Questions, answered honestly

It's one offering, four ways in. Run the Business Hub yourself for free (invoices, customers, leads and loyalty), then £29/mo when you want every tool - no setup, no contract. Or have me set it up and run it for you: Hub £49/mo + £149 setup (customers, leads, quotes, invoices, payment links and reporting), Grow £129/mo + £499 setup (adds a template website, bookings or jobs, reviews/referrals and Coco Card where it fits), or Complete £229/mo + £899 setup (everything, plus staff tools, campaigns, multi-location and active monthly management). Just want loyalty? Run Coco Card yourself - free until your first 25 members, then from £19/mo. Everything's fixed in writing before any work starts, always beginning with a free preview.

One card. More local favourites. Coco Card is the loyalty and discovery card from The Third Coconut: your customers keep one card in their phone - installable now, and saved to Apple or Google Wallet where available - and every participating local business rewards them its own way - your stamps, perks and offers stay completely separate from every other business's. Joining takes about 15 seconds at the till, nothing to download, and it's one card for the whole street - as street perks roll out, finishing a card at the cafe can even unlock a bonus at the barber. For you it means repeat visits, referrals, a weekly Regulars Report in pounds and a customer list you own, plus being discoverable to people already using the card nearby. And to be clear about what it isn't: it's rewards and discovery only - never payments, never stored money, and points don't move between businesses.

Honestly? No - and I won't sell you one. Nobody collects stamps for boiler repairs. For trades, 'bring them back' means different tools: referral thanks for the customer who passes your number on, maintenance and service reminders when the annual visit is due, and a trusted profile - real reviews and job photos - that wins the next quote. That's what your version of the system leads with. The coffee stamps stay in the cafés.

Because a loyalty app is a tool, and this is the whole job done. Loopy Loyalty, Square and Stamp Me are decent software - from about £25 a month they'll give you a dashboard and wish you luck. What they don't do is build your website, fix your Google profile, brand your rewards, print the counter kit, train your team, run the monthly offers or send you a plain-English report - and that's the part that actually decides whether it works. If all you want is software, genuinely, use one of them. If you want it to work without becoming your second job, that's what I sell.

Same platform, different starting points - and the emphasis flexes by business type, so a plumber's Grow leans on quote forms and reviews where a café's leans on CocoCard and offers. Happy to set it up yourself? Self-serve is free to start, then a flat monthly. Want it built and branded for you but run it yourself? That's Hub - lead capture, reviews, one loyalty programme, the report. If your site needs replacing (most do), Grow is the full works with a new website built to convert, plus campaigns, vouchers and referrals - it's the one most businesses land on. Complete is everything actively managed, with automations and AI; Enterprise is for chains and groups. Not sure? Tell me about your business and I'll say honestly which fits - including when the smaller one is plenty.

Four broad families: shops and hospitality (cafés, takeaways, restaurants, independent shops), appointment businesses (barbers, salons, clinics, tutors), trades and home services (plumbers, builders, cleaners, gardeners) and professional services (accountants, solicitors, consultants). I started with cafés, so hospitality is where I've got the most miles - but the system is built to flex, and each family gets its own version of it. If yours doesn't fit any of those, tell me about it and I'll give you a straight answer on whether it fits.

Day one we get your basics together - logo or name, phone photos, your menu, price list or services, and hours (I help with all of it). Then I build: site live or sharpened, Google profile tuned, your Coco Card rewards or referral tools branded, the kit designed and printed. Before day 14 I'm at your counter setting up the stand - or on a call walking you through it, if you work from a van - and your first customers are joining. If I miss the 14 days from getting your content, your first month is free - that's the deal.

You can - they'll make you a decent-looking site in an afternoon. Here's the honest bit: I use AI too, probably more than you would, to build fast and keep your price low. The difference is where I point it. A builder stops at the website; I aim AI at the hard part - getting you found on Google, collecting real reviews, taking bookings and quote requests, and bringing customers back - set up properly, joined together and run month after month, with a smart assistant answering your customers around the clock. And I stand behind all of it: when something breaks before your busiest Saturday, you get me, not a bot.

They're fine tools - the honest problem is that you won't do it. You'll build half of it one Sunday, never touch it again, and it'll quietly go stale while you run your actual business. And a DIY builder stops at the website: it won't tune your Google profile, chase your reviews or run your rewards and reminders. I do the whole job, and keep doing it - that's the difference.

No - and be wary of anyone who does, because too much of that is outside anyone's control. What I guarantee is what I control: the whole system live within 14 days of getting your content, or your first month is free. Then the report tells you honestly, month by month, what it's actually doing - members joined, enquiries and bookings, rewards redeemed. If it's not earning its keep, the monthly is rolling and you can leave.

Not at all. I handle the domain, hosting, design, Google and the Coco Card tech. You just tell me about your business in plain English - and your team learns one thing: point customers at the QR code.

No. The whole package runs on the phones and tablets you've already got. Customers join by scanning the printed QR stand on your counter - or the link on your site and invoices, if you work from a van - staff mark rewards from any phone, and your report arrives by email. Nothing to lease, no terminal, no card reader.

No lock-in, ever: the monthly is rolling and you can cancel anytime. Your domain and website are yours and stay yours. The running parts of the package - hosting care, review requests, your Coco Card rewards and offers - stop, and you can take an export of your customer list with you. I'd rather earn the monthly than trap you into it.

It's a good start - and you should keep it. But you don't control it, half your customers won't find you on Google through it, it can't take bookings or quote requests, and it gives you no way to bring people back. The package fixes all of that, and your Facebook page can point straight at it.

Yes - it's a third of the job. Every plan includes solid SEO foundations and a properly set-up Google Business Profile, and the review requests steadily build the rating that makes locals pick you. What I won't do is sell magic rankings - no one honest can.

You do - both, outright. The domain is registered in your name, the website is yours to keep whether you stay with me or not, and the customer list your Coco Card builds is yours to export any time. Nothing is held hostage to keep you paying: I'd rather earn the monthly than lock you in.

For most small local sites you won't need to - a quick email and I make the change, usually same day, and it's included in your monthly. Where it makes sense (a menu, a price list, opening hours, a blog) I can set up an editor you update yourself, no code. I'll tell you honestly which approach fits your site rather than sell you a fiddly dashboard you'll never open.

No. They scan the QR on your counter and the card opens straight in their browser - nothing to install. Where it's available it saves to Apple or Google Wallet in a tap, right next to their boarding passes. There's also a Coco Card app for customers who want one, but it's never required to join or collect rewards.

Included. I build fast sites that run on a genuinely free hosting tier, so for a typical local business it's £0/mo - and it's covered by your plan either way, along with the SSL padlock, security and backups. If you ever truly outgrow the free tier I'll tell you first; I don't mark up third-party costs.

Yes - if you already own a domain you're happy with, I'll build on it and point everything to it properly. If you don't have one, or want a better one, I'll register it in your name and pass on exactly what the registrar charges (a few pounds a year), with no markup. Either way, the domain is yours.

Fair question - and honestly, it's good news for you. Because I'm just starting out, you get my full attention and work I'm determined to be proud of. You don't have to take my word for it either: every demo on this site is a real, working build you can click through, the price is fixed in writing before I start, you keep your domain, site and customer data, and you don't pay until you're happy. The risk sits with me, not you.