logo
This Nurse Googled How To Repair Cars - Now Her Auto Shop Brings In $440K/Year

This Nurse Googled How To Repair Cars - Now Her Auto Shop Brings In $440K/Year

CNBC31-05-2025
In 2018, Desiree Hill, 39, was a nurse commuting three hours a day and barely seeing her kids. Hoping to earn extra income, she started a side hustle of buying, repairing, and reselling rundown vehicles. With no prior auto repair experience, she learned by searching the internet and watching YouTube videos. Today, she owns a 9,000-square-foot auto repair shop in Georgia that brought in $440,000 in revenue in 2024.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Want to make a career pivot? Here's what this Google exec says you should do first.
Want to make a career pivot? Here's what this Google exec says you should do first.

Business Insider

time27 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

Want to make a career pivot? Here's what this Google exec says you should do first.

Google executive Mira Lane is all for following your passions and changing your career. That's exactly what she did. But she encourages approaching a career shift with a plan. "For people that are wanting to pivot, I would pivot with information," the senior director and founder of the Envisioning Studio at Google told Business Insider. Lane, who started her career as a software developer and went on to create an AI prototyping lab that explores the impact of tech innovation on society, said that many people switch careers multiple times because they're uncertain. She said job seekers should gather as much information as possible to make sure that the career pivot they're making is the right move. That includes talking to people in the industry, watching YouTube videos about jobs that interest you, and trying out internships, Lane said. If you're earlier in your career, you should also try to choose a college that provides opportunities to gain work experience. The idea is to "constantly get some feedback," Lane said. Whether you're just starting out in the workforce or looking to make a shift mid-career, changing careers is common. However, Lane's advice comes amid an ongoing workforce transformation driven by AI advancements. A 2025 World Economic Forum survey found that 41% of companies globally expect to reduce staff in the next five years because of the new tech, meaning more people may be forced to adjust. "All the jobs are kind of evolving in this moment," Lane said. "Everything's kind of shifting. So you want to be in a space where you're getting a lot of signals." That's how Lane navigated multiple career pivots. After starting her career as a software developer, Lane moved to program management and then later on transitioned to leading AI ethics and society at Microsoft. After nearly two decades at Microsoft, Lane saw an opportunity for companies to engage more directly in conversations about the tools they were developing. That inspired her to build a team of creative strategists, philosophers, and researchers focused on discussing technology at Google. "I don't like when technology is built, and then people have to deal with decisions that were made that weren't really intentional," Lane, who is also a visual artist, told BI. Lane said when she was at Microsoft and was "poking around" for a new role, she met the person who would eventually become her boss at Google. She said he asked her what she wanted to do with her life and caught her off guard, so she asked if she could get back to him. Even though she had an idea of her interests at the time, Lane said it was important to pause and think about what she really wanted. "I wasn't prepared to just answer that on the fly," Lane said. "I thought, 'if someone's asking me, let me, reflect on it.'" After some thought, Lane prepared a one-page pitch about the lab she wanted to create, which ended up becoming a reality. Lane said once you get enough signals about what you like or don't like, you should listen to what "lights you up." If you find yourself following a path that doesn't make you excited, maybe it's not the right one.

Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull' stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs
Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull' stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs

CNBC

time18 hours ago

  • CNBC

Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull' stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs

Former NBC Cable President Tom Rogers is dialing back his bullishness on Netflix. The media trailblazer, who was a self-proclaimed "raging bull" on Netflix, told CNBC's "Fast Money" this week he's starting to worry — and listed competition with free content on YouTube as a headwind. "[Netflix] still [has] more hit shows than all the other streaming services combined, but when you look at the growth of their sub[scriber] base and look at the amount of total engagement time from all viewers they get, the amount of viewing per viewer has gone down some," said Rogers, who's now executive chairman of AI company Claigrid. Netflix saw the largest monthly viewership increase versus its peers in June, according to Nielsen. However, YouTube had 13% of total monthly TV viewership while Netflix had 8%. Rogers' latest take comes after Netflix delivered a positive quarterly report on July 17. "There was nothing wrong with its earnings at all," said Rogers, who is also a CNBC contributor. "But engagement is what drives everything here. The amount of viewing it gets, it drives price increases, which drive programming budget, which drives more great programming." Netflix beat second quarter top and bottom line estimates and raised its full-year guidance. But since its earnings report, the streamer's stock is down about 6% and is now off almost 11% since hitting a record high on June 30. Rogers also predicts artificial intelligence will be a "double-edged sword" for Netflix in the near-term. On the one hand, he said it will aid the streamer's targeted advertising and help cut programming costs. But it also allows independent content creators a leg up — which benefits YouTube. "The line between professional and amateur content is going to get more and more blurry as AI tools in the hands of amateurs allow them to produce things that look incredibly professional," he said. "I think AI in the hands of the creative community of YouTube could create a level of professional programming for YouTube which drives its viewership even further." YouTube's parent company, Alphabet, is up 2% so far this year. Yet, Rogers still considers Netflix maintaining his status as the most valuable media company in the world. However, he said a lag is "something to watch for sure." Netflix spokesperson Emily Goldstein deferred comment to the company's second-quarter earnings call.

Why a 'mini Trump' is breaking through in Japan
Why a 'mini Trump' is breaking through in Japan

NBC News

timea day ago

  • NBC News

Why a 'mini Trump' is breaking through in Japan

TOKYO — As President Donald Trump's tariffs add to a sense of uncertainty in Japan, more voters here are embracing an idea inspired by their longtime ally the United States: 'Japanese first.' The nationalist slogan helped the right-wing populist party Sanseito make big gains in Japan's parliamentary elections on Sunday, as it capitalized on economic malaise and concerns about immigration and overtourism. Party leader Sohei Kamiya, who since 2022 had held Sanseito's only seat in the upper house of Japan's parliament, will now be joined by 14 others in the 248-seat chamber. It's a far cry from the party's origin as a fringe anti-vaccination group on YouTube during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though Japan has long had a complex relationship with foreigners and its cultural identity, experts say Sanseito's rise is another indication of the global shift to the right embodied and partly fueled by Trump, with populist figures gaining ground in Europe, Britain, Latin America and elsewhere. Kamiya 'fancies himself a mini-Trump' and 'is one of those who Trump has put wind in his sails,' said Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies and history at Temple University's Japan campus. Speaking at a rally on Saturday at Tokyo's Shiba Park, Kamiya said his calls for greater restrictions on foreign workers and investment were driven not by xenophobia but by 'the workings of globalization.' He criticized mainstream parties' support for boosting immigration in an effort to address the labor shortage facing Japan's aging and shrinking population. 'Japan is still the fourth-largest economy in the world. We have 120 million people. Why do we have to rely on foreign capital?' Kamiya told an enthusiastic crowd. The election results were disastrous for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is facing calls to resign now that his conservative Liberal Democratic Party — which has ruled almost uninterrupted since the end of World War II — has lost its majority in both houses of parliament. The Japanese leader had also been under pressure to reach a trade deal with the Trump administration, which said Tuesday that the two sides had agreed to a 15% U.S. tariff on Japanese goods. On Wednesday, Ishiba denied reports that he planned to step down by the end of August. The message from his party's string of election losses is that 'people are unhappy,' Kingston said. 'A lot of people feel that the status quo is biased against their interests and it advantages the elderly over the young, and the young feel sort of resentful that they're having to carry the heavy burden of the growing aging population on their back,' he said. Kamiya, 47, an energetic speaker with social media savvy, is also a strong contrast to leaders such as Ishiba and the Constitutional Democrats' Yoshihiko Noda, both 68, who 'look like yesterday's men' and the faces of the establishment, Kingston said. With voters concerned about stagnating wages, surging prices and bleak employment prospects, 'the change-makers got a lot of protest votes from people who feel disenfranchised,' he said. Sanseito's platform resonated with voters such as Yuta Kato. 'The number of [foreign immigrants] who don't obey rules is increasing. People don't voice it, but I think they feel that,' the 38-year-old hairdresser told Reuters in Tokyo. 'Also, the burden on citizens including taxes is getting bigger and bigger, so life is getting more difficult.' The biggest reason Sanseito did well in the election, he said, 'is that they are speaking on behalf of us.' Kamiya's party was not the only upstart to benefit from voter discontent, with the center-right Democratic Party for the People increasing its number of seats in the upper house from five to 16. Sanseito, whose name means 'Participate in Politics,' originated in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, attracting conservatives with YouTube videos promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines and pushing back against mask mandates. Its YouTube channel now has almost 480,000 subscribers. The party has also warned about a 'silent invasion' of foreigners in Japan, where the number of foreign residents rose more than 10% last year to a record of almost 3.8 million, according to the Immigration Services Agency. It remains far lower as a proportion of the population than in the U.S. or Europe, however. Critics say such rhetoric has fueled hate speech and growing hostility toward foreigners in Japan, citing a survey last month by Japanese broadcaster NHK and others in which almost two-thirds of respondents agreed that foreigners received 'preferential treatment.' At the Sanseito rally on Saturday, protesters held up signs that said 'No Hate' and 'Racists Go Home.' Kamiya denies that his party is hostile to foreigners in Japan. 'We have no intention of discriminating against foreigners, nor do we have any intention of inciting division,' he said Monday. 'We're just aiming to firmly rebuild the lives of Japanese people who are currently in trouble.' Despite its electoral advances, Sanseito doesn't have enough members in the upper house to make much impact on its own and has only three seats in the more powerful lower house. The challenge, Kingston said, is whether Kamiya can 'take this anger, the malaise, and bring his show nationwide.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store