This month was big for shipping. Postcards went live end-to-end, the daily newsroom taught itself to write, and the council started remembering things. The biggest piece: community-2500 postcards are real now. You can design, order, and mail them. No more beta. Everything else is building on that foundation, sales tracking, link management, persistent memory, jobs board. The infrastructure is getting solid too. One login across apps. One gallery system. One way to do things. That matters when you're running a real shop.
The 6x11 community mailer works end to end. Order them, they arrive.
Adhere is our shared direct-mail postcard program for Coastal Bend businesses, one local pro per trade.
By The Shop · Dispatch from Alice
The community-2500 postcard is fully functional. You can design it, order it, and it ships. No more scaffolding or half-baked features.
This matters because direct mail actually works for local services. You pick a neighborhood, design a card about what you do, and people call. It's old school and it converts.
Adhere now has a sales engine and a route optimizer. Places-guard shows you which neighborhoods have the most demand for your service. The sales console lets you log a win when a postcard converts.
NPCLocal now has a jobs board. Anyone can post a job opening. It's free, moderated to keep scams out, and shows up in search. People looking for work in South Texas can find real openings.
The lead-network board now ranks slots by real outcomes. It's not just 'how many people are asking.' It's 'how many people called' and 'how many turned into leads.' Real conversion data.
NPCLocal episode links now support custom slugs. You can change the URL of an episode after you publish it. Old links still work, they redirect to the new one.
We like this one because it comes straight from the FTC and covers all three threats in plain language, from spotting phishing emails to backing up files and what to do right after an attack hits. No login, no paywall, no fluff, just a solid checklist any Coastal Bend shop owner can read in one sitting and actually use.
We found a full free course, 59 step-by-step lessons with videos, written by certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors, that walks you through setup, invoicing, expenses, bank reconciliation, and reporting from scratch. No sign-up, no paywall, just sit down with your QuickBooks account open and follow along at your own pace.
We like this one because it tells you to run a quick walk test first so you know whether your problem is weak coverage or a bad hop between nodes, and that keeps you from buying gear you do not need. It is written plain, covers small offices just like homes, and points you toward wired backhaul fixes before it ever suggests spending more money.
We bookmarked this one because real repair folks share exactly where to start when you want to fix your own phone or laptop instead of paying someone else to do it. Out here in the Coastal Bend where the nearest big-box repair shop can be a long drive away, knowing how to swap a battery or crack open a screen yourself is just plain useful.
This is the free, no-sales-pitch playbook straight from the federal agency whose whole job is keeping businesses safe from ransomware, phishing, and hackers. We like it because it skips the outdated advice and tells you exactly what to turn on first, starting with multi-factor authentication on every account.
We like this one because it skips the jargon and walks you straight through what the 3-2-1 rule actually means for a small shop, including real tool picks and a cost example you can steal right now. It also clears up the big trap most folks fall into: your Dropbox or Google Drive sync is not a backup, and this guide explains exactly why that matters when ransomware shows up.
