Education is one of the cornerstones of any child’s development. Providing kids with the proper information, tools, and resources to foster learning and growth is critical to their success both in education and in their personal lives. However, not all children learn the same way. Many children find it difficult to focus in a classroom setting or have individual reasons why a typical school environment doesn’t bring out their academic best. For this reason, many parents turn to homeschooling options for their children. Not Grass, based in Tennessee, is a company that provides educational curriculum for children K-12 who are homeschooled. They sell curricula for the subjects of history, geography, government, civics, and economics, including literature and hands-on activities.
Not Grass finds its roots in the Notgrass family– John, his parents Ray and Charlene, and his siblings. Back in 1990, Ray and Charlene began homeschooling their children. It didn’t take long for the parental duo to realize that the materials they were using to teach their children could benefit homeschooling families everywhere. In 1999, Not Grass the company was formed.
As the homeschooling industry has grown over the past 25 years, so has Not Grass and its customer base. With this continuous growth came a demand for a more integrated software solution to help manage the company’s business needs– this is where Odoo comes in.
Flying blind before Odoo
Before using Odoo, Not Grass was using Shopify for eCommerce, Quickbooks for accounting, and SOS Inventory for inventory management. John Notgrass, son of founders Ray and Charlene and current Business Manager for the company, says that these platforms often didn’t communicate well with one another. The lack of integration between systems made it particularly difficult for him and his team to have up-to-the-minute data for inventory and balance sheets. As John explains, using the company’s old system was like “flying blind”:
The inventory software got out of whack pretty often, so I couldn’t always rely on that for accurate counts or values of our inventory, so it was hard to get accurate reports because I couldn’t rely on the inventory software.
John also explains that Shopify was frustrating for him to use due to limitations with the software’s customization capabilities. He wanted more control over certain things, such as how the website looked and functioned. Overall, the company’s piecemeal system wasn’t providing the insight and connectivity that John desired:
“I really wanted to find something that would unify our core business functions.”
John began researching ERP options for Not Grass, including Netsuite. He explains that Odoo particularly stood out amongst the slew of options due to its more affordable price point, which was a big factor for the company. It also had not only the features he needed already built in, but also the ability to customize the database to fit his exact business needs. Not Grass turned to Odoo Partner Talus ERP for its expertise on Odoo and assistance during implementation. John was impressed not only with Talus ERP’s help during Not Grass’s transition to Odoo but with its continued support as well:
They really understood Odoo, and they also took time to understand our business, and they helped me feel comfortable that it would be a good match for us. And it helped us grow. Our business has about doubled over the past 5 years.
Educational excellence with Odoo’s integration and insight
Not Grass went live with Odoo on January 1st, 2023. The company initially used Odoo for accounting and inventory while it worked on building a website behind closed doors. Once it felt comfortable with the website's progress, it launched it in April of that year. John appreciates the high level of customizability that the website builder has, especially in comparison to Shopify.
John also explains that as Not Grass’s Business Manager, Odoo has afforded him insight into all of the numbers related to the business, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory levels, and sales levels. This level of reporting is exponentially better than what John was able to pull from the company’s previous system:
Having Odoo has made [seeing numbers] so much easier because, with a couple of clicks, I can pull up any report I want– monthly sales stats, annual sales stats, individual products. Odoo makes it really easy to find specific data I need to help make decisions for how to run our business.
As the demand for homeschooling materials only continues to grow, Odoo has given John Notgrass the tools needed to scale up his business. With better integration, communication across applications, and reporting capabilities on the company’s side, Not Grass is focusing on the most important matter at hand: the education of homeschooled children across the country.
Location/Region: Gainesboro, Tennessee
Industry: Education (K-12)
Apps implemented: Accounting, Sales, Inventory, Website
Software Replaced: Shopify, Quickbooks, SOS Inventory
Number of users: 6
Company size: 13
Hosting type: Odoo.sh
Education is one of the cornerstones of any child’s development. Providing kids with the proper information, tools, and resources to foster learning and growth is critical to their success both in education and in their personal lives. However, not all children learn the same way. Many children find it difficult to focus in a classroom setting or have individual reasons why a typical school environment doesn’t bring out their academic best. For this reason, many parents turn to homeschooling options for their children. Not Grass, based in Tennessee, is a company that provides educational curriculum for children K-12 who are homeschooled. They sell curricula for the subjects of history, geography, government, civics, and economics, including literature and hands-on activities.
Not Grass finds its roots in the Notgrass family– John, his parents Ray and Charlene, and his siblings. Back in 1990, Ray and Charlene began homeschooling their children. It didn’t take long for the parental duo to realize that the materials they were using to teach their children could benefit homeschooling families everywhere. In 1999, Not Grass the company was formed.
As the homeschooling industry has grown over the past 25 years, so has Not Grass and its customer base. With this continuous growth came a demand for a more integrated software solution to help manage the company’s business needs– this is where Odoo comes in.
Flying blind before Odoo
Before using Odoo, Not Grass was using Shopify for eCommerce, Quickbooks for accounting, and SOS Inventory for inventory management. John Notgrass, son of founders Ray and Charlene and current Business Manager for the company, says that these platforms often didn’t communicate well with one another. The lack of integration between systems made it particularly difficult for him and his team to have up-to-the-minute data for inventory and balance sheets. As John explains, using the company’s old system was like “flying blind”:
John also explains that Shopify was frustrating for him to use due to limitations with the software’s customization capabilities. He wanted more control over certain things, such as how the website looked and functioned. Overall, the company’s piecemeal system wasn’t providing the insight and connectivity that John desired:
“I really wanted to find something that would unify our core business functions.”
John began researching ERP options for Not Grass, including Netsuite. He explains that Odoo particularly stood out amongst the slew of options due to its more affordable price point, which was a big factor for the company. It also had not only the features he needed already built in, but also the ability to customize the database to fit his exact business needs. Not Grass turned to Odoo Partner Talus ERP for its expertise on Odoo and assistance during implementation. John was impressed not only with Talus ERP’s help during Not Grass’s transition to Odoo but with its continued support as well:
Educational excellence with Odoo’s integration and insight
Not Grass went live with Odoo on January 1st, 2023. The company initially used Odoo for accounting and inventory while it worked on building a website behind closed doors. Once it felt comfortable with the website's progress, it launched it in April of that year. John appreciates the high level of customizability that the website builder has, especially in comparison to Shopify.
John also explains that as Not Grass’s Business Manager, Odoo has afforded him insight into all of the numbers related to the business, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory levels, and sales levels. This level of reporting is exponentially better than what John was able to pull from the company’s previous system:
As the demand for homeschooling materials only continues to grow, Odoo has given John Notgrass the tools needed to scale up his business. With better integration, communication across applications, and reporting capabilities on the company’s side, Not Grass is focusing on the most important matter at hand: the education of homeschooled children across the country.
Start now - It's free Schedule a demo