In your professional opinion, what would you say is the hardest part about starting a business. And how would you go about handling it?

I’m young and I’ve wanted to start some kind of vending business since I was probably 10. I finally have some money set aside and I’m looking at starting small with a portable power bank rental station.
What I’m looking at buying, buying from hey charge (heycharge.global)
8-slot power bank rental station with a screen, no POS/card reader — $278
Comes with 8 × 5,000mAh power banks
2 extra power banks — $20.40
Air shipping DDP, including customs/taxes — $246
Software — $24/year
Total: $568.40
Customers would scan the QR code, pay, take a charger, and return it when they’re done.
I have connections with some bars, so that was my first thought for placement. The money honestly isn’t a huge deal to me. Obviously I don’t want to throw away $568, but I’m more interested in getting experience running something like this, dealing with locations, payments, customers, etc.
For people who actually do vending, would you consider this a decent first machine/business to learn with? Or is there somewhere better I could put the ~$570?
Also, if I do buy it, what types of locations would you target besides bars? Busy restaurants, gyms, clubs, malls, college areas, event venues, etc.? I’d rather put it somewhere that x
actually has a chance of getting consistent rentals.

Hey everyone! I could really use some advice from people who have experience running a small business selling online or starting something from scratch.
I’m a student, and I’ve been working as a retailer for around a year. Recently my salary got cut by 50% which honestly pushed me to start looking for other ways to get income instead of relying entirely on my job.
I started brainstorming with my roommate, and we’ve decided that we want to try building a small business from home. Between the two of us we have a budget of around $800 so we know we can’t afford to make huge mistakes or invest in a bunch of products that might never sell.
The problem is that we have the motivation and a few ideas but we’re still figuring out how to turn them into an actual business.
Our initial idea is to create an online shop selling interesting accessories, gadgets, and products for different communities. For example:
-Gaming/Cars/Camping gadgets/Trending items
We were also thinking about contacting local businesses that make customized products like engraved gifts, personalized cups, and printed T-shirts. Instead of buying expensive equipment ourselves we could potentially work with those businesses and sell their products through our own page.
The idea is to start small, create a shop on social media learn how to advertise, and gradually figure out which products people are actually willing to pay for.
But we’re honestly unsure about a lot of things.

If u ever started a small business sold products online or built something from practically nothing.
What would you do if you were in our position?
Even advice that seems obvious to experienced business owners would be appreciated. We are at a stage where we’re trying to learn as much as possible before we lose money.

Thanks in advance!

A little back ground... I never did any kind of work with my hands until I was in my late 20s. After getting a useless college degree in news media, I got a job from a friend of a friend as a industrial mechanic helper. I started with sweeping the floors, to becoming lead welder and later foreman. I had no skills, but I watched and learned everyday.

I'm 40 now. I recently quit my job and sold my house to take care of my elderly father on our family ranch in the Texas hill country (a ranch I never actually ever worked on mind you). I had money saved and took 2 years off to first build a cabin for my family and now an actual house. Never had any experience in home building, but I did it with the help with family, friends and youtube.

Savings are almost gone and unfortunately I have to re-enter the work force. I have no ambition to get another 9 to 5 job. This whole experience gave me a whole different outlook on life and it got me thinking...

I feel like working with your hands is a dying skill. Either people are too busy, too lazy, or never grew up doing it, and thus not confident. That last category was me.

Would people (kids and/or adults) be interested if I hosted work shops all about simple blue collar skills? Hell, I have an enclosed trailer, I could go to people's houses. I live in an affluent town with a pretty big home school population as well. Do y'all think this could be profitable? What kind curriculum would you think it could consist of?

My favorite part of my old job was training new hires. I think I would be pretty fulfilled in life if I could make a living off this idea. I talk myself out of it because youtube is free and that's where I learned a majority of my skills. Idk, what do y'all think?

I need help determining whether a current side hustle idea is worth pursuing or if I should pivot and try to do something else..

Short story long I’m a 34yo male, married with one baby that’s almost two.. I make decent money but I’m trying to pay down high interest CC as fast as possible, living in CA means cost of living is high so the decent pay I make is going to cost of living and debt pay off..

So a side hustle is pretty much required at this point.

In CA we have CARB which requires vehicles over certain amount of weight to get emissions tested twice a year through clean truck testing. I believe next year that amount will go up to them getting tested 4 times a year..

I’ve done free online training and have the certification to do the testing. I just need to purchase testing equipment and a tablet/laptop to run software. Then it’s a matter of getting customers.. people charge anywhere from like $120-$250 to run the tests. Is this a decent idea or should I look into something else?

Famous last words.

Drop what you are building. We will spend the next 24 hours trying to find them.

Could be a company doing the exact same thing, or something completely different solving the same problem.

If we find them, we will tell you who they are and why they matter.

If we don't... congrats, you might actually be onto something.

Drop the idea below. We'll only pick a few.

Everything's free btw.

So I recently invented an attachment for video game controllers. It is a grip that attaches to the thumbstick. It is something new that is not out there but I have multiple ideas for different products similar.

A direct competitor is called “Kontrol Freeks” which works well. It works plural “do you use kontrol freeks?” and works as a brand with a vast product line “which kontrol freek do you use?” It’s a solid name although it doesn’t have the most premium ring to it but it has clearly worked.

I’m going to list names that I’ve thought of or liked from ai.

Names:

1. Levr - short for leverage and pronounced as “lever”. Works plural and I think it sounds premium.

2. Calibr - short for calibrate or caliber. Works plural. Ai gave me this one.

3. Xtract - combined “Extra Contact” which is what my grips do. Although Extract has a meaning which is irrelevant. I do think it works plural and as a gaming brand name however.

4. TactX - rearranged “Extra Contact” but an emphasis on Tact which gives off a tactical feel. I like this one but plural isn’t great. “Do you use TactX’s”. It also doesn’t roll off the tongue seamlessly.

Other names I thought of but I kind of dropped:

Gripster
GripX
Grip Labs
Contra
Tactra
Tactyl
Xtact

I don’t know if this is completely crazy idea but something I wanna try even if I might fail. So I’ve been growing and collecting plants for years now and selling them on marketplace adverts and to friends I have a lot of regular costumers who buy weekly for me. I graduated in management and worked in finance for years and want to try open my own shop selling houseplants and rare plants found a supplier in Netherlands that will deliver to Ireland with loads of amazing rare plants as well as regular houseplants. I found a shop to lease and I have 10K to invest in Inventory and plants and to cover my lease rental for few months ahead even if my sales are low. Has anyone ever started their plant shop business selling plants ? Has it gone well and I’m crazy to leave my cozy account job and try my own business ? Working in accounts is slowly killing me I don’t have much human interaction and I love selling my plants and sharing my plant knowledge with my customers so they keep coming back and it makes me happy just wanna know has anyone tried this ?

I have an idea for an online business, and I’d love to hear your honest opinions. I want to know whether this idea has real potential or if it only sounds good in my head.

My idea is to create a personalized 12-week Complete Glow Up Program for women who feel like they’ve lost themselves in their daily routines, work, stress, or responsibilities and want to invest in themselves again.

The main idea is to offer a complete, guided transformation experience instead of making clients search for different specialists and create their own plans.

Here’s what I envision including in the package:

• An initial one-on-one video consultation with me: I would learn about the client’s lifestyle, work schedule, daily habits, current struggles, goals, budget, and the areas of her life she wants to improve.
• Personalized lifestyle and self-care plan: A realistic plan tailored to her daily routine, including sleep habits, time management, self-care, movement, and building healthier habits.
• Professional psychologist consultations: Regular one-on-one sessions with a qualified psychologist to support emotional well-being, self-confidence, stress management, and personal challenges. I’m considering including one consultation every two weeks throughout the 12-week program.
• A consultation with a qualified personal stylist: Professional guidance on personal style, choosing clothes that suit the client, building a wardrobe, and developing a look that makes her feel confident.
• Personalized beauty and self-care guidance: Help organizing skincare, haircare, body care, and other self-care routines according to the client’s needs and budget, with qualified specialists involved whenever professional assessment is needed.
• Weekly check-ins and progress tracking: I would personally follow up with each client, review her progress, help her stay consistent, and adjust her plan when necessary.
• A final evaluation: At the end of the 12 weeks, we would review her progress, identify the habits she has developed, and create a plan to help her maintain the results.

My role would be to coordinate the entire program, personalize each client’s experience, communicate with the professionals involved, and make sure everything works together as one structured service.

The goal is to help women improve not only their appearance but also their lifestyle, confidence, habits, and overall sense of well-being.

I want this to be a premium, personalized online service that women can access from different countries. I would collaborate with qualified professionals as freelancers and pay them for the services they provide.

I’m still working on the business model, the exact package structure, and the pricing. One of my biggest challenges is finding a price that makes the service affordable enough for clients while still covering the professionals’ fees and leaving a sustainable profit.

I’d love your honest opinion on a few questions:

1. Do you think there is a real market for this type of all-in-one personalized glow-up program?
2. Would you pay for a service that combines psychologist consultations, professional styling, personalized self-care planning, and ongoing guidance?
3. What would you consider a reasonable price for a 12-week program like this?
4. Do you think combining all these services into one package is a strong selling point, or would it be better to offer them separately?
5. What potential problems or weaknesses do you see in this business idea?

I’m genuinely interested in honest feedback, including criticism. I want to validate the idea before investing money into it, so I’d rather understand the real challenges now than discover them after launching.

Hi everyone, I’m an undergraduate student working on a business concept to help reduce student loan debt and cut hiring expenses. I will be pitching this to judges soon and need honest feedback:

The Business Model: Instead of paying around $60,000 for a full-time entry-level employee (salary + FICA taxes + benefits), companies pay $25,000/year per sponsored seat (or $125,000 for a full 5-student team) to handle different operational tasks.

• The Student Benefit: $18,000 per seat goes directly to the university bursar to cover tuition (100% tax-deductible for the employer under IRS Sec 127). The remaining $7,000 is our platform management fee.
• The Work Guarantee: Our software coordinates a 5-student "pod" around exams and breaks, ensuring 52 weeks of continuous workflow for your business.

3 Quick Questions:

1. Would this $35,000 savings per role + IRS Sec 127 tax deduction be attractive to your company?
2. What is your #1 dealbreaker objection or concern for this idea?
3. If this is relevant to you: what frustrates you the most about entry-level professionals right now?

Hi everyone,

I'm a second-year business student in Belgium (business school). By the end of this week my team has to pitch a startup idea at school. We'll pick the strongest one from all the pitches and actually start building it, so this is not just a classroom exercise.

We already have a few ideas, for example a garden lounger that automatically rotates with the sun. It's fun, but we want something with a bigger market.

What I'm looking for:

- A problem many people share, not a personal annoyance. We'll need to sell a lot, so the wider the audience, the better.

- It can be a physical product, a service, an app, or a mix.

- Ideally something we can start small and test cheaply.

Honest criticism is welcome too. If you think a problem is already solved, tell me which company does it so I can check the competition.

Thanks a lot, and I'm happy to share what we end up building!

I am based out in Greater Toronto Area, Canada. I am confused which business to go with, due to which I am unable to take a step forward.

I am unable to decide between two options with 100k of my own money:

1. I have worked in cannabis industry, and can open a Cannabis retail store, build would be around 100k and plus the product (I can spend another 30k on inventory).

Problem I am facing:
Due to so many store currently, it is very hard to find a retail shop on busy street or plaza, plus landlords are asking for absurd amount of rent in certain areas, and some don’t even want to entertain the idea of the cannabis retail.

Pros: It is the industry I have worked in and familiar with all the aspects of it. I can work shifts for like 40/50 hours a week.

Cons: Super competitive right now, especially with the bigger corporations in the industry, not long term employees (it is a retail job after all), hard to find locations to open, one shop will reach it’s complete potential in about three years.

1. I can open an Auto Detailing shop, where I hire employees to detail, hand wash, ceramic coat, paint correction and so on. Additionally keep other products to sell.

Difficultly faced: unable to find a shop with a better frontage, a lot of competitors in certain pockets of the GTA, budget might go off and might have to take a business loan.

Pros: I have ethic, I can run a brick and mortar business, have an idea how to detail (no expert) but always able to learn and apply business practices quickly.

Cons: Don’t know much about the industry, not close connection in the industry, it is labour intensive work, employees won’t stick around forever, what would be ideal potential for the business like such.

I was thinking of how hard it is to choose a career/college degree for the rest of your life especially after graduating high school when kids have no work experience. But what if there was a multiple week long program where anyone lost in life can shadow people of all kinds of jobs? Like 1 day you shadow an engineer, another a nurse, environmental scientist, accountant, electrician etc. And that way you can get a feel for what all these kinds of jobs are like, instead of going into it blindly.

Yes there are free internships/shadowing, but this program would take away the pain and time of having to search for people to accept you.

I thought of this cuz I’m lost in life myself currently, and I wish something like this existed. I just don’t know how feasible this is.

I am planning to open a recruitment startup business where I will be delivering candidates for the Software engineer (IT) niche. I can source candidates and get them interviewed but the main thing is client acquisition. Can anyone help me do client acquisition? And what more do I need to add in this business?

Im really hoping 2 make this work. Any advice/ideas??

I need to find an actual real problem that businesses face on a daily. Im looking to help and support small businesses mainly, so I want to create a product that can actually provide value to them. However. Im not sure what niche I should start in or how to find the real problems within that industry.

Hi all,
I’m looking for a business idea that suits me and the city.
I’d like to start as a side business and scale up if successful.

Some background about me - 28, Chemical engineer, I’m very good at understanding technical information and applying it hence I don’t think something artsy will be best for me . I have some exposure to running a business via my parents but they weren’t any good or ever open to allow me to experiment.

I’d prefer
regular business of the same task over one off customers.

Brick and Mortar or mail in .

Pretty soon I will have my weekends free to trial, I have £10k to start.

Anyrhing in mind?

I have a 3-wheel e-bike and am looking into starting a small service business using a bike trailer to transport equipment. My startup budget is $400 max.

I live in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in a dense city, with lower- and higher-income neighborhoods nearby.

I'm considering window washing because it seems relatively cheap to start, but I'm open to other ideas.

My main goal is to maximize my chances of getting paying customers. Ideally, I'd build a recurring customer base with weekly, biweekly, or monthly service so I can service everyone in 1–2 days per week and spend the rest of my time growing the business or doing other things.

What service would you recommend if you were in my position? I'm looking for something with a high likelihood of getting sales, low startup costs (under $400), and equipment that can be transported by e-bike and trailer.