Guides
Straight answers to the small stuff.
Short, honest guides for running a business online — showing up professionally, deciding how to build, and turning finished work into the next job. Useful whether or not you ever sign up with us.
Show up professionally
Start here
What “looking professional online” really means
It’s not a branding project — it’s a short list of small, fixable pieces. The whole picture, and where each piece fits.
Read the guideYou have a website, but your email still says @gmail.com
How to get an email address that matches your business — and why it’s easier than most people expect.
Read the guideYour presence
Link in bio or a website? What a solo business needs
An honest look at both — and the option most service businesses get talked past.
Read the guideWhy your email signature image breaks — and how to fix it
That gray box where your logo should be isn’t your fault — it’s how email handles images. Here’s the fix.
Read the guideInquiries
Why client inquiries get lost in your DMs
The problem usually isn’t that prospects aren’t reaching out — it’s that they reach out in five places you don’t all check.
Read the guideFeedback
What your star rating isn’t telling you
A public rating gives you a number, not a reason — and the reason is the only part you can act on.
Read the guideDecide how to build
Decide how to build
You could build it yourself
Three ways to put your business online — build it yourself, hire it out, or hand it off — and the honest cost of each.
Read the guideCost
How much a small business website really costs
Real ranges for DIY, freelance, and agency — and an honest look at when you don’t need a full site yet.
Read the guideTools
One paid tool vs. five free ones
Free tools are fine until you’re running five that don’t talk to each other. The real cost of the patchwork.
Read the guideAfter the job
After the job’s done
What to send a customer after the job is done
The three short messages that turn one finished job into a review, a referral, and repeat work — with wording to copy.
Read the guideReferrals
How to ask for a referral without making it weird
Exact wording for asking happy customers to refer you — when to ask, and what to do when they say nothing.
Read the guideReviews
How to reply to a bad review
What to say, what to never say, and real reply wording for the four kinds of bad review you’re most likely to get.
Read the guideMore guides
Quotes
How to write an estimate that gets accepted
What to put in a quote, what to leave out, and copyable wording for deposits and revisions.
Read the guidePricing
Should you put your prices on your website?
The honest case for and against showing prices — plus a middle path that filters tire-kickers.
Read the guideBooking
Why people visit your booking page and don’t book
Seven quiet reasons people leave your booking page without booking — and the ten-minute fixes.
Read the guidePrivacy
Should you put your phone number and email on your website?
Being easy to reach and putting your details on a public page aren’t the same thing — and how to stay reachable without the spam.
Read the guide