honest about what they can afford, so students can decide whether they're willing to take on student loan debt to cover other costs.

Ditch the guilt about what you can't cover

Sometimes I feel guilty that I can't pay for their whole education. But this is my reality and what I can reasonably afford.

Although I'm a financial educator, I didn't have the means to start saving for college until my kids were in their teens. When I did, it was very simple: transferring a small portion of each paycheck to a savings account I named "college." It wasn't a 529 college savings plan, it wasn't a lot of money, and it wasn't very sophisticated, but it was a start.

It's easy to criticize ourselves as parents, but we need to acknowledge we're often doing the best we can for our kids.

Apply for grants and scholarships

Small grants and scholarships might seem insignificant against the huge bill for college, but they add up. You think $500 isn't going to make a dent, but when you're paying $80 for a book, you realize $500 can be helpful.

I helped my kids apply by researching opportunities, reminding them of deadlines, and encouraging them to work on applications. Sometimes they weren't happy to write another essay, but I reminded them it would take an hour and they could get hundreds of dollars.

Ask for more financial aid

Once you've applied to schools and received your financial aid packages, you might notice significant differences in how much aid your student gets from each school. If that's the case, you can ask a school to match what a comparable school has provided.

I've tried this twice. Once, I called the financial aid office, and they said they couldn't make changes. But another time, I was asked to email the other offer, and they'd see if they could adjust the financial aid package. It never hurts to ask.

Consider graduating early

My son is about to graduate from college a year early, which is a huge savings for our family. He did it by taking advanced placement (AP) classes in high school and earning a few extra credits during college. It was hard work, but it will likely save our family thousands of dollars.

College brings up a lot of feelings for parents and kids. There's so much pressure to get this step right. It's helpful to remember that this is just the first of many steps. Although it feels important, it's the decisions we make every day that really impact our lives.

• Mike Crabtree, a data engineering director at Ford, took over 25 online courses to skill up.
• He said learning new skills is crucial to protecting your job amid recession fears.
• Online courses improve your problem-solving and communication skills, applicable in multiple fields.

This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Mike Crabtree, the Director of Data Engineering at Ford. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2008, I had just received my associate's degree in industrial mechanics and electronics engineering. Then, the recession flooded the labor market.

In a crowded field, my degree and resume — mostly retail experience — didn't stand out as much to employers.

As I pursued a bachelor's in business and computer information systems, I knew I needed to differentiate myself more. I started taking paid online courses from platforms like Coursera, edX, and Udacity, earning certifications in everything from business analytics to leadership skills that I shared on my LinkedIn.

While I didn't major in data science, I took supplemental online classes that helped me stand out and pivot into the field. Ford reached out months after I graduated in 2016. The company hired me as a data scientist that November, a role I stayed in for five years before becoming the manager of a data engineering team. After leaving Ford to work for a data-specific organization, I returned in 2023 and eventually became the director of data engineering.

These days, the job market is a little tougher to break into, let alone stay in. Some people are looking to recession-proof their jobs amid concerns of AI disruption and economic uncertainty.

My experience taught me that the key is to keep learning. By choosing challenging online courses, I tapped into skills I never used before, from technical ones like programming to soft skills that helped me grow as a manager. Taking classes in everything from entrepreneurship to self-driving car engineering also signaled to managers that I was proactive and willing to learn — qualities that are important for feeling secure at a job or getting a promotion.

Here are three ways to recession-proof your job as much as you can — or land a more stable one.

Find your gaps

To feel like you're in good standing at your job or that you're prepared for upcoming interviews, you need to be as well-rounded as possible. If you're incredibly self-aware, you might already know your skill gaps. Personally, I didn't learn mine until I started challenging myself with online courses.

Because statistics and the scientific method are foundational in data science, I took a statistics course. I got stumped on probability and had to improve my understanding before I could move forward. Later, I took a machine learning class and realized that linear algebra wasn't my strong suit. In addition to learning the needed technical skills from those courses, I also learned how to spot my weaknesses — and take action to fix them by studying more.

This can apply to all fields. You might be a manager, for example, and need more leadership training. If your job doesn't directly offer many opportunities to push yourself outside your comfort zone, courses can help you quickly spot what you struggle with.

Grow your problem-solving skills

Being able to think critically, solve problems, and lean into your intuition makes you a more valued team member.

The good news is you don't need to stuff your brain with as many facts or programming techniques as you think. It's more important to be able to assess direction, build business acumen, and make confident decisions.

You might know how to build a linear model as well as AI does. But when you can just look that up, what matters more is realizing that a linear model isn't the best solution to a problem in the first place.

One way I beefed up my critical thinking skills was by taking a course in quantum computing taught by IBM, which heavily involved physics — something I wasn't an expert in at all. It taught me to think quickly and wrap my head around a lot of conceptual topics. I went in thinking I was learning one skill, but I left learning four.

Be communicative

Forming strong workplace relationships is important, especially in a tough job climate. After I worked at Ford as a data scientist, I left for a managerial role at a data company. When I exited that job, some old coworkers at Ford started reaching out the moment they knew I was back on the market.

Throughout my career, I've seen many brilliant technical professionals struggle to move up — not because they're mean or ornery, but because they're super quiet and keep their heads down. Because they weren't assertive enough, people didn't know much about them.

In my own career, I've taken public speaking courses to improve my communication and confidence. Beyond simply speaking up, it's also crucial to be able to share your suggestions in a clear and approachable way. This is especially true if your job is highly technical.

You can be the smartest person in the room, but if no one knows your name or understands your ideas, it doesn't really matter. Bridging that gap by building up your soft skills is the best way to set yourself up for success.