R&K DesignsQuote report · Website proposal · 1 October 2026
A shop that takes the order, the logo and the proof without your inbox.
We looked at your current site, how customers find you, who you compete with, and what the leather-hat and braided-tack markets look like from the Western Slope. Then we built a working preview so you can see the proposal instead of imagining it.
New since this report
Delivered so far Draft 1 · 8 October 2026
Draft 1 of your site is live at rk-designs.pages.dev. It’s still a trade: you’re covering it with your design and print work for Mimi’s Sweet Treats and Vivere Colorado, so none of this costs you anything.
What you’re looking at is Option B, the Custom-Order Platform, taking shape: the preview, finished, and built to take the logo emails and proof DMs out of your inbox. Below is every feature Option B promised and where it honestly stands today. Some of it is built and working now, some is built and switches on at launch once your accounts are connected, and a few pieces are waiting on something from you.
The preview is hidden from Google until launch, and checkout stays in preview mode, with no payment taken, until your Stripe account is connected. The site’s footer reads “Preview, Draft 1 (8 Oct 2026)”.
Quoted → delivered
Home, Hat Builder, Money Run, Embroidery, DTF, Shop (tees and tumblers), Portfolio, FAQ, Custom quote, Contact, and Order terms & privacy, plus the cart, each customer’s order page and “Find your order”. Your About story and reviews are still to come.
Your real Richardson 112 in all 28 colors, from the front and both sides. Natural or Rust leather in 6 shapes, or embroidery, with your leather badge sewn on the bill. Upload a logo and it shows “Logo locked in”. The design is saved in the link, so a customer can reload it or share it, and on phones the total and Add to cart stay in a bar at the bottom.
Mix colors and they count together. The home page charts it: one hat is $25, down to $19 each at 84 and up. Your updated pricing goes in as soon as you send it.
The logo uploads right in the Hat Builder and stays with that hat in the cart, so the file is waiting for you with the order. Uploads are checked before they’re accepted.
After checkout the order page opens with an “Order received” confirmation and a live status tracker: received, proof sent, approved, in production, ready or shipped. Customers approve your proof with a confirm step (it won’t let anyone approve an old proof once you’ve sent a newer one), message you, finish paying an unpaid order, and get a tracking link once it ships. Lost the link? “Find your order” emails it to them.
Works on your phone. Orders, quotes and messages in one place: upload proofs, change status, add tracking numbers, filter unpaid and test orders, and export to a spreadsheet. A Setup panel shows what’s connected (payments, email, tax), and you can delete test orders before launch.
Its own page with the braid color designer, the lineup and an order request form. Your pieces, prices and braid colors go in when you send them.
It opens with a 3D gallery “tunnel” of your real work, then the grid, where every piece has “Start one like this”.
Both pages are up. Your thread colors, 3D puff, minimums and DTF prices go in when you send them.
In the cart a customer can open a hat back up in the builder to edit it, change quantities, choose pickup in Eckert or shipping, and tick a required “I’ve read the order terms” box. Payments only ever go through Stripe. Checkout stays in preview mode until your Stripe account is connected, and your pickup location and hours go in when you send them.
Order confirmation, proof ready, messages from you, and every status change, including shipped with tracking. They switch on once your email is connected.
Old Wix links forward to the matching new pages, so nothing a customer bookmarked breaks. They take over when rkdesignsllc.com switches to the new site.
An Order terms & privacy page is drafted for you to review. It needs your wording before launch.
Sales tax needs your Colorado sales-tax licence first. The Setup panel in your dashboard shows where it stands.
I need your Stripe account and to know which email is yours. Until launch the site stays hidden from Google, and the launch switch refuses to go live while any “TBD” placeholder is left, so nothing half-finished reaches a customer.
The terms, the trade and the investment sections further down haven’t changed.
Also in Draft 1
A home page with some life in it
“YOUR BRAND” tiles flip over to “MADE REAL.” burned into leather. A leather piece for each line (patch hats, embroidery, tees & DTF, engraved tumblers, Money Run), with your badge breaking out in embers. A Money Run band, how an order works in four steps (design it, send your logo, approve your proof, wear it), recent work and Made in Eckert.
Text Kelsey
An example text conversation with real Text and Call buttons, on the home page and the Contact page.
“Let’s build your brand together”
Tags for everything you can brand. Hoodies & sweaters, beanies and marketing materials are marked TBD until you confirm you offer them.
Brand pieces for you
A Facebook cover, Etsy banners in both sizes, and the image that shows up when someone shares your site link.
Built phone-first
Built for phones and tested on a phone. It’s fast, and it’s secure: payments only go through Stripe, and uploads are checked.
What Draft 1 is waiting on from you
- Your updated pricing
- Which email is yours
- Your wording for the order terms and policies
- Your pickup location and hours
- Your Stripe account
- A Colorado sales-tax licence
- Embroidery and DTF details: thread colors, 3D puff, minimums, DTF prices
- Money Run pieces, prices and braid colors
- Real photos
- Whether you offer hoodies & sweaters, beanies and marketing materials
- Your About story, and any reviews you’d like to share
Contents
What's in this report
- How this report was built
- About R&K Designs
- Your current website
- How customers find you today
- The market for leather patch hats
- The Money Run opportunity
- Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
- The proposed website
- Speed and quality scores
- Today vs. the new site
- Investment
- Payback
- Timeline
- Terms
- Next steps and what we need from you
01 · Method
How this report was built
Everything here was measured or read directly on 1 October 2026. Where a number is our estimate rather than a measurement, it carries an estimate tag. Projected figures are labeled as projected.
- Speed and quality scores: Google Lighthouse 13 run three times per page, on phone and desktop settings. We report the middle run. The runs were made on our own computer with Lighthouse's standard settings because Google's PageSpeed Insights service was rate-limited that morning, so PageSpeed Insights may show slightly different numbers.
- Search results: Google searches run from a browser located in Delta, Colorado, plus DuckDuckGo, Google Maps and a check of which of your pages Google has listed.
- Competitors: we checked 12 Western Slope apparel and engraving shops (11 websites; one didn't load) and 9 national leather-patch hat sellers, and copied the prices they publish. The 7 with full price tables are compared below.
- Money Run: price snapshots of handmade paracord tack on Etsy and the shops behind them, the 2026 rodeo and barrel-race calendars, and a quick search of the federal trademark register.
- Your business: your website, Etsy shop, Facebook page and Instagram as a customer sees them, signed out.
02 · About the client
About R&K Designs
R&K Designs LLC is a small custom shop in Eckert, formed in March 2024. You make genuine leather patch hats on Richardson 112 truckers, laser-engraved leatherette tumblers and custom tees. Your social accounts show the shop growing: an embroidery machine arrived in May 2026, you now offer DTF printing and 3D puff embroidery, and your Etsy shop added beaded western earrings and Money Run paracord tack.
The work is good, and it's local. Andria Weaver Photography, North Park Disposal, Balcony Botanicals, Wild KC, Run at the Rose and Carmichael Insurance Agency are all wearing it.
| Channel | What's there today |
|---|---|
| rkdesignsllc.com | Wix store: 5 products, a hat catalog page, contact form and mailing list. Domain registered through Wix in March 2024, renews 7 March 2027. |
| Etsy (RKDesignsLLC) | 21 listings: 13 earrings, 2 apparel, 6 Money Run tack. 1 sale so far, on Etsy since 2026. |
| 395 followers. Recent reels show about 100 to 1,500 plays each (average about 410 across the latest 10). Your link points to Etsy. | |
| Instagram @r_kdesigns24 | 68 followers, 74 posts, about two posts a month lately. Bio link points to Etsy. |
| Google Business Profile | Listed as "Promotional products supplier" in Orchard City. No reviews. Shows your 2024 address. |
03 · What we found
Your current website
Wix isn't slow because of its servers; both sites answer in about 0.15 seconds. It's slow because of what it makes a phone do afterwards: about 1.2 MB of JavaScript, requests to 11 different servers, a chat widget and Wix's own tracking beacons on every page.
| Page (Lighthouse, middle of 3 runs) | Speed | Accessibility | Best practices | SEO | Largest paint | Files | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home, phone | 52 | 100 | 73 | 100 | 15.0 s | 283 | 2.6 MB |
| Home, desktop | 77 | 100 | 73 | 100 | 3.2 s | 269 | 2.5 MB |
| Hat product page, phone | 52 | 88 | 77 | 92 | 5.3 s | 257 | 2.8 MB |
| Hat product page, desktop | 87 | 81 | 77 | 85 | 1.1 s | 251 | 2.7 MB |
Largest paint is when the main image or headline appears. Google's "good" mark is 2.5 seconds or less. Lighthouse colors 0–49 red, 50–89 orange and 90–100 green. Phone runs use Lighthouse's standard slow-4G and mid-range-phone settings.
What a customer runs into
Every product asks the customer to email their file and type "OK" in a box. There's no upload, so you match emails to orders by hand before the 24-hour mockup clock can start.
The Custom T-shirt page says to send artwork to rkdesignsllc@gmail.com. Every other page says rkdesigns324@gmail.com. If one isn't yours, tee artwork is going nowhere.
Your main product, the leather patch hat, still says "I'm a shipping policy. I'm a great place to add more information…" under Shipping Info.
The hat shows $28.50, but your own bulk table starts at $25. The table and the Hat Catalog page also put the 36-hat price in different tiers. On Etsy the same hat is $28.
It's in the page title, the heading, the web address and the data Google reads. None of the five product pages has a search description, and Google only lists 4 of your 11 pages.
The home page says Delta, the contact page says Eckert, and the hidden business data says Orchard City. Google rewards a business that gives the same name, address and phone everywhere.
Embroidery, DTF printing, Money Run tack and the boutique items are on your social accounts and Etsy, but not your website. Your old Screen Printing and Laser Engraving pages now show "Page Not Found".
"anJPEG", "JEPG", "appoval", "tubler", "cuztomizable" and "appriate" appear in product descriptions.
04 · Visibility
How customers find you today
We searched the way a local customer would, from Delta. The short version: when someone searches for what you make, they find your competitors. Part of that is reviews: almost every shop in Google's map results has dozens, and you have none yet. Part is that Google hasn't picked up your product pages.
| Search | Where R&K shows up | Who's in Google's map results |
|---|---|---|
| custom hats Delta CO | #5 on Google | Davis Clothing (5.0, 102 reviews), Y&S Customs (5.0, 36), Colbert Hat Co. |
| leather patch hats Delta CO | Not on page 1 on Google · #1 on DuckDuckGo | Davis Clothing Company appears in Google's panel |
| custom leather patch hats Colorado | Not on page 1 · #6 on DuckDuckGo | Anderson's Saddlery, Eckert (5.0, 18), Y&S Customs, Authentic Leather Patch Co. |
| laser engraving Delta Colorado | Not on page 1 | Morris Monument (4.7, 27), Y&S Customs, Colorado Laser Creations (5.0, 82) |
| custom hats Grand Junction | Not on page 1 | Rocky Mountain Hats & Boots (4.6, 86), Rocky Mountain Promotional (5.0, 73), First String (5.0, 25) |
| custom tumblers Montrose | Not on page 1 | Dyer Concepts (5.0, 39), Colorado Laser Creations, Infinity Engraving (4.7, 12) |
Your Google profile is the fastest win
It exists and it's claimed, but it has no reviews and still shows your 2024 street address. Reviews are one of the things Google weighs for its map results. Asking your ten most recent customers for an honest review (Google's rules don't allow asking only the happy ones) is the cheapest way to start competing for "custom hats Delta CO".
Your social traffic goes to Etsy
Facebook and Instagram both link to Etsy, not your website. Etsy is fine for discovery, but every sale there pays Etsy's fees (see Investment), and a team-order customer can't upload a logo or approve a proof there.
Your name is shared
"R&K Designs" is also used by a woodworker, a Pennsylvania business and several Georgia LLCs. A Google search for "R&K Designs Eckert CO" shows your profile but none of your web pages, so consistent naming and a real About page matter more for you than for most.
05 · Market opportunity
The market for leather patch hats
Promotional products in North America were a record $27.7 billion business in 2025, up 4.2% (ASI). Caps and headwear were 9.0% of industry sales in ASI's latest category breakdown, about $2.4 billion (2024 sales), and Colorado accounted for $693 million in promotional sales that year. Richardson calls the 112 "the most popular cap in the USA". That's the manufacturer's claim, but almost every seller in the price comparison below uses the same hat.
None of the local shops we checked lets customers design one online
| Shop | Town | What they do | Order online? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbine Copy & Apparel | Montrose | Screen print, DTF, embroidery. Leather patches by quote, "up to 3 weeks". | Printed hats only |
| Y&S Customs | Delta | Embroidery, printing, laser engraving including leather. The closest overlap with you. | Quote form |
| Main Street Printing | Delta | Screen print, embroidery, DTG, promo products | Quote / upload |
| Lasting Impressions | Paonia | Embroidery, print, laser engraving; ordering portals for local organizations | Portals only |
| Rocky Mountain Promotional | Grand Junction | Screen print, embroidery, DTF; carries Richardson | Quote form |
| Montrose Printing Center · San Juan Embroidery | Montrose | Print, embroidery | Quote only |
| Hole in the Wall Shirt Shoppe · Get Stitched | Grand Junction | Embroidery, print, some laser engraving | Quote only |
| Designs with Altitude · Locker Room | Fruita | Print, embroidery, team stores | Email / call |
| Stitchworks | Cedaredge | Embroidery, screen print | Website didn't load when we checked (1 Oct) |
Where your prices sit nationally
Price per hat at 24 and at 96 hats, from each seller's published table. Hover or tap a row for details; the table below has every number. Your price is mid-market at 24 hats and toward the top at 96, which is where your 24-hour mockup and being a local maker have to earn their keep.
| Seller | Patch | 24 hats | 96 hats | Online designer |
|---|
Leathering's 24 and 96 prices are worked out from its base price and percentage discounts estimate. Columbine's hats are printed, not leather, and are shown for local context. Sources: each seller's product page, read 1 October 2026.
Your Cow Tag can carry a premium
The closest match on the market, Weston Ryder's leather cattle-tag hat, sells for $31.50 at 24 and $21.00 at 96. Your Cow Tag is priced the same as every other shape.
Your bulk discount is gentle
From one hat to 84 or more your price drops 24%. C. Richard's drops 45% and Dekni 41%. That's not wrong for a hand-made product, but it's worth knowing when a 100-hat company order is comparing quotes.
Costs are rising for everyone
Nearly 90% of promo distributors raised prices in 2025, about 11% on average, mostly because of tariffs (ASI). Blank Richardson 112s list at about $8.35 to $9.75 each from public wholesalers.
06 · Money Run
The Money Run opportunity
You already sell Money Run paracord tack on Etsy: braided tie-downs at $95 and barrel reins at $34. You're a barrel racer selling to barrel racers, and the Western Slope has a full calendar of them.
| Event or group | Where | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Surface Creek Saddle Club gymkhana series | Cedaredge, next door | 8 Wednesdays, June 3 to July 22 |
| Run at the Rose (futurity, derby, slot races) | Montrose | June 5–7. The organizers say Run at the Rose and the Colorado Classic together paid out nearly $1,000,000 over their 10 days of racing in 2025 and 2026. |
| Colorado Classic futurity | Montrose County Fairgrounds | Futurity, derby and open; the June 13 futurity carries a $25,000 Future Fortunes bonus |
| Delta County Fair CPRA rodeo | Hotchkiss | August 7–8 |
| CPRA State Finals | Montrose County Event Center | September 25–27 |
| Colorado West Barrel Racing Association season and Finals | Clifton, Rifle, Craig, Parachute | Finals Saturday 17 October, Martin's Indoor Arena, Clifton |
The National Barrel Horse Association district that covers Delta, Mesa and Montrose (CO-04) currently has no director, so local barrel racers rely on CWBRA and the fairs.
How your prices compare
| Piece | Money Run | Handmade paracord on Etsy (1 Oct 2026) | Mass-market brands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel reins | $34 | Middle price $46 for barrel reins (range $31.50–$100) | $17–$20 nylon (Weaver, Professional's Choice) |
| Tie-down | $95 | $35–$55 among listings we found | – |
| Headstall | – | Middle price $35 (range $20–$65) | – |
| Breast collar | – | Middle price $110 (range $85–$179) | – |
| Wither strap | – | Mostly $15–$25 | – |
| Full fringe set | – | Middle price $191 (range $106–$245) | $27.50 nylon 4-piece set |
None of the braiders we checked has a color designer
Every tack maker we checked, including an Etsy braider with 17,200 sales, takes colors from a chart in the photos plus a typed note. A customer who can see her braid in her colors before ordering is something none of them offer. The preview already has one.
Your reins are priced low
At $34, your reins sit under the middle of handmade barrel reins ($46). Your tie-down at $95 sits well above the $35–$55 we found, so a photo of what makes it different will help it sell.
The name looks clear
Every "MONEY RUN" trademark on file with the USPTO is dead, and none was for tack or clothing, and moneyruntack.com is unregistered. Because R&K Designs LLC sells as "Money Run Tack", Colorado expects a Statement of Trade Name for it, a short online filing. That filing doesn't stop anyone else using the name; only a trademark registration does, and an attorney can tell you whether that's worth it. This is a quick search, not legal advice.
07 · Position
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
Strengths
- Genuine leather patches on Richardson 112 truckers
- Real local customers, by name, with photos
- A written 24-hour mockup promise on every hat order
- Mid-market pricing at 24 hats
- Facebook reels already reach hundreds per post
- You ride: credibility for Money Run that a print shop can't buy
Weaknesses
- Speed score of 52 on phones
- Artwork by email, proofs in DMs
- Placeholder text, typos and conflicting prices
- No Google reviews; product pages not in Google
- Social links send buyers to Etsy
- Embroidery, DTF and tack missing from the site
Opportunities
- No local shop sells leather hats with an online designer
- A braid designer none of the tack makers we checked has
- Event and team orders: Run at the Rose is already a customer
- Fast local-search gains from reviews and a fixed address
- A premium for the Cow Tag look
Threats
- National sellers at $15–$17 a hat at 96
- Columbine Copy's online builder for printed hats
- Local rivals with 12 to 102 Google reviews
- Tariffs pushing blank costs up
- Drinkware cooling after the tumbler craze (ASI)
08 · Proposed features
The proposed website
It's already running. Open the preview on your phone and try the Hat Builder: pick a colorway, upload your own logo, and watch the price change as you add hats. Anything on the preview marked with a dashed note is waiting on your answers in Next steps.
The storyboard was our first planning draft. Where it differs from the options in Investment, the options are what's included. For where each feature stands in Draft 1, see Delivered so far.
Patch Hat Builder
All 27 colorways, Natural or Rust leather, six shapes including Cow Tag, three placements. The customer's own logo appears burned onto the patch. They can mix colors in one order at one tier price, and it tells them how many more hats reach the next price break.
Built in previewArtwork with every order
Logos upload with the order (PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, AI up to 15 MB) and are stored safely, so the file is waiting when the order lands. No more "type OK".
Built in previewProof approval page
Each order gets a private link. You upload the mockup from your phone; the customer approves it or asks for changes, timestamped. Status runs Received → Proof sent → Approved → In production → Shipped.
Built in previewYour dashboard
Orders, quotes, messages and subscribers in one place, built for your phone. Send proofs, change status, download artwork, export to a spreadsheet.
Built in previewCheckout
Stripe Checkout with cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, paid straight to your account. Pickup in Eckert or flat-rate shipping. Prices are checked on the server, so a cart can't be tampered with.
Demo mode until your Stripe is connectedMoney Run
Its own branded page with a braid designer: tap up to three colors and see the braid. Tack requests land in your dashboard with the colors, pieces and horse size.
Built in previewQuotes, contact, newsletter
Custom-quote form with file upload for ranch brands, team and event orders, plus contact and newsletter sign-up. These forms work even if a phone blocks the page's interactive features.
Built in previewEmail and sales tax
Order confirmations with the private link, proof-ready and shipped emails, and Colorado sales tax at checkout, set up the way your accountant prefers.
Finish before launchEmbroidery and DTF
Your newer services have their own pages, and the Hat Builder has an embroidery option at your Etsy prices (flat or 3D puff, 7 colorways, from 12 hats), so the site matches what you actually sell.
Built in previewFound on Google
One consistent name and address everywhere, search descriptions on every page, product data Google can read, your profile updated, and every old Wix address redirected so nothing breaks.
At launch09 · Scores
Speed and quality scores
The preview is measured the same way as your current site. Its SEO score is held down on purpose right now: the preview tells Google not to index it, so it can't compete with your live site. That switch flips at launch.
| Preview, measured 1 Oct 2026 | Speed | Accessibility | Best practices | SEO* | Largest paint | Files | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home, phone | 94 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 2.8 s | 15 | 585 KB |
| Home, desktop | 100 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 0.6 s | 17 | 631 KB |
| Hat Builder, phone | 99 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 2.0 s | 13 | 221 KB |
| Hat Builder, desktop | 100 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 0.4 s | 13 | 221 KB |
| Money Run, phone | 99 | 100 | 100 | 69 | 2.0 s | 12 | 216 KB |
* SEO is 69 on the preview only because it is deliberately hidden from Google. That is the only SEO check it fails, so we project 100 at launch. Speed scores move a few points between runs; we report the middle of three. We expect the launched site to land in the same range once your photos and Stripe are in; launch scores are projected until we re-measure.
10 · Side by side
Today vs. the new site
| Area | Today (Wix) | New site |
|---|---|---|
| Getting the logo | Customer emails it separately and types "OK" | Uploaded with the order, attached to the line item |
| Designing a hat | Dropdowns, plus a separate catalog page to look up colors | Live preview with their logo on the patch |
| Bulk pricing | A table to read; a single hat is charged $28.50, not your $25 | Calculated live; mixed colors count together |
| Proofs | Email and DMs | Private order page with approve / request changes, on record |
| Order status | No status page; customers have to ask you | Customers check their link |
| Phone speed (home) | 52 | 94 |
| Money Run | Etsy only | Its own page with a braid designer |
| Embroidery, DTF | Not on the site | Their own pages |
| Monthly platform fee | A Wix plan that accepts payments: $29–$39 a month billed yearly | $0 hosting at your volume (care plan optional, below) |
| Who owns it | Rented from Wix | Your content and customer data are always yours; the code is yours once it's paid for (see Terms) |
11 · Investment
Three ways to do it
Your build is a trade: no cost to you. You design and print for Mimi’s Sweet Treats and Vivere Colorado, and I build your site. The prices below are what each option is worth, so you can see what the trade covers. Pick the option that fits; we’ll write the trade list together.
Add-ons
| Add-on | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Product photo day in your shop: hats, tumblers, tees and Money Run tack on and off the horse | $500–$800 | Also gives us your About and portfolio photos |
| Money Run buy-now catalog | $600–$1,000 | Included in C. Needs your final piece list and prices. |
| Social content kit: post templates, 12-month calendar | $800–$1,400 | Ongoing help from $250/mo |
| Event or season page (rodeo season, holiday gifts, event merch) | $250–$400 each | |
| Team-order sizing sheet | $400–$700 | Included in C |
| Wholesale accounts | $800–$1,200 | Included in C |
| Price and product editor | $800–$1,200 | Included in C |
| Google Business Profile update and verification | $150–$250 | Included in B and C |
| Google Analytics with sales tracking | $150 | Included in C |
| Newsletter platform connection (Mailchimp or Klaviyo) | $150–$300 | Sign-ups are already collected in your dashboard |
| Work outside a plan | $125/hr | 1-hour minimum |
Care plans (optional, after launch)
Care is optional. Without a plan you pay only your domain and payment fees, and any work is $125/hr.
What you'd pay others to run it
| Cost | New site | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Platform / hosting | $0 on Cloudflare at your volume (worst case $5/mo) | Wix Core $29/mo or Business $39/mo billed yearly; your exact plan isn't visible to us |
| Card payments | Stripe: 2.9% + 30¢ per card, no monthly fee | Wix Payments: the same 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Sales tax calculation | Stripe Tax 0.5% per taxed sale, if your accountant wants it automatic | Automatic on Wix Business ($39); entered by hand on Core ($29) |
| Order emails | Resend: free up to 3,000 emails a month | Included in Wix |
| Domain | $10.46/yr if moved to Cloudflare before it renews in March 2027 | About $21.35/yr at Wix |
| An Etsy sale (for comparison) | Etsy charges $0.20 to list, 6.5% of the sale and 3% + 25¢ processing. On a $95 tie-down that's about $9.48, versus about $3.06 through your own site with Stripe. | |
Leaving Wix saves roughly $359–$479 a year on platform and domain. If you add the recommended Starter care plan ($900 a year), your running costs come to about $421–$541 a year more than Wix today; what that buys is a developer on call instead of a do-it-yourself builder. If your Wix plan is billed yearly, the saving starts at its renewal date. None of that alone justifies a build, and we won't pretend it does. The reason to build is the order workflow: time back, fewer lost orders, and a shop that looks like the quality of your work.
12 · Payback
What the trade is worth, in hat orders
Because the build is a trade, there’s no build cost to earn back: the margin on every order the site wins is yours from day one. For a sense of what the trade is worth, here’s the build value measured in your own orders, using your price table and public blank costs. Your real costs are probably lower than our worst case, so treat this as a starting point to sharpen together.
| A 4-dozen hat order | Amount |
|---|---|
| 48 hats at your $20.50 tier | $984.00 |
| Blanks and leather: $8.85–$11.75 a hat estimate | −$424.80 to −$564.00 |
| Card fee (2.9% + 30¢) | −$28.84 |
| Left over before your time estimate | about $391–$530 |
Option A
About 6–10 four-dozen orders
Option B
About 10–16 four-dozen orders
Option C
About 14–25 four-dozen orders
The cards show how many four-dozen orders equal each option’s value. That’s the value of the trade, not a bill. Blank cost uses public Richardson 112 wholesale prices ($8.35–$9.75 a hat) plus an assumed $0.50–$2.00 for leather and laser consumables. Your distributor price and your real patch cost will tighten this range.
13 · Timeline
Live by next week
- DonePreview build. The full working preview at rk-designs.pages.dev, hidden from Google.
- 8 OctDraft 1. The whole site, live for your review at rk-designs.pages.dev. See Delivered so far for where each feature stands.
- This weekDiscovery, content and connections. Your answers to the questions below, photos, About story and Money Run piece list. You open your own Stripe account and we connect it. Order emails set up from your domain. Sales tax decided with your accountant. Your DTF prices and embroidery details added.
- Before launchReview and test orders. Test orders end to end on your phone, including sending and approving a proof. Mobile and speed checks. Up to three rounds of changes, then your sign-off.
- Next weekLaunch: we can be live by next week, as soon as your Stripe account, prices and pickup details are in. rkdesignsllc.com switches over, old Wix addresses redirect, Google is sent the new list of pages and your profile is updated. Keep Wix for about two stable weeks, then turn off its auto-renewal (yearly Wix plans aren't refunded part-way through), and move your domain to Cloudflare before it renews on 7 March 2027.
- LaterGrow. Option C features, added when you're ready.
The site goes live next week. Option C features follow after launch, whenever you’re ready.
14 · Terms
How the trade and ownership work
The trade
No deposits and no invoices for the build. You pay in your work: designs and prints for Mimi’s Sweet Treats and Vivere Colorado. We’ll write down the pieces, quantities and rough timing together so we’re both clear on what the trade covers. Care plans and add-ons are optional and priced separately, or we can add them to the trade.
A note for your accountant
For tax purposes the IRS treats a trade like a sale: each of us counts the fair value of what we receive as income. Worth a line to your accountant; it’s the same for me.
Ownership
Your content, photos, artwork uploads and customer data are always yours. When the site launches and the trade is complete, you also receive the full code, the database and every login; until then the code and design remain the property of Vivere Colorado LLC, the company behind Vivere Web. Vivere keeps its reusable framework.
Your money, your account
You open and own the Stripe account, so customer payments go straight to you from day one. Vivere never holds your customers' money.
Included
Up to three rounds of revisions and a 30-day warranty after launch: anything that doesn't work as described gets fixed at no charge.
15 · Next steps
What we need from you
- Which option you’d like, and a 30-minute call to write down the trade: what you’ll design and print for Mimi’s Sweet Treats and Vivere Colorado.
- Which email is yours: rkdesigns324@gmail.com or rkdesignsllc@gmail.com.
- Your single-hat price: $25 (your table), $28.50 (the Wix product) or $28 (Etsy). And whether 36 hats is $21.50 or $21.
- Shipping: what you charge, and whether customers can pick up in Eckert.
- Your current business address for Google, and the town you want to be known by.
- Embroidery and DTF: what you offer and how you price it.
- Money Run: the full piece list, prices, your braid color list and turnaround.
- Whether "Cardinal" and "Cardinal Blue" are the light blue your swatches show.
- A Stripe account in your name, or a time to set one up together.
- Which customers we can name and quote, and any photos of your shop and tack.
- Roughly what a blank hat and a leather patch cost you, so the payback numbers are yours.