There are so many programs, apps and websites that we can use to help us with our LuLaRoe business and to be honest it’s a bit overwhelming at first. Below is a list of some of the resources I use in my business.
I personally use Shop The Roe (STR) – It is a monthly paid subscription platform that contains inventory tracking, social media integration, sales management, online parties, financial & expense tracking as well as shipping labels.
STR is my image management for my inventory and to post to albums within my closed Facebook shopping group. I do not use their financial or expense tracking and shipping as I have found a different resources that fits my needs in this aspect better.
When I on boarded in November ’16 I spent the first 2-3 weeks uploading all my inventory by hand into Facebook albums. I started to look around at what platforms other consultants were using and STR seemed to be the most widely used so I decided to give it a try. It was a game changer! After my initial inventory was uploaded (which does take a while depending on how many pieces you have) each shipment thereafter is uploaded within 15-20 minutes.
I use an excel spreadsheet from EZPZ Spreadsheets for the financial management aspect of my business. It is a one-time fee for the spreadsheet and for 2017 there are three different versions: Google Sheets, Basic Excel, and the Flagship Excel.
The Flagship version has three order manager sections, three pop-up managers, back ordered items tracker, hostess rewards control panel, customer order status tracker, reordering worksheet, shop credit tracker, P&L (profits & loss) data tracking, giveaways tracker, inventory pulled for self tracker, deposits tracking, and sales tax tracking.
I use the flagship excel version over the other two for MANY different reasons. This version has excel macros and hyperlinks written into it which means data can be transferred to and from the correct locations at the push of a button, the programming does the rest. I prefer the Flagship Excel version over the Google Sheets version for the macros and the fact that I’m used to working in Microsoft Excel.
I use an app called PicFrame from the Google Play Store that was $0.99. It’s super easy to use but it did take a little bit of time to set up my style/size images (bottom right) in the beginning but once those are created I can fly through inventory pictures.
The bottom right image I created in Photoshop and then saved them to my Google Drive account. When it comes time to take pictures of my new inventory I just open the app and choose the layout I want. I then click the bottom right space, click “pick photo” and find my style/size images within Google drive. I then stand back and take the full image of the clothing on the left, then click the top right space and take a close up picture. At the bottom I click ‘save’ then ‘high resolution’ and it saves it to my phones gallery. Once I’m all done taking the pictures I go to my gallery and share all the images I just created to my Google Drive and then upload then to STR from my computer or I can just upload my pictures right from my phone into STR.
On my phone I have the app called WordSwag to create semi-basic graphics while mobile. If i’m on the computer I have also used a website called Canva to create graphics as well. In order to keep my branding consistent with colors and font I choose to use Photoshop that is available as a standalone program for a monthly fee. I’ve been using Photoshop for the past 13 years so it’s what I’ve grown accustom to.
I choose to go with Google Drive to store all my files and images. Google Drives starts off with 15 GB of space free with a gmail account and for just $2 a month I can get 100 GB of storage if I am running out.
Drive is an online cloud storage so you can keep photos, documents, etc all within one place that also can sync to all of your other devices. This is also great for partner teams, you can share files and folders (and based on visibility settings) you can both view, download and collaborate on all the files you want without having to attach them to an email to each other.
Google Drive is just one benefit to having a Google e-mail account for your business.
I signed up for both a ‘My USPS‘ and ‘MyChoice UPS‘ account. Both will let me know what packages I have arriving and when they will be here without having to type in the tracking number every single time I want to look at the status of a package. The UPS account gets updated with my incoming LuLaRoe packages from home office when the label is created as well as when they ship and arrive. I have also signed up for delivery notification emails so I can know when a package is delivered if I didn’t meet the UPS person at the door.
I use Stamps Pro Plan to do all my shipping. It costs $15.99 per month with discounted shipping rates (versus if I took the packages to USPS to pay for shipping). I choose to print my own postage at home for the convenience of not having to drive to the post office everyday. I downloaded their computer program for Windows but there also is a web version available. You can also schedule a USPS pick up as well for your items right from within the program. The promo code I had was for a deal that came with $45 in postage and a free USB powered scale to weight items (if you would like this code please send me message and I can send you an email with a promo code in it). I choose to rent a Zebra 450 thermal printer from UPS instead of purchasing the Dymo – the Zebra printer is also compatible with Stamps but I had to call their customer service line and have them help me set it up to make sure I had the correct driver downloaded to my computer.
