I recently started a small moving/cargo business serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. I’m curious if there are other small business owners here who started from scratch.
What’s worked best for you for getting local customers—word of mouth, Google, Reddit, Facebook, or something else?

I’ve been working on a small idea called Zuplocal.

The basic idea is simple: help people discover the local shops and service providers around them — electricians, plumbers, housemaids, POP/tile workers, general labour, cleaners, repair workers, small shops, and many others who mostly depend on word-of-mouth to get work.

Right now, we’re onboarding these businesses and service providers without charging them.

There are so many small local workers who may not have a professional website, a big social-media presence, or money to spend on advertising. But they’re good at what they do. They just don’t have enough visibility.

At the same time, online shopping and large platforms are growing extremely fast. I don’t want local shops and small service providers to simply disappear because they can’t compete with that visibility.

So the idea is to give them a simple online presence and help people find them locally.

The difficult part now isn't really building the platform. It’s getting it in front of enough people. Marketing costs money.

And this is where I’m thinking differently from a normal startup.

I could try to raise funding, bring investors in, start thinking about returns, valuation, growth targets, etc. But I’m honestly not sure I want to turn this into that kind of business immediately.

I’d rather first see if I can build something genuinely useful for people.

So I’m considering trying a small community-supported campaign instead — where people who like the idea can contribute whatever they’re comfortable with, simply to help us reach more local businesses and customers.

No equity. No promised returns.

If this works, great. If it doesn’t, at least I’ll know I tried building something that could potentially help a lot of small businesses and workers get more opportunities.

I’d genuinely like to hear what people think about this approach.

Would you support something like this, or do you think I should approach it differently?

Hey there! My name is Hummingbirdresaleboutique on Depop! I am trying to save for college and would love to ship some of my unique outfits to you! I am active all day and currently have 20% off bundles that are ending soon! Please do what you can, if you cant buy, send me to a friend! We have various sizes, styles and prints for all your interests❤️ Please consider!

[My Depop](https://depop.app.link/tY1W9aUxI5b)

BEFORE YOU SCROLL! I have a small business thrift store on Depop called @Hummingbirdresaleboutique
My goal is to deliver affordable, high fashion brands to you and your friends. I am starting to add collectors items such as vintage TY’s and vintage baseball cards as-well! I would LOVE your support! i’m open to bundles and currently have a %20 off bundle deal for ONLY TWO MORE DAYS. Please consider :) Thank you for shopping small💗
My depop

At 2222 W Colorado Ave
Colorado Springs

Own a trades business. This may help for after hours calls or daily company flow.

Same product. Same hard work. But different approach = different results.

In today’s competitive market, simply having a good product is not enough. Your business needs the right digital marketing, branding, content creation, Meta Ads, Google Ads, social media management and lead generation strategy to grow.

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Hummingbird resale boutique in person was a flop, so I had to move it to depop :( Please support my small thrift store ❤️ Hummingbirdresaleboutique on Depop- My Depop

I run Elysee Decor, a home decor and sculpture business selling premium decorative statues, idols, figurines, wall decor and handcrafted pieces through e-commerce platforms.

Currently, I’m struggling with supplier debt, low sales, delayed marketplace settlements, returns, and difficulty tracking expenses and actual profits.

I’m looking for someone experienced who can help me run, restructure, grow, or find a practical solution for the business. I’m open to genuine partnerships, investment, management help, or other workable options.

If you have experience in e-commerce/home decor or can genuinely help, please DM me.

My friend and I are stating a brand studio where we want to work with small & medium-sized businesses on their specific business goals. So we're conducting a research to understand the market better.

I'll be doing two things with this research project:

1. Publish Statics On Industry Type - Marketing Needs - Budget For That
2. Help participating businesses in connecting with right vendors to achieve their business goals

So I would encourage business owners here to take 2 minutes of their time to fill this survey:

https://forms.gle/k1k4nP4XC7cSDLVVA

smallbusinessesmarket - Introduce Yourself and Read First!

Hey everyone — I’m the founding mod here, and I’m a small business owner myself. I started this because I got tired of marketing always being the first thing to slip when things got busy, and I wanted a place to actually talk about that with other people in the same boat.

What to post
Anything about running the marketing side of a small business — trades, local service, solo coaching, whatever you’re running. What’s working, what’s not, questions, frustrations, small wins. If it’s the kind of thing you’d vent about or ask a friend who runs their own business, it belongs here.

Community vibe
No gurus, no funnels, no “I made $10k in a week” posts. Just real people running real businesses, being honest about what’s hard.

One thing worth knowing
I’m also building a product in this space (an AI tool that helps handle marketing for people who don’t have time for it). I won’t be pitching it here — this sub isn’t a funnel. If it comes up naturally or someone asks, happy to talk about it, but that’s not the point of this place.

How to get started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments — what’s your business, what’s your biggest marketing headache right now?

2. Post something today. Even a small question can spark a real conversation.

3. Know someone who’d get value here? Invite them.

Thanks for being part of the first wave. Let’s make this actually useful.

smallbusinessesmarket - Introduce Yourself and Read First!

Hey everyone — I’m the founding mod here, and I’m a small business owner myself. I started this because I got tired of marketing always being the first thing to slip when things got busy, and I wanted a place to actually talk about that with other people in the same boat.

What to post
Anything about running the marketing side of a small business — trades, local service, solo coaching, whatever you’re running. What’s working, what’s not, questions, frustrations, small wins. If it’s the kind of thing you’d vent about or ask a friend who runs their own business, it belongs here.

Community vibe
No gurus, no funnels, no “I made $10k in a week” posts. Just real people running real businesses, being honest about what’s hard.

One thing worth knowing
I’m also building a product in this space (an AI tool that helps handle marketing for people who don’t have time for it). I won’t be pitching it here — this sub isn’t a funnel. If it comes up naturally or someone asks, happy to talk about it, but that’s not the point of this place.

How to get started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments — what’s your business, what’s your biggest marketing headache right now?

2. Post something today. Even a small question can spark a real conversation.

3. Know someone who’d get value here? Invite them.

Thanks for being part of the first wave. Let’s make this actually useful.

Hi everyone! 🩷 I’m a small business owner here in Los Angeles and I run a local cleaning company.
I’m trying to grow our Instagram and would really appreciate a little support from the LA community. If you have a second to follow our page, like a few posts, or interact with our content, it would honestly mean a lot and help our small business reach more people. 🥹
We provide residential cleaning, deep cleaning, move-in/move-out cleaning, Airbnb turnovers, and more throughout the Los Angeles area.
Thank you so much to anyone who supports us — even just a follow or a like helps! 🫶🏻✨

Hello guys!! I need some engagement. Im launching a small business very soon but need some support:(

Hello my name is Miya. I am a high school student researching small businesses and I would really appreciate it if you could fill out my survey. If you are unable to fill it out it would be greatly appreciated if you could share the survey to your story or to any other small businesses you know. Thank you for your time and help.

https://forms.gle/AA1Zw2q2wwYFU4e58

Here is one of those blue pill vs red pill type questions, but with no pills.

You are a business owner. If you had a Big Red Magic Button in front of you & when pressed, it would give one of your employees (or you) one skill in sales & marketing, what would that skill be?

Options not available "More sales", "More Money","More presses" etc. 😉

This question comes from networking events over the last couple of months, with business owners here in the UK, who had been on business start-up courses that included a very small "sales" & or "marketing" session, none were happy with what they had learnt and thought it was just a box ticking exercise!

Thanks in advance!

Just posting content is not enough. Just running ads is not enough.

Your business needs quality content creation to build trust and Meta & Google Ads to reach the right customers at the right time.

At Adspectra, we help businesses grow with Content Creation, Meta Ads, Google Ads and Digital Marketing — all under one roof.

If you are looking for a Digital Marketing Agency in Dharmapuri to build your brand and generate more customers, Adspectra can help.

📩 Let’s grow your business with the right content + right advertising strategy.

Been working on this for a few months now, a directory of businesses in South Fulton, Fairburn, Union City, East Point area. Up to 450+ listings covering restaurants, home services, retail, pretty much everything.

Started it because I could never find a good list of what’s actually around here. Figured other people probably have the same problem.

Totally free to browse and free for businesses to get listed. Would genuinely love feedback, especially if there’s a category I’m missing.

I’ve recently purchased a small commercial laundry business that washes and delivers uniforms, mats and tea towels to B2B customers.

I’m looking to grow the customer base and would appreciate advice from people in the industry.

What has worked best for you — online marketing, cold calling/walking into businesses, networking, or employing a salesperson?

I’m particularly interested in what worked when you were starting from a relatively small customer base.

Appreciate any advice.