Shop Vocal - Small Business Stories

We have designed our Voice Search with small businesses and makers in mind giving them complete control over keywords.

We returned to the Voice basics instead of some of the more grandiose thoughts we had when we started this company. As The Dead sang, "What a long strange trip it's been."

I called Yelp and asked to removed Shop Vocal from their business directory. They wouldn't. It is forever part of the Yelp Business Directory. They own our data.

Is your business having a gluten-free tasting coming up next weekend? Customers will know by asking for gluten-free options through the Shop Vocal skill.

We take beta testing seriously at Shop Vocal. We can sit around and pontificate what features merchants and customers, but we won't know until we ask.

Review pollution, review inflation, and reputation damage are all real. If you were to pick two similar pizza places, would you order from the shop with five stars or only two stars?  This is where Shop Vocal can help.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Lesley Keegan for my most recent Small Business Stories podcast on Amazon Alexa and as we discussed business life during Covid I think she was surprised by the sheer amount of work and development she did during the pandemic on her own small business. She used Covid as an opportunity to launch her e-commerce site, take professional photos, grow her wholesale business and add new products. Oh and did I mention, starting a creator market to help other small businesses sell their wares @mills58peabody ? Her business has flourished as a result and it’s no surprise, her items are beautiful!

Check out her website serenitysage.com and Follow her @serenitysagemelrose on Instagram and Facebook!

Make your business discoverable on Voice to new customers with a small investment of time for the free features and a little money with the enhanced features while deepening your relationship with your regulars.

77% of women-led Voice tech companies that started in 2017 are still going strong.

As a team, we are divided on Amazon Sidewalk. Half the team feels that it is a shady practice as you need to opt out of the service. The other half is less concerned about the situation, although there are some security concerns.

The radio ad allowed for spoken word, jingles, and sonic branding in a short snippet. Voice offers a similar solution at a fraction of the cost.

By Edgerton Coble

You're about to sign paperwork to get started with the build-out of a new location when COVID strikes. What do you do? Wait? Stop? Cancel?

When you're Adrian O'Hare you press pause for a few weeks then hit the GO button and put your fate in the powers that be.

Spoiler alert: both of his businesses are now going strong!

Brea Meness of Chaxel talks with Shop Vocal's Heidi Barraza about her journey launching her online boutique in the middle of the pandemic.

Check out chaxel online at chaxel.shop.

In this episode of Small Business Stories, Eric from Waggery on Main in Melrose Massachusetts talks about his big move into the Pet Care industry right smack in the middle of a global pandemic. 

Visit Waggery at https://www.waggeryonmain.com/

Greg Luetje, General Manager of Mount Abram Ski and Ride in Maine, discusses how the pandemic has impacted his business and how the park has shifted and adjusted to make it possible for the community to come out to the mountain and enjoy nature while staying safe. With winter coming, a new set of challenges await and this conversation gets into the details. 

Heidi talks with Tia about the interesting challenges of running a cheer gym during COVID. Tia went online, offered free classes and did some other unexpected but interesting shifts along the way.

https://totalinspirationathletics.com/

Life-After-Divorce Life Coach, Delia B, talks with Heidi B, from Shop Vocal, about her business and how the COVID pandemic has hurt and helped. She also peppers in a lot of great life advice and tidbits that can help coaches and other small business owners change their perspectives. 

Heidi talks with GM Paul Solano about Pearl Street Station, a Malden landmark and great place to eat, drink and be merry! He has some great words for business owners and how to pivot during tough times like the COVID Pandemic.

Metalsmith and jewelry maker Rina of Pure Whimsy Jewelry talks with Shop Vocal's Heidi Barraza about the challenges faced by many artist business people during the COVID pandemic and how she's overcoming those challenges. With galleries and many retail stores closed, Rina had to turn to Social Media and her own brand new website to keep her business going.

https://www.purewhimsyjewelry.com/

Heidi talks with Joy of Joy Yoga in Melrose Massachusetts about the unique challenges of Yoga during a pandemic, how she's grounded herself in the ability to take most of her activities outside and how she looks forward to being able to go back in the studio, but is also making the best of the time in between.

At Bay Grown Farms, the COVID-19 pandemic has steered the company in the direction of better online outreach and some introspection about how the company will grow and change as a response to the current business climate.

In this episode, Heidi talks with Kris Rodolico of Follow Your Art in Melrose MA, a small community art studio, bringing creative art experiences to the greater Melrose community. Follow Your Art was just launching as a non-profit as the pandemic hit, so they were faced with interesting challenges while trying to bring art to their community.

Geoffrey Shafer of Pegasus Design-to-Build talks with Heidi Barraza of Shop Vocal about some of the interesting challenges the pandemic has presented for contracting businesses.

Shop Vocal's Heidi Barraza talks with Dr. Z of the Bavarian Chiropractic Clinic who has faced interesting challenges presented by the COVID pandemic as she takes over a new business.

In this episode, we're joined by Katherine, owner of Katherine Summer. Her journey these past few months has been shaped by the course of the pandemic in some unique and interesting ways. Her mission to create masks that are useful, comfortable and stylish has a lot of interesting lessons intertwined. 

Shop Vocal checks in with Chris from Coffee Hound Coffee Co. based in Maine. Chris discusses how being nimble has helped Coffee Hound stay on track during this difficult time and how they keep their eyes on the future and success for their coffee company.  Find Coffee Hound online here: https://coffeehoundcoffeebar.com/

Shop Vocal talks to Justina Langone of the Remedy Exchange about how she's taken her brick and mortar almost entirely online with curbside pickup. Check the Remedy Exchange website for up to date info: https://theremedyexchange.com/

Heidi talks with Jason of Green Street Natural Foods in Melrose Massachusetts. This family-run business had to make some big changes to the way they were working in the store during the COVID lockdown, highlighting the importance of community and connection during this uniquely challenging time.

In this episode of Commerce in a Time of Covid, Heidi has a heart-to-heart conversation with MyLinh Nguyen, Owner of Gloss Spa in Melrose Massachusetts. There are so many valuable lessons to be learned from the tough times we're going through, and MyLinh really gets to the core of what's important in life!

How we've connected during this pandemic has often required flexibility and patience and some ingenuity. Amanda Bruno, the owner of the Melrose Dance Academy has been teaching, connecting to and holding together her school's community during a time when connecting and togetherness has been challenging. Amanda talks about some of her experiences through the Covid lockdown.

As a small, family-run restaurant faces the challenges that pandemic life has created for businesses, adaptation is the name of the game. Charlotte Osgood of Cappa's Trackside Restaurant discusses the new ways Cappa's is making food and providing meals for a community in lockdown.

Rada Frohlichstein of Rada Boutique in Melrose and Wakefield Massachusetts talks with Shop Vocal's Heidi Barraza about how she's adapted and found ways to prosper in this difficult time of the Covid pandemic. She's innovated ways to continue to run a boutique fashion business in a time when no one can enter a shop to buy clothing. A true accomplishment! 

Shop Vocal's Heidi Barraza talks with Sandy of Fringe on Main in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The Coronavirus pandemic has had a huge effect on businesses all over the place. Small businesses have had to find creative ways to keep the doors open when they can't literally keep the doors open. Sandy shares some of her creative solutions to these unique circumstances.