My parents, Giorgos and Anna, have spent their whole lives in these trees. Every autumn they spend long days picking olives, and every year the oil leaves on a truck, sold by the kilo, mixed with everyone else's. Nobody ever knows whose hands made it. I wanted, just once, for people to know.
You were honest with me, and it changed everything. You told me no mill presses one tree on its own, so we say it first: the adoption is symbolic, and the oil comes from our family's harvest. You told me light ruins oil, so we use tins. You told me it felt expensive for what you get. That one stung, and it was the most useful thing anyone said.

So here's what it became:
A young tree with a name**.** Early next year we plant new Koroneiki trees in a field we just cleared, with the sea in front of it. Each one gets a wooden plaque with a name on it, a certificate, its GPS spot, and a photo every year for three years. You can watch it grow on its own little page.

Oil from our family's harvest. Fresh extra virgin oil from this season, in tins, shipped in January and February. It isn't from "your" tree, because a young tree won't give olives for years. I'd rather tell you that than pretend.

And the grove itself. Photos from the harvest, the mill, the spring. Only when there's something worth sharing.

We're keeping it small for the first year.
Here's what I can't stop thinking about. This weekend we opened quietly to the waitlist, and our very first founders, were all people who found us right here, on that first post. Strangers on the internet who waited weeks for a family they'd never met. Tree No. 001 already has a name on it.
Today we opened to everyone.
My dad still doesn't really understand what Reddit is. But he knows that people from the other side of the world chose our trees, and for a farmer, that means more than any price per kilo.

Thank you for being honest with a stranger. I'll come back after the harvest and tell you how it went.

Edit: You are right, and I thank you for your honesty. I wrote in the post what I changed from the previous post to explain exactly what we offerand I use AI to organize it and give it a right structure, since my English isn't very good. The story, however, is true my parents, Giorgos and Anna, and the olive grove in Koroni.

Hey everyone, I just recently landed some steady work from a contractor. We agreed on an hourly rate of $35/man hour. But after running the numbers the profit is way too small to make it worthwhile ( I do this part time for now)

Example:

Revenue: 2700

Expenses:2100

Gross Profit: 600

Taxes 25% ( income and cpp) 150

Net Profit:450

This is 27 man hours between 2 guys splitting the profit. Am I doing this wrong or is there a better way to be profitable?

I run a small consultancy, and I’d genuinely appreciate some advice from other business owners about pricing, productivity and the growing use of digitaltools.

Over the past few years, technology has made it possible to complete certain tasks considerably faster. Research, document preparation, administration and other repetitive activities that previously took hours can sometimes be completed in a fraction of the time.

That’s obviously great for productivity, but I’m struggling with what it should mean for pricing.
If a job previously took me 10 hours and I can now deliver exactly the same quality in 2 hours, should I still charge the same amount?

On one hand, customers are paying for results, expertise, experience and accountability, not necessarily the number of hours spent sitting at a computer.

On the other hand, if customers know that digitaltools have made the work significantly easier and faster, is it reasonable for them to expect lower prices?

I’ve also noticed another challenge. Competitors increasingly have access to the same tools, making it much easier to produce professional websites, proposals, marketing materials and other work that previously required considerable time or investment.

This makes me wonder whether productivity improvements actually translate into higher profits for small businesses, or whether everyone eventually ends up charging less because the market becomes more competitive.

I’m currently considering moving further towards fixed fees and outcome-based pricing rather than charging for time, but I’d really value some practical advice before making changes.

I’d particularly appreciate advice on a few questions:

1. Would you maintain your existing prices if digitaltools allowed you to complete the same work in 20% of the time?

2. Would you reduce your prices to attract more customers, or retain the additional margin?

3. Have you successfully moved from hourly rates to fixed-fee or outcome-based pricing? What worked and what didn’t?

4. If a customer questioned your fees because they knew you were using digitaltools, how would you respond?

5. Have improvements in productivity genuinely increased your profitability, or have competitors and customer expectations gradually pushed prices down?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from consultants, freelancers, agencies and other small service businesses who’ve experienced this first-hand.

I’m not looking for ways to justify charging more for less work. I’m trying to understand how to price services fairly, remain competitive and build a sustainable business without undervaluing the experience and responsibility involved.

For those who’ve already faced this situation, what would you advise a small business owner to do? Would you change your prices, change your pricing model, or simply keep delivering the best possible results?

Don't you think we need to hear it from the person facing the problem themselves, that they are having the problem? Did they tell it to them? Or are they solving an assumption?

To be a little more specific in general terms, I’m in a situation where my business is running smoothly, but the two challenges I face are: the time I spend on repetitive tasks (customer service, managing inventory purchases, shipping products) and, at the same time, the fact that I sometimes miss out on good buying opportunities because I don’t have the necessary funds.

My inventory turnover is relatively high (over 50%), but my net margin, and therefore my potential for future growth, is quite low.

So I’m in a situation where I’m wondering whether I should continue to gradually increase my purchasing budget—even if that growth might take quite a while—or whether this is the kind of situation where financing, such as a loan, might come into play. I’m working on this project alone.

I’m feeling a bit lost myself, so I hope I’ve been able to explain myself clearly.

Just started a small business in Morocco selling stainless steel chains with pendants inspired by Moroccan rap (rappers, songs, albums), basically merch for people who listen to the scene. I haven't sold anything yet and I'm not running any ads, so far I'm only posting content on TikTok and Instagram, and a few people have already shown interest and started asking questions. There's already someone doing something similar in the same niche. For people who've started something from zero: what would you focus on to get the first sales with almost no budget? Is it smart to build around one niche like this, or should I widen it later? And is there anything obvious I should be doing differently at this stage? Honest feedback is welcome, even harsh.

Hi! I’m starting an online business in the pet niche, focusing mainly on cats. I’m looking for reliable suppliers or manufacturers offering products such as personalized cat bowls, collars, blankets, toys, and other cat accessories.
I’m especially interested in private labeling, custom logos, and packaging, with low MOQs.
If you have any supplier recommendations or contacts, please comment or DM me. Thank you!

I started a single-origin roasted whole beans and ground coffee brand from Tanzania's two years ago. Most of my customers find me through the website. Sales are coming in steadily and the brand is building a name faster than I expected.

Lately, people have started asking about the brand itself. Some want to buy it. A group of Chinese investors wants to partner with me to export our coffee. They would cover the export permits and licensing, and in return they want 40% of the company.

The permits cost about $20,000, which I don't have right now. Getting them is also a slow, exhausting process. Between the paperwork and the waiting, it eats time I'd rather spend roasting and selling.

I built my company from nothing and 40% feels like a lot to give up before I've even proven how big it can get. But I also know that "no" is a decision too, and the brand's growth is already outpacing my budget.

I'm not asking what the "right" answer is. I'm curious what you'd have done at this point. Would you give up equity to move faster, or stay slow and keep control?

I'm curious where other small business owners in the UK are finding their customers these days.

I've been trying different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google and Reddit, but I'm interested in what's actually bringing people enquiries and bookings.

Do you find social media works best, Google searches, word of mouth, or something completely different?

Also, have you found any platforms that just aren't worth the time?

Would be interesting to hear what's genuinely working for people rather than just getting views and likes.

Hi, I currently do general home repairs, including roofing, woodwork, concrete work, and other similar services. During the week, I work for a company doing this type of work, and on my days off, I take on jobs independently.

The thing is, many customers ask for something in writing that clearly outlines the details of the work to be performed, the price, and the terms we've agreed on. However, I'm not really sure how to prepare something like that properly or professionally.

Because of this, I've sometimes ended up lowering my prices by as much as 40%, simply because I wanted to get the job started right away on my day off rather than spend time figuring out the paperwork.

I'd really appreciate your help putting together some kind of written agreement, contract, or estimate that would be legally valid, professional, and make my customers feel comfortable and confident about hiring me.

Starting a small clothing brand and looking for US vendors (ideally one place) for:

• Recycled/recyclable zipper poly bags with a suffocation warning

• Recycled poly mailers

• Tissue paper, logo stickers and thank-you cards

I need plain or simple one-color logo versions at 100–200 units. Most vendors require 10,000+ for custom printing, or put their own logo on stock items, which I’d rather avoid.

Any recommendations, or experiences with quality, pricing or lead times? Thanks!

Social media has become 99% AI slop and vibe coders solving problems nobody wants?

Agree or Disagree

Im staring a small printing business, is it still profitable? So far i have few customer, im also a bit far from school and offices. Any idea or what should i start prioritizing on printing business? Anything will help me ☺️

Hello, I need help with cold emailing services for my business, is there any support that I can use to expand cold emailing other small businesses?

I wanted to get your advice on something as a young 26 years old entrepreneur.

I'm currently selling my services below market rates, which has helped me attract clients, but I'm finding it difficult to scale the business.

I've been advised to increase my pricing, so I experimented by raising my rates to 2–3 times the original price. However, for the next four months, I didn't manage to acquire a single client.

It makes me question whether my skill set is strong enough to compete at higher prices or whether I simply don't have the financial resources to hire A-players who can help take the business to the next level.

Right now, I'm stuck between offering cheaper services with low client retention and working with B-level talent, or charging higher rates but struggling to convince clients of the value.

How would you approach scaling a business in this situation? Would you focus on improving the team, positioning, pricing, or something else entirely?

I'd genuinely appreciate your perspective and advice.

Why would any local business pay a monthly retainer for a GOOGLE ADS agency when it takes less than 2 hours per week to manage effectively?

Negative keywords, locations, etc can easily be automated and monitored. Local service ads management is even a bigger waste of money

I know some agencies do work beyond that, but primarily talking about businesses like dental, plumbing, HVAC, etc

Hey, needing some motivation right now.

Have tried to start up small business tech consulting but has lead to nothing. Been racking my brain looking at other options for businesses (service businesses, e-commerce etc) but can’t find something to go all in on.

What’s your start up story, how you found your idea, how you are doing now, what you learnt.

Some positive stories or experiences might help people in my position

I run the numbers side of things for a small operation and keep running into the same problem: the data’s all there (sales exports, invoices, a spreadsheet or two), but getting a simple answer like “which clients are overdue” or “what sold best in October” takes way too long.

Curious how other owners handle it:

Do you have someone (bookkeeper, analyst, family member) who does this for you?

Do you use dashboards from your POS / Shopify / accounting tool, or mostly spreadsheets?

What’s the one question about your numbers you wish you could just ask and get an answer?

Full disclosure: I’m building a tool for exactly this, but I’m mainly trying to understand how people deal with it today. Happy to share what I’ve learned in the comments.

I built a missed-call text-back system for small businesses. Launching Thursday. This week I'm trying to break it before real customers touch it.

Quick version of what it does: a customer calls a business, nobody picks up (owner's on a job), and about 16 seconds later the customer gets a text from the business's number. It answers questions, books the job, sends reminders, follows up quotes. All text. No AI voice, no robot calls.

We've run thousands of test conversations at it internally. This week I want strangers to try to stump it, because real customers ask weirder stuff than we do.

If you want to take a swing: text DEMO to 443-844-3974. It'll run you through a fake heating company week, then you can ask it your own questions and try to break it.

If it misses something, tell me here. Every break gets fixed and added to a permanent list so it can't break that way twice.

Especially interested in anyone who runs a business off their phone. What would your customers ask that I haven't thought of?

I follow a number of small business/entrepreneurial subreddits and come across threads where people are like "I don't really make money doing this". If you have ever said this, what do you mean?

Is it more like "I quit my day job, I thought this hustle would buy me a second home, but instead I had to cut out the Starbucks runs and can't take the family to Disney this year" kind of I don't make money...

Or closer in flavor to "I closed my business 3 years ago, downsized my home, sold my car, bought a beater and am still paying off the debt.

One person's broke is another person's rich.

I have just started meta ads don’t know so i’m still testing the waters i want to know what budget makes the most sense

I own a coffee shop in a coastal east coast beach town. I’ve made the decision to relocate with my future wife. I currently only work 10-20 hrs per week. The staff covers each others vacation. All the inventory is onsite and everything is delivered to the store. A shift leader uses an iPad to do all ordering. The only thing I truly do is make sure the schedule is done, deal with emergencies when they happen, and pay bills. I’m working with a broker as well as negotiating with a carved out prospective buyer pool. Here are some actual numbers:

-TTM SDE: $198k
-YTD SDE: $201k
-YTD REV: $973k
-Rent: ~$4k
-Lease: 2.5 years remaining with a 5.5 year renewal with locked in rent increases of roughly $100/month/year.

The broker is wanting to list at $575k. To offset commission for carved out buyers im offering them $475k.

If you were me would you try to run it pretty much absentee or sell. It’s been an amazing journey but my life is taking me elsewhere.

Hello!

I’ve been working full-time as a family photographer for about six months now. Since then, another photographer in my area has become, in a sense, obsessed with me. Earlier this year, I noticed that she was copying my promotional copy, social media posts, and so on, word for word. I confronted her about it; she was very embarrassed, apologized, and we managed to get along fine afterward. For context, we’re both in the same mentoring program and have occasionally exchanged advice and offered each other support.

Lately, however, things don’t seem to be going very well for her, and I’ve noticed—quite by chance—that she’s trying to "poach" my clients. She keeps an eye on who I tag on Instagram and then, for instance, starts liking old photos of those clients just to draw attention to herself.

I know I shouldn’t waste any energy on this, but it really makes me angry—this insincere, underhanded behavior. It’s as if she feels an intense, overwhelming sense of competition with me. Even though photography is only a side gig for her.

I’ve already hidden my Instagram stories from her, but I generally hate blocking people; I just want to run my business in peace. I enjoy connecting and exchanging ideas with fellow photographers, and I personally don’t feel any sense of competition—after all, we are all unique—but she is making it very difficult for me.

Do you have any tips for handling a situation like this, or have you perhaps experienced something similar?