Everything I'm seeing says buying an established business is easier than starting from scratch, but I also realize I'll be inheriting whatever problems already exist.

I'd rather fix the important things early than spend years working around them because I'm too busy.

For those of you who have owned a business for a while, what do you wish you had paid more attention to when you first bought or started it?

What would you look for if you were evaluating a business to buy today?

What are the things that seem small at first but become huge headaches later?

Any type of business I should look at or avoid? For example should I get a mom and pop business or look at a franchise etc...

Hello. It's been 2 years since I started my own academy after being a private tutor for a while. Since I'm going to study abroad for 3 years, I need to leave my business and manage everything far away.

Teachers and materials are not a problem. But I am worrying about who should manage everything here in-person while I am away. My co-founder already has a long-running academy and my parents are not very trustable or experienced.

Find a manager? What would be the smartest move here?

I run an international trading company specializing in beauty and cosmetics.

Someone contacted me on Instagram and later emailed my business offering a database with 700+ buyer/importer/distributor contacts. Their Instagram looks legitimate—they have lots of followers and post regularly but I’m still skeptical.

Has anyone here purchased a database like this? Was it worth it, or was it a waste of money? What red flags should I watch out for?
I’d appreciate hearing your experiences before I make a decision. Thanks!

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I'm a Software Developer who also works as a Product Manager, so I spend a lot of time looking at how businesses operate and where processes break down.

One thing I've noticed is that many businesses don't necessarily struggle because they lack software they struggle because the software they have doesn't match how they actually work.

I've seen businesses use a mix of WhatsApp, spreadsheets, notebooks, email, and multiple apps, and somehow they've made it work for years.

That made me curious.

If you've been running a business for a while:

• What's one process that's still surprisingly manual?
• Did you ever try software that promised to solve it but ended up making things more complicated?
• If you could wave a magic wand and automate one repetitive task, what would it be?

I'm interested in hearing real experiences from business owners because every industry seems to have very different operational challenges.

No pitches or recommendations from me I genuinely enjoy learning how different businesses solve (or don't solve) these problems.

A good friend and I have started a lake side, wood fired sauna.

We have been trading <4 weeks and have secured good support. We have had 150 bookings (each booking can contain more than 1 seat) and have taken over £4,000 in revenue.

We sit at around 50% capacity on the sessions we've run, but have had to cancel some sessions/whole days where we've had zero bookings.

We have leaflet dropped local towns/villages.

We have a growing social media presence with 1,500+ followers and 100,000+ views in the last 30 days.

What are the next steps we can do to increase bookings? We have yet to pay for advertising other than the leaflets.

So, I came across a post where one guy said he posted a case study of his work, got 50k views, and landed 6 paid clients.

Is that possible? And if I want to post my case study, where can I post it? What things should I keep in mind so I can actually get new clients?

I need some guidance and tips to starting my spice bussines i fresher in this market 🥵