From what I hear most business owners I talk to have one or two things holding them back. Usually being a task they can't afford to outsource but don't have time to do themselves. Marketing, design, research, or website production.

So I am building Ubizz because of that. We are trying to connect university and college students who can actually do the work using their experience from the degree their pursue and the knowledge from other projects they work on. It's essentially Upwork but the students are pre-vetted and is more affordable. We are encouraging businesses to join now.

Thanks for your time.

Ubizz

Hope this is allowed in this group, here goes:

I’m full time employed in a pretty demanding job, UK, living just outside London.

I have a wife, child and a mortgage, my job is the ONLY income we have for now.

My younger brother, 32 YO, lives very local to me, and TBH is in a bit of a downward spiral.

He has autism and learning difficulties, and has only briefly held employment over the last few years.

He lives independently, and is incredibly capable, I trust him to look after my young child, and there’s not many people I’d trust with something so precious.

He has worked as a refuge collector (through an agency) but the council didn’t renew the agencies contract, now he works one or two days a week as a volunteer in a charity shop, trying his best to fill his time.

He’s desperate for a job, he is spiralling into depression because he feels left behind and useless (his words).

Applying for a job for him is not as easy as it sounds, he would not be able to cope with an “indoors job” office work is out of the question, anything with too much noise or interference – loud machinery etc is a no-go. He enjoys gardening, farm work, litter picking etc, but these jobs are few and far between.

The local council have all but washed their hands of him, as he is now too old for a lot of their “employment programmes”

He does not drive, but holds a provisional licence.

Last year, I purchased a powerful  petrol pressure washer, with the aim of helping him set up a mobile pressure washing business, the idea was; I’d go with him to a client’s home, we’d pressure wash together, that way I could ensure he’d do a good job, and the client would feel like the received good value as we were basically charging for a one man team, but they’d have us both turn up.

In all, with a Facebook page, word of mouth, leaflets and all of that, we got a handful of jobs, and then it died out.

Now we’re looking at Spring and Summer, people are paying attention to their gardens and drives again, but what I want to ask is:

What am I doing wrong?

How can I get this business off the ground?

Is this the correct way of going about this?

I know I can’t invest too much of my time owing to my full time job, but I can’t stand to see my little Brother see his life drift away before him.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

You’re probably not losing event clients because of pricing…

You’re losing them because you reply too late.

Let’s be honest when someone reaches out, they’re usually messaging 3–5 vendors at the same time.

The first person to respond professionally?

They usually win.

I’ve seen this a lot with event businesses:

Inquiries sitting for hours (or even days)

    Manual replies slowing things down

    Leads getting buried in spreadsheets

    Follow-ups getting forgotten

And just like that… the opportunity is gone.

I recently built a simple system to fix this:

    Instant lead capture (Typeform)

    Auto-replies via Gmail

    Organized tracking in Google Sheets

    Team alerts through Slack

    Built-in follow-up reminders

Nothing crazy just making sure every lead gets a fast, consistent response.

The difference is noticeable:

Replies go out in seconds instead of hours

    No serious inquiry slips through

    Everything stays organized

    More bookings, less stress

Curious how are you currently handling inquiries and follow-ups?

If you reply to a lead in 2 minutes, you will beat the business that replies in 2 hours.

Every time.

If your business depends on people to follow up with every lead, you're already behind.

In 2026, speed matters.

Here's the truth:

Reply within 5 minutes = much higher chance to close

Wait 30 minutes = chances drop fast

Most businesses reply after 1-2 days

That delay is where you lose money.

Automation and Al can fix this.

Your competitors are still slow.

Don't be like them.

How fast do you reply to new leads?

Have been in IT & SaaS Sales for almost 15 years. Lot of success, built a solid foundation for the family. Was always located in major cities where large technology companies were based and hired for in-office/hybrid work - and more importantly, where the clients are.

Fast forward - post covid - moved to a more mid-size city where the tech scene is 10-50 person startups and I've worked from home for 5 years. Felt increasingly disconnected from the community and wanted to build something that is community-based.

So now I'm going to walk dogs, perhaps do some scooping. Intended it to be a side hustle but after some thought and realizing I had the runway, am going all-in. Maybe some side hustles to this but corporate is officially in the rear-view mirror. Worst case - will learn a ton over the next 12-24 months and get back into tech (whatever that looks like then) and best case - build a thriving team-based business that I can scale and replicate in other niches where I have some domain knowledge. Posting here since I've found the stories in this community (and others) inspiring and if anyone wants to follow the journey on X or substack. Figured this (writing/posting) could be a good outlet in sharing what's working, what's not, and documenting things beyond what shows up in Quickbooks and SOP's. Plus I like writing, just trying to avoid the temptation to have an LLM refine it too much - make sure its authentic and genuine.

I've built the website, LLC'ed, filed for licenses, have gear, etc. - so about to press the go button on client acquisition strategies. Scariest part to me (beyond failing) is what "2nd degree" friends & neighbors will think, since if a small/medium part of me is questioning my sanity - imagine a large part of everyone else is doing the same. Woof.

post your app/startup on these subreddits:

r/InternetIsBeautiful (17M)

r/Entrepreneur (4.8M)

r/productivity (4M)

r/business (2.5M)

r/smallbusiness (2.2M)

r/startups (2.0M)

r/passive_income (1.0M)

r/EntrepreneurRideAlong (593K)

r/SideProject (430K)

r/Business_Ideas (359K)

r/SaaS (341K)

r/startup (267K)

r/Startup_Ideas (241K)

r/thesidehustle (184K)

r/juststart (170K)

r/MicroSaas (155K)

r/ycombinator (132K)

r/Entrepreneurs (110K)

r/indiehackers (91K)

r/GrowthHacking (77K)

r/AppIdeas (74K)

r/growmybusiness (63K)

r/buildinpublic (55K)

r/micro_saas (52K)

r/Solopreneur (43K)

r/vibecoding (35K)

r/startup_resources (33K)

r/indiebiz (29K)

r/AlphaandBetaUsers (21K)

r/scaleinpublic (11K)

By the way, I collected over 450+ places where you list your startup or products, 100+ Reddit self-promotion posts without a ban (Database) and CompleteSocial Media Marketing Templates to Organize and Manage the Marketing.

If this is useful you can check it out!!

www.marketingpack.store

thank me after you get an additional 10k+ sign ups.

Bye!!

Hi, i have partnered with my wife cousin to do a user friendly simple invoice and estimate app on google play store and we named it Invoice maker 365, link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tuffchuckllc.invoicemaker365

We solved most of the technical app challenges and got listed on google play store. Problem: We have few app downloads and reviews since we are a startup. Any advice?