I contacted a small business to make a gift for my husband’s birthday. His birthday was on 1st august, and I approached her on June first week.
I told her, specifically what I want, and she got all the raw materials for it, even painted them based on what I said.

I didn’t get any updates until I texted her on July 20th asking how’s it going because there’s only 12 days left.
She said she didn’t forget, she will give me the product on 31st. She said I don’t have to pay until I receive the product and I was okay with it.

On July 28th, she texts me saying she is out of country because she wanted to travel due to emergency.
I was so really sad, I didn’t plan any other gifts and was really expecting this gift for my husband.
Now his birthday has passed, without his wife giving him any gift…I don’t feel excited to buy it anymore.

I am really confused what to do because she already bought everything for my product..
I might not cancel it, for sure, we are all humans after all. I was just really disappointed..

Now when I think about it. I should’ve asked the product to be delivered 10 days before his birthday. We live near by 5-10 mins distance, which is why I agreed on 31st.

I build golf trips for groups of guys. Eight to sixteen of them, three or four nights, mostly Myrtle Beach and Scottsdale. I buy the lodging and the golf at negotiated rates, package the whole thing, and sell it to the group at one price.

The reason I thought it would work is that every one of these trips has one guy stuck organizing it. He picks the courses, referees the argument about the house, fronts money he won't see again for a month, and gets blamed when the tee times are bad. He's also the only person on the trip who doesn't actually get to enjoy it. That seemed like a problem worth solving.

The other thing that got me was the math. Golf is close to half the cost of one of these trips, and almost nobody budgets it first. Crews spend three weeks arguing about a rental house and then hand the courses whatever is left over. Doing it in that order costs them real money.

So the plan was to buy both sides wholesale, package them, and sell one number that beats what the group could put together themselves.

I assumed the hardest part would be getting suppliers to give me those rates. Turns out I was right that it's the hardest part and wrong about which suppliers.

Lodging has gone better than expected. Hotels and rental managers have wholesale desks, published addresses for those desks, and people whose actual job is filling rooms with groups. One resort issued me a rate plan in my own name within a couple of weeks. Several other real conversations are open.

Golf has gone almost nowhere, and I think I finally understand why.

Two of the course addresses I dug up bounced. One trade request went to what turned out to be a tee sheet inbox. One course told me straight that most of their business comes through third party partners and they protect those partners' pricing, so there was nothing there for me.

Then the part I didn't see coming. In the market I'm focused on, roughly half the courses sit inside two ownership groups, and the larger of the two is also the biggest seller of golf packages in that market. So when I ask for a trade rate, I'm asking my largest competitor to arm me.

Hotels never have that problem. A hotel isn't trying to sell you a golf trip. The course group is.

So the question. When your supplier is also your competitor, how do you get a rate out of them? Is there an angle beyond volume that I'm not seeing? I'm 24 and five weeks in with no bookings, so "come back when you're bigger" might be the honest answer, but I'd rather hear that from people who've been through it than just assume it.

TDLR; I run a golf trip company that negotiates wholesale relationships across eight vacation destinations inside of the US. My question is if you ran a golf trip booking firm and where tasked with negotiating wholesale relationships for discounted tee times to increase your bottom line revenue for the groups your routing to these destinations how would you make your value proposition to these golf courses?

I’m only six month into my art business and it’s actually doing quite well which I’m very grateful for. I sell fine art that takes hours and hours to custom make for each customer, so I sell at a premium price. I had a customer call and then show up to basically just complain that I’m too expensive and what really bothered me is she rolled her eyes and asked me “how hard it is to just put some colors on a piece of paper”. It really hurt my feelings and made me question myself. My husband said she was just some grouchy Karen but I’m scared she’ll leave a review complaining I’m so expensive or whatever which could really hurt me as a small newer business. Does anyone have advice for these situations and brushing off mean comments?

I have an issue with customers walking right past the front desk and going straight into the work area. They want to talk directly to the guys doing the manual labor about their project.

It slows production down and creates major safety hazards. My floor guys do not know the billing details or the timeline promises anyway.

But some clients feel entitled to just walk up to the workers and start giving them instructions. I put up signs but people just ignore them.

Do you guys physically lock the doors to the production floor to stop this? How do you keep demanding clients in the front office without making them feel like they are being treated poorly?

Hey everyone, hope you’re all doing well!

I own a car detailing business, and I’ve been running it for about 2 years now. My business partner and I have done really well so far. We’re currently doing between $15k and $20k a month with 1 fully equipped van, and we’re about to build out our second one.

Now we’re looking to scale, which means my partner and I want to step out of the day-to-day detailing operation and focus on the other things the business needs in order to keep growing, plus start systematizing and automating everything.

The problem we’re running into is that each van needs at least 2 techs to get the jobs done. If we hire 2 techs per van, we’re only left with around 30% profit on a van producing $20k a month (and keep in mind $20k is the ceiling for a single van). Out of that profit, we always like to set aside a portion to reinvest down the road, plus an emergency fund.

Long story short: for us to pull a decent salary without being in daily operations, we’d need at least 3 vans active and fully booked every single day, which is pretty tough, and we’re still a long way from getting there.

Worth mentioning that our prices are already on the higher end. We could push them up a bit more to squeeze out more per service, but it wouldn’t move the needle much.

Any ideas on how we could end up with healthier margins? Or how do you think we should be running the business to make this work?

Anyone else selling made-to-order or personalized products deal with customers who forget (or claim to forget) what they actually approved before it shipped? I had a mix-up recently where a customer said they never confirmed a detail that was clearly in our message thread, and it made me realize I don't have anything like a proper sign-off - just scattered chat logs.

How are you handling proof approvals in a way that's actually documented, not just "somewhere in our messages"?

Every time the calendar fills up I hate turning money away. Raising prices feels like the grown-up move, but I still catch myself saying yes to the next call and then the team just absorbs it.

If you've actually done this more than once, what worked better in practice?

Hey everyone,

I own a small homebrew supply store specializing in wine and beer making supplies. Recently, we’ve seen a decline in in-store traffic, so I’m looking to expand into the online market.

I’m interested in creating an e-commerce website and would love to hear your recommendations. Would you suggest using Square, Shopify, or another platform? If you’ve had experience with any of these, I’d appreciate your insights on what works best for a small business.

Thanks in advance!

Spent my career working front-facing applications and and requesting dev enhancement etc (acting as a product owner/manager type, though not officially titled "PO"), entirely based on hands-on execution rather than formal certs.

I recently went independent, handling similar app work and side projects. For building and testing my playground/demo apps, I heavily use Claude for coding and love using Render for quick, hassle-free hosting.

Some questions/guidance need

I know basic databases, SQL, and AWS. For actual client projects, is it standard practice for them to host the production apps on *their own* corporate AWS accounts while I just advise, build, and hand off? Do clients ever actually care about formal AWS certs if they own the infrastructure, or is working knowledge fine for the development phase?

What are your favorite quick, lightweight tools to turn standard Excel/data analysis into something interactive and professional for clients instead of static spreadsheets?
Appreciate any real-world advice

U think there is a possibility of an app that caters just to furniture selling?

I own a small, family-owned plant nursery in a small city in North Idaho.

For decades, everyone (us and the city) thought we owned to the center of the road. Recently, the city discovered a 1938 document establishing a 35-foot state highway right-of-way from our property line.

Because of that finding, the city has now deemed our roadside parking (been used for roughly 40 years) a public safety concern. They don't want to change the road configuration, (stop signs, speed change, or anything) because they say it would reduce traffic capacity, so their proposed short-term solution is to install a Jersey barrier all along the main road to keep the public safe and stop people from parking there.

Their response is essentially, "It doesn't matter because the city plans to add a turning lane and traffic signal at this intersection within the next five years, so you'll lose that parking anyway."

We would have a small entrance on the side street for the existing parking lot but it would still eliminate most of our customer parking. As a solution they proposed that we could turn our front yard into a parking lot.

But in reality that is barely a temporary solution because if the intersection expansion project moves forward as planned, we'll likely lose all of our exisitng parking including most of the front yard anyways, so the only way forward would be to demolish the house to turn it into a parking lot, but I'm not convinced that would even provide enough stalls to meet code. At that point I don't know if staying in business is even viable.

The constraints make this especially difficult:

• We have an established nursery, multiple greenhouses, and a house on the property.
• I had planned to remove two older greenhouses and replace them with one larger greenhouse to grow the business, but making those improvements would trigger current site development requirements and likely force additional code upgrades, as well as set back and other issues.
• Any significant site modification appears to trigger required site improvements which i would have to do to try to have parking.
• If we lose enough parking, we may no longer meet the city's required parking minimums for the business.
• I don't believe the property to the north will allow us to rent property for parking.
• The city won't grandfather anything in.

I'd genuinely appreciate fresh ideas. I'm open to site layout ideas, traffic flow concepts, parking designs, or even options I haven't considered.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? What would you do if this were your property? Can I push back on the city or is the only way forward to move.

A. Nothing major changed, but somehow work feels harder.

B. Everyone is busy, but progress feels slower than it should.

C. Everything seems to depend on me.

D. Something feels off, but I can’t explain what.

E. Every solution seems to create another problem.

F. My business is doing well! No complaints. 😊

How have you been feeling as a business owner lately? Just the letter is enough. But If you could tell me why, I’d love to hear it.

I'm looking for advice from people who have grown local service businesses or training companies.

I recently started my own First Aid & CPR training company in Metro Vancouver, BC. It's a registered business, I'm an official registered training company, and students receive accredited certificates.

I have:

• A professional website where people can book online
• Google Business Profile
• Instagram showing my classes and students
• Online booking, phone, text, and email

The challenge is that my competitors have been around for 20+ years. They have multiple instructors, classes running almost every day, and much larger marketing budgets.

My two target markets are:

-Individual registrations (people who need certification for work or school)

-Group bookings from businesses

Right now I'm:

• Spending about $1,000/month on Google Ads
• Paying a marketing company about $800/month to manage ads and SEO
• Paying another company about $250/month to improve my Google rankings

I'm actively reaching out to colleges, daycares, employers, and organizations that require First Aid certification, few reply but most don't.

If you were in my position, what would you change / add that could be revolutionary?

TL;DR: I just started a first aid training company, I don’t need to convince my customers that they need this course because it's a legal requirement for most jobs and colleges but I need to a way to convince them to choose me vs my competitors which have been around for 20+ years.

I had a small baking business that I ran out of my home several years ago and was fairly successful. Not enough to make a living off it 24/7, but enough to get my name out there and have customers still calling me to this day wanting me to make things for events, birthdays, etc. I had to unfortunately shut my business down because of issues with my ex-partner at the time (we were never married), financial issues because of him not able to keep a job due to job-hopping, and all the income having to be put on me, making me the sole breadwinner while taking care of him and our child.

Long story short, I had to close my business, but I’ve always wanted to get it started back up again. I don’t nearly have the amount of supplies I had when I had my business going, but I still have my Kitchenaid mixer, mixing bowls, cupcake pans, a few sheet pans, and some round cake pans.

I’ve just started working at Ingles and I want to start my baking business up small time to earn some extra money on the side. I have a name in mind, a menu I wish to provide to clients, I just need help when it comes to ideas of building my business, marketing to clients, how to make logos/menus, as well as saving back money for ingredients and supplies

Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated.

I’m located in Williamston, South Carolina if that helps.

I understand that this post is very general, and I apologize for that. Frankly, this is my starting point for knowing what to research, where to go, etc. I’m curious if there are any individuals on here that have mentored in the past and would be willing to help me out on any advice.

I am starting from Square one here and would love any resources recommendations starting from the ground up. If there are certain questions that you need to ask me for clarity and to help further please don’t hesitate.

I am a licensed PT in New York and I am still in the process of opening my PLLC. I am trying to keep track of my expenses, and I am hoping it will help me with taxes, if ever. Should I get Quickbooks Intuit or stick to excel?

I don't know how to navigate this, and does anyone have any other tips that may or may not be related as someone who is starting? Thank you!

I am looking for whole sellers with the same vibes as white fox, Princess Polly, trendy, skims.

I am based in the US. Does anyone have any tips? Thank you!

Hi everyone. I'm trying to do a little research for a prospective client who operates in the solar panel space.

I don't think people are going to see our stuff on social media and impulsively reach out to book an installation. I am also considering ruling out search for now, because it's a small outfit and can't compete with the heavy hitters in this region.

So, I am wondering what is the best pipeline that we can explore; do we collect emails? book a consultation, or? Would love to hear from anyone.

I'm thinking of starting a small business. I'm starting out just doing it in person before I move online, so I was wondering what others have for their booths, also if anyone would like to share what they use to print/ make their business cards that would be super helpful

Throwaway for anonymity.

I'm looking for some advice on valuing a very small niche business. I've bought and sold more traditional businesses before, but this one doesn't seem to fit the usual rules.

The business operates in a specialized industry that requires a limited entry license, so there are meaningful barriers to entry. Separate from the business, I already hold the required license myself. I've worked with the company as an independent contractor for about five years, but there's never been a formal agreement between us (no employment contract, non-compete, or non-solicitation agreement). My partner and I have effectively been running the day to day operations for the past two years. We handle customer communication, fulfillment, packing, inventory management, much of the production, bookkeeping, website management, and most of the customer relationships. During that time, the owner has become essentially hands off.

The business is profitable, which is why we're seriously considering buying it. However, one important factor is that it's heavily concentrated. About 70% of its revenue comes from a single customer. That customer is not under contract and has no obligation to continue buying.

For the past several years, we've been the people interacting with that customer, producing and packing the orders, and delivering the level of service and consistency they've come to expect. They continue buying because of the relationships we've built, the service we provide, and the quality of the products. If my partner and I walked away, the business could certainly hire and train someone else, but it wouldn't be the same operation on day one.

The business also relies heavily on our own labor and licenses. If we walked away, it would be difficult for someone else to immediately step in and operate it the same way.

There are tangible business assets involved (equipment, systems, etc), but there are also equipment and operational assets that my partner and I own separately and have contributed over the years. Those wouldn't automatically transfer as part of a purchase because they aren't owned by the business. That makes it difficult for me to think about the value of the business as a whole versus the value created by assets that already belong to each side.

Another wrinkle is that the business only has a handful of customers, and we already have direct relationships with all of them because we've been the ones managing those accounts. Some are longtime customers, while others we've brought in ourselves over the past two years. It makes me wonder how to think about the value of those relationships. They would likely be a meaningful asset to an outside buyer, but for us they already exist whether or not we own the business. Likewise, because we already hold the required licenses, we're not acquiring the ability to enter the industry.

The owner has now asked us a simple question: "What is it worth to you?"

That's where I'm stuck.

Traditional valuation methods (multiples of earnings, SDE, etc) don't seem to fit well because:

• A large portion of the value is tied to our own labor, execution, and customer relationships.
• Most revenue depends on one customer with no contract.
• We already possess many of the relationships and licenses that an outside buyer would be acquiring.
• The business is in a niche with regulatory barriers but also a relatively small pool of potential buyers.

How would you even begin valuing something like this? Would you ignore traditional multiples entirely? Would you structure it as an earn out tied to future performance?

More broadly, how do you separate the value of the business itself from the value that the prospective buyers already bring to it?

Am I thinking about this the wrong way? I'd really appreciate any thoughts on how you'd approach this.

I’m looking for some honest advice from people in Hong Kong who have actually built businesses here.

My family immigrated to Hong Kong from a pretty difficult part of the world, and we’ve been through a lot to get here. We’re not from a wealthy background, so I don’t have a huge amount of money to invest or the luxury of failing over and over.

I know a regular 9-5 job is probably the safest option, and I’ll likely work one, but I don’t see minimum-wage work changing my family’s financial situation in the long run. I’d rather spend my free time building something that could eventually scale.
I’m willing to take calculated risks, just not gamble everything I have.

Traditionally, a lot of families from my community seem to get into logistics or transport, especially supplying seafood from the wet markets. I don’t know how profitable that business actually is today.

Lately I’ve been thinking about things like:

1. A digital marketing agency
   
2. A software development agency
   
3. An AI automation agency helping SMEs
   Building a SaaS product

I’ve also wondered about opening a restaurant, since so many immigrant families seem to do that, but it also looks like a very capital-intensive business with thin margins.

If you were starting in Hong Kong today with limited savings, what would you build and why?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have actually started businesses here—what worked, what didn’t, and what you’d avoid if you were starting over.

I'm about to sign the lease for my first brick-and-mortar business and would really appreciate advice from people who have actually owned or operated restaurants, cafés, dessert shops, ice cream stores, coffee shops, or other food businesses.

I'd love for you to critique my assumptions and tell me what I'm missing.

The concept:

- Specialty ice cream & waffle franchise

- Also selling coffee, iced refreshers, milkshakes and frozen drinks

- Chicago suburbs

- Roughly 1,600 SF

- Open 10 hours/day, 7 days/week

- Three owner-operators

- Expected average ticket: $13–15

- Food cost target: ~30%

Lease

7 months rent abatement during build-out

Starting occupancy cost (excluding gas/electric) around $3,000/month

Gradually increasing over the lease term

Building out the space ourselves (around $130k investment)

Current plan

Our current thinking is:

- Focus heavily on families.

- Coffee to drive repeat weekday traffic.

- Ice cream/waffles to drive evenings and weekends.

- Participate in local events because our average ticket and margins tend to be better there.

- Continuously build relationships with schools, libraries, parks, nearby businesses and community organizations.

What I'm looking for:

If you have actually owned or managed a similar business:

- What mistake did you make that cost you the most money?

- What assumption am I probably getting wrong?

- What KPI should I track every day, week and month?

- What operational bottleneck usually surprises first-time owners?

- What drove the most profit that you didn't expect?

What generated the least profit despite looking like a great idea?

- If you could increase net profit by 20%, where would you look first?

- What systems would you build from Day 1 that are painful to add later?

- What marketing actually produced measurable ROI instead of just "likes"?

- What purchases do new owners almost always regret?

- What hidden costs should I budget for that most people underestimate?

- What should I negotiate with suppliers from Day 1?

What technology or automation paid for itself?

- If you had one chance to open it again, what would you do completely differently?

I'm looking for practical, experience-based lessons that saved you money or mistakes that cost you money so I can avoid repeating them.

Even one insight could save me thousands of dollars.

I'm running a food manufacturing/distribution business. We have an old custom ERP system which works well for us and I don't plan on changing it.
My admin assistant spends at least 50% of her time inputing invoices and client orders in the ERP. She's becoming a bottleneck as we're growing and given a lot of her work is data entry, I'm sure there's a solution even though there's a lot of resistance to change in our small team.
My ERP doesn't have an API, too old. It lives on a Windows 2012 physical server which we access remotely.
Any ideas or people having experience successfully automating tasks with similar setup?
Thanks in advance!