r/smallbusiness

I went to get a piercing yesterday, there were 3 people working when I went in and I was the only customer in there. I was in the store for just under an hour, my piercing total was $100 and I tipped another $50. It was the second time i’ve been to this shop and it was the same sort of deal last time.

This is a big, highly rated shop in the heart of downtown. I’d imagine rent is pretty expensive. So paying rent/utilities, plus 3 employees, insurance, and cost of jewelry…. I just don’t understand how that amount of money can keep them open

I run a local service business and out of nowhere we just got hit with a wave of one star reviews. none of the names are in our customer database and they all vaguely mention a better alternative in town which makes it super obvious it's a competitor paying for negative reviews. i flagged all of them as spam and opened a ticket with google business profile support but they just sent back an automated email saying the reviews don't violate their policies. how are local businesses supposed to survive this if google won't even enforce their own rules?

I’m in high school and was talking with some friends about how hard it is to get real experience early on.

It made me curious from the business side—whether this is something owners would even consider, or if it’s just more trouble than it’s worth.

If you’ve run a small business before, I’d be really interested in your take:

• What would make you feel comfortable hiring someone that young (if anything)?
• What would be an immediate red flag or turn-off?
• Are there any types of small tasks you would trust them with?

I'd love to understand how some people actually think about this!

I’ve been in business for 11 years, we are in the service industry and also sales. We earn roughly 1.5mm/year. This year things have slowed considerably with the interest rates and new home sales in our area. We have been at a snails pace since last oct. I’ve let several employees go. I’m down to 14k and anything below 50k I’m nervous. 14k will get me through next week. Went to talk to my bank about a line of credit. That’s a negative with the heavy paperwork and fact that we showed a heavy loss last year.

I sold my building, bought out my partner. Paid him back. I’m in a new space, sales are slowly taking off, I need three months to hammer my way back on track, but the next month of incoming cash flow won’t cut it.

I’ve never needed a LOC I’ve always relied on cash. Where can I take an emergency LOC without a killer interest rate. With 50k I can turn it around. But will need cash to pay the loan payments for the next 90 days. So realistically 75k. I have great credit. Been in business for 11 years, showed a loss last year for the first time.

I've been going down a rabbit hole researching small business permits and decided to do a deep dive on what it actually takes to legally operate a food truck in Los Angeles.

Turns out you need around 10 different permits/licenses across city, county, and state level. Some stuff I didn't expect at all:

You need a signed commissary agreement before the county will even look at your health permit application

Fire department clearance is separate from the health permit — and your hood suppression system needs to be inspected and tagged within the last 6 months

The county health permit alone can take 3-6 weeks and costs $700-$1,100 depending on your truck setup

You need commercial vehicle plates from the DMV, not regular registration

The BTRC (city business tax) is based on gross receipts, not a flat fee

I put together a full breakdown with every permit, the issuing authority, estimated costs, timelines, and direct links to every application. Happy to share if anyone's interested.

Has anyone else gone through this process? Curious what permits surprised you or what I might be missing.

i've been in web dev for 10+ years and the range is insane. i've seen people drop $500 on a wix site that looks like it was made in 2012, and i've seen people pay $15k to an agency for basically the same thing with a nicer font.

had a client last month who came to me after paying an agency $8k for a wordpress site that scored a 23 on google pagespeed. twenty three. my guy could've gotten better results from a free template.

on the flip side i know business owners running $200/yr squarespace sites that are crushing it because the content is solid and they actually put effort into their google business profile.

price ≠ quality in this space. it really doesn't.

so what was your experience? what did you pay, what did you get, and would you do it again?

I’m trying to start a small service-based business (digital marketing / social media support for local businesses), but I feel stuck at the very beginning.

I have a general idea of what I want to offer and who I want to work with, but I’ve never built anything like this before, and I’m not sure what the first practical step should be.

Right now I’m debating between a few options:

• Trying to get my first client manually before setting anything up
• Building some kind of basic offer/package first
• Setting up the legal side (registration, etc.) early
• Or spending time learning tools/skills before approaching anyone

For those of you who started a service business from scratch:

• What did you actually do first that made things “real”?
• Did you get a client before everything was properly set up, or after?
• Looking back, what would you not waste time on in the beginning?

I’m not trying to overthink it, just don’t want to spend months doing the wrong things.

Appreciate any real-world advice.

Do you still rent restaurant space and prepare your catering orders? What is the strategy? What do you charge?

I still think a restaurant is best for these types of operations.

Hey everyone. I’m 15 years old, and I've spent the last few months taking my financial future seriously. Through grinding it out, I’ve managed to build a consistent $1,000 to $2,000 a month in actual profit running an online operation. (I'm keeping the exact niche private to protect my moat from copycats, but I assure you it's completely above-board and involves providing a digital service/product).

I’m proud of the start, but I’m smart enough to know what I don't know. Right now, I'm just stockpiling the cash in a savings account. I know the grind that got me to $2k a month won't be the same strategy that gets me to $10k a month, and I want to avoid building bad business habits early.

For the veterans here who have actually built real wealth and scaled real businesses: If you were 15 again, making a couple grand a month with zero living expenses, what is your exact next move?

Option 1: Do I aggressively reinvest 100% of this cash back into the business to scale it?

Option 2: Do I start dumping it into index funds to let compound interest do the heavy lifting?

Option 3: Or do I spend it on acquiring a higher-leverage skill?

Option 4: Or is there a secret fourth option I am completely missing?

I have zero interest in buying anyone's course, and I am not looking for shortcuts. I would just deeply appreciate any harsh truths or guidance from the operators who are already miles down the road. Thank you for your time.

I don't know if my products are worth buying or not because its been more than a year I only had one sale but but but right now I am having 17 favorites 6 shop followers 13 abandoned carts..

am I missing something?🤔

callistudio607

I’ve noticed that businesses will happily pay $5,000 to fix a problem that’s currently burning their house down, but they won't pay $500 to prevent the fire in the first place.

Hello, I’m from Australia and look to get into power washing starting with bin cleaning and working my way up to driveways when the clientele is there and hopefully expanding into a full fledged cleaning business. Now obviously it won’t happen overnight but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on steps to take, there experience getting into making your own business and all that kind of stuff. Literally any info Is appreciated I’m still learning, planning on taking a business course in the near future also

Where do you begin?

Hey everyone,

I feel like these days everyone is trying to find a second income and following advice like, “just start your own business.” That’s fine, but the majority of people are doing it the wrong way, so they spend time building something that solves problems without knowing if people really struggle with them, and end up spending more money than they actually earn.

I want to ask: Is there a lot of good content about how to properly test a business idea, do market comparison, build an MVP, or market a product? For people who don’t have many resources and want to start a small business while working a regular job.

From my point of view, there is a lot of information out there, but many books and business content don’t feel very relevant to the world we live in now.

Do you think there is still space for blogs or newsletters focused on this kind of real, practical content? Or am I just looking in the wrong places, and there is already plenty of good material like this?

If you have any recommendations for blogs, newsletters, books, or anything that shows the real process, that would be awesome.

If not, what do you think is missing? What should a blog or newsletter like this focus on?

Thank you.

I'm specifically looking for a broker I can work with on professional liability (E&O) and Cyber policies.

Anyone here have brokers that helped them figure out the coverage needed can not needed for their small business?

I am looking for some guidance from people who’ve dealt with high-risk platforms.

I’m currently working on an early stage startup (not yet launched) that’s a subscription based platform. It’s not a traditional adult site, so no creator payouts, no tipping, or marketplace features. Without giving away too much for obvious reasons, it’s a 2257-exempt platform.

A lot of the content will be NSFW and revenue will heavily rely on subscriptions (no selling content etc.). So I understand this still falls into a “high-risk” category from a banking/payment perspective.

My current plan is to use a payment processor like CCBill or Segpay for subscriptions, and a Wise business account as the company’s main bank account.

Flow would look like: Users → CCBill or Segpay Processor → Wise → LLC → Owner Salary

What I’m trying to figure out is which banks are more tolerant of this type of setup long-term? Has anyone successfully used Wise as their primary account for something similar? Is it realistic to maintain something like Chase just for downstream transfers, or is that risky? Any general advice on not getting accounts shut down once volume increases?

Not trying to do anything shady, just want to build this properly from the start and avoid getting blindsided later.

I have a solid history in supply chain and operations, particularly in management and analytics, and a software product that solves a specific operational problem for a niche segment of the manufacturing industry. The product is validated and in use, but the addressable market is small and every prospect is genuinely valuable.

I'm looking for someone who has sold products or services directly to manufacturing operators, particularly smaller to mid-sized operations. Someone who understands how decisions get made in that environment, and has a track record in either selling or consulting to manufacturers.

Open to an advisory arrangement, a commission-based partnership, or a combination of both depending on the fit.

Based in Melbourne, Australia but happy to work with anyone remotely.

I’m close to moving out and my partner suggested I should start selling my bakes from home. I’m struggling to agree if it’s a good idea because 1- the kitchen is open plan and I’m bringing my cat with me so I’m aware that once he gone through rating processes ect it’ll lower my score because of that and 2- I’m also very aware how saturated it is with at home bakers/honesty sheds.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas or advice to see if it’s worth pursuing

I’ve tried setting up “proper systems” for work a few times.

Task managers, shared folders, communication tools, notes…

It works for a bit, but after a while it starts feeling like too many moving parts.

Things still get missed, and the system itself becomes something you have to manage.

Trying to find that balance between being organized and not overcomplicating everything.