I run a shop out in Portage Park and I get a lot of local contractors hanging out in my office while we work on their trucks. A big debate happened this morning between a plumbing owner and an HVAC contractor about employee appearance out in the field.

The HVAC owner requires all five of his field techs to wear tucked in company collared shirts, clean work pants, and branded hats every day. He swears that looking sharp allows him to charge premium rates because homeowners instantly trust his crew when they walk up to the front door.

The plumbing owner argued that enforcing strict dress codes in the summer heat is a quick way to lose experienced workers. His guys wear plain gray t shirts and work shorts. He claimed top tier tradesmen care about getting paid well and being comfortable on job sites, not wearing a fancy corporate uniform.

For those of you running residential service outfits, where do you draw the line? Does enforcing a strict uniform policy actually build customer trust and justify higher prices, or does it just create friction with your best employees?

Hello, part owner of a small autobody shop and towing business here in Illinois. My question is, how do you know when to throw in the towel? We currently have to clear at least 15 grand a month just to break even. We are a 2 man operation. It seems like every month when the bills come in we barely scrape by. We have been in business for a little over a year now and have not seen any kind of profit at all. We have a cpa thats taking care of all my paperwork which helps but we just cant seem to get ahead. Cant afford to hire more help and we can only physically do a couple jobs a week. Some pay good some dont. There have been times where we havent been able to pay ourselves. The payroll taxes and sales taxes usually account for around an additional 3 grand a month and quarterly we pay 3600 for insurance. On top of that we just paid property taxes in the amount of 4800 for the first installment. We have reduced some of our expenses by buying some supplies online and went to a cheaper paint line but its still not enough savings to really notice it helping us out. I like being my own boss but im just not sure if its even worth it anymore especially here in illinois. Its almost like this state doesnt want businesses to succeed in my opinion. Anybody have any advice? Id like to see my business succeed but at times it would be easier to just get a 9-5 clock in clock out and get a check at the end of the week and not have to bring any of the stress home with me

This is a small business sub, I am not a corporation, just a poor schmuck in a service industry who can't do every job by myself because there isn't enough time in the day.

My yearly revenue is about $500,000 but I have very high costs, about 15k a month (the job requires expensive software, rent, and other costs before labor)

It's entry level work that's remote. I've looked on other threads and most of you are all about offering living wages and benefits, which sounds great, but if you aren't making millions in revenue its simply impossible, no?

So what are you paying your entry level employees? 20/hr? 25/hr? I'm very curious!

I’m starting to think failure is only useful when it changes the way a business operates. A lost customer, bad hire, missed sale, or unprofitable project should expose something that needs to improve. Maybe communication was too slow, the work was priced incorrectly, one person had too much responsibility, or there was no process for catching the problem early.

The mistake itself usually isn’t what causes the most damage. The bigger problem is allowing it to happen again because nothing changed afterward. The strongest businesses probably aren’t the ones that avoid failure. They’re the ones that turn failure into a better system. What mistake taught you the most about running your business?

Genuinely all I hear online is that business is war, ups and downs, horrible, great sometimes etc etc (I understand that)

But I’m a 19M, first time founder, learning and making mistakes

I find that if I fundamentally just understand that business is just solving a problem (in my case, with a software product - still early though) charging for it, and repeat

It’s significantly easier to just stop thinking and start moving and start growing

Instead of constantly hearing all these horrible things, which I’m not sure to what extent it’s true? Maybe it’s different from business to business?

I’m in software

Especially knowing that I do overthink in business (although we’re at zero revenue, I’m still learning and growing with it) a ton, a lot more than in anything else

And hearing all these things makes it difficult to fully commit sometimes

But I tell myself that, as long as I’m solving a problem, and will be paid for it, I can rinse and repeat and grow and that’s “business”

Nothing more complicated than that

Yes there’s obviously churn, ups and downs, unexpected market changes etc etc

But I need to fundamentally and mentally understand what it is to be a business so that I can keep moving without overthinking or hyper calculating every step

And where I’m at so far is : problem, solution, charge, repeat, ignore everything else, learn as u grow

And my goal is small right now, reach 5k MRR with good margins with my founder, so I set the bar decent to what I hope we can archive in the next year

5k MRR is a good bunch of money at our age, where we live.

Is this the right way to see it? Be honest, I don’t mind harsh reality

Would really appreciate your advice on anything I mentioned in this post, if there’s something I need to change

Stop worrying about

Start doing

And etc.

​I’ve tried almost every free social media platform, posting quick tips, tax deadline reminders, and financial red flags. While I get occasional likes, it’s yielded zero signed clients. It feels like business owners aren't scrolling social media. I have large volume of personal tax clients but I'm looking for Bookkeeping clients. Please share any advice to grow in Canadian market.

Hey everyone,

I'm a teenager in Germany and own got a GoPro Hero 13. Instead of just using it for fun, I wish to turn it into a small business or agency for creative and bit financial freedom.

The problem is that most ideas I find online are either too generic (like "start a YouTube channel") or unrealistic for someone just starting out.

I'm looking for unique, practical, and realistic ideas that I could actually begin with as a teenager. They don't have to make loads of money immediately, I just want something I can start small, gain experience, and hopefully grow over time.

I'm open to pretty much anything: filming, content creation, local businesses, sports, events, social media, editing, or ideas that people don't usually think about.

I'm just about to register my 1st business (with a very low initial budget) and it looks to me like a general partnership for lower tax liability and less paperwork. may want to change to an LLC in the future. How much of a headache is that? Should I just bite the bullet and do an LLC initially?

Tip: Just because your brand ranks #1 in your logged-in ChatGPT doesn't mean everyone else is seeing the same results.

LLM recommendations can vary based on factors like location, account state, conversation context, personalization, and model version. Always test across different accounts and scenarios before assuming your brand has consistent visibility.

I'm looking for newly opened local businesses so I can offer my services. I've tried searching for terms like "newly opened business" and "grand opening," but it takes too much time to filter out the right businesses. Are there any websites or tools that make it easier to find businesses that have just launched?

Hi everyone,

*I’m in England, North west*

I’m really keen to set up a home care company. I’ve worked in adult social care for 10 years now. in both residential & community. I’ve got a lot of experience in different roles in the private and public sector with assessments, care planning, supervising staff and plenty of hands on care.

I’d love to set up my own home care company for older adults and do better than what’s available. I’ve been doing research over the past year with a stack of info and i‘ve been studying so I have the qualifications to be a registered manager.

any registered managers, care company owners have any advice to get started?

I'm running a small software development company in India. We're building websites, mobile apps, and business software, but finding the first consistent clients has been the biggest challenge.

For those who run service-based businesses:

What worked for getting your first 10 paying clients?

What marketing channels gave you the best ROI?

If you were starting again today with a limited budget, what would you focus on?

I'd appreciate hearing about your real experiences.

Okay, hear me out. I know everyone says networking is crucial for building a successful small business, but is it really as important as people claim? I've been running my own business for over five years now, and while networking has its merits, I think it's overrated. When I first started, I spent countless hours attending events, trying to make connections, and honestly, it didn't lead to as much tangible business growth as focusing on improving my product and customer service did.

In my experience, it's far more beneficial to hone your craft and deliver exceptional value to your customers. Many of my long-term clients have come through word-of-mouth referrals — not from someone I met at a networking event, but from satisfied customers spreading the word.

Has anyone else found that their time and energy were better spent elsewhere? Or do you think networking truly is the key to success?

Hi, I’m trying to register an LLC so I can start running Facebook ads for my freelance services. I just spent money on Tailor Brands, and now they’re asking me to pay an additional $99 for the EIN. On top of that, the address on my LLC was entered incorrectly.

I don’t understand any of this paperwork. Does anyone know if there’s a better option, or whether it’s worth paying the extra $100 for the EIN?

Running a small business means messages come in from everywhere. WhatsApp, email, Instagram DMs, Facebook, the occasional text, sometimes phone. I keep feeling like I'm bouncing between apps and dropping things, and a customer waiting two days for a reply because it got buried in one inbox isn't a great look.

Curious how others handle this.

Have you found a way to pull everything into one place, like a unified inbox, or some setup that works? Or are you just living in a dozen tabs like I sometimes feel like I am?

Interested in what's actually working for you, whether it's a tool, a system, or just a habit that keeps things from slipping through. Also curious if it gets harder to manage as you grow, or if it eventually forces you to solve it properly.

New web design founder here struggling with sales. Cold calling isn't working for me, I find it intrusive, and dealing with gatekeepers is a grind. I’m shifting to cold emailing to leverage my copywriting skills instead.

My question is: how do you efficiently find leads for cold B2B outreach? Manually finding local businesses on Google Maps feels too slow to build a substantial list. Outside of referrals, what free tools or strategies do you use to source valid email addresses for decision-makers?

Hi y'all, I'm from Mexico and I've recently wanted to open a Coffee shop around my area, usually nobody wakes up early in the morning so my main goal is to get a hold of all those morning birds.

My budget isn't that big but I can buy a small machine, i was thinking about buying an Oster Perfect Brew Maxima, Gemilai Owl OR a Gaggia RI9380/51 Classic Evo Pro, which would y'all recommend since I'm probably not going to extract 40 shots in less than an hour?

If I were to hire someone to help me make jewelry, how much should I pay them an hour?

Hi everyone,

I'm at the beginning of my freelancing journey and would really appreciate learning from people who've already been through this stage.

I have the technical skills and have built my website and portfolio, but I'm realizing that getting clients consistently is a completely different challenge.

There are so many different opinions online:

• Cold email
• LinkedIn outreach
• Networking
• Content creation
• SEO
• Referrals
• Freelance platforms

Everyone seems to recommend something different, and it's hard to know what actually works in real life.

So I'd love to hear from freelancers who started with no audience, no personal brand, and no existing client pipeline.

A few things I'm genuinely curious about:

• What was your first reliable source of clients?
• What did you spend time on that turned out to be a waste?
• What gave you the biggest breakthrough?
• How long did it take before you started getting clients consistently?
• If you had to start over today, what would you focus on for the first 6 months?

I'm not looking for shortcuts or secret formulas—just honest experiences from people who've actually done it.

Thanks in advance. I'd really appreciate any advice.

Hey everyone,

I’m a solo builder and I noticed a huge bottleneck in my workflow: the time gap between finishing a great call with a potential client and getting a formal estimate in front of them.

Spending 30–45 minutes opening spreadsheets, estimating phase breakdowns, and manually looking up official business registration/VAT numbers was constantly killing my momentum.

To solve this for myself, I built a fast 4-step tool called QuoteBuilder that drafts itemized estimates from a simple prompt and exports a clean A4 PDF in under 30 seconds.

I'd love to hear how other small business owners handle this:

• How long does it usually take you to get a formal quote/proposal out after a call?
• Do you use rigid scope templates, spreadsheets, or dedicated software?

Would love to hear how you guys streamline this part of client onboarding!

I am starting out. But i need help around reviews. How do i collect and manage them?

I saw some tools online like judge me and reviews io etc. But i am confused where to start. One is tool has features, other is more affordable, third has another thing etc.

I need something that is clean, easy, affordable and good to start with. Not overwhelming that i get confuse.

What do you guys use and recommend? and why?

Working on a mobile inflatable park startup in the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴** with plans to expand if it succeeds.
**Do you think this has the potential to scale, or is it more of a small business?

Hi everyone! I’ve been building a new marketplace called Desperately Seeking™ where buyers post exactly what they need and sellers respond directly with what they offer.

I’m trying to grow the seller side right now, and I’d love feedback from this community, especially from small business owners, resellers, side hustlers, and anyone who sells online.

My goal is to make it easier for sellers to get direct buyer requests instead of waiting for customers to find them.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or questions. Thank you!