Paglow Automations

10/14/2026

Community health work in this county depends on data, and the tools behind that data often come from vendors in Chicago or other big cities. That can run $30,000 a year or more.

For years, if you needed that kind of software, you bought it from somewhere else because nobody here was building it.

We've been working on a local version, to show it can be done in Lima. Same idea, built around our own county, supported by people who live down the road.

Thirty thousand dollars a year is a lot of money for a community group. Kept here, it pays local wages and gets spent at local shops, restaurants and service businesses. It keeps working for Allen County instead of leaving it.

The groups doing this work are the ones doing the hard part. We'd love to see more of what supports that work built here at home. 🌱

10/13/2026

We've been doing a little math about Lima lately.

When you buy groceries from a local store or get your car fixed at a shop in town, a good share of that money stays here. It pays someone's wages, and they spend it at another Lima business.

Software doesn't work that way. The subscriptions that run scheduling, phones, reviews and websites for most local businesses get paid to companies in other states. That money leaves Allen County and it's gone.

A subscription here, another one there. Then multiply it by every business in the county.

We think a good share of it can stay home. Built here, by people who live here, and fitted to how Lima businesses actually work instead of how a company in another time zone guessed they might.

That's what October is about for us. Keeping Lima's tech dollars in Lima.

10/12/2026

There's a kid in Lima right now, maybe at a high school, maybe at one of the colleges, who's really good with computers.

There's a decent chance they think they'll have to leave to do anything with it. And you can see why. Most of the software businesses here run on is made in some other state.

We think that can change, a piece at a time. Every phone system, website or app that gets built in Lima instead of rented from somewhere far away keeps money here. It also puts real tech work in Allen County, the kind a young person can look at and think: I could do that here.

Keeping Lima's tech dollars in Lima is about the dollars. It's also about the people we'd love to see stick around. 🏡

10/11/2026

Lima folks, the Chamber's Beantown Biz Bash is back Thursday, Nov. 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Civic Center downtown. Expect local vendors, speakers, networking, music and games. The Lima News says pre-sale tickets are $10 for Chamber members and $15 for everyone else. It's $30 at the door, so grab them early.

Events like this make it easy to see where your money goes. Most of us pick the local plumber or the corner bakery without thinking twice. The software side of a small business is different. The phone answering, the website and the customer list often get paid to a company far from here.

That money could stay in Allen County. Swing by on the 5th, shake some hands, and think about which monthly bills you'd rather pay to someone down the road.

LIMA — The Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce will host the Beantown Biz Bash from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Veterans Memorial Civic Center, 7 Town Square, Lima.

10/10/2026

Mark Thursday, Nov. 5. The Chamber's Beantown Biz Bash is back at the Veterans Memorial Civic Center, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lima News says there'll be speakers, music, games and a lot of local businesses under one roof. Tickets are $10 ahead of time for Chamber members, $15 if you're not, and $30 at the door.

If you run a shop around here, try this before you go. Look at what you pay every month to software companies you've never met. The answering service. The website. The booking tool. Write it down and bring it with you.

Then ask the folks at the booths who does that kind of work in Lima. You might be surprised how much of it can stay in town. Some of it's what we build at Paglow. Plenty of it isn't, and that's fine. Local is local. 🤝

LIMA — The Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce will host the Beantown Biz Bash from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Veterans Memorial Civic Center, 7 Town Square, Lima.

10/09/2026

This one matters a lot to us.

For some people, making a phone call is really hard. A lot of autistic folks and people with ADHD know the feeling well: the call you put off for three days, the script you rehearse, the relief when it goes to voicemail.

When a local business only books by phone, those neighbors often give up and order from some big national website instead. Nobody chose that on purpose. It's how things were set up.

We build ways for Lima businesses to be reached in writing. A chatbot that actually knows the business and can book the appointment. A text that goes out within a minute of a missed call. A real answer at 11 at night.

It makes a local shop easier to reach for everyone. And it means more of Allen County can shop Allen County. 💙

10/08/2026

Did you get a chance to fill out the city's small business survey?

It closed Sept. 30. It's part of Fifth Third Bank picking Lima back in March as the first city in its Small Cities and Small Towns Initiative, with four years of help aimed at local priorities like small business. WLIO covered it last month.

It's good to see money coming in to help Lima businesses grow. It's worth looking at what goes out, too. The phone answering service, the website platform, the scheduling app. A lot of those monthly charges go to companies out of state.

We'd like to see more of that stay in Allen County. That's why we build those tools right here, set up around how your shop actually runs.

If you took the survey, what did you tell them you need most? 👇

The city of Lima is asking local small business owners and entrepreneurs to complete a survey identifying their needs and concerns. The survey is part of Fifth Third Bank's Small Cities and Small Towns Initiative and is available through the city's website until Sept. 30.

10/04/2026

A lot of owners couldn't tell you what their shop paid for software last month.

Small Business Expo surveyed 781 small business owners back in March. 41% said their software costs went up in the past year. 24% weren't sure.

Most of that money leaves town. It's a handful of autopay charges going to companies a long way from Allen County.

Try this. Pull last month's statement and circle every software charge. Then ask which ones somebody local could build for you instead. After-hours phone answering and a customer list are two good places to start.

That's the kind of thing we build at Paglow, right here in Lima.

Survey data (n=781) shows 41% of small business owners report rising software costs, raising questions about margins and cost visibility.

10/03/2026

Quick homework for Lima business owners.

Small Business Expo surveyed 781 owners this spring. 41% said their software bills went up in the last year. And 24% said they didn't know if theirs did or not.

So grab last month's card statement and circle every software charge. Scheduling, the CRM, the website, the answering service. Then look at where each of those companies is based.

Chances are none of them are in Allen County. That's money leaving town every month, and the price keeps creeping up.

Some of it you need. But a lot of it can be built here in Lima, set up for how your shop really runs, by people you can call when something's off. That's what we do at Paglow Automations.

Survey data (n=781) shows 41% of small business owners report rising software costs, raising questions about margins and cost visibility.

10/02/2026

Quick one for Lima business owners 👇

The City of Lima is running a survey for small business owners and anyone thinking about starting one. It's part of the four-year partnership with Fifth Third Bank and Enterprise Community Partners. The answers will help decide where support goes next, including whether Lima gets a small business incubator.

So fill it out. And when it asks what you need, mention the boring stuff too. The answering service run from two time zones away. The website platform you pay every month and have never talked to a human at. That's Lima money leaving town every month.

We'd like to see more of it stay here. The survey is on the City of Lima's website.

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