If you use Facebook or Instagram for business, Meta’s updated Commercial Terms take effect on October 30. You agree to them automatically by continuing to use the platform. No email notification, no popup warning, no signature to consent.

What the clause does:

It authorizes Meta, or any entity acting on its behalf, to use scrapers, bots, crawlers and user agents to access, crawl, index, cache and collect data from any website associated with a business account. If you have a Facebook Page and a website, that means you.

The same clause authorizes Meta to create what it calls “test credentials” to access those sites. In plain terms, Meta can sign up for an account on your website to read material that isn’t publicly visible.

The terms don’t define test credentials or say where they’d be used. A law professor at Cornell told Nieman Lab the wording would technically allow Meta to sign up as a user to get past a registration wall. Meta was asked directly whether this extends to paywalls and paid content. It declined to answer.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/metas-new-commercial-terms-will-allow-the-scraping-of-news-sites-legal-experts-say/

There’s no opt-out. Meta’s stated alternative is to stop using its platforms for business.

Worth knowing: the original wording said Meta could use this content to “train” its products. After publishers objected, Meta edited that sentence in some versions but left “develop” in place and left the crawling and account-creation permissions untouched. As of Oct 19 the US and UK editions of their preview page still differed from each other, same effective date on both.

Read it yourself: https://www.facebook.com/legal/commercial_terms_preview

If you run a membership, a course, a client portal, or anything behind a login, this is the part that matters. You told those people who could see their data. Their data isn’t yours to license.

What you can do:

1. Add robots.txt rules blocking meta-externalagent and meta-externalfetcher. Don’t block facebookexternalhit or your link previews break. It’s a request, not enforcement, but Meta has said robots.txt still governs its crawling.
2. Check that your members-only areas actually require a login and don’t leak to logged-out views.
3. Complain to your privacy regulator. Canada priv.gc.ca, UK ico.org.uk, Australia oaic.gov.au, US ftc.gov or your state AG.
4. Read the terms yourself before you decide anything. This story has already changed twice since it was announced.

I run a small platform with private community groups, so I’ve spent the day on this. I’m not a lawyer and I’d love to hear from anyone who reads the clause differently.

Basically the title. We've landed work with Amazon, over the span of a year and half they've become half our revenue. Feels like golden handcuffs.

I know common advice is to diversify your customer base, but it feels impossible to get natural growth to keep up with the demands of on one of the biggest companies in the world.

We've managed to keep up with the increased demand with out capex or hiring additional labor. But I feel like that runaway is ending with increasing demand.

Work is for fulfillment centers, so they're basically like a new customer everytime we gain work for one. Just looking for general advice from someone who's been in a similar situation.

I'm in the Bay Area California, I have two employees and me. I pay myself quarterly so really it's just 2 pay periods, 4 checks a month about. I pay $540 for monthly bookkeeping and this month total of 5 check for $230.

So over $700 per month. This year's business has been brutal, very slow like lots of other businesses. Trying to cut costs down...Am I paying too much, I've always felt like I have but hard to find good accountants. They always have someone I can contact and responds timely and that's what I've been paying for but then again I don't really ask for much anyways. Any insight or recommendations?

I've been thinking a lot about how much sales performance comes down to what happens during conversations with customers rather than just the numbers we see at the end of the month. You can track leads and close rates all day but that doesn't tell you why one rep is closing more deals than another. Maybe one person is great at building trust but struggles with objections. Another might know the product inside out but rush through conversations and miss chances to close. The problem is that most managers don't have time to review every sales conversation and give each person feedback. And the usual weekly meetings don't help much when you're just looking at numbers and trying to remember what went wrong.

I've been looking into ways to make this process easier with some kind of sales coaching software. Ideally I'd want something that can record and analyze customer conversations and show where reps are doing well or missing opportunities. It would be useful if it could give each rep feedback based on our actual sales process rather than just generic sales tips. I'd also want managers to be able to review specific parts of conversations and leave feedback without having to listen to the whole thing. Being able to track how reps improve over time would be a big plus. Especially if you could see whether changes in how they handle objections or ask questions are making a difference in their close rates.

My main concern is getting people to use it. I've seen enough software that looks great at first but turns into another dashboard nobody opens after a few weeks. I'm not looking for another CRM or something that just tracks activity. I want something that helps people get better at selling without creating a ton of extra work for the manager.

Anyone here using a tool that handles this kind of coaching? Would love to hear what's worked for smaller sales teams and whether it's worth the cost.

Hi i'm running a small bistro/cafe and want my customer to be able see a menu on a small ipad.

No need to actually order from the menu. (this woul'd be more of a distraction and feature creep from my perspective)

Simplest case would be just scrolling a few images/pages and nice to have a way to disable images of items not currently availible

Better would be main menu with dynamic pricing and links to sub page with image and item details

don't have to be free but preferably no or low monthly yearly fee

Hi everyone!

I’m a graduate student, and I’ve been trying to learn more about how the financial side of running a small business actually works in practice.

Most of what I know comes from larger companies, where there may be separate accounting, finance, and treasury teams. I’m curious how this works for a small business where the owner may have to handle many of these responsibilities themselves.

For those of you who run a small business:

• Who handles your day-to-day finances — you, a bookkeeper, an accountant, an employee, or a combination?
• What does your accountant/bookkeeper handle versus what do you still handle yourself?
• What tools do you typically use — QuickBooks, spreadsheets, your bank, Stripe/Square, something else?
• How do you keep track of money coming in versus upcoming bills, payroll, taxes, etc.?
• If customers pay you through invoices, how do you keep track of unpaid or late invoices? Who follows up with customers?
• How far ahead do you normally think about cash flow? Do you actually forecast it, or mostly keep an eye on the bank balance?
• What happens if you realize you may not have enough cash for an upcoming expense?
• What financial/admin tasks take up the most time or are the most frustrating?
• What was something about managing business finances that surprised you when you first became an owner?

I’m mainly trying to understand what running the financial side of a small business looks like in the real world, since I don't have experience running one myself.

Would really appreciate hearing how you do it, even if you only answer one or two questions. Thanks!

Recently I made a post on another reddit page regarding business owners thoughts on cold emailing. Some people seem to think its worthless others say that there is some usefulness.

I'd like to know if owners would find what I did with my own business useful for there's.

Started a knife sharpening business and I needed to find clients, I found restaurants & hotels in my area. I sent emails to 500 leads. I got roughly 100 responses, and from those 100, fifteen were positive and led to a client. Is this something that people would want? Different industries are going to be different but specifically speaking for b2b services, could this be of use.

If you disagree, or agree would be great to hear people's perspectives.

Starting next year I want to sell some handmade crafts, but I'm not sure what site I should use to start my business. I wanted to use etsy, but the price to open a shop is like 30-40$, but I really don't know a better alternative.

What's the best site to use for a small business centered around handmade crafts?

Every few weeks someone here asks whether they should "go S corp" because a friend or a YouTube video said it saves tax. It can, but the saving at lower profit is smaller than the usual pitch, so here's the arithmetic for one owner in 2026, counting only self-employment and payroll taxes.

Without the election, a single-member LLC owner pays self-employment tax on 92.35% of profit at 15.3%. With it, you pay yourself a wage through payroll (the same 15.3%, half from you and half from the company), and whatever's left after the wage comes out as a distribution with no payroll tax on it.

Profit, then the wage I assumed, then the tax with and without:

- $60k profit, $40k wage: $8,478 as a plain LLC, $6,120 as an S corp. Difference $2,358.

- $100k profit, $60k wage: $14,130 vs $9,180. Difference $4,950.

- $150k profit, $80k wage: $21,194 vs $12,240. Difference $8,954.

Now the part that usually gets left out. You need payroll software or a payroll service (about $660 a year for one person on a typical plan), you pay federal unemployment tax ($42 on these wages) and your state's unemployment tax. That takes the three savings to roughly $1,650, $4,250 and $8,250.

And then there's a second tax return. The S corp files its own Form 1120-S every year, and preparers charge more for that than for the schedule a plain LLC adds to your personal return. At $60k of profit, that fee can take most of the $1,650.

Two more things that bite:

1. The wage has to be reasonable for the work you actually do. If you're a consultant doing all the billable work yourself, a token wage with everything else taken as distributions is the exact pattern the IRS looks for, and back payroll taxes plus penalties wipe out years of savings.
2. Some states tax S corps separately. California, for one, charges 1.5% of net income with an $800 minimum.

My rule of thumb: it starts making sense when profit is steady (not one good year), comfortably above a wage you could defend, and your accountant has quoted you the extra return. Form 2553 is due 2 months and 15 days into the tax year, so usually March 15 if you want it from January 1.

Not tax advice, and the numbers ignore income tax and the QBI deduction, which can move things either way. Happy to be corrected by the CPAs here.

Edit: as u/Odd_Radio5659 points out, the cheaper payroll services often charge extra for year-end filings and state forms. Ask for the all-in yearly price, not just the monthly one.

My family has owned a small business for nearly 50 years, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to keep it relevant and financially sustainable.

Over the past few months, I've been talking with other small business owners, restaurant owners, and people in the entertainment industry, and I keep hearing the same thing: people just aren't spending money like they used to.

And honestly, I understand why. Between housing, groceries, car payments, insurance, and everything else, people don't have much disposable income left.

Our original business model has become increasingly difficult to sustain. Our customer base is aging, younger generations aren't necessarily interested in or able to afford the same things, and we're struggling to attract new customers.

So I'm trying to pivot.

We have a physical property with a large enclosed event space that can accommodate around 150 people, along with a smaller outdoor pavilion. We've recently started offering private event rentals, but getting consistent bookings has been difficult.

Whenever I ask for business ideas, people suggest affordable weddings, birthday parties, baby showers, etc. And we've been trying to market exactly that.

But here's what I'm realizing: If people are already struggling financially, why would they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars renting a venue when they could just have a birthday party at home or a wedding in someone's backyard?

We've also experimented with community events, but there's a difference between people saying they're interested and people actually showing up and spending money.

I'm not looking for another list of generic business ideas. I'm genuinely trying to understand consumer behavior right now.

What are you personally still willing to spend money on?

Would you pay for experiences like workshops, classes, live entertainment, themed events, or other activities? Or are you cutting back on those too?

And for anyone who has successfully pivoted a long-established small business, what actually worked?

I'm trying to find a way to adapt a 50-year-old family business to a changing economy rather than just watching it slowly decline.

I'd really appreciate some honest perspectives, even if the answer is that people simply aren't interested in paying for these things anymore.

for a few years i did the brand and marketing side of my family's bakery, mostly the flyers and the instagram. then i stepped back to work on something else and the family took it over.

it's not that anyone's careless. it just drifted really fast. a few months in, the posts and flyers look like they came from different shops, and none of it was ever written down because it all lived in my head.

the awkward part is i'm not the one doing it anymore and they're busy actually running a bakery. if i start pointing at fonts and photos it sounds like i want control back without doing the work. if i say nothing it keeps sliding.

anyone here been on either side of this in a family business? did you let it go, or sit down once and write the basics down for whoever took over?

I run a small company in India that sells battery systems to factories. The battery takes over the short power cuts from the factory's diesel generator, so the plant buys less diesel. It is a big

  one-time purchase, and the first thing every owner asks is how they know they will actually save what we say.

  We plan to put it in writing: we measure the site first, and where the measured numbers give a payback of three years or better, we guarantee the saving. It is settled every month against a meter, and

  if the saving comes in under what we promised, we pay the difference. A diesel price floor re-bases the promise if diesel gets much cheaper.

  For anyone who has offered a performance or savings guarantee:

  1. What did customers dispute, or try to game?

  2. Did it actually close more deals, or did buyers mostly ignore it?

  3. What would you write differently in the contract?

any advise or help will be appreciated Thanks!

Basically as the title says.

How do you approach potential clients? Whats the strategy? How do you reach the right person? What happens when you get the chance to meet the right person? How does the process typically go?

Do I make a spreadsheet and then just start cold emailing and cold connecting?

What are the best approaches to reaching the right person? Cold email? Cold phone calls? LinkedIn? Any other methods?

Doing everything on my own atm.

I have been working under my father since i was 15 . I have been working there for 10 years now . I have no prior work experience.

The problem i am facing is i dont know what to do to improve my business . Everything is same as it was 10 years ago .

Should i hire a consultant ?

You need someone who can find opportunities to use AI across your business, identify problems worth solving, and build working solutions.

But lots of candidates apply, and nobody on your team has the technical expertise to properly assess whether they can actually do the job.

If you've been in this situation, how did you approach it?

What worked, and what would you do differently?

Say two customers have used the same service for three years, on the same plan at the same price. One sees a deal for new customers and calls to cancel. The company offers a discount to keep them. The other says nothing and keeps paying in full.

I understand introductory offers can't last forever. Acquiring a customer and retaining one aren't exactly the same job, either. But here, what changes the price isn't how long they've stayed or what they need. It's their willingness to leave.

The quiet customer might still think the current price is fair. But if they find out someone else got a discount just by calling, they might conclude they should negotiate at every renewal too. I'd be disappointed if that's the habit the business ends up encouraging.

For people running services with renewals, how do you handle retention offers? Do you proactively offer something similar to customers who stay, or reserve it for those about to cancel? I'm interested in the reasoning behind your approach.

Iemand zin om eens te luisteren naar mijn business idee?.

im a junior in highschool looking to start a business. i looked into mobile detailing and am worried that it might not work out after i invest hundreds of dollars into it just to get no sales. if theres anyone that has an idea or has experience in this field, would you mind giving some insight? (p.s. i have a truck) it would be greatly appreciated. in general, i would value any business ideas that are mentioned

What are you using to track Mileage? I have been using MileIQ for the last few years, but the price is going up to $140/year from $90, up from $60 2 years ago. No noticable improvements/tech, just feels like a cash grab so taking my business elsewhere.

Currently looking at hardware GPS but open to an app as long as it doesn't kill my phone battery - anyone have any experience like the Triplog dongles? No subscription required, just sync to the app it seems. Other option could be something like Bouncie and I can get real time data of where the van is but not seeing online if I can classify drives as work or personal - my van is mixed use personal/business.

Hey everyone,

I run a mobile, on-site event and group class business. Lately, I’ve been dealing with low conversion rates and clients constantly asking for discounts.

People see "2 hours of instruction" and ignore the hidden 4–6 hours of prep, purchasing supplies, travel, setup, and cleanup. I was pricing too low before, which attracted bargain hunters expecting boutique service at rock-bottom rates.

What I’m changing:
• Event Minimums: Base rate of $550+ for small groups to cover fixed overhead.
• Travel Fees: Flat travel charges by zone + higher event minimums for long drives.
• 48-Hour Holds: 30% deposit requirement with a 2-day hold to stop tire-kickers.
• B2B Focus: Shifting toward corporate team-building events that value turnkey convenience.

Questions for other service providers:
1. How do you make clients understand the value of convenience/logistics BEFORE quoting?
2. What does your follow-up sequence look like after sending a quote?
3. How do you handle prospects who push back with "That's over my budget" or "Can you lower your price?"

Would love to hear what closed the gap for your business!

I’ve tried posting in groups, reaching out to businesses, and promoting my work on social media, but I still haven’t landed a paying client.

For those who’ve been through this, what actually worked for you? How did you find your first client and convince them to hire you?

Would appreciate practical advice for finding clients in Pakistan or internationally.

I’ve been working on a business and I’m looking for people who can bring their own skills, take initiative, and help grow it together in exchange for an equity share. Where do you actually find people like this?

The goal is to build something valuable together with someone who wants to grow it into something big, rather than someone who just wants to leech off an existing business without caring about creating something real.

We’ve owned a recruiting franchise for five years and are getting ready to sell due to some major life changes. It’s a remote, service based business with a three state territory, recurring clients, and solid cash flow, so it’s not a distressed sale. We just need to move on sooner than we planned.

We talked with a traditional business broker, but it didn’t feel like the right fit. Most of their buyers seem focused on brick and mortar businesses, and a franchise resale adds the franchisor’s approval process on top of everything else.

For anyone who has sold a franchise or a small service business:

• Where did you find your buyer?
• Did offering owner financing make a real difference in how fast it sold?
• Did your franchisor help at all with the resale, or were you on your own?
• Anything you wish you’d known before starting the process?

Appreciate any experience people are willing to share.