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Build a staff dashboard that tracks book-club orders, special orders and store events in an independent bookstore, without writing code
Tarin Paradise, owner of Naughty Dog Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville, Indiana that she runs with her daughter, in the Brown County Democrat
During a 10-week local class on AI for business owners (Project Fish, run by the nonprofit The STEAMery), she used AI to build a dashboard for the store. It tracks each book club and whether its books have been ordered, follows special orders from the time they are placed until the books arrive and the customer is notified, and shows staff store events, community events, rewards-program information and maintenance issues, color-coded by type. The story says the class used ChatGPT and Claude; it doesn't say which one she used for each part. Her next project is a budget tool: she uploads book orders, which are often placed months before release on different publisher billing schedules, and sees what bills come due each month and how much budget is left.
ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo · Claude $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) (the story doesn't say which plan she used)
Medium · or we set it up for $197
ChatGPT, Claude
The problem
Information about the store was scattered across different places, so it was hard for her and her employees to keep track of book clubs, special orders, events and maintenance issues.
What happened
She says it has changed how the store does things and that it gives small business owners an advantage larger businesses already have. She built it without knowing how to code. The class instructor warns that AI often gets things wrong and that owners need to check its work. No time or money figures are given. Self-reported.
Quoted in the source: Tarin Paradise, owner, Naughty Dog Books, Nashville, Indiana. Source: Brown County Democrat: Working Smarter: Brown County business owners put technology to practical use (Courtney Hughett) (2026-11-10) · Added 2026-11-10.
How to set it up yourself
- List every place store information lives today (notebooks, email, spreadsheets, sticky notes) and the five things staff ask about most, such as special orders and book-club orders.
- Describe the store and those five things to ChatGPT or Claude with the prompt below, and ask it to build a simple one-page dashboard you can open in a browser or a shared spreadsheet.
- Enter a week of real orders and events, then check every line against your records. Fix anything it got wrong before staff rely on it.
- Add one section at a time (events, rewards, maintenance) and color-code by type once the basics work.
Copy-paste prompt
I own a small independent bookstore with {NUMBER} employees. I want one simple dashboard my staff can check. It needs to track: 1) book clubs and whether each club's next book has been ordered and arrived, 2) customer special orders from order placed to book arrived to customer notified, 3) store and community events with dates, 4) maintenance issues. I don't know how to code. Build this as {A GOOGLE SHEET / A SINGLE WEB PAGE I CAN OPEN IN A BROWSER}, explain step by step how to set it up, and keep it simple enough that staff can update it without training. Ask me any questions you need first.We set up one AI automation in your tools, live within 48 hours of getting access, for $197. No call needed. Founding price for our first 10 customers (regular $297).
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Tools used
ChatGPT
General AI assistant for writing, research, brainstorming and analysis.
From Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (checked 2026-11-09)
Visit site →
Claude
AI assistant for writing, long documents, analysis and coding help.
From $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) (checked 2026-11-10)
Visit site →Some tool links may be affiliate links. Disclosure
Checked prices: ChatGPT: from Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (verified 2026-11-09) · Claude: from $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly) (verified 2026-11-10)
Rather not do it yourself?
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See the $197 Quick-WinNeed more than one automation or ongoing care? Bigger setups: $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. We reply within 1 business day.
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