The Operating System: How to Run a Squarespace Business from Google Sheets

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In Part 1, we showed how a simple Squarespace form could become a powerful trigger for smart automations. We took you through transforming form submissions into dynamic workflows that do more than just notify you.

Now, in Part 2, we’re stepping beyond the inbox. We’re going to show how you can turn Google Sheets - as part of your Google Workspace - into a compact operating system for your business. That means not just reacting to form entries, but also interacting with APIs, handling data from multiple sources, and running your core processes seamlessly behind the scenes.

A sale is a good thing. But it’s not the finish line.

Someone places an order or books a service. Money changes hands. A confirmation email goes out. But that’s just the start.

Inside the business, the real work is only beginning.

Orders need preparing. Deliveries need routing. Follow-ups need sending. Stock needs updating. Trials need nurturing. Admin needs checking. And staff need to know what to do without digging through emails or spreadsheets at 6am.

This is where most small businesses begin to wobble. Not because the product is bad or the service is poor, but because the operational layer has not been designed. The website is the shop window, but there is no system running the shop floor.

The good news is that you don’t need enterprise software. You don’t need a logistics platform, CRM subscription or project-management suite. And you definitely do not need to migrate away from Squarespace.

You just need an operating system. And that operating system can be Google Sheets — backed by Google Workspace and powered by Apps Script.

Form submissions or sales on your Squarespace site trigger the workflow. Google Sheets and Apps Script keep everything moving.

A quick note on code:
We’re deliberately not going into line-by-line code examples here. The value isn’t in the syntax — it’s in the shape of the workflow. Once you understand the process, the code can be generated, adapted or extended with AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude. The real skill is knowing what you want the system to do, not memorising Apps Script functions.

Why Google Sheets?

Because processes beat products.

For the average small business, most professional software is mismatched to scale.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are overloaded with sales features you will never use. Logistics platforms expect warehouse-level complexity. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) require training. Project-management suites assume you have managers. And almost everything comes with monthly fees that grow faster than your business.

Google Sheets, connected to the outside world through Apps Script, gives you something none of those tools offer: a right-sized operating system.

• structured data

• structured processes

• structured decisions

• no subscription bloat

And because the logic lives in one place, your Squarespace website becomes the front end of a much deeper workflow.

To show what this looks like in practice, let us start with the heartbeat of any service business: pre-sales.

Reality Check

Google Sheets is powerful, but it’s not magical.

This model works beautifully for small businesses, structured workflows, and predictable order volumes. It’s not a replacement for a full-scale data warehouse or a multi-warehouse logistics system.

When you outgrow the 10 million cell limit or hit Apps Script quotas, you may need to consider a more robust backend. But until then, you have a flexible and cost-effective system that fits your business like a glove.

CASE STUDY 1: The Pre-Sales Engine

My Personalized Flow for Managing Client Trials

In my own business, I’ve created a workflow to manage clients who request an extended free trial and a discount on a duplicated Squarespace site.

I used to pay £100 a month for HubSpot, juggling its sales and marketing modules just to manage the free trial setup process. Now, by using Google Sheets and Apps Script, I’ve replaced that entire workflow for free.

Each request is logged into a Google Sheet, and Apps Script sends out an initial email with instructions. If they don’t respond right away, the system sends a follow-up after a few days, ensuring no one gets forgotten.

Once the client completes each step, I update a dropdown in the sheet to move them to the next stage. This personalized flow keeps me from losing track of any client and makes sure I always know exactly where everyone stands.

If you have a multi-step process - like onboarding new clients, managing trials, or any workflow that involves multiple stages - you can use Google Sheets and Apps Script to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. This approach ensures that every step is logged, every client gets timely follow-ups, and you never lose track of where anyone is in the process.

CASE STUDY 2: The Post-Sales Engine

From Manual Spreadsheets to Automated Precision

This solution is for a meal delivery service in the Washington, D.C. area with an expanding customer base. They moved to Squarespace for its beautiful brand presentation, but the complexity of the order information output by the Squarespace back end made their old manual order processing flow impossible to maintain.

Now, the process is automated. The system pulls data from the Squarespace Commerce API into a Google Sheet where Apps Script processes it, generating a human-friendly view that the kitchen and delivery drivers can easily use. Drivers get a clear delivery list, and customers receive automatic reminders.

Order details pane helps the delivery driver plan their route.

If your business involves more than just packing an order into a box—if you need to manage a chain of events after each order is placed—then this kind of automation is for you. Instead of dealing with a flood of raw data or trying to keep track of multiple steps manually, you can let automation break down each order into a clear, step-by-step workflow. That means everything from kitchen prep to delivery reminders is handled seamlessly, so you can focus on running your business.

Vibe coding - use the AI as your coding assistant, not the chief developer

One of the most empowering parts of this approach is how accessible it is.

You do not have to be a developer. You just need to understand your process.

Modern AI tools are excellent at vibe coding:

• you describe the workflow

• the model produces a draft

• you test it

• when it breaks

• you paste the error into another model

• it fixes the logic

• repeat until it works

This is not about perfect code. It is about iterative collaboration.

Your expertise defines the workflow. AI provides the scaffolding.

And then something interesting happens

Once you have built a few of these applications, you naturally begin to accumulate a set of utility modules. These are not full apps. They are the quiet building blocks that every Google Workspace app needs — the infrastructure you no longer want to rewrite each time.

Instead of starting from scratch, you hand this toolkit to the AI at the beginning of a new build and say:

"Use these utilities where helpful, and focus only on the business logic."

The impact is immediate:

• faster builds

• fewer errors

• consistent naming and patterns

• clear separation between logic and mechanics

• no reinventing the wheel

• a steadily improving internal framework

What this achieves

This is where vibe coding becomes more than a convenience. It becomes a lightweight internal framework — one shaped by your own projects, not a vendor's assumptions.

• your toolkit handles the heavy lifting

• AI assembles the pieces

• you focus on the workflow

The result is something most teams do not realise is possible:

An AI-augmented development cycle that lets small businesses build modular, maintainable operating systems inside Google Workspace.

My Core Apps Script Toolkit

Network (API Workhorse)

Wrapper for UrlFetchApp: GET/POST/PUT, auth, JSON parsing, readable errors.

SheetUtils (Grid Manager)

Safe Sheets interaction: locking, getDataAsObjects, row moves.

DataUtils (Translator)

Cleans and transforms: date parsing, sanitising AI output, email validation, Base64.

AI (Brain)

Gemini wrapper: one-call interface, payload handling, temperature control, clean output.

GitHub (Publisher)

JSON storage/CDN: Smart Sync and pushJson updates.

LogUtils (Audit Trail)

Structured logging: auto-create sheets, write entries, timestamp everything.

Your business does not need more software.

It needs a better system.

Part 1 showed that Squarespace forms are triggers.
Part 2 shows how the backend can be just as powerful.

Together, they give you:

• intake

• operations

• delivery

All using tools you already have: Squarespace, Google Sheets, Apps Script and Google Workspace.

Right-sized. Cost-effective. Tailored.

Your website is the front of house. Google Sheets runs the system. Apps Script keeps it moving.

Everything else is workflow.