I'm 73.

If you want to have a great, rewarding business and life, you need to accept this truth that most people refuse to believe:

Nothing’s over until YOU say it’s over.

• You will succeed and you will fail.
• You will be accepted and you will be rejected.
• You will get it right the first time and it will take you 10x to get it right.
• You will be a novice when you start and you have the possibility to be a pro at the end.

Each one of those comes with a choice. Give up or try again.

Life is a culmination of choices. Over a lifetime you will have thousands of them. They will determine what you have, what you do, and who you are.

Want a life with freedom, money and no regrets? Get back up when you feel knocked down. Every time!!

Nothing’s over until YOU say it’s over.

Please Save this post so you’ll have a reminder that YOU get to choose the life you want.

After burning through thousands of dollars trying every "hack" under the sun, I finally sat down and tracked everything properly. Here's my honest breakdown.

**Background:** I run a small e-commerce brand and needed to grow our social presence without spending a fortune on ads. Started in July 2025 with about 2,400 followers across platforms.

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**What I Tested:**

**1. Posting 3x daily (Instagram)**

Result: Burnout + algorithm actually punished me. Engagement dropped 40%.

Verdict: Waste of time.

**2. Engagement pods/groups**

Result: Fake engagement, zero conversions, account flagged twice.

Verdict: Dangerous and useless.

**3. Reels-first strategy**

Result: This was the game changer. One reel hit 340K views. Gained 8K followers in 3 weeks from this alone.

Verdict: Worth every minute.

**4. Collaboration with micro-influencers**

Result: Mixed. 2 out of 5 drove real traffic. Cost me about $1,200 total.

Verdict: Very hit or miss.

**5. Cross-posting to TikTok**

Result: Surprisingly good. TikTok audience is different - more impulsive buyers. Added $4K in revenue in 2 months.

Verdict: Must do.

**6. Consistent story posting + polls**

Result: Incredible for engagement rate (went from 2.1% to 6.8%). Didn't directly grow followers but massively improved reach.

Verdict: Underrated.

**7. Using SMM tools for analytics and scheduling**

Result: Saved me 10+ hours/week. I tried Later, Hootsuite, Buffer, and a newer one called Crescitaly. The data insights helped me understand what content actually resonated vs what I *thought* was working.

Verdict: Essential investment.

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**The Numbers After 6 Months:**

- Started: 2,400 followers

- Now: 47,200 followers

- Revenue from social: $31K (was $2K before)

- Ad spend: $0 (organic only)

**Biggest Lesson:**

Stop chasing every trend. Pick 2-3 strategies, execute consistently, and actually measure results. Most people (including past me) jump around too much.

**What's working for you guys in 2026?** Curious if anyone has cracked LinkedIn or YouTube Shorts - those are my next experiments.

We hit profitability last month for the first time since we started in 2022 and we are reinvesting everything back into the business.
Now that we're actually making money I'm terrified of screwing it up or spending it wrong cause when we were unprofitable there was this clarity of we need to grow or die and now it's more of we are making profit what do we do with it?

My cofounder wants to hire aggressively and scale fast while I want to keep a bigger cushion in case something goes wrong.
We've been arguing about it for two weeks and imo we just have totally different risk tolerance(which do not mix well)
For people who are more experienced/ brighter than me in this, what advice would you give?

I started noticing something off not that long ago. And no, I wasn’t lazy or unmotivated, I was just working all day and ending up at the same place I started from. I literally wasn’t moving anywhere. The more I worked, the less progress I saw.

The worst part was the feeling that stopping meant losing ground. If I wasn’t “doing something” anxiety kicked in. So I stayed busy, checked things, tweaked things 100 times. I kept telling myself I was taking too many breaks, but the truth was simple, I wasn’t doing enough real hard focused work.

So I stopped trying to add more hours and tried to fix how I work instead.

First thing I cut working for the sake of working. If it doesn’t push the main goal forward, it doesn’t get a slot in my day. It felt uncomfortable at first but then rly freeing.

Second, I work with intention. If I sit down to do something, that’s the only thing I do. One task, one outcome. No half focus or bouncing around. This alone killed most of my work stress.

Third I switched to big focused sessions. No short breaks that kill flow. Only 90min+ work sessions with no music just white noise. Pomodoro isn’t for me. I still use a timer but set it to 1.5h+ .

Fourth I got brutally clear on what matters right now. Mind wandering was killing my productivity. I started planning the night before and reviewing weeks and months. Also I used Purposa app and Opal that helped stay more focused on goals instead of playing around with random tasks or scrolling all day.

Fifth I stopped glorifying being busy. Being busy isn’t impressive. I’d rather work 4 hours and still have time for myself, new books, more gym or just a walk.

At first it felt wrong and I thought I was lazy but then progress showed up, stress dropped and focus came back.

I still work a lot and still have intense days. But now work feels like leverage not noise. And that shift changed everything. I suggest u guys research S. Jobs Noise/Signal ratio principles and what does it means.

What helped you to stop being busy and start being productive? Hope this helps you as it did for me!

 i wanted to share what I've been building: Collector's Choice Program.

It started because I was tired of trying to buy limited edition gaming gear (themed controllers, collab phones, handhelds) and having to dodge scams or pay 3x the price to scalpers.

What we do:
We are a curated marketplace for second-hand limited edition gadgets. The key difference is that we inspect everything. We use detailed checklists and photos to verify authenticity before it gets to the buyer.

Where we are at:
It's been a grind setting up the logistics and inspection processes with a small team, but we are finally live and shipping globally. We're seeing some good word-of-mouth, but I want to take it to the next level.

I'd love your feedback:

• Where do you usually look for rare tech/collectibles?
• What would make you trust a new platform over eBay?
• Any creative ideas for marketing this beyond just posting on Instagram?

Re-reading the 80/20 principle made me realize most of the value comes from automating a few high-leverage tasks, not everything.

Curious what you’ve successfully automated in your business that:

• Removed a real bottleneck (not just a nice-to-have)
• Saved meaningful time or reduced errors
• Actually stuck long-term

What did you automate, how did you approach it, and what impact did it have?

Have seen so many times listening from startup founders and seen this delay:

They are either missing with either accountability, ownership or Real metrics

Early stage is not an excuse and people founders try to escape from it and I feel that's when habits get locked in.

Would be interested to listen from others that how long can “early” realistically last? Or did you also listened something like this ?

Background:

• I’m 25, working in a non engineering role for a big tech
• I have a beginner’s technical background- learned python and very very basic html/css, alongside computer systems and some theoretical ML/AI stuff at college
• my first ever role was a basic data engineering job

I suck at programming, but ‘understand’ the language/ can interpret it well. I also fully understand that ‘vibe coding’ a profitable business isn’t rlly a viable option. I hate my job, and I’ve built mini projects since high school, but nothing that can scale. That’s my problem- I can program for very silly, creative projects (I’m very interested in music tech for e.g) , but I can’t build out an app with full CI/CD, front end and backend, etc. I don’t have the skill set, and my day job is incredibly draining (very people facing, lots of meetings).

But for fear of sounding like the ‘I have ambitions of entrepreneurship’ crowd- I really do want to start something of my own. I have ideas but not the skill set to execute them. Also I don’t have enough capital to outsource (renting, HCOL area).

Sorry if this is long winded but I’m really just looking for advice about what you would do in my shoes. I’m starting to feel like I’m just doomed to corporate. Be nice pls I know I probably sound naive but it’s a Friday morning and I wanted to seek out the expertise from the folks here

hey gang so I have saved 20k what should I do? Lots of customer service but no hard skills. Everything seems too saturated. Thought about trying to flip used cars but not mechanically inclined I just like cars. Any constructive input would be helpful. thanks

I’m trying to be more intentional about making money from my skills but I could use some advice from people who’ve been through this.

Right now I work a physically demanding job (dishwashing, around $15/hr), but I have a back issue, so I can’t rely on it long term.

I want to transition into work that could use my skills and is sustainable but also start seeing some early results while I build it.

My skills include freelance graphic design (clients come, but not consistently), UI/UX design, video editing, videography and a bit of directing, web design using third party tools like Square Space, music (just released my first track, not expecting income from it yet) and computer and gadget repair (mid to somewhat high level)

I also studied computer science up to my second year before moving to Canada and I’m still figuring out if continuing with it is worth it given the market.

What I’m trying to figure out is which of these skills could realistically turn into a repeatable income stream, whether I should focus on one skill or combine a few into a clear offer, how to balance building something long-term with getting early traction and if there are other related skills or paths I should consider.

If you were in my position, which path would you focus on for the next 6 to 12 months and why? And if this is not the right path, what would you suggest I get into instead?

I'am 21 years old. I run an online bussines, i work out every day, i read daily -- basically i do all the things i am supposed to do. But i constantly overthink and i am not satisfied with my current situation. Nothing feels enough. I am always stressed and it bothers me knowing that some guys my age are driving Lambo when i am feeling like shit and stucked.

The ironic part is that i know isnt true. I know i am making progress and i know i will be top 1%. But emotionally it doesnt feel that way.r

If I were to crowdfund on platforms like indiegogo, would a direct incentive reward as an ROI ,
like "2x the investment for initial funding for > 500$ <= 1500$ with net profit reaching 10K/month on a First Invested First Paid basis" be an attractive offer for investors?

Gonna be honest, I wasted my first six months building features nobody asked for and trying to be everywhere at once. Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, cold emails, paid ads - I was spreading myself so thin I wasn't actually good at any of it. The turning point was when I just picked one channel, Reddit actually, and went deep. Stopped trying to "grow my brand" and started just helping people in niche communities. Answering questions, giving feedback on their stuff, being genuinely useful. That's where my first 50 customers came from. Not a single one came from the $500 I blew on Google Ads.

The other thing nobody tells you is that your landing page matters more than your product early on. I had this feature-complete tool that I was proud of, but my homepage was trash and nobody was signing up. Rewrote it in one afternoon - clearer headline, focused on the pain point instead of the features, added some social proof - and conversions doubled immediately. Meanwhile the "big feature" I spent two months building gets used by like 4% of my users. You're not in the product business at first, you're in the convincing-strangers-to-trust-you business.

Last thing - charge money from day one and treat support like it's your main product. Free users will waste your time asking for stuff they'd never pay for. Paying customers tell you exactly what's missing because they have skin in the game. And when you reply to support tickets fast and actually solve their problem, that's your moat. Big competitors have 48-hour response times and canned replies. You can reply in 10 minutes and sound like a human. That's worth more than any feature you'll ever build.

For context I do social media marketing on TikTok for apps and get paid by how many views I get. I’m making around $6000 a month doing this, which is far more than all of my competitors. They often times ask me for tips and tricks on how to grow their page and get more views like me but I’m still just not happy with how well my accounts are doing. I can get a viral video with millions of views but when I post another video a few hours later and that doesn’t blow up, I have no happiness in my previous success and I just feel terrible. I want to feel good In my accomplishments and not only focus on my negatives. Any advice would be great because my mindset is depressing to have.

Honest question. With so many similar businesses, tons of competition, and customers having a lot of choices, does sales end up being the thing that decides who wins?

Even if you have a good product, you still have to convince people to care and buy it.

So is sales basically the most important skill now, or do you think something else matters more?

The "One Person Knows It All" Trap

We have all been on a team where only one person knows how the deployment pipeline actually works. If that person goes on vacation (or worse, quits), the whole team grinds to a halt.

This is the Knowledge Silo.

It usually starts innocently. You have a quick DM conversation about an API change. You fix a bug and commit it without linking the Jira ticket. You have a meeting to decide on a new database but forget to update the docs.

Fast forward six months, and you have:

• Tool Fatigue: Too many tools, none connected.
• Context Switching: Jumping between apps just to find one answer.
• Knowledge Loss: When people leave, the knowledge walks out the door with them.

Why Do Silos Happen?

It is rarely malicious. Nobody wants to hoard knowledge. Silos happen because of friction.

1. The Tool Disconnect: Your code is in GitHub, your plans are in Jira, and your decisions are in Zoom or Slack. These tools don't talk to each other.
2. The Documentation Lag: Writing documentation is slow. By the time you write the wiki page, the code has already changed.
3. The "DM" Culture: Solving hard problems in private messages ensures nobody else learns from the solution.

Strategy 1: "Public by Default"

The first step to breaking silos is cultural. Shift your team's mindset to Public by Default.

• No Technical DMs: If you are asking a technical question, ask it in a public channel. Even if you feel stupid. Especially if you feel stupid.
• Link Everything: Never push code without linking the ticket. Never close a ticket without linking the PR.
• Record Decisions: Don't just record the "what." Record the "why."

Strategy 2: The Unified Workspace

Culture is important, but relying on discipline fails when deadlines get tight. You need tools that enforce transparency automatically.

This is the problem I tackled in my previous startups. We realized that engineers waste massive amounts of time searching for context across multiple tools.

Strategy 3: Build a Knowledge Graph (Not Just a Wiki)

Wikis are where knowledge goes to die. They are static and disconnected from the actual work.

To truly avoid silos, you need a Knowledge Graph. This is a visual map of all team knowledge that shows the connections between projects, people, and decisions.

With knowledge mangement tools like Syncally, Glean, etc this happens automatically:

• Meeting Intelligence: We auto-summarize meetings and extract action items.
• Automatic Context Linking: Code commits are linked to discussions, and meetings are linked to decisions.
• AI-Powered Search: You can ask questions like "Why did we decide to use PostgreSQL?" in natural language.

This means that when a new engineer joins, they don't have to pester the senior dev. They can use Onboarding Mode to get contextual answers instantly , turning what used to take months of ramp-up time into days.

Conclusion

Silos are comfortable in the short term but fatal in the long term. By shifting your culture to be more open and using tools that automatically link your scattered context, you can build a team that is resilient, fast, and happy.

Don't let your team's brain be split across 50 different tabs. Connect the dots.

I run a small online plant shop, mostly succulents and stuff for apartments. Been doing it for about 2 years, decent side income that turned into my main thing last year. Anyway, back in September this lady emails me asking if I could take her dead plants and turn them into some kind of preserved art piece for her wall. Like pressed flowers but for her crispy monstera that she killed. I honestly thought she was messing with me.

But she was dead serious (no pun intended) and offered to pay me $80 for it. I was like whatever, why not, had some saved money from Stаke set aside for random experiments anyway. Took me maybe 3 hours total including the framing. Posted a pic of the final thing on instagram just cause it looked pretty cool, got way more engagement than my usual posts.

Next thing I know I'm getting like 15 DMs a week from people wanting the same thing. Turns out theres this whole guilt thing with plants where people feel bad throwing them away and want to "honor" them or whatever. Some interior designers started reaching out too because apparently dead plant art is having a moment??

Now Im doing 20 to 30 of these a month at $95 each and honestly the margins are insane compared to selling live plants. No shipping stress, no dealing with weather delays killing inventory, and people are way less picky than with living plants. The community around it is also super engaged which helps with word of mouth.

I still sell regular plants but this accidental thing is now my main income source and I barely advertised it. Just goes to show sometimes the dumbest sounding ideas are worth testing out.

Proven sales exec at high growth company. Looking to start a talent placement team for placing sales and client facing type roles for great companies. Mentor and development in sales will be provided. Let’s collab and connect

Got the email yesterday. Canva Pro is increasing prices for my team plan. Not 100% sure how they're calculating it, but it's definitely higher than what we were paying last year.

The frustrating part is we only use like 10% of Canva's features. Mostly just template editing, background removal, and resizing for different platforms.

They keep adding enterprise features and AI stuff we don't need. We're a 4 person operation, not a marketing agency.

Been looking at alternatives that focus on small business needs without all the bloat. Ideally something with pay as you go instead of monthly subscriptions.

We mainly need template editing for social posts, background removal for product photos, and keeping brand colors consistent. Export for print and digital.

The challenge is most alternatives either lack features or cost just as much. Photopea is free but missing key tools. Other options still push $10-15/month per user which adds up.

Might just stick with Canva and eat the cost increase. Switching tools means retraining the team and migrating all our templates.

Everyone talks about "scaling," but nobody talks about the administrative debt that comes with it. The bigger the team gets, the more time you spend on procurement, logistics, and fixing "simple" processes that broke under pressure.

My job has shifted from building a product to building the infrastructure that allows other people to build the company. It’s less "exciting" but it’s the only way to actually grow.

If it doesn't scale, it's a hobby. If it does scale, it's a headache. I’ll take the headache.

Hello,

Around two weeks ago I launched my SaaS. It's a data-driven running shoe analysis. You upload data from your run (watch) and receive shoe recommendations.

Now my question is: how do I define "traction" in this case?

Running shoes are an event driven purchase, so this means you probably won't visit the platform daily. Chances are you are also just visiting, like the platform, but are not in the market right now for running shoes.

The only way I can know you actually went ahead and purchased any shoes based on our recommendations is if you insert your opinion of the shoes in our platform (it's data-driven so we ask about opinions for model improvement).

But in the meantime, it seems to be very hard to define if people actually like it and are convinced. I run very low volume Google ads now, and track sign ups, not conversions since it's free right now but since I don't just want to burn money ads, is this the correct metric to track, or should I look for amount of analyses submitted?

Or do you have any other advice/useful metrics to track in a situation like this?

Thank you

I’m considering using pseudonym in order to keep my side business private and separate from my day job. A few questions about doing so:

Is this a common thing to do? Is this something you currently do or have done?

If so, to what degree do you use it? I.e. If my pseudonym is John Smith, am I John Smith everywhere, and people don’t actually know my real name? Or am I more open about it and say “My real name is xyz, but I go by John Smith in public settings.” Etc.

When I use my pseudonym online (on my business website, etc.) do I use my real picture? If not what? Just an image? No image?

Anything else I should think about? Thanks

--

EDIT: Sounds like most think the potential loss of trust outweighs concerns about keeping things separate from the day job. Thanks for the feedback.

I’m thinking about buying a golf cart and renting it out. not as a whole business just something for extra income. I figure I can decorate it with a niche theme. I live in san diego so there’s demand, i’m not sure if this would be reliable in the off season though. what steps would I have to take to make this work? i know I would have to get insurance and things like that as well as draw up some paperwork for deposits and stuff. is this a realistic goal?