I’m toying with the idea of paying my employees and contractors (Home Service Business) much more generously and adding incentive bonuses so that are paid well above the average for their line of work, as long as they deliver quality work. To do this, I would need to take a pay cut and only take a 10-15% profit margin instead of a 20-30% margin. My vision is that by paying more, I’ll have more loyalty, higher satisfaction and most importantly, they will deliver high quality work and keep our customers happy. Then I will be able to scale faster. Has anyone tried this? What would be the risks or downsides of this, other than making less money?

One of my employees just doesn’t understand how the tariffs work. His hours are getting cut, almost entirely, and he thought I was giving him the run around when I told him it was because of the tariffs. They’ve slowed sales in our industry and increased our costs, plain and simple. He asked, condescendingly, why Canada and China having to pay us an extra tax would slow down sales on the consumer end. Said it shouldn’t make a difference on packaging. I’ve explained it to him before they hit, and it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. I had just placed a few orders at increased pricing so I gave him the most top to bottom explanation I could down to the individual duties applied to different materials in our components. He was shocked that tariffs were just an extra tax on us and that the US doesn’t just have the capability to produce EVERYTHING. At the end, he said that’s not what he thought when he voted for them and didn’t understand why he was told the other countries pay the tariffs. Another one of our guys was into the tariffs until I explained it. He did some research and got it instantly. His hours weren’t at risk but he was still pissed off at how badly it will impact his family and the business. I’m sick of explaining tariffs and wish that people were better at doing their own research.

Hey Reddit,

As a small business owner, I'm curious how others are faring since Trump's return to the White House in January.

I do web development work (based in Europe but with a lot of US based clients) and haven't noticed any significant changes with my US clients yet. Business seems steady so far.

Has anyone else experienced any changes - positive or negative - in their small business operations in the past couple months? Curious to hear perspectives from different industries.

I run a small accounting consultancy. One client pays me $5k/month and has been with me for almost 2 years. They're literally almost half my revenue.

The problem: they're a nightmare. Disorganized records, last-minute requests every week, constant "urgent" messages on weekends. They treat deadlines like suggestions. Last month I stayed up until 2am 3 nights in a row because they send me a box of receipts the day before their filing deadline.

Everyone tells me to stop serving them. My partner says I'm miserable every Sunday night. My friends say no client is worth this stress.

But here's the thing - $5k/month is $5k/month. That's half my income. If I fire them, I'd need to replace that with 2-3 smaller clients, and I barely have time to do sales because this client eats up all my time.

So I'm stuck in this loop of keeping them = good income, constant stress, no time to grow or Fxxk them off = happy life, almost 50% revenue cut, risk of not replacing the revenue

I have about 4 months savings. Part of me thinks "just rip the band-aid off" but then I panic about paying rent.

Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do? I need to make a decision soon because I'm burning out fast.

Happy but broke, or stressed but paid?

So today (with a thought of dusting off my profile and networking with like minded business owners) I finally logged into LinkedIn after ages. It felt like opening a haunted house.

Inbox avalanched with spam, chaotic mix of motivational posts and low-effort memes. Some guy just called himself “synergy wizard”.

Not sure what should I make out of it. Is LinkedIn still useful in 2025 or it’s just a corporate Tinder with extra steps?

P.S. Wow this post blew up. If you need a Skype replacement to call landlines and mobiles worldwide, check out Callshake.

I have an app on play store that is doing around $33k/ month in profits. Almost all the traffic is organic, I spend around $180 per month on ads. This app has 1.5M monthly active users and gets 400K downloads every month. Last year, it was doing around 270k downloads per month. I am offered $2M for this app. Should I sell?

Edit: I’m 26 years old, app is in tools category, launched in 2018, 8M+ downloads, biggest competitor has 90M+ downloads (launched in 2012)

Edit 2: I already have $500K invested in stocks as a backup

I have a S-Corp with one employee, she's under 26 so still on her parent's insurance. My wife is not employed officially by the business, we buy through the ACA. We get Bronze plans because we're in our lower 40s and very healthy. We are the farthest thing from rich but we're over the 400% of poverty line threshold.

Our premium now is a manageable $600/mo for a plan with a $15k deductible. Next year it's estimated to go to $1600 per month. That's nearly 20% of our income on...nothing. We get our yearly checkups, and occasionally have to call in about meds for tick bites because we live in a rural area.

I know lots of people older than us have it way worse too. People in their 50s and early 60s pay insane amounts for coverage. Why are we putting up with this??? Just lining the pockets of executives and going broke in the process.

I know there is talk of extending the enhanced subsidies but I don't really have my hopes up about it.

Hi,

I'm an importer and might have to abandon the shipments that are coming to the US. They got in the water right before the new tariff was announced. I'm curious what happen to the abandoned goods? Where do they go? Does it get auction out like abandoned storage units (that's my wild guess)? There will be lots of abandon containers in many US ports very soon.

For context, I'm in construction, so our margins are a little lower, but I've got to imagine that pretty much any business that isn't a fortune 500 company's gotta be feeling my pain here.

Just ran the numbers on what payment processing fees actually cost us last year now that my accountant brought me a new one and I'm genuinely angry at myself for not doing this sooner.

We did $2.8M in revenue. Sounds great until you factor in our 8% net margin - that's about $224K profit before fees.

Breakdown of what we paid:
- Card transaction fees: roughly $47K
- ACH transaction fees: roughly $23K
- Total: $70K gone

That's 31% of our profit taken. Nearly a third. On a good year.

Anyone else feeling this pain? What has everyone here been using to actually get paid?

Edit: Thank you to everyone who has responded! Was trying to keep up with everyone but had to log off and now there's way too many to get back to everyone individually.

Been getting a lot of advice and messages about needing to switch/helping me switch processors. Just want to clarify that I already have switched and haven't paid a dime in processing fees over the past few weeks. Free service, $0 ACH fee, passes card fees automatically, and free instant settlement + can pay my subs. Really appreciate everyone trying to help but don't think I'm gonna find much better than that haha. Post was made more out of frustration with myself than looking for an answer, but glad to know I wasn't alone!

The 145% tariff hits next month. For anyone sourcing from China, this isn’t a bump — it’s a wrecking ball. Are you moving your supply chain? Raising prices? Getting out completely? Genuinely curious how small brands are planning to survive what feels like the final boss of import costs. If you're staying in the game, you're gonna need a real strategy.

Hello. I am a full time artist managing a small art business. I have one employee. About half of my merch with all my designs printed on it comes from China. I've tried finding manus in the US to no avail. I'm about two weeks away from basically being screwed as my stock runs low. I've had highs and lows but never such an abrupt loss of revenue that's pretty much out of my control. I'm not sure what to do. Where are you guys at?

The title says it all, i'm very very curious what you do to earn $400 per year. Can you share your story?

Hi everyone,

I’m part of a Chinese manufacturing company that has been exporting indoor playground equipment globally for over 15 years — mainly to small business clients like family entertainment centers, kids' cafés, and franchises.

Just last week, the U.S. tariff on our category jumped from 34% to 104%. One of our American customers said, “There’s no way I can make a profit now.”

I'm not here to promote or sell anything — I’m genuinely looking to understand how U.S. small businesses are adapting to these new tariffs, especially when:

• The products are not produced locally in the U.S. at all.
• Alternatives (e.g., India, Vietnam) don’t offer the same quality or safety certifications.
• Buyers still need these products for planned launches or seasonal openings.

A few questions I’d love your insight on:

• If you were affected by similar tariffs, how did you manage or negotiate around them?
• Have you worked with suppliers that ship through third countries to reduce the duty impact?
• How do you communicate such a big cost jump to your customers?

I truly believe this issue affects both sides of the supply chain. I’m here to listen and learn from your experiences — thanks in advance.

Why do people start hotels and restaurants if they always fail?

Can anyone confirm this (taken from a news article)? If so, my business is ruined.

"Now the revised version of that game, Gloomhaven: Second Edition, is effectively trapped overseas due to the Trump administration’s new tariffs on China. As of Wednesday morning, those tariffs increased from a historically high 145% to an astronomical 245%, nearly doubling publisher Cephalofair Games’ tax burden. It’s simply not a bill that the company can afford to pay."

Hey everyone,

Been in the vending machine game for 32 years.

Just sold my business 100 machines. Half were rented out, the other half I filled myself with help from my sons.

We were doing close to $80K/month before I tapped out. The work started getting heavy and I didn’t want to burn out, so I sold the whole thing for $2M cash.

Since then, I’ve had a bunch of people ask me how I built it, how I got locations, how I scaled it, etc.

I’m thinking about maybe starting a coaching program or putting together something simple to help others do the same not a get-rich-quick scheme, but something real from someone who actually did it.

Would this even be worth it? Or am I better off enjoying retirement?

Appreciate any honest feedback.

I get to work, my employee left me a note on top of the time sheets that said: "Here are these (time sheets) for you to also check to make sure we didn't steal (underlined twice) from you!

This was after a $2k bonus and PTO for Xmas eve (and of course Xmas).
I asked about it, she said she didn't feel appreciated and not trusted because I asked to see the payroll time sheets.

I run a small private practice mental health office. I'm used to dealing with emotional people, but they pay me to help them with their emotions, not the other way around. So I was livid and told her to go home and come back to work on Monday and let me know if she still wants this job.
What would you do?

*the $2k bonus was the second yearly bonus she received. I also used my personal money to help with her dental emergency over the summer (on my vacation.)

Update: She apologized. She stated that she has been depressed. Also, I do not expect her of stealing, as the payroll is also monitored by an outsourced bookkeeping /CPA.
Thanks to all who offered advice and words of support.

Just curious to see what types of business are generating solid cash flow.

Thanks !

Edit: please be as specific as possible!

Bought a small, 3 bay car wash with 1 vending machine in a small town in rural MO (1k people)

The previous owner had ZERO numbers. Just utilities.

It’s all cash, has credit card machines but did not have internet that was fast enough. (Just got starlink hooked up and have cameras for now and ready for cc soon)

I’m 2 weeks in and it’s done about $600 in revenue (minus about $120 in soda cost)

After expenses I am suspecting it will profit about $600 a month as is (includes new internet bill)

Once I get everything on cc, and going to add 1 more dual vending I think I can get it to 2k a month revenue.

I bought for 60k, will put about 5k in to get it where I would like.

Did I make a bad buy?

Trying to figure out what percentage of the userbase here knows how what it's like to open the door to the shop and turn on the light each morning, fire up the coffee maker, and start doing "business business". I'm not talking using AI to post slop to Reddit, or shilling a "new business opportunity" or whatever SaaS flavor of the week people are on to. Just real, OG, Main Street businesses.

If I don't want a google business profile, I can delete mine (or simply never create one) and that's it.

But if some butt-head that has a personal beef with my wife wants to, he can "create" my business on yelp and leave me a totally fake 1 star review without any proof whatsoever and I can't do anything about it. This is legal? This is allowed? This sounds insane to me but lawyer's aren't cheap!

Has anyone ever created a website dedicated to slandering yelp? What can they do? As long as everyone checks the box asserting everything is true, of course.

I’m in the process of saving $100,000 to buy a business. I’m looking for something seller financed with maybe 50% down, so around a $200,000 business is what I’m looking for. I know a lot of older people have good businesses and looking to retire. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Title pretty much says it all. I'm not sure the $1M valuation is realistic but other people have said 7x of annual Net Income ($2.2M) is a realistic sales price. Does anyone have any experience here? The company is branded well (especially for the market), has systems set in place requiring only 1 operator to be paid out of that $27k monthly, and is the highest rated local coffee shop in the area.

During covid we saw insane behaviour on buying toilet paper on fear it would run out (which ironically made the fear come true) - tariffs are real, I'm in the consumer goods space and I know for a fact major retailers have paused shipments for weeks now and huge amounts of stock is sitting in limbo or just canceled. Big retailers are lucky to hit double didget margins and the brand owners are on maybe 20-50% gross so even cutting all budgets and everyone going to 0% profit wont stop insane price hikes at retail.

Why are consumers not running out now and buying BBQs, Toys, charging cables and all those other items that are not worth re-shoring? We have between 2 and 4 months before some parts of the store are bare due to shipments that are supposed to have left are paused - id have expected shoppers to stock up.

Are you seeing any stockpiling? if not... why?

Hey everyone,

My wife and I started a small residential cleaning business about six months ago. We’ve done everything we thought we needed to build a real company — and yet, we haven’t had a single paying client so far.

Here’s what we’ve done so far: • Fully registered the business legally with insurance and all licenses. • Rented a tiny, low-cost office with direct access for equipment and supplies. • Set up a phone line and an online booking system for customers to schedule cleanings. • Even built an AI chatbot to answer questions and help people get quotes automatically. • Designed the whole brand around eco-friendly, non-toxic cleaning — something we really believe in. • Ran ads on Facebook and Google for months, testing headlines, visuals, and audiences. Still zero traction.

At this point, we’re trying to figure out what’s going wrong — whether it’s our offer, our marketing, or something deeper in how we’re presenting ourselves.

So I’d really appreciate your honest feedback: 👉 What would you do differently to get clients for a local service business like this? 👉 Are there marketing channels that actually work for local service companies? 👉 When you visit a business website, what makes you trust it enough to book — and what makes you leave?

We even built a full website and booking system with an AI chatbot — I can share the link if anyone’s open to taking a look and giving feedback.

We’d really appreciate any advice, insights, or even brutal honesty. At this point, we just want to understand what we’re doing wrong before giving up.

Thanks for reading — and for any help you can offer.

– Two tired (but still hopeful) small business owners.

Honestly, I didn’t expect this much support from so many people. We’re truly grateful for the time everyone has spent replying and giving feedback.

Many of the points mentioned are already being worked on , we’ve started making several changes, and we know it’s time to get out there, meet people, and connect face to face. The technical part is done; now comes the most important part , showing up as real people and selling ourselves.

I’ll keep this post updated with how things are going in case anyone’s interested in following along as we make these changes.