I have a business that’s relatively new. Currently I have one client that I’ve been with for two years, made a resident portal for them (it’s an HOA). I want to get leads that need websites in general or a niche, whichever would be more ideal. Whether no site or poor site, doesn’t matter. Unsure how to go about it, I’ve done cold calling on leads I verified myself, probably about 50-75 calls, I got to the owner about 20% of the time. Four showed interest and gave me contact info and took mine but didn’t reach out. One scheduled a meet on that call but canceled ahead of time and didn’t call for a reschedule. Did a few cold emails, didn’t work, but didn’t do many so not surprised. Any tips?

I know the basics of PowerPoint and I can make a decent enough presentation, but you know somehow everything I make ends up looking similar. Title at the top, a few points underneath, maybe a image on the side. Change the colours and it's basically the same deck again.

I've tried those existing templates Office has but most of them either look too corporate or have so many design elements that they do not really work with my content.

I was checking out Gamma recently and liked some of the layouts it generated but which got me wondering if I should use AI for design inspiration and a first cut rather than trying to build everything from scratch myself? but Id also like to get bettter at this w/o spending on a tool every single time. How do u guys approach slide design when you have the content ready but no real idea how to present visually? any res. or ways that helped u?

Hi good night all, I am Mike, working for around 2 years on an idea called WRELAD. WRELAD.com , Wrelad.com/start is a social marketplace for creators: sell any kind of art, get discovered, and team up with other creators. The idea is one site where independent creators sell comics, books, music, art and animation from a single profile.

Collaborators can agree on revenue splits directly on the site and get paid from the same sale. Buyers can also make purchases without creating an account. The platform includes promotional, editing, design, and publishing tools, all in one place. I really do believe it has a place in the world and the feedback I got from partner businesses / creators is that they see my potential with the features I have in the works.

I just keep coming up with ideas for new features and improvements, especially as trends change, but I haven’t focused on outreach as much as I’d like. So far, the site has about four content creators and around 20 users, though not all of them are active. I do know personally that the creators on the site all have major plans to focus their full content catalogue on my site so I believe they will be major players for me later , especially as they are all from different businesses and have some following but right now everything feels slow.

I do post to linkedin, x and instagram often and aim to be active on socials and I have had some decent feedback some days but not as much as I would like also. Any advice I would appreciate thanks.

Been running my outdoor shop for about 8 years now... and I have to say, dealing with these domestic camping distributors is getting brutal. In the old days, you could actually make a decent margin on tents and hardware. Now? The local reps are squeezing us dry, and the quality on the gear keeps dropping.

I’m pulling my hair out trying to stock up before the spring rush, but half my orders are backordered or marked up so high that I can't even compete with the big box stores.

Are any of you folks bypassing these traditional middlemen? I'm tired of the nonsense. Do you just go direct overseas now to get decent margins on outdoor gear, or are there still some reliable stateside distributors left?

We recently got factory direct quotes on three SKUs after identifying the actual manufacturer our trading company was using. the gap was 14 to 44 percent depending on the product. Higher margin items got marked up more aggressively.

For anyone who went factory direct, did the savings justify the extra management overhead?

I’ve seen product pages with beautiful designs that still struggle to turn visitors into customers.

My current checklist would include:

• Clear product benefits above the fold
• High-quality images and videos
• Reviews and trust signals
• Transparent pricing and shipping information
• A clear call to action
• Answers to common customer questions

What would you add or remove from this list?

I’m especially interested in practical changes that have improved conversion rates.

I’ve been building Decision Theatre, a tool that helps people work through difficult decisions using structured prompts inspired by behavioural science.

One thing I’ve struggled with is explaining why someone would use it instead of journalling, talking to a friend, or simply asking ChatGPT.

I know what I want the experience to do, but I’m not sure the value is immediately obvious to someone discovering it for the first time.

If you were evaluating a product like this, what would make you curious enough to try it? Seeing an example of the experience, understanding the kind of insights you’d get, or something else entirely?

I’d especially love to hear from people who’ve marketed products that solve less obvious problems. How did you get people to understand the value before they’d tried the product?

We run a home goods store, just two of us and a freelance developer we pay hourly. Last month one of our competitors redid their product pages. Bigger photos, bundles higher up, reviews closer to the title. Within about a week their ads were noticeably outperforming ours on almost identical products. So we asked our developer to make three similar changes. Two weeks and three rounds of revisions later, everything was finally live. Apparently the custom theme makes even minor edits complicated because nobody wants to risk breaking checkout. That's what bothers me more than anything. The actual changes weren't difficult. Waiting for someone to make them was the expensive part. We're rebuilding before Q4 regardless. Could move to a simpler Shopify theme that doesn't require a developer for every little update. Or try one of the newer AI builders like Amboras where you can describe what needs changing. We update the store pretty much every week, so flexibility matters. Has anyone dealt with this and found a better setup? Or is hiring a better developer the actual solution?

Six months reading threads about switching. Every one made it sound complicated. payments going wrong.

then I did it. Opened new account online, 15 minutes including separate accounts. updated client invoices over a few days. moved recurring charges. Kept old account open two weeks. one charge tried to hit the old account, fixed it next day.

Switched because my old bank couldnt split money by purpose. new setup shows operating vs tax money without math.

i’m currently in the sampling phase of starting a product-based business, and i want to start building awareness and a waitlist before launch. it’s tricky figuring out what to post when i don’t have the final product to show yet.

for those who’ve been through this, what kind of content did you share during this stage? did you focus on behind the scenes, your founder story, or something else? would love to hear what worked for you!

Research request: What recurring work problems are costing marketers and business operators time or money?

Hi everyone,

I'm conducting early-stage research to understand the recurring problems people face in marketing, advertising, e-commerce, sales and growth, analytics, client delivery, and everyday business workflows.

I'm trying to understand what people genuinely struggle with, what they currently do to solve it, and where existing approaches fall short—before deciding whether there's a useful solution worth building.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who work in marketing or growth, manage advertising campaigns, run agencies or e-commerce businesses, handle sales/CRM, or work with reporting and business operations.

The survey takes approximately 5–7 minutes. It asks about real experiences, current workarounds and the consequences of recurring problems. People from different countries and markets are welcome.

Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOz5ldcHdxAzo0MWRAHSV4_yRv8NSWxkHW7TYxv-RlEtySoA/viewform

This is early-stage research, not a product launch or sales pitch. I haven't decided what to build, and the eventual solution might be software, automation, a digital product, a service—or something else entirely.

Please don't include confidential client or company information. You won't need to provide your email unless you choose an optional follow-up.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to share their experience. Honest answers—including that a problem isn't important enough to solve—are genuinely useful.

Hi,

I run a B2B printing company based in the UK, offering prints like flyers, business cards, posters, banners, custom clothing etc.

I’m looking for ways to grow the business to a point where it’s steady and consistent, but I don’t have a huge amount of ideas regarding what channels to focus on, what works, what doesn’t, where to invest etc.

It’d be great to get some opinions on what works within the UK, and any other tips you may have, maybe from running your own business?

Also, as a 20 year old, it’d be great to connect with other business owners within the UK, this would be really helpful and greatly appreciated, comment if so.

Any feedback / advice would be great.

Trying to validate a boring business before I build it. Be brutal.
The idea: I read my metro's public building permit records every week and email residential GCs and remodelers the projects matching their trade — additions, remodels, ADUs, garage conversions, decks. Each entry: address, permit number, scope as filed, valuation, status, and the contractor field exactly as shown (sometimes a company name, sometimes "To Bid," sometimes blank).
Not leads. A permit means someone got permission to build, not that they're shopping. Some jobs are already staffed. No phone numbers, I don't contact homeowners.
$30/month, month to month, cancel anytime. Capped at 3 subscribers per trade.
Second product for subs/suppliers: a monthly sheet of the busiest GCs pulling permits — who, what kind of work, how active. For subs trying to get on a busy builder's list.
The only question that matters: GCs/remodelers — would you prepay $30 for month one right now? Subs — would the GC sheet be worth $30 to you? And what kills it for you?

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to connect with a few business owners who are serious about growing their businesses and getting more paying customers.

I help businesses identify where they’re losing potential customers and build systems to bring in more leads, convert those leads into appointments, and ultimately generate more revenue.

Here’s what I focus on:

Facebook & Instagram Ads: Creating targeted Meta advertising campaigns designed to attract potential customers who are interested in your services.

Lead Generation: Building funnels that turn interested prospects into actual inquiries and booked appointments.

Fixing Revenue Leaks: Identifying problems with your website, booking process, marketing, and customer follow-up that could be costing you business.

Automated Follow-Ups + Google Reviews: Making sure potential customers don’t get forgotten after they inquire and a service is completed

AI-Powered Systems: Using automation, AI agents, and other tools where they actually make sense for your business.

Conversion Optimization: Improving the process that turns website visitors and leads into paying customers.

What makes my approach different?
I don’t believe in throwing money at ads when a business has problems converting the customers it already attracts.
First, we identify what’s broken. Then we fix it. After that, we use targeted advertising to bring in more opportunities and track what’s actually working.

I’m currently looking for a few business owners to work with.
I’m offering a free, personalized business growth audit where I’ll examine your online presence, identify potential missed opportunities, and show you what I’d recommend improving.

If I see an opportunity where I can help, I can also put together a custom demo so you can see what a solution might look like.

No pressure or obligation.

If you own a business, I’d love to hear:
What industry are you in?
What’s your biggest challenge with acquiring customers?
Have you tried Facebook or Instagram ads before? If so, how did they perform?

Feel free to comment below or message me directly. Happy to connect with business owners who are serious about growth.

We used phone calls before, but always had to work around when clients were available. We also tried emailing, but we had to spend a lot of extra time organizing and writing. We even shared Google Drive folders directly, but after seeing the photos, some clients would still ask what stage things were actually at.

I thought with so many tools online now, it would be easy to find software or an AI tool that fit my needs. Turned out I tried a few, and none of them worked very well.

Having no other option, I figured I would try making one myself. After going through quite a few tutorials, I built a custom tool on WorkBuddy. Never expected that someone like me with zero coding skills could actually build it.

First, I set up a skill to check our project knowledge base in Notion. After our team takes job site photos, they upload them to the knowledge base, and it automatically downloads the photos.

Then I set up a second skill to have an AI model analyze these photos, and free deepseek is enough. This step determines the current construction stage, such as how much wall painting is done, whether lights are installed, and which steps are completed, while tagging the photos with the corresponding construction stage.

When I need to report to a client, I can directly send the relevant photos and progress over, without having to dig through photos and organize them myself.

Later, I found that these progress photos could actually be used for promotion too. Rather than just hearing me describe a project, a lot of clients prefer seeing the actual job site details and the final results directly.

So after getting permission from clients, I have the tool reorganize these photos, pick out the in progress and finished shots that are good for showcasing, and then post them to Instagram and TikTok. That way, whenever someone wants to see my work down the road, they can just check out my social media pages.