Saw a small business owner mention paying $2,450 a month for family health insurance, with a 17% increase at renewal.

That’s $29,400 a year just in premiums. Before deductibles, copays, or actually using the insurance.

And that’s just for one family. If you’re running a small business and trying to offer coverage to employees too, those costs can add up pretty fast.

Only 46% of businesses with 3–9 employees offered health insurance in 2024, according to KFF. Compare that with 92% of businesses with 50–199 employees. Some businesses offer traditional group plans, others help employees buy individual coverage, and some don’t offer anything because they simply can’t afford it.

I know health insurance premiums are generally tax-deductible for businesses, and self-employed owners may qualify for a deduction too, depending on how the business is set up. But a tax deduction doesn’t exactly make a $2,450 monthly bill easier to pay.

For those of you running businesses with fewer than 10 employees, what are you doing?

Thanks for all the advice that I got from this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/s/LUHc0seP2P

Based on the general trend of the comments on that thread, a lot of people won't be pleased with the direction I took, but I'm very happy with the outcome. I decided to take the advice of u/iwonderthesethings and u/modelformat's (link) because they were more conciliatory.

First off, I told my employee that what they did was correct. I also reminded them to not confront the customer since they seemed quite upset with the complaint. From my previous thread, I mentioned that our Google Review page is full of praises of hospitality; and the fact that someone complained about our employee's 'rudeness' just didn't sit right with us and our employee.

I'm not going to put my entire response here since it's very wordy but TLDR:

• We listed the actions we took after the complaint was lodged, including reviewing all the evidence and re-orienting our employees about the right way to communicate reminders.
• We briefed them about our policies on purchase and occupancy.
• I started with a "we'd like to be frank with you" and told them about multiple times customers have taken advantage of our space. We told the customer that laying these situations for them to know wasn't an attack on them (although it kind of was lol). We told them, "These situations present a real, quantifiable loss for us".
• We apologized about not being explicit about our policies and expectations, but that we will be implementing these more fairly moving forward.
• We then dedicated an entire paragraph defending our employee, telling the customer that our employee recognized them as a frequent visitor, and that our employee has no ill will. We used specific time stamps from the CCTV to explain why our employee wasn't able to greet them or bid them good bye, or why our employee decided to call out one of the customer's friends for not having ordered.
• We apologized and we said we aren't invalidating their experiences, which is why we are going to re-orient our employees about respectful communication. At the same time, I asked for two-way courtesy from them; that they should recognize our employees' responsibilities, which includes protecting our space and sales.

Below is the translated, non-verbatim response of our customer:

First, I wanted to clarify that, yes, I wasn't the one she told needed to place an order but my friend who was staying a couple of minutes before his class. His other friend had already ordered a drink, and he was sitting across him, not occupying much space in the cafe. Second, I honestly don't mind not being greeted all the time since I understand there are circumstances that she would be unable to do so. There were just times that we were the only ones left in the cafe, with her doing nothing, and I was waiting for her to say thank you and greet back with a smile and so I could thank her as well.

I appreciate how you handled this situation and will try to visit again as I really like your products.

We/I don't mind complying with your policy given that there is limited space in the cafe, but I just hoped it was delivered to us in a nicer manner.

I decided to no longer respond.

I didn't have the ability to readily tell them that they have in fact, multiple times, occupied the very few tabled seats with only one of them ordering. Of course I didn't save videos and screenshots of that. It'll be a case of "he-said, she-said" with my business most likely on the losing end especially with the drama of Google Reviews and social media. It also seemed like a perception issue from the customer; a perception of rude communication, or maybe embarrassment on their part. I can't fix entitlement, embarrassment and one's views on the matter no matter how much I explain.

This week, the customer has come back twice already. The customer is accompanied by one of the group members, and it's still only the customer who orders. I can live with that.

My employee also says that the customer seemed much nicer this time around.

I don't know what to do. I'm a café owner and I rent out a small space at some sort of a mixed residential and commercial area. It's been a month since the estate started implementing paid parking, and it has really been affecting our sales. After a while, we've started getting less and less customers. I would understand why they'd implement that if the traffic was really bad in our area or if vehicles actually parked there for too long, but I don't believe this was the case. As it's kind of a private area, public transport vehicles aren't even allowed in there and cars would come and go without parking abuse. Many customers would park in front of our store to just order their coffee for take out and leave. Now, they'd have to pay for parking in front of our store, even if it's just for a few minutes. We used to have a lot of regulars, and now they can't even come back. Even if we didn't make that big of an income, we used to earn enough daily to have our money rolling for whatever the business needed. Right now, our sales have really dipped.

It isn't just our café that has raised this problem. All the business owners around us have complained about this, but the estate company doesn't seem to feel at all.

Also, we live in a small, far-away city, so paid parking isn't the norm for people here. I do think it's quite a hassle too— especially for people just looking to stop by quickly and for younger customers or students who are looking to spend less. Even us tenants have to pay for parking every time we come to our stores.

I was thinking about raising a petition, or filing complaints along with other business owners, but I doubt a big corporation like this one would be shaken at all. Should I work on marketing instead? Help. This is my first ever business, and it's been doing well this whole time until this parking nonsense started. :(

I ran my company for 16 years before selling it to a private equity buyer (and stayed on one more year during the transition). The one thing I'd do differently: *start the tax planning years earlier.*

After closing, I learned about how some sellers defer and sometimes reduce the tax on a sale: trusts like CRUTs, GRATs, and SLATs; gifting shares before the value jumps; installment structures. Most only work if they're set up well before a deal is on the table. By the time I heard about them, it was too late to matter.

There's also QSBS (qualified small business stock). If your company qualifies and you hold the stock for five years, up to $15M of gain per shareholder can be tax-free federally, and most states too. But it applies only to C-corps, only to growth after you convert, and many businesses (professional services, consulting, finance, and others) don't qualify (like mine). Either way, you have to look years ahead.

Don't wait for your CPA or attorney to bring it up. Ask them early. The good ones can do a lot with a few years of runway, and very little once you've moved into the deal window.

Not tax or any other type of advice: just what I learned the hard way.

Owners who've sold: what do you wish you'd started earlier? I'm eyes wide-open now : - )

There's a serious security flaw in PHP, the software under most websites, and a fix came out today. Nintendo, government sites in Europe and the HR company BambooHR all took services offline over it. The catch is the fix only covers newer versions. A lot of small business sites on cheap hosting run older versions that get no update at all.

You don't need to be technical for this. Email your web host and ask: "Which PHP version is my site on, and have you applied the PHP2Shell security fix?" If they can't answer clearly, that's your answer.

If you want to check yourself first, I built a free tool that tells you what your site runs: simgen.dev/php-patch-check. No signup, it doesn't store your address.

A month ago, u/Elusive_One generated quite a stir with his tale of shady business partners, unsubstantiated cash sales and asset transfers. In the last installment, he'd observed actual sales and hired an accountant who agreed something was amiss. The last we heard was one of the partners invited him to San Diego to explain the accounting in person.

So... how did the meeting go? Did u/Elusive_One survive to post again? Where's the latest installment? Inquiring minds want to know.

For those who missed it, here are the links to the original posts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1vy45l8/i_own_this_business_and_something_about_the/

https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1wdwzoq/update_cpa_confirmed_my_concerns_are_legitimate/

For those of you who quote service jobs (cleaning, handyman, detailing, lawn care): how do you handle the trip charge?

The common setup seems to be hours x an hourly rate, plus a markup on materials, plus a trip fee. The trip fee is the part that varies most.

Do you charge a flat fee, charge by the mile, or build it into your hourly rate? And does it change for jobs that are farther out?

I have been helping with inventory on several of my stores and one of them is confusing me.

I have a manager that recently boosted quantities of products in our system during weekly cycle counts.
They are several high-ticket items in various categories all done in one month.

I have corrected this, but I can’t understand their reasoning for this.

I’m not the financial person in our company, I’m just the day-to-day person. But this is bugging me.

Can anyone help me understand why they would purposely inflate inventory? It would get corrected eventually, but to what end?

EDIT- clarification.
All the increases were done within the past month by the same employee. None of the items were received recently , these are stocked items that don’t move fast, but do in bulk to certain customers.

I recently interviewed the founder of a Brazilian payments company operating in 10 Latin American countries who is making more than $500K in revenue.

However, if he were choosing where to expand today, he'd pick Bolivia or Costa Rica over Brazil or Mexico.

They happen to have less competition and better margins, he said.

I thought that was interesting, especially since most conversations about international expansion tend to focus on the biggest economies.

For anyone who's been involved in expanding a business abroad, have you experienced something similar? How was your market criteria selection and based on what?

After about six years of running an established destination restaurant in western Wisconsin, complete with an ice cream parlor, a pool and dart lounge, and an arcade/golf simulator lounge, I've decided to step away from the restaurant industry. This isn't a business in trouble. It's been very good to me, but my other company is growing rapidly and needs my full attention, so I'm letting the restaurant go. I'd love to see it keep going under someone new, but I'm closing it at the end of the year either way. That's why I've priced it to sell at $95,000. I know that's low. The goal is simply to have a new owner running it by January 1.

The sale includes the restaurant and bar (food, a full bar, and DoorDash delivery), the ice cream parlor, the pool and dart lounge, and the golf simulator. The arcade machines are owned by a third party and run under a split-income contract, so the machines themselves aren't part of the sale, but the arcade income comes with the business. In 2025 the business did over $400,000 in combined sales. That's about $330,000 from the restaurant and bar and about $70,000 from the ice cream parlor, plus arcade and gaming machine income, and it netted about $76,000 in profit. There's over $280,000 in build-out, furniture, and equipment on the books. The restaurant is only open Tuesday through Saturday evenings, with lunch on Saturdays, so there's plenty of room to grow by adding hours, days, or lunch service.

This is a business sale in a leased space. I've sold the building for about $1.7 million, so the new owner will lease from the new landlord. The current lease runs about $3,700 a month, and your rent may go up or down depending on the terms of your new lease.

At this price, a buyer could earn back the purchase in a little over a year. It's a great fit for an owner-operator, or for anyone who wants an established destination spot with a loyal customer base instead of starting from scratch. Serious buyers can review the 2025 P&L, books, and tax returns, along with POS sales history, current lease terms, the equipment list, the arcade revenue-share contract, liquor license transfer details, and staff information, after signing an NDA. If you're interested, send me a DM and we'll talk.

My 82-year-old father signed up for what he thought was a completely free Yelp business profile using my credit card. We later discovered Yelp quietly charged us nearly $4,000 over six months for advertising he never intended to purchase.

When I canceled the service and requested a refund, Yelp made the process incredibly difficult:

a. Stonewalling Customer Service: After multiple calls, both Billing and Customer Success refused to help over the phone, insisting I use an online form.

b. Unfair Refund Policy: Representatives admitted the form only guarantees a one-month refund, despite Yelp taking our money for six months.

c. Broken Promises: Agents arranged two different callbacks with a manager. Half a month later, I am still waiting.

Because Yelp refuses to resolve this, we are disputing the charges through our credit card company and are actively considering legal action. I expect a full refund and a clear explanation of what advertising services were supposedly delivered.

My advice to other business owners: Be extremely careful setting up a Yelp profile. Review every billing option thoroughly and monitor your credit card statements closely!

About to launch a small landscaping business and trying to get the boring stuff sorted before things get really busy. Right now everything runs through my personal checking, which I know isn't great. Did you open a business account right away, or wait until there was real money coming in?

A few years ago I had a customer who emailed me often about something that she didn't like. This random page confused her. She couldn't do this on the site.

The price was too much. My first instinct was to refund her and quietly let her go, because she bugged me like crazy.

Instead I started fixing the things she pointed out, and almost every fix increased conversion. She stayed with me for years and sent customers my way.

These days the quiet customers keep me up at nigh than the loud ones. The quiet ones just leave and you never learn why. Maybe I got lucky with one person, because most just stay quiet and ghost.

Have you had a tough customer who became a valuable person for your business, or did the painful ones add no value at all?

I'm curious how small business owners here manage their Instagram, YouTube, and other social media pages.

Between running the actual business, handling customers, and managing day-to-day work, how do you find time to consistently post content and keep your pages active?

Do you create everything yourself, have someone on your team handle it, or outsource it to someone?

I'm a video editor and graphic designer, and I've been working in this field for over 4 years. I know how much time it can take to create videos, graphics, reels, and other content consistently.

I've been thinking about how I could help small businesses with this side of things, but before anything else, I'd genuinely like to hear how you guys currently handle it and what challenges you face.

Would love to hear your experiences!

Hi everyone! Wanted to get the community's thoughts on this. For the last couple years I've always prioritized getting prospective clients on the phone to do my pitch and then I will give my rate. My conversion has been very high as I know I have a reasonably priced great service and am a people person that is easy to connect with. This year has been incredible in terms of business growth and with that I've raised my rates to better cover my time and expenses. The growth has also lead to a packed schedule and being a solo entrepreneur, I often cannot find enough time in the day. I generally spend a minimum of 30 minutes on each call during my pitch (this cannot be reduced by much with what I am selling) and it is really adding up so I started telling prospective clients my fee up front when they reach via IG or email with a link to schedule a call to chat further if they would like. I am not sure if it's just a mismatch of potential clients or the new rate but for a large percentage of the inquiries I am not hearing anything back after the first message. For some I realize this higher rate is not feasible but I am in a great position where I do not need every lead anymore. I guess my thought is that some might have sticker shock and back off whereas if I do my full spiel then give them the rate they might be more inclined when they realize the full value and connect with me. So yeah just wondering what you all think about this. Thanks so much!

Hey, I was just curious to where you guys find/post open rolls and opportunities for roles in startups or small businesses? I’m not having luck on indeed and have been told LinkedIn might even be more effective. Is it all dependent on connections? Am I missing a roles platform?

• 1. Providing tech support what you can do is build your knowledge by learning how to fix a common problems like wifi issues setting up computers and helping other navigate apps and websites.
  • 2. Weed gardens what you can do is build strength and stamina through the physical demands of kneeling and bending and repetitive motions.
  • 3. Farmer’s market stand what you can do is learn how to make you your products look awesome and talk to the customers in a way that grabs you attention and makes them want to buy
  • 4. Mowing lawns what you can do is learn how to safely and efficiently operate a lawnmower, understanding the mechanics and maintenance required for a smooth use
  • 5. Organise garages what you can do is learn how to sort and arrange items efficiently , turning a cluttered space to neat and functional area
  • 6. Collect firewood what you can do is develop physical strength and learn how to handle wood safely using proper tools and gloves to prevent injuries like splinters 
  • 7. Cleaning peoples houses what you can do is learn how to manage your time well by completing different cleaning tasks within a set schedule , make sure everything gets done on time

About to publish my app but don't want to have my house address published on app & play stores. Also, came across some horror stories about virtual address spaces not forwarding IRS mails etc - so don't fully trust those either.

Was wondering, if its possible to keep my home address as S-Corp's address with Secretary of State, banks etc, but switch DnB to a virtual office address.

Has anyone done this before? Any recommendations for virtual office space providers in Cali?

I own a small LLC registered in Arkansas and primarily do IT consulting from home. I have been using LegalZoom to handle the administrative/compliance side of the business, including registered agent services.

Over the past few years, the costs have continued increasing, and I am starting to question whether the convenience is worth it anymore.

For context, I paid $300 in 2024 for all the various fees, then $450 in 2025, and now I am being charges $650 this year. It's egregious.

My business is relatively straightforward. I work from home, provide consulting services, and do not have a complicated business structure or employees.

I am wondering if I am paying hundreds of dollars annually for services I could reasonably handle myself.

For those of you operating a small LLC:

• Do you handle your annual state filings and compliance requirements yourself, or pay someone to manage them?
• Is there a practical reason to maintain a paid registered agent rather than using an individual who meets the state's requirements?
• Have you switched away from a full-service LLC management provider? Was the process relatively straightforward?
• Would working with a local accountant or attorney for occasional compliance needs make more sense than paying annual subscription fees?

I am not opposed to paying for services that provide actual value, but $650 annually seems excessive for what I believe is a relatively simple LLC.

I would appreciate hearing how other small business owners approach this and whether I'm overlooking any important responsibilities by considering handling more of it myself.

Hello all,

I started a medical supply/distribution business back in March. Since then, I have grown my catalog from around 20-30 SKUs to over 2,000. Our pricing is pretty competitive compared to other places, and I've saved a few customers quite a bit of money. The problem is I don't really know how to acquire customers that well. I have around 5 to 6 recurring customers so far, which isn't the best, but I'm grateful for them. How do I go about getting more b2b customers? I've done over 100 walk-ins, which have resulted in 0 customers. I've cold called/emailed hundreds as well which landed me about 3 out of my 6 customers. Any suggestions from anyone in the b2b space?

Would appreciate anyone's opinions/comments. Thank you!

I've always found it interesting how much you can manage with a simple spreadsheet when running a business.

I'm guessing some people stick with spreadsheets for years, while others eventually move to different tools as things get more complicated.

Personally, I think there's something to be said for keeping things simple for as long as possible.

I've seen businesses use spreadsheets in very different ways, and it's interesting how everyone finds their own system. Some setups are surprisingly effective!

So Im fairly new to the business industry but i just need some thoughts on this and no better place to ask but here. So I started this with a couple of my friends so we can hopefully grow a successful business and make it a full time thing. Recently we haven’t even got our first job yet and we are being patient because its all about the journey but I always sometimes think to myself what if it doesn’t work and this was all for nothing? I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong with my promoting on social media platforms but I just need some people to give me some good ideas and hopefully I can get my head back in the game.

Have a client I did work for that I can’t get to communicate with me after I sent an invoice. My terms say due on receipt of invoice but my invoicing software is defaulted at net 30 days.

I have waited longer for clients to pay that have had better communication. Job was completed on 10/9 and I have sent 3 reminders so far.

Thinking of sending another reminder this Friday being a little more firm. Thoughts?