Etch/Work

Work with real names on it.

Websites, ads, email, social, brand, print and the AI dashboards that tie them together, for businesses in Middle Tennessee and a few beyond. Twelve years of it, and every piece went out under a real name.

2014making marketing since
16shops for one client, every week
17brands on the client list
2Etch Engines running today

Auto service · sixteen shops in Tennessee, Alabama and Florida · a client since 2014

Budget Brakes

Sixteen shops, one marketing desk.

Budget Brakes has trusted us with its marketing since 2014: a weekly email and a weekly Facebook post for every shop, every week, for twelve years.

In 2026 the work grew into everything around it: a new website with a page and online booking for each shop, lead ads that answer every customer in minutes, the company's first ChatGPT ads, and a private dashboard that reads every channel against the bookings it brings in.

Website
A page for each of sixteen shops, online booking from every page, coupons, and every form and tap counted with the ad that sent the visitor.
Email and social
A weekly email and a weekly Facebook post for every shop, written, designed and sent since 2014.
Lead ads
Facebook and Instagram lead ads in three markets. Every lead lands at the right shop and gets a text with a booking link within minutes.
ChatGPT ads
The company’s first ChatGPT ads, launched October 2026, with every visit tagged and spend on the dashboard every hour.
Dashboard
TV, mail, Google, Facebook, email, texts and reviews read against calls, forms and bookings, by shop, updated every hour.
Visit budgetbrakes.com
The new Budget Brakes website on a laptop and a shop page on a phone
The owner’s private marketing dashboard, shown with sample numbers
A Budget Brakes weekly email on a phone
16shops, each with its own page
12years of a weekly email and post
Minutesfrom a new lead to a text back
Hourlydashboard updates

Home builder · Middle Tennessee · the company our owners run

Southaven Homes

A builder that answers every lead in ninety seconds.

Southaven Homes builds its own plans on its own lots and sells them. In 2026 we rebuilt its brand and website and built the Etch Engine that runs the company behind them.

It is our proving ground: most of what we build for clients ran here first, on a business where we feel every mistake ourselves.

Website
Seven plans, live listings, a blog, local pages and a virtual tour of each home. A new post goes live with one command.
Email
Two programs: 424 real-estate agents twice a month and a buyer list, each email drafted from that month’s real listings and edited by a person.
Social
A composer that writes three angles per post, previews every platform and runs a Fair Housing check before anything is scheduled.
Speed to lead
Every new lead gets a text and an email in about ninety seconds, any hour, with a nudge if nobody follows up in a day.
The Etch Engine
Crews scheduled by text in English and Spanish, plans on the sub’s phone, the books, the market and an AI photo studio, in one login.
Read the full storyVisit southavenhomes.com
The Southaven Homes website on a laptop
The Etch Engine running Southaven Homes on a laptop and a tablet
A narrated film of the Engine, room by room
424agents mailed twice a month
42.6%agent open rate
56.8%buyer open rate
~90 secto the first reply

More work

Websites, brands, email, print and the odd experiment.

Retail · three stores · since 2014Pleasures Boutique.A dark, elevated site concept for a three-store romance boutique: “Intimacy, elevated.” WebBrand
Email · KlaviyoA journal, a series, a digest.Three recurring email formats for the same boutique, each with its own template so the store team can keep it going. Email
Print · since March 2014One coupon slot, every month.The same three-by-eight slot in a Nashville mailer, month after month, with a code on every ad so the store can count what it brought in. Print
Estate management · Florida · 2026Dovetail Lifestyle.Named, drawn, written and built: the name, the dovetail-joint mark, the voice and the launch site, from the first question to launch day. BrandWeb
Product · AI agents · 2026Apogee.An AI-traded stock desk built as a trading terminal, with agents on timers and a tape that says why. Shown as a showroom on synthetic data. AIProductWalk the showroom → Hospitality concept · 2026Still Wild.An interactive concept for a cabin-stay brand: pick a setting, set the hour and build your own escape. WebConceptOpen the concept → Film · 2026The desk, with sound.Seven narrated films of the Etch Engine, room by room, for the website and YouTube, including a seven-minute walk through a builder’s whole company. FilmAIWatch it run →
Wholesale · 2016 to 2017China Direct.Seasonal catalogs for a wholesale floral importer, photographed and laid out in-house: four catalogs in a year and a half. PrintPhotography
Landscape design · 2013 to 2017Kinwood.Ads, emails, catalogs and the website for the landscape company Ryan owned, 2013 to 2017. PrintEmailWeb

Marks

Twelve brands, one desk.

The marks of brands we have worked for, from a sixteen-shop auto service chain to a farm, a gym and a Florida concierge company.

Brand creation
Twelve client logos: Southaven Homes, Pleasures, Budget Brakes, KHI Corp, China Direct, Bliss, TradeStar, Primitive Nutrition, Dovetail, Legacy K Farm, Restore and Kinwood

Clients

Everyone we’ve worked with.

Now

  • Southaven Homes 2026
  • Pleasures Boutique 2014
  • Budget Brakes 2014
  • Dovetail Lifestyle 2026

Brand and print

  • China Direct 2016
  • Legacy K Farm 2017
  • Restore 2016
  • Bliss Romance Boutique
  • Primitive Nutrition
  • Citywide Development 2016
  • Alliant Commercial Realty 2016

And

  • KHI Corp
  • TradeStar
  • Real Change Fitness 2017
  • Standing Stone Pools & Patios 2016
  • Alegria 2014
  • Kinwood our own, 2013

The Work Book

Flip through all twenty spreads.

The printed edition of this page, 2014 to 2026. Tap any spread to read it at full size.

Cover: the Etch wordmark on the plate, and the contents of the Work Book, 2014 to 2026 Southaven Homes: the rebuilt website on a laptop, with the crafts, the year and the address The Etch Engine: the dashboard on two screens, and the rule that nothing sends without a yes Apogee: an AI-traded stock desk as a trading terminal, two monitors on a black desk running the Core desk and the Signal room, shown as a showroom on synthetic data Southaven Homes on the record: 424 agents mailed twice a month, 42.6 percent agent opens, 56.8 percent buyer opens Pleasures Boutique: the site concept on a laptop, three stores, a client since 2014 Pleasures print: four coupon ads from the same slot, March 2014, July 2014, February 2019 and February 2025, standing on the page Pleasures email: the journal digest on a phone beside the 2017 gift card Dovetail Lifestyle: the dovetail-joint mark on ink, and the launch site on a laptop Budget Brakes: the September 2026 email on a phone, a weekly email and post for sixteen locations since 2014 Budget Brakes, the new website: the home page on a laptop and the Nolensville Pike shop page on a phone, one page for each of sixteen shops Budget Brakes, the marketing desk: the owner's private dashboard with the shops on a map, and its menu on a phone, shown with sample numbers China Direct: the closeout catalog as a bound book, four seasonal catalogs, 2016 to 2017 Marks: twelve client logos in a grid, Southaven Homes, Pleasures, Budget Brakes, KHI Corp, China Direct, Bliss, TradeStar, Primitive Nutrition, Dovetail, Legacy K Farm, Restore and Kinwood Kinwood: a half-page ad with four snapshots of patios and pools, the company Ryan owned, 2013 to 2017 The Ledger: three photographs from the entries, one a week with the arithmetic showing Films: the long film of the Engine on a laptop, seven narrated films for the site and YouTube Brands and clients: everyone in the book, in three columns Still Wild: an interactive concept for a cabin-stay brand on a laptop, pick a setting, set the hour, build your own escape The next page: your brand belongs in this book, with the phone number and the address, and the first Etch card

Your business belongs on this page.

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