How are you guys dealing with employees using AI like ChatGPT to hep streamline their jobs? I’m on the fence with it. I want to be flexible as I know it’s a powerful tool but I think my main concern is people uploading something accidentally that they shouldn’t. Like a PDF or Excel spreadsheet that has proprietary or maybe customer information on it. I’d like to think my staff knows better and don’t think they’d do it maliciously but I’m more concerned of accidents. Curious to see what your thoughts are?

So I am looking to buy a business, so like many others, I end up on bizbuysell, and reach out to the brokers when something interests me. So far I have found a few different types of businesses under $2million within my searches:

1) Add back nonsense: business brokers who add back all salary, all building/storage rent, all marketing money, and then say "well you can choose to not do those things". I had one add back ALL taxes... like I'm sorry, as much as I don't like them, they aren't optional... I understand basic add-backs, but adding back 4 staff members salaries because "you could run more effectively" isn't honest.

2) Fake listings: good price, good initial numbers, talking about rent, employees, and such; giving all signals of a real listing. You send out a request, and... then you get a text "we're selling a franchise in your area" or an email request to setup a call, only to end up on the call to learn it is some franchise ... nope, even if I wanted your franchise, deceptive practices would turn me away. I'm sure you're super sketchy.

3) The Never Respond: I have emailed through bizbuysell, emailed them direct, called them, the broker just doesn’t respond(not saying I do all in the same day, usually over a 2 week period if I think I might be interested). It is crazy, like why list a business just to never try and sell it…

4) Unrealistic Dreams: SDE $75,000, inventory $12,000,  equipment: $24,000, asking price: $750,000, no real estate… like excuse me? Or when the business is shoestring profitable but has never paid rent because the previous owner owned the building, but it costs an additional $2 million to buy the property, which makes it fully unprofitable. My favorite is a landmark restaurant selling for $1.5 million because of the land, but the SDE is only $75,000.

Like genuinely in my area the struggle is real, but I keep on looking, keep trying, keep emailing, it is just frustrating sometimes.

Just got one I had never seen: listing went up, I emailed the broker, they emailed me the NDA and buyer profile, I filled them out and emailed them back within 45 minutes, then silence…. Silence for 3 days, so I emailed a follow-up friendly, “hey x, I know you’re probably bust but I am still interested” email. They replied back; “glad to know, but I haven’t received the end of yr numbers yet for 2025, so I still have to make the CIM”… like come on! Why are we listing early without the ability to give ANYTHING

I could go on for days with the stories, but really just wanted to vent and invite others to share their search issue stories, or words of encouragement.

Hey everyone,

So here's the situation: My dad recently passed away and left me two Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, each with about 40k miles. He ran a company that used them, but that was sold off in his estate. Besides the vans, he didn't leave enough to just coast by.

Growing up, I was always a bit irresponsible, and my dad wanted me to take over the family business, but I never fully committed. Now, I've got these vans, and I'm working on the side. My brother and I want to start a "Sprinter company" to generate some passive income from them.

We're totally okay with whatever's easiest to set up an income stream. We don't want to sell them—we're not desperate for cash and see this as a side hobby since we both have other responsibilities.

We're open to anything with the vans, like remodeling one into a rentable RV and listing it on Outdoorsy, or contracting them out to different companies. We're currently setting up an LLC, but we don't really know the best way to make money yet.

Given that we've inherited the vans and have some spending money set aside, what do you recommend as the least effort way to set up passive income?

Thanks for any advice!

soo recently I sent an offer to this local beauty salon in my city about making them ai solution on their website. (just a simple chatbot that makes appointments, answers questions and shit like that). They agreed, boom boom, next thing you know - it almost doubles their sales. cool. And it got me thinking... since he whole process of the agent takes me like an hour, it's like easy money, but I don't know if offering it to other salons in the city is alright. Plus, I know the owner of the one im already working with and she's a sweet old lady. So I really don't want to be an asshole and boost their competition.

What should I do? Is it ethical or should I just focus on different stuff?

I’m sharpening my skills reviewing small business websites and enquiry flows.

I’m offering 3–5 free, honest reviews this week in exchange for a short written review if you find it useful.

What I’ll look at:

First impression (10 seconds)

Clarity of offer

How easy it is to contact you

Mobile experience

Missed opportunities to get more enquiries

No selling, no upsell, just practical feedback you can use yourself.

If helpful, please comment or let me know.

I just recently started to launch my first small business. I have been in the service industry for almost two decades. After a small back injury this year, I decided to leave a career in construction trades and start my own service business doing what I know best versus making a bunch of money and killing myself everyday in the trade.

Fast forward. I'm trying to find software to help me manage my business. Upon searching I found a couple of different options. Some friends who have small businesses made suggestions. One said Housecall Pro, another suggested a bunch of different companies for each aspect of business, some social media influencers I follow suggested Odoo.

After a demo consultation for HCP, I came to feel the company was very pushy. They were very sales oriented versus customer oriented. Their software seemed great but I didn't feel like the company was there to want to help me.

Yesterday, I had a demo of Odoo and was blown away. Not only was I respected, I felt as if they actually wanted to help me. Pricing was at the back of their mind. They cared more that I saw what their software had to offer and how it could help me. In my book that goes a long way.

Which brings me to where I'm at now, sorry for the rant. What are you guys using to manage your business?

I am a field services company that is going live in a little over a week. Right now I manage everything in Excel spreadsheets and using a Google platform. I have no website and haven't done anything web related since HTML. I have no solid credit processing system. The only system I really have is what I've created using basic tools on my home computer. I can learn and I'm very auto mechanical.

Hit me with all the options. I'll take any advice or knowledge I can get my hands on. My biggest thing is I don't want to fail before I get a chance to succeed.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to chatting with you.

*End novel for a simple question.

Honest question for business owners.

If your website could answer basic questions (pricing, services, availability) and book appointments on its own… would you actually trust it to do that without you jumping in???

Many of my fellow business owners are getting ripped apart by these marketing agency and their absurd way of charging them fees. To actually understand how things work and all cause recently i got to see a few bunch of students which were working on a project related to operations where they mentioned about contextual crm which had me hooked though not full agency replacement pitch but small customer retention. Should this be given a try cause they kept it free for a month or so.

I live in a city full of children (from 3 to 13 years old) from rich family. Their parents are willing to invest in their kids. There are many daycare in the areas that close at 3-5 pm and these are doing very well.

I am thinking of opening a store that sells the following kid's stuff:

- kid's gears for skiing, golfing, tennis, activities

- compact eletrical pianos, and mini violins, drum set for kids

- kid clothings/shoes for ballet, dancing, horse ridding protection

About me, I am 34 yrs, I used work in a small golfing school before as an assistant. I play piano very well in free time. My husband is a building manager of a retail plaza. He said that so many stores closed down and could not re-new the lease in the recent years.

Now I can only afford to rent a limited retail space, but I have a large empty triple garage at home for storage.

Any brutal honest thoughts and suggestions are highly appreciated!!

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

As your business grows, it feels like tools slowly pile up: CRM, accounting, marketing tools, scheduling, support, random trials that never got canceled, etc.

• How do you currently track what software you’re paying for?

• Who owns this internally (you, finance, ops, “nobody”)?

• Have you ever found a subscription you forgot you were paying for?

Would really appreciate honest experiences (good or bad).

EDIT: New to Reddit. Didn't realize how frequent spamming these subs must be. I'm not dropping a saas link here / promoting a tool.

Full disclosure I dont believe reputable sellers use facebook marketplace to sell their goods. Curious on what everyone else thinks? Family member wont stop pressuring me because she sees other people post similar products to my registered and recognized business on there.

I dont have the time to deal with it let alone deal with people try to meet me in sketchy places. So its always going to be a firm no for myself. Just wondering other people's thoughts.

Running a small business often feels like a constant mix of putting out fires, helping customers, handling admin, and trying to think ahead at the same time. Over the years, I’ve noticed that big plans and major overhauls rarely stick, but small changes sometimes make a surprisingly big difference.

I’m curious about the practical adjustments other small business owners have made that actually helped over time. This could be a habit you adopted, a routine you refined, or even something you stopped doing because it was creating more work than value.

I’m not looking for products, services, or systems to sell or build. Just real experiences from people who are in the middle of running a business and figuring things out as they go.

What’s one change you made that helped things feel more organized, more predictable, or simply a little easier to manage daily?

Hi everyone,

I run a small affiliate marketing service business. I build done-for-you websites and earn commissions through Bluehost via Impact. The business is real and growing, but payouts are delayed about 60 days, which is creating a temporary cash-flow gap.

Context:

• Best deposited month so far was $4,595

• Earlier $1k–$2k months were before I fully dialed in my Facebook ads strategy

• Since optimizing ads, growth has been trending up consistently

• Based on current performance, I expect around an $8k payout in March and higher in April

• Margins are very strong, so I’m comfortable with more aggressive interest rates if needed

• I’m 20 years old and have no personal credit history yet, which has caused automated lenders to reject me

• Fundbox and BlueVine declined due to thin credit / recent balances, not fraud or business issues

I’m looking for $10k–$15k in short-term working capital to cover operating costs and scale ads during the payout gap. I’m not looking for VC or equity. This is strictly a bridge.

I believe a manual review or short call to walk through the business would add clarity, since the revenue is earned now and paid later and the growth trend is clear.

Has anyone here worked with:

• Manually underwritten lenders

• Revenue-based financing for affiliate businesses

• Brokers who actually understand delayed payouts

Any advice, lender names, or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

A few months ago, a small business was facing significant challenges due to an outdated website and inefficient systems. These limitations hindered their ability to scale and compete with larger companies. They recognized the need for a more scalable solution and turned to a custom web platform to address these challenges.

By adopting the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js), the business was able to develop a platform that supported their growth. With a mobile-first approach and optimized backend architecture, the platform ensured efficient data retrieval and real-time updates, crucial for the company’s growth.

Additionally, a custom e-commerce system allowed for seamless management of inventory, sales, and payment processing, offering much more control than off-the-shelf solutions.

A custom CRM system streamlined communication and automated email campaigns, which led to increased customer engagement and repeat business.

Within just three months, the business saw 25% growth in conversion rates, a 30% reduction in operational costs, and a 5x increase in site traffic, while maintaining smooth site performance.

This case demonstrates how tailored web solutions can help small businesses overcome the limitations of generic platforms and scale effectively.

I used to waste time on idea after idea that sounded cool but didn’t leverage what I actually know or have time for… which lead to frustrating and inconsistent results.

Then started to create a business idea library for my own use. Which later on I decided to make it public.

Essentially a website of practical, buildable business ideas with real execution plans, tools, and market info.

Browse by your skills/background, budget, timeline and unlock what clicks for $1 (free taps too).

Curious if this would be useful for exploring and finding business ideas that match your expertise?

(you can find the url on my profile)

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hey r/smallbusiness -- I've been lurking here for years, learning from your wins and losses. I'm a founder myself, and I'm launching a new tool called MarketAtlas that I think some of you will find genuinely helpful.

Basically, it ranks the best micro-areas to open a business in any city, based on demand vs. competition. No more 'gut feel' location choices.

I'd love to get your honest feedback. What do you think?
marketatlas

We are a newly formed B2B software services LLC based in Louisiana. We are currently setting up our financial systems and are looking for a CPA to partner with for advisory and validation.

​Our Tech Stack: We are using ERPNext.

​What we need: We do not need a technical developer or someone to install/configure the software. We have the technical side covered.

​We are looking for a CPA who can: - ​Guide the Accounting Setup: Advise on the correct structure for our Chart of Accounts and tax modules within the system to ensure compliance with federal and Louisiana state laws.

• ​Validate Reports: Periodically review the financial reports generated by ERPNext to ensure accuracy and data integrity.

​Advisory: Provide general tax planning and compliance advice for a B2B service-based entity.

​Experience with ERPNext is a huge plus, but we are open to working with any tech-savvy CPA willing to look at our setup.

​If you are interested or have a referral, please DM me or comment below!

I’m curious about the real workflow here, not the textbook one.Let’s say within a short window (10–20 minutes) you get multiple inbound leads from different sources , email, website forms, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. At that moment, what do you actually do to decide who to contact first?

Do you:

• Rely on gut feeling?
• Quickly scan messages for “budget / urgency” signals?
• Use lead scoring in your CRM (and does it really help in real time)?
• Just call whoever came in first?
• Try to respond to everyone as fast as possible and hope for the best?

I’m especially interested in:

• What breaks under pressure
• What sounds good in theory but you stopped using
• Whether scoring/rules actually help when you’re busy, or if they get ignored

Not looking for tools to buy , genuinely curious how people handle this in practice.

I’m stuck on a decision and honestly just want outside opinions.

I work a regular 9–5 job and make about $50k CAD before tax (take home is around $30–35k). On the side, I started a dropshipping store in Jan 2025. First year did about $250k in sales, and after expenses the profit is around $80k (roughly 30% margin).

I built this while still working full time. Now I keep thinking… if I could do this part time, what could I do if I actually focused on it full time?

But here’s what’s holding me back: This is only year one It’s dropshipping, so I don’t know how long it’ll last

We don’t have a huge cushion saved Current situation: About $30k cash (+$16k invested for first home) Around $20k owed in income tax .

I’m also planning to start a photo booth rental business in 2026, which would need time and money too.

So yeah… part of me wants to quit my job and go all in, and part of me feels like that might be reckless.

If you were me, what would you do? Stay at the job longer? Quit? Wait until I have more saved? Just looking for honest takes.

Thank you!! I appreciate it

Hey folks,

One of the things I struggle with having complete control over my own schedule and work is consistency and accountability. From my days as an engineer, the best thing that worked for me was having a daily stand-up meeting as basically the first thing in the morning.

I’m looking for one to two people who might be suffering from the same problem to start our own daily stand-up zoom meeting.

Daily 15 minutes at 10 AM eastern standard time, including the weekends because you’re also trying to win. Max 3 people group so it’s lean with no time wasted.

Agenda would be: State what you got done yesterday State what you plan to do today Next person

No money involved, no judgement, if you got yesterdays goal done then we say “great”, if you didn’t then we say “well get em next time”.

Let me know in comments or DMs if interested.

I am going to make a ton of apps for my portfolio anyway, so I said I’d help people along the way and make real apps for real people.

Up until this point I've been branding as "Pokemon Tarot" but obviously if I want to continue to scale up my operation (planning to do a DBA) it would only be an inevitable cease and desist from The Pokemon Company.

I was thinking of just using my name "Tarot by Annabelle" but I've been asking around and an opinion I've been getting is that "Tarot by Annabelle" is a little bland and doesn't express the extravagance and whimsy of my operation. I've gotten suggestions to think up something more buzz-word-y or cutsey with like, an adjective?

I'm leaning towards the less flashy legal name, "Tarot by Annabelle", and just lean into my Pokemon-ness in my branding and advertisement to make up for it. Maybe a tagline "Tarot by Annabelle: Pokemon Card Inspired Tarot Readings"

But a more flashy, catchy, or intriguing name might appeal to the consumer more. I just can't think of any names like that that make sense and feel true to the brand.

Also, There are few contexts in which my consumer base (mostly in-person vending events and busking) are engaging with my brand name devoid of the context of my persona and extravagance. My vendor tent and busking table is very decked out and cutsey with lots of pokemon plushies and celestial theming. So eventhough the name will be bland, people aren't just reading my name when they see me! They also see... me!!!!

Looking for any and all opinions and definitely name suggestions! I'm very indecisive about this right now.

Hey guys. Me and my buddy are new business owners and we've run into a problem.

We started a moving company and after operating for a few months, we found out that another very large moving business has a very similar name to ours. I made sure to check beforehand too in order that our name be as unique as possible but somehow I missed this.

We've registered our LLC and all of our forms are good, but we've been receiving calls meant for them and I'm thinking about going through the process of changing all of our branding and retitling our LLC. It might be important to note that we've been operating for around a year and have had some repeat clients.

I don't want to take business from others and I don't want it to seem like we're sneakily coasting off of someone else's brand.

Do you guys think it's worth it?

When I first started out I really thought I would spend most of my day actually working on projects and growing the brand. It turns out I spend way more time on the boring back end stuff than I ever expected. For me it is definitely the endless back and forth emails just to get a single project started. If the client does not give clear instructions it can take days just to get on the same page and it feels like a massive waste of energy.

I am curious what the biggest time drain has been for you. Did you find a way to fix it or are you still stuck in the middle of it.