<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="18702261" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="celia-arias" source="Orion">Celia Arias</keyword> says she had two tech jobs that felt fake.</li><li><keyword id="3437990" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="arias" source="Orion">Arias</keyword> was earning $130,000 at her second "fake" tech job.</li></ul><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Celia Arias, a 42-year-old business coach and former tech industry employee from <keyword id="72226" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-york-city" source="Orion">New York City</keyword>. The following has been edited for length and clarity.</em><br /><br />I'm a founder and business operations expert who worked in the tech industry for several years. During that time, I had two <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-industry-fake-work-problem-bad-managers-bosses-layoffs-jobs-2023-7">tech jobs that felt like fake jobs</a>.<br /><br />First, I started at a venture capital funded startup. I believed so much in their product that I decided to apply for a business development role at the company. I didn't get the job, but I looked good on paper as a candidate, so they created a new position for me.<br /><br /><h2><strong>It wasn't the job I was looking for</strong></h2>I had an MBA and was articulate. They asked me to do presentations and give talks at events. It wasn't the job I was looking for as a former founder, but I found a way to work with a company that had a product I believed in.<br /><br />After about a year, the business went through internal restructuring and they appointed me to a new role. This was the type of position that I was initially looking for and I learned that I was very good at business operations.<br /><br /><h2><strong>My ideas were never implemented and things started to crumble</strong></h2>I created a new process for how the design department should work with manufacturing, but my ideas were never implemented. During the restructuring, they also hired a lot of new people without an understanding of how the company worked. They <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wrong-hires-cost-us-nearly-500k-didnt-fire-fast-enough-2023-8">over-hired people who looked good</a> on paper.<br /><br />It seemed like they cared more about how things looked, so things started to crumble. One day, I went to work and our whole team was fired. I'd been at the company for about a year and a half, before I was let go. There were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-layoffs-are-coming-2017-6">signs that things weren't going well,</a> but we weren't told what to expect.<br /><br /><h2><strong>After that job, I worked for another venture capital funded tech startup</strong></h2>I wanted the next tech company to hire me for a specific executive role, but they didn't think they needed someone in that position. Instead, they hired me for a different role with an annual salary of about $130,000.<br /><br />Once I got into the company, however, I started doing operations related work. It was a young startup and needed a lot of structure. The CEO eventually ended up giving me the role I applied for.<br /><br />I noticed the company spent all their resources on creating and marketing products and merchandise that were unrelated to the main product. I tried to get them to focus on improving the main product, but the more work I did, the more frustrated I became.<br /><br /><h2><strong>It felt like a fake job</strong></h2>For almost three years, I tried to work with the development team to improve the product, but it felt like they weren't listening to any of my input.<br /><br />The company wanted me to focus on its image and do presentations for potential buyers. When I presented my pitch decks, they told me not to talk about any improvements that could be made to the product. They just wanted me to make the company's brand look good for buyers.<br /><br />After a while, the company was sold and I realized a trend. Some venture-capital tech startups build a company with the sole purpose of creating a brand good enough to sell to a buyer. It's the cause of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/6395df7e-1bab-4ea1-a7ea-afaa71354fa0"><u>venture capital tech bubble</u></a>.<br /><br />I also believe some startups create <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-debates-tech-employees-doing-fake-work-2023-3">fake jobs that look good</a> on paper for people while creating subpar products or services. Then they fire everyone and sell the company to the best buyer. I talked to other colleagues and people with similar jobs in the industry and they had similar experiences.<br /><br /><h2><strong>Now, I have my own coaching business</strong></h2>I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wanted to do my job, but was unable to because I felt like the board and the founder put me in an awkward position. I left that job, before I could be fired, and haven't looked back.<br /><br />I now have my own coaching business called <a target="_blank" href="https://celiarias.com/">The Grown-Ass Business</a>. I help businesses focus and build their products or services without having to rely on venture capital funds. I also train business coaches on how to coach their clients.<br /><br />Although I had tech jobs that felt fake, I did walk away with new skills that I can now use to help other businesses. I also learned how to do things differently for my own business.<br /><br />

I earned up to $130K in tech roles, but the jobs felt fake. Here's why I think startups hire people to build a brand only to fire them later on.

<p class="drop-cap">Crypto.com is everywhere. Its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocom-how-startup-bought-staples-center-rights-700-million-2021-12">name is plastered on the home</a> of arguably the most famous NBA franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers. It's sponsoring Formula 1 races and UFC matches. Its ads are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-ads-return-tv-prices-rise-meme-stock-bitcoin-2024-5">back on the airwaves</a>, with Eminem declaring during the NBA playoffs that "fortune favors the brave."</p><p>Crypto.com is also nowhere. It doesn't have a flashy CEO like FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-prison-ftx-alameda-research-2024-3">who is currently in prison</a>) or Binance's CZ (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-binance-ceo-sentenced-to-four-months-in-prison-2024-4">who is headed to prison</a>). Unlike with <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sec-sues-coinbase-violating-securities-regulation-binance-crypto-regulation-gensler-2023-6">Coinbase</a>, regulators don't seem to be sniffing around. Sure, the company has high-profile marketing efforts, but day to day, Crypto.com doesn't really come up much at all.</p><p>Crypto.com is one of those things I've long placed in my "I wonder what the deal is" column, along with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jojo-siwa-rebrand-shows-difficulty-child-stars-grow-up-2024-4">Jojo Siwa</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-virus-chickens-cows-human-food-outbreaks-pandemic-2024-5">bird flu</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f1-nascar-races-motorsports-2022-6">the difference between F1 and NASCAR</a>. It seems impossible to watch a sporting event without seeing its name somewhere, and yet I rarely chat with someone who uses it or come across its name in headlines. Part of the issue is that I live in New York, where its services aren't allowed. (That's not a knock on the company — for a lot of crypto exchanges, the Empire State is a tough nut to crack.) But it's also a rather nebulous entity in the American market. It says it's got 100 million users globally, but it still seems to fly a little under the radar.</p><p>Often, when I mention Crypto.com to someone who works in the crypto industry, they tell me they know about it, of course. When I ask exactly what they know about it, they come up pretty empty. Maybe it's mainly popular abroad, they speculate, or only for novices. Google data indicates that while a good chunk of the search interest does come from America, more comes from outside the US, notably from Singapore, Nigeria, and Bulgaria.</p><p>"Huh, I guess bigger than I thought," one crypto evangelist remarked after looking up its trading volume.</p><p>"They own the Lakers' arena? I've always been so confused on how they did that," another crypto entrepreneur said. (To be fair, the company doesn't own the arena; it just bought the naming rights.) He'd set up a Crypto.com account during the 2021-2022 market cycle to do a specific maneuver not allowed on Coinbase at the time, but he hasn't really used it since then.</p><p>When I asked Nic Carter, a general partner at Castle Island Ventures, about the company, he replied in an email, "It's kind of a mystery, yes."He added that, like me, he doesn't know anyone who uses it. "But I think that reflects the user base — it's not necessarily crypto-natives but rather retail that wants a casual and accessible experience (is my understanding)," he said.</p><p>Crypto.com is positioning itself as the new face of crypto, even as it remains rather faceless itself. It might prove to be a smart move — it's boosting its brand and, in turn, its consumer base while avoiding much of the scrutiny other exchanges have faced. For the time being, Crypto.com is balancing between notability and infamy. It's walking softly but carrying a big ad budget.</p><hr /><p class="drop-cap">While Crypto.com only really burst onto the American scene over the past four years or so, it's been around for a while. Originally named Monaco, the exchange was founded in 2016 in Hong Kong by Kris Marszalek, a Polish-born entrepreneur with a colorful past, and a handful of others. Amid the 2017 crypto run, it raised money from the public via an initial coin offering — creating and selling a digital token of its own, similar to a stock-market IPO. In 2018, the company landed the coveted Crypto.com domain name, purchasing it for an undisclosed amount from an academic who had long refused to sell it. (Even more confusingly, Crypto.com is technically operated by Foris DAX Asia, which, according to a scan of Reddit, can befuddle many users when their tax paperwork comes in. It's also the name Crypto.com lobbies under.) Crypto.com's primary business is its cryptocurrency exchange, which works as a middleman for people buying and selling crypto, but it also offers other products, including crypto Visa cards.</p><p>The 2021-22 market cycle is when Crypto.com, now headquartered in Singapore, made its big splash. In late 2021, it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/staples-center-la-being-renamed-crypto-com-arena-2021-11">bought the naming rights</a> to what was then the Staples Center in Los Angeles as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal. It signed sponsorship deals with UFC and F1 while also rolling its "fortune favors the brave" ad campaign, which originally featured Matt Damon. Crypto.com was seeking brand awareness, and it was willing to spend millions upon millions for it.</p><p>"This is one brick in a bigger wall of introducing Crypto.com as a brand to the world and communicating what our core values are," Steven Kalifowitz, Crypto.com's chief marketing officer, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocom-how-startup-bought-staples-center-rights-700-million-2021-12">told Business Insider</a> at the time.</p>      <blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-breakout">        <q class="pullquote-quotation">A lot of crypto's mini-emperors turned out to have no clothes.</q>              </blockquote>    <p>In the moment, it all sort of made sense. FTX was flying high and had paid $135 million to slap its name on the Miami Heat's stadium. Its founder, SBF, was running around with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in the Bahamas and suggesting he'd spend $1 billion on the 2024 election. Binance's CZ was <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/binance-ceo-chaopeng-zhang-cz-forbes-investment-crypto-adoption-media-2022-2">talking about investing $200 million in Forbes</a>, saying it would push media companies toward adopting crypto and lead to the decentralization of the industry. But we know how the story ends: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-crypto-exchange-implosion-sam-bankman-fried-what-it-means-2022-11">FTX imploded</a>, along with some <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ftx-crypto-implosion-vaporized-billions-dollars-sam-bankman-fried-explained-2022-11">other high-profile crypto projects</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-winter-web3-startup-valuations-forge-global-secondary-markets-2023-5">crypto winter set in</a>. A lot of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-crypto-king-sam-bankman-fried-rise-and-fall-2022-11">crypto's mini-emperors</a> turned out to have no clothes.</p><p>Crypto.com, however, managed to weather the storm, though not perfectly. The company accidentally sent some $400 million to the wrong account in November 2022, prompting some users to pull their money out of the platform. At the start of 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-layoffs-job-cuts-ftx-valuation-tech-markets-cro-2023-1">it laid off 20% of its workforce</a>, blaming economic headwinds and FTX's collapse. The Financial Times reported last June that Crypto.com was operating internal proprietary trading teams, which US regulators had dinged Binance for, even though Crypto.com insisted it was fine. The regulatory environment in the US appears to have made the company a little nervous — it shut down its American institutional exchange in the middle of last year.</p><p>In the US, Crypto.com has managed to avoid much of the blowback its competitors have faced. (This isn't the case in other countries — in the Netherlands, for example, it was fined for operating without registration.) While the S<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-binance-coinbase-crypto-digital-currency-2023-6">ecurities and Exchange Commission has gone after</a> Coinbase and Kraken for operating unregistered securities exchanges, it hasn't made a peep about Crypto.com. Crypto.com has so far ducked notice, even though it's running a lot of the same playbook. In April, the company's chief operating officer acknowledged in an interview with Decrypt that its big-budget marketing efforts could put a target on its back but said the trade-off was worth it.</p><p>Crypto.com's determination to push ahead, both loudly and quietly, has set it up to try to capitalize <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-outlook-100000-crypto-winter-bank-crisis-btc-halving-2023-4">on the market's recent run</a>. Bitcoin is once again on the up and up, and so too is Crypto.com. The company is hiring again, it's advertising aggressively again, and it's talking a big game about its business prospects — its CEO, Marszalek, told Bloomberg in April that it was looking to triple its number of registered users.</p><p>Data from the marketing-intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates crypto advertisers' digital spending in the US increased by 185% year over year in the first quarter of 2024. Crypto.com spent eight times as much as Coinbase on digital advertising during that period. (It's worth noting that back in the first quarter of 2022, Crypto.com actually outspent FTX on digital ads by a bit.)</p><p>But the thing about all Crypto.com's advertising dollars is that they seem to be only effective-ish. Data compiled by CCData shows that Crypto.com has a 2.3% market share by trading volumes on the spot market globally, which is about half of Coinbase, which has 4%, and only slightly above Kraken, which has 1.4%. (Globally, Binance is still dominant.) According to Sensor Tower, Crypto.com saw a 140% increase in downloads in March from the prior month, though it fell slightly behind Coinbase, which had a 160% increase.</p>      <blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-right">        <q class="pullquote-quotation">All that buying of stadiums and renaming stuff, it's just kind of viewed as lame by most people in crypto.</q>              </blockquote>    <p>Crypto.com didn't respond to multiple requests for interviews or comments for this story. Most of the people I did speak to gave the verbal equivalent of a shrug when I asked what they thought of the company.</p><p>One crypto executive said part of the issue was that Crypto.com, being an upstart from Asia, is a little outside Silicon Valley's mainstream crypto circles. Similar to the clubby "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paypal-mafia-members-elon-musk-peter-thiel-reid-hoffman-companies">PayPal Mafia</a>" that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-paypal-mafia-members-elon-musk-have-been-successful-founders-2022-6">dominated software in the 2010s</a>, a sort of Coinbase crew has its hold on the crypto industry of the 2020s. The exec wasn't too keen on Crypto.com's flashy advertising either, describing it as "decadent" and irresponsible.</p><p>"All that buying of stadiums and renaming stuff, it's just kind of viewed as lame by most people in crypto," they said. "I think the tackiest thing and frankly irresponsible thing to do is to roll out FOMO ads. 'Buy crypto or get left behind' is a really irresponsible message. JPMorgan doesn't do that."</p><p>And despite the company's ability to dodge serious regulatory scrutiny, it hasn't engendered a lot of goodwill among some crypto evangelists.</p><p>"I'm supportive of bitcoin, but I think Crypto.com is overall a big negative for the American public. It's very confusing. It's a casino," said Alex Gladstein, who as the chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation has argued that bitcoin is important for advancing human rights and freedom. "When you go to the website, they encourage you to try and bet on these coins that go to zero. I don't think it's anything to do with financial empowerment for people or any sort of alternative wealth building."</p><p>To be sure, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gambling-young-men-sports-betting-crypto-meme-stock-market-addiction-2024-4">the casino thing could be said about most crypto exchanges</a> — and sports-betting apps, and many regular trading apps. Crypto.com seems to be careful about coloring within the regulatory lines. The head of its legal department in the Americas just put out a "crypto legal handbook," which, OK.</p><p>Crypto.com is embedded in our culture, and it isn't. It's sort of taken on the FTX mantle but with a more anonymous bent. For the company, it's a pretty savvy space in which to operate: ubiquitous but relatively anonymous. For everyone else, mileage may vary on how you feel about the whole thing. It's a good reminder that, whatever the company, it's better to use exchanges only for trading your crypto assets, not for storing them.</p><p>Maybe Eminem won't come to regret voicing those ads like Matt Damon did. Or maybe in five years we'll be looking back at this moment and saying: "Remember that one crypto company? Is it still where the Lakers play? Or is it now something else?"</p><hr /><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emily-stewart"><em>Emily Stewart</em></a><em> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.</em></p>

The new king of crypto

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57714d02dd0895225b8b469a-1721/creepy-eyes.jpg" alt="creepy eyes" data-mce-source="Haylie Jaed/Flickr" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hayliejaed/3371865346/in/photolist-68XG6q-a7GmXV-7yd83D-2jgxcZ-mH9K6-6fC87k-dS45ba-54r8u7-4jC73-n9xQB-4QNRJx-smeAd-8PPq1d-4i6CG1-7mv2X8-5k3UNE-3wRCrs-B5ZoE-cQ9nNE-6mFxEE-6Jkw-cQ9P5h-6JSuzJ-4X7i2Q-6fC7vR-6cXmcb-5peWc-5oecys-djbbtd-8vWq7w-89GC4j-5H9PzX-nnmCRM-9kxxH-BucvB-5bRyb7-aTP6r-bpKsVg-anPW8K-7CJ9EL-9qbSsY-5HZhhQ-mi2Le-5FjDGV-bK1uvz-7CHcEs-a7Tq4B-9tVmQ2-64zC7c-6SrWRn" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hayliejaed/3371865346/in/photolist-68XG6q-a7GmXV-7yd83D-2jgxcZ-mH9K6-6fC87k-dS45ba-54r8u7-4jC73-n9xQB-4QNRJx-smeAd-8PPq1d-4i6CG1-7mv2X8-5k3UNE-3wRCrs-B5ZoE-cQ9nNE-6mFxEE-6Jkw-cQ9P5h-6JSuzJ-4X7i2Q-6fC7vR-6cXmcb-5peWc-5oecys-djbbtd-8vWq7w-89GC4j-5H9PzX-nnmCRM-9kxxH-BucvB-5bRyb7-aTP6r-bpKsVg-anPW8K-7CJ9EL-9qbSsY-5HZhhQ-mi2Le-5FjDGV-bK1uvz-7CHcEs-a7Tq4B-9tVmQ2-64zC7c-6SrWRn">Haylie Jaed/Flickr</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>We've all been there: staring past a sign saying "Do Not Enter" into the very place you want to go. You make a snap calculation - what will happen if you ignore the sign? How likely you are to get caught? Is anyone around? Maybe you go for it.</p><p>But that sort of impulse is a huge headache for people trying to protect animals that just want to be left alone. The solution may involve tapping into that itchy feeling you get at the back of your neck when you think you're being watched, suggests a paper recently published in <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3375/043.036.0205">BioOne</a>.</p><p>Fort de Soto, Florida, is one of the most popular beaches in the U.S., with almost 3 million visitors a year. But it's also home to a handful of species of endangered birds, like American oystercatchers and snowy plovers. So part of the beach is roped off. Fences don't work because there are sea turtles in the area that need to be able to come and go freely.</p><p>So <a href="https://www.eckerd.edu/environmental-studies/faculty/forys/">Elizabeth Forys</a>, an ecologist at Eckerd College in Florida, wanted to know if the less substantial barriers and signs were really working. To find out, she set up a camera on the site and watched beach traffic for three months. Then she added a sign, pointing out in English and Spanish that the area was under surveillance.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57714d02dd0895225b8b469b-2020/american-oystercatcher-florida-endangered-bird.jpg" alt="american oystercatcher florida endangered bird" data-mce-source="Gerald Herbert/AP" data-mce-caption="An American Oystercatcher is seen on the shore of the Chandeleur Islands, home of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, is seen off the Southeastern coast of Lousiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The barrier islands are at risk from a growing oil spill and leak in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig last week." /><p class="source"><span>Gerald Herbert/AP</span></p><p class="caption">American oystercatchers are one of the birds the experiment was designed to protect.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In general, she was pleasantly surprised. "Most of the time no one was in there," Forys told Tech Insider, "so most of the time people were compliant." There were people in roped off areas less than 10% of the time before the sign was installed, and that plummeted to less than 1% after the surveillance was signposted.</p><p>While being watched at the beach sounds a little sordid, this sort of project may avoid serious privacy issues, according to <a href="https://www.aclu.org/bio/jay-stanley">Jay Stanley</a> of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology project. Because the surveillance is at such a limited scale, this sort of use "doesn't raise the concerns we generally have," he said. "Video surveillance is a tool, and like any tool it has good and bad uses," he adds.</p><p>Forys wants to repeat the experiment in other places, but even if she gets similar results, this won't be a silver bullet for environmentalists. The camera was surprisingly difficult to set up someplace so remote, she said, since it needed both electricity and internet. (She says other ecologists are considering just putting up signs and skipping the cameras all together to see if the effect holds.) And Forys thinks the signs need to be freshly maintained to retain their impact.</p><p>"Signage is as old as protected areas," said Jim Barborak of Colorado State University's <a href="http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/cpamt-home">Center for Protected Areas Management</a>, who notes that these signs can be bad for parks' images, since they so often include the word NO. "In general, I think their findings are right on and what I would expect," he adds.</p><p>He points out that the larger a roped off area is, the harder it is to keep people out - so another security option is always appealing.</p><p> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shark-detection-buoys-australia-2016-2">These weird buoys floating near a beach in Australia are actually shark detectors</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BoYXAxMTE67diTS434EALPrcXExP1G4q" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'BoYXAxMTE67diTS434EALPrcXExP1G4q',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

A scientist installed cameras around 'no trespassing' signs at a beach to see how people reacted and was pleasantly surprised

<p>The unemployment rate fell to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/october-jobs-report-november-7-2014-11">5.8% in October</a> - the lowest rate since 2008. However, good labor in America is still in short supply.</p>
<p>At least that's what America's small businesses are saying. And that could ultimately mean wages will rise as employers compete for a shinking pool of good labor.</p>
<p>Here's the message from NFIB's November <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nfib-single-most-important-problem-2014-8">small business optimism survey</a>:</p>
<p>Fory-five percent of respondents say there are "few or no qualified applicants" for jobs, which is an increase from July's forty-two percent. This number has been continuously trending higher since 2009.</p>
<p>Nineteen percent of firms have reported actual compensation changes in the past three months. Although this is a slight drop from July and August's 21% and 22% respectively, this number is still much higher than pre-2009,<span> and has been trending upwards since then.</span></p>
<p>While sales are still one of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nfib-poor-sales-labor-top-concern-2014-4">bigger concerns for small businesses</a>, it's seen a major drop as the 'single most important problem.' This comes as labor quality becomes the most important problem for more employers. This change suggests that economic concerns are shifting from weak demand to tight supply.</p>
<p>All of these factors point to higher wages for America's workers, which in turn should lead to higher inflation.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5462060969beddb84677990c-726-416/screen shot 2014-11-11 at 7.49.07 am.png" alt="Screen Shot 2014 11 11 at 7.49.07 AM" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" border="0"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nfib.com/Portals/0/PDF/sbet/sbet201411.pdf">NFIB</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>

Everything Small Businesses Are Telling Us Points To Higher Wages

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57867715dd0895a96d8b4d71-2400/taylor%20swift%20calvin%20harris.jpg" alt="Taylor Swift Calvin Harris" data-mce-source="Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP"><p class="source"><span>Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/calvin-harris-is-fighting-with-taylor-swift-on-twitter-2016-7" target="_blank">separately revealed</a>&#xa0;on Wednesday that Swift wrote&#xa0;Harris' hit song "<span>This Is What You Came For" while the pair were still together. </span><p>Swift wrote it under the&#xa0;<span>pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, which her <a href="http://www.people.com/article/taylor-swift-wrote-calvin-harris-this-is-what-you-came-for?xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemag" target="_blank">rep confirmed</a>.</span></p><p><span>The song, featuring Rihanna, was a massive success but the former couple decided to keep Swift's involvement with it under wraps for fear that it may overshadow the actual music<span>-</span>&#xa0;that is, until Harris said&#xa0;in an interview that&#xa0;he couldn't see himself collaborating with Swift.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>Swift apparently felt disrespected by Harris' comments, the two abruptly broke up, and now we have <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/taylor-swift-and-tom-hiddleston-fake-relationship-conspiracy-2016-7" target="_blank">Hiddleswift</a>.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57867715dd0895a96d8b4d72-2400/taylor%20swift%202.jpg" alt="Taylor Swift" data-mce-source="Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images"><p class="source"><span>Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span><strong>While the internet is freaking out over Swift's involvement with Harris' hit song, true Swifties called this one a mile away.</strong></p><p><strong>In June, fans noticed a major change on the Wikipedia page about the song, "This is What You Came For."</strong></p><p><strong>Check out the credit under "writers":</strong></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57867715dd0895a96d8b4d73-857/wiki.jpg" alt="Wiki" data-mce-source="Wikipedia"><p class="source"><span>Wikipedia</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><strong>Swift wasn't fooling her true fans. Check out these tweets from June:</strong><p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/CalvinHarris">@CalvinHarris</a> confirm nils sjöberg on this is what you came for is taylor swift and i'll leave you alone for the rest of my life</p>- Stephanie Olson  (@stephgolson) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/744916626097594369">June 20, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>what if nils sjöberg is taylor swift? ??</p>- ?  (@swiftsblooms) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/745084082434912257">June 21, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nils Sjöberg is Taylor's alias woah</p>- Nils Sjöberg  (@hidddleswift) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/745060324705894400">June 21, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13">@taylorswift13</a> is this nils sjöberg? =) haha how in hell did u come up with that alias?</p>- DjMiBsweden  (@DjMiBsweden) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/738617699996028929">June 3, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p><strong>If you Google Nils&#xa0;</strong><span><strong>Sjöberg, there's no songwriter with that name.</strong> </span></p><p><strong>There is, however, a<span> <a href="http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sj/nils-sjoberg-1.html" target="_blank">gymnast</a></span><span>&#xa0;from the 1950s named&#xa0;Nils&#xa0;<span>Sjöberg and <a href="https://twitter.com/nilsjoberg?lang=en" target="_blank">Swedish man with the same name</a></span></span>&#xa0;who thinks this whole thing is hilarious:</strong></p><p><span><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"Taylor Swift's fans believe I am <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13">@taylorswift13</a>", an unexpected <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/firstworldproblem?src=hash">#firstworldproblem</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/taylorswift?src=hash">#taylorswift</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/swiftie?src=hash">#swiftie</a> <a href="https://t.co/Xzkl9lKm14">https://t.co/Xzkl9lKm14</a></p>- Nils Sjöberg  (@nilsjoberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/747107351619055616">June 26, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></span></p><p><strong>Most revealing, though, is this tweet by Calvin Harris' longtime collaborator, John Newman.</strong></p><p><strong>Newman&#xa0;mentions Swift by name when telling Harris&#xa0;"This is What You Came For"&#xa0;is "one of the best pop songs I have ever heard."</strong></p><p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????" this is what you come for " ??? ??? ?????? ??"Nils sjöberg" <a href="https://t.co/UWjX84bpVc">pic.twitter.com/UWjX84bpVc</a></p>- TS Arabic Updates™  (@TS1arabic) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/745049945544232960">June 21, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p><strong>While both Swift and Harris have admitted they collaborated on the track, it appears there is still "Bad Blood" between the two.</strong></p><p><strong>Harris has been tweeting up a passive aggressive storm since the news broke:</strong></p><p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage though ??</p>- Calvin Harris  (@CalvinHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/753258935432294400">July 13, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do</p>- Calvin Harris  (@CalvinHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/753259239863296000">July 13, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it</p>- Calvin Harris  (@CalvinHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/753259873035399168">July 13, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>&#xa0;&#xa0;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Please focus on the positive aspects of YOUR life because you've earned a great one</p>- Calvin Harris  (@CalvinHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/753260609970417664">July 13, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-crazy-process-behind-handmade-greek-yogurt-2016-6">The crazy process behind handmade Greek yogurt</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="YwaGZjNDE6QRA7oeRTguMPOSXOn0ljy3" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'YwaGZjNDE6QRA7oeRTguMPOSXOn0ljy3',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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