• After years of writing about financially independent individuals, I've picked up on commonalities.
• One is that they have multiple revenue streams — at least one of which is from their own business.
• In 2025, I'm starting my own side business to see if the wealth-building strategy works for me.

My job involves interviewing people who are good with money — self-made millionaires, early retirees, and "super savers" who keep the majority of their income — and asking them to share their wealth-building strategies.

After nearly a decade of talking to these money-savvy individuals and absorbing their knowledge, I've implemented a lot of what they advise: I automate my savings and investments, live within my means, track my expenses and net worth, and take advantage of an HSA.

I have a lot of the personal finance basics down, but in the spirit of a new year and always trying to improve, I've decided to think bigger for 2025 and tackle one particular wealth-building strategy I've written about but never dared to try: starting a business.

One observation from talking to financially independent individuals is that they don't rely on a single source of income. They have at least two and, oftentimes, multiple revenue streams. Even the super savers tell me that there's a cap on how much you can save. But how much you can earn, they point out, is limitless.

Another commonality is that one of their revenue streams comes from their own business.

I've spoken to Amazon and Etsy sellers who have built e-commerce empires, content creators who drive passive income from courses and affiliate links, and a millennial who went from broke to seven figures by building websites and flipping domains.

Starting an e-commerce business

The business model that most intrigued me — and seemed doable on a budget — was e-commerce. Essentially, selling a product on platforms like Amazon.

I learned through interviews that there are three main ways to make money on Amazon.

There's arbitrage, which is the most basic, low-cost way to start selling on Amazon. This is when you source products from different marketplaces to sell. To be profitable, you must buy the product for less than it sells on Amazon. After reselling, you keep the difference.

The next tier is wholesaling. This is when you buy products in bulk and resell them on Amazon. Like arbitrage, you aren't making your own product — you're simply reselling an existing product — but you're spending more money upfront on inventory.

Finally, there's the private label route. E-comm experts have explained to me that starting a private label brand is the most time-consuming and costly but has the most upside. It requires actually creating a product and brand.

I went with the latter and technically started the company in 2024 when a friend and I designed a pickleball paddle and ordered inventory from a manufacturer in Asia. My goal in 2025 is to sell the 500 paddles that are on their way from China to my apartment in LA, build a brand I'm proud of, evaluate whether selling a product online is a suitable side hustle for me and my strengths, and write about every step of the process.

I don't expect building a side business to be easy. And everything I've done so far has cost more and taken more time than anticipated.

Most of the financially independent entrepreneurs I've spoken to started with a side hustle — and, in some cases, simply a side project or hobby that cost them money, let alone brought any in. They put their heads down from 9-to-5, worked for an employer to cover their bills, and then reserved 5-to-9 for building businesses.

Carving out time and energy to work on a side project that might not generate sales while simultaneously working a full-time job isn't for the faint of heart. These self-made entrepreneurs put in a lot of hours for an unknown outcome.

NeuroGum cofounder Kent Yoshimura, who worked at a music studio and as a muralist while building a caffeinated gum and mint company, admitted to pulling "an all-nighter once a week" in the early days of his startup.

Jatz Naran said he built his Amazon business between the hours of 6-and-10, after his day job would wrap up. "Forget work-life balance," he told me. At the end of the day, "you have to sacrifice one thing for another."

What's intriguing about starting a business is that you're in the driver's seat. The success or failure of the company is up to you. How much you and the company earn is up to you.

I'm reminded of something real-estate entrepreneur Dion McNeeley told me during an interview: Think beyond your day job.

His revenue streams at the time included his day job running a commercial truck driving school, long-term rental income from his portfolio of 16 properties, and a side hustle as an expert witness, which is someone who is called to testify during a trial because of their specific knowledge. He provided expert testimony for cases involving truck driving accidents.

"I make way more money spending two hours a month on real estate and one to two hours a month providing expert testimony than I make running a truck driving school," said McNeeley, who has since retired from his day job. "The mistake a lot of people make is selling their lives one hour at a time and not realizing that you make a lot more money when you get paid on the value you produce."

The 119th House passed its first bill of 2025 Tuesday: The Laken Riley Act, which would require the detention of undocumented immigrants arrested for certain non-violent crimes such as theft.

Why it matters: It's a sign of just how central immigration and border security will be for Republicans under the incoming Trump administration.

• The party spent the last four years railing against what they said was the Biden administration's dereliction on border security.

Driving the news: The bill passed 264-159, with 48 Democrats siding with Republicans in voting for it

• The bill was one of a dozen pieces of legislation listed in the House GOP's rules package that passed last week, allowing it to be voted on under a streamlined process.

Zoom in: The measure is named for a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed on the University of Georgia campus last year by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been arrested on theft-related charges.

• The House previously passed the bill last March, with 37 Democrats voting in favor of it, but it did not get a vote in the then-Democratic Senate.
• Now Republicans control the Senate and plan to hold a vote on the bill, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Stef Kight reported.
• It's likely to get some Democratic support in the Senate, though it may not be enough to clear the chamber's 60-vote threshold.

The other side: Democratic leadership opposed the bill but did not formally whip against it, according to a notice sent out by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark's (D-Mass.) office.

• "The policies in this bill would ratchet up the number of mandatory detentions without increasing funding to carry them out," the whip notice said.
• It also argued that the bill would give conservative state attorneys general greater ability to block federal border policy.

President-elect Trump during a lengthy press conference on Tuesday did not rule out using the U.S. military to reclaim the Panama Canal or acquire Greenland.

Why it matters: Speaking for over an hour during his second press conference since winning the White House, Trump floated renaming the 'Gulf of Mexico' to 'Gulf of America' and reiterated that he's "looking at" pardoning Jan. 6 defendants.

Driving the news: Trump's far-reaching press conference comes just one day after Congress certified his 2024 presidential victory. Here's some of what he said:

• When asked by a reporter whether Trump would assure the world that he would not use military or economic coercion to gain control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two."
• "I can say this, we need them for economic security," the president-elect said.
• Trump's remarks come as his son, Donald Trump Jr., is visiting Greenland on Tuesday, after the president-elect has signaled that the U.S. should try to acquire the territory.

Gulf of Mexico: Trump also said that "we're going to be changing the name of Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring."

• His remarks, which raise questions about how the renaming process would actually work, are the latest example of Trump flexing his power on the global stage before he takes office.

Jan. 6 defendants: One day after the four year anniversary of the Capitol riot, Trump said that "we'll be looking at the whole thing, but I'll be making major pardons."

• He didn't specifically answer whether he would consider pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters who were charged with violent offenses.
• Trump on the campaign trail repeatedly said he would pardon the rioters who were charged in connection to Jan. 6 on his "first day" in office.

Hostages held by Hamas: Trump said that "all hell will break out in the Middle east" if the hostages held by Hamas are not released by the time he takes office.

• "And it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is."

Canada: Trump, who has mused about making Canada the 51st U.S. state, said that he would not use the military to make that happen but did not rule out using "economic force."

Zoom out: Trump earlier in his Tuesday press conference announced that billionaire Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai-based developer Damac Properties, is investing at least $20 billion in the U.S. to back new data centers.

Go deeper: Trump announces $20 billion foreign investment in data centers

Senate Democrats are forcing a delay in Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation hearing next week, claiming she hasn't provided required vetting materials — while Republicans accuse them of playing games, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's the first taste of what's expected to be a drama-filled few weeks as the Senate takes up some of President-elect Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks.

• Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is balking at GOP requests to hold a hearing for Gabbard early next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.
• Gabbard, a former member of the House, is Trump's pick for national intelligence director.
• Warner has pointed out that the committee has not yet received Gabbard's FBI background check, ethics disclosure or a pre-hearing questionnaire, a source familiar with the matter told us. Committee rules require the background check a week in advance of a hearing.

The other side: Gabbard completed the background check process last week, according to a source working with the nominee. Her active security clearance also means the process will be expedited.

• Gabbard submitted an initial pre-hearing questionnaire and intends to submit a second on time and was given a Thursday deadline, the source said.
• Another source familiar said the ethics disclosures have been delayed for multiple nominees due to the snow and other logistics but are expected to come through soon.

Between the lines: Either way, without the materials or sign off from Democrats, the hearing for one of Trump's most vital national security officials could be pushed to late next week — if not the week following.

• Intel Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) "intends to hold these hearings before Inauguration Day," a spokesperson told Axios. "The Intelligence Committee, the nominees, and the transition are diligently working toward that goal."
• "After the terrorist attacks on New Year's Eve and New Years Day, it's sad to see Sen. Warner and Democrats playing politics with Americans' safety and our national security," Trump transition spokesperson Alexa Henning told Axios in a statement, adding the nominee is willing to meet with every committee member.

The details: Committee rules hold that a confirmation hearing cannot be held until seven days after the panel receives "background questionnaire, financial disclosure statement, and responses to additional pre-hearing questions."

• That gives the Gabbard and the transition team just a couple days if the committee wants to easily set up a hearing for next week.
• Cotton could bypass that rule with a majority vote of the panel. But it would be a rare step for a committee that has long prided itself on bipartisanship.

The big picture: Gabbard is still making the rounds with Senate Democrats before the hearing and is scheduled to meet with Warner today.

• Gabbard will also meet with Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Az.) and Angus King (I-Maine) later this week, per a source. She has already met with Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — all members of the intelligence panel.

• Donald Trump said that Mark Zuckerberg may have taken notice of his threats.
• The president-elect previously threatened to jail the Meta CEO for life.
• Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company will no longer partner with third-party fact-checkers.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for changing how it moderates political content on its three major social media platforms.

Trump, who previously threatened Zuckerberg with life in prison, said his comments might have led to the announcement.

"Probably," Trump said when asked if Zuckerberg is "directly responding to the threats you've made to him in the past."

Zuckerberg and Trump once had a frosty relationship, but both sides appear to be warming up.

"Honestly, I think they have come a long way, Meta, Facebook" Trump told reporters during a wide-ranging news conference.

Zuckerberg made the major shift on Tuesday, announcing that his company will no longer partner with third-party fact-checkers and will relax moderation policies on topics like gender and immigration.

"We've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship," Zuckerberg said in a video posted on Facebook. "The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech. So we are going to get back to our roots, focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms."

Joel Kaplan, recently promoted to lead Meta's global policy team, outlined the announcement during an interview on "Fox and Friends," Fox News' morning show that Trump has long watched.

"There is a real opportunity here, with President Trump coming into office, with his commitment to free expression, for us to get back to those values," Kaplan said.

Trump said he saw Kaplan's comments and called the former Bush White House official "very impressive."

Zuckerberg recently dined at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, part of a larger wave of tech CEOs hoping to reset relations with the incoming administration. Meta is also donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration.

Zuckerberg and Trump haven't always gotten along.

Trump's first administration and several states teamed up in 2020 on a major antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. In 2021, Trump, then-a former president, sued Facebook and other platforms for banning him in the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Trump and his allies have also been highly critical of Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's charitable giving ahead of the 2020 election to help local election officials deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are watching him closely," Trump wrote in his book earlier this year in a section about Zuckerberg," and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election."

Before the presidential election, Zuckerberg announced he would not make any donations to election officials again, and he called Trump a "badass" after the president-elect survived an assassination attempt in July.

A representative for Meta didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• The Netflix docuseries "Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action" premiered on Tuesday.
• It explores the controversial rise of Springer's daytime talk show, which gained fame for its brawls.
• Former producers describe manipulative tactics they used to get guests riled up and ready to fight.

The unruly guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" were not professional actors — but their infamous brawls were encouraged and teased out behind the scenes, producers say.

Netflix's new two-part documentary, "Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action," unpacks the show's outrageous premise and its rise to the top of daytime TV ratings in the late '90s. It features several interviews with former producers, who describe the tactics they used to recruit real people with real problems and coax them into having emotional meltdowns on air.

"Just like any other manipulative situation, you need to instinctually pull out of them those points of tension that create a soap opera," Melinda Chait Mele, a producer who'd been hired from the tabloid world, says in the doc.

"A lot of the guests were earnest. They literally did think they were coming on to solve a problem. You wouldn't believe how many people said to me on the telephone, 'I can't wait to meet Jerry. I really hope he can help me with this,'" Mele tells the camera. "Jerry didn't help anybody with any of it. He just stood there and did his thing."

As the show was gaining popularity and producers were under more pressure to orchestrate shock and awe, Mele hired Toby Yoshimura, a former bartender with no talk show experience. He proved exceptionally skilled at convincing people to publicly air their grievances.

"These are small-town folk, right? And you're really trying to sell it to them, like, 'You've got this great story. We want to give people an opportunity to see that,'" Yoshimura explains. "In order for them to deliver, they have to like you. So you treat them like they're kings."

Yoshimura says producers would send limousines to ferry guests to and from the airport. A "Jerry Springer" guest identified as Melanie says they were also supplied with plenty of alcohol.

"They did everything in their power to get us as crazy as possible," Melanie says. "They were like, 'Go hog wild! Have fun!' And so we got wasted." By the time she arrived on set the following morning, Melanie says she was hungover, sleep-deprived, and "ready to fuck it up." Meanwhile, producers were with her backstage, coaching her on "what to say and how to act."

Yoshimura describes the environment as a "pressure cooker" and admits that some stories went too far. (Some of the show's most controversial episodes include "I'm Pregnant By My Brother" and "I Married a Horse.")

"You had to reach into their brain and tap on the thing that would make them laugh, cry, scream, or fight. You rev 'em up to tornado level, and then you send 'em out onstage," Yoshimura says, adding later, "This was basically the Stanford Prison Experiment, in that you were playing with people's psyches until you get a result."

This methodology was designed to generate higher ratings, which spiked after an episode that saw a member of the Jewish Defense League start a fistfight with members of the Ku Klux Klan.

"It was brilliant. And it rated through the roof," says Richard Dominick, the executive producer for "Jerry Springer" who's widely credited as the show's mastermind. "If you're producing a show that you want to be insane, and unlike anything that's ever been on TV before, there's your goal. That's what you want."

From that point onward, producers were instructed to pursue on-camera confrontations — and for a while, Dominick's method got results. In 1998, Springer even beat out Oprah Winfrey in the ratings for the most-watched daytime talk show, a feat that producers previously thought was impossible.

"There was no question: Jerry and Richard were on top of the world. I mean, the riches that it gave them, and the fame, were very compelling," says Robert Feder, a longtime media critic who worked for the Chicago Sun-Times during the "Jerry Springer" era.

"But what did they have to do in order to achieve it?" Feder continues. "The degree to which Jerry sold himself out, and the degree to which he was complicit with Richard in exploiting the people who came on the show, is something that had serious consequences."

"The Jerry Springer Show" ran for 27 seasons before it was canceled in 2018; Springer died of pancreatic cancer in 2023. In the final years of his life, Springer disavowed his own show and publicly apologized for the role he played, declaring, "What have I done? I've ruined the culture."

"I look at some of the stuff that's being done now, and I go, 'We're kind of responsible for this crap,'" Dominick says in the doc, which pairs the quote with clips from "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," and "The Apprentice." He adds: "Maybe I am gonna go to hell."

However, Yoshimura suggests the show's success reflects just as negatively on viewers — including any viewers of the Netflix doc today — as it does on hosts, creators, and producers.

"Look at the history of the show. A guy punches a girl in the face, it gets huge ratings. We put a girl without clothes on the show, everybody loses their mind," he explains. "All you guys wanna talk about is all that shit."

"But, you know, we're the problem," he adds. "If none of that happened, there's no documentary on Netflix. Full stop."

• A Russian attack submarine that was stationed in Syria has officially left the Mediterranean Sea.
• The departure of the Kilo-class Novorossiysk leaves Russia without any known submarines in the region.
• The uncertain fate of Russia's naval presence in Syria amid other setbacks could spell trouble for its submarine force.

Strategic Russian naval bases have been upended by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, creating headaches for the Kremlin's navy, including its submarine force.

Moscow no longer appears to have any attack submarines in the Mediterranean Sea after NATO forces spotted its last known submarine leaving the region last week.

Portugal's military said that it observed a Russian Kilo-class submarine moving through the country's continental exclusive economic zone near northern Spain on Friday. NATO Maritime Command later identified the vessel as the Novorossiysk.

The Novorossiysk was spotted several weeks earlier at Tartus, a naval base in Syria that Russia had used for years. The future of Moscow's military footprint at the facility — and in the country in general — was, however, thrown into uncertainty after the shocking collapse of the Assad regime last month.

There are indications that Russia is drawing down forces at its bases in Syria. Losing Tartus for good would be a significant blow to Moscow's navy — including its capable submarine force — which relies on the warm-water port to project power across the region and beyond.

Early December satellite imagery showed the Novorossiysk docked in Tartus, but by the middle of the month, it was gone, along with the rest of the Russian warships that had been there. Some of the Russian naval vessels have been spotted in recent weeks loitering off the Syrian coast, but the whereabouts of this submarine were less certain.

Should Syria's new leadership decide Russia can no longer station its forces at Tartus, it would mark another setback for Moscow's navy, which has suffered a string of stunning losses in the nearby Black Sea since the start of the full-scale Ukraine war nearly three years ago.

Ukrainian forces have used missiles and naval drones to damage or destroy dozens of Russian naval vessels, including one of six improved Kilo-class submarines Moscow's Black Sea Fleet operates, during the conflict.

These attacks have forced Moscow to withdraw the Black Sea Fleet from its long-held headquarters in Sevastopol, a major city in the southwestern corner of the occupied Crimean peninsula, across the region to the port of Novorossiysk along western Russia's coast. If Russia is unable to move back into Sevastopol, that creates complications.

For Russia, losing the ability to keep submarines at Sevastopol and Tartus is less than ideal.

Bryan Clark, a former US Navy officer and defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, said that the remainder of the Kilo-class vessels are based in St. Petersburg, where there is a large naval facility and dry docks for maintenance.

"The Russians are now having to redeploy their submarine force back up to the north" instead of relying on warm-water ports that "you could get in and out of them year-round," Clark told Business Insider. "St. Petersburg, you can't get in and out of year-round."

Recent developments also seriously undermine Russia's military influence in the Mediterranean and southern Europe, Clark said.

The Novorossiysk is a newer improved Kilo sub. Submarines of this class are diesel-electric vessels and formidable long-range strike platforms that can attack ships and land targets, deploy for weeks on end, and stay relatively undetected. They are effectively Russia's most capable non-nuclear subs and can carry Kalibr missiles.

Russia has kept a Kilo-class vessel in the region for years. The boat's departure from the region, though Russia could ultimately opt to move another sub into the area later, may signal a broader decline in Russian naval might in the Mediterranean.

In four years, Russia appears to have gone "from being a pretty big player in the Med — in terms of naval forces — to now being a nonexistent player," Clark said.

Russia's basing challenges could ultimately hinder its ability to project power. The uncertainty with Tartus and nearby Hmeimim Air Base — underscores a broader issue for the Russian military.

Satellite imagery captured on Monday by Maxar Technologies, a commercial imaging company, shows no obvious signs of any major Russian naval vessels at Tartus, as has been the case for weeks. Ukraine's military intelligence agency has said Russia is withdrawing from the base.

Whether Moscow is able to negotiate an arrangement with the new Syrian leadership to stay in the country or is forced to relocate to a new hub in North Africa to sustain its operations remains to be seen.