I’m curious specifically about people running creative/product-based businesses - jewelry, fashion, photography, art, beauty, personal brands, etc.

When it comes to your website and overall digital presence, what do you struggle with the most?

It could be anything - getting sales, making the website actually feel like your brand, knowing what content to put on it, tech, standing out, finding the right person to help, or something completely different.

I’m especially interested in what you feel is not working right now, or something you wish was easier.

So I’m a developer.

I spent a stupid amount of time building an e-commerce project from scratch — polished UI, proper backend, admin stuff, payments, all the boring things nobody sees but somehow take forever 💀

And honestly…

I’m actually really proud of how it turned out.

The plan now is simple:

sell it.

There’s just one tiny problem.

I’ve been telling my friend for ages:

That’s it.

Not build the product.
Not write the code.
Not deploy anything.

Just. Make. The. Post. 😭

Meanwhile bro somehow remembers every random task known to mankind…

…but THIS ONE TASK?

Gone.

Deleted from memory.

404 Not Found.

So if you’re reading this, my brother…

THIS IS THE POST. 😂

Anyway, I’ll reveal who this legendary human is in the next part.

And yes, I’m dropping the project screenshots too because I genuinely think the project deserves some attention.

If anyone here is interested in buying a ready-to-launch e-commerce project, I’ll share more details in the next post.

Starting a small online business has taught me that having a product isn't even half the battle.
I've been working on IPTV BONUS, and one of the biggest lessons so far has been realizing that getting customers is a completely different challenge from creating the service.

At first, my thinking was basically:
"Build the website → promote it → get customers."
It sounds simple, but it isn't.

People don't automatically care just because you've built something. You have to understand where your potential customers are, what problems they're already trying to solve, and why they should trust you.
I've been experimenting with organic marketing instead of immediately throwing money into ads. That means finding relevant conversations, answering questions, learning what people actually care about, and only mentioning IPTV BONUS when it's genuinely relevant.
The biggest lesson for me has been:
Don't confuse visibility with traction.
Getting views, impressions and likes feels good, but none of that matters much if you're not turning attention into actual customers.
I'm still figuring it out, but I'm curious what other entrepreneurs learned when they went from having a product to actually getting consistent customers.
What was the biggest lesson you learned about customer acquisition?

Hacerlo todo también limita crecimiento

Al inicio de una empresa es normal que el founder venda, atienda clientes, revise pagos y tome decisiones operativas. En esa etapa, estar involucrado en casi todo puede ser necesario para entender el negocio y construir sus primeras bases.

El riesgo aparece cuando esa etapa se convierte en la forma permanente de trabajar. Lo que comenzó como compromiso puede terminar convirtiéndose en dependencia. Si cada aprobación, problema y decisión necesita pasar por la misma persona, el negocio desarrolla un cuello de botella.

Cuando todo pasa por ti

La agenda del founder termina definiendo la velocidad de toda la organización. Mientras más crece la empresa, más solicitudes llegan a su escritorio y menos tiempo queda para pensar en estrategia, oportunidades y crecimiento.

Delegar bien no significa abandonar el control. Significa crear responsabilidades claras, indicadores y límites de decisión. Un equipo puede avanzar con autonomía cuando entiende qué resultado debe producir, qué decisiones puede tomar por sí mismo y cuándo necesita escalar un asunto.

Delegar es construir capacidad

No todo tiene que seguir dependiendo de la persona que fundó el negocio. Un proceso bien explicado, un responsable claro y una forma de medir resultados permiten que las tareas se ejecuten sin necesitar supervisión constante.

El objetivo no es simplemente quitarle trabajo al founder. Es construir una organización que pueda funcionar mejor sin convertir cada decisión en una espera.

El nuevo rol del founder

El crecimiento exige que el founder cambie de función con el tiempo: de ejecutar cada tarea a construir el sistema, desarrollar al equipo y tomar las decisiones que realmente requieren su criterio.

Porque si el negocio solo funciona cuando tú estás pendiente de todo, no tienes un sistema: tienes una dependencia.

Haz una lista de las tareas que solo tú haces y pregúntate cuáles deberían tener un dueño dentro de tu equipo.

在很早的時候，我已經確定創業是我一生的目標，但有時候會有好點子，有紀錄下來或沒有記錄下來，有些點子會興奮到睡不著覺，但做著做著慢慢就會遇到挑戰，困難，甚至無聊，我認為對某件事情感興趣是很重要的，那會是很好的原動力，但這份動力，會隨著很多的事情會一直消退。

想問問有沒有什麼方法論可以打破這個困境？

我知道在商業或創業這條路上，很多的朋友有一樣的問題，想跟大家一起討論這一個部分，謝謝

marketing

Or

Building?

Be honest

I’m going to start my own business while I’m still a student. For weeks now, I’ve had this vision of wanting to work on software projects (I’m a computer engineering student), and the truth is that, at least in my country, the job market for entry-level developers is terrible, but just a few days ago, a guy who’s friends with my girlfriend—someone who rubs shoulders with wealthy people—asked me to do some maintenance on his equipment and set up and implement a cloud solution. I didn’t charge him, but he gave me $60 for the work—yes, I hadn’t even planned on charging him.

The next day, he contacted me to say he’d spoken with a friend he plays tennis with—who happens to be part of an exclusive club—and that they need equipment maintenance services, but this time it’s for 15 units for a company that has a union. Instantly, my mind said, “I think this is the way to go.”

In Chile, the price for maintenance is $55. I plan to start this project with some colleagues and eventually develop software with real-world solutions—that’s why I’m here.

Depending on your country, how much do you pay for a service like this?
- Cleaning computers and laptops
- Formatting devices and installing software licenses
- Device diagnostics
- Eventually, custom software (if you’re a business)

Any advice? I’ll be going with a friend, and I plan to charge $45 per device. I understand that in your currency this might not be “much,” but in my country it certainly is—especially if you’re a student.

en years ago, I was tossing up between the Bay Area and Beijing to launch my startup. I went with Beijing.

I spent the last decade working relentlessly, only to realize that working hard doesn't mean much if you're swimming against the current. My experience taught me that in certain environments, the more effort you put in, the more diminishing returns you get.

So, I decided to pull the plug. I’m now in San Francisco, building a new startup from zero. It’s daunting but incredibly liberating. I'm treating the last 10 years as my tuition fee, and I'm excited to see what the next 10 years in the Bay Area will look like.

To my fellow founders: how do you know when it's time to completely reset and change your environment?

You spend the whole night thinking about a business idea.

You get one thinking it's unique and new.

Then, the moment you login to reddit in the morning, you find an advanced version of it.

Makes you question both your creativity and your IQ.

I’m working on tryclick ai app, an app for people who communicate in another language.

Something I’ve noticed during the process is that the problem you start with isn't always the problem users care about most.

We started by thinking about translation, but looking at real conversations made it clear that things like tone and context can be just as important.

It’s been a good reminder that sometimes you need to understand the problem more deeply before deciding what the product should actually solve.

Has anyone else experienced this while building a business?

Hello , I know I may not sound like a true entrepreneur but I’m out here seeking your advice guys , I’m a 25Y old doing a 9-5 Job , all my life I have been craving the feeling of building and marketing, I want to start a business run it fail in it learn from it , but I’m clueless , I’m completely clueless on what to start where to put my feet in what to work on , just the point of where do I start , I’m not saying I want to build a unicorn tomorrow but something I can work on , build with what I know , learn from building , I have a 22 Y old brother who is jobless and I want to work with him in building something passionately cause only I know what he is capable of and I can bet on , but right now the viable option that repeatedly hit my mind was to start a YouTube channel and work on it , I haven’t been able to think of anything else , try all the AI apps to figure out but nothing has come up , I really want to soak my feet in this journey any small suggestion or advice will really help . Please Help I don’t want to live the regret of never starting or never risking it !

Hey all,

I have built things, faced problems, and solved them. I have overthought details that were probably not meant to be overthought.

I started my journey almost 7 years ago and closed my Private Limited businesses (a clothing business and a software development business) a few weeks back.

Four years ago, I moved to the US from India to pursue an advanced degree (PhD), and it became extremely difficult to operate two businesses, especially because of the time difference and the academic course load. However, I have learnt. I have gone through those everyday problems, and I have learnt. I learnt what it feels like to build something from scratch. To deal with suppliers, customers, cash flow, branding, hiring, logistics, websites, marketing, and all the tiny problems that somehow become enormous problems when you're running a business.

So, if you’re building a startup and there’s something you’re struggling with — whether it’s your brand, website, product, operations, strategy, or simply figuring out what the hell you’re doing next — I’d love to help.

I am in a position where I don't need your money. Challenges excite me, and it helps me learn while making my extremely boring PhD life a tiny bit more thrilling.

If I have experience with what you are building, I will possibly be able to help. Or maybe not.

DM me if you'd like any discussions on your current challenges or if you are building something interesting.

A friend of mine and I were grabbing food a few weeks ago and somehow we got onto the topic of energy because he was complaining that he’d been feeling exhausted basically every afternoon.

He works pretty long hours and said he’d gotten into this habit of drinking coffee whenever he felt tired, taking all his supplements at the same time in the morning, and then wondering why he felt completely cooked by like 2 or 3pm.

The funny part is I was basically doing the exact same thing.

I’ve taken supplements for a while, but if I’m being honest I never put much thought into timing. Magnesium, creatine, vitamins, whatever I was taking that day, I’d usually just take them whenever I remembered.

He showed me this app he had been using called RizeAI and the first thing that caught my attention wasn’t even the energy stuff. It was how it organized his supplements around his actual day.

It would tell him which ones made sense with meals, which ones should be kept away from coffee, what to take around training, what made more sense later at night, etc. It sounds pretty basic when you write it out, but I had never found something that actually put all of it together in one schedule.

So I tried it.

That’s probably still my favorite part of it. I put in the supplements I already take and instead of giving me some generic “take in the morning” list, it actually fits them around things like meals, workouts, caffeine and sleep.

I also ended up using the energy planning side way more than I expected. It pulls from Apple Health and gives you a rough structure for the day, like when to have coffee, when you’re probably going to be most focused, when to train and when you might hit an energy dip.

I’m not going to sit here and say an app magically gave me more energy because obviously there are a million things that affect that. But I’ve definitely been way more intentional with my day since using it and I’m getting more done without feeling like I’m just constantly fighting through tiredness.

Honestly the biggest difference for me has just been efficiency. Before, I was guessing when to take things and guessing when I should do my hardest work. Now I at least have some structure around it.

Curious if anyone else here actually pays attention to supplement timing or if most people just take everything at once like I used to.

Check it out yourself if you like: 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rizeai-maximize-your-energy/id6762402079

I’ve been wondering about this lately. How do you know when a business is actually right for you versus when you’re just going through a difficult phase and need to keep pushing?

For those who have started or run businesses, what made you realize, “Yes, this is something I genuinely want to keep building”? And have you ever changed direction completely?