Are you happy with your shop's software? Is it doing what you want it to do? If you're like a lot of industry shop owners, you may be on the lookout for something better and more in tune with how your shop actually runs.
I've been talking with more owners who are done waiting. Their tools for pricing, sales, and operations don't meet their specific needs, so they've started building their own using a technique called vibe coding. They're doing it because they want to own their shop system and data instead of renting it. In my latest piece for The Apparelist, I break down how to do this without wrecking the project before it starts.
The biggest mistake beginners make is trying to build everything at once. Don't. You have three connected jobs to tackle, and they go in a specific order: pricing first, then sales, then operations. Each tool stands on the one you built before it. You can't quote a job without a price, and you can't take an order without a quote.
In the article, I cover:
- What vibe coding actually is, and why the back-and-forth is the whole work
- Why pricing is the logical place to start, and where "garbage in, garbage out" will bite you
- The screenshot trick that teaches the AI what you actually want
- What only YOU can bring to a pricing tool that the AI never will
- How your own tools can finally connect to S&S, SanMar, QuickBooks Online, and the rest of your stack
- The three things everyone is tempted to skip: security, ownership, and the long haul
If you've ever wanted shop software built for how your shop actually runs instead of how a developer guessed it should, this one's for you.