“Make is my team”: How a solopreneur used automation & AI to power a global business.

When Sarah Dudgeon, a marathon runner and cyclist from the UK, launched Art of Your Success, she had a specific vision in mind. First, to create a product that connects powerfully with fellow athletes. But also, to have the impact of a large business without the headcount of one. 

At the time, she felt the products on the market didn’t truly speak to competitive athletes like her. They were led by people who didn’t know what it takes to get out of bed at 5 a.m. for a run, to train through winter, or to make that last push across a finish line. Sarah wanted gifts and accessories that connected with what everyday athletes experience and feel. So she started designing them herself. 

Sarah harboured the hypothesis that technology could be your team and wanted to make this a reality. She’d long been exploring solutions that could give her the firepower and expertise she needed, without the headcount. But they were often too expensive or too complex. 

Pretty soon, the need to find a solution intensified. Her product was resonating. Orders came steadily. Then daily. And suddenly, Sarah realised she was running a full global e-commerce business. Alone. 

“Running a global e-shop on your own means you’re the designer, the marketer, the operations team, the analyst, customer support… everything.”

When she found Make, things started falling into place. The interface is highly visual and just makes sense. The apps she used across her business – Gmail, Etsy, Google Sheets – were all there. She could learn to use it herself and had the budget to access it. 

It was a relief. Finally, she saw a way to create the systems she needed without outsourcing, hiring, or buying expensive enterprise tools.

The challenges: an ever-growing to-do list

Art of Your Success operates across multiple platforms: WooCommerce, Etsy, Amazon, Not on the High Street, and others. Customers order from the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, and dozens of other countries. Many products are made to order through local partners, helping reduce the environmental impact. 

Her to-do list was becoming unmanageable. 

• Manually navigating disconnected order platforms

• Tracking analytics across multiple unconnected channels

• Managing large and unconnected volumes of stock 

• Losing time & money as a result of disjointed fulfilment processes 

• Juggling a number of messaging channels

• Staying on top of frequent regulatory changes

• Finding the time to personalize communications to enhance the customer experience

How could she keep growing without hiring any helping hands?

“There is a point in every solopreneur’s journey where you realize you can’t grow if you do everything yourself. I knew I wanted to fuel our growth through technology rather than by hiring a team. But I was struggling to find a usable, affordable solution."

The solutions: Conquering a global market with Make

Sarah didn’t hire a team. She built it.

“Make runs my business now. I think of it as my team. I have scenarios acting like different departments: operations, analytics, customer support, and order management. It covers pretty much everything I need.”

Here’s how she did it:

Accessing systems and data in one place. 

For the first time, Sarah could see her entire business in one place – orders, stock, fulfilment paths, customer journeys, performance, and cross-channel patterns.

Make unifies Sarah’s disconnected e-commerce data in a single operational flow, pulling in information from multiple platforms: retailers' platforms, suppliers' platforms, databases, analytics hubs, internal notes,and customer data. 

Smart, sustainable logistics at scale 

Make operates as her team of fulfillment specialists, helping Sarah’s one-person business sell and operate profitably at scale. Whether Sarah gets one order per day or hundreds, she’s confident she can balance her business's needs with her customers' needs. 

Sarah reduced the costs and time of fulfillment for each order, while increasing the scale and complexity of what she could offer: 

• If a mug is ordered in Germany, Make routes the order to a German printer

• If a shirt is ordered in the US, it’s forwarded to her partner in California 

• If a customer wants a customized product (e.g., custom text), the order is adjusted and tailored to the formats and specifications of the relevant partner

• If regulation changes in the markets she operates in, Sarah’s notified and kept on track with what she needs to do on Notion, Gmail, and Google Calendars

Without Make, my business would be much more restricted. If I had one order in California, one in Germany, and one in Australia, Make can cope with that most efficiently. I can also offer a much broader range of products than before. The automation really opened a whole variety of options for me.”

She can serve more customers, expand her product range, and enter new markets. She can increase the efficacy and sustainability of her operations and stay on track with regulations. All while remaining the only (human) team member. 

“[Keeping up with regulation] is necessary but not creative and not fun. It’s easy for it to slip your mind. Make keeps me on track so I don’t forget anything.”

Personalization at scale

One of Sarah’s special touches is the personal note customers receive with their order. These notes reference custom information (e.g., name, the product they bought, the channel they shopped in). And include a personalised product recommendation and offer.

Make takes the general message Sarah has crafted and automatically adds client-specific details. It helps Sarah scale the process while ensuring each customer feels happy and valued. 

“The level of personalization is one of the most frequent positive feedback I receive. Customers really appreciate these notes being crafted specifically for them, and I couldn’t do it so quickly or accurately without Make’s assistance.”

Unlocking creativity with AI

For Sarah, the use of technology is about more than saving time and improving accuracy. Like any good team, they also brainstorm ways to solve problems creatively and improve the quality of their work. Sarah uses Make’s AI tools and AI agents to: 

• Automatically generate product-specific messages

• Paraphrase messages to avoid repetitive wording

• Prepare personalized files for order production

• Solve problems that automations will encounter (e.g. ambiguities) when using a wide range of partner platforms

• Find ways to better format the posts on her website for SEO

“Creative thinking works beautifully with Make, and it got even stronger with Make’s AI. Together, they help me build imaginative scenarios that solve problems in ways people might not expect.”

The result: a business that punches above its weight

Make transformed Art of Your Success into a scalable, resilient business that operates far beyond the limits of a traditional solopreneur operation.

• A fully unified business: All platforms, products, stock, and analytics are connected through one intelligent ecosystem.

• Logistics that scale automatically: Smart routing selects the best supplier in any region, ensuring fast and sustainable fulfilment.

• A broader product range: Personalization and made-to-order processes became efficient enough to expand Sarah’s catalog dramatically.

• Stronger customer relationships: Personalized notes and accurate fulfillment lead to glowing positive reviews and repeat buyers.

• Creative time restored: Less admin and fewer repetitive tasks make time for more designing and creating

• Compliance made simple: she’s supported in keeping on top of regulations, compliance deadlines, and platform updates

• A growth with no limits: If an unexpected flood of orders comes overnight, Make and Sarah’s global suppliers can still handle them instantly.

“My team is called Make”

For Sarah, Make isn’t just a tool. It’s the infrastructure that allows her to run a business on a global scale, without the resources of a large company. 

Art of Your Success is proof that a solopreneur can run a global e-commerce operation sustainably, creatively, and powerfully. With Make as their team.

Because when vision meets automation, that’s when you make it happen.

“When your scenarios run well, it feels like finishing a marathon. You put in the work, and you’re proud of the result.”