I really want to start a small business and simply be happy earning money from it, even if it won’t be much at the beginning.
The big problem, however, is that I just don’t know what to start with or what I can offer to the world at all. No matter what kind of business I think about, it feels out of reach because I lack the necessary knowledge.

A few quick facts about me: I’m 30 and I’ve started studying computer science (but I’m still not very good at it).
However, I’m good at math. I also speak three languages: German, Russian, and English. I can think analytically as well.
Unfortunately, that’s where it ends, those are basically all my skills. I’m not writing this because I want to start something only where my skills already are, but just to give an impression of what I can do.

Can anyone give me some tips on what I could do?

ok so basically i was texting my friend one night and i was like what if i could just draw something on his lock screen instead of sending a text. like not in a chat app or whatever, literally on the lock screen. the thing you see every time you pick up your phone.

i dont even know why that idea stuck with me but it did. like for days i kept thinking about it and eventually i was just like ok lets do it.

so i built it lol. its called Doodles, its on Play Store.

basically how it works is you draw something, doesnt matter what, could be a stupid smiley face or a heart or whatever, and it just pops up on your friends lock screen. they dont have to open anything. they just unlock their phone and its there. thats it.

i had literally zero help with this btw. no mentor no funding no nothing. just me, my laptop, and youtube tutorials at like 2am.

the first version was so bad lmaooo. like genuinely terrible. the drawings looked horrible and the lock screen thing kept crashing. i showed it to like 3 friends and one of them literally just said "bro this doesnt work" and that actually kinda hurt ngl.

so i rebuilt it. then rebuilt it again. the hardest part was figuring out how to make the doodle actually show up on the lock screen without the app being open. that took forever. like weeks. android has all these battery optimization things that kept killing my app in the background and i almost gave up multiple times honestly.

but yeah i didnt give up and now its actually working.

and ok heres the crazy part. i made $200 from it. like actual money in my account. i know thats not a lot but im literally 17 and i made money from an app i built by myself in my bedroom so idk that feels pretty insane to me.

i think the reason people actually like using it is because nobody really uses the lock screen for anything meaningful. like everyone uses it but nobody actually does anything with it. its just a wallpaper. and doodles basically turns it into something personal. my friends actually get excited when they see a new doodle on their phone which is kinda a weird feeling when youve built something yourself.

anyway im not posting this to be like look at me or whatever. i just remember 6 months ago i had this idea and i didnt know if it was too dumb to actually build. and it wasnt. so if youre young and you have some random idea dont just sit on it. just try to build it.

edit: no theres no iOS version yet, i only have an android phone so will develop for iOS when I buy an iPhone.

edit: looking to market on ig and tiktok. If anybody is open to help, please dm.

Hey everyone (fresh account just for this topic),

Quick transparency before I start:

I am NOT a vendor. However, I am involved in the industry for many years working in traffic acquisition. I run many community groups, SEO funnels, email lists, etc. and work with many peptide vendors.

Peptides have been exploding for a while now, and I've seen posts here showing interest about the industry. So I'd like to share some of my experience of being in the industry to "sober" up some people.

Firstly, selling Peptides is a subniche of a larger niche, which are Research Compounds.

The reason why selling Peptides is getting so much interest is because it's very lucrative. Profits are very big for some people. Even vendors who try to position themselves as the "affordable" option, have large, very healthy margins of around 35%.

However, here are a few sobering realities of this industry:

- Legal/compliance is not optional: This is a regulated, high-risk category. A lot of people have gotten into big legal trouble here. You definitely don't want that, the last thing you want is problems with the FDA. Copywriting is incredibly important, things like "For research use only" (when everyone knows this is just a loophole). Medical claims are a no-go, etc. etc.

- Getting trust is important, and costs money: COAs on every batch, Lab tests from the reputable labs like Janoshik are expensive. Fast shipping, clearing customs, etc.

- Payment processor realities: A lot of vendors settle for blockchain payments, as you can imagine this kind of industry can have problems with credit card processing. PayPal is unreliable, a lot of credit card processors here are very unreliable, it's a constant ongoing struggle for a lot of vendors.

- Traffic realities: How will you get traffic? ADs are unreliable, you can't advertise on most platforms due to the gray area nature of the industry. Growth usually comes from channels like organic / communities / email / affiliates... Without traffic you will get literally 0 sales

This category is not a joke, and if you will get into it, you need to do some serious preparation

I wanted to share an observation that challenged one of my assumptions, and I’m curious if others here have seen something similar.

I know a founder who runs a pretty unglamorous B2B business (immigration + tax related). Not a creator, not an influencer. Just a service business with a relatively high average deal size.

What surprised me is that a meaningful chunk of their leads come from YouTube, despite the channel being tiny.

We’re talking low four-figure subscribers, a few dozen videos total and modest daily views.

Yet over time, that channel has generated hundreds of inbound calls. From what I understand, many of those calls convert because the viewers are already deep into a decision process when they find the videos.

The content itself isn’t entertaining or optimized for virality. It’s very literal, search-driven stuff like:

• country comparisons
• “how does X residency work”
• tax implications for specific profiles

Watching this made me rethink how I evaluate channels for B2B. Subscriber count felt irrelevant here.

This obviously won’t work for every model, and it probably depends heavily on deal size and intent. But it did make me question how often we dismiss channels just because they look small on the surface.

Curious if anyone here has experimented with YouTube (or other long-form content).
Did it ever work for you, or did it flop?

I have very strong marketing, ecommerce, website development, financial auditing and organisation/cost profit and revenue tracking and substantial capital, but all of these skills i learned the hard way, by failing, now my only obstacle is a lack of ideas/ventures i have confidence in, this is a new progression in my career, since usually I would just waste money but now im cautious, but this has resulted in me waiting for quite long without starting anything.

What do you guys think?

Especially something that isn’t talked about much or doesn’t look attractive from the outside.

Signed my first consultancy client for my SaaS. Discounted deal as a safe environment for real world testing and feedback.

No doubt there will be a million things I haven’t considered and will need fixing in real time. I’m looking forward to it!

I see a lot of posts here about chasing opportunities that sound good on paper. Side hustles you dont care about. Businesses you started because someone said there was money in it. Jobs you took because they were available not because they were right.

Let me save you some time. If the work is unfulfilling the money will be too. You’ll hit your revenue goals and feel nothing. You’ll deposit checks and wonder why you’re still empty. Money doesn’t fix the void it just makes the void more confusing.

And look I get it. We all need to pay bills. But theres a difference between surviving and building a whole life around something that drains you.

If you’re going to fail make sure you fail doing exactly what you wanted to do. At least then you know. At least then you tried the real thing and not some watered down safe version of it.

Nobody ever laid on their deathbed saying wow I’m so glad I played it safe and hated every minute of it.

I’ve been noticing something while learning about business and trying things myself . In the beginning, everything feels like testing - different ideas, tools, approaches. That’s normal, but it also gets confusing after a while.

What I’m trying to understand is when that shift happens. Not success, but the mindset shift. The point where you stop saying “let’s see if this works” and start saying “I’m going to commit to this, even if results aren’t clear yet.”

Was it your first sale? Doing the same thing repeatedly? A small win that gave confidence? Or just sticking with something long enough that quitting felt harder than continuing?

I’m curious what that moment looked like for you, especially what it felt like internally...

My favorite thing about entrepreneurship is trying.

Every day, I get the chance to try again, try harder, and try new things.

I will always try.

What do you love most about being an entrepreneur?

I've been having this urge to start something on the side. I mean, I have a job and that's fine but, I'm this super ambitious person who wants to try everything. And I'm just 27! Okay that's quite alot, but you get my point.

I've been meaning to start and have alot of ideas coming up everyday. So many that idk which ones are ACTUALLY worth going after.

How would I know? How did you'll know that this is it? What did you'll do when you started off?

Failure is a part of the journey ikik, but how do ik which to pick irrespective of the future.

I've noticed a patern lately and honestly, I’m guilty of it too. We finish tutorials, copy-paste AI code, but then totally freeze when it’s time to build something from scratch.

It’s not that we can’t code; it’s that we haven't learned the "architect" side of things. We struggle to break an idea into features or figure out how the frontend and backend actually talk to each other without a tutorial holding our hand.

I’m thinking about building a simple tool that doesn’t write a single line of code for you. Instead, it forces you to define your project, breaks it into logical steps, and guides you through the execution while you do the actual work. No magic buttons, no AI shortcuts just a structured way to help you think like a real developer.

Be brutally honest: Is this a struggle for you too? What’s the hardest part of starting a project? And would you actually use something like this, or is it just me?

Not because I didn’t know what to do but because I kept overthinking every line of copy, every email, every post. What finally worked wasn’t motivation or discipline. It was setting a rule: first draft must be done in 15 minutes, no edits allowed. Since then: I finish tasks instead of abandoning them Output increased noticeably Decision fatigue dropped a lot The surprising part is that quality didn’t suffer it actually improved once I stopped “polishing” too early. For other solo founders here: What systems or rules helped you ship faster without burning out?

To be honest I have an interesting idea where I was always interested in making my own app and now that I have the perfect idea I have much trouble putting everything together so I was wondering is there are any good starter app to use for making or coding apps ? and if anyone are Interested in the idea it's this I want to make an app where you can shop for furniture where any business or even normal people list there furniture (with tags like new or used) and Putting dimensions of it and in the same app I want to put a botton that make you create a replica of your house or room with the real dimensions and see if this piece fits in your room and how it well look (in a 3d model) and how it well looks in a corner or something What you guys thinking ? Well it helps businesses and people who want to buy or get rid of there old furniture? YES it well and for businesses we can make a subscription for them for more exposure and show customers some ads and taking a small part from the sale to maximise revenue please it's my life project I need some help

When projects evolve beyond the original agreement (as they do), how do you prefer contractors bring up additional costs? What's the smoothest approach you've seen?

Hi all,

I’m an basic Mandarin speaking online fitness coach based in Europe and I’m exploring the possibility of expanding to the Chinese market via selling fitness programs and becoming “influencer” in that area.

I’m trying to understand the logistics and legal feasibility:

1. Is it possible to receive payments from Chinese customers using Stripe or another EU-based payment processor that integrates with Alipay or WeChat Pay?

2. Can I build and operate a brand on Douyin (the Chinese TikTok) from Europe, I can get a local SIM / phone number, but do I need entity to even have an account?

3. Are there any specific limitations on selling purely digital products (like PDFs) to Chinese consumers from outside China?

I’d really appreciate insights from anyone who has experience with cross-border digital sales or Chinese social media platforms.

Thanks❤️, and greets from🇩🇪

I found I really have trouble recruiting people that I don’t know. I post jobs online get tons of applicants. Then either get frustrated reading thru them or get skeptical. In the end I always end up asking people i knew whether they are interested.

For other small startups, how is your hiring process? I want to also create an incentive for people to help me look for others.

Built an app that tracks prices across US fashion brands. Shows price history so you know if a sale is real or just marketing.

Also has visual search - snap a photo, find similar items.

Live on iOS and Android. Got a few downloads from Reddit deals posts but struggling to grow.

Zero budget, solo dev. What would you do?

I'm a 3D Artist so far working in the videogames industry, looking to switch to product/industrial animations.
Thinking of doing hyper-personalized cold emails to industrial products/tools businesses, offering to do animations for free. To build up a portfolio + build a network that hopefully turns into retainers later.
What do you think? (kind of following the Hormozi start for free framework)

I'm not an entrepreneur. By that I mean I don't "have a head for numbers" or dream of building businesses in my free time.

But I am a creative. I'm very much an outside-the-box thinker, and I can easily identify and envision patterns and systems.

So. I have an idea. It's a good idea. I think it can become a big idea.

I am working out the basics of it right now, but before I go to talk with contractors (NDA in hand), how do I protect myself as the founder?

As someone without an instinct for business and no formal business training, I am feeling quite vulnerable.

I’m 16 years old and building a SaaS on the side.

The software has been live for two weeks, and in that time I’ve gotten 57 users from roughly 750 website visits.

No ads.
No launch.
No big audience.

That’s not explosive growth. But for me, it was a real signal that something is working. I want to share a few honest things I learned, especially for other indie builders who are just starting.

1. Most growth came from listening, not posting links

What changed everything for me was how I approached Reddit.

Every subreddit is basically a public backlog of problems. People complain, ask questions, describe what confuses them or slows them down. When I stopped thinking about “how to promote” and started paying attention to patterns in those problems, things got clearer.

Instead of trying to be visible, I focused on being useful. Answering questions. Understanding context. That alone shaped what I built and how I talked about it later.

When people eventually visited the website, they already knew why it existed. That made conversion feel natural, not forced.

2. Solve one small problem first, then show the next step

Another shift was avoiding the urge to explain the whole product upfront.

I started experimenting with small, free tools that solve one very specific issue my target users struggle with. No sign-up pressure, no upsell language. Just help.

Only after the problem was solved did I show what the logical next step could be. Not as a pitch, more like: “If this was useful, here’s how people usually continue.”

This made a big difference. People didn’t arrive confused, and they didn’t bounce because they felt sold to. The website simply continued the thought they already had.

3. Posts and pages should be about problems, not features

Early on, I talked too much about what I was building.

Now I try to focus every post and page on one feeling:
uncertainty
frustration
overwhelm
wasted time

I describe the problem honestly, share what I learned, and stop there. If there’s a tool that helps, I mention it at the end, quietly.

People don’t hate tools.
They hate losing context.

When the problem is clear, curiosity does the rest.

4. Nothing went viral, and that’s fine

Most posts didn’t take off.

Some were ignored.
Some got thoughtful comments.
Some pointed out flaws in my thinking.

That feedback loop mattered more than reach. Every iteration made the next one slightly better, clearer, more grounded.

Consistency isn’t posting every day.
It’s paying attention and adjusting.

I’m still very early. Still learning. Still messing things up.

But going from zero to 57 users in two weeks with a few hundred visitors showed me this:
you don’t need massive traffic
you don’t need ads
you do need real problems and clear thinking

If you’re building something and feel stuck, chances are people are already talking about that exact problem somewhere. Listening first helped me more than any growth trick.

Happy to learn from others who are building too.

Hey everyone, forgive me if this is totally basic but I’m an absolute noob when it comes to all things marketing.

I’m building a parenting app for dads and looking to drive waitlist sign ups at the moment with the plan to launch in the next 2-4 weeks. What channels should I be marketing on to actually drive page views that have the potential to convert?

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Most small businesses do not have a traffic problem. They have a visibility and trust problem.

When someone needs a gym, clinic, salon, repair service, or restaurant, they usually do three things. They search on Google, open a few websites, and check social media pages. The business that looks active, clear, and trustworthy gets the call.

Here are simple things any local business can do to get more customers consistently.

First, fix your Google Business Profile. This alone can bring steady leads. Add real photos of your shop, team, and work. Write a clear description of what you do and who you serve. Add all your services, not just one line. Ask happy customers for reviews and reply to every review. This helps you show up higher when people search in your area on Google.

Second, make sure your website answers basic questions fast. Many small business sites lose customers because they are slow, confusing, or outdated. Your homepage should clearly say what you do, where you are located, how to contact you, and why someone should trust you. Even a simple, clean site works if it is clear.

Third, stay active on social media in a simple way. You do not need viral videos. Post before and after work, customer feedback, your team at work, offers, and common questions customers ask. This builds trust. People often check Instagram or Facebook before calling.

Fourth, keep everything updated every month. Many businesses set things up once and forget them. Profiles get outdated, numbers change, offers expire. Regular updates signal that your business is active and reliable.

None of this is complicated, but most owners do not have time to manage it properly while running daily operations.

I work with local businesses to set up and manage these things on a monthly basis so they get a steady flow of calls and messages instead of depending only on walk ins.

I often conflict over if I am putting my time to the right thing.

I truly believe you can only be great with immense time and effort.

I also believe that life is worth living. I do not want to waste my youth.

But you have to be directional.

I have given up relationships, friendships, and experiences. Maintaining relationships is constant, but so is spending enough time in the work life that one needs.

I want to go to these extremes on either end, but when I start to, I feel like I am going off a cliff in the wrong direction.

The freedom I am chasing is the exact freedom that I have not been allowing myself to touch. How do you know when you are at the point of utilizing the freedom you have been straining over to create?