I filed for my llc and ein. Got my first business credit card and account approved. Now I have this pit in my stomach and I’m so scared I’m making a bad decision. I’m starting a logistics/freight company and it’s going to be a huge risk and I’m scared to continue. Oof.
So for context, I am still a student and I have about 4-5 years before I can start a business. I don't have any business ideas yet. My question is - What should I learn to prepare myself for starting a business later in my life?
Is it-
Web Dev? I am quite skeptical about this as I've heard people saying that learning it is not worth it anymore
Digital marketing?
Content creation?
I honestly don't know what I should learn. If you were to start again, what do you wish that you had known earlier?
Thanks.
i just want to know im not alone. i dont want to quit. i doubt myself almost every day now. i have side income and i fully paid off house but still doesnt mean i worry
I am gearing up to start another business but am very concerned about tracking the performance and financial data - it seems like there is so much room for error that can run your business into the ground if not done well or efficiently or focusing on the wrong metrics..
How do you personally keep track of everything across 2+ businesses and what tools have you found useful?
Thanks for your help!
Hi y'all I'm only 15 years old and I've recently gotten into this whole digital products stuff so like i felt like it was smth i could do like my parents are kinda like supportive like they often talk about how children should learn skills or smth and make some money im about to start college or highschool as u say it and i have like 3 months free with absolutely nothing i could do. I basically had decided to make like digital stationary stuff like washi tapes, sticky notes, that type of stuff yk and i have even made my washi tapes but the more i look at them the worse they look I've even started advertising on Pinterest and insta and i have around 80 followers and 300 monthly views on Instagram while i have 400 views on Pinterest with 79 engagements but only 1 click to my link although my shop is not open yet, the link leads to my insta. I've also looked up washi tapes on etsy and that rlly demotivated me cuz i thought that theirs look a HEEELLL lot better than mine and Luke their ads and all were kind of very complex aswell so like along with dealing with constant demotivation and comparison which makes me think that not a single person will ever bother buying my washi tapes, my little sister she also makes fun of me and like yk whenever i tell her that I'll do this in summer break she ends up laughing and says let it go no one's gonna buy your lame washi tapes and then she brings up the fact that my phone is trash so like although i tell her to shutup at the time i still get hella embarrassed and it js gives me more reasons not to launch my shop and like on Etsy ppl were selling like 80 stickers for 4 dollars smth man😭 i was gonna sell a pack of five colour coordinated floralish washi tales for $2.50 lmfao😭😭💔
And also i didn't want to become like completely independent and all with this business thingy even 100 or like 50 dollars would be perfect for me but im js like dealing with a hell lot of demotivation and thoughts telling me to step back and i might js do so ya i even asked someone to maybe review them kinda but that guy started asking for money. Gng i got zero money on me💔😭
And like i do get all giddy thinking that i could buy stuff on my own if this thing works out but still there's so many thoughts that make me question it and get me super embarrassed and all ya idk
So idkdkd but maybe like opinions? Or idk js help me out im rlly stuck 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I run a local pet boarding business doing around $30k/month and I’m trying to break through the next ceiling.
Our Google presence is strong:
• 4.9 rating
• 200+ reviews
• Usually rank #1 locally
• More reviews than most competitors
• Google Ads are profitable
The challenge is this:
We still have capacity, but increasing ad spend on Google is not creating proportional revenue growth anymore.
That makes me wonder if I’m hitting the limits of search demand and if awareness is now the real bottleneck.
Operations are solid. Reputation is strong. We just need more people knowing we exist.
I’m only spending about $100/day on Meta and we don’t have a strong referral system yet.
For local business owners who were once stuck under $30k/month with room to grow, what actually helped you break through?
Meta ads?
Content?
Referrals?
Partnerships?
Something else?
Also, part of why I’m posting is I’m hoping to find a small community of operators building real businesses. I don’t really do networking events, so maybe this is a place to learn from people on a similar path.
Just wondering what clever ways people use to manage jobs/customers when you don’t have a paid system in place.
I run a local pet boarding business doing around $30k/month and I’m trying to break through the next ceiling.
Our Google presence is strong:
• 4.9 rating
• 200+ reviews
• Usually rank #1 locally
• More reviews than most competitors
• Google Ads are profitable
The challenge is this:
We still have capacity, but increasing ad spend on Google is not creating proportional revenue growth anymore.
That makes me wonder if I’m hitting the limits of search demand and if awareness is now the real bottleneck.
Operations are solid. Reputation is strong. We just need more people knowing we exist.
I’m only spending about $100/day on Meta and we don’t have a strong referral system yet.
For local business owners who were once stuck under $30k/month with room to grow, what actually helped you break through?
Meta ads?
Content?
Referrals?
Partnerships?
Something else?
Also, part of why I’m posting is I’m hoping to find a small community of operators building real businesses. I don’t really do networking events, so maybe this is a place to learn from people on a similar path.
I know this sounds ridiculous coming from who makes a living deploying capital, but I need to say it. Stop taking money just because you can.
Hustle culture has completely warped how people view debt. Taking out a massive line of credit isn't a badge of honor. I talk to local business owners and agency guys every single day who are taking on debt just to fix operational nightmares.
Here is the reality: Funding does not fix a broken business model, it just makes it die faster.
My golden rule before I fund anyone: you need to be able to show me on a napkin exactly how every single dollar I give you is going to directly print more than a dollar within 90 days.
Buying inventory in bulk to boost your margins? Smart. Bridging a seasonal cash flow gap so you don't lose your best guys? Totally fine. Remodeling your office because you want to look like a Silicon Valley startup? Absolutely not.
Protect your cash flow, man. If anybody wants to gut-check if they actually need capital right now or if they just need to tighten up operations, ask away. Happy to be a sounding board.
Just asking this question on behalf of a friend. While we were talking earlier, she asked me to help her look for hotel furniture. Her uncle is planning to open a small boutique hotel, though. At first, I thought we’d just look for simple beds and tables. Suddenly, we found ourselves scrolling through Pinterest for “luxury hotel aesthetic” ideas for hours. Then we also did window shopping of several pieces of furniture on Alibaba. Anyway, for people working in hospitality, what’s the average cost of furnishing a mid-sized boutique hotel? TYIA for answering.
I have an idea in my head but I as I have never done anything like this I am struggling. What does a business plan entail?
If I am approaching brands for example Colgate - I am looking to start a business doing xyz will you be able to supply at wholesale prices, some may ask for a business plan, do I send it? Some say they want to see the company trading for few years before they can offer wholesale price. So if I do want to sell their products for the time being would I have to buy at full price and sell or approach other brands?
I am looking at starting a online business first.
Please can you share your tips. Advice welcome.
Is everyone using shopify for a website?
Do I need insurance, what kind of insurance etc
Hi,
I’ve been a registered nurse for the last 11 years. I’m looking into a home healthcare acquisition. I’m looking for an investor to fund the down payment, approximately $200k to $300k. I would be an owner operator with a salary and equity in the business. I can effectively and successfully run the business on my own, I just need the capital to support the down payment of the SBA loan. Anyone interested please let me know.
I am thinking of giving math tutoring for people in my country to prepare for school exams. I am unsure though how to market it since in my country most school teachers also do tutoring after classes. I am thinking of short form videos, but can’t really figure out how to make them not boring and not only me solving typical exam problems. How would you do it?
I’m a full stack dev and keep seeing small businesses (coaching centers, consultants, clinics, etc.) lose leads because nobody follows up properly on WhatsApp.
Thinking of building a simple CRM around this.
Idea is pretty basic:
Before I spend time building it:
Would businesses actually pay for something like this or am I solving a problem nobody really cares about?
If you run a business or agency, what’s your biggest headache with lead follow-up?
I have a clothing brand, which makes an affordable formal wear for Indian woman. Now I want to explore some new sales channel streams so we are trying Meta and Google ads. But the specific collection is not moving out. What sales channel do you recommend? Can somebody advise me what they are using.
Hello,
I’m at a crossroad. I’ve been trying to become an entrepreneur for years now without any success. Without making this post a novel, I’ve tried a few things and for the most part failed.
Basically, my ideas suck. I’m just not an idea guy. However, I am great at other things. Problem solving, organization, finance, budgeting, and primarily, I’m great at just getting things done.
Here lies my question. Am I not suited for entrepreneurship? Am I just destined to be an employee?
Just looking for some honest feedback. Thanks in advance.
I run a small business with 25 employees. We started more like a scrappy startup, so for a long time, the “culture” part was mostly just everyone doing what needed to be done. With a bigger team, I’m thinking more about employee recognition and culture, but I don’t want to spend money on things people don’t value. For small business owners, what actually works best?
Birthday bonuses, extra days off, or company swag, public recognition, something else?
I’m not looking for the perfect HR answer. I’m more curious what people actually appreciate when the company is still small, and the owner is already wearing 10 hats.
This is a throwaway account, but this is a real story involving two broke but passionate about becoming our own bosses seeking help from entrepreneurs. Thank you so much in advance for all your contributions & input.
My business partner (25F) and I (26F) have worked in Seattle’s restaurant industry for almost 9 years, doing everything from line cooking, serving, supervising, and managing, mostly in Asian restaurants. We’ve even worked in a food truck before. Around mid-2025, we decided we seriously wanted to open our own small Japanese ramen restaurant because we were tired of overworking for other people and wanted to build something for ourselves.
The challenge is that neither of us are U.S. citizens, although we both legally work here, so SBA loans are not an option for us. My partner has around $110k in savings, while I unfortunately have debt and very little savings myself. Our original plan was to combine her savings with roughly another $90k from lenders and start with around $200k total.
We’ve spent months building a detailed business plan with 3-year financial projections, supplier research, cost sheets, operations planning, and marketing ideas. We’ve also been working with multiple brokers since January, looking for restaurant spaces around downtown(high bar life activity ) because we strongly believe there’s potential for ramen and comfort food late into the night(3AM). We specifically need a space with a Type 1 hood because we plan to make broths and many dishes from scratch.
Recently, loan officers told us that we likely don’t have enough collateral to qualify for the amount we’re requesting because the equipment we plan to purchase would be our main asset. Because of that, we started exploring buying out an existing restaurant business to reduce startup and renovation costs and potentially strengthen our loan position.
Now we feel stuck. We still strongly want a brick-and-mortar ramen shop, but we’re seeing many restaurants close, and we’re questioning whether we should instead start with a food truck( easy without a loan), pop-ups, farmers markets, or small events first to build more capital and proof of concept. The issue is that both of us are already working multiple jobs while handling all the business planning, and we also have visa-related time pressure, so we feel like time is limited. We know working in a restaurant and owning one is a completely different story, and we know we will be working 100 hours a week each. The current economy and instability in inventory/ shipments might create more obstacles.
We do have a business coach who has been very supportive and says our business plan is strong, but they also mentioned that our startup capital may still be low for Seattle restaurant standards.
For people who have opened restaurants or food trucks before:
* Would you continue pursuing a brick-and-mortar location in this situation?
* Would buying out an existing restaurant be smarter than building from scratch?
* Is starting with a food truck or pop-up actually the safer path financially?
* How much startup capital did you realistically need before opening?
* Are we being unrealistic trying to open in Seattle with our current position?
As someone running a small crochet business, I genuinely want to know..... are people really interested in buying handmade crochet products anymore?
I’ve noticed that many people love the products, compliment the work, save posts, and even ask for prices… but when they hear the actual cost, they suddenly feel it’s “too expensive.” It feels like people want handmade items, but don’t want to pay for the time, skill, effort, and material that goes into making them.
Crochet is so time-consuming, especially custom pieces. Sometimes a single product can take hours or even days, and pricing it fairly still feels “expensive” to customers compared to mass-produced items.
Is this something all handmade businesses go through? Whether it’s crochet, art, candles, jewelry, etc.? Or is the market genuinely shifting away from handmade products?
I’d really love to hear honest experiences from both buyers and handmade business owners.
Asking in case anyone has any experience with this. I recently imported a machine from China to start a small home-based business in Toronto. The manufacturer converted it to 120V for North American use, but we’re running into power issues and wanted to get advice before doing anything unsafe.
The main machine is rated at 3,000W and there’s also an attached air compressor rated around 1,600W.
We tried to test it in our condo, but the breaker trips almost immediately. Our condo mainly has 15A circuits, so we understand we’re probably exceeding what the circuits can safely handle. We tested it a few times before stopping completely.
The only higher-amperage circuits we likely have access to are:
- Washing machine circuit (30A, difficult to access)
- Stove circuit (40A)
(Btw we’re renters, so installing a dedicated new line may not be realistic)
A few questions:
- Is it even feasible/safe to run something like this in a residential condo setup?
- Would a dedicated 30A circuit theoretically handle this?
- Are there any temporary solutions for testing?
- Should we even consider a generator for something like this? If so, are there large enough battery/inverter generators that could safely handle this load without using gas/propane?
- Would renting a small workshop/flex industrial space make more sense? Our priority is keeping costs low.
- We also have a friend who owns a self-serve laundromat and may allow us to rent a small corner of the shop. Would that be more suitable electrically?
Appreciate any insight. Thanks in advance!