I’d say there is a huge amount of bots, then the smart bots, then the actual shills. The smarter ones run complex operations and are able to use their own power to self propel their own stories. And there are a lot of similar ‘power users’ who are not wholly paid for by someone but would do work for the highest bidder. I’d bet that yes, 50% of what’s on the front page of major things is reputation management or Hail Corporate stuff, then I’d wager the mostly less popular stuff is actual people, with a ton of bad posts from all sides at the low popularity
That’s a great step. For anyone else too that wants to quit their job and start a business of their own you’re an inspiration now.
Do you have everything set up already?
You’ll need: a state business license, and maybe one for your local town and/or county.
A insurance person to get general liability insurance, and you’ll probably need commercial auto, and possibly EOI and a to get bonded
a website is going to be great if you have basic computer understanding. Get your name and website name and purchase the domain it as soon as you can. Once you have a website you can add all the basic questions people would waste your time with. get your business phone number and email all over that. You can even run website ads if you like which is likely to bring in business on it’s own but you have to pay for it so you want to be careful there and only give very hyper specific words in your target word or you’ll waste money. You can always pay someone to do the website and ads for you.
a CPA to help you with you taxes
maybe a bookkeeper
you can get a few t shirts and hats and or jackets and stickers and whatever oneline easily enough
business cards to give out to all the clients you meet too