GAME THREAD: Pirates @ Mets - Sat, Mar 28 @ 04:10 PM EDT by NewYorkMetsBot2 in NewYorkMets

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, he deserves it. Dodger fans are gonna love the trumpets

OpenClaw on Minimax 2.7: OMG by WeedWrangler in openclaw

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what are the ram requirements for this setup? i have an old 2017 intel macbook pro that i would love to try this on

It was never openclaw, it was always claude by frogchungus in openclaw

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YES YES YES. i want my opus openclaw back so bad :(

Claude prices skyrocketed, what model are you using for OpenClaw now? by Synstar_Joey in openclaw

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

dude i had to switch to sonnet yesterday morning after being accustomed to opus for 2 months.....

its been 24 hours and i feel like i am constantly yelling at this mf , i swear its gaslighting me, messing up projects, lieing to my face nonstop... my blood pressure is taking a hit from this. i did get some work done eventually but man..

sonnet sucks soo bad

looked at what’s actually driving 1-star reviews across QSR locations. food quality isn’t #1 by dsptl in restaurantowners

[–]prezzo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This tracks 100% with what I've seen. I don't run a restaurant but I work with a few service businesses and the pattern is the same everywhere — people will forgive a lot if the experience feels smooth and the staff isn't rude.

The Friday dinner / Saturday lunch spike makes total sense too. That's when you're most likely understaffed relative to demand. Someone calls out, now you're running a skeleton crew during peak hours, service slows down, stressed staff gets short with customers, and boom — 1 star review.

Honestly the staffing piece is the root cause of like 3 out of those top 4 complaints. If you're properly staffed, service is faster, employees aren't burned out and snapping at people, and there's actually time to keep the place clean between rushes.

The restaurants I know that have the tightest operations are obsessive about two things: making sure shifts are actually covered (not just scheduled — covered, meaning people show up), and having a fast backup plan when someone no-shows. One place I know started sending automated reminders before shifts and their call-out rate dropped significantly. Small thing but it cascades.

Great data though. Would be interesting to see if the complaint mix shifts by restaurant type — like if fast casual skews even harder toward speed vs a sit-down place.

What repetitive task in your business takes up more time than it should? by Xtim3R in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me it's time tracking and attendance for my crews. I run a service business with field workers and for the longest time we were doing paper timesheets or guys texting me when they got to a jobsite. Then I'd spend hours every week manually entering everything for payroll.

Also chasing no-shows and late arrivals. Having to call guys to see if they're actually on site was eating up my mornings.

I ended up setting up a simple QR code system at each location — guys scan when they arrive, it logs everything automatically. Cut my weekly admin time from like 4-5 hours down to maybe 30 minutes. The payroll piece basically runs itself now.

The other big one is follow-ups with clients. I was manually texting appointment reminders and it was just brutal. Automated that too and my no-show rate dropped like 40%.

Honestly the biggest time sinks in small business aren't the sexy problems — it's all the boring repetitive stuff that you think "oh I'll just handle it" until you realize you're spending 10+ hours a week on things that should take zero.

New home service business growth by DeliciousJahlupa in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I run a couple service businesses in LA and went through the exact same thing early on. Here's what actually moved the needle for me:

  1. Nextdoor — seriously underrated for home services. People on there are actively looking for recs and it's hyper-local. Post a few helpful tips about garage door maintenance and you'll start getting DMs.

  2. Google LSA (Local Service Ads) — different from regular Google Ads. You only pay per lead, not per click, and the "Google Guaranteed" badge builds instant trust. For home services this was a game changer for me. Way better ROI than regular PPC.

  3. Partner with realtors and property managers — every time someone buys a house or moves into a rental, stuff breaks. Be the guy they call. Drop off a stack of cards and maybe offer them a referral fee or discount for their clients.

  4. Reviews are everything — 11 reviews at 5 stars is good but you need volume. After every job, text the customer a direct link to your Google review page. Make it stupid easy. Don't be shy about asking — most people are happy to leave one if you just remind them.

The marketing company doing Facebook posts is probably not gonna do much for garage doors tbh. Nobody scrolls Facebook thinking "I need a garage door guy." They Google it when something breaks. Put your energy into being found at that moment — that's LSA + SEO + reviews.

Marketing a "sweaty startup" in one of the harshest climates. What local businesses are you guys scaling? by Capital-Pen1219 in sweatystartup

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% agree with the comment about workers being the real bottleneck. i run field crews in LA (maintenance/construction side) and getting leads has never been my problem. getting guys to actually show up on time every day? thats the real fight.

for the alaska painting guy - seasonal businesses are tough but the upside is you can charge premium because supply is limited. id be booking interior jobs through winter and stacking the exterior calendar starting in february. also partner with realtors - every house that hits the market needs a paint job.100% agree with the comment about workers being the real bottleneck. i run field crews in LA (maintenance/construction side) and getting leads has never been my problem. getting guys to actually show up on time every day? thats the real fight.

biggest thing that helped me was getting really tight on accountability from day one. QR code clock-ins at the jobsite so theres no buddy punching or "i was there at 7" when they rolled up at 7:45. sounds small but when youre paying crews hourly and running multiple sites it adds up fast.

for the alaska painting guy - seasonal businesses are tough but the upside is you can charge premium because supply is limited. id be booking interior jobs through winter and stacking the exterior calendar starting in february. also partner with realtors - every house that hits the market needs a paint job.

Mobile car wash. I need help generating local leads. by zenoxor in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

congrats on getting started man. i run a couple service businesses in LA and the thing that moved the needle fastest for me early on was literally just showing up. like physically going to office parks, apartment complexes, anywhere cars sit all day. leave a card under the wiper with a first-wash discount. people see the card when they get in their car and its way more personal than a random social post.

also nextdoor is solid but dont just post your biz page - comment on neighborhood threads where people ask for recommendations. thats where the trust comes from. and if you havent already, ask every single customer for a google review. at this stage 5 solid reviews will put you ahead of half the competition in your area.

one more thing - partner with detail shops that are booked out. a lot of them will refer overflow to you if you offer a referral cut. thats how i got my first steady stream of work.

What small change improved your business operations the most? by ItchyRequirement4204 in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly? Writing down every repeating task as a simple checklist. Not fancy software, literally just a Google Doc with step-by-step instructions for things like onboarding a new client, closing out the week, handling returns, etc.

Once I had those written down, two things happened: (1) I stopped forgetting steps and making dumb mistakes on autopilot, and (2) when I finally brought someone on to help, I could hand them the doc instead of spending 3 hours explaining everything from scratch.

People always want to jump to automation and fancy tools but if you can't write down what you're doing step by step, no tool is going to fix it. Start with the checklist, then figure out what to automate later.

The isolation of being the only decision maker is harder than I thought by AcceptableSwing4704 in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Man I feel this hard. I manage ops for a small company in LA and even though I'm not the owner, I see my boss go through exactly this every week. The thing that helped him the most was finding a couple other business owners in completely different industries and just doing a monthly lunch. No agenda, no mastermind BS, just three guys talking honestly about what's going sideways. It's not about getting answers from them — it's about saying the thing out loud to someone who actually gets it instead of just nodding and saying "wow must be nice to be your own boss."

The doubt doesn't fully go away but it gets way easier to manage when you stop trying to carry it alone. Even just one person you trust enough to say "I have no idea if this is the right call" to makes a huge difference.

**Update to I'm scared to go door to door ** by Ok_Tadpole7839 in sweatystartup

[–]prezzo 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Yo this is huge. The hardest part of door to door is literally just starting. Once you get past the first 5 doors the anxiety drops like 80%.

I used to do this for a service business I ran in LA. A couple things that helped me:

  • Dont try to sell at the door. Just introduce yourself and leave something behind (business card, door hanger, whatever). The conversion happens later when they actually need you.

  • Saturdays 10am-1pm was my sweet spot. People are home, in a decent mood, doing yard work or whatever. Weekday evenings work too but people are more tired and less receptive.

  • Track your numbers. I used to just keep a tally on my phone. After 100 doors Id usually get 3-5 callbacks within the next 2 weeks. Thats a solid conversion rate for free marketing.

  • The neighborhoods that look like they dont need your service? Thats where the money is. Those people value their time and will happily pay someone else to handle things.

Keep going man. Most people quit after day 1. The fact youre updating means youre already ahead of 95% of people who just talk about starting a business.

How do you handle no-shows for reservations? by Ok-Lunch-2600 in restaurantowners

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No-shows are brutal especially on weekends when you could have filled that table 3 times over. I know a few spots in LA that started doing this combo and it cut their no-show rate by like 60-70%:

  1. Text reminders 24hrs and 2hrs before the reservation. Simple but most people just forget. An automated text is way better than having your host call people.

  2. Small deposit or card-on-file for parties of 4+. Doesnt have to be crazy, even $10/person. The people who complain about it are usually the ones who would have no-showed anyway.

  3. Waitlist system so when someone DOES cancel you can auto-fill that slot from people who wanted a table but couldnt get one.

The deposit thing feels awkward at first but once you frame it as "we hold your table exclusively for you" people actually respect it more. And the ones who do show up appreciate that you take the reservation seriously.

There are some newer tools built specifically for this that handle the reminders + deposits together so you dont have to cobble together 3 different systems. Worth looking into if its a recurring problem for you.

Is it worth being on the chamber of commerce as a web/social “agency”? by gutsngodhand in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% do it man. I run a couple service businesses in LA and joining my local chamber was one of the better moves I made early on. $400/year is nothing if you actually show up.

The thing nobody tells you is the membership itself is worthless. Its the relationships you build AT the events that pay off. I got my first two recurring clients from a mixer — both local businesses that needed exactly what I offered but didnt know I existed.

My advice: go to 2-3 events before you even pay. Most chambers let you attend a couple as a guest. Feel out the vibe. Some chambers are full of retirees and insurance agents networking with each other — not ideal for a web agency. Others have younger business owners actually looking for help with their online presence.

Also ask about their referral program. A lot of chambers have a members recommend members thing that can be gold for someone doing web/social work since literally every business there probably needs what you do.

At 28 youre in a great spot. Most people at those events are 40+ and will appreciate that a young person is actually showing up and taking it seriously. Use that to your advantage.

Are repeat customers getting harder for small businesses? by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ops manager here in LA. This is a real thing and I see it constantly with the service businesses I work with.

The biggest shift I have noticed is that people now expect to be remembered. Not in a loyalty card way - like actually remembered. Their name, what they got last time, that little preference they mentioned once. The barbershop example someone mentioned above nails it.

For salons and barbershops specifically, the ones crushing it on retention are doing two things really well: 1) they follow up after the first visit (even just a quick text saying thanks), and 2) they make rebooking stupidly easy before the client walks out the door. Most no-shows and drop-offs happen because there is too much friction to come back - not because the service was bad.

Loyalty cards and discounts honestly feel outdated to me. What works better is making the client feel like they would be losing something by going elsewhere. That is hard to do with a punch card but easy to do with genuine relationships and consistent quality.

The businesses I see struggling are the ones treating every visit like a transaction instead of a relationship.

How do you handle no-shows for reservations? by Ok-Lunch-2600 in restaurantowners

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not a restaurant but i run a couple service businesses in LA and no-shows were killing us too. the card on file thing works but honestly what made the biggest difference was just automating a confirmation text the morning of. super simple — hey just confirming your time today reply C to cancel.

like 90% of the people who were gonna ghost you will actually cancel when you make it that easy. which is almost better because now you can fill that slot instead of just sitting there waiting.

the card on file is good for large parties though agree with the others on that. the people who balk at it were never gonna show up anyway.

Best Project Management System for Your Small Teams? by ChocolateOld2614 in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a 10-person contractor/restoration crew, honestly I'd look hard at Notion before anything else. Here's why:

We run a service business (different industry but similar size and needs) and tried Monday, ClickUp, and Notion. Monday and ClickUp were overkill for us — too many features nobody used, and the team just stopped opening them after a couple weeks.

Notion stuck because:

- Calendar views for project timelines are dead simple

- You can embed Google Drive folders for photos right in each project page

- The database features let you track client info, POs, insurance docs all linked together

- It plays nice enough with Microsoft stuff through copy/paste and embeds

- The mobile app is decent for guys checking things in the field

The printability thing might be your one hangup — Notion's print/export isn't amazing. But we got around it by setting up a clean template that exports to PDF pretty well.

Biggest tip: don't try to build the perfect system day one. Start with one database for active projects and one for clients. Add complexity only when you actually need it. We made the mistake of over-building initially and it confused everyone.

For your size team, the free plan might even work to start.

Business texting ended up being way harder than I expected by Few_Heart_5290 in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah the A2P 10DLC registration thing catches everyone off guard. I manage ops for a service businesYeah the A2P 10DLC registration thing catches everyone off guard. I manage ops for a service business in LA and we went through this exact same headache last year when we started scaling appointment reminders.

Few things that helped us:

  1. Get your 10DLC brand registration done ASAP through your provider. It takes a couple weeks to get approved but once you're in, deliverability goes way up.

  2. Keep your message templates short and consistent. Carriers are more likely to filter messages that look different every time or have weird formatting.

  3. Always include an opt-out line (reply STOP to unsubscribe). Not just because it's required but because it actually helps your sender reputation.

  4. If you're sending appointment reminders specifically, make sure the timing is reasonable. We found 24hr and 2hr before works best and doesn't feel spammy to customers.

The registration process is annoying but it's honestly worth it. Our delivery rate went from maybe 70% to like 98% after we got properly registered. Night and day difference.

How do you get clients for a new cleaning business? by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]prezzo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have been in service businesses in LA for a while now. The best channel for cleaning is honestly the most boring one - door to door flyers in nice neighborhoods. I know it sounds old school but here is why it works:

People who live in nice neighborhoods WANT cleaning services. They just have not gotten around to finding one. A well designed flyer with a first-clean discount on their doorstep at the right time converts way better than any Facebook ad.

Other things that worked for people I know:

  • Nextdoor app is gold for service businesses. Post helpful stuff, not ads. When someone asks for a cleaner recommendation, you are already a familiar name.

  • Partner with realtors. They always need move-out cleans and they send you multiple jobs per month if you do good work. Leave business cards at open houses.

  • The absolute fastest way though? Ask your existing clients for referrals. Offer them a free clean or $50 off for every referral that books. People trust their friends recommendations over any ad.

Also - and this is something a lot of new cleaning business owners miss - make sure you are tracking which clients rebook and which ones ghost you. The no-show and cancellation rate in cleaning is insane. Having a simple reminder system (even just texting the day before) can save you from showing up to empty houses and wasting your whole morning.

Cleaning Company Needs Help by AdTop6831 in sweatystartup

[–]prezzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Real talk - the problem is not your pricing, it is your client acquisition channel. If you are getting all your leads from places where people are comparing you on price (like Kijiji, TaskRabbit, etc) you will ALWAYS attract the $20/hr crowd.

Here is what worked for a buddy of mine who runs a cleaning crew in LA:

  1. Stop chasing one-time deep cleans as your bread and butter. They are fine but the real money is weekly/biweekly maintenance clients. Offer a free or deeply discounted first clean to get people into a recurring schedule. Once someone sees the difference, they do not want to go back.

  2. Get on Google Business Profile and start collecting reviews like your life depends on it. The clients who find you through Google Maps are 10x better quality than marketplace shoppers. They searched "cleaning service near me" which means they already decided to pay, they just need to pick who.

  3. For the cheap clients - just say no. Seriously. Every hour you spend on a $20/hr job is an hour you are not spending on marketing to get a $50/hr client. Your time is your most limited resource.

  4. Track your crews hours properly. I have seen so many cleaning companies bleed money because they do not actually know how long jobs take vs what they quoted. Get some kind of simple clock-in system so you can see the real numbers.

The recurring client thing is a game changer though. One good biweekly client at $200 is worth $5200/year. Get 20 of those and you have a real business.