Resources for Catholic Small Businesses

If you are running any kind of business whether online or brick and mortar, you should have an email list. Email is the absolute best way to keep in touch with people who will benefit from your services and products.

Even if you are connecting with people who walk into your store or via social media, you really should be collecting their email addresses because it is the hands-down best way to keep in touch with people. And, unlike a social media platform, you can always keep your email list if something happens to your social media account.

From day one, I have used MailChimp to manage email addresses. I use it to gather them, and I use it to send emails for Daily Saints Wisdom, the Weekly Post Card, and for the Free 5-Day Email courses.

It has a full set of features for everything from creating forms for collecting emails to setting up autoresponding messages to setting up email sequences. And, of course, it allows you to manage your list of email addresses and to send one-off emails, as necessary.

I am certain there are other great email programs, but based on my experience, I am happy to recommend MailChimp.

Also, there is a free plan that you can use until you exceed 500 contacts.

Although Strikingly supports basic web forms for collecting information or for purchasing products and services, you might need specialized forms.

For example, if you want to add a quiz to your website. Or perhaps, you need a more complex web form that supports subscriptions like Letters from the Saints.

You can use Paperform to help you with every type of form that you can imagine. It is very easy to use and to embed into your web pages. (Affiliate link)

When I was starting, I knew that I needed a payment system that could handle recurring charges. The weekly letters are purchased on a subscription. The only system I found that could do that was Stripe.

It has proved to be robust and reliable with fairly reasonable charges for transferring money from Stripe to my bank account.

Stripe integates easily with Paperform which makes it simple to make changes or to add coupons.

Strikingly also works well with Stripe for purchases that are just one-time payments instead of monthly subscriptions.

From my perspective, Stripe has been exactly what I needed.

Also, you can give Stripe a try for free. So, go ahead, test drive it, and decide if it is right for your needs.

Being an entrepreneur is difficult, and you need expert support and help.

If you are serious about getting help as well as helping others on their journies, you might want to consider SPI Pro.

SPI Pro is run by Pat Flynn who has a great story of having started an online business after being laid off from his dream architectural job. Ever since then, he has grown his own business of Smart Passive Income while helping thousands of people in every aspect of having a business, whether it is passive income or not. He truly models his service-first business model through all of the help he provides.

SPI Pro is a community of entrepreneurs that his team and he have built which provides all kinds of training and expertise. Personally, I have benefitted from the courses, the ability to ask questions of experts, and my mastermind group. And, I have learned from the community members as well as having been able to share lessons from my experience.

If you are ready to grow your business and get expert help, consider joining SPI Pro.

If you sell Catholic physical or digital products, you might want to consider listing your items on Peter's Square. It can be a great place to get your products in front of a Catholic audience.

It is free to set up an account, and it showcases your Catholic maker products. For each purchase, Peter's Square takes a small commission.

Check it out as a place to start listing your items.