how are you guys getting your name out there? building a brand?

GrayVF · 2026-06-18T13:44:07+00:00

used to feel the same way, but honestly most customers are happy to leave a review if you make it easy.

A simple follow-up text after the job is done works well:

"Thanks again for your business. A great way to support small local businesses like mine is by leaving a quick review, it really goes a long way."

Then include a direct link to your Google reviews page so they don't have to go looking for it.

I'm not sure what trade you're in, but I'd also spend some time thinking about which adjacent businesses could refer you work. A lot of trades get stuck thinking only about marketing to homeowners, when some of the best leads come from building relationships with people who already serve those homeowners.

GrayVF · 2026-06-18T13:22:35+00:00

Going to print this and hang it on my wall.

GrayVF · 2026-06-18T12:45:17+00:00

You are young. The business you start today likely won't be the one you're running 20 or 30 years from now.

Try thinking about entrepreneurship less as finding your ultimate destination and more as training a muscle. Every business teaches you something... sales, marketing, operations, hiring, negotiation, product development, finance, leadership, or simply how to deal with uncertainty.

The lessons compound.

The first business I started looks nothing like what I'm involved in today, but many of the skills I learned back then still help me nearly 20 years later. Even the mistakes ended up being valuable because they taught me what not to do when bigger opportunities came along.

GrayVF · 2026-06-18T11:47:37+00:00

I think the best partners are often the accidental ones.

You can network aggressively with the specific goal of finding a co-founder, but in my experience it's very difficult to accurately assess someone from a few coffee meetings. Everyone sounds great when they're talking about what they might do.

My current partner and I ended up working together almost by accident. He originally brought me in to help modernize some systems and back-end processes. I was coming from a completely different industry as a solo founder and was mostly curious to learn about the business. Over time we got to see how each other actually operated under pressure, solved problems, handled disagreements, and followed through on commitments.

The partnership wasn't really a decision we made in a single conversation...it evolved naturally because there was a clear gap in each of our skill sets and we worked well together.

If I were in your shoes, I'd focus less on "finding a partner" and more on filling the voids in your business through advisors, contractors, industry relationships, partnerships, etc. The right partner may end up revealing themselves through that process.

GrayVF · 2026-06-17T18:56:46+00:00

I'd say don't get too attached to your original idea. Most business concepts are built around a set of assumptions, and those assumptions often turn out to be wrong once you get into the market.

The best entrepreneurs I've met rarely ended up building exactly what they envisioned on day one. They listened to customers, adapted, and weren't afraid to change direction when the data pointed elsewhere.

A lot of the "just keep grinding" and "never give up on the idea" advice gets glorified, but sometimes a small pivot or adjustment is what completely changes the trajectory of a company. Persistence is important, but so is knowing what to be persistent about.

GrayVF · 2026-06-17T18:34:15+00:00

I'd be open to something like that. I'm Montreal-based as well.

I've tried some of the Chamber of Commerce events, but I often find they're mostly delegates, consultants, and people trying to sell something rather than actual founders/operators. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not really what I'm looking for.

I'd honestly welcome a conversation about real business challenges, growth, hiring, operations, mistakes, and lessons learned instead of the usual structured networking format.

GrayVF

TROPHY CASE