r/solofounderstatups

One thing I have been struggling with as a solo travel advisor is finding the right balance.

My repeat clients take up most of my time between planning trips, making changes and answering questions. I love that they keep coming back but it also means I barely have time to market myself or bring in new clients.

Then when things slow down, I realize I haven’t done much to fill the pipeline. I want to know how do you balance keeping existing clients happy whole still growing your client base? What’s worked for you folks?

Hi, you can share your current project below in this format:

Project: one short sentence about the product or service you are building
Status: just an idea / testing demand / built the first version / looking for users / trying to scale
Need feedback on: optional

I will go first:

Project: I am running a small yoga studio and trying to build + understand systems.
Status: running everything manually but trying to improve the process.
Need feedback on: trying to scale the studio with better scheduling and class management.

What are you folks working on?

Drop your project below and try to give feedback to one other founder here. Let us help each other move one step forward.

I feel like some startup ideas are hidden in plain sight inside repeated Reddit complaints and I understand that not every complaint is a business idea but when you keep seeing people struggle with the same thing across different threads, then it starts feeling like a signal.

What is that 1 problem or complaint you keep seeing on reddit that feels like someone should build a solution for it?

I run a small crochet business and instagram is basically my whole storefront.

The reel so do great with good views, comments and saves but none of that turns into an actual sale.

I have also tried adding the website link in bio, putting prices in captions and also being very active with any customer who reaches out for any enquiry but it hardly makes any difference.

It feels like people love looking at my work, but they do not actually buy it.

If you sell handmade stuff and have a good social media engagement, then what gets you real business out of it?

Is there anything that I am missing or doing wrong?

My younger sister has worked in digital marketing for past 3-4 years & now wants to build an agency around it. I feel like with AI reshaping SEO, content, ads and analytics so fast and also with the latest google core update, we are both unsure what the future holds for someone just starting out in this field.

So two questions for people already running or working in agencies:

1. What would you avoid building an agency around in 2026?

2. What is worth specializing in?

For context, her strongest channel is paid social (Meta/TikTok ads) and she is thinking of niching into e-com brands at the stage where they are past scrappy DIY but cannot afford a big agency yet.

She is just getting started so any honest advice means a lot. Thanks!

I consult businesses online and mostly help small e-commerce and service owners. Earlier, my discovery calls used to be free and they kept turning into full strategy sessions only. I would map out the fixes, the funnel leaks, a rough roadmap and then a chunk of people would just take that and run with it themselves (free consulting, basically). So I decided to add a planning fee for that first call, credited toward the project only if they sign on and this felt fair to me.

But I have got a new problem now. I used to get about 7-8 inquiries a month. But after adding a fee, only a few reached out and the remaining vanished. Many questioned me too but I explained that I cannot keep building custom road maps for free just so people can value hunt me.

Is there any fair way to charge for planning/ strategy part without losing any warm leads?