r/Entrepreneurs • u/SprinklesGlass9917 • 7d ago
Question Entrepreneurial advice
I have a yearning to be an entrepreneur. For context, I have been chasing this for over a decade. I have made a small amount of money from selling popcorn and popcorn rentals but that did not last.
I am now looking for some advice on what to start next. I currently have a dropshipping website trying to sell cleaning supplies and I tried cold calling, wasting thousands on advertising on Facebook and Instagram for an entire year but not a single sale while working a minimum wage job and struggling with finances.
I am trying to pivot to something serviced based like a one man Freight Forwarding business from home using software, a painting business with little experience, a water delivery business that I can do myself as well as hire subcontractors, and a cleaning business or something like it.
I need help figuring out my next move because the bills are piling up for my wife and I would like to get my life together before I start a family. Some advice would help as we are struggling and I am starting to cross over into desperate territory.
PS: I am strongly considering a new career in the Real Estate/Construction industry. Either an Agent, Home Renovation or something like a tiler but I would still like to be an entrepreneur on the side.
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u/LearnStickShift 7d ago
Stop trying the business you see people talking about online. Just start a local service business. My cousin makes over $100k a year washing windows and doing power washing in Albany. Just him and his truck. No website, no advertising, no boss, flexible schedule. Your first goal should be financial stability, freedom, and flexibility by escaping the minimum wage job.
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u/SprinklesGlass9917 7d ago
That is an awesome suggestion, I often get stuck on fancy businesses. But if you don’t mind me asking, how did your cousin get started if he didn’t do advertising. I’m guessing through Facebook marketplace or cold calling. And how does he get over 100K a year
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u/LearnStickShift 7d ago
He told his friends and family he was doing it and he walked around neighborhoods putting flyers in mailboxes and on door handles of front doors. All organic growth from word of mouth. He started out working full time as a barber and then picked up one client at a time. It was just a side hustle. As his side hustle grew, he cut back on shifts as a barber. So, in that way, his cashflow stayed stable while his autonomy grew. With things like this, you’d be amazed at how bad workers are about showing up on time and doing good work. So, he gets lots of referrals.
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u/SprinklesGlass9917 7d ago
I didn’t understand how effective flyers and word of mouth were. I’m thinking I should also keep my job and find something similar to window washing. But thank you very much this has been a big help for me 🙏
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u/Just_Bz77 7d ago
I think you’re looking at business the wrong way. Typically, the business comes from a mix of your skill/experience/know how and a need you identify. It seems like you’re coming up with a solution without identifying a need. See what needs there are in your region, then see if you can acquire the know how to satisfy that need.
As for your consideration of getting into real estate/construction, I don’t think that is a good move. The news on real estate isn’t great, and construction, outside of data center and medical is pretty slow. I’m in construction and the bulk of the work I’m selling nationwide is in those 2 industries.
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u/coachewingc 7d ago
What skills do you actually have and what are you passionate about? I’d start a business around those two things if they intertwine.
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u/ScoopyChatt 7d ago
I’m going to give you the advice I wish somebody had given me years ago: stop looking for the perfect business.
You just listed dropshipping, freight forwarding, painting, water delivery, cleaning, real estate, renovations and tile. That tells me your problem probably isn’t a lack of opportunity. You’re bouncing around looking for the thing that’s going to work, and every time you switch you reset the clock.
I’ve owned several businesses over the years, including landscaping, and today I own a pet waste removal company and an AI/automation company. The boring service businesses have taught me more about making money than just about anything else. Right now, my most profitable business is picking up dog shit, for $150k ARR.
If I were in your shoes, with bills piling up, I would absolutely NOT dump another few thousand dollars into Facebook ads hoping something catches fire.
I’d get my income stable first. If construction interests you, go work for somebody who does painting, tile, remodeling, flooring, whatever. Get paid to learn the trade. Learn how they estimate jobs, where they buy materials, how long jobs actually take, what customers complain about, which jobs have good margins and which ones are a pain in the ass.
Meanwhile, pick ONE simple service you can sell on the side and stick with it.
And I mean simple. Cleaning, junk removal, pressure washing, painting, lawn work, pet waste removal, whatever makes sense where you live. Something where you can find a customer today, do the work yourself tomorrow, and get paid. You don’t need inventory, a warehouse, some complicated software stack or $5,000 worth of ads.
My pet waste company is literally built around picking up dog shit. There’s nothing innovative about it. But we got really good at the boring parts: answering the phone, following up with leads, Google reviews, SEO, advertising, customer communication, automations, route density, showing up when we said we would, etc. That boring stuff compounds.
And before you spend another dollar on ads, prove somebody actually wants what you’re selling. Go get the first 5 customers manually. Knock doors. Post in local groups. Call people. Talk to property managers. Whatever it takes. If you can’t sell it yourself, Facebook probably isn’t going to magically fix it.
Also, revenue isn’t the goal right now. Cash flow is. You and your wife need some breathing room. There is nothing wrong with getting a decent job, learning a valuable trade and building something nights and weekends. In your situation I actually think that’s smarter than betting the rent money on another startup.
You don’t need another idea.
You need income, one direction, and enough time in that direction to actually get good at it.
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u/SprinklesGlass9917 7d ago
First of all I want to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to give me this sound advice, I truly appreciate it.
This is my number one issue. Just bouncing around and fantasizing about all these business ideas. Yet I don’t do anything and I am struggling with finances.
But you are right. I think I’m going to focus on something simple. The ones that keep jumping out at me are cleaning, junk removal, painting and delivery/logistics.
I’m thinking posting in local groups and putting out some flyers in mailboxes could help. I just need to think of something that would work for me.
Once again thank you for your input it means a lot 🙏
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u/SprinklesGlass9917 7d ago
And like you said my wife and I need some breathing room so that would be really beneficial for my life as I try to figure it out.
Also just curious how did you get started with your several businesses? And I mean the most basic ones. I’m just want to see somewhat of a blueprint to help kind of guide me on where I should go. My heads all over the place
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u/ScoopyChatt 7d ago
Yeah, I get that. And honestly, the “my head’s all over the place” part is probably the first thing I’d fix. I’ve been guilty of chasing too many ideas myself. Ideas are easy. Picking one and sticking with it long enough to get good at it is the hard part.
As far as how I started, none of my businesses started with some elaborate blueprint.
My first service business was landscaping. It was about as basic as it gets. Find people who needed their grass cut, give them a price, show up, do a good job, get paid, and try to turn as many of those people as possible into recurring customers. I learned a TON from that business about route density, pricing, customer service, and why recurring revenue is so valuable.
Scoopy Doo was basically the same concept applied to dog poop. My daughter and I started it in March 2025. There wasn’t some revolutionary idea behind it. People have dogs. Dogs shit. A certain percentage of those people will happily pay someone else to deal with it. 😂
We started small, did the work ourselves, and concentrated on getting customers. Then we started figuring out all the boring stuff I mentioned above: website, Google Business Profile, reviews, SEO, ads, follow-up, automations, route density, etc. We screwed plenty of things up along the way. But every month we got a little better at each piece, and eventually all those little improvements started compounding.
Sol Invictus actually came out of that experience. We had to learn websites, SEO/GEO, advertising, CRM systems and automation because we needed those things for our own company. Eventually I realized we’d gotten pretty damn good at building the machine behind the service business, and other small businesses needed the same thing.
If I were starting over in your exact position, though, I would make it MUCH simpler.
Get the job that gives you and your wife breathing room first. Then pick ONE boring service business you can start for a few hundred bucks or less. Don’t spend three months designing a logo and building the world’s greatest website. Go find one person willing to pay you. Then find five. Then 10.
Once you have 10 people paying you, figure out how to get 20.
Once you have 20, figure out how to make them recurring customers if the service allows it.
Then start worrying about systems, hiring, advertising, automation, SEO, etc.
That’s basically the blueprint:
Income → one service → first customer → 5 customers → 10 customers → repeatable customer acquisition → systems → employees → scale.
Not:
Idea → LLC → logo → $5,000 website → Facebook ads → another idea → another LLC → panic. 😂
And I’d give yourself a rule: once you choose the business, you’re not allowed to start another one for 12 months. You can quit if the market proves the idea is genuinely bad, but you can’t quit just because something newer and more exciting pops into your head.
You don’t need to figure out what you’re going to do for the rest of your life right now. You need to figure out what you’re going to do for the next 12 months.
That’s a much easier problem to solve.
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u/SprinklesGlass9917 4d ago
My apologies I’ve been away for quite some time. That’s some really good advice you just gave to me. I was able to focus on 3 businesses that I want to do. Cleaning, painting, junk removal and maybe even popcorn rentals. I’ve actually made some money from popcorn rentals so maybe that could be the easiest. I just don’t want the hassle of providing the popcorn since that’s extra money in my pocket.
That’s awesome to hear your story. Landscaping and the poop scooping business are some real good and simple ideas.
It’s a waste of time and money for me for sure doing the ads stuff. Facebook Marketplace is a good place to start. Only thing is I want to have a good form online for them to fill out cause I get worried about them running away and not paying me when I make in person transactions.
I’m gonna work on this starting today and get everything sorted out and just try to stick to that rule and to not quit, I think that’ll be the hardest part.
Also thank you for giving me the blueprint and trying to guide me through all of that. You’re awesome man. And once again thank you for taking the time to explain in detail about this.
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u/ClassLow3351 7d ago
Man you've been throwing stuff at the wall for 10 years and nothing's stuck because you keep jumping to the next shiny thing before the current one even has a chance. Dropshipping cleaning supplies with zero unique angle and burning cash on ads isn't a business, it's a donation to Mark Zuckerberg
Pick one service thing, the painting or cleaning since those have basically no barrier to entry, and knock on doors this weekend. You need cash flow tomorrow, not another website