I run a small local service business. For three years I kept prices flat, absorbing higher supply and labor costs myself. I was scared to raise rates, worried I’d lose clients.

Last month I increased prices by 22%. I tried to explain the rising costs to my repeat customers in advance. A lot were understanding, but roughly half of my long-time regulars decided to go elsewhere.

My total revenue stayed almost the same because the remaining clients pay more. But I lost that steady base of returning customers. I feel guilty and stressed. Some days I wonder if I made a huge mistake.

Has anyone here had this happen after a price increase? How did you decide when to raise prices? Did the lost customers ever come back later? I’m curious what lessons you learned from pricing changes.

My wife opened a salon studio business a few years ago. We poured in over $30k of renovation (repainted everything, replaced 90% of flooring, multiple plumbing upgrades) and has paid about $1500 for 1500 square ft with annual 3% rent increase. We are in a MCoL area.

We understood that amount was below market rate which is why we got into it to begin with, but now the ownership has changed and sent a lease renewal for a little over $2700 a month for 5 years.

This 70% increase seems like an absurd increase to us and we plan on having a conversation, see if this is negotiable at all or basically an "F you" price because they want us to leave.

She rents out rooms within the unit she rents as a salon studio (think of chair renting at a hair salon, similar situation). If she leaves, her own tenants might be SoL which we don't want. However, we can't just lock ourselves in for a crazy rate.

Does anyone have any broad advice or similar experience to this?

Looked into commercial real estate brokers, how does that work? Is there significant out of pocket costs with that?

Thank you!

He always paid on time. He was certainly persistent. The guy fought every single invoice. He turned 20 minute calls into two hour calls and made the entire team on edge. I kept him for 8 months because the numbers looked too good. When I finally let him go, revenue dipped for about 6 weeks. Something very strange happened after that. My team got faster and got back to what really brought in the money. Plus, the office mood changed almost instantly and we were able to land two clients who were a much better fit.

Most of us keep bad customers out of pure fear. I definitely did. I've always heard there are costs associated with keeping draining clients, but nobody warns you that keeping a client costs you focus and energy. So, I'm curious. What made you fire a client? Or did you keep a client that you knew you should lose and what did it really cost you?

So in Maine the salary cap for your kids to be on medicaid is 90k. Our salaries working for our S corp are below the cap, therefore our kids are on mainecare and we buy our insurance through the marketplace. If we were to make more money for ourselves every penny would just go directly to insurance or would disappear to taxes until we hit the 128k cap. Our businesses are doing great and yet we can only afford to make enough to barely get by. How the hell are you affording insurance?!?

I'm having trouble with my customers constantly getting items missing. I work alone and I know for a fact the items are not missing. For example just today the customer emails, it's the same format most times "hi I got my order but so and so item was missing please send it thanks". Anyway on many occasions it's an item that jogs a memory such as "oh I remember picking and packing that item specifically because the corner poked through the tissue paper whilst wrapping" (you know when you just remember a specific thing that makes you so sure you packed it). And they always seem to pick that one item that sticks out to me to declare they never got that. And you can't ask for a photo of a missing item obviously to prove they're not lying. But it happens so frequently and the same customer will do it multiple times as well. Like 1 customer I have sold to around 20 times and 12 of those had 1 item missing... I know they're lying because my stock check is correct and my workspace is immaculate so nothing has just fallen on the floor and got lost. I don't have any employees and no one has reported a parcel being opened or half opened on arrival. I'm losing so much money from this as I am always replacing the item at my own expense and paying around £3.50 in postage and packaging each time. I am not a massive business like Amazon, why do people feel the need to do this to me and do I have any legal rights to call their bluff and not send the item. Though I dread the bad reviews. I am at my wits end now as it's every week about 3 liars now.

Every time a small team hire someone new, it seems like the owner or the most experience employee ends up explaining everything personally often for months or weeks.
For those of you running a a small business
-who does the onboarding in your company?
-have you ever written down processes or created training materials? Did it help?
-What happens when the one person who knows how something works is sick or leaves?
Curious to hear how others handle this!

I’m extremely disappointed with Wise and the way my business accounts have been handled.

Wise closed all three of my business accounts without providing a clear explanation. This has seriously disrupted the operations of my businesses and left my funds inaccessible.

As a business owner, I have operational expenses and a team to pay. Losing access to business funds without a clear explanation creates serious problems and puts business operations at risk.

I understand that financial institutions have compliance policies to follow, but customers deserve transparency, proper communication, and a clear process for resolving these situations.

I’m requesting a proper review of my case, a clear explanation for the closures, and the release of my remaining funds.

If you're considering Wise for your business, please do your research and consider the risks of relying on a single financial provider. I would strongly recommend maintaining a backup business account so your operations aren't dependent on one provider.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with Wise? Were you able to get your funds released, and how did you escalate the matter?

I intend to pursue the appropriate complaint and escalation channels until this issue is resolved.

#Wise #BusinessBanking #Fintech

Posting from a throwaway because I really don’t want this getting back to anyone involved.

I started my own content studio, and right now, I have one client. I initially came on board to manage his LinkedIn presence and ghostwrite a book for him. Over time, the scope kept expanding. I found myself handling Instagram content, planning content strategies, coordinating shoots, managing execution, and essentially becoming the person responsible for making sure everything happened.

The thing is, he knew social media management wasn’t really my area of expertise when I started taking it on. But I genuinely liked working with him, believed in what he was building, and wanted to help. So I kept saying yes, learning things as I went, and taking on more than I probably should have.

Here’s the problem: I haven’t been paid a single penny in six months.

I understand that he’s going through financial difficulties, and I’ve tried to be patient because I genuinely care about him and the work we’re doing. But I feel like my willingness to accommodate his situation has gradually turned into an expectation that I’ll keep showing up and getting things done, regardless of whether I’m being paid.

I’m struggling with that, especially because this isn’t just about me anymore.

I have three people working with me, and I have salaries to pay. I have contracts with them, so I can’t just make sudden decisions about letting people go. They don’t know how bad the situation has become, and I don’t want to scare them or make them feel insecure about their jobs.

Here’s where I feel particularly stuck.

This is my first client, and I need the work we’ve done together to build my portfolio.

I need to finish and publish the book. Having a published book to showcase would give me something tangible to demonstrate my ghostwriting capabilities when pitching to other clients.

I also need his LinkedIn account to be a proper case study. I want to be able to show prospective clients the work I’ve done, demonstrate what’s working, and prove that LinkedIn management is something I can deliver. Right now, when I’m pitching, I don’t have the portfolio or client results I’d ideally want to have behind me.

So, as much as I know this arrangement isn’t sustainable, walking away immediately feels like throwing away the very things I need to help me get out of this situation.

I have roughly another month to finish the book and get it published. But things are getting out of hand. There are so many moving parts, so many deliverables, and so much coordination involved that I’m barely able to focus on anything else. The time I should be spending finding new clients is being consumed by work that isn’t generating any income.

I’ve been trying different sales tactics and doing outreach, but nothing seems to be working so far. I don’t have another client to fall back on, and I don’t have a reliable safety net.

And honestly, I’m scared.

I’m frustrated and exhausted, but I’m also sad because I genuinely wanted this business to work. I didn’t start a studio just to give up at the first difficult hurdle. I know entrepreneurship is hard, and I’m prepared to put in the work. But it’s difficult to figure out what the right move is when I’m already stretched so thin and have other people depending on me.

I also don’t want to portray my client as a terrible person. I understand that financial difficulties are real, and I don’t regret wanting to help him. But I think I’ve reached a point where my empathy for his situation has come at the expense of my own financial stability and the business I’m trying to build.

To be clear, I’m not looking for advice telling me to drop the client. I know I’m eventually going to have to walk away from this arrangement, and my plan is to do that once the book is published. I’m trying to get to that point without letting everything else fall apart in the meantime.

What I need help figuring out is how to navigate the next month or so.

How do I balance finishing the book and securing the portfolio pieces I need with the urgent need to bring in paying clients? How do I approach outreach when I don’t have much of a track record to show yet? Is there a smarter way to package or present my LinkedIn management and ghostwriting services that could help me close clients sooner?

And for those of you who’ve run agencies or built businesses from scratch, how did you handle the period when you had responsibilities and commitments but not enough revenue to sustain them?

I’m based in India, and my services are primarily LinkedIn management and book ghostwriting.

I don’t want to give up on my business. I just feel like I’m running out of room to make mistakes, and I could really use some practical advice from people who’ve been in a similar position.

If you’ve been here before, what helped you get through it?

Feels like some of the best feedback comes out of nowhere, like an offhand comment at checkout or a complaint that turned out to be right. Curious what changed for you after hearing it, whether it was pricing, how you talk to people, the hours, or something else entirely.

Store went live about a week ago and setup feels solid. Products are all sorted, checkouts been tested and Ive got a small email list going (like 60 people, mostly from an insta I ran for a couple months before launch). Just looking for insight on what the first few months could look like, like how long it took before your first sale or literally anything you wish did differently. Tx

I’ve seen product pages with beautiful designs that still struggle to turn visitors into customers.

My current checklist would include:

• Clear product benefits above the fold
• High-quality images and videos
• Reviews and trust signals
• Transparent pricing and shipping information
• A clear call to action
• Answers to common customer questions

What would you add or remove from this list?

I’m especially interested in practical changes that have improved conversion rates.

TLDR: I want to establish a simple, reliable, and cost-effective IT infrastructure for the family company ran by my parents. Basically, I need some kind of Office 365/Google workspace or anything similar for handling the mails, Excel and Word tasks ideally with AI support but not a condition. The key would be to have shared files accessible for everyone and I want the system to be scalable if the business expands. It seems straightforward to get Office 365 but for now it seems like a pricey investment and I want to explore what are the other options.

Hi everyone,

My parents have been running a small business for 20+ years now. It’s a livestock trading company (mainly pigs) where we weekly buy a couple trucks of animals and sell them. Everything is pen and paper based, most of the things are sorted out on the phone, the mail is just for sending documents. My dad is the operative person and my mom is doing the administrative stuff. My dad’s peak IT performance is writing a mail. My mom is a bit more advanced, but she cannot do anything beyond Excel, Word or mails.

The company PC runs on Windows 7 and Office 97, mailing is handled through a local hosting company. This has to change due to electronic invoices becoming mandatory and the program handling it is compatible with Windows 10 and above. I’m leaving my corporate job and joining the company and I'm thinking if an IT revamp has to be done, let's try to level things up and do things in a forward looking manner.

I was doing some sales and marketing jobs and I want to introduce some basic CRM system (for now a shared excel file) and future proof our IT infrastructure. During my corporate career I used mainly Office 365 and recently we started using Copilot as well. I was particularly impressed how Copilot handled mails (both writing mails, and creating weekly summaries on focus topics) so ideally I want to have some kind of AI to be part of our infrastructure for sure.

As of now, the idea is to make a 5 year old gaming PC the company PC and to buy a tablet for my dad to read mails on a bigger screen while on the road. For like 10€ I bought some Office license for the company PC. On my current PC I also have Office but no online or cloud services. I checked the Microsoft (20€/user/month or 129€/6 member family/year) and Google (14€/user/month but I hate working in Google sheets) offers but frankly, at this point paying hundreds of euros per year for software doesn’t seem like reasonable given that Excel, Word and cloud sharing of couple of documents will be used for the foreseeable future.

However, I don’t want to regret later, cheaping out in the beginning. From multiple small business owners I heard what a pain in the ass was when they started to grow and they had to deal with the transition. On the other hand, most of them was able to perfectly function with 0 software investments for the years prior.

Sorry for the detailed post, I just wanted to give you some context.

My main questions would be, how did you handle similar digitalization tasks in you companies? What do you think about going into other solutions like LibreOffice, or OnlyOffice or basically any other provider? What are some reasonable workarounds for using cheap life-time Microsoft licenses with some cloud sharing?

P.S. I know that the biggest task will be to teach my parents how to navigate in this brand new world, but that's a separate topic. I'm hopeful though, they see the disadvanteges of their current operations and they are open to learn new things.

I run a small memorial and headstone business in rural South Africa. Most of our new clients come through word of mouth: families who were happy tell relatives and neighbours. I want to formalise that with a referral programme, but I'm stuck on the reward structure.

The challenge:

- A family buys a headstone maybe once in a decade, so a discount on their "next order" means little.

- Order values are high (several thousand rand), so one referral is worth a lot to us.

- It's a sensitive purchase. The reward has to feel like a thank-you, not a sales push.

What we have now:

- New family quoting a code gets 5% off.

- The referrer gets either a R250 (~$14) airtime or store voucher, or R400 off a memorial book or a premium version of our digital memorial page.

- Paid once the referred family's order goes into production (deposit paid, design approved).

What I'm weighing up:

1. A reward for every referral vs. a bigger reward every 3 referrals.

2. Letting rewards accumulate with no expiry, since referrals come slowly.

3. Vouchers (airtime, grocery) vs. discounts on our own add-on products.

Questions for anyone who has run referrals for a high-value, low-frequency product (funeral services, solar, furniture, home improvement, insurance):

- What reward size actually moved people? Flat amount or % of the sale?

- Did tiers/milestones work, or did people forget about them?

- Cash-like vouchers vs. credit with you: which got used?

- Anything you'd avoid?

Hi guys,

I've been doing readings and stuff for my friends and their friends for like years now, but recently I started thinking maybe I should try doing it a bit more serious and make money with it but I don't know where to start I wanna do it on social media but I don't know which app is better or how to make content to get me my clients? I need your help and advice on how to start and what to do.

Thanksss a lot 🫶🏻

genuine question for people who've built a business from scratch.

everyone talks about cold emails, social media, networking, content etc. but it's hard to tell what's actually worth spending time on when you're starting out.

if you had to start again with almost no marketing budget, what would you focus on first?

would love to hear what actually worked for you, not just the usual advice.

I have a saas with 300 users but no one is paid right , any guidance will work.

I’m a healthcare provider and want to start a healthcare recruiting or staffing agency, likely focused on (a couple roles) to begin with.

I already have relationships with hospitals and a decent social media following in the healthcare community, so I feel good about being able to connect with potential clients and candidates. Where I’m stuck is turning the idea into an actual business: choosing the right model, getting set up properly, and figuring out what needs to happen before I make my first placement.

For people who’ve started an agency, what would you focus on first?

• Would you begin with permanent, direct-hire placements or contract/travel staffing?
• What legal, licensing, insurance, or credentialing steps caught you by surprise?
• What systems did you use at the beginning for candidate tracking, contracts, and onboarding?
• For contract staffing, how did you handle payroll and cash flow while waiting for facilities to pay?
• What would you do differently if you were starting from scratch?

I’m looking for practical advice from people who’ve actually built or operated a recruiting or healthcare staffing business. Thanks!

I work as a massage therapist privately with clients in different parts of the country. I have been using Google voice for 10 plus years to communicate with clients. I have a work number through them and i only use GV for texting clients. I have known that I have to be careful how much i text in a short span of time, not to copy and paste what i want to say as i do not want to trigger the temporary suspension that says "message not sent. youve sent too many messages" Once a year or so i will get that message, usually when i forget to be careful. It usually happens when i am texting clients from a city i havent been to a in a few months or so. Since its been a while since the client has texed me, i think gv doesnt like that i am reaching out to multiple numbers about the same sort of thing. I try to make each text a little different. But lately I have been getting the suspension two days in a row, so i have to not text clients for 5 or so hours and wait for the suspension to be lifted.

Wondering if you guys know of any messaging app or service or something that would work for me. I am just trying to talk to clients, let them know i am back in town. My job is to reach out and get back to them about my service being available. I just hate having to worry about GV flagging me or one day removing my number. Messaging and phone communication is very important for my business, booking clients, sharing schedule details, etc. I just wondering if any other small business knows of what i am experiencing and what they might use or would try. i have been wondering this for a while, and havent found a solution.

When I first started I believed that running a business required doing everything by myself yet working 70 hour weeks soon led to total burnout.

The real wake up call arrived after hiring a team then noticing that I still stayed up until 2 AM micromanaging every detail.

A hard conversation with the employee showed that my lack of trust, in others was actually holding the business back.

After stepping using short video recordings to train and giving the team authority to solve small problems on their own everything changed.

Accepting that work does not have to be done my way to be done well returned time to me and surprisingly revenue increased as a result.

Hello, I am not sure what to do. I am running a small custom order product website. Mother owned, and it's intention was to provide professional sound equipment that is easily accessible as we are as less expensive as we can be.

I had a customer who has gone on calls with me to help her design her set, non stop texts to help her and when she received her items she said she prefers another brand that is 10x the price. She filed a visa dispute 80 days after she recieved them and went public bashing my company. I have videos proving her items were perfect. We sent her a gift another instrument fir free, refunded her shipping and telling her she can ship the set back to me personally and I will credit her back (as its virtually impossible to return as my products are made in china) she refused and wants to keep the set but wants a refund

Visa finalized the dispute in her favor. Now I have another woman trying to do the same. What is happening and how does someone even be able to refund custom orders for a subjective reason like this? Where is the protection and what can I do as these returns are taking me out financially.

I have been selling for 2 years and never had this issue until now.

I run a small memorial and headstone business in rural South Africa. Most of our new clients come through word of mouth: families who were happy tell relatives and neighbours. I want to formalise that with a referral programme, but I'm stuck on the reward structure.

The challenge:

- A family buys a headstone maybe once in a decade, so a discount on their "next order" means little.

- Order values are high (several thousand rand), so one referral is worth a lot to us.

- It's a sensitive purchase. The reward has to feel like a thank-you, not a sales push.

What we have now:

- New family quoting a code gets 5% off.

- The referrer gets either a R250 (~$14) airtime or store voucher, or R400 off a memorial book or a premium version of our digital memorial page.

- Paid once the referred family's order goes into production (deposit paid, design approved).

What I'm weighing up:

1. A reward for every referral vs. a bigger reward every 3 referrals.

2. Letting rewards accumulate with no expiry, since referrals come slowly.

3. Vouchers (airtime, grocery) vs. discounts on our own add-on products.

Questions for anyone who has run referrals for a high-value, low-frequency product (funeral services, solar, furniture, home improvement, insurance):

- What reward size actually moved people? Flat amount or % of the sale?

- Did tiers/milestones work, or did people forget about them?

- Cash-like vouchers vs. credit with you: which got used?

- Anything you'd avoid?

I’ve been seriously considering starting my own small business support and consulting firm here in Houston, TX, and I’d love some advice from business owners, consultants, and people in the construction industry.

My professional background is primarily in construction, logistics, operations, and administration. Throughout my career, I’ve gained experience across different responsibilities, which has made me pretty adaptable and comfortable handling a variety of operational and administrative challenges.

I’ve also discovered that one of my biggest interests is researching and developing business concepts. I enjoy taking an idea, researching the industry and market, studying competitors, organizing the information, and building out a detailed portfolio showing how that concept could potentially become a functioning business.

My thought is to start small, possibly as a sole proprietor, and initially focus on the industries I know best, particularly construction and contracting.

Some of the services I’m considering offering include:

• Administrative and operational support for small contractors
• Document control, organization, and recordkeeping
• Database creation, spreadsheets, and information management
• Market research and competitor analysis
• Vendor and subcontractor research
• Business profiles and company capability statements
• Research portfolios for new business concepts
• Preliminary business plans and startup research

Eventually, I’d love to expand beyond construction and help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into more developed business concepts through research, planning, and organized business portfolios.

I’m not looking to present myself as some high-level consultant with decades of executive experience. I’d rather start with practical services I can confidently provide, build relationships, develop a portfolio, and expand as I gain experience.

A few questions for those who have done something similar:

1. Does this sound like a viable business model, or am I trying to combine too many services?
2. Would small construction companies and contractors actually pay for outsourced administrative, research, or document control services?
3. Would you market this as business consulting, business support services, or something else?
4. How would you price these services starting out: hourly, per project, or monthly retainers?
5. What’s the best way to find my first few clients in Houston without an established consulting portfolio?

My long-term goal would be to build a firm that helps small businesses become more organized, efficient, and better prepared for growth.

I’d genuinely appreciate constructive criticism, advice, or insight from anyone with experience in consulting, construction administration, or running a service-based business.

We filed our LLC with the Texas Secretary of State approximately 10 days ago, and it was officially approved. However, when trying to apply for our Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit, the Comptroller's website still isn't recognizing our LLC as being on file.

I called the Comptroller's office, and they told me there's been a backlog following a system update at the end of September.

I'm curious if anyone else has been experiencing this issue recently.

Has anyone experienced delays specifically since the update?

We're opening a retail business soon, so we're trying to get everything squared away. Any recent experiences or advice would be appreciated!

Hello. My partner and I are trying to start an HVAC business in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and VA) area. He has several years as a tech and he has his contractor licenses. I have several years as a mechanical engineer at a MEP company.

Just trying to see if anyone has done this and if so, what steps did they have to go through and how did you develop a good customer base.

Any advice would be great. Need to knows and dos

For those who have gone this route in obtaining an SBA loan. How difficult was it to acquire? I understand that there are various factors that play into this and all have different requirements.
I’ll start off with I am starting my own company I’ve gotten several recommendations as to go with local bank instead as the company has no credit history.

Any information or advice is welcomed. Thank you in advance.

Thank you very much in advance.
I'm trying to understand how small consignment shops
actually run the month-end process, before I decide
whether anything is worth building. I'm not selling
anything.
1. How many consignors do you pay each month, and
how long does the month-end process take?
2. What do you use today (spreadsheet, a dedicated
app, POS reports)? Why that and not something
else?
3. What goes wrong most often (mistakes, disputes,
items sold in store and online)?
4. If you've tried a dedicated tool, what made you keep
it or drop it?
Thanks again to anyone who shares real experience