Help for Business Owners on Doby Baxter Computing

Your automation stopped, and nothing told you

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Most small businesses now have at least one automation: something that copies new orders into a spreadsheet, sends a welcome email, updates stock overnight, or adds bookings to a calendar.

Often it was built in an afternoon with a tool like Zapier, Make or n8n. These tools connect your apps, so that something happening in one sets off an action in another, with no programming needed. Then it runs quietly in the background, and everyone forgets it's there.

Selling in more than one place? Why stock counts drift, and how to spot it early

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Selling in more than one place is one of the best things a small business can do: your own website, a marketplace like Etsy, eBay or Amazon, and maybe a market stall or a shop counter. Each one brings customers the others don't.

It also means one candle, one print or one jar of honey is listed in several places at once. When it sells in one, the others have to find out. When they don't, you sell something you no longer have.

Is your sign-up form turning real customers away?

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Here's a problem you'll almost never hear about. Someone wants to sign up, book or buy. They fill in your form, press the button, and get an error. They try again, it fails again, and they leave.

They don't email you. They just go somewhere else. From your side, it looks like a slightly quiet week.

Why forms turn real people away

Every form has rules about what it accepts. A person writes those rules, or, more and more often, an AI tool does. Either way, they tend to be written with an ordinary-looking name and address in mind. Real customers are far more varied than that.