u/Vane1st

One thing I have noticed with newer startup founders is that everyone focuses heavily on product, funding and marketing but not enough people talk about relationship building.

A friend of mine recently launched a small startup and was telling me how sending simple festive gifts through Gift Baskets Overseas to early business partners and long term supporters actually helped keep conversations warm and more personal.

Not in a corporate networking way just genuine appreciation.

It made me realize that a lot of early stage businesses grow because people like working with the founder not just because the product exists.

Weirdly enough, small gestures like this seem to stand out among colleagues even more now than before.

Something I have been noticing lately is that more experienced entrepreneurs tend to focus more on client retention and relationships not just getting new customers.

When you are starting out as a new entrepreneur, most of your attention goes into sales and growth. But over time you realize small  actions can keep clients around much longer than expected.

I have seen founders send handwritten notes, holiday packages, thank you gifts or even simple check in messages to clients they have worked with for years. It sounds small but those things build trust in a way many people don't really realize.

I was ordering some gifts from gift baskets overseas for my business partners for the upcoming holiday and it reminded me how much gifting has become compared to a few years back and how it has helped business move forward in terms of relationship building.

We’ve had a few inbound leads recently mention AI tools instead of Google search, which honestly surprised me.

Made me curious whether this is becoming an actual channel now or if it’s still too early to matter.

I’ve been seeing more conversations around AI visibility and services like ShowUpWithAI, but I still can’t tell whether this is really different from strong SEO/local SEO or just a new layer on top of it.

How are other agencies looking at this?

Genuinely embarrassed it took me this long to actually rotate my ad formats. Been running basically the same problem/solution video structure for months, just tweaking copy and thinking that was enough. CPCs kept creeping up and ROAS was flattening and I couldn't work out what was happening.

Spent some time last month studying what formats were actually converting for other people and realised I'd been sleeping on a few things. UGC-style content especially always thought it looked too rough but cold audiences respond to it better than anything polished I've tested. Something about it just feels more real to people mid-scroll.

Also been testing leading with a customer quote in the first two seconds instead of burying social proof at the end. Night and day difference on retargeting campaigns.

Did a lot of reading around different creative approaches this breakdown  was one of the more useful things I went through and it made me realise I'd just been lazy with creative variety for way too long.

CPCs are down and ROAS is trending back up so something is working. What formats are people here actually seeing results with right now? Feels like Meta keeps shifting what it rewards.

I feel like a lot of smartwatch discussions focus on advanced features, health metrics and optimization, but honestly the apps I end up using most are usually the ones that are quick and effortless.

Recently I tried the Phigolf app on my Apple Watch after hearing about it somewhere and what stood out most wasn’t even the golf part. It was how simple the setup experience was.

Installed the app on the watch, synced it with my phone and started using it within minutes without dealing with endless permissions or account setup nonsense.

I think that’s when the Apple Watch ecosystem works best. Tiny moments of convenience that make you actually want to keep using something.

Half the apps I download end up feeling too complicated for a watch and get deleted immediately.

Curious what apps people here ended up keeping long term because they were genuinely simple and enjoyable to use.

Hi all,

I run a landscape and lawn care outfit out of Charlotte. 12 guys on crews this year, mostly residential with some small commercial. Mix of install and maintenance.

Started logging "how did you hear about us" with every new estimate request back in March, mostly because I was tired of guessing which marketing dollars were actually pulling weight.

8 months in, the breakdown for new clients looks like this:

* Google search 41%

* Existing client referral 23%

* ChatGPT / Gemini / "AI told me about you" 17%

* Facebook 8%

* Angi 6%

* Yelp 3%

* Other (truck signs, signs at jobs, etc) 2%

The AI bucket is what surprised me. Last summer that was zero. Now it's our #3 source and bigger than every paid platform combined. Of those AI calls, maybe 70% are ChatGPT, 20% Gemini, the rest mostly Copilot or "I asked Siri/Alexa for landscapers near me."

So obviously I wanted to figure out what was driving it and whether I could grow it on purpose. Here's what I did over the last 6 months that I'm fairly sure moved the needle:

1. Claimed our Bing Places listing. We'd literally never touched it. 30 minutes of work.

2. Made our Google Business Profile actually match our website services, hours, photos, the whole thing. They had drifted apart over the years.

3. Got 14 new Google reviews by texting recent good-fit customers. About half responded.

4. Wrote plain answers to the 10 questions customers actually ask before booking pricing range, smallest job we'll take, what's included in monthly maintenance, etc and stuck them on the site as a FAQ page.

5. Subscribed to ShowUpWithAI in early June. They specifically optimize for getting your business surfaced when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, etc for local recommendations. Month-to-month, no contract, so figured it was worth testing for a few months.

6. Started actually answering landscaping questions on r/Charlotte and a couple of local Facebook groups when they came up. Not promotion, just real answers.

Can't tell you which thing moved which AI tool. Probably all of it together. But the jump from 0 to 17% over 6 months is enough that I'm not turning anything off.

One thing I haven't figured out yet tracking AI referrals more precisely than just "what the customer remembers when I ask." Anyone running a system for that? UTM parameters obviously don't work since the LLMs strip them.

I feel like most people still mainly use their watches for notifications, health tracking and maybe Google Maps, but I’ve been surprised by some of the newer interactive apps recently.

I tried the Phigolf app on my Pixel Watch after seeing someone mention it in a golf thread and I honestly expected it to be one of those apps you open once and forget about. Ended up using it multiple times during the week.

The setup process was ridiculously simple too. Install app on watch, connect to phone and start swinging around immediately. No complicated setup screens or weird syncing problems which is honestly rare with some smartwatch apps.

What I liked most was that it felt casual and accessible instead of overly serious.

Made me realize Wear OS is finally getting to the point where the app ecosystem feels genuinely useful beyond just notifications and step counting.

Anyone else found unexpected apps they actually stuck with?

I recently picked up the Phigolf2 Flex and I’m liking it more than I expected. I mainly got it as a fun way to swing at home, but I noticed it has smartwatch support and now I’m kind of hooked. I’m on Apple Watch, but I saw it works with Android watches too.

Setup was honestly easier than most golf apps I’ve tried. Downloaded the Phigolf app on the watch, connected it to my phone, and I was swinging within a couple minutes. No weird pairing issues, no endless menus.

I know this subreddit is mostly about physical gear, but I’m starting to treat this like a legit part of my practice routine. It’s not replacing real golf obviously, but it’s a pretty fun add-on.

Anyone else using phigolf regularly?

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I was comparing different crypto-to-fiat options recently and noticed there are now a lot of smaller platforms focused mainly on crypto-to-cash transactions rather than full trading features.

For example, sites like coin2cash.io seem to focus more on direct crypto exchange and payouts instead of the usual exchange setup with charts, futures, staking, etc.

Do you guys actually use services like that, or do you still stick with larger exchanges for withdrawals and conversions?

Main thing I wonder about is what people value most now when cashing out crypto:

lower fees

faster payouts

privacy/KYC process

supported countries

trust/reputation

customer support

Feels like this part of crypto infrastructure doesn’t get talked about much unless someone has a bad experience.

Curious what platforms people here trust the most for converting crypto into actual cash and why.

I usually avoid ordering clothes online because the fit and material don’t always turn out how I expect. A lot of times the pictures look better than the actual product, so I normally just buy in person instead.

I've seen a lot of posts about personalized customization on kxkshop. So I tried it out.One has a “Good Little Stitch” design with a softer tropical theme, while the other has a funny gym-style “Big Crazy Stitch” design. Since they were custom-made, I honestly wasn’t sure how they would turn out, but they looked pretty close to the photos when they arrived.

The material felt decent overall and both were comfortable. The fit worked well for me, although the other one looked a little oversized on my girlfriend since she has a smaller frame. For people who wear custom baseball jerseys often, do they usually loosen up more after a few wears or mostly stay the same?

I honestly thought putting together homeschool transcripts would be one of the easier parts of homeschooling, but the deeper I get into it, the more complicated it feels.

The grades themselves are manageable, but trying to turn years of learning into something that looks academic enough for colleges is what’s stressing me out. Especially the course description's part.

It’s weird because in real life our classes make perfect sense, projects, documentaries, reading, labs, discussions, online resources, but when I sit down to describe them formally, suddenly everything sounds either too simple or too messy.

I’ve spent more time rewriting course descriptions than actually organizing the transcript itself. Then there’s formatting, GPA stuff, and trying to make everything look professional without overthinking every sentence.

How are other homeschool parents handling this?

Are you writing descriptions completely from scratch or using some kind of structure/template?

I feel like this process is way more overwhelming than people talk about.

I have been reselling for a while and one thing I keep going back and forth on is how much attention to give shipping.

At first I just included it in pricing and did not think too much about it. Over time, I started noticing that small differences per shipment actually add up once you are moving items consistently.

I started checking rates more often instead of defaulting to one carrier, and it has been a bit more efficient overall. It also helped simplify things once I got used to the process.

I have been using Rollo Ship alongside that recently, mostly to compare options without switching between different tools. Still early, but it seems to fit into the workflow so far.

How are you handling it on your end? Do you optimize shipping or just treat it as a fixed cost?

I’ve been stuck on a statistics assignment for the past couple of days and it’s honestly been more stressful than I expected. I went back through my notes, rewatched lectures, and even tried a few YouTube explanations, but some of the problem solving steps just aren’t clicking for me.

At one point I got curious about how people deal with this and ended up coming across stuff like TakeMyExamForme while just browsing. I didn’t go into it expecting much, but it made me think more about how people approach getting help when they’re stuck.

For me, I don’t really want to skip learning the material, I just want it explained in a way that actually makes sense. Sitting confused for hours hasn’t really helped either.

Do you usually just push through, ask someone you know, or look for other ways to understand things when you’re completely stuck?

I have been looking more into how accessibility shows up in smaller retail environments not large venues but compact, high traffic spaces like kiosks, food counters and mall stores.

Most discussions around accessibility tend to focus on big infrastructure like airports, campuses, hospitals but smaller spaces seem to be overlooked even though they rely heavily on quick, intuitive customer flow.

From a user experience standpoint, these environments can create subtle friction especially for customers who rely less on visual cues. Things like locating the counter, understanding where to order or even orienting within a tight layout are usually assumed to be obvious but that assumption doesn’t hold for everyone.

What’s interesting is how some businesses are starting to approach this differently by layering audio or non visual guidance into the physical experience. Instead of redesigning the entire space, they are augmenting it.

In one case I came across, a compact retail setup integrated audio based navigation cues that guide customers step by step. The goal wasn’t just compliance but reducing hesitation and increasing independence during the interaction.

One example I came across was from right-hear com/from-counter-to-community-auntie-annes-steps-up-accessibility-innovation. where audio-based wayfinding was tested in a compact food retail environment, and it reframed how I think about accessibility in small spaces.

I’ve been looking more closely at LinkedIn as a primary channel for financial services (advisors, insurance, wealth managers, etc.), and honestly… it feels way harder than it should be.

On paper, it makes sense:
– highly targeted audience
– built-in trust layer (profiles, mutuals, content)
– direct access to decision-makers

But in practice, what I’m seeing is:

– super low reply rates on cold connects
– generic messaging that gets ignored
– inconsistent results across campaigns
– compliance constraints slowing everything down

And the biggest issue: it’s hard to build something predictable.
One month works, next month it drops off for no clear reason.

Most teams I’ve talked to are either:
A) doing everything manually (and it doesn’t scale)
B) using basic automation and getting mediocre results
C) outsourcing it and hoping for the best

I feel like the missing piece isn’t just “better copy” or “more volume” , it's having an actual system behind it (targeting, timing, sequencing, follow-ups, data feedback, etc.).

Curious how people here are approaching this:

– Are you treating LinkedIn like a real outbound channel or just a support channel?
– What’s actually working right now in terms of messaging or structure?
– Has anyone figured out how to make results consistent, not just occasional wins?

Especially interested in hearing from anyone working specifically with financial services feels like a completely different game compared to SaaS or general B2B.

This might sound a bit weird, but I ran a small experiment last week.

I completely stopped doing any kind of “forced outreach” no cold messages, no random pitching, no trying to push conversations.

Instead, I only did this:

• responded to people already talking about a problem
• engaged with posts before reaching out
• waited for the right moment instead of acting instantly
• focused on context instead of volume

At first it felt incredibly unproductive.

Like… I wasn’t “doing enough.”
No big numbers, no visible output, nothing to track.

But after a few days, something clicked.

The conversations I did have were:

• way more natural
• way easier to continue
• and actually led somewhere

It made me realize I’ve been treating outreach like a numbers game, when it might actually be more of a timing + context problem.

Still figuring this out, but it changed how I think about “productive work” vs just “busy work.”

Curious if anyone else has experienced something similar?

• Have you ever slowed something down and gotten better results?
• Do you track this kind of “invisible productivity” at all?
• Or do you still rely on volume-based systems?

A few people asked how I’m actually tracking this kind of “timing/context” I’ve been experimenting with Hummingbird Growth & Automation. It’s less about blasting actions and more about picking up intent signals and acting at the right moment. Still early, but it fits this slower approach really well.