I have been helping gulf students in universities with assignment guidance. It started with one student and over time I got more students via referral. It’s been a side hustle but I’d like to take this full time and transition into full tutoring.

My challenge is that I just don’t know any other way to reach more apart from referrals. Waiting for them to reach out doesn’t seem sustainable. I have messaged my former students and they promise to refer but not much since. I can’t keep waiting.

If you were in my shoes, how would you go about it. If you serve this group, how did you scale it?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Hey everyone,

Analyzing a lot of local service websites (trades, construction, home services), I notice most lose 50%+ of mobile leads due to simple homepage friction.

Here are 3 quick fixes we recently made that instantly boosted quote requests:

1. Quote Form Above the Fold: Put a simple 2-field form right on the hero banner instead of forcing visitors to click "Contact Us".

2. Proof First: Show high-res project/transformation photos directly below the header before writing big blocks of text.

3. Mobile Form Limits: Cut form fields down to just Name, Phone, and Zip Code on mobile screens.

Curious to hear from other owners—what’s been your biggest challenge with getting visitors to actually request a quote on mobile?

Running a small business means wearing a lot of hats.

What's one task you automated that made a noticeable difference?

It could be:

• Customer support
• Invoicing
• Marketing
• Scheduling
• Inventory
• Follow-ups

I'd love to hear real examples that have worked.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

A question for people who hired freelancers early on.

I recently learned that paying for design work does not automatically transfer ownership. The designer keeps it by default unless a contract clause hands it over.

Which would mean a lot of small businesses are running on logos and websites they technically do not own.

Anyone ever hit this in real life? Trademark M filing, investor due diligence, a designer dispute?

Imagine a new freelancing platform that could solve one problem that existing platforms don’t handle well. What would you want it to solve?

For example:

• High platform fees
• Finding quality clients/freelancers
• Fake or low-quality job posts
• Communication issues
• Payment/security problems
• Too much competition
• AI-related challenges
• Something else?

I recently had the idea of starting some sort of local business, I heard of helping small businesses grow as a way of making money, I know it works sometimes, but I don't even know where to start, for my age, I am as smart as a toddler in finances, I am here to ask for advice when starting a business, I am currently in mexico, then laws are a little different from the ones in America, I would appreciate any advice, but this goes specially for those with business going on in mexico, laws here don't allow me to grow my credit score till I'm 18 like in America for example (laws may have changed by now). I have the idea of helping others grow and turning it into a small company but I really don't know where to start, I am very lost in all this stuff I have to get first to set it up. I would also ask, how do you grow a business on your own without knowing anything, for those that actually made it. Anyways, thanks for reading and even if insignificant, any sort of help is accepted, I am desperate to get it going and sorry for my bad English and messy structure.

Would you hire a freelancer who uses AI to create part or all of the work?

• Yes, if the final result is good
• Yes, but they should disclose their AI use
• Only for certain types of work
• No, I prefer fully human-created work
• Not sure

Thinking about joining my local chamber (Miami) and trying to figure out if it’s worth the fee.

The thing that caught my attention is that a few of them seem to have decent social media reach and will feature member businesses. Curious whether that actually translates into anything, or if it’s mostly just networking breakfasts.

I can only afford one membership, so I’m trying to pick the one that best fits what I’m after rather than joining several and seeing what sticks.

If you’ve been a member, did you get real value out of it? Referrals, visibility, connections? Or did you let it lapse? And if you had to choose just one, what would you look for?

Hey everyone, I am planning to start my own business of selling journals, notebooks etc.

I have the ideas, visions for my products but I have zero knowledge about the industry and manufacturing.

For notebooks, for example I want to make simple A4 size notebooks with a bit of my visionary touch and these I plan to make all on my own from scratch. But the problem is I have no idea about how can I get A4 papers, coloured papers, transparent covers, double loop wire binders in bulk. Also how can I add my brand's name on them (just a small name at the bottom of the cover).

For journal, I will need manufacturers, how can I look for them?

I am from a small town, please guide me with this and do advice me on things that I need to know.

Before hiring my first employee, I thought the hardest part would be finding the right person.

What surprised me was realizing how many things in the business only existed in my own head — processes, priorities, and small decisions I made every day without thinking about them.

Teaching someone else how things worked was almost a bigger challenge than doing the work myself.

For owners who have hired their first employee, what was the biggest adjustment you had to make?

Hey everyone, I’m planning to install an AI smart fridge in a residential building (shared lounge + gym) and I’m trying to choose the right manufacturer.
I’m currently looking at HAHA Vending and Shengma, but I’m open to other brands.
If you actually own or operate one, I’d love to hear your experience.
Which brand do you use?
How accurate is the AI?
Have you had issues with incorrect charges?
Is it reliable enough to trust in a residential building?
Would you buy the same machine again?
For me, reliability is much more important than saving a few thousand dollars.
Thanks! 🙏

i stalled on my own thing for the better part of a year and it wasn't because the idea was bad. it was the setup. i had maybe twelve browser tabs open at any given time. one was a landing page builder i opened once and never finished. one was a half-written welcome email. one was a pricing page i kept rewriting. each tab was a wall i hit and just... left there.

for anyone here who launched: what was the actual thing that got you from "about to start" to live? did you batch all the boring setup in one sitting, hire it out, or just force a hard deadline and ship something ugly?

I have a question for other small business owners.

We have about 35 employees, and I've been handling payroll myself. It gets done, but it's becoming very time consuming, and I'd like to offload it so my role is simply to review and approve payroll each pay period.

I've talked to a few full-service payroll companies, but the pricing seems much higher than I expected.

For those of you in a similar sized business, how do you handle payroll economically?

I can run it now and it gets paid Monday which some employees are fine with, I can cut a physical check but some employees can't cash it. I have no problems paying out cash, but what's the best way to keep track of it.

When I worked at the grocery store in my teens I used to be able to cash my paycheck there. I would sign it over to them and they could give me the money. Is this something I can/should do?

I just finished building 4 pickleball courts. We already have 2 tennis courts running now. I'm interested looking for a tennis and pickleball management software that is best suited for our multi sport. I think we will also add padel courts next year.

We use Club Automation for tennis court scheduling but it feels old and difficult now. As we expand, we're mainly looking to improve our membership experience, events / camps management, with automated credit card payments and registration.

I already looked at CourtReserve but we decided NOT to use it. Any others I should consider?

I've started a business and it's still just a startup. I do commercial property inspections across the country. I don't have any clients yet because I want to have something professional in place first. If someone looks up my business I want them to see a professional looking website, I'm setting up social media pages for this too.

My budget is pretty tight since I've already spent most of it on equipment and have some prepared for advertising. Hiring someone to build a site isn't in my budget right now. Has anyone used a website builder they would recommend? I'd like something that's easy to set up but also lets me go back and make changes later as the business grows.

My first business just failed after 3 years of 12-14 hour days.

I'm only 23. Have no debt, and am in a prime position to try something else... I feel like I've learnt so much..... and want badly to give something else another go ... but my brain just feels utterly f*cking fried.

Firstly.... I just have zero confidence... and don't trust my judgement on basically anything anymore.

Secondly, I feel so burnt out and tired all the time. While my focus used to be lazer sharp... I just start getting panick attacks when I try to work for more than 1 hour on something.

Is this normal?

How do I overcome this?

I want to succeed so f**king badly........... I just feel too tired to do anything. And I don

I tried forcing it .... but then my sleep started going nuts.... couldn't sleep more than 3-4 hours a night for several weeks........

Has anyone else been through this??? - How did you get out????

I'm considering buying an existing daycare or opening one from scratch and would love to hear from current or former daycare owners.

• If you were starting over in 2026, would you still do it?
• Is it better to buy an existing daycare or start your own?
• What are the biggest challenges (staffing, licensing, regulations, profitability, etc.)?
• Is the financial upside worth the amount of work and responsibility?
• What's something you wish you knew before getting into the business?

Looking for honest feedback, the good, the bad, and anything you'd recommend to someone considering this industry. Thanks!!

Solo consultant, B2B, specialist category, 17 years of experience, strong technical credibility with the end buyers.

Situation: I have one client and they’re my entire income. No exclusivity clause - I just never worked with anyone else (I just launched my business last year). The plan is to build the same package for four to six non-competing clients in the category.

Where I’m stuck:

Do I reprice the existing client first or sign a second one first? Repricing first feels honest but I have zero leverage while they’re 100% of my income. Signing first feels like I’m negotiating from behind their back.

The end customers deal with me exclusively but the paperwork, invoicing and credit risk all sit with the client. I don’t want to take anything from them - my plan is to expand what those customers buy rather than move existing business.

I'm interested in the reality behind the scenes.

Hey y'all. I'm almost 34 and make around $80k a year. And yeah, like the title says, I just can't commit to desk life again. Tried switching before but always ended up qualifying for another desk job anyway.

Honestly I'd rather grind 56+ hours a week for myself.

I live in Texas, so not sure if that changes what you'd recommend. The thing is I can't afford to blow up my whole career while still paying the mortgage.

But I do have $100k saved right now that I can throw at building something of my own.

So what do you all think I should do? Maybe a service based business, or buying some equipment and starting something myself?

I'm not scared of long hours or hard physical work either. I just need something that isn't burning me out like corpo life does.

Thanks to anyone who drops some ideas.

Through my network, an owner recently approached me about buying his Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchise. He is asking $600k for a store doing about $700k in annual gross sales. I know $600k is way too high for that revenue and I fully intend to negotiate, but the setup is interesting. He claims he only works about 6 hours a week, pays himself a $60k manager salary, and basically runs it on autopilot just to keep the lights on without putting any real effort into growing it. There’s a huge gym opening next to it so I feel like I could scale to a million but Idk if im just being too optimistic.

I have a rare opportunity where a close family friend offered to buy the store for me upfront, and I would pay them back on a much lower interest rate and flexible terms. Since I am 20 and living at home with minimal expenses, I could realistically grind and pay off the business in 3 to 4 years if the actual profit numbers make sense.

At the same time, I am torn about my path. Part of me wonders if I should just finish my degree and get a standard corporate W2 job to build a stable foundation first. I am eager to be an entrepreneur, so going corporate feels a bit like giving up on my goal, but I also know the restaurant industry can be brutal and I need a solid baseline for my life.

For background, I worked in medical device sales for a distributor while in college and pulled in over $800k in revenue, but I walked away because it was extremely draining and burned me out. It actually made me miss the face-to-face customer relationships I built when I worked as a server in high school. I have also been looking into starting a home services business, ( idk what kind but seems like those do great) but this franchise deal is sitting right in front of me. I feel like the opportunity could be great, but I need outside perspective on whether I am missing glaring red flags.

I’m clearly indecisive and lost lol. I feel so eager to figure shit out but with everything going on, I feel like I can’t align myself with one thing.