Shortly before her son started first grade, Blackburn took him to the eye doctor for what she thought was a routine visual exam.
She’d noticed it was more difficult for him to see the TV screen, so she assumed he needed glasses.
During the exam, the doctor noticed something concerning in Naff’s retina and sent the family to a retina specialist in Cincinnati.
“At first, they thought that it was a disease called Stargardt, which is where you lose your central vision and become legally blind,” Blackburn told Fox News Digital in an interview.
That was heartbreaking in itself, she said — “enough to send you into a spiral” — but things got even worse when the doctors decided to do some genetic testing to confirm the diagnosis.
It turned out the first diagnosis was incorrect. And with tears in their eyes, the geneticists informed Blackburn during a Zoom call that her son actually had Batten disease.
“We went from thinking our son would become legally blind to finding out that he has this fatal disease with no cure,” Blackburn said. “I really don’t have words for it. It’s unbelievable. It’s soul-crushing.”
A fatal genetic disorder, Batten disease interferes with the body’s ability to eliminate cellular waste, per Cleveland Clinic’s website.
As the excess lipids and proteins build up, they cause vision loss, seizures, cognitive decline, impaired mobility and death.
There is currently no cure for the disorder.
Batten disease is usually diagnosed through genetic testing, when an abnormal change is found in one of the several genes associated with the disease, noted Christelle Moufawad El Achkar, M.D., a neurologist in the Division of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
There are 13 different types of Batten disease, each involving a different gene. Naff was diagnosed with CLN3.
“Within each gene, there can be different clinical subtypes with different ages of onset and severity, starting from infancy until adulthood,” Moufawad El Achkar told Fox News Digital.
“This can make diagnosis harder, especially in the early stages of the disease.”
Early diagnosis is very important, the doctor emphasized, especially because some types of disease can be slowed with therapies.
Early symptoms of Batten include loss of balance, falls and slurring of speech.
Epilepsy or seizures can be an early sign in some subtypes, but might only happen later in some patients, said Moufawad El Achkar.
Gradual loss of vision is seen in almost all patients at some point in the disease.
“It is crucial to suspect and test for Batten disease in any child who has loss of skills, especially if accompanied by seizures, at any age,” the doctor said.
As her son’s vision had already declined considerably at the time of his diagnosis, it is now 20/200, which qualifies as legally blind, Blackburn shared.
Only his vision has been impacted so far, but doctors have warned Blackburn of what’s to come over the next couple of years — including dementia, decline in motor skills and seizures.
As of now, he only knows about his vision struggles — Blackburn has not told him about the Batten disease diagnosis.
“We try to keep him as educated as we can on his vision while still allowing him to be the same little boy he is now,” Blackburn told Fox News Digital.
“We feel like the weight of all the other symptoms is just too hard, too much for him to carry.”
Naff still attends the same public school, where he works with a teacher for the visually impaired.
“We have amazing teachers and amazing friends in our community,” Blackburn said.
Patients affected by Batten disease need a multidisciplinary team to help manage their symptoms and design a plan to provide the best quality of life possible, Moufawad El Achkar noted.
Naff’s primary care team is at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Twice a year, the family drives to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics to see an eye doctor, who prescribes an experimental medicine to help preserve Naff’s vision for as long as possible.
They also travel to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston to see a neurologist.
Naff will have an EEG (electroencephalography) each year to monitor his brain waves for seizure activity.
He is currently taking a medication called Miglustat, which could help to ease or slow down symptoms. Although the drug is FDA-approved for another condition called Gaucher disease, it is not yet approved for Batten.
“Since it’s not FDA approved, it has a hefty copay cost — if insurance doesn’t cover it, it’s about $100 a pill, or $9,000 a month,” Blackburn said.
Through an initiative called Guiding Grayson, the family has held events to help raise money for Naff’s costly care.
“Having the support from our community and our friends has been one of the best things to come out of this,” said Blackburn.
All the funds raised for Naff have gone toward the cost of the Miglustat.
Blackburn has quit her job as a project manager so she can dedicate her time to taking care of Naff and her younger son.
“There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of scary things, but we hope that the medication can hold off Grayson’s symptoms for as long as possible until there’s a cure,” she added.
Because each gene involved in the various types of Batten disease has a different mechanism, finding treatment for each one has been a very difficult process, noted Moufawad El Achkar.
“There have been some oral medications that over time might have shown some delay in the progression of the disease, but none have been shown to affect the course of the disease,” she said.
A drug called Cerliponase Alpha has been shown to significantly slow down symptoms of Batten disease type 2, noted Moufawad El Achkar.
Gene therapies have also been developed for some types and are in early clinical trial stages, but have not yet been administered in the U.S.
“Research is ongoing to look for therapies for virtually all of the subtypes, but most are at the pre-clinical stage at this time,” said Moufawad El Achkar.
“A lot of strides have been made, but we need a lot more treatment options to be developed, tailored to each subtype, and we need them as soon as possible.”
“Collaboration between scientists, medical teams and family associations all over the world is absolutely necessary to make any meaningful progress in treating these extremely rare disorders,” the doctor added.
Blackburn said she is holding out hope for a cure in her son’s lifetime.
“Scientists are working tirelessly to try to find a cure for this disease,” she said. “It just takes a while for gene therapy to be approved, so that’s what is scary.”
“Some days, I’m really hopeful and I feel like Grayson can beat this, and then some days it’s just debilitating and gut-wrenching — it feels like we’re in a nightmare,” Blackburn went on.
“One of our main goals is to raise awareness for research and to raise funds for a cure — and just to let Grayson know how much we love him.”
Did you know that 17 percent of your customers could walk away from your business after just one bad customer experience? That’s a pretty significant number, especially when you’re trying to grow your business and increase your return on investment (ROI). There’s good news, though: You don’t need to lose these buyers if you prioritize … Continue reading 5 Ways to Reinvent Customer Experiences That Will Increase Your ROI
There’s no hiding it, Instagram is one of my favorite social media channels. Not only is it a great way to share your life with friends and family and promote your business, but it’s also a great way to make a lot of money.
Best of all, you don’t need a big following and there are several different ways to earn an income. In this article, I’m going to show you how to make money on Instagram using seven of my favorite strategies:
Get paid for sponsored posts.
Promote affiliate links.
Start an Instagram shop.
Make money from your content.
Become an Instagram coach.
Advertise your brand.
Get paid for teaching your audience.
Ready? Let’s get to it.
Why Should You Try to Make Money on Instagram?
Instagram remains one of the most popular social media apps.
If the sustained growth of Instagram wasn’t enough to convince you that it’s a great platform to make money on, maybe the comments of Mark Zuckerberg may help. At the company’s first Creator Week in June 2021, he said of Instagram: “Our goal is to be the best platform for creators like you to make a living,”
That’s exactly what’s transpired.
Instagram accounts with over one million followers can make in excess of $1000 per post, according to influence.co.
That’s not all.
You don’t need to be a mega-celebrity to make money on Instagram. Plenty of micro-influencers with followers in the thousands make a decent income through our 7 strategies.
What You Need to Make Money on Instagram
There are three things you need to make money on Instagram: reach, influence, and engaged followers.
Reach and Influence
The only reason businesses pay money to Instagram users is the exposure to the audiences they receive in return. They hope to make money from those followers. For it to be worth their time, these brands are only interested in influencers with large audiences. The bigger the audience, the more money they can make.
If you only have a few hundred Instagram followers to begin with then your potential audience size is low. With such a small sample space, your content won’t get seen by lots of people, let alone drive sales to your or a brand’s products.
To get started, you’ll definitely need at least a few thousand followers to be able to make money.
Engaged Followers
Sure, more followers will boost your ego. Mathematically, it increases your probability to appear in more Instagram feeds. However, a high follower count doesn’t necessarily mean high engagement, and shadow-banning on Instagram can leave you with little to no reach.
If everyone is cold to your posts, they probably won’t be inclined to buy anything you promote.
So on your Instagram account, if you rarely get people commenting, liking, sharing, and following you, then it doesn’t matter how big your following is, you probably won’t make much money.
On the other hand, even if you only have 1,000 followers and they are actively engaging with your posts, the potential to make money is there. Brands are willing to invest in you because of the profitable actions you’ll drive through your account.
7 Ways to Make Money on Instagram
Okay, so now you know why I think Instagram is a great platform to make money on and what you need to make serious bank. Now let’s look at my favorite ways of doing just that.
1. Become an Influencer and Get Paid to Advertise Products
I’ll preface this first strategy by stating that this is the easily most common tactic to earn money on Instagram.
Again, it isn’t viable for people with a few hundred followers. You need a minimum following of about 5,000 followers and a high engagement rate.
People with this reach can earn up to six figures per post.
All you have to do is post pictures around your interests that show your personality, helping you build up a glamorous personal brand.
Sure, you can follow a planned marketing strategy, but Instagram followers love when you are being true to your authentic self. As you share pictures and build your influence organically, relevant brands are likely to approach you rather than the other way round.
Once you satisfy these criteria, here’s a simplistic version of how making money works:
you create a sponsored Instagram post (it could be a photo or video)
you include a branded hashtag, mention, or link to promote a brand
you share it with your audience
you get paid
There is one warning going into this though: don’t pursue sponsored posts simply to make money without believing in the brand you’re promoting. Taking too many of such posts will also burn your audience’s interest and lead to loss of trust in your brand. For example, if you’ve built a following based on visiting fast food restaurants and writing greasy food reviews—suddenly partnering with a weight-loss brand could damage your reputation.
Simple enough to remember, right?
Let’s look at a few people who do this well in real life.
Adam Gonon is a fashion and lifestyle influencer from New York. With a touch over 50,000 followers, he certainly doesn’t have the biggest audience in the world, but that doesn’t stop him from creating sponsored content every few days.
You don’t have to promote fashion or other lifestyle products to get paid for sponsored posts. Amanda Holtzer is a health, diet, and nutrition influencer who works with brands like Costco and Juice Press to create sponsored content.
2. Promote Affiliate Offers
Promoting affiliate offers is not dissimilar to getting paid for sponsored posts. The difference is that you only get paid if people buy the product or service you’re promoting rather than receive payment for your post.
This can be both positive and negative, depending on your audience. While sponsored posts have guaranteed income, you could make a lot more by promoting the right affiliate offer. On the other hand, you could also make a lot less.
Being an affiliate on Instagram is a lot harder than running affiliate ads on your website. Not only do you require a launch audience, but Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links anywhere except your bio. The only way to promote an offer and make sure you receive the affiliate income you’re due is by using promo codes. These are trackable and can be added to your post or story easily. Of course, you’ll still need your followers to visit the affiliate website on their own.
3. Start an Instagram Shop
With an Instagram Shop, you can integrate your e-commerce store with your Instagram profile. This is the only way you can promote your products directly to Instagram followers through your posts, Stories, the Explore tab, and the Shop tab on your profile.
There used to be a lot of friction for e-commerce store owners who wanted to sell through Instagram, but not anymore. Instagram Shopping completely removes friction, letting customers easily check out products in the app and then head to your store at the click of a button.
Let’s say you’re a clothing store and you want to promote an outfit. Simply upload a picture of your model wearing your outfit, and Instagram will let you tag up to five products per post (you can tag up to 20 products per carousel.) You can also promote products in stories and videos, too.
I would like to show you one specific Instagram page that’s completely killing it.
It’s called Doug the Pug. As the name implies, it’s all about the life of one of the Internet’s coolest and cuddliest pugs, Doug.
This page chronicles Doug’s life and takes followers along on his adventures. As of August 2021, Doug the Pug had 3.9 million followers. Doug has his own book entitled Doug the Pug: King of Pop Culture (which is pretty impressive considering that he can’t actually write.) He even does appearances all around the country.
In other words, Doug’s owner has created a massive brand.
Guess what? The popularity they’ve generated is centered around their Instagram page. With 3.9 million followers, you can bet that they’re driving plenty of high-quality traffic to the store and consequently getting paid handsomely for it.
This is a brilliant example of how Instagram can be used to build a brand from scratch. Doug the Pug is a template you could use to launch your own brand and sell from your online store.
Just use your creativity and come up with an interesting angle that will get people excited and eager to invest in your brand.
There’s no doubt that there is a significant time investment involved, but it can pay dividends if you’re able to establish a large and loyal audience. The best part is all of the different ways you can monetize your brand later on.
4. Make Money From Your Content
Just like YouTube, you can monetize your content directly on Instagram. Try one of the three ways below.
IGTV Ads
IGTV ads are a great way to monetize your Instagram content. In March 2021, Instagram made ads available to creators in the U.S., the UK, and Australia. They appear when you watch IGTV from a creator’s feed.
Instagram’s COO, Justin Osofsky, says creators receive 55 percent of the advertising revenue generated through IGTV. That’s the same rate as YouTube making it a great alternative.
Live Badges
If you broadcast live on Instagram, Badges are a fantastic way for your followers to show their support. Think of them as tips your audience can give you when you broadcast. Your viewers can buy a badge during a broadcast, selecting from three levels of hearts that each have a different price point (one for $0.99, two for $1.99, or 3 for $4.99.)
Badges have gone down well with creators. Fitness influencer @charleeatkins said: “Badges in Instagram couldn’t have come at a better time for fitness creators like me. It’s an easy way to channel the love we already see in our Live feeds so we can continue building and creating for our fans.”
Patreon and Only Fans
You don’t have to rely on Instagram’s in-platform features to pay your bills. Third-party sites like Patreon and Only Fans are another great way to make money from your content. In both cases, you’ll want to give away a ton of free value on Instagram before encouraging your audience to follow you on one of the two platforms for exclusive content.
5. Become an Instagram Coach or Consultant
If you are killing it on Instagram and have a massive, engaged following, why not make money by teaching others to do the same thing?
People want to know how to build a following on Instagram and monetize it—it’s why I’m writing this article, after all. If you know how to do it, and have done so yourself, you can make a lot of money.
Take a look at Foundr as an example.
Right now, they have built a massive audience to the tune of 3.3 million on Instagram. And since it’s their strong suit, Foundr founder Nathan now sells his Instagram marketing expertise in an online course called Instagram Domination at a whopping price of $1,997.
Given that businesses that are passionate about Instagram marketing follow them, Foundr has a great pool of potential qualified buyers in their audience with them on Instagram. Many of these prospects are likely to buy their course.
The best news? Anyone can do this if they have a big enough following.
Travel bloggers, food bloggers, marketing consultants—if people are active in your niche and are trying to grow a following doing what you do, launching a course could be highly profitable.
6. Indirectly Make Money by Advertising Your Brand
You don’t have to have a business that’s directly tied to Instagram in order to use the platform to generate sales. Thousands of canny entrepreneurs have leveraged their Instagram following to make money through a separate business. It really doesn’t matter what kind of business you operate; Instagram is a great way to get the word out and generate traffic and sales.
Instagram is particularly powerful if you have a physical product that you can show people using. Service-based businesses like travel agents also work incredibly well.
Hashtags will be particularly important here if you want to increase the reach of your Instagram account. The more followers you have, the more people will see your posts and consider using your business in the future.
Promoting other people’s products via affiliate links or selling physical products through an online store are both great options to make money on Instagram. What if I revealed there was a way to earn more money than affiliate marketing without having to handle physical inventory?
There is, and it’s called selling info products.
Info products have become a bit of a dirty term, but you don’t need to sell dating advice or weird diets to make money on Instagram this way. If your Instagram account teaches your audience how to do something—whether that’s learning a foreign language, practicing yoga, or woodworking—you can create a premium info product that you can sell for upwards of $100.
There are hundreds of Instagrammers doing this right now.
One doing particularly well is Minimalist Baker, a food blogger who creates recipes with ten ingredients or less and sells a course on Food photography. As you can see, you don’t even need to sell something directly related to your niche. Minimalist Baker isn’t selling a cooking series or a recipe book—she’s teaching Instagrammers how to take pictures as well as she does—and raking in the cash.
Making Money on Instagram Frequently Asked Questions
How easy is it to make money on Instagram?
It’s never easy to make money online, but making money on Instagram is easier than a lot of other methods.
2. What's the best way to make money on Instagram?
The best way to make money on Instagram will depend on you and your following. Getting paid for sponsored posts, starting an Instagram shop, or getting paid to create content through IGTV ads are all great options.
How much do Instagram influencers get paid?
Instagram influencers can get paid north of six figures for every sponsored post. The larger and more engaged your following, the higher the fee you can command.
4. How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?
You need at least a couple of thousand followers to make money on Instagram. The more engaged your followers are, the less you will need, however.
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How to Make Money on Instagram Conclusion
Instagram has been one of the most popular social media platforms for some time, and it’s continuing to launch new and engaging features. In other words, it’s well worth investing your time to make money on the platform.
If you can build an audience and establish trust, there are loads of ways to make money on Instagram. With so many potential business opportunities, anyone can earn money from Instagram.
Yes, even you.
Which tactic are you going to use to make money on Instagram?
We are an IaaS platform in Switzerland trying to offer a high-quality “cloud”. We are working with Django/React, but knowledge in these technologies is not a must. We have also been working on a Kubernetes CSI driver and there’s our own Terraform provider.
We are mostly looking for an engineer willing to learn. Ideally you have a preference for functional patterns. Currently we are however looking for someone with fluent German.
If you’re interested, just email me at dave (at) cloudscale.ch and I’ll tell you more about this job :).
DataRobot is the leading end-to-end enterprise AI platform, taking customers from data ingest all the way to automated, monitored decisions.
We are trying to deduplicate the work that Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and MLOps people do every day, and dumb it down so that it can all be controlled with a UI.
My team is leading the effort to allow users to augment our generated pipelines to better fit their data. To do that, we have developed a secure platform built on Kubernetes to run these algorithms.
However, we need somebody who knows how to make this platform more secure, more performant, and rock-solid. If security and performance for arbitrary customer code is your forte, or you’d like it to be and you’ve done lots of DevOps and Kubernetes work in the past, come join me.
You can email josh.preuss+apply@datarobot.com (me) or just drop your resume at the link above, and it will be routed to me that way too.
We’re accepting applicants in timezones between UTC+6 thru UTC to UTC-7
Hoot Medical is hiring a Medical Records Retrieval Specialist to join our team in multiple functions. This position will focus on records retrieval and follow-up; email communication with clients and physicians as well as daily administrative tasks.
There is significant room for growth in this position. Will be working closely with a high-growth tech and product team.
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