Small Batch Works helps solo owners and very small businesses in Melville and Yorkton, Saskatchewan start with simple, practical tools built around the way they already work, with just the features needed right now. One-time build fee, no monthly subscription for my work.https://smallbatchworks.ca/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/should-i-build-my-own-tool-with-ai/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/should-i-build-my-own-tool-with-ai/Sometimes, for simple, low-risk tools. AI can produce a working first version in minutes, but that isn't the same as a tool you can rely on with real customers, because testing, data safety, unexpected situations, and maintenance all take time. For anything that handles customer information or has to work every day, existing software or a custom tool built by someone else is often the more practical choice.Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/do-i-need-online-booking-right-away/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/do-i-need-online-booking-right-away/A new small business may not need online booking right away. Phone calls, messages, or a simple form can carry bookings while you learn how your business runs, and many booking apps charge a monthly subscription before your first booking arrives. A small tool built around how you already work is a lighter first step, and you can move to a bigger app or extend it later.Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/halloween-home-tour-small-town/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/halloween-home-tour-small-town/Yes. It takes a short sign-up form, a staff approval step and a map, and none of it is hard to build. Small towns often don't have the budget or the staff to take it on, so I built a prototype to show how it could work: residents sign up without logging in, and staff approve every entry before it appears.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/pdf-brochure-flipbook/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/pdf-brochure-flipbook/Yes. A custom flipbook brochure lets a travel agency add or change trips in its own simple admin page, with an 'Ask about this trip' button on every trip and no monthly flipbook subscription. It also replaces posting a new image or PDF every time a package changes.Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/get-found-by-ai/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/get-found-by-ai/Write down the situations where someone would need your business, and put a clear answer to each one on your site, with the answer in the first couple of sentences and in your customer's own words. That gives AI something to quote and link to. Nobody can promise it will, and like Google search, it takes time.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/booking-platform-fees/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/booking-platform-fees/Because the subscription is rarely the only charge. Many booking platforms also take a commission on new clients they send you and pass along card-processing fees, and those costs quietly get baked into what you charge your own customers. A smaller, right-sized tool can drop the parts you're paying for but not using.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/google-form-booking/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/google-form-booking/Usually not. If your form already collects the right details, the problem isn't the form — it's what happens after someone hits Submit, when every booking lands as its own email you have to open. The fix is often one missing piece, like a single page that shows every booking already sorted by day, built on top of the form you already have.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/how-i-build/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/how-i-build/It starts with understanding how you already work, not with a pitch. I follow five steps — empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test, implement — so the finished tool fits your day instead of asking you to change it, and you see a working draft long before anything is final.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/switching-booking-tools/https://smallbatchworks.ca/field-notes/switching-booking-tools/Yes — if the move happens in the right order. Existing bookings are copied over before anything changes, and the booking link your customers already use stays the same, so from their side nothing looks any different.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT