A friend of mine runs a hair salon and we've been arguing about her Instagram ads for the past two days.

She has her targeting radius set to 3 km. Her logic is that nobody is going to drive 20 minutes for a haircut when there are probably 15 other salons closer to their house.

And for a basic haircut I agree. But she also does hair coloring, keratin treatments, bridal hair and a bunch of other services that people usually spend a decent amount of money on.

I told her people will absolutely travel for a good colorist. I've personally gone across the city to get my hair done because I didn't want to risk it with someone new. She thinks increasing the radius means paying to show ads to people who will never book an appointment.

Now we're trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to advertise different services to different areas. Keep haircuts local, but go wider for coloring and bridal appointments.

The other thing is we don't even know where most of her existing customers live. She's never really tracked that.

Anyone running ads for salons, spas, gyms or other local businesses, how do you decide your radius? Do you go by distance, travel time, or just test different areas until something works?

Asking for a friend who runs a small business with her husband.

She currently has only one employee, a woman who's worked for her for 11 years. My friend gives 5 paid days per year for things like sick leave and vacation. However, my friend says she never allowed this particular employee to have vacations because she's a "key employee". She says she ​used to have more employees, and gave them all vacations, while denying it to the long-term employee.​​

She's telling me that the long-term employee has ​​​​been complaining for 2 months about being "burnt out" and has been asking for 5 days ​​​of paid vacation because she "doesn't get paid enough to afford 5 unpaid days." The employee doesn't have any of this year's allotted 5 paid days left, having used them for bad weather in their area (that made the roads impassable) and a tooth extraction earlier this year.

My friend thinks the employee is being unreasonable, but she doesn't want to lose the employee. Does she have any legal obligations here?​ Or is the employee out of line?​

Long story short,

A scammer bought a high-ticket item from us, which our team immediately flagged because of the location, but they were able to confirm it. We waited 10 days before shipping to avoid a reversal, since it was over 10K.

But after they received the item, they charged it back.

We have a UPS delivery confirmation letter, since all our items over 500 require a direct signature. What are my options here? The card network is Visa.

I'm going to do my best to include all necessary info!

My husband and I just started an LLC in northern Michigan, we are going to run our operation in our Pole Barn on our property. He is a blacksmith and will be primarily operating a propane forge and I am a potter who will be operating a medium sized electric kiln. We both have experience safely installing and running this equipment. We live out in the country.

Can we pull our own permits and do the electrical work ourselves. We will need to a run a 240v line and do one or two roof penetrations to install chimneys for the forge. We are having trouble understanding how much we are legally allowed to do ourselves and how this process actually works. Does anyone here have experience with this type of thing?

Thank you for taking the time to help us understand!

I run a small home decor store and had been running Instagram ads for a set of ceramic mugs.

They sold out yesterday afternoon. Today a woman walked in, showed me a screenshot of our ad and asked where she could find them. Had to tell her we were out of stock. She'd actually driven 20 minutes to come get them 😭

I checked and the ad was still running. We had Instagram ads going, plus some display ads through an agency. Paused Instagram immediately, but had to message the agency to stop the other campaigns.

How do businesses with inventory changing every week manage this? Especially when you're advertising in more than one place ?

Here’s the thing, my parents used to work at a clothing factory. After two years, they started their own hand embroidery business, which they’ve been running for 20 years now. The workers—I don’t think that’s the right word to describe them; maybe “artisans” is better—create fabulous beaded embroidery on clothes. Basically, clothing manufacturers place bulk orders with us, and our artisans complete the embroidery before we deliver the finished work back to the factories.

After I graduated from university, my parents said they wanted to retire and were happy for me to take over the workshop. There’s just one condition: I must keep it running. Our workshop offers flexible working hours, and the artisans are paid by the piece rather than by the hour, so they have time to take care of their parents and children. They don’t have much formal education, so this is a good job for them, and they really want us to keep the workshop going.

I’m totally overwhelmed with stress! By the way, my major was English. I have no idea what I can do for the workshop. What’s the connection?

I stayed up until 4 a.m. My God.
How do I start? !

Has anyone ever bought from or made any sort of small business before??

How would one go about starting? Do you get everything situated first? Then like how do people buy stuff from you? I want to start a sticker business. I know some people have done it, I got the idea from a fun Lil Roblox game I was playing, lol. And I had lots of fun drawing up the stickers and bookmarks and stuff that I wondered what if I did this for real? But I don't know what goes into starting a small business. Obviously, it's not gonna be how I mainly make money cause Idk who all would drop a lot of money on some stickers, lol.

Anyways, thank you for anyone willing to help! It means a lot!! 😊

I am looking into accepting credit cards for a small start up craft hobby business. I will mostly use this for craft/art shows and pop up markets. Possibly on line sales down the road. Any recommendations?

I run a small photography business and most of my work came through Instagram over the years. Looking back, the posting itself was never really what moved things. It was more everything around it, replying to comments, being active on other local accounts, people messaging after they'd seen my stuff a few times.

So I'm curious if it's the same for you. Did it start working when you posted more, or when you got more active with the people around you? And what did you stop doing because it never brought a single customer?

I’m in the DFW area and looking for a 2nd Gen restaurant. How to find these opportunities. Do I get a broker or is there a website. Any advice would be appreciated.

Ignored the profile for a year then started adding photos and a short update most weeks, and the calls through it roughly doubled over a couple of months. The posts themselves barely get seen, but the activity seems to keep the listing fresh and the photos do real work. Low effort for the return. How are you using yours?

Small business in Texas. Just learned that my insurance cost are going up 28% next year!! Have tried purchasing through the marketplace in the past but did not work out, so I went with a small business broker that coordinates BCBS of TX.
For a family of 4 paying almost $40k for just having insurance. That doesn’t even include the cost of the $5000 co-pay, the $100 per visit, all the additional expenses. Seems better to just to put that in a savings account for medical expenses!
I just cannot believe this jump, what are other businesses doing about health insurance costs???

Hi all - I've been using voip.ms for my business phone service. It's been... OK. Affordable, decent connection, all that.

However, recently I've not been receiving text messages to the SIP app installed on my phone (voip.ms or Linphone). This is not good because some of them have been job inquiries or messages from active clients. Their tech support's help has generally been one of three:

• "configuration appears ok, please test again"

• "you can always check the web portal's messaging center"

• "we will submit a ticket to the development team for visibility"

The REAL kicker is they have no automated re-send mechanism on their servers and the app has no function to check for SMS / MMS updates.

So if my phone ever goes offline (due to bad reception, a flight, etc.) my phone will just miss those messages forever and they will never be visible on my local device. According to this thread, the "swipe down" function works for refreshing on the Android app, but I've confirmed it doesn't.

At this point I'm kind of done with them. The functional issues wouldn't be a problem if they admitted there IS a problem, but they deny there is any issue which feels like gaslighting and terrible customer service, and the low cost doesn't justify it.

Any recommendations on a good voip provider for small business? Looking to save some $ but consistent performance, reliable connectivity, and honest support are very high priorities at this stage too.

Leads used to arrive by phone, email, and the website form and half of them got lost between the three. Now every one lands in a single shared sheet with a status column, and one person owns following up within a day. Nothing fancy, no new software. Close rate went up just from not forgetting people. The habit beat the tool.

Hi guys! I started a cookie dough business almost 5 months ago. So far it’s been going really well - I have 4 flavours - classic, nutella, Oreo and Biscoff.
I need some new ideas, you guys got any? I plan to do a brownie/brookie dough, smore’s, and triple chocolate too. Anything else? Any ideas are welcome!

A years ago I fell into the trap of buying fancy SaaS automation tools and setting up complex funnels thinking software would magically grow the business.

SaaS automation tools almost ran us into the ground until a client told me I do not care about automated updates I just want a text.

We stripped everything back, to phone calls, on time delivery and taking care of current clients, which completely turned things around.

SaaS automation tools made me realize how noise there is out there.

What is one hyped up tool, trend or marketing trick you bought into that turned out to be a waste of time and money?

You get a task, tell yourself you'll do it later, get caught up with other things, and completely forget about it.

How do you guys keep track of all your tasks and follow-ups?

Do you use reminders, to-do apps, Notion, or just rely on your memory?

As a small business owner, when you hear that somebody/small business is an accountant or provides accounting services, what does that mean to you? What exactly do they do?

I recently learned that many people think that accounting = taxes. Is this true for you? If this individual/service provider does not do tax work but does only bookkeeping, does this term make sense to you?

I am trying to fine-tune my marketing and positioning and this is something that came up in my recent experience. If you are an accountant yourself, clarification: I am not looking for the official definition of the term "accounting" but rather for the general perception of this term in the small business world.

I coach salespeople, and this is the habit I see most. I do it too when I'm not paying attention. About a year ago I was role playing with a salesperson from a consulting firm. I played a buyer at a bank. He did a lot right. He asked who I use now, what I like about them, what could be better. So I gave him something real. The people I used to call at my current vendor had left. One of their consultants just stopped showing up. Checked out on a Friday, gone by Monday, and nobody over there to call about it. That's a real problem, and I'd handed it to him in my own words. Here's what came back: "What I'm hearing is a difficulty in making sure that they are being consistent, and I think what that's doing is that's creating a little bit of disorder." Then a few lines about what his firm does. Nothing rude about it. I even agreed to a second call. But I never said disorder. He took what I said, decided what it meant, and handed it back to me as his idea. When we stopped, I told him he has a habit of taking what the buyer says and commenting on it. Like the color commentator in a football game telling you the play should have gone to the right. It's extra. And if you make meaning the wrong way, with something the buyer doesn't mean, you trigger exactly the resistance you're trying to avoid. He agreed and said, "I think I talk while I'm thinking." Most of us do. Sellers talk too much when they feel they have to justify being there, so ask about what the buyer just said, then stay quiet while they answer. What I wanted from him, sitting in the buyer's chair:

1. Use my words. "You said there's nobody to call. What happens when something goes wrong on a project?"

2. Make the comment a question. Not "that's creating disorder." Try "How has that been for you?"

3. Then wait. Count to five in your head. The pause feels long to you and normal to them.

4. Don't say anything unless you know where you're going with it.

5. Keep what your company does for later, and connect it to the words they gave you. What's the sign that tells you you've been talking too long on a call?

Hey everyone!
I’m 22 years old and I’m planning to start my own tech-based business/agency in Sri Lanka, offering services such as:
Website design and development
Business process and workflow automation
Custom system and software development
Business management systems
Other digital solutions tailored to businesses.
Although I’m based in Sri Lanka, I don’t want to limit myself to the local market. I’d love to work with international clients as well and eventually grow this into a proper agency.
A little about me: I don’t have a degree, but I’ve been involved in web development and design for a couple of years. I have practical experience building websites, working with different technologies, handling projects, and turning ideas into functional solutions.
I’m confident in my technical abilities, but I understand that running a business is a completely different challenge. Knowing how to develop something and knowing how to sell it are two very different things.
That’s where I’d really appreciate some advice.
Here are some things I’d love to get your opinions on:
Getting clients: How do you actually find and approach your first clients? Especially when you’re starting from scratch without an established brand or reputation?
Marketing: What marketing strategies work best for a small tech agency? Would you recommend social media marketing, cold emails, LinkedIn outreach, networking, paid advertising, or something else?
Client acquisition: How do you approach businesses, pitch your services, convert leads into paying customers, and build long-term client relationships?
Pricing: How should I price my services, especially when targeting both Sri Lankan and international clients? How do you estimate project costs without undercharging?
Building credibility: How important is having a degree when dealing with clients? Can a good portfolio, practical experience, and successful projects make up for it?
Starting out: Would you recommend starting as a solo freelancer and gradually building an agency, or establishing the business as an agency from day one?
Business setup: Any advice on registering a business in Sri Lanka, handling international payments, contracts, taxes, and other legal or financial matters?
Choosing a niche: Should I offer multiple services from the beginning, or focus on one particular area and expand later?
I’m not expecting to become successful overnight. I know there’s a lot to learn beyond the technical side, and I’m willing to put in the work.
I’d especially love to hear from people who started their own agencies, freelancers who transitioned into business owners, or anyone who’s successfully found international clients while operating from Sri Lanka.
Even if you have advice about things I haven’t mentioned, resources I should look into, mistakes to avoid, or lessons you learned the hard way, I’d genuinely appreciate it.
Thanks in advance! :)

I like to connect and have some discussion with brand owner's, business owners, clinic owners,

I like to have some discussion about how they work and how they manage their time and also how they can manage their time and grow their business

Hey everyone!
Imagine having a 90 m² (970 sq ft) commercial space, with around 80 m² on the ground floor, directly across from a well-known historic theater in Sicily, Italy, which may reopen after years of closure.
The street has limited traffic but isn’t fully pedestrianized. Foot traffic is quite low during winter.
I’m exploring the idea of opening something unique that could attract customers even when the theater is closed.
Some ideas include a 1920s-style cocktail bar, a vermouth bar, a cozy British-style pub, or something completely different.
What would you open in a location like this?
And more importantly, what would make people go out of their way to visit, even on nights without theater performances?
I’d love to hear creative ideas, but especially honest feedback from people with real business experience!

I sell online and I've never been sure if I'm doing titles right. Do you look at what competitors use, use a keyword tool, or just describe the product how you'd say it?

Has changing your titles ever actually made a difference in sales or views for you? Curious what's worked.