Dan Mann
I build things for myself so I have to live with the result.
A shop, a useful tool or an idea I can't quite leave alone. Usually some combination of the three.
Why I keep building my own things
These are the projects where I can test ideas without asking a client to take the risk. If I build something awkward for my own business, I am the person who has to use it tomorrow.
What that means in practice
Client projects are one part of my work. My own businesses are where I can make the decisions, deal with the consequences and see how the technical bits hold up in daily use. Not everything here is finished. That is part of the point.
MostlyPens
MostlyPens brings me back to personalised gifts and physical production. It combines sourcing, a WooCommerce shop, marketplace listings, printing, packaging and getting orders out of the door.
It is also a side challenge: how much of the catalogue and production work can I improve using the skills I've built up? Building the shop and running it are two different tests.
Tools that come out of actual work
The product image generator started because repeatedly arranging text, icons and pen images was a job I could see myself doing far too often. It now brings the image and catalogue-export work together.
It is still being improved. I'd rather show what it does than dress it up as a finished software product for everyone.
The physical side still matters
I enjoy designing the jigs that hold products in position and working out how artwork fits a real object. A preview on a screen can look fine while the physical process still needs work.
That is a useful reminder when I'm working on websites too: the final result has to work outside the spreadsheet.
Product comparison experiments
I've also been exploring how to bring retailer product data together into a comparison experience. Matching the actual product and being clear about how current the information is matter more than a tidy price table.
The comparison project is a prototype, not a claim that I operate a complete live feed network.
What these projects tell you
I've dealt with the less glamorous side of online retail as well as building the pages. Stock information, listings, customer questions and fulfilment all have to join up.
My earlier retail and personalisation businesses are part of how I got here. MostlyPens is where I'm putting that experience to work now.
HAVE SOMETHING AWKWARD?
Tell me what you need to sort out
Send me the URL, what is happening, what you have already tried and what a useful result would look like. A small anonymised sample is enough to start - do not send passwords, credentials or sensitive customer data.