Last week I dropped a client because they did not respect my time. We were supposed to work on a project for them and I kept emailing them and trying to call a week in advance to go over details. My POC would not respond nor pick up the phone. She all of a sudden was responsive at 5:20pm the day before we were supposed to work with them. She sent me a bunch of accounting forms I needed to fill out in order to process the payment.

I had to try my best to be respectful and not go off on her but I respectfully told her that we cannot work together tomorrow. That I have been trying to call and email for over a week to get stuff like this done and discuss details and logistics. That me and my team don't feel like we can work up to our typical standards just showing up tomorrow totally clueless about what we're doing. I really wanted to tell her "I got 2 f'n kids I gotta pick up from daycare right now then its a rush to dinner, bathtime, and bedtime. I don't have the time to fill out paper work in the evenings!"

It sucks because the company is a good client to have but it's just our POC is a slacker and is just looking to pawn work off to us and then leave us on the hook last minute. If shit goes wrong we get the blame and not her.

Particularly in the comments on your social media posts

I put my business on Facebook ads for one dollar a day just to see if even that could get me some leads. So far no as expected. I made a mistake of not taking pictures of any of my jobs so my Facebook account for my tree service looks inexperienced and goofy with only one of my big tree jobs on it. People are viewing my Facebook account and I average 5-10 views a day. Are there any recommendations on a good ad campaign? People keep saying even putting hundreds in Facebook ads are not working anymore, as of the past couple of years. I just started this year, in July.

I've always loved being creative and making things, and I finally decided to put myself out there and start creating my own flower arrangements! 🎀

It's honestly exciting to have something of my own, but it's also a little intimidating starting from scratch and figuring everything out as I go. I'm learning so much along the way, and I'm proud of myself for taking that first step instead of just keeping the idea in my head.

For anyone else who has started a small business or turned a hobby into something more, what helped you get started? I'd love to hear your experiences and any advice you have! ♡

I've made an Etsy, Made a Pinterest post/ads and Instagram but not sure what is next.

I’m posting this because I feel stuck, and I’d genuinely appreciate some perspective from people who have built successful businesses and created financial independence.
I’ve previously owned a company and successfully scaled it. I know what it takes to manage operations, solve problems, and grow a business. Unfortunately, I learned some very hard lessons along the way.
I didn’t come from money, and I didn’t have a financial safety net or an emergency fund behind the business. I invested my entire life savings into it because I believed in what I was building. When our equipment was essentially vandalized, the cost of repairs became so overwhelming that it ultimately put me out of business.
I lost the money I’d worked so hard to save, and rebuilding financially has been difficult. Looking back, I realize how important cash reserves, risk management, and protecting yourself against unexpected setbacks are. I learned those lessons the hard way.
Professionally, my background is primarily in operations, particularly dental practice management. I’ve also worked in commercial property management, and I’m currently working at a startup that is aiming to scale to $10 million within the next five years.
I want to build something meaningful again. I want to create real financial security for my family and eventually build wealth, but I feel like I’m at a crossroads. I have experience and ambition, but I’m struggling to identify the smartest path forward.
For those of you who have built substantial wealth or successfully scaled businesses:

If you were in my position, what would you focus on over the next three to five years?

Would you prioritize climbing the corporate ladder into executive operations, consulting, acquiring a business, or building another company?

How did you find mentors who genuinely helped you grow, both professionally and financially?

What do you wish someone had told you earlier in your entrepreneurial journey?

I’m not looking for a handout, an investment, or a get rich quick scheme. I’m looking for perspective from people who have been where I want to go and are willing to share what they’ve learned.

If you’ve experienced a major business setback and rebuilt your life afterward, I’d especially appreciate hearing your story.

I’m willing to learn, work hard, and take constructive criticism. I just want to make better decisions this time around.

Thank you to anyone willing to share their experience or advice.

Hi, everybody! I’m an artist and lately Ive been thinking about starting to sell some of my work in the form of stickers, keychains, designs, etc.

I’ve seen a lot of small businesses selling stuff with famous characters. Like Snoopy stickers, littlest pet shop keychains, Miffy, monchichis, stuff like that. Same with some people selling unofficial merch of an artist made by them.

I was wondering how that worked. Do you need to get rights? Do you have to slightly alter the characters? Or could you just go ahead and do it?

Thanks in advance for the responses :)

I’m a new business that is an ASE Master Certified mobile mechanic business with a specialty in Automotive Electrical Diagnostics, Module Programming, Wiring Repair, and ADAS Calibrations

I have started full time with this business at the beginning of 2026 and have made approximately 10k/mo in revenue (with fluctuations) with having zero employees.

My biggest problem is lack of consistent work, sometimes being booked out a week and a half, sometimes barely being able to fill the schedule.

We do general mobile automotive repair as well for private customers, but my goal is to attract automotive businesses, such as used car dealerships, collision repair facilities, and general automotive repair shops to utilize our wholesale service plans, which allow them save up to 50% on all of our services and make profitable work they would have otherwise turned away or spent days trying to resolve.

I figured the best way to grow would be to make the bulk of our work to consist of primarily B2B work, so that way I would feel more confident in hiring technicians, as they would have predictable work coming in the door.

I’ve been using Google Ads the entire time, spending between $500-$1000/mo, used Yelp for the first few months (another $600/mo), and a local marketing company for the last 3 months.

From all of this, I have one used car dealership and one auto repair shop that gives us consistent business, and some loyal private customers, and whoever else calls with a stubborn electrical issue, and over 30 5-Star Google Reviews.

But this is out of over 20 leads my local marketing company got me.

I’m not a salesman, and I don’t have a sales background, however I have been trying different sales strategies to onboard new clients.

However, I feel like even though I’m horrible at sales, I don’t understand the objections these automotive businesses have.

I’m giving them an opportunity to capitalize on subcontracted work they would have had to otherwise had to turn away. As business owners, many of us spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on marketing every month with no guarantees.

I’m trying to make them money on the leads they are already receiving and increase their ROI on their existing marketing, without them investing a dime into additional employees or thousands of dollars on scanners and ADAS Equipment.

I would rather have all of these leads try us out and then tell us “it’s not working out” and explain why, because at least then I would learn what I’m doing wrong.

However, 20 of these leads have never given us a shot or have called once from the initial meeting.

I have the uniforms, the experience, the vehicles, the tooling and equipment.

I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, and I want to know. I’m tired of eeking by and barely paying my bills and not knowing what the correct next step to take is. I feel like a failure.

If anyone here has experience in the automotive/collision repair industry and could make some helpful pointers on what I could do or what else I could offer, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi everyone,

Me and my brother started a small tree surgery and landscaping business in January 2026 called Branchard Tree & Landscapes Services Ltd.

We're based around Rugby, Warwickshire, in the UK, and we're trying to build the business and get more consistent customer enquiries.

We've got a website, Google Business Profile, Facebook and Instagram, but we're struggling to get a steady flow of enquiries. Some weeks we get a few, and other weeks we barely get anything.

I'm trying to learn more about SEO, local SEO, Google Ads and digital marketing, but there's so much conflicting information online that I'm not really sure where to focus.

I'd really appreciate some honest advice from anyone experienced in SEO or marketing for local service businesses.

A few things I'd particularly like help with:

• Improving our Google rankings when people search for tree surgeons in our area.
• Optimising our Google Business Profile to appear more often on Google Maps.
• Understanding what could be improved on our website to generate more enquiries.
• Knowing whether Google Ads would be worth investing in on a small budget.
• Understanding what marketing activities would make the biggest difference for a relatively new business.

I'm not looking for shortcuts or guaranteed rankings. I genuinely want to learn how to do things properly and build the business long-term.

If anyone would be willing to offer some advice or point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

Sorry if the question's a bit broad. I am just starting out in this

Im a dermatolgist and Im running a small platform offering people online consultation and prescription for male pattern baldness treatment ( finasteride + minoxidil mainly). These are proven and very efficient treatments for MPB. In my country you need a doctor's prescription in order to obtain them and medical consult for this condition is pretty straight forward. In other countries similar platform have been very efficient (HIMS for example).

My main source of patients/customers is my insta profile. I run meta ads with before/after pictures.

The problem is - the people who view those ads on insta are people who might not have this issue, or people who are still not aware of fin/min being the main treatments. They might still think that herb medication works or hair transplant is the only way etc. Most of those people will be reluctant to choose to go with my ad.

The people who already know the truth and are already looking for fin/min prescription are searching in Google. So they're already done their research and know what works. All they want is a prescription to initiate therapy.

Will running ads on Google be more efficient? Im already at 3-4-5th page on google search on those keywords in my country. Will google ads help show my website to people googlesearching for these key words?

TLDR;; Im offering a proper and good service which people are already looking for , but its hard to find me.

I am an artist and I make custom art prints, wall decor, bookmarks, artworks, so I'm thinking on how can these things work with corporate orders? Usually corporate orders are a coffee cup, some hamper, etc. How can I get corporate orders with my artwork?

Which problem presented below would you choose over the other, and why?

1.) You have a product so great that matching a brand name to it is impossible.

2.) You have a brand name so great that matching a product to it is impossible.

I recently started a business offering websites and business process automation for small businesses. I was in talks with a local lawn company I know that does really well but has a broken and outdated website.

I put forth multiple proposals to help them deal with the identified problems of missed calls and issues with the website. I wanted to hit it out of the park, so I redesigned the website, simplified their form situation, got ahead of myself and built it ahead of time. They sounded excited and onboard... Until they saw the pricetag.

I quoted them $3,200 after a 20% founding client discount. I outlined the proposal in a very nice PDF as well as the standard pricing and the discount with the discounted final price.

Before I priced it, I looked at local agency prices for this and national. Local prices for the KC area are much lower than national. And my prices are lower than agencies in the area and in the low to mid range in general.

The client came back and asked if I could just do a little change to their existing website instead. The problem is that they used the GoDaddy site builder, a version that is no longer supported and doesn't allow a lot of customization to fix the problems. A friend of theirs built it 7+ years ago.

For a fully responsive, mobile ready, cleanly redesigned website does that really sound like too much to ask? It's a custom design.

What would you recommend? What would you expect? I especially want to hear from the non-technical business owners.

My creds:

I'm a professional web developer with 20+ years of professional experience. In my day job I work as a director of technology for a global advertising firm. I've worked on websites for large brands most people would recognize.

honestly asking. between taking photos, writing captions and answering comments it ends up around 3 hours a week, sometimes more before a holiday. sales from it are fine but not huge.

how much time do you actually put in, and did cutting back hurt anything?

I've rebranded twice now and both times I had the name locked in before checking what was available (I know). I ended up regretting it both times, people kept typing it in wrong and it wasnt the most memorable. My last one was hyphenated bc the version I wanted was taken, and I always had the feeling it took a toll on my word of mouth. So here I am, thirds time's the charm. Im doing the name and domain together this time. What length did you guys land on? Im Trying to find the line between unique unfindable

Is anyone else running a local service business and constantly fighting with Meta Business Suite?

I feel like I'm losing my mind trying to track inquiries through Facebook and Instagram messages. Half the time the phone notifications don't even pop up, and when they do, they get buried under old messages or comments. I checked today and realized I replied to a hot customer inquiry three days late because it just slipped through the cracks.

I don't have the budget right now to pay for an expensive CRM platform just to fix an inbox problem.

How are you guys keeping track of your Facebook messages so you don't forget to follow up? Are you just using sticky notes, setting phone alarms, or is there a free way to organize this chaos?

Hi everyone!

I own a corporation that provides remote staffing for clinics and basically any business that needs receptionists, customer support, administrative staff, etc.
We’ve been operating for almost a year now and things are going, let’s say, okay.

I’m based in Toronto, and one thing I’ve been particularly strict about is our hiring process. Every candidate goes through a pretty extensive screening and onboarding process to make sure they’re actually qualified to work remotely.

That obviously led me to hiring way fewer people, but with significantly more experience. We’re talking about agents with 6+ years of actual experience, not just something written on a resume.

Now, here’s my question.

In Ontario, minimum wage is $17.95/hour, and once you factor in the additional expenses on the employer’s side, you’re realistically looking at around $21/hour.

Would charging CAD $2,500/month for a full-time remote employee (40 hours/week) sound reasonable to you?

Just to clarify a few things:

-These aren’t freelancers. They’re dedicated, experienced employees working full-time.

-Vacation and sick days are covered by replacement agents whenever possible.

-If we’re unable to provide coverage, the client receives a credit on their next invoice for the days missed.

-Every agent is directly supervised by our management team on a daily basis, so the client doesn’t have to deal with training, monitoring, or managing them.

Essentially, the client gets a full-time remote employee, with supervision, replacements, and the administrative headaches handled by us, for roughly $14.42/hour.

I’m genuinely curious how business owners would perceive this pricing. Does $2,500/month sound fair, too cheap, or is there something I’m overlooking?

TL;DR: I run a Toronto-based remote staffing company providing experienced receptionists and customer support agents (6+ years of verified experience). We charge CAD $2,500/month for a dedicated full-time employee (40 hours/week), including daily supervision, vacation/sick leave coverage, and credits for any uncovered days.
Considering an Ontario employee costs roughly $21/hour after employer expenses, does $2,500/month sound fair, too cheap, or am I missing something?

Hey everyone!
I’m trying to get my first paying client in the website development niche, but honestly, I’m struggling to figure out which approach actually works.
I’ve tried different methods, including posting on Reddit, responding to people looking for developers, and reaching out to potential clients, but so far I haven’t landed a single paying client.
I’d love to hear from people who have experience building websites for clients:
How did you find your very first client?
Where did you look: Reddit, Facebook groups, freelance platforms, cold outreach, local businesses, agencies, or somewhere else?
Did you actively search for clients, or did clients eventually come to you?
What worked best when you were starting with no reputation, reviews, or connections?
If you had to start from zero today, what would your strategy be?
I’m not looking for generic advice like “build a portfolio” or “keep trying.” I’m interested in real experiences and specific methods that actually helped you land paying clients.
Thanks in advance to everyone willing to share their story!

There's been a lot of frustration around Yelp advertising, but the actual results seem harder to figure out.

For small businesses who are still running ads there, are they bringing in enough paying customers to make the monthly cost worthwhile?

And if you are getting results, what kind of business are you? It’d be especially helpful to hear from owners who've tried Yelp recently and either kept it going or decided to stop!

I’m a solo owned / member LLC and I file my taxes as an S-Corp. I was under the impression that in order to write off my ACA monthly health insurance premiums I have to pay the full amount. Meaning, I cannot accept or use any Advance Premium Tax Credit towards my monthly premiums. It’s all or nothing. Is that true? Like say my monthly premiums is $1000 and my APTC is $200. Could I still write off the $800 that I pay monthly ($9600 for the year) to reduce my overall tax owned on my annual return?

I'm a bored college student. Anyone have any data they would like me to collect for them that would help their business? Completely free.

For businesses that get most of their inquiries through WhatsApp, how do you handle it when two or three people need to reply to customers?

I’m curious how you avoid duplicate replies or messages getting missed. Do you use a shared inbox, or have you found a simpler setup? Any idea or suggestion will be much appreciated. Thanks

So, today, in the UK budget, Labour have raised the thresholds to get small business rates relief, from £12k-£15k, up to £18k-£21k.

The first change in the thresholds for 10 years, I believe.

That’s fabulous news of course, but once again, it only applies to retail, hospitality, and leisure.

No change for any other sectors.

We all need that kind of help, not just those sectors.

Absolutely gutted.

My business rates have gone up from full relief in 2022/23, a transition period, but then an annual bill of over £8k next year, due to crazy high revaluations, and frozen thresholds.

I can’t cover that much, not sustainable.

Comment below let’s get it started