r/smallbusiness

23F and at a bit of a crossroads career-wise.

I’ve done the corporate 9–5 thing before, but I’m currently in a flexible role where I can mostly choose my own hours. It’s good for now, but I don’t see myself doing it long term.

I’ve managed to save around $10k and I’ve got a business idea I could realistically start from home. I’m seriously considering backing myself and giving it a crack.

For anyone who’s started a business young — or pivoted careers in their 20s — what do you wish you knew before starting? Biggest mistakes to avoid? Best things you did early on?

I've been stuck in this loop for months now. Have a decent idea for a SaaS product that could solve a real problem I see at work, but between my 9-5 and basically zero savings to invest, I can't figure out how to actually get it off the ground.

I've watched all the YouTube videos about bootstrapping and lean startups, but most advice assumes you either have some capital to start with or can dedicate significant time to building/marketing. The reality is I get maybe 2-3 hours on weekends and I'm not a developer so even basic MVP development feels impossible.

Anyone here actually made it work starting from absolutely nothing? Like what was your very first step when you had no money, limited time, and needed to keep your day job?

I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at US‑based e‑commerce for a while now, but I’m honestly really unsure if I’m jumping into something way too crowded.

I don’t have a huge marketing budget or connections or anything like that—just a small‑time idea I want to test out. Everywhere I look online is conflicting. Some people say it’s impossible to compete with Amazon, big brands, all the cheap overseas resellers flooding every niche. Others say if you pick a tight niche and focus on quality, you can still carve out something steady.

I’m not here to pitch anything or promote an idea, just genuinely curious from folks already doing this:
Is it really as oversaturated as it feels? Do you struggle non‑stop with price competition? Is getting consistent, reliable sales way harder than it sounds for regular small‑time owners without big backing?

Just looking for real unfiltered takes, not the generic “hustle harder” stuff you see everywhere.

So I am a software engineer both by degree and profession . But lately I was interested in I wanna do my own IB , and M&A . But I have 0 network , and neither degree . how does someone start their own agency and make it successful ?

Hi everyone, I’m currently working a job in Hyderabad, but I want to start a small business as a side income and later grow it into a full-time business. I want something practical and profitable in Hyderabad, but I’m confused about which business is best. I’m ready to work hard after my job hours, but I need a business idea that has good demand and steady income.

I work in digital marketing and have experience with Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Shop, and overall online marketing. Right now I’m doing a job, but I want to start a small business on the side and grow it slowly over time.

I don’t want a “get rich quick” idea. I want something practical that can start with a small budget and has long-term potential. Since I already know marketing and ads, I’d like to use those skills for my own business instead of only helping others grow.

I’ve learned a lot from working with different brands and creators, but choosing the right business for myself feels confusing.

So I wanted to ask:

If you already had digital marketing skills, what business would you start today?

Which online businesses still have good potential in 2026?

Any advice or mistakes to avoid in the beginning?

Would love to hear real experiences and suggestions from people who started small while working a full-time job.

I operate a sizeable landscape construction business (no routine maintenance) in a very affluent part of California. I was recently approached by a company asking whether I’d be interested in selling the business.

They’re claiming the company could be worth 8x–12x net income after add-backs, which honestly seems extremely high to me. I’d happily sell at 4x net, so hearing numbers that high makes me skeptical.

Their explanation is that, because of the rise of artificial intelligence , blue-collar service businesses are currently trading at premium valuations since they’re seen as more insulated from jobs being taken by computers . Is there any truth to this? Has anyone here seen valuations in that range for landscape construction or similar trades?

They haven’t asked for any money upfront and say they only make money if the business sells, aside from a small fee for a full valuation report if I choose to move forward.

The company is called NowExit. Does anyone have experience with them, or advice on how to properly vet a company like this beyond just doing a basic Google search?

Around when we hit 18 people, we lost a client we thought was solid. They'd been with us two years. Renewal conversation was scheduled. Then a week before the call, they emailed saying they'd been having conversations with another vendor for three months and were moving the engagement.

The work was good. They told us as much in the offboarding call. The actual reason was that we'd been doing a thing they couldn't see for a thing they did see.

What we couldn't see: their internal contact had taken on a new manager who started asking "what is this vendor actually delivering for us." We never knew that conversation was happening because nothing on our side prompted it to come up.

What they saw: long stretches between visible artifacts. We were heads-down working, but from their angle they couldn't distinguish "working" from "stopped working." Three to four weeks of silence between deliverables, repeated across months, started to look like indifference. The other vendor showed up with weekly check-ins and a roadmap document and "looked engaged" in a way we didn't.

The mistake wasn't quality. The mistake was thinking that good work speaks for itself. It does, but only to people who can see the work. Internal contacts are not the only people who matter. Their managers, their new managers, their finance team, the random VP who asks "what are we paying these people for" all matter, and they only see what your client tells them about you.

What we changed. Weekly status note to the main contact, two sentences, what we did and what's next. Quarterly recorded video to the contact's manager, 5 to 10 minutes, here is what your team is getting from us. Monthly invoice has a one-line summary of the work it's billing for, in language someone non-technical could read.

None of that is brilliant. None of it changed the work. It changed the conversations the client was having when we weren't in the room.

Three years later we have only lost one more client to the silence problem (different kind of silence, different fix). For small business owners running client work, the question is not "am I doing good work" but "can the people who decide whether we keep getting hired see the work without asking us."

What did your version of this look like? Did you find the cadence before or after you lost someone?

Hi everyone,

​I’m a software engineer working at a startup in Sri Lanka, and I need some business/marketing advice for a side project I’ve been working on.

​The Background

Back in 2019 during my university days, I started a history blog on Blogger, bought a domain, and got it approved for Google AdSense. I tried getting traffic, but it failed. A few years later, I rebuilt it using WordPress, but still had no success. My main struggles were a lack of initial investment and content creation—even though I love the history niche, writing proper articles myself is hard for me.

​Despite that, I managed to build a Facebook page with 1.4k followers, a group, and a YouTube channel with over 700 subscribers. However, I haven't posted lately, so these channels are currently inactive.

​The New Idea

Over the last 2–3 months, I decided to try again, but with a completely new approach. I changed the structure from a standard blog into a community publication platform.

​Here is how I want it to work:

​Crowdsourced Content: Anyone interested in history can upload an article.

​Public Voting: The community votes on submissions to approve and publish them, ensuring the content is accurate and high-quality.

​Knowledge Graphs (The Unique Feature): When someone writes about a historical event, person, or artifact, they can link it to other articles. Users can then visually analyze the connections between different historical events.

​Most history sites out there are just standard blogs. They don't have this interactive, visual analysis part, so I really believe this system has potential.

​Current Status

​The frontend and the visual connection graph parts are fully done, and the system is live.

​AdSense is connected and showing ads.

​To populate the site initially, I connected free LLM models to automatically generate and publish history articles with connections. It has generated over 130 articles so far.

​What's missing: I still need to implement the user login, content uploading, and public voting features.

​My Problem & Where I Need Advice

Right now, I am getting 0 traffic.

​I want to invest my time to build the missing features (login, voting, user uploads) so real people can start creating content. But before I spend hours coding, I want to make sure this isn't going to be a waste of time.

​I have no budget for paid marketing or promotions. Also, English is my second language, so content marketing is a bit tough for me.

​This is my honest situation. How can I get people to visit the site and actually start contributing content without spending money? Does this idea sound viable as a business, or should I change my approach?

​I can share the link if anyone wants to check out the current live graph feature. Thank you so much for your advice!

It's late af. might just be venting might just be stressed out from tryna do my first business might just throw it all down the drain idk

Just deep thinking. Quick background. Im an army veteran. Im a barber now. 26 years old. Been working on this instagram all year somewhat consistently. don't really know if it's worth caring about anymore. Few days ago i got my LLC, EIN, sales tax registration etc done, all of it. Have my website up, ready, about to make an order next month to start hopefully selling.

I've been trying to build a "hustle, self made" community. I don't know if I'm even doing this right. feel like i've wasted a lot of time and effort and $ on this at this point. idk if i'll even get sales, not sure if this brand is worth the effort i've put in this year.

My professional dashboard says 322k+ views in last 30'days , but let's be honest. a motivational quote page on instagram isn't really gonna do much for sales. i planned to slowly transition it into a clothing brand and everything but i just don't know anymore. feel like im better off focusing on my barber stuff and potentially a barber school down the road instead of this. like maybe just pick one field instead of tryna do this brand at the same time. it's got 14k+ followers now but i mean that's just for quotes lol.

if you're interested in checking it out, or got experience with all this, feel free to leave your honest opinion on everything. the IG is @husclerz and you can check the store out from the link there.

edit:

originally i got inspired by seeing other instagrams like mentality, fearnot, etc. seeing as they was growing from motivational content and forming communities and selling apparel on side until eventually they became an apparel brand. i thought my background and my personal views on stuff could help me create my own version of an instagram motivational page turned brand. don't know anymore. feel like its so many other brands doing this that what im doing is just pointless now. almost completely dissolved my llc and deleted everything like 30min ago.

I had to purchase a $5000 item for our business from another small business. I also purchased a $400 add on item. I received the $5000 item but didn’t receive the $400 item. I emailed the company and told them I didn’t receive the $400 item and they replied saying they would ship it out the next day. It has now been almost a month and I haven’t received it. I have sent multiple emails asking for an update and they will not respond.

I received a proper invoice with both items on it and paid via credit card. What are my next steps to escalate this?

I joined a family business as the successor. The employees do not get along. One employee needs to have control of the environment, another employee has a bad attitude issue impulse control issues with comments and doesn’t get along with people. Another employee is so sensitive that now every little thing is bothering them. It’s building up. I cannot fire anyone. They are family members but they just cannot get along. They all have a problem with each other in different ways. How do you deal with this? Help.

Trying to understand how dependent independent restaurants actually are on DoorDash in 2026. Not a survey, no link, no signup — just curious what real operators are seeing.

If you run a small business/restuarant:

• What % of your total revenue runs through DoorDash right now?
• Was that number higher, lower, or about the same 12 months ago?
• At what % would you say you're "locked in" vs. could walk away tomorrow?
• What commission tier are you on (15 / 25 / 30%)?

Restaurant/retail names and city welcome! Feel free to message me - honestly just curious how concentrated this dependency has gotten across the industry and if it has affected small businesses.

Hey all,
Due to the current state of the world and rising cost of living, I have ultimately been forced to follow my dreams. My idea is to create a compact, sealed, scented cloth that, when opened, can be dabbed on to your body as an alternative to traditional cologne/perfume. The advantage is that it can be stored easily behind your phone case or in your wallet for an easy scent top up wherever you happen to be. I am posting this to gauge interest before I bring my vision to life. Would this be a viable business to work towards? Any feedback or criticism would be much appreciated.
NOTE: I am not trying to sell anything, just looking for advice, if this is not allowed please remove.
Thanks :D

Been offered a 1/3 stake in a company I'd build from scratch and run solo. Fair deal?

I work in IT (€2,800/month net) and have been doing electrical installations on the side, slowly building clients and experience. I have €50k saved and could start the company myself.

Two close friends (brothers) who run a successful construction company (~50 employees) approached me to open an electrical/MEP company together. Structure: 1/3 each, so they hold 2/3 combined. I run everything operationally, they provide admin support (finance, HR) through their existing company via interest-free loans.

My issues:

- They're two people who will always vote as a block and I'm permanently outvoted

- Their financial risk is minimal, mine is significant

- Without me, the company literally cannot exist (license, expertise, operations)

- I could open this myself with my own savings

I want them as partners, we're close and I want to work alongside their construction projects long term. But I'm thinking of countering with 65% me / 35% them, or alternatively just opening solo and signing a long-term subcontracting agreement with their firm.

Questions:

- Is 65/35 reasonable here?

- Solo + subcontracting agreement vs. partnership, which is smarter long term?

- What red flags should I watch for if I do sign a partnership agreement?

Thanks

Considering buying a small children indoor playspace. It’s been in business for 7 months, profitable about 4 out of 7 months so far.

Selling price is 85k, broken up:
55k assets
9k brand goodwill and community equity
20k of personal loan from owner

Of course we don’t want to pay for the personal loan, so we plan on offering somewhere like 60-65k.

I’ve identified theres a lot of potential in the business to grow revenue more. But even in current state, its profitable already which is promising.

Owner selling due to burnout and not really good at the “business” side of it.

Is this a good buy?

I run an e-commerce business and am long overdue for a steady-use business card. By steady-use I mean one that I always have and never close. I'm already planning to get a couple others to rotate through for their specific categories like the American Express Business Gold for their 4x categories and the Chase Ink Business Preferred for their 3x on ad spend, but I haven't decided on one main daily use card yet. Any tips appreciated!

Anyone with a coffee truck, how much estimated do you make monthly?

Do these coffee trailers pay off? is it worth it? I’m laid off and new to the business world and wanting to kick start something and came across this.

Thinking of starting a traveling tom truck type of business.. the investment alone is around $172K plus 15K franchise fee plus operating expenses like gas, insurance, materials, coffee etc plus 3k T royalty fee to be paid to franchise company every year.

You can only service the area you are assigned by the company and work weekends or evenings mostly for events, games, fests etc.

It’sa lot of upfront costs and not sure if this will pay off.. Any guidance would be helpful!

edit: thank you everyone for responding.. super helpful 🙏

What’s actually bringing you the most customers right now?

Ads, TikTok, influencers, organic content, retail, word of mouth, etc?
Feels like it’s different for every brand lately.

I’m looking to help 10 D2C brands improve their Meta ad performance.

Not with generic “pretty” creatives.

With data-backed ad angles, hooks, statics, and video concepts focused on ROAS.

I’ve already worked with 2 D2C brands — one doing around ₹80 Cr revenue and one smaller growing brand — and helped improve their ad performance through better creative strategy.

What I’ll help with:

- 15 static ad creatives

- 2 video ad scripts/concepts

- Hook and angle testing

- Competitor + review-based insights

- Creative ideas focused on ROAS/CPA, not just aesthetics

A bit about me:

I’ve studied business at IIT Delhi, worked around Fortune 500-scale problems, and have experience across product, GTM, dashboards, research, and execution.

Best fit:

D2C brands already running ads but struggling with creative fatigue, poor ROAS, or unclear messaging.

If interested, comment and reach to me with your brand, category, current ROAS/CPA, and what problem you’re facing.

I’ll pick 10 brands where I feel I can genuinely help.