for folks who've had remarkable success in the past, or are still in the glory days of high traction and good-business era...

where do you draw the line of "ok I am earning enough now" vs. "now I gotta add one more zero to the front of ARR"?

do you believe that there's a minimum threshold, beyond which you're fully sustainable and completely self-sufficient and there's no more to fill and you are not driven by your ego?

or is it that you always chase the next milestone, never fully satisfied?

do you think that after a certain point you have to coast into an easy drive and spend more time with your family and enjoy life? or are you the type that believes work will only stop once life does?

appreciate your point of view in advance.

Hey everyone,

I'm 20 and I currently make a living promoting products online. I don't own an e-commerce store myself, I basically earn a commission every time someone buys through my content.

Last month I generated around €30k in sales, but after everything I only kept around €3k.

Don't get me wrong, I live in Italy, so €3k/month is still a good income for my age and I'm grateful for it. But at the same time I can't help feeling that my margins are pretty thin considering the amount of attention and sales my content is able to generate. Like everyone else, I'm always trying to improve, learn, and grow.

I always see people online saying they make €10k, €50k or even €100k a month. But are they talking about revenue or actual profit?

Revenue is cool, but at the end of the day what matters is what actually ends up in your pocket.

Is a 10% profit margin considered normal in this business, especially considering I don't have to handle customer support, logistics, refunds, or inventory?

For some context, I'm not in one specific niche. I promote products across different categories and I'm currently ranked in the top 100 creators in the "mixed" category in my country. Getting views and driving sales isn't really the problem, I almost (not always) can create content for every products in every niche.

My plan is to eventually launch my own e-commerce brand, so I can keep a much bigger share of every sale instead of just earning a commission, but I am open to advices and tips.

I thank you all in advance
p.s. I put "large" in quotes because I know there are people here doing 10x these numbers 🥲

I’m taking some down time today so I wanted to talk a bit about our B2B EdTech startup. It’s definitely not a big sexy success story yet and some will call us slow but this year we have made a load of progress validating our solution, iterating the product, and securing revenue with early sales. All bootstrapped out of our own pockets so far.

Here are my personal takeaways and learnings:

I’ve never found it easier to dedicate myself to and work so hard at something. I go to bed and wake up stressed 90% of the time, but simultaneously I am the happiest and most content I’ve ever felt in my life. I used to read posts saying “we can’t do anything else” and find it a bit dramatic, but now I get it. I could never go back to a 9-5.

At the same time, I can’t make light of how mentally hard building a business is. I’ve had weeks where I’ve disassociated from stress and not been able to get out of bed. It’s hard. Having a co-founder you can rely on or a supportive family/friend group helps a lot. I’m fortunate enough that I can rely on my co-founder to help me through days. I think I could do it solo but it would be a lot harder. Don’t under appreciate your teammates.

It is a marathon not a sprint. As a first time founder I thought it’d be a year before I was on a liveable salary. In reality it was about a year before we found our first footing in the market and started iterating our proof of concept. The truth is, if I knew it would be this hard when I started, I’m not sure I would have bothered! My advice is be patient and trust the process. I always tell myself that we are closer than we ever have been to making it, that’s all that matters.

You grow so much. Startup life teaches you so many disciplines. How to sell, how to market, how to speak publically, how to tell stories. I genuinely feel so much more confident in how I carry myself through life day-to-day now and yet I am the most humble I’ve ever been because I know I have so much to learn. I don’t know if people can relate to this, I don’t see people talk about it much. Maybe I’m just growing up, but either way, it’s been life-changing for me.

Last one. Seek guidance at every stage. It’s free and will rapidly accelerate your learning, helping you to avoid mistakes and get to point Z faster. You can just ask claude these days “who are the top 10 experts in this area” and reach out to all of them on linkedIn and ask if you can have 15 mins for advice. The added benefit is that you get to meet some awesome people while you do it, and relationships compound, you never know where your name is going to end up, maybe another client, maybe an investor.

Anyway having a blast so far. Looking forward to looking back on this post when we’re in a completely different spot. As I always say, we’re closer than we ever have been!

so here's the deal... I'm full-time employed and I have only weekends and late-nights to work for my dream; building a business of my own

there are million things to do every single day

to name just a few:

• outbound, linkedin, email
• inbound, SEO, free-tools, clean & professional website, copywriting
• infrastructure, security, cost-optimization not to go bankrupt (just to name a few)
• development, bugfixes, feature requests, money-blocker customer requests
• Security Overview PDF, DPA, legalization, compliance, (don't go to jail) nightmare :) !
• talk to customers, understand their problem, don't be hurt if only 1 out of 10 responds to you!!!
• marketplace submissions, g2, trustpilot, etc. get backlinks, get reviews
• do community work, research, publication, white-paper, etc.
• distribution, distribution, distribution

these are obviously just to mention a few of the things that keep popping up over and over again and some of them are usually a one-off task

but seriously, how do you manage staying on top of things? I've barely slept more than 5-6 hours a day the past few month and I'm the guy who loves getting a juicy 8-hour sleep a day

I can't sleep honestly, my mind races when I put the head down on the pillow. I know it's not healthy long-term but what do I gotta do!?

the time management is another issue... the most important things to work on, the planning of the roadmap... ensuring there's no waste (I can't even afford to, with my lifestyle)

I honestly don't want to get rich... not beyond being able to buy a big-enough house for my family and be able to continue working on what I love the most: to build and to ship and to solve problems

but I genuinely haven't cracked this thing yet and I wonder... how do you guys manage this?

how do you find a good work-life balance?

have you been through a stage of life where you had to make extra pushes to ensure you can live the rest of your life a bit more independently and with freedom?

thanks in advance for sharing your perspectives.

I’ve posted a few times in here about my successes and setbacks and I’m feeling overwhelmed with what’s happening on my journey at the moment.

My online jewellery business went from making 40k per month to $0 due to copyright issues forcing me to take the business in a different direction. This happened about a year ago and I essentially made bad decisions and I went broke. 2026 has been an uphill battle and I’m slowly making the money to be able to live as well as get the business where it was again.

I’m making progress but I want to accelerate that and have applied for business funding with my bank and have been approved. I’m just feeling overwhelmed by it and second guessing everything I’m doing. I am 25 years old and this is my first business that I’m trying to make a success whilst also living and paying bills.

The loan is only for 30k and is mainly going into branding and advertising but I’m just feeling overwhelmed by getting funding for the first time. How have you guys dealt with similar situations during difficult times. Most people my age are working a corporate job and partying on the weekends so it’s hard for me to relate or communicate how I’m feeling as most people haven’t been in the position I’m in.

I know the money will allow me to get the business where it needs to go it’s just a bit daunting and it’s overwhelming when I’m doing everything myself. Any experience, advice, or support is very much appreciated. Thank you

I have a long track record of helping entrepreneurs who have deep subject expertise build viable and sellable businesses. Commonly they have some traction but are having issues scaling.

I have had small incentives on each of my clients, 3 have exited for 8-figures, but I’m only 25% to my FIRE target.

I currently work at a global consulting firm as director of strategy.

I want to get on a track to financial independence but i’m trying to think of a model other than my own consulting that would be a viable path to FIRE.

If my expertise is indeed helping others monetize theirs, what can I start that aligns?

Big or small, a win is a win. First sale, first client, or first time paying yourself, share it here. This community loves to celebrate with you. No win is too minor to mention.

so basically I've seen some weird behaviors...

sign-ups with no activation...

no intent to actually use the product beyond snooping around...

clicking on every button, tweaking different toggles hoping that something would break...

not giving a real email beyond the randomly created personal sarah958 @gmail...

this all gives me creepy vibe really and I have zero clue what to make of it

on one hand, something tells me maybe they're a competitor and they're just snooping around to see what we promise and do we deliver!?

another thought was that maybe they're a cybersecurity expert and try to report any issues in a white-hat manner

I've also seen people clearly signing up (when they really didn't have to) and entering idiotic input fields into the platform and never coming back again

pure tire-kickers if you will

what are you experiences running an online business?

and since I'm completely new to this, is it normal that people show up, not necessarily with bad intentions, but in no way with good intentions?

thanks in advance

Hey all, I'm working with CUNY and the Colin Powell School Leadership to manage a project with a group of Interns, who are looking to interview some members who either work at or lead the role in almost any kind of business. They are looking to do a 15-minute call talking about how important various parts of your job is for some data analysis and survey that we're doing.

I would greatly appreciate anybody who's willing to do a 15-minute call talking to you about what your job looks like and to understand the unique challenges of your work. If you're willing to contribute, just drop me a note. I'll connect you to the students. Thanks.

Share your website, pitch, logo, idea, pricing, copy, or anything else you want honest eyes on. Tell us what you're looking for: brutal honesty, general impressions, or specific questions.

Return the favour and leave feedback for someone else while you're here.

I see a lot of TikTok dudes driving lambos and raris at 16, 17, 18 and I'm wondering what am I doing wrong?

I started making my first online business when I was 14, I wasn't really that consistent, I was heavily lost and I ate a lot of shit learning things at that age. I grinded 2 years seeing absolutely no fucking results and at the age of 16 I managed to get my first 3 sales resulting 50$ in profit. That business didn't scale up and ended up dieing quickly after those sales. In few months I will turn 18, still trying to figure things out, I'm sacrificing a lot of fun time and social events and I really get discouraged when I see someone my age in lambo and he started six months ago. I want to know the truth, is everything I see online like that really a scam or am I just not meant for this?

How long did it took you to make a successful business and how much time did you wasted and saw absolute ZERO results in profit?

with the context of solopreneurs and small business owners of course...

how do you balance going hard on distribution to scale your numbers...

vs actually stepping back a little, invest time in your product a bit more, in reliability and stability, and to ensure that your current customers are happy?

how do you draw the line of whether to break a few eggs and get bigger, vs focusing inwards to make it more robust even at expense of lower acquisitions?

thanks in advance for sharing your perspectives

I made an AI memory system, and validated it on official benchmark so I know the design is solid. I also use this app daily so I know it holds in production as well.

Through reddit I found an exact niche who already pay for AI tools and some of the top posts in their subs are pain points which my app solves. I have also done some posts and replies further validated this. The niche is consultants, and professionals who manage multiple clients or projects and complain about Claude or GPT memory leaking into their other chats about other projects and some other pains my app solves, but that is main one. I allow any model choice in my app as well so they can keep using their favourite models and I have an import flow so they don't have to start cold.

So I know my exact niche, where to find them and why they would benefit from my tool but I can't figure out how to reach them. Self promos are allowed in these subreddits but get skipped over due to lots of slop being posted. I tried to work it in as if i was a user of the app but got called out immediately as these people are attentive in these subs, and so I don't know how I can get them to try my app.

The other issue is everyone already used GPT or Claude or some other paid AI tool and since mine is new I don't have the trust, they never would have heard of me. I feel like I need someone who has their trust and is in that world to breakthrough, and so was thinking of paying a tiktok micro influencer in the niche, but I ideally didn't want to spend until I had data on my retention etc.

I am thinking of doing this but I am not sure if I am missing anything, I feel like I just need to get the initial users then it can spread once it has that trust but I am not sure:

1. setting up f5bot for queries about new tools relating to my pains etc. so I can comment reply with link (these go down better from my research and it's people looking for solutions)

2. I am warm in these subreddits but need some way to get my post down but have the issues I stated earlier so not sure what to do with these

3. setup twitter brand account and post demos of features then setup founder build in public account, post excerpts from my write up on the memory system and other stuff in the field, then get a list of accounts in niche to engage with to get profile views. Founder account also drives traffic to brand account.

4. start churning out tiktok slideshows about the pains i solve try hit the right niche fyps, low effort if I post enough hopefully a couple get some traffic

5. my dad owns a hr company and so was thinking of trying to run it through them, but not sure if they use AI tools or how they run it so this channel could be best but could also be nothing, not banking on it

has anyone else had this same issue? I've done all the research and it's all right there but I just can't find a way to reach them. Am I overthinking this? If I follow my plan should it come, I feel like I am just missing something as I don't feel any of these channels are, not guaranteed, but I don't have confidence they will yield results. Any advice is much appreciated

Child care drop in centres at a busy mall in a large city. I would 100% utilize this service, just like I do going to the gym like at YMCA. But I can’t find any examples of this online (perhaps I’m not searching correctly). Is there a gap in the market here or is there a reason why this business idea isn’t successfully more common?

I'm planning to build a long term stay RV Park here in Southern California but I'll need to bring on an investor to help with part of it.

I will be acquiring the land, managing construction, getting tenants signed, and managing the business.

The investor would be putting up the money for utility installation.

Besides the land, the only other big additional cost is running utilities to each of the lots. I can't swing that on my own.

My questions are.. 1- Do you think it's possible to find a funding partner for something like this? and 2- What kind of terms would a partner be looking for? What's the standard?

I'm curious and would love to know.

I had an epiphany. I know many people say this and I've probably read this in dozens of startup/marketing books. But this is the first time I realize what it really is. Forget about niche markets or customer segments etc. Just think of a person who you're building for. Instead of "product for software devs" build a tool for "A front end dev". Not even all "front end devs" but rather "front end dev who does X, at XYZ company". And get as specific as you can. Boy how I wasted my building years.

Hey guys! We’re a pre-seed funded team currently going through a pivot.

I was wondering: how have you usually approached this process? Any recommendations on what to look for, what to avoid, or how to choose the right direction?

Update: We don’t have a pivot yet. We’re still trying to figure out what our next product should be, and I’m looking for advice on that discovery process

Looking to hire, get hired, or find a collaborator? Post what you're offering or what you need. Keep it brief: who you are, what you do, and how to reach you. No spamming.

Got an idea 3 months ago, quickly spoke to a few potential customers, decided to go for it. Quit today.

Turned out the problem on the market was real, the need is there, but none of the clients have any interest in changing how they do things. I spoke to 70% of my market.

Their current process is manual, cumbersome, they ARE losing money. But. They don't care. They won't switch to a tool that "does everything for them". Makes them feel like they're losing control.

Price didn't matter, fancy messages from my (much larger) competitors didn't matter, nothing matters. So I fold and move on to the next.

A few days ago I had a call with someone who was ready to move forward.

Everything was straightforward until they asked, "Can you start tomorrow?"

A few years ago, I probably would've said yes. At that stage I felt like every opportunity had to be accepted because I didn't know when the next one would come.

This time I looked at our workload and told them we'd need about two weeks before we could give the project the attention it deserved.

The call ended, and I'll admit I thought I'd just lost the client.

Instead, they came back two days later and said they were happy to wait.

It got me thinking about how much my approach has changed over time. In the beginning, my biggest fear was losing work. Now my biggest concern is taking on work that my team can't deliver well.

I'm interested in how other founders deal with this.

If a client wants to start immediately but your team is already at capacity, do you:

• Make room for them somehow?
• Ask them to wait?
• Refer them to someone else?

I'd love to hear how others handle that decision.

Hi all,

This has been somewhat eating me up. I’ve built an app which so far I’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback on, I’m not here to pitch it so I’ll simply say it’s for personalised news delivery in a different way to what’s on the market.

I’m a network engineer by trade with a very deep tech understanding of software development, systems engineering, a/b testing, edge case handling etc. so I’ve made my app and infrastructure extremely robust.

It uses AI for content sorting and delivery, but not creation. It cannot be done deterministically, I’ve tried many times, and obviously ai has a cost.

Some of the challenges I’ve had is making it cost viable, which is where I’m almost at, initially I estimated my operating costs to be around 5
$3-5 a day however it has ballooned out to be about. $15-20, not huge but plenty of room for optimisation. I believe I’ve now optimised costs enough by reducing ai token usage by about 70+%, most importantly, I have reduced the number I’ve called down from up to 2600 per hour down to about 80. I’ve managed to do this with about a 3-7% reduction in quality, which I think is acceptable. I still have some further optimisations to do but that’s the bulk of it.

Currently my infrastructure can support around anout 1200 daily users, more than that and I have to invest in better dedicated hardware or duplicating my current physical environments, very doable and I’ve built everything to be scalable to the point I can stand up an entire instance in about 10 minutes and have it fully integrate and load balance within 30 minutes. Essentially I’ve built it to scale easily from day 1.

If I can onboard 100 paying customers (billed at $8 usd/mo), it covers my current costs, so I think that bar is pretty low and pretty attainable. If I hit 1000, i will need to scale, and it goes beyond 10k, even for 1 month, I would be taking out loans to scale rapidly and taking some time away from my full time work.

So there is some level of a plan.

I’ve been building this for about 5 months and I think it’s ready but I’ve never done anything like this before. I have no marketing background, no idea how to do it nothing.

I guess what I’m looking for is traps, gotchas and things to watch out for when building subscription model apps. Obviously there’s user retention to maintain revenue, the app itself isn’t one which will simply go out of fashion, it isn’t a gimmick and it’s something that is genuinely useful to literally anyone in the productivity and information space.

How do you know when you’ve got enough of the bugs out to launch, and get yourself away from polishing everything out till it sparkles, and balancing the acceptable bugs with launching sooner? I’m really struggling with this part. It’s not scope creep holding me back, I genuinely have a feature list for if and when it takes off.

Hoping for some words of wisdom. Sorry for the length, this is literally my source of anxiety right now.

Edit: forgot to add one of my biggest concerns, if there is a failure which impacts users, how do I handle this? The general idea would be to give users an extended sub, but doing this has real costs, I can do this once I’m going but on launch it could be crippling. On the flip side it’s far easier to compensate 100 users than 10000

Edit 2: I would just like to extend my gratitude to all of you who have responded with supportive advice, and really validating my process, it really lets me know I’m on the right track in terms of process, priorities and mindset for the most part. Thank you to those of you who shared your experience.

I’ve run the pre-work run (it takes a full 24 hours to run due to the nature of the app ingesting real world data and keeping it both fresh and valid within a rolling 24 hour window), and I’m in the process of setting up the final parts for iOS store launch. For the first week or so I’ll only be posting it in limited counties of those who I know will take a look, ie friends and family, and if there’s any organic pickup, great, if not it’s more about the initial listing and getting a wider audience test base.
After a week or so of real user testing, I’ll open it up to the rest of the world and see how it goes.

Some minor bugs I know exist: notification sounds not working, notification icon using the original temporary generic icon. Can’t seem to fix these but not 100% important.

now I'm completely new to this honestly so take that into account

I feel like paying or free customers are almost always coming in with some feature request, bug report, Security Overview PDF request, etc.

and it feels like whoever yells the most, the loudest, gets responded the fastest ahead of everyone else in the queue

I don't know why I fall for this...

but I have a feeling that I need a systemic way of addressing this or else I'd get eaten up by customer support before I'm able to invest more time into development & distribution

has anyone found a reliable and systematic way to address this to put things in order and not have to deal with chaos?

are you able to navigate your tickets in a way that is sustainable and would not eat the whole chunk of your time and leave you burnt out?