Empowering Digital Creativity



Omari Harebin (of SQSP Themes) is a digital entrepreneur whose focus is on enhancing Squarespace websites with plugins and other customizations that aren’t offered natively by Squarespace. His website, sqspthemes.com, has been active for almost nine years and has seen steady growth — much of it scaled and enhanced through SendOwl.

What’s more, his work as a digital entrepreneur has empowered him to build a life for himself and his family that’s centered around freedom, growth, and practical skill development.

This month, we sat down with Omari to learn more about his work — including how he uses SendOwl and what’s on the horizon for him, professionally and personally.

Can you give us a high-level overview of what you offer through SendOwl?

I sell Squarespace plugins to web designers who want more out of the platform. They’re all pre-packaged and sold exclusively through SendOwl.

How did you get started, and how long have you been operating?

I started freelancing in 2014 as a full-time creative with dreams of making passive income online. A year in, I realized I needed to find a more specific niche for my business to thrive. That's when I started focusing on serving clients with Squarespace websites. But with a toddler and another baby on the way, I needed a product that could sell itself. Eventually I found a developer who could take the problems I was solving for clients one-on-one and turn them into plugins we could scale one-to-many. We've been selling plugins now since 2017.

How did you identify this need?

Compared to other website builders, Squarespace is a relatively closed platform that mostly attracts DIY creators. Which means if you want something out of the box, you have to hire a developer to do it. After I’d been meeting that need for a couple years, it became obvious to me that there was a huge opportunity to package these out-of-the-box solutions as plugins.

Has your growth been primarily due to referrals? Have you had to innovate along the way, to continue to grow?

For the last few years, the majority of the business has come through referral traffic and repeat sales. That said, in the beginning, my main focus was on SEO and building a strong community. The SEO strategy was simple: I was solving very specific problems, so if someone searched something like “how to add a sidebar to my Squarespace blog,” I made sure we had the answer.

And yes, we’ve definitely had to innovate — and a lot of that comes from interacting with our community. That’s where I get interested in new problems to solve and integrations to create. 

Is any part of your offering a bespoke consultation, development, and implementation service? Or is everything pre-packaged?

My number-one priority is my family — I homeschool both of my kids. From a lifestyle perspective, it’s not really feasible for me to tailor plugins and tools for specific customers anymore. So almost the entirety of my business is coming from the existing plugins on the site.

Let's talk about your relationship with SendOwl — you’ve been a great partner for us for a long time. Can you share a little bit about your experience with us?

Of course! I started using SendOwl in January of 2018. A main reason I was drawn to the platform was the one-click checkout (a huge driver of conversions) and customizable checkout process. I love that I’m able to add upsells, downsells, and cross-sells at checkout.

That said, there are tons of other features I love, too — for instance, uploading files is totally seamless. Customer notifications are very simple and intuitive as well. And it all works great right out of the box. I’m a developer, but I love that I don’t have to spend time developing the platform I’m using to sell my products — SendOwl just works.

At the end of the day, SendOwl works seamlessly for me. But more importantly, it works just as well for my customers — so it’s a win-win for both of us.

Are there any specific areas of the business that SendOwl has impacted and helped with the most?

Well, everything related to customer activity tracking is very seamless and easy to use. I can track customer history and affiliate conversions with no issues at all. Abandoned cart notifications, things like that, are extremely helpful, too. And then, like I said, the digital product uploads are very simple — my plugins aren’t hosted on the cloud, and SendOwl makes it very, very easy to update the files that I’m selling.

Here’s a video on my favorite features:

https://youtu.be/3InAe7BOChY

Do you have a single favorite SendOwl feature?

I mentioned it earlier, but the customizable checkout flow that SendOwl offers allows me to create a checkout experience that’s my own and delivers an optimal experience for my specific customers. This is the number-one feature I recommend to anyone selling digital products. It’s a game-changer!

What’s on the horizon for you, from a business perspective?

Well, most of my time is focused on my family, but I’m working on a “Digital Alchemy Lab” that empowers other freelancers — especially parents — to move from time-based, one-on-one work to selling digital products. Obviously, SendOwl has been a huge part of my success in that area.

What are the core values of your business?

I always try to approach things from a very human, authentic perspective — never robotic or cold. At the end of the day, you could say I’m focused on autonomy and authenticity.

How has SendOwl been as a partner to you? What do you think of the features, ease of use, the customer service, etc.?

There are really four things that have made the biggest difference for me, and it all ties into the fact that SendOwl has everything I need to be able to grow and scale:

1. The integration for my business and my lifestyle has been seamless — it just works for my business and my personal goals. That may seem vague, but it is genuine.

2. The ability to upsell with the customizable checkout has been a huge win for me.

3. SendOwl works “out of the box” — I don’t need any third-party affiliate or other integrations.

It’s just all been so seamless, so the customer service piece hasn’t been a huge need for me. And all of the above really feels like it’s done at such a high level that I’ve never needed to look elsewhere for the services SendOwl provides.

Okay, we’ve talked a lot about your business and how you use SendOwl. But we’d love to hear more about you, your goals, and where things are headed for you.

My business is steady — I’ve been fortunate in that way. Like I said, most of my time is heavily focused on homeschooling my kids — that is priority number one for me.

But, as an extension of that, the Digital Alchemy Lab is part of what I’ll be spending time on in the future. I want to help other parents learn how to use their skills and abilities — and package them as digital products. Which, in turn, will free them up to spend more time with their families and on other things they love.

Follow Omair on Linkedin to learn more.

In that vein, do you have any advice you’d give to other entrepreneurs looking to move into the digital product space?

Tackle one problem at a time. But document all the problems or opportunities that you encounter along the way, so you can come back to them. It’s tempting to skip the line, maybe take some shortcuts. But you can only get as far as the problem directly in front of you. As long as you capture each issue, and tackle it head-on, you’ll be accumulating small assets that will compound over time.

Do you have a single thing that you’re most proud of, through all that you’ve built?

The freedom and lifestyle I’ve created for my family — it’s such a blessing.

Do you have a customer success story of your own? Would you like to be featured in this newsletter? Send us a note! - [email protected]