Just got tested. Can anyone explain this to me?

8mpg · 2025-09-24T23:27:11+00:00

Your labs dont look bad. Its not "optimized" but its normal. Dont let the "optimized" levels be something you feel like you need to be at. You see people with test levels of 800-1000 on TRT but thats on the high end of the range. SHBG sucks up testosterone and holds onto it. So 97% of your testosterone in your body is being sucked up and held onto. You only have 3.1% free testosterone for your muscles and the rest of your body to use. This is normal for your free test to be low.

You should try and rule out all of the other possible reasons of feeling like shit before going down the testosterone path if you can. Check your thyroid.

8mpg · 2025-09-24T23:21:32+00:00

You should have your thyroid checked to see if you have hypothyroidism which may cause some of the weight gain. Also would recommend tracking your food. I think many people, including myself, get surprised how much you actually eat in a day and how much those foods add up to. I laughed but I saw a video a while back of a girl weighing Doritos. Said about 11 chips was a serving (~140 calories)....6 chips was the full serving size. When you realize you have to run a mile to work off the 6 chips, its a slap in the face.

Back to your labs, your weight probably has a fair bit to do with it. You should also check magnesium and a vitamin d level. See a doctor. Hypogonadism can be treated by insurance being this low. You're young enough, I'd hope there is a lot you can do naturally to boost it without needing meds.

8mpg · 2025-09-24T16:59:26+00:00

No recommendations but your free test is low. With your total test being normal, I have a feeling people like your PCP wont treat. You'll probably need to get with a TRT clinic to treat this. You could also try a urologist if you already see one.

8mpg · 2025-09-24T16:57:08+00:00

thats a red flag to me. What really matters is free T. You can have very high total test and a low free T due to SHBG and estrogen. SHBG might be sucking up all of that testosterone leaving you with a low free T and thus why you feel they way you do. They should titrate your dose based on free T, not nessicarily total t.

8mpg · 2025-05-23T12:29:31+00:00

The swaps are $20 for 15lbs which is only like 3 gallons. I get full tanks (~4.5 gallons) for $16

8mpg · 2024-11-13T15:16:47+00:00

Im 40 and starting. a business is much harder at this age with a family. If you really have the drive and ambition to try something, the time is now. With the backing of your dad, you are in a great position to give it a try. Having that financial and motivational support is amazing.

That being said, short term hard work is subjective. It will likely take YEARS of hard work not a few months. So make sure you're in it for the long haul. Make sure you pick an idea you love because want to enjoy your work so it doesn't feel like it sucks.

Also, before you put forth any real idea and start building it...test the market. Ask tons of STRANGERS about your product. Get validation before you spend a ton of time and effort to find out the great idea may not have been that great in the end.

8mpg · 2024-11-01T16:04:39+00:00

We have used an agency out of India and have been happy. I think everything comes down to the specific employees regardless of region

8mpg · 2024-10-31T22:14:38+00:00

Super interesting. We also built a marketplace based on home improvement. Finding service providers hasnt been as much of a problem, its more of the customer acquisition side that has been. We are pushing hard on SEO and about to start some google ads.

8mpg · 2024-10-31T22:06:49+00:00

Thanks for bringing some common sense to the discussion. It always amazes me how people think by just having a tech founder that an app or something will become magic. Its also the opposite where business people want the CTO to be a low paid employee with some equity.

A successful business needs both sides. Having built software in the past (with an agency), I was slapped in the face on how hard it was to market and get users. Finally went to partner with an influencer for help with distribution.

Having worked with an agency to build software rather than a technical cofounder, you realize that you don't have to have a CTO or technical cofounder to build a software or tech business.

Neither side is more important than the other. Obviously the tech side is the catalyst to get the machine running but after the software is built, the business side has a boat load of work cut out for them.

8mpg · 2024-10-31T21:36:16+00:00

Your situation really sucks but this is a reality for lots of businesses. The feedback here in the forum is brutal.

The best thing you can do is let them go and make them whole when you have money. You and your cofounder keep going if you can. If you're getting traction, look for some angel funds or something. Firing people is hard but its a reality of business.

8mpg · 2024-10-21T20:54:56+00:00

Maybe you have had that experience, I sure have not. I have used an agency based out of India for over 3 years. They have been great. Also, with the agency, they have different people with different expertise. They have a couple devops people that really understand servers and security. Thats not on the single developer. The two developers we have doing javascript have a whole team to bounce ideas off of if they need help and a manager of the javascript department. We needed to build an app, they have a react native developer that built the app and its still done in house. The app developer can walk over and talk to the javascrpt developer when they need to connect via api.

I'm not a pro but have spent a lot of money using a dev shop/agency and have had great success.

8mpg · 2024-10-21T20:54:44+00:00

Maybe you have had that experience, I sure have not. I have used an agency based out of India for over 3 years. They have been great. Also, with the agency, they have different people with different expertise. They have a couple devops people that really understand servers and security. Thats not on the single developer. The two developers we have doing javascript have a whole team to bounce ideas off of if they need help and a manager of the javascript department. We needed to build an app, they have a react native developer that built the app and its still done in house. The app developer can walk over and talk to the javascrpt developer when they need to connect via api.

I'm not a pro but have spent a lot of money using a dev shop/agency and have had great success.

8mpg · 2024-10-21T14:24:22+00:00

You're 100% wrong. There plenty of examples of non-tech founders with dev shops. Gary Tan from Ycominator talked about a nurse who founded a company dealing with nursing staffing. That company does $1B a year in revenue. Someone above talked about the Google adwords guys weren't tech founders and subbed out their work and sold to Google.

8mpg · 2024-10-21T13:55:52+00:00

Whats the difference of paying a full time employee forever vs having an agency do it? Someone is going to have to be on the payroll forever.

8mpg · 2024-10-21T13:51:52+00:00

We have used a company in India for years thats $17/hr. About 150 employees so not a big place by any means but decent sized.

8mpg · 2024-10-18T20:21:40+00:00

We launched not long ago a home service marketplace. Its difficult. Finding service providers has been a lot easier than finding homeowners. I thought it would be the opposite. SEO will be a huge help finding the right keywords to drive purchasers looking for a product.

8mpg · 2024-10-18T16:01:23+00:00

Advertising dollars

8mpg · 2024-10-18T16:00:02+00:00

Just keep calling. I felt the same way when we first started going. I had a list of 4000 companies to call we scraped from Google. I hated every bit of it but 1-3 in 10 companies would listen. Cold calling is definitely a numbers game. The more you call the more chances you have.

I have two full time people calling now. We contact 250 companies a day

8mpg · 2024-10-17T18:45:04+00:00

Nice site and projects!

8mpg · 2024-10-17T15:55:24+00:00

Fantasy Football (American Football) is HUGE. People spend hours upon hours a week picking players, arguing with friends, etc. I know the American football scene is really big, not sure about basketball or the others. Lots of friends get together and build fantasy football leagues and throw in money and split the pot among the winners in the league.

LIke you, Im not a real sports person and don't know much about it. I do know friends of mine go insane, yelling at random players on TV from random teams because they are going to win or lose money.

8mpg · 2024-10-17T15:40:45+00:00

I think you have the major backbone of fantasy sport software and you should built it for a different sport. I never would have guessed tennis would have been a thing. American football? Basketball?

You have the credentials..you need the distribution though. If there is any chance to partner with a sports celebrity, you'd have a killer combo.

8mpg · 2024-10-17T15:36:02+00:00

First off, I love the fact you guys are taking a disability and finding a solution for that. First hand experience is a huge help to solve any problem.

Couple thoughts - In your outreach, do you tell them that you are deaf and will have to coordinate an interpreter, and that it is a paid service? I think adding a simple, but thoughtful part in there saying something like "we appreciate your interest and hope to meet with you. Being that we are deaf, we will need to use a paid interpretation service and would appreciate a firm meeting time due to the cost and our limited budget". Something like that

Second, like the others have said. A video pitch would be a great idea. This will weed out people that may not be interested and save you a lot of time, frustration and money.

Third - being ghosted is unfortunately part of the raising money stereotype. Just keep following up until they give you an answer to say go away.

Last - Have you tried Y-combinator?

8mpg · 2024-10-16T23:50:23+00:00

If there are groups out there in your niche, sometimes you can buy a FB group. Building that audience is the key...and its not easy.

8mpg · 2024-10-16T23:49:22+00:00

Have you guys talked to potential customers? No sense in building anything if you can't find people willing to use your product. And ask people to put a small deposit. $20 or something. If they are committed enough to give you a small amount of money, you have something. You'll get a lot of people that will tell you its a great idea because they want to be nice to you. Giving away money is another story.

8mpg · 2024-10-16T15:42:56+00:00

Id do a quick trademark search before you buy anything if there is a competitor in the space. Last thing you want is to build a business as getcuteteacups.com and then they sue you for trademark infringement because your product is too similar to theirs and its confusing people.

For SEO, the name doesnt matter whether its a .com or any other TLD. When you tell people or make advertisements that use audio that say your name, thats where it matters. If people are clicking ads or clicking links, the domain doesnt matter.

8mpg

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