I have been making a little money on the side for a few years now, doing historical costuming for friends in historical reenactment circles. Unfortunately, I've lost two jobs this year and I am in a position where I need buckle down and get this side venture to make me a little more money while I get through a bookkeeping certificate program. So I'm looking for advice from other small businesses, particularly businesses selling handmade items. I'm looking to really buckle down on this in the new year and I want to spend these last couple of months getting everything lined up for that.

Some questions I have:

If I file a DBA (doing business as), should I do that before I get my social media/website and such going, or can I wait? What are some pros and cons of waiting vs doing it immediately, and at what point so I Need to have that done?

Are there any good alternatives to Etsy? I'd like to avoid selling on Etsy, but I know I'll have to do a lot more work advertising.

What's the most economical option for a website? I have experience with Wix from a previous employer, and I briefly held a volunteer position that used wordpress and really struggled to understand how to use wordpress effectively. But what is my best option?

Are there any other recommendations, articles, etc that people can provide?

(It may help for context that I am focusing on well made custom items, rather than mass production, and for financial reasons, I'm pretty set right now on working by commission only, rather than building a stock. Although building a small stock of smaller items like aprons and hats that are likely to sell may be an option.)

Thanks in advance

I couldn't find a part for my PC that did what I wanted, so I designed my own, tested a few versions in my own build, and now I'm thinking about selling it. A local maker with an LLC would print them for me.

What's holding me back is liability. I would be a sole proprietor, and the thought of a part I sold damaging someone's PC makes me hesitant.

For those selling physical items:

Do you carry product liability insurance? Who with, and roughly what does it cost?

LLC, insurance, or both at a small scale?

Anyone switch to selling digital files instead to avoid this?

I'm a small-business owner, and I recently had an experience that's left me incredibly frustrated.

I spent a lot of time researching, developing products, finding suppliers, and building a business around something I genuinely love.

Two people I knew personally became familiar with the business and the knowledge I'd shared. They eventually started their own company selling the same type of products.

I understand that nobody owns an entire product category and competition is part of business. But when it's people you trusted, it feels so much more personal.

I've also had a previous business where competitors copied my creative ideas, so this situation brought back a lot of those feelings.

I'm trying to move forward and focus on growing my own business, but I'd be lying if I said the thought of them becoming more successful than me didn't bother me.

Has anyone experienced something similar? How did you stop letting it get under your skin?

what would make the rest of this year easier for you?

I am in a new environment where working in the workplace and picking back up my small business seems scary because of the local ability to accept criticism and work with others who think differently. The thing about criticism is remaining professional and truthful in your critiques, the problem is that I am not critiquing or confronting anyone or anything. My current environment can't handle the smallest arrangement or my own encouragement of them because anything I say even if it is nice isn't what they are used to. So we end up in arguments only to find out later I was encouraging them the whole time and we are in agreement.

I turned 25 this past July which marks my fifth year working at a small business.

I recently began engaging with the owner about buying the business. Owner has other businesses and is nearing retirement age and is ready to step back. I have my reservations. My education​ ended at high school because I considered myself a "rebel" and didn't want to do the "norm". I have no formal business training besides what I have learned on my own and through working closely with the owner.

Has anyone been in my position? I know buying a business doesn't require a degree on the LOI, but I can't help but think I might bite off more than I can chew.

What got you to take the leap? I know there are many successful business owners and entrepreneurs that didn't get a college degree. For those that didn't go to school for business, was there a learning curve?

Thank you for your insights!

A lot of owners ask where to start with automation, and it's easy to pick something exciting that ends up being a time sink. Here's the rough framework I'd use.

Score each recurring task on three questions:

1. How often does it happen? Daily or weekly tasks pay back faster than monthly ones.
2. Is the logic repeatable? If the same inputs always lead to the same output (collect this info, check this box, send this reply), it's a good candidate. If it needs judgment, pricing, or handling an upset customer, keep a person on it.
3. How costly is a mistake? Low-risk tasks like appointment confirmations or FAQ replies are good first picks. Anything touching money or legal documents needs a review step.

Typical good first candidates: - Intake: collecting the same details from every new customer - Scheduling and reminders - Answering questions that already have documented answers - Invoice follow-ups and payment reminders - Moving data between systems (form to spreadsheet to CRM)

Practical tips: - Time the task for one week before automating. Many owners guess wrong about how long things take. - Automate one workflow at a time and check the output for two or three weeks. - Keep a log of what the automation did, so you can see errors and fix them. - Write down the exceptions. Most failed automations broke on cases nobody had defined.

What's the one repetitive task that eats the most hours in your week? Curious what others are automating and what's worked or failed for you.

PS- If you work with UGC creators, would you hire a UGC coordinator to make that whole process easier for you?

Looking for leads: I'm after an accountant or small firm who can handle bookkeeping, accounting and US tax filing for a small US-based LLC that works on animal welfare. The annual budget is under $100K, so we need someone reliable and reasonably priced who knows small LLCs, and ideally has worked with mission-driven or international clients. If you've worked with someone good, or know a person who'd be a fit, I'd really appreciate an intro. Thanks.

feel like a lot of small business owners overcomplicate social media. You really don't need to come up with a completely new idea every single day.

If you're struggling to stay consistent, here's a pretty simple approach:

Monday: Answer a question customers regularly ask you.

Wednesday: Share something behind the scenes, even if it's just packing orders or preparing for the day.

Friday: Show your product or service in action.

That's already 3 posts a week without having to brainstorm new ideas constantly .I'd also keep a note on your phone with questions customers ask. Those can easily turn into future posts. And honestly, posting 3 times a week consistently is probably better than posting every day for two weeks and then disappearing.

Curious how other small business owners handle this. Do you plan your content ahead or just post whenever you have time?

Been looking into starting a junk removal business with a pickup and dump trailer (mostly furniture, cleanouts, some flooring/C&D). Keep seeing people talk about needing the Act 90 Waste Transporter Authorization if you’re dumping at a facility. From what I can tell it’s $100 for the truck + $50 for the trailer, you need current inspection, insurance, registration, etc. And facilities aren’t supposed to take commercial loads without the sticker.
But I also see a ton of guys around here with pickups and trailers doing junk removal and dumping and they don’t seem to have any stickers. Or I’m just not seeing the stickers. Are most small operators just running without it until they get turned away or caught?

How strict are the facilities actually being about checking for it? Trying to figure out if this is something I actually need to deal with right away or if most people just ignore it until it becomes a problem. Anyone in PA doing this with a pickup/trailer setup that can share how they’re handling it?
I appreciate any and all help, thank you

I’ve been thinking of the best content to display on my tv to keep my customers engaged when they visit, since I started earning from the TV, I was hoping to make the most use of it. I’m open to advice, whats the best content you usually show on your tv

Hello!

I’m a business major focusing on entrepreneurship and I was wondering if any entrepreneurs in the group have a little time to answer 5 questions for a class assignment? I estimate it will take about 5-10 minutes of your time. The only requirement is that the person is an entrepreneur and employs at least 2 people.

I unfortunately did not realize the entrepreneur can’t be anyone that I know so I have put myself slightly behind on the project and I’m hoping by reaching out here I can still accomplish the mission.

If you’re interested I could message or email you the questions or even post them here, whatever is best for you.

Thank you in advance!

​

I'm a small business owner, and like most of us, I get a ton of cold calls and texts.

Now, I get it. Cold calling is part of sales. I don't have a problem with that. If you call me up and say, "Hey, I'm John with XYZ Company. We haven't talked before, but we offer this service and I think it might help your business. Got a couple minutes?" I'm fine with that. Maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't. No harm done.

But you know what really pisses me off?

The people who call or text and act like we're already buddies, or worse, pretend we've had some previous conversation that never actually happened.

"Hey, just following up on our conversation..."

"Checking in about that application..."

"Wanted to see if you had a chance to review what we discussed..."

Dude. We haven't discussed shit. I don't know who you are.

And it's usually pretty obvious that they've gotten my information off some list, a credit report, or whatever, and they're just trying to schmooze their way into a conversation.

I'm not much of an extrovert to begin with. I don't particularly enjoy talking on the phone, especially with people I don't know. So when you come at me pretending we're old pals, or just flat-out lying about some previous interaction, all you're doing is pissing me off.

And here's what I really don't understand. You're trying to sell me something, right? Presumably you want me to trust you enough to give you my money.

So why the hell would you start that relationship with a lie?

Just tell me who you are, what you're selling, and why you think I might be interested. I can respect that.

But don't pretend we're friends, don't invent conversations we've never had, and don't act like I'm supposed to remember you.

You're not being clever. You're just making sure I'll never do business with you.

Am I like the odd man out here? Do any of my fellow owners actually like getting these kinds of calls?

Lesson learned as a starting small business owner.

Never again pitching our services to an HOA or people we personally know without clear agreements.

We submitted a proposal, waited two weeks, and kept following up just to get a clear answer. We even started preparing designs and other materials.

At some point, it felt like we were begging for an opportunity instead of simply offering a service.

I understand that miscommunication happens, but our time and effort matter too.

Not every opportunity is worth chasing. Sometimes, walking away is the better business decision.

Lesson learned.

I've been using quite a few AI tools, including the generative AI tools everyone is talking about, and I've noticed something. Unless a business owner is already well organized and has solid business processes in place, these tools can quickly become overwhelming and actually make things less efficient.

I'm curious, what's been your experience?

So i am trying to start my freelance business and things are not going really well. I help businesses automate admin work and simplify their workflow using digital tools. I already am working on a project with a potential customer but the deal is not yet closed. I'm looking into cold email outreach but i ran into a problem where i don't know how to find people struggling with this for me to contact.

Has anybody that ran into similar problem or am i approaching this the wrong way? I'd be interested in hearing what actually worked for you.

Do you ask every customer or just hope the happy ones remember to do it?

I've been building something for this. You bcc an email address on your invoices and the next day it sends the customer a quick email asking for a review. If they don't click, it nudges them once more and then leaves them alone.

Still early and I've no idea yet if anyone would actually use it, so I'm curious how you all handle reviews right now.

So for the last seven years I've ran a small IT business and one service we offered was websites with a focus on cheap affordability for small businesses and start-ups. Recently the tools we use to design sites got AI Interrogation and frankly it's damn good it makes some decent sites quickly and they only need minimal effort from us to check security and address smaller things it still struggling with. What I can't decide is if it's a valuable asset to offer and adjust prices to reflect or use internally and don't advertise that.

I'm morally leaning towards a AI Assisted design pack for $50 or lower and being upfront with clients but financially we do well enough to survive but if we lowered price to reflect the AI we would need to double the incoming jobs which would be tough marketing wise I feel.

I'd love some options or feedback. I want to be honest to clients and I also think avoiding use of AI would be business suicide in the future

I run a small local business, and I’m seriously struggling with this right now.

On Yelp, I currently have 9 reviews marked as “not recommended.” Every single one is from a real customer. These aren’t fake reviews. I’ve worked with these people, have signed contracts, invoices, emails, and everything needed to verify the business relationships.

I reached out to Yelp support multiple times, but I’m getting nowhere. Either no response or generic explanations about their recommendation software.
Google isn’t much better. I had 12 reviews, and now I’m down to 7. Again, these are real customers who actually worked with me.

What’s frustrating is that I’m a small business trying to build a reputation from scratch. Those reviews genuinely matter. I’ve already noticed a significant drop in inquiries after losing reviews on Yelp.

I’m not asking either platform to keep fake reviews up. I just don’t understand why genuine customer experiences keep disappearing, especially when I can prove these were actual clients.

For other small business owners:
Has anyone experienced this recently with Yelp or Google?
Have you ever successfully recovered legitimate reviews?
What platforms or methods are you using to collect reviews these days?
Are you still putting effort into Yelp, or have you given up on it?

I’m genuinely curious what others are doing because relying on these platforms to build a reputation is starting to feel like a losing battle.

EDIT to update: I only requested the first two clients to review me, the other seven were unsolicited (I have contracts and deliverables that prove they are real clients) - Yelp is the worst platform to ever exist, and they dare calling me to ask whether I want to run ads, F no!!

i do shopify dev work for small stores. a few days ago a store owner asked me to look at her product pages, so i sent a pretty detailed breakdown plus some quick mockups of what i'd change. she said the ideas were good, then decided she'd just design it herself.

honestly no hard feelings, it's her store. but i basically handed over the whole plan for free.

so now i'm changing how i do it. the free part only names what's wrong and why it's probably costing sales. the mockups and the exact changes come after a paid quote is accepted.

for those of you who sell services, where do you draw that line? do you charge for the audit itself, or keep it free and just keep it vague? curious what's actually worked for you.

We run a software development company with around 40 people, mostly working on large enterprise projects. Something I’ve been wondering about lately. When a big client is choosing between a smaller specialized company and a firm with 500+ employees, how much does size actually matter?
We might have people who’ve spent years working with the exact technology a client needs. But the bigger company has a recognizable name, a huge team, and probably looks like the safer choice on paper. I get why that matters. If I were spending that kind of money, I’d be careful too.
But I’m curious how people on the other side see it. Would you hesitate to give a major project to a 40-person company, even if they had the right experience?

For the past 2 years I have been using MileIQ to track my mileage. It has been perfect for me because it works in the background and at the end of the year I send the summary to my accountant.
It has been $79.99 for the last 2 years and I just found out it is increasing to $149.99.

In the middle of an affordability crisis, that seems like bad form.

For the small businesses that have a travel component, what are you using to track mileage?
I am in Canada, so it needs to be CRA approved.

I know $150 may not seem like a big deal as far as business expenses go, but it is the relentless hammer of these subscription prices constantly increasing, I am a single person operation so I am trying to keep my expenses as low as possible.

I run a small but profitable online vintage shop and have recently started considering selling it, but I'm honestly not sure where to begin or whether there's much of a market for a business like mine.

The shop is fully branded, has an established Shopify website, social media accounts with followers, a Pinterest presence, and existing sales channels. I've built everything from scratch over the past few years.

The main reason I'm considering selling is time. I'm currently only able to dedicate around 6 days a month to the business, and despite that, it's still profitable. I genuinely think it has a lot more potential with someone who has the time to focus on growing it.

Since it's a vintage business, the inventory is individually sourced rather than coming from a consistent supplier. I'm planning to sell the business with its existing inventory and would also share my sourcing methods, contacts, and processes to make the transition as smooth as possible for a new owner.

I also think there's a lot of potential to diversify into other vintage categories and expand the product range, which I simply haven't had the time to explore myself.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience buying or selling a small e-commerce business, particularly in fashion or vintage.

I run a small online business by myself and started cold email for the first time this month. I've sent about 60 short, plain text emails to businesses that actually fit what I do, and so far I've had one real reply.

What I can't figure out is how to judge it this early. What numbers would make you keep going, tweak it, or drop the channel completely?

For those who've done this:

- What reply rate did you see at the start, and how many of those replies were actually interested?

- How long did you give it before deciding?

- Did most replies come from the first email or the follow ups?

Not selling anything here, just trying to set a realistic bar so I don't quit too early or keep going on something that isn't working.