Curious how mid-sized brands handle pricing. Do you use dynamic pricing tools? Is it mostly gut-feel and looking at competitor sites? Or are you just doing a blanket +X% markup when supplier costs go up? It seems like it would be incredibly hard to know which specific SKUs can handle a price hike without killing conversion. How do small business ecommerce owners manage this practically?
Did any small business owners here have refinanced high-interest business loan using a HELOC, or cash-out refinance.
How was the process? Any surprises, challenges, or things you wish someone had explained earlier?
Hi everyone,
I’m in the process of launching a supplement brand for USA Market. As I know according to the law all responsibility for supplement quality is on the Brand Owner's Company (not on manufacturer), and according to DSHEA 21 U.S.C. § 350b(a) all ingredients that are used in formula if they are not ODI (Old dietary supplements or “grandfathered” dietary ingredient ) are considered to be New Dietary Ingredients and so far should have FDA NDI number. If any of the ingredient in the whole formula have not confirmed regulatory status it is considered as adultered and FDA can restrict all commodities from sales.
I'm confused because as I contact with USA manufacturers (GMP certified with FDA registration) - all of them don't provide any information about quality of ingredients, don't provide any regulatory status for ingredients, no NDI/GRAS or other reasonable reply.
May be I'm mistaken and ask for documents are don't needed for sales in USA?
I would be happy to hear the opinions of experts already in the business: how do you handle the issue of verifying the quality of your formula?
I also realize that this is a sensitive matter, and if no one wants to share their experience, I understand that too.
Hi All,
I am looking to buy a small business in Seattle area but I am not able to find good contacts who can provide due-diligence services for buyer side. I see a lot of seller side services being offered.
Maybe I am looking at the wrong places, but any recommendations, please share :)
Looking to purchase in 1-1.5 MM range
Industry: food and beverage
No family background in business. Looking for help on full DD and closing process.
I understand that sellers or brokers might receive many replies to their ads, but what kind of details do buyers or brokers seek when someone answers the listing?
I’m reaching out to brokers too but curious what initial message gets a response.
Editing to add - this is a furniture and millwork design, fabrication and repair business.
Hi all, I have just started a business and I am resisting using Instagram and Facebook, instead I have a website and have been distributing fliers. I don’t even have a great reason for avoiding those platforms aside from the fact that I get addicted, know that others are addicted, and don’t want to engage that way. My business has to be local due to its nature as a design/build/repair business so I don’t need to cast a wide net. Do you think people will appreciate not having to enter those platforms to engage with my business, or am I just shooting myself in the foot?
i’m very new to this, just thinking about starting a press on nails business, and i know i make quality stuff because i’m a perfectionist by nature, so i was thinking maybe if i lowered my prices i would get clients easier, but turns out it’s not the best marketing strategy because they would think that there’s a catch and it’s low quality. Is there any better way to approach this? Any podcasts i can watch to help? Anything would be very much appreciated!
I am a dancer and recently did an event. The client was difficult to get an answer from whilst going through the booking process, and changing her mind a lot.
I did the event yesterday and before I left I thanked her and thought she may give me the cash but she didn’t.
I‘m genuinely worried I won’t get payment.
What should I do if I get ignored?
Hey everyone, I've been building a side hustle for a few years now an am wondering it makes sense to consider leaving my job.
Currently I (27M) work as an account executive and make $150K a year. I have been building my business on the side and after about 2.5 years of doing on the side, it's starting to get exhausting. Not because I don't have the time to get the stuff I need to done, I manage to do both well, but I feel my business is getting the scraps of my mind.
I'm essentially selling my best mental hours to the company I work for, in a relatively demanding career, and feel I can make up the difference by going into business full time for myself. There are days where I am so exhausted I do not work on the business after my 9-5, and have to make it up on the weekends.
When I work on my business I feel energized. I love overcoming the challenges, it makes me smile, and it feels like I can work on it forever. I describe it as the best video game I have ever played. But I wonder if that's because the stakes are low.
Some info about me:
My gut is telling me that I am young, I don't have any major responsibilities (mortgage, kids, etc.) and I should really give it a go to prevent future regret. I've also proven to myself that this is not some fluke and have likely stayed in the job for longer than necessary out of fear.
A lot of close people in my life, including parents, have tried to talk me out of it. I have tried to suppress it for around 6 months, but the "Sunday Scaries" and generally anxiousness about making a change has only grown with time. They tell me I'd be throwing away a great job, but it feels like I am succeeding at a job I do not want.
Thoughts on if it makes sense to take the leap?
I'm launching a new e-commerce brand in the US and I'm looking for a 3PL/warehouse recommendation. I'm based outside the US, so I'd handle everything remotely.
What I need:
Which 3PLs have you worked with that are startup-friendly and actually reliable? Also curious about rough pricing (receiving, storage, pick & pack) and any red flags to watch out for.
Thanks in advance!
My wife and I started a small business 3 years ago and we are now doing well enough that I could quit a cushy six-digit full-time job. I mostly help with product design, marketing, and things she doesn’t want to do while she deals with manufacturing, finance, and sales.
Things have been okay until we hit a few millions APR. i started to feel we aren’t growing because we aren’t thinking forward and just reacting to issues in front of us. We are bootstrapped so every new ideas I proposed (new verticals, commercials, hiring) got buried. But she ended up spending time being busy reacting to issues that aren’t even critical or urgent and she appears preoccupied, always working, and having little time outside of work for me and family. Because she cannot stop thinking how to react, she also couldn’t draw a clear boundary between work and life, and I often see her in bed late at night on her laptop next to our child. It is wearing me down. Many times it feels like trying to tell a child not to be afraid of these things that are part of business and set priorities for her so she can move on.
It’s two-fold: I’m concerned about our personal relationship (every time she sees me she thinks of work issues) and business not growing.
Family business is hard because it always go emotional and there is hardly any line. But have anyone experienced this and what is the best way to let go and think more strategically vs reactively?
i run a small software business that sells to small ecommerce stores. cold email and instagram dms have actually worked for getting customers, but it's slow and every customer is basically one conversation at a time
for those of you who sell to other small businesses, what helped you get known more broadly? partnerships, content, trade groups, referrals, something else?
also my product is seasonal so i've got a short window each year, if anyone's dealt with that i'd love to hear how you handled it
I'm trying to grow my cleaning/maintenance business. I have been charging an hourly rate for labor plus a percentage to cover supplies and expenses (insurance, license, advertising and all that other good stuff).
I want to up my labor a bit for next year, especially on the part of mu business that is much more labor intensive/risky. As far as marketing, would it be better to up my labor a few more bucks/hour more than I intend to and have the supplies/expenses included, or keep it at an hourly labor rate plus expenses.
Overall, it works out about the same but am curious what might sound better to the customers.
85/hr @ 25 hours is 2125 plus 15% is 2443.75
100/hr @ 25 hours (expenses included) is 2500.00
I’m new to this and just opened up a photography/videography small business i have an instagram but i’m not sure how many other social medias i should do or what’s the norm?? any beginner tips is soooo appreciated!!
Anyone have experience running a 360 Photo Booth as a side hustle?
I help an individual loan officer who has very few google reviews. As good as they are, this hurts their business and they close only ~1 deal per month, leading to slow review generation. They do speak to a lot of leads but don't try to collect reviews from them. What do similar small businesses use to increase their review collection frequency? Any tools, strategies you know can be used authentically?
I am opening a small business (medical clinic) and am planning to lease a space which is approximately 1,800 square feet. The current space has all carpet on a concrete foundation. Given the planned use, we need an easily cleanable waterproof flooring. The quote for removing the existing carpet and replacing it with (what I am told to be) basic glue down LVP and rubber baseboards came in at $28,000.
Is this a reasonable quote? I am getting a second quote for comparison. For all I know this is a fair price for materials and labor but as a newcomer this just seems expensive for just flooring. Any recommendations on a cheaper alternative flooring for use in a simple clinic?
TI allowance has been negotiated and is going to cover a decent amount but there are other costly improvements needed as well which will intimately require a significant amount of capital contribution on the business’s part so I am trying to ensure we are being as cost effective as possible.
For reference, the location is near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hey everyone, I have a website that is very popular seasonally and I was thinking about creating a small merch shop for 2026. The first product I want to offer is baseball caps embroidered with my logo and site name.
I have ordered a few on Etsy to see what they would look like and I am pretty happy with the ones I have received. On Etsy, you can pick lots of colours and textures for products as well as change things like the thread colour, etc. Essentially I would love to be able to offer this to visitors from my own site, but I figure this level of customization is unrealistic.
I would like to get some advice on where to start:
Would be curious to hear how others have approached this issue of custom merch stores. I am looking to get this up and running in 2-3 months. I also don't have a good idea of what I am likely to see in terms of sales, so I would like to get started quickly without overthinking it.
I am located in Canada if that makes any difference.
Hi everyone,
As someone who is looking to buy and sell an SME, I am trying to find the main issues of leaving your small to medium business to someone else, selling it to a singular buyer, or getting it acquired. Ideally, I would like responses/comments from those who have sold their business, participate in the transaction or process, or are from the next generation getting ready to sell. What is stopping you? Can't find a buyer? Also, for buyers, what is the biggest problem you see when trying to buy an SME? Not enough documentation? Poor team? Too traditional of business processes? Comments and/or responses from both ends of this process would be of great help!
Noticed most import in bulk, hold stock, and self-fund batch testing. Is anyone successfully operating via blind dropshipping or zero-inventory fulfillment. Holding stock is mandatory ?