{"id":95364,"date":"2023-03-10T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95364"},"modified":"2023-03-14T12:48:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:48:23","slug":"how-to-expand-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Want to know how to expand your business<\/a> for rapid growth? How can you achieve “Growth Explosion?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to venture capitalist Andrew Chen, Growth Explosion is what happens when you build enough subnetworks to become a legitimate competitor to the current industry leader. Chen offers three methods to expand your business rapidly in his book The Cold Start Problem<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn how to expand your business<\/a> rapidly, according to Chen’s three methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Expanding Your Business: Chen’s 3 Methods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In The Cold Start Problem<\/em>, venture capitalist Andrew Chen explains that, once you\u2019ve successfully launched a number of subnetworks, you\u2019ll hit the “Growth Explosion.” This is when across all your subnetworks, you have enough users for the network effect<\/a> to kick in with gusto, accelerating growth to the point where you can challenge the market leader<\/a> in your industry.<\/strong> Chen states that at this stage, you can shift your focus away from manually starting new subnetworks and instead work to refine your product in ways that amplify the network effect.<\/strong> This allows you to expand your business faster than you could ever imagine. In this article, we’ll explain how to expand your business using three of the methods that Chen outlines in his book The Cold Start Problem<\/em>: How to Start and Scale Network Effects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Although Chen assumes that the readers of his book want to grow their company into an industry-dominating giant, you may want to keep your business intentionally small and simply stop at this step. In Anything You Want<\/em><\/a>, Derek Sivers describes how he turned down weekly offers from firms who wanted to invest in his startup and help him expand. His rationale for doing so was that rapid expansion can sometimes distract you from giving the best possible product to your existing customers<\/a>, which is the key to not only financial success<\/a> but also fulfillment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain how to rapidly expand your business, we need to break down exactly how the network effect drives growth. Chen explains that having a bigger network makes it easier for you to 1) attract new users, 2) retain existing users, and 3) profit more from the users you have. We\u2019ll discuss each of these aspects of the network effect in turn\u2014it should be your goal to optimize each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1: Optimize Network Growth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, Chen asserts that the larger your user base, the easier it is to attract more new users.<\/strong> If you have more users, more people will share your product with their personal contacts, creating naturally accelerating growth. This word-of-mouth advertising<\/a> is more effective and more economical than traditional paid marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To expand your business, refine your product in ways that make users more likely to show it to others. Chen suggests implementing features in the product that naturally expand the network<\/strong>: For example, TikTok allows users to export and share videos outside of the app. The company places its logo in the exported video so that viewers know if they want more videos like that, they can join TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: To expand your business and optimize network growth, it\u2019s not enough to simply give users the ability<\/em> to expand your network by using and sharing your product\u2014you must also give them an incentive<\/a><\/em> to do so. In Contagious<\/em><\/a>, Jonah Berger describes different kinds of value you can offer to users for sharing your product<\/a>. By making your product interesting or cool, you can give users social currency<\/a><\/em>, making them seem interesting and cool for knowing about it. Similarly, by making your product scarce or exclusive, people will feel special to be included in its user base, giving them an incentive to brag about it to their friends.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2: Optimize Network Preservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chen explains that the second positive aspect of the network effect is that the more users you have, the easier it is to make a product compelling enough for users to continue using it.<\/strong> This is because having more users means you have more user behavior<\/a> to monitor\u2014analyzing this data gives you the insights you need to make your product more alluring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To optimize your network preservation and expand your business, Chen recommends identifying which customers spend the most time on your product and then experimenting to discover which aspects of your product influence them to stick around. Use this information to refine your product and make it even more compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate this idea, let\u2019s return to our \u201cboard game app\u201d scenario. By analyzing user data, you may discover that users who play two or more different games are 300% more likely to use the app for six months or more than users who play just one game. With this in mind, you could add a \u201cdiscover new games\u201d feature to the main menu of your app and track whether this encourages more users to play multiple games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Low-Budget Alternative: Conversations With Customers<\/strong>

If you want to refine your product to be more engaging but you don\u2019t have the time or resources to analyze data and run experiments like Chen suggests, you can gain a wealth of relevant information from simply talking to customers<\/a> face-to-face. In The Mom Test<\/em><\/a>, Rob Fitzpatrick explains that customer conversations<\/a> can be a remarkably reliable guide to making successful product development decisions.

Fitzpatrick recommends keeping your discussions focused on objective facts about your customers\u2019 past behavior<\/a> rather than on their opinions, preferences, or predictions, which they often misreport out of politeness or lack of self-awareness<\/a>. For example, if your product is a social network, you could start by asking a customer, \u201cWhen was the last time you opened our app?\u201d If it\u2019s been more than a week or two, signaling a lack of engagement, you could ask \u201cWhat\u2019s the last social networking app you\u2019ve used?\u201d and \u201cDid you post something when you used it or just browse?\u201d

The goal of these questions is to learn about your customers\u2019 desires and the habitual way they currently fulfill those desires<\/a>. Once you\u2019ve done this, you can tailor your product to more consistently fulfill those desires, making it more engaging. In this example, you might discover that your users are more interested in browsing than they are posting, so you decide to develop a more engaging browsing experience.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

#3: Optimize Network Monetization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Third, Chen explains that the more users you have, the easier it is to make money from your product.<\/strong> Even ignoring the fact that more users means more paying customers, a large network is much more valuable to users than a small network, and users are willing to pay more for it as your network grows in size.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To optimize your network monetization and expand your business, give your users the opportunity to pay extra for additional network-based features<\/strong> so that as your network grows, these premium features become more valuable. For instance, your board game app could allow group organizers to pay for more visibility on their postings. This premium feature becomes more valuable as the number of group seekers on the network increases, so the app leverages the increased network effect to get more users to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Stress Out About Raising Your Prices<\/strong>

As your network advances and you refine your product, it becomes more valuable, so it\u2019s perfectly reasonable you would charge more for it. However, as Chris Guillebeau describes in The $100 Startup<\/em><\/a>, the owners of small startups often hesitate to raise their prices out of fear that their current customers will grow frustrated and quit buying from them. Guillebeau reassures his readers that customers have come to expect occasional price increases. The vast majority of the time, price increases can have an enormous impact on your profits while barely disturbing your customer base.

Guillebeau also recommends charging more than you think you should<\/em> if you choose a tiered pricing<\/a> model. He suggests not only offering customers a premium-tier option but also offering a super-premium tier that\u2019s far more expensive than you would expect them to buy. This way, you not only make more money<\/a> whenever anyone decides to invest in that tier, but you also leverage the anchor effect<\/a> to make your standard premium-tier price feel like more of a deal in comparison.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to know how to expand your business for rapid growth? How can you achieve “Growth Explosion?” According to venture capitalist Andrew Chen, Growth Explosion is what happens when you build enough subnetworks to become a legitimate competitor to the current industry leader. Chen offers three methods to expand your business rapidly in his book The Cold Start Problem. Read on to learn how to expand your business rapidly, according to Chen’s three methods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":73859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79],"tags":[935],"class_list":["post-95364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","tag-the-cold-start-problem","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve "Growth Explosion."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve "Growth Explosion."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":1381,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Cold Start Problem\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Entrepreneurship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\",\"name\":\"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve \\\"Growth Explosion.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect - Shortform Books","description":"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve \"Growth Explosion.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect","og_description":"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve \"Growth Explosion.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect","datePublished":"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/"},"wordCount":1381,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","keywords":["The Cold Start Problem"],"articleSection":["Business","Entrepreneurship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/","name":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-10T17:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-14T16:48:23+00:00","description":"Wondering how to expand your business rapidly? Learn about the network effect and three ways to leverage it to achieve \"Growth Explosion.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-expand-your-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Expand Your Business With the Network Effect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/professional-business-woman.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95364"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95392,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95364\/revisions\/95392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}