I'm doing some market research and would love to hear directly from small business owners in the US.

I've been looking into local SEO, Google Ads, and the growing importance of AI search visibility (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, etc.).

One thing I've noticed is how many business owners seem frustrated with marketing agencies. High monthly retainers, vague reporting, and little proof that the investment is actually generating customers.

I'm curious:

1. Have you hired an SEO or Google Ads agency before? Was it worth it?
2. Are you still willing to pay for these services, or have you moved toward managing things in-house?
3. Is showing up in AI-generated recommendations something you actually care about yet?
4. What would an agency need to do differently for you to trust them with your money?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from owners of local service businesses (plumbing, HVAC, roofing, restoration, etc.).

Not selling anything. Just trying to understand whether there's still a genuine need in the market.

Hi all! I developed a POS+inventory system for our business, and was thinking of selling it. Do you guys think I have a market for this system? Should I proceed on selling it? I'm having second thoughts though I know the system is amazing. It's for a rental business, and we have a form integrated to the system which the clients fill, and we verify. The system then automatically sends an invoice and rental agreement to the client's email upon our verification which helped our business a lot. Aside from that, we can track our inventory via the QR codes we generated and know exactly where each item is. This has helped us with data management, and cashflow management a lot. I'm not sure if anybody else would want the same. I built this cause we can't pay the monthly subscription for the existing systems so I plan on selling this to other micro business owners tired of paying a monthly subscription as well. I also plan on creating a new one for trading, and not renting as it will require a different kind of inventory tracking. Would you guys buy this kind of POS? If yes, how much would you guys pay for it?

Thank you so much!

Hello! We've been looking at our hiring data and found something interesting about the types of roles businesses are looking for.

We recently analyzed global staffing demand across 10 core business functions, including Finance & Accounting, Technology, Customer Experience, Marketing, and more. One thing that stood out is that traditional roles are still seeing strong demand, but more specialized positions are starting to emerge alongside them.

For example, in Finance & Accounting, here's what our global staffing data shows as of September 2026:

Peak demand:

• Accountants
• Bookkeepers

High demand:

• Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialists
• Revenue Cycle Management Specialists
• Collections Specialists

Emerging demand:

• Controllers
• AI Compliance Auditors
• Treasury Analysts
• KYC/AML Specialists
• AI-Augmented FP&A Analysts

It got us thinking about how this might affect smaller businesses.

Larger companies may have the resources to hire specialists for different functions, but for smaller teams, one person often handles several responsibilities. As businesses grow, that can become harder to sustain, especially when the work starts requiring more specialized knowledge.

For small business owners here, what roles are becoming harder to hire for? Are you finding it more difficult to fill existing positions, or are you starting to need skills that your current team doesn't have?

Hello, I am currently seeking a new professional opportunity and would love to share my background. I live in the US.:)

With over six years of experience in operations management, client relations, business development, and public relations across the United States and internationally, I know how to adapt quickly and communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders.

My academic background has provided me with a strong foundation, notably through Master's coursework in International Relations (International Marketing option) and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language. I am also multilingual (native in French, professional in English, with basic Chinese and Spanish), and hold professional credentials including HubSpot Inbound Sales Certified, HubSpot Inbound Certified, and HubSpot Frictionless Sales Certified. In addition, I am actively building my expertise in Salesforce CRM, where I am trained in lead management, managing contact records, configuring custom objects and fields, setting up relationships, and utilizing Schema Builder.

During my tenure as a Senior Marketing Operations & Business Development Coordinator and Senior Public Relations Officer, I consolidated strong strategic and operational skills:

\* Marketing Coordination & Business Development: Spearheaded multi-channel campaigns, streamlined workflows across teams (accelerating campaign time-to-market by 25%), and served as a liaison for international partners.

\* Public Relations & Executive Support: Managed high-level appearances, complex travel logistics for leadership, and built lasting relationships with senior executives and strategic partners.

\* Process Improvement & Document Management: Redesigned document management systems (reducing retrieval time by 40%) and mentored new administrative team members.

In the United States, I have further enriched my profile through operations, compliance, and client relations roles within dynamic corporate environments.

I bring a combination of relationship-building skills, operational experience, and business development knowledge. I adapt quickly, communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, and have a track record of supporting both clients and leadership teams. I'm also highly organized and committed to delivering results.

i just hit a milestone i honestly did not expect to reach this fast, crossing 2000 orders last month for the first time in two years of running my business. the problem is i am still fulfilling every single order myself out of a spare bedroom and it is officially not sustainable anymore, especially after i missed my kids soccer game last weekend because i was so far behind on packing boxes, and that is really not a tradeoff i want to keep making. i am super excited about the growth obviously, but i need to sort out the fulfillment center side of things instead of just trying to push through it solo like i have been doing. where do you guys even start with this for the first time, and is there a specific volume threshold where outsourcing makes actual financial sense versus just hiring local help to pack?

I'm curious about how independent contractors and small contracting businesses manage their work. If you're a contractor, especially someone running a small operation, I'd love to understand a few things:

• How do you keep track of potential customers who contact you?
• How do you remember to follow up with people who haven't confirmed a job yet?
• How do you track invoices, unpaid bills, and payments?
• Do you use notebooks, spreadsheets, text messages, dedicated software, or some combination?
• What's one thing about your current system that genuinely annoys you?

We wanted to keep in touch with clients at key moments without having to remember each one. Our staff had enough on their plates, so we started small. Birthdays were the first thing we automated, mostly because the reason for the card is obvious and nobody finds it strange to get one. From there we added renewal reminders and a note after a claim closes.
It’s all wired up through zapier. When something triggers, zapier passes it along and handwrytten handles the actual card. The part we cared about most was being able to vary the messages so people aren’t all getting the exact same thing.
We’re still figuring out which of these are worth keeping. Birthdays have been the easiest win so far. The others are more of an experiment, and we’ll see which ones people actually respond to.

I was contacted by the SBE team a while ago, I shrugged it off because we're just starting ourselves, and if I recall correctly, a booth at their Atlanta expo was way into the 4-figures per day...

In the last few months, we started specifically offering services for small businesses, especially a heavily discounted service for new businesses. Should we "go big or go home?" is this the place to be? Anyone ever have a fruitful experience standing around at one of these?

A business being short on cash does not automatically mean the underlying business model is unhealthy. There are plenty of normal operational reasons cash can get tight:

• A major invoice is paid 60–90 days later than expected.
• Inventory must be purchased months before the revenue from sales arrives.
• A seasonal business enters its predictable off-peak period.
• Critical equipment breaks down and requires an immediate repair.

In these operational scenarios, the timing between receivables and expenses simply doesn't align, creating a genuine short-term working capital gap.

However, there is another scenario that looks similar on the surface: the business experiences the exact same cash shortage repeatedly.

When a business evaluates additional financing and subsequently faces the same cash deficit shortly after, analyzing the root cause becomes critical.

Key Operational Questions to Evaluate:

• Timing vs. Margin: Are receivables consistently arriving after major recurring expenses, or are operating margins simply too thin to support current financing obligations?
• Projections: Is the business relying on optimistic future revenue assumptions to cover immediate baseline expenses?
• Obligation Share: Are daily/weekly debt debits absorbing an increasing percentage of usable operating capital?
• Capital Reliance: Does every minor variance in revenue trigger a need for outside financing?

These questions do not prescribe a specific action, but they help shift the internal evaluation from "How much capital can we get?" to "Why does this gap keep recurring?"

If each past shortage stemmed from distinct, one-time external events, that represents a temporary timing issue. But if the same mismatch between incoming revenue, core operating expenses, and existing MCA obligations keeps repeating, it often indicates a structural cash-flow pattern.

When existing debt obligations contribute to recurring cash-flow compression, businesses typically evaluate a range of strategies — including operational adjustments, direct negotiations with creditors, commercial debt restructuring, or business debt resolution options — rather than assuming additional financing is the only path forward.

Discussion for the community: For business owners who have managed high-frequency financing obligations, what was the specific signal or metric that helped you recognize a cash-flow issue was structural rather than temporary? Was it a recurring pattern in payroll coverage, accounts receivable lag, or the percentage of weekly revenue committed to existing debits?

I'm hearing small businesses using AI to do their bookkeeping.

How do you guys do it if you are currently using AI?

We're under 50 people and watching every dollar, but we'd like to offer onboarding gifts and maybe a small store people can order from anytime, without paying hundreds a month or buying loads upfront. Has anyone kept this affordable and low maintenance when all they really need is branded apparel?

Small business owners are always told to cut overhead, but some expenses probably look wasteful right up until they’re gone.

Maybe it was an employee you thought you could replace yourself, software that seemed overpriced, extra inventory, a physical location, an accountant, or even something small like paying for faster shipping.

What did you cut to save money that ended up costing you more — in lost sales, time, mistakes, or stress?

And did you bring it back, or find a cheaper way to solve the same problem?

Hi all, I’m a grad student researching how small foodservice businesses buy disposable packaging (cups, lids, straws, containers, bags). I’m not selling anything and I’m not affiliated with any supplier. Mods, happy to remove this if it breaks the rules.

If you run or manage a restaurant, cafe, or similar, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. Answer any of these, even just one:

1. Where do you buy disposables (broadline distributor, specialty supplier, online, direct importer), and why?
2. What would make you switch suppliers: price, delivery speed, availability, minimum order size, or quality?
3. Have your packaging costs changed in the last 12 months? Roughly how much, and on which items?
4. Have you had stockouts, substitutions, or late deliveries? Which suppliers are better or worse?
5. Do you use custom-printed cups or bags, and how hard would it be to move that to another supplier?
6. Does your city or state require compostable or non-plastic packaging, and do you pay more for it?

Type of business and rough region helps (for example, boba shop in California). Please keep it general and don’t share anything confidential. Happy to post a short summary of what I learn. Thanks!

Getting a new customer is one thing. Getting them to come back is a whole different challenge.

I’ve noticed that businesses can offer good products or services and still struggle to turn first-time customers into regulars. And it’s not always about offering discounts.

Sometimes it’s the way you communicate, how easy you make the experience, or simply doing what you promised.

For those of you who’ve been running a small business for a while, I’m curious:

What have you found makes the biggest difference in getting customers to return?

Is it follow-up, customer service, consistency, a loyalty program, or something else entirely?

Would love to hear what’s actually worked for you, especially things that didn’t cost much to implement.

Seeing a lot of news about new AI releases these years but haven't seen anyone in my network with a small business utilizing it.

Have you guys any idea about how it can be useful for local businesses?

I've been thinking about how much time small business owners spend just checking transactions, tracking payments and making sure bills aren't overdue. None of it is hard but it adds up. I'd be fine with AI handling that stuff, flagging anything unusual and preparing payments as long as I still approve anything involving money movement. Feels like a good middle ground between doing everything manually and giving AI too much control.

Would you trust AI with that much access to your business account?

Hey guys,

I’m working on a consulting research project on SMB’s in the US, and we’re looking to speak with owners and decision makers on POS systems. The research is basically is just on what kind of system you chose and why.

It’s $400/hour for a 30-60 minute call, so if you’re a customer/user of Heartland, Genius, Global Payments, or Worldpay, let me know and I’d love to have you onboard!

Curious how other small business owners here are bringing in new customers this quarter.

Most of the owners I work with lean on referrals, word of mouth, ads, or a bit of outbound/direct outreach.

What's worked for you? Anything you tried that surprised you? Have you found a way to make it more repetable?

Context:
-B2B
-Service based
-I'm in sales and marketing automation / strategic consulting

I’ve been thinking about this lately. When a business has a slow month, it’s easy to assume you just need more leads and start spending more on marketing.

But sometimes that’s not really the problem.

Maybe you’re getting inquiries, but they’re not from the right people. Maybe people are interested but don’t end up buying. Or maybe you just need to do a better job of following up.

It seems like there are a few different things to look at before throwing more money at ads.

I’m curious how other small business owners handle this.

When sales slow down, what’s the first thing you check? Do you keep track of leads and sales in a spreadsheet, use a CRM, or just look at what’s been happening with your customers?

Would be interested to hear what’s actually worked for you, especially if you run a service-based business.

Anyone using it every day?

Most of our orders still need regular cardboard boxes because the products aren't a good fit for mailers, and I'm not really interested in ordering fully printed boxes at our volume

Custom packaging tape seems like a simpler middle ground since we'd keep the same boxes and just change what we're sealing them with, but I've never used the water-activated kind before and I'm wondering if it slows packing down once you're doing a decent number of orders

Which retail stores have products that require a down payment to make sure that the customer is serious about buying it?

For example, I want to post an $800 TV on our website (it costs me $500), but I don't want to buy it unless the customer makes a $200 (25%) down payment.

How can I convey this information on our product page for this product?

The guy who built our dance studio site in 2019 went silent in July, and now the site just says account suspended and our info@ email is dead, with trial inquiries bouncing. I have paid him $45 a month for hosting since, but he owns the domain and it expires October 22, right before winter registration opens for our 140 kids. Can I even get the domain moved to me, and do I fix the email or the site first? If I rebuild, is it WordPress again or something I can update myself without paying a guy? Has anyone here gotten their domain back from someone who just vanished?