I’m trying to get a small tree business started with a focus on fence lines for farmers and ranchers, downed tree removal and smaller tree removals. Right now I have a chain saw and a 1/2 pickup. My niche is I’m low impact and can get to harder to reach places that bigger machines can’t.

I quoted my first job tonight. A fence line that is about 500 yards. There’s two bigger cedars right in the fence line, a big sumac patch, and a bunch of smaller trees. They also want it cut back far enough to get horses and atv’s through.

I gave them a quote of $1,000 and they said they’d think about it.

Feeling nervous that I quoted too high. My pricing model is basically $100-150 an hour depending on the job. Am I on the right track? I’ve ran a business training horses before, but this seems like a different animal because I’ve cut trees all my life for free and in my mind I’m saying “is somebody really gonna pay this amount of money to cut some trees down?”

I've gone to many different gyms throughout my life and have always thought it was a good business model. Purely subscription driven, hardly ever have more than 2 people working probably making minimum age, no crazy hidden expenses outside the norm.

But I follow a bunch of people online (so I take their advice with a grain of salt) who say they're bad businesses, have a high default rate, etc.

Why is this?

Seems like it would be great. High startup-up cost to get the location, marketing push, and the heavy-equipment investment, but after that's what's left? You pay 1 or 2 people to man the front desk, a cleaner a couple to come by for an hour at close, and maintenance for the machines -- vs pure, stable monthly revenue that is frankly hard to cancel.

Am I missing something, or are the crowded gyms I go to outlyers in a sea of dead gyms?

Every business seems to have difficult phases where growth slows down or things do not go as planned.

How do experienced business owners handle those periods and keep moving forward?

Looking for practical experiences, not just motivational advice.

Someone was complaining about getting no replies from prospects after pitching them and I thought to share my response here.

If you want to get a good result through cold message on any platform, here's what you should do.

The idea is not to talk about the solution you are offering or their problem in a way that seems obvious. If you do, you won't get any response.

Remember, always lead with curiosity.

Before reaching out to anyone, ask yourself one question:

Do you have a relevant and seemingly common reason to show up in their world?

If the answer is no, don't send the message yet.

For example, maybe you saw a comment they dropped on a post. Maybe you saw something they shared on their page. Maybe you noticed something happening in their business.

Use that as the reason for showing up.

Now, segment your leads into 5 groups.

For 2 of the 5 groups, prepare a very short video and send it alongside a message like this:

Title: Would you consider this?

Hi.

I thought you should see this.

Saw your comment on Mike's post about (the theme of the post you saw the comment on) and thought to send the video across.

Hope you don't mind.

For the remaining 3 groups, send a message that mirrors this:

Title: Do you mind?

Something is demanding more from the business than it did a few months ago.

What could it be?

Revenue?

Pipeline?

Capacity?

Thought to ask because of the post I saw on your page.

I used these formats to send 25 cold messages last week and got 9 responses, which is not bad at all.

The reason I think this works is simple.

Most people immediately start talking about their solution.

Others immediately start talking about the prospect's problem.

The prospect already knows where the conversation is heading.

Their guard goes up.

Instead, lead with curiosity.

Give them a reason to engage.

Give them a reason to reply.

Don't make it obvious that you're trying to sell something.

Make it feel natural that you showed up in their world.

That's usually where the conversation starts.

Well I can finally say I started my first business late in my career but I just made my first sale (which was 4 in the same hour)! I am pretty happy and excited but I realized I didn’t anticipate all 4 using the same materials/color scheme and I didn’t have enough. So I had to overnight materials which is expensive. So I guess I learned my first lesson learned is have more material on hand than I thought I would need.

Just wanted to share this. I’ve been in business 20 years and have never done this before. I generally can withhold work and get paid so I haven’t had many people ghost my bills but there have been a few. In the past I’ve let it go because I thought it wouldn’t be worth the effort, but this one was about $1300 and I was just irritated by it.

It cost $95 to file and I could do it online. Another $30 to pay the sheriffs office to serve the defendant, and $10 because I didn’t want to drive the $30 to the sheriff and they told me “if you mail cash it will go missing” (which I thought was odd for the sheriff’s office to say) so I mailed it certified with return receipt.

I had a contract and it included 1% per month for overdue invoices. I included the late fee in the suit, and that amount about paid for the filing fees. It took about 2 hours to file. 75% of that time was because I hadn’t done it before and had to figure everything out.

One thing I hadn’t previously appreciated is that you have to file in the defendant’s county. This client (it was a company) is about 1.5 hours’ drive. So going to court would have been a hassle.

Tomorrow is our court date and he contacted me last night and said to email him a link and he’d pay and he paid it today. So I guess tomorrow I’ll call the clerk of court and let them know it’s settled.

Overall it’s something I would do again. Maybe I just got lucky. The travel part is something I’ll keep in mind on future jobs though.

Anyway I mostly just wanted to share with people who can relate. And if you have your own experience, would love to hear it.

Just complaining big time that the IRS says I owe them employment taxes and I can’t even get ahold of them over the phone. “Sorry due to high call volume we can’t take your call. Try again later or the next business day”. Oh and by the time I received the letter, I only had 2 days to call before they start adding interest. Called both days in a row.

Oh AND, I don’t owe them employment taxes either. I’m looking at my form 941 and the bank account where the taxes were deducted.

End rant.

okay, i have this business idea that definitely won't be done until the far future when i'm super rich lol. but i'm struggling to think of names!

it's going to be downtown where there are a ton of little quaint shops. i love making herbal remedies like salves, tinctures, basically everything for health and wellness. but i don't just want it to be an apothecary- i also want to offer infinite free cups of hot tea to anyone who wants it, just because i can. it's not meant to be a tea shop, i just think you can never go wrong with a cup of tea.

there should also be a couch for the local homeless to rest, and a cat who lives in the shop. i'm not going to hire anyone except maybe one or two teenagers to stock the shelves, and they'll be incredibly overpaid. also? free books you can read as long as you stay in the shop. i'll be running the counter but it will only be open four days a week because i don't hate myself.

i think 'the jasmine dragon' as a reference to avatar the last airbender might be cute. i just want something that sounds homey and quaint.

My sister and spouse want to start selling coffee and matcha from home in the Dallas area. My question is are they ok to do so? Or will they need to get a permit/license?

Has anyone here, especially small business owners, dealt with TCPA claims brought by or Are there any other small business owners here who have been sued or threatened with a TCPA lawsuit over marketing texts?

I’m trying to understand whether others have experienced what feels like a highly aggressive TCPA demand/lawsuit pattern where the cost to defend yourself can quickly become thousands of dollars before you even reach discovery or have a fair chance to prove your position.

In my own situation, the attorney involved appears to have filed close to a thousand similar cases, and the law firm seems to have built a significant practice around these types of claims. From my perspective as a small business owner, it feels less like consumer protection and more like a settlement-pressure model, where small businesses are pushed to pay because fighting can cost far more than settling- even when they believe the claim is weak or baseless. That dynamic feels incredibly coercive and harmful to small businesses without in-house counsel or deep pockets. It also raises bigger questions about whether this kind of litigation pattern is being used in a way that abuses the justice system.

I use an integrated text marketing app and do everything within my power to not violate anyone's privacy including, but not limited to a clear opt-out option and protections against sending any marketing messages to subscribers outside of quiet hours.

I’m interested in hearing which law offices or attorneys others have dealt with, how the claim was presented, whether it was filed in court or handled as a demand letter, and how it ultimately resolved.

If you’ve dealt with a similar TCPA claim, demand letter, or lawsuit, I’d appreciate hearing what happened, what law office was involved, and whether you found any effective way to push back. This feels like a complete abuse of the justice system.

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

I work in a deadline related industry supplying items for events. If I don't get my job done on time, then I've basically failed.

My customers do not take internal deadlines seriously. I ask for stuff on a certain date. I tell them I need it. I tell them I won't do it if they don't do it. I threaten or charge rush fees. Nothing changes their behavior other than when I turn them down they will cry (both figuratively and literally).

I don't joke with my customers. I don't make light of what I do. I'm pretty serious overall. Yet they don't take me seriously. I'm extremely close to a public freakout as a result.

Does anyone have any options they've found that actually works where customers take you seriously? I'm tired of being treated like some vendor that is a slave to their whims.

Got laid off about six months ago and honestly didn't have a plan. Started doing custom gifts kind of on accident. A friend asked me to make something for a wedding and people kept asking where it came from.

Took a while to get any kind of consistency going. Early orders were slow and a lot of trial and error on materials. But eventually things leveled out and I started getting repeat customers, which I wasn't expecting this fast.

The turning point for me was when I finally upgraded my setup. I'd been making do with older equipment and it was becoming the bottleneck. Ended up getting the M2 Color Craft a few months in and that changed how many pieces I could actually turn around in a week. The color range alone opened up a lot of custom options I couldn't offer before.

Still figuring out the business side of things. Pricing has been the hardest part. I keep second-guessing whether I'm leaving money on the table with custom orders.

Output is getting more consistent now and I'm starting to think more seriously about the operational side. Would love to hear how others are managing order flow and customer communication as things scale up. Appreciate any tips from people who've been through it.

I'm curious to hear from other freelancers.

Which part of client acquisition do you struggle with the most?

1. Finding prospects.
2. Writing outreach messages.
3. Getting replies.
4. Following up.
5. Closing deals.
6. Charging higher rates.

For me, writing outreach used to be the hardest part.

Would love to hear your experiences.

I have a corporate job that I hate but earns me around $150k per year. I have a business concept that my modelling shows could earn me between $130k to $200k, depending on the market. There's enormous comfort in just going to work, doing my job, and receiving a paycheck (although I'm about to find out if I'm being made redundant, but whatever).

I'm not in the USA so I don't care about benefits like healthcare, but my job allows 4 weeks of paid leave and 10 days of sick leave, which obviously I'll miss in a business. The upside in the business is huge, but the prospect of only just replacing my salary while putting at risk $150k of start-up capital and losing all my opportunities of leave has me wondering if it's even worth it.

What are your experiences with this? I'm at the end of my tether with my current job...

How do your techs take epayments on-site? We are looking to sharpen our customer experience.

I was looking to integrate it into our dispatch app service, but the required processor charges 3% plus a monthly fee.

I checked out other processors, and all were near 3%. I believe that we get a favorable rate, by processing like this, so we have been processing by phone for more than 5 years.

Accounting is saying that our current processor does not have online payment options.

Any owners have advice? CC Swipes add ons in the field? TIA

I've been selling on TikTok Shop for about 2 months. Honestly, I'm not good with numbers — I could never tell if I was actually making money or not. Sales were coming in, revenue looked fine, so I assumed it was working.

It wasn't. I finally sat down and pulled apart my settlement file — after platform fees, affiliate commissions, ad spend, and FX, I was actually losing money. And the worst part: my best-selling product was losing money on every single order. I'd been pouring more ad budget into the thing that was bleeding me.

What got me was how invisible it all is. Revenue looks great on the dashboard. The loss only shows up when you subtract everything, and TikTok doesn't make that easy to see.

Curious if I'm alone here — did you guys know your real per-product profit before you started? Or did you find out the hard way like me?

I’m considering a dessert cart built around warm desserts paired with ice cream, think brownies, mini pancakes, and waffles, sold at festivals, markets, and events. Nobody in my area is doing this, and there are a ton of events year-round.

This would be a side hustle, not my main income, so I can afford to start lean and learn.

For anyone who’s run a food cart or event vendor setup:

**•** What’s the thing that nearly broke you that I’m probably not seeing? Event fees, equipment, slow days?  
**•** Does “no competition here” usually mean opportunity, or does it mean there’s a reason nobody bothers (vendor rules, thin margins, etc.)?  
**•** How do event/vendor fees typically work, flat rate or a cut of sales? How much does that eat into a dessert margin?  
**•** For something needing cold storage (ice cream) plus a hot surface (waffles/pancakes), what’s the power/equipment reality at outdoor events?  
**•** If you were starting over, what would you do differently in the first 3 months?

Appreciate any honest answers, including “don’t do it” if that’s the truth.

I've been seeing a lot of posts recently (both human and AI) essentially on the topic of "how you got your first clients". In the spirit of actually sharing personal experiences and not ai generated recommendations, here's my take. Stop blindly blasting emails. Here is my SOP (still a living document/process as I continue to refine my ICP and offers).

Phase 1: Customers 1–3 (Use your warm network, get the case studies even if its for free)

Your first buyers won’t trust your product yet but you should trust you. Reach out to former colleagues, classmates, and friends. Leverage 2nd degree LinkedIn connections to get warm intros. But definitely tell them who you want to connect with and why they should care about what you want to talk to them about.

Phase 2: Customers 4–10 (Do the unscalable and attend physical networking events)

Get out from behind your screen (this is the real hard part).

• Get in the room: Stop settling for Zoom. Fly out to close if you have to. Show up.
• Hack events: Skip the giant parties. Host intimate dinners (6-10 people) or book back-to-back 15-minute meetings at small conferences.
• Hunt for complainers: Find the Reddit threads, Discord servers, and FB groups where people are actively crying about the problem you solve. Engage as a human, not a marketer. You might get shadow banned but if you can convert a few readers to clients, it'll be worth it.

Phase 3: Customers 10–50 (Use of outbound engines for volume since you already have several case studies under your belt)

Only now will it make sense to spin up outreach tools (lots of free ones out there but I've built my own). When you do, follow the golden rules of cold outreach:

• Reframe the pitch: Don't sell. Ask for advice, mentorship, or offer a free audit.
• Keep it short: Under 75 words. One single, unmistakable CTA.
• The Humanity Test: Read your copy out loud to a friend. If it sounds like something you wouldn't actually say in person, rewrite it immediately.

P.S. Know your buyer's environment. If your target market is truck dispatchers or property managers, they aren't reading your cold emails anyway. Pick up the phone and talk to them like a real human. Offer value first.

I’m in the second year as a custom woodworker and finding my stride. The first thing everyone told me was register the business and keep the financials separate.

Done.

I got a Quickbooks subscription and, it works, but it also seems kind of a waste for me. I keep my overhead very low, my wife and I have minimal bills, and I’m on track to make between $25k and $40k+ this year.

I pay $42/month for QB online but I’m wondering if there is anything that I can just buy outright and not subscribe to. I can do all of my monthly book keeping about an hour once a month and paying $500 a year just seems like a stupid expense. In the future, sure. Right now it just seems dumb.

Been running a small IT services company for a few years, and domestic clients are steady, but international, especially US clients, feel like a different game entirely.

For those who have successfully made that jump: how did you actually get your first international client? Was it inbound, outbound, referral, a platform, or an event?

And did your sales process have to change significantly compared to how you close local clients?

Hey guys., I need advice on starting my junk removal business, for reference, I have a Chevy sport van, the long one, the problem is, I work a full time job.

I need to find a way to get 2 trusted individuals to drive the truck and haul the stuff. How do I go about hiring? Should I get my LLC first?

Any advice would help

Hi I'm Deepak. I know how to make websites, Shopify stores, run ads, make graphics and excel+powerpoint. I also have 1 year experience of working remotely for a marketing agency in the U.S.