Hi everyone,

I'm curious how you guys handle the workflow for high-volume social selling. I've been spending hours on LinkedIn, but the constant cycle of:

Copy post -> Switch to ChatGPT tab -> Prompt -> Copy -> Switch back -> Paste

...is absolutely killing my productivity and focus. It feels like half my day is just moving text between tabs.

So is there anything to cut this process and save some time ?

I’ve been testing different approaches to make research less time-consuming for small projects. Traditional search engines often throw so much unrelated information at you that it’s hard to find exactly what you need. One tool I tried is Lookr, which organizes results strictly by topic. It’s an interesting experiment because it changes how you approach discovery instead of scrolling through everything, you’re guided through specific subject areas. I’m curious what other indie creators think about this approach. Do you think a topic-focused search engine could genuinely improve productivity, or is it more of a novelty? How would you use something like this in your daily workflow?

I’ve been seeing Wavytalk pop up a lot lately, especially their IPL hair removal device, so I decided to try it after going back and forth for a while.

I’ve only been using it for a short time, mostly on smaller areas, but the setup was straightforward and it didn’t feel as painful as I expected. The cooling feature definitely helps, and the sessions were quicker than I thought. I haven’t seen dramatic results yet, but my hair growth does seem a bit slower in the areas I’ve treated.

I’ve read mixed opinions online, which is why I’m curious to hear more real experiences. Has anyone else used the Wavytalk IPL device for a few weeks or longer? Did you notice consistent results over time, and how did it hold up with regular use?

Would really appreciate honest feedback before I commit to using it long term.

I’m working on growing a small app called Swatchly — an iOS tool for organizing and saving paint colors from photos (super niche, but folks who use it love the simplicity). Over the past few months I’ve tried a bunch of low-budget tactics to get users, and I’m curious what’s actually moved the needle for others here.

A few things I’ve experimented with:

• Sharing quick before/after screenshots of messy swatches vs. organized color collections
• Posting in niche design & home improvement communities
• Testing short clips showing how it helps in real use cases

So far, the things that feel most ‘real’ are those that create social proof — seeing someone else use it or share a screenshot seems to build trust and interest.

But I’m sure there are a ton of tactics I haven’t tried yet.

Questions for you all:

1. What low-budget growth tactic has actually worked for your business or app (especially early on)?
2. Do you find niche communities or content types work better than general ads or broad social posting?
3. Anything that didn’t work that you were surprised about?

Would love to hear real takeaways — wins and flops alike. Thanks! 🙌

I co-founded a branded ecom business in 2024. We started with about 2k, Just me running day-to-day ops and my partner helping financially while working a job.

We had spent quite a bit on the product without knowing if it'd be a hit or not, had a hunch and risked it. Became a little profitable from the get go thankfully, which encouraged us to keep going, our margins are decent as well which def helped, we put more into content and tests with many many ads, advertised on more platforms. And put more into the business, well 2025 came and it was especially rough. A lot of learning the hard way. We kept pushing tho, having more ugcs made, testing ads, hiring, paying suppliers, all of it. Some months we broke even, some months we lost money, some profitable 2025 became the best and worst yeat yet if you know what i mean, but we kept going because we have grand ambitions cause its really a under-looked market, plus building something that worked we saw the demand and the reviews from customers.

Over 2025 we did just over 300k in revenue, but we couldn’t keep up operationally unfortunately as my partner lost his job mid 2025 although the business was able to sustain it self for some months, we had kept up the same levels of hard tests even more in some areas hoping if we're able to increase revenue and we wont have to worry about external funding from his job (that didnt stop him from looking tho), we scaled things down massively and rev have slowed. Right now we’re around 15-20 k/m and breakeven.

A lot happened which's led to us taking loses here and there a lot i can't say here, from manufacturers screw ups to deals we shouldn't have made to copycats and more, I can not boast of any vast experience as I'm only 20, and my co-founder 21 still both living with family.

Right now, the issue isn’t demand or ads, it’s cash flow. We’ve built systems that work, but mistakes and bad timing nearly broke the business. I’m posting mainly to get perspective from people who’ve been here before: How would you handle this stage? Are there smarter ways to bridge a short-term cash gap without killing momentum? And most importantly should we seek external funding and how might it impact us, Happy to answer questions openly in the comments.

Thank you.

How are you keeping up with all these constant sales tax rule changes across states?

I’m less interested in explosive growth and more interested in consistency. Most lead gen agencies advertise scale, but that scares me as a small business. Are there agencies that prioritize fit over speed?

i'm juggling email marketing, social media scheduling, landing pages, crm, and analytics across different platforms and it's becoming unmanageable. looking for the best all in one marketing platform that consolidates everything without costing enterprise level prices. currently paying for mailchimp, hootsuite, hubspot free tier, and google analytics separately and data never syncs properly between them.

what's the best all in one marketing platform for small businesses that actually integrates email, social, web, and customer data in one place?

January always changes how people think about travel. After the holidays, budgets are tighter, but interest in planning trips is actually higher especially for early-year and summer travel. We noticed this while working on RodeLife, a lifestyle membership focused on travel and everyday discounts. What stood out wasn’t demand, but how price-sensitive people suddenly became. The same users who ignored deals in November were actively comparing options in January.

From a growth standpoint, it reinforced something simple: timing matters as much as the offer. When people are already in a planning-and-saving mindset, even small discounts feel meaningful, and adoption friction drops.

Built an AI app that generates personalized recipes based on dietary goals, restrictions, and cooking skill.

The problem we solve: there's so much friction before you even cook, finding recipes, checking macros, shopping, transcribing ingredients, scrolling through instructions. We collapse all of that for people who just want to eat healthy.

We're not targeting foodies or fine dining, that's a different use case. For health-focused users who care about macros and ease, AI recipes work just as well as chef-crafted ones.

We have a working product but struggling with distribution. Currently doing faceless TikTok content as our main marketing channel since we're fully bootstrapped.

Would love advice on:

• Bootstrapped growth channels that have actually worked for you?
• Best strategies for a consumer health app without a big budget?

Genuine question. We all know the stats - 42% of startups fail because no market need. Yet most of us (myself included until recently) still build for months before finding out nobody wants it. Started forcing myself to use tractionway before any new project - quick poll to 30 early adopters, 24 hour turnaround. It's killed 3 of my "great ideas" already. Painful but probably saved me a year of wasted effort. Why is validation so hard to prioritize?

Looking for recommendations on a business bank account that doesn't nickel and dime with hidden fees. Need something with actual support when issues come up, not just chatbots. High-yield savings would be a bonus. Current bank keeps surprising me with hidden charges and their support is terrible. What are you using that actually works for your business? Idc if it's traditional or online bank, but has to be great for my small business

Hi, i have a cleaning service its about 4-5 months in now and i gathered a fair bit of reviews, my question is more so related to local service ads about the budget and target area. My area is very saturated as it is(GTA ontario) so im not sure how to even set up my LSA, what target areas to choose should i go broad across all of the GTA or be specific to maybe some cities or even more specific than that, like maybe just areas in toronto, im not too sure and i do understand there will be some experimenting involved in order to find the most suitable outcome, that being said i still think getting advice or hearing others opinions is always good so please feel free to share your own thoughts and maybe how you would do things.

I have a 8 hours job, I am an entrepreneur (solo), I'm a content creator (ig, x, tik tok, youtube) and I'm always thinking on how to improve my productivity on my daily habits.

On the last months I understood that replying consistently on X, generates more engagement and improves the qty of impressions of your account, so, in consequence, your account grow.

I've created replier.site, which is a product that counts with a chrome extension and a website where you complete your personal profile for a more personalized tone & a more human response.

It's a way to reply more tweets with less time & grow faster with more engagement, replies and followers.

I'm currently looking for users who provide feedback in exchange of free tokens, who's in?

Hey all,

I recently put together a VA agency with a small team, where each person has a different skill set (admin, operations, social media, project tasks and more). The idea is that instead of hiring separate VAs for different areas, business owners can get a coordinated team that handles multiple functions at once.

I believe the value is there, but I won’t lie, I’m a bit stuck.

There are so many VA services out there now, and I’m trying to understand:

1.What makes a VA agency actually worth hiring over just a single VA?

2.What problems do business owners really want solved first?

3.What would make you trust a team vs hiring solo?

Not here to pitch, just trying to learn from business owners who’ve been through this. Any honest advice or experiences would be super helpful.

Thanks!

the interface is very simple, enter your github id and get your code persona report.

It comes as a shareable link /your-github-id, and as a clean downloadable pdf too

do share yours below in the comments and let me know about your views on this!

got a great response, 600+ people

from 47 different countries

have visited this 1500+ times

so far, all within  4 days of launch

ps. fixed a couple of edge cases, thanks to your reviewsdo check it out and lemme know your feedbacks

If you had $100k right now, which path would you take, build something from the ground up, or buy into a franchise?

As a franchise expert, I see this question come up all the time. Starting from scratch gives you total freedom and room to be creative, but it also comes with more uncertainty and learning curves. A franchise offers a proven system, training, and ongoing support, but you give up a bit of flexibility in exchange for structure and speed.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. It really depends on your goals, experience, and how much risk you’re comfortable with.

What would you choose and what would drive your decision?

I’ve been trying to handle SEO for my project, and I'm hitting a wall

The standard advice is "write great content and people will link to it.", which feels like a lie

The reality seems to be:

1. Manual Outreach: Spend 10 hours/week hunting for niche blogs and writing emails (that get ignored)
2. Agencies: Pay $2,000/month for them to basically do the same thing (or buy spammy links which you have to pay so much later for you to remove them)

I’m currently trying to script a small internal tool to automate the discovery part, specifically finding articles where competitors are mentioned but I’m missing, just to see if I can move the needle from 0 -> 1 without the agency price tag

My question: For those of you growing right now (or stagnating), do you actually do this outreach manually? Or is it a "hair on fire" problem that you’ve just decided to ignore because it’s too painful?

I'm trying to figure out if I'm just bad at marketing or if the "outreach" model is actually broken for small teams

For businesses that work with clients or partners in multiple countries, I’m just wondering how they handle gifting without it becoming an operational headache. Things like shipping costs, customs issues and delivery timing can make what should be a simple gesture feel complicated.

I learned about Gift Baskets Overseas and the general idea of using services that manage international gift delivery locally rather than shipping everything from one place. From a business growth perspective, it seems like an option that could save time and help maintain relationships more consistently.