u/Away_Constant9703

I’ve been tattooing a few years now, and I also handle a lot of the booking/scheduling stuff at the shop. We take deposits upfront for online bookings so people don’t just ghost. Right now it’s pretty simple—clients just Venmo me, and I tell them straight up it’s non-refundable.

Had a thought today—might be dumb, might not—but I started thinking through how it’d actually work:

What if there was a simple tool that did all of this in one shot when someone wants to book a session ahead of time:

We send the client a link.
They open it and it’s basically:

A deposit agreement
– Shows their appointment time, total price, and deposit
– Clearly says it’s non-refundable (we’ve had people argue after no-shows)
– They just type their name and sign it

Then they pay right there—like there is a built-in payment set-up (Venmo, Zelle, Stripe, Square, whatever). After they pay, it kicks them back to finish signing if needed. Deposit done.

Right after that:

Liability waiver
– Same one they’d normally sign in the shop
– They fill it out and sign it right there after they signed the deposit/booking contract

Then everything—deposit agreement, waiver, payment—just gets sent back to our main system and saved so we’ve got it if anything ever comes up.

Anyway, that’s it. Just thinking out loud from the shop side. Curious if this sounds useful or if I’m overthinking something that’s already “good enough.” Maybe you already have something like this--like when people book an appointment online they are required to make a down-payment at the same time within that booking system? If so, what is it called? Thanks!

I recently started a new role with a small manufacturer in the Midwest (a few million in revenue). Part of my role is around managing raw materials, finished inventory, and suppliers. I was curious specifically about supply chain planning. If you are a small manufacturer, what processes and technology do you use for supply chain planning? Demand forecasting, deciding how much to order from all your different suppliers in order to meet expected demand, etc.

The guy who did this job seems to have not put much thought into planning. There were frequent issues with specific key raw materials components being stocked out, and there were (and still are) issues with over producing certain SKUs that end sitting forever.

Thanks!!!