TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Calendly: Allow people to schedule a free consultation

Often, potential customers want to talk with the maker before placing an order. It allows them to learn more about your style, your way of working and to establish a connection between both of you. Calendly is an online scheduling tool That allows customers to book available time on your calendar remotely. Having a calendar scheduling tool would save you a lot of time and back-and-forth on schedule. It is free for a personal account and it is very easy to set up.

Shopify / Squarespace / Wix Building quick website

Once you have your domain name, head over to Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix. Set up a simple page using available templates and tie your domain name with the service. You can always call these service providers for help. Make sure to include an email capture field that would allow you to capture email addresses from interested customers.

Nameelix: Business name generator

Namelix In other name generators such as this allows you to randomly create an interesting combination of the words that you are thinking of for your business name.

TAILOAR: Measure Customers Remotely

Now you don't have to leave your home or do awkward Zoom calls to get accurate measurements from your customers. TAILOAR is creating a fun and easy experience with the help of Augmented Reality. You can see more here.

Mailchimp: Connect 1:1 through a newsletter

Mailchimp helps you to keep track of your email subscribers (remember we have that email subscribe section on the website?) It allows you to keep track of who's in / who's out and also is a great tool for easy start newsletter templates.

Swatchbook: Manage your materials

Swatchbook is a useful tool for materials organization and creation. It's more on the higher volume and higher-end (cost) but a useful tool.

Nabld: Inventory and order management

Nabld is a helpful production and inventory tool for when you have many orders and need some organizing.

Medium: Blog and readers

Go where the customers are! As a new brand and business (or one that's been around a long time but is just now going online!), you want to engage and share content with your audience. Medium is a great blogging platform with an enthusiastic crowd of readers. Write to your heart's content.

Namecheap / GoDaddy Domain and website hosting

A domain name is a web address that your customers will be able to type in on the Internet to find you. The most common domain name is .com, followed by.io but there is also some unique extension such as .shop or .design.

When you brainstorm your names, make sure that you go on a tour like Namecheap or Godaddy to search for your domain name and register it right away.

There is often a great discount for the first name register. Be sure to look for those!

Fiverr: For anything you don’t to / don’t know how to do!

There may be a lot of these tips that you don't know how to do or feel overwhelmed. That's ok! Fiverr is a freelancing platform that has decent resources (and often affordable!) to help you with site setup, marketing, content, photo editing, and more. Just make sure you have clear expectations with the freelancer, and that they have done good work in the past!

Photograph by Jennifer Burk