Meet Clara, Owner of Pronoia 11:11 Skincare in Miami, Florida.

Let’s give a warm welcome to Clara. Once part of the corporate skincare game, Clara left to pursue her dream of owning a business where she could accomplish her goal of making each of her clients feel good physically, mentally & spiritually through a unique suite of services.

Now, 11 years in, this Miami-based skin magician is thriving. We hope you enjoy our interview with the owner of Pronoia 11:11 as much as we did:

Why did Clara choose Bookedin for appointment scheduling?

Clara found Bookedin as a happy accident . Knowing she needed *something* as a new business owner, she stumbled upon us when she was checking out another Bookedin user’s profile. Once Clara clicked the link she realized straightaway she’d found something “cool.” The moment she saw Bookedin was a spa booking app that took up-front deposits & online payments… it was a match made in heaven. Deal officially sealed.

How did online booking change Clara’s life?

Clara’s business has gotten busier since COVID-19 (yes, you read that right), and Bookedin’s software has been there to help. Now that she’s added her booking link to her website, she’s free from constant interruptions during her appointments and finding it easier (and more financially lucrative) for invoicing.

Thanks to upfront deposits & an online schedule, Clara has more time to take care of her business… you know, beyond just answering the phone & returning voicemails.

You can read our full interview with Clara below:

 

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A post shared by Pronoia 11:11 Skincare Inc. (@pronoia11.11_skincare) on May 6, 2020 at 6:22am PDT

Tell me a bit about how your shop got started.

Well, I’ve been an esthetician for just a little under 11 years now. I had tried to start my business prior but I ended up working in a corporate skincare facility. And from there, I just didn’t feel like I was able to grow, so I ventured out. There were other treatments I wanted to do that weren’t being offered where I was at. So I just decided to expand and start my own thing.

Related → The Must-Have Guide for Booking More Makeup Clients

What challenges were you experiencing in your business that led you to look for a solution like Bookedin?

When I started out, I just didn’t know what to use. I was just kinda like, “What do I do?”

I knew there were booking apps out there, but I wasn’t really familiar because I never had to use them — it was always done for me. I just kind of stumbled upon Bookedin by accident, to be honest with you.

I had actually looked into someone else’s profile and the link was in their profile and I clicked on it, and I was like, “Oh, this is perfect.” And I looked into it, went on the website and looked at it and I was like, “This is something cool.”

And then on top of it, I realized that you guys also added a feature where you could take payment on there too, so for me that was awesome, ’cause for deposits and stuff like that, it really works.

For some services our clients do deposits, and others don’t need to put a deposit down. It really helps.

What made you choose Bookedin over other products on the market?

People had mentioned others, even while I was already on Bookedin. I had looked at others, but I’ll be honest with you, I’ve just been so very comfortable already, that everything else is either comparable or is different, and the differences are things that I don’t really care for. So that’s why I’ve always just stuck with Bookedin.

What specific improvements have you seen as a result of using BookedIn?

Well, more specifically, speaking of what’s going on right now (COVID-19), it’s helped a lot. It’s helped a lot with that. Honestly, I didn’t have the link put into anything just yet, I would only give it to specific clients of mine.

And that was because I, for some reason, I don’t know what it was, that I just really liked to have control over my book like that. But most recently, because it’s been getting a lot busier, I’ve given the link out, I’ve posted it.

Now I have it on my website so people can just directly book from there, and it makes life so much easier for me. And actually, even financially, yes, because the way I was doing my invoices before for payments or deposit was a little bit different, and now they can do it directly through the website when they book their reservations, which is a lot easier for me too, versus having to write out an invoice for them.

I guess, what I’m trying to say is, it does benefit me financially, yes, because even people that I haven’t spoken to in the past can just go on the website, and if they wanna book, they just put their deposit there versus where I think people were shy to ask before.

So, now they’re just, “Okay, whatever.” And it’s easier. Because sometimes people, even though I try to pre-book while they’re in my suite, sometimes people don’t know their schedules, so sometimes they do have to book later on.

And I think for them, sometimes it’s easier because still since I’m with other guests, sometimes it takes me a while to answer them. So for them, it’s easier to just go online, book it, and that’s it, and then, it shortens that period of time where they’re like, “Okay. Well, does she have the time or not?”

So they can just do it, and I think it helps and it helps us both, that way I’m not taking time from the clients I’m with & in between clients, I can just do other things

Related → How to Build a Business that Stands Out (and Thrives)

What would you tell other salons who are experiencing similar challenges like you were?

Just to stay positive.

I think a lot of people tend to, when they see things not going right, they tend to just, I don’t wanna say give up, but they just get stuck in this, “I don’t know what to do.” But just keep pushing forward. We all start somewhere.

And then surround yourself with like­-minded people that are gonna help you and aren’t scared to tell you, “These are my suggestions, these are my recommendations, these are the tools that I use, and the tools that help me.”

‘Cause some people always see other people as competition, and instead of that, “No, we’re here to work together.” I’m very pro small business owners. I love it, I love it.

Especially nowadays, I feel like they’re coming out more the small businesses, so I’m very pro, “Yeah, go out and do your own thing.” And I give people… Even Bookedin, I constantly, I’m like, “This is what I use, and it really helps me a lot.” So I’ve had a couple of others… I also teach I don’t know if I mentioned that to you before, I teach classes. So I always give them a list of information and things that I use, and I tell them, “As far as booking apps, this is what I use.“

Meet Elisha Belden, co-owner of Twistid Ink

Three years ago, alongside her award-winning tattoo artist husband Danny Belden, Elisha opened Twistid Ink. Their Inverness, FL tattoo shop combines their love of historical tattoo culture with the clean, simplistic atmosphere that celebrates the future of the art form.

On top of her daily duties as a shop owner,  Elisha is the social media manager of TattooAwards, a content creator at tattoo.com and marketing manager at Saniderm. Phew.

Why Twistid Ink chose Bookedin for their tattoo booking app

After trying 30 (yes, 30) online schedulers, Elisha settled on Bookedin as their booking software. The biggest thing for Twistid Ink was having the ability to turn off the live scheduler. Elisha didn’t want her clients to schedule their own appointments, which can be a little tricky in the tattoo industry.

The second big feature Bookedin had was email customization. Elisha could change send times, frequency & whether they sent to email or mobile.

Finally, the fact she could put links right into the emails sealed the deal. That’s why Twistid Ink settled on Bookedin.

How tattoo appointment scheduling software changed Elisha’s life

When Elisha decided to switch to a tattoo booking app, two things changed immediately.

1 — Elisha found freedom. Automating her confirmation & reminder emails opened up time slots she didn’t know existed.

2 —Twistid’s vibe leveled up. With automation, the tattoo shop eliminated scheduling/reminder hiccups immediately found the professional feel they’d been searching for. Elisha told us it was *this feeling* was the reason they started sending emails in the first place.  In Elisha’s words

“Everything was taken care of for us and it gave Twistid Ink a really professional vibe from the outside.”

Related → How to Get More Tattoo Clients—The Ultimate Guide

You can read our full interview with Elisha Belden below:

 

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A post shared by Twistid Ink (@twistid_ink) on Jul 17, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

Tell me a little bit about how your shop got started.

So, I myself, am not a tattoo artist, my husband is. He’s been working for about 15 years, give or take, and in other smaller shops in our area. I was in retail business management, I did area management, multi­-store management, things like that.

It just kinda came down to, we weren’t thrilled with how things were operating where he was, and given my background and his background, we thought it was a great fit to open our own place. So we did. And we were incredibly pleased with the result.

We run it a little bit differently than a typical walk­-in shop. It’s more boutique-style, more personal, one­-on-­one. And from the day we opened (just over three years ago), we were already booked out almost a month in advance. So it’s just been that way ever since, so it’s worked well.

What challenges were you experiencing in your business that led you to look for a solution like Bookedin?

When we first opened, I was manually doing all of our appointment reminder emails. I found it was really important for clients to have that information. So I was sending a confirmation that they had booked, they were getting a 24­-hour appointment reminder, and then I was also sending out email links to different articles on tattoo.com. Those emails talked about how to prepare for your appointment, what to do beforehand, and tips for people new to getting tattoos, just so they had that information.

As we started getting busier, and these emails started getting more and more frequent, that was pretty much what I was spending my day doing. It was really hard to keep up. And then on the weekends, if we had appointments for Monday, I’d have to remind myself, “Okay. I’m at my kid’s softball game, but I gotta stop and send this email real quick.”

So I started looking for schedulers. I went through, I don’t know, 30 different websites before I stopped on Bookedin?

Related → Real Customers Reveal the Benefits of Online Appointment Booking

What made you choose BookedIn over other products on the market?

The biggest thing for me was that I had the ability to turn off the live scheduler, so I didn’t have to let my clients schedule their own appointments, which can be a little tricky in our industry. So that was one big feature.

The second big feature was that I could customize the reminder emails that went out. I could change the time frame that they sent out, how many times they were sent out and whether it went to email or mobile. Those were two of the big things, but the fact that I could go in and put links into these emails was a really big solidifier for me because it meant I could also then automate the reminder email with the links to how to prepare for your tattoo. So that’s why I decided to settle on Bookedin.

What specific improvements have you seen as a result of using Bookedin?

My time being freed up is a huge deal. I can just go ahead, plug the client in right when I’m setting up their initial appointment. And from there, their information is stored there. I have their email saved; I have their phone number saved, so it’s kinda like an address book for when I’m on the go as well because I have the mobile app and desktop.

It helped free up so much time for me, not having to copy and paste every single one of these emails. It was already automated and in there. And then the fact that the customers, on their end, were getting these reminders. I heard a lot of positive feedback about the reminders because I have it set to send two different ones.

So, we got a lot of positive feedback from clients on that, “Oh, hey. Thanks for reminding me.” And the fact that they can confirm their appointment through email helped as well.

Yeah, the biggest thing is it gave the shop a more professional feel, which is why we sent emails in the first place, instead of just, “Hey. This is your appointment. Have a good day. See you in two weeks,” kind of thing. Having emails going out makes it more clinical and more one on one. So it’s more like a doctor’s office versus just a regular tattoo shop. And that was a really big thing, being able to automate that process. There weren’t any hiccups. I didn’t forget anybody or anything like that. It was all taken care of and gave us this really professional vibe from the outside.

What would you tell other tattoo shops who are experiencing similar challenges like you were?

The biggest thing is just to be organized. Using programs like Bookedin really helps. When you’re starting out, you don’t wanna spend money on subscription fees and programs, but these things really do help your business.

It frees up your own time, it takes the “Oops” out of it. And it’s worth every penny you put into it. Just do a couple of free trials, find the programs that work for you. And that goes for your booking, your scheduling of social media, all those different programs. That’s my best advice to any business owner, is to try to automate your business as much as possible.

Do you have anything else to add?

The only thing I can say is that I’ve done the legwork, I’ve gone through all these different schedulers. If you’re looking to get an appointment scheduler or whether you’re looking to have your clients book your appointments for themselves, Bookedin is definitely the way to go.

It’s the most seamless, and it’s the least confusing program out there. It’s really simplified and easy, but so professional, all in one shot. So if you’re looking, just skip right to Bookedin. It’s the best one on the market.

Meet Jana, Owner of Styles and Smiles Family Salon in Rexburg, Idaho.

Say hello to Jana Bake. Hard-working hair salon owner from Idaho. This September Styles & Smiles Family Salon will celebrate their 4th anniversary. This mother of seven {yes, SEVEN} sat down to chat with us about all the ways Bookedin has helped her shop. From reducing interruptions, saving on startup costs, and (no biggie) 10X the number of clients in her chair.

Watch now and learn how salon scheduling software has been with her since the very beginning.

Why did Styles and Smiles Family Salon choose Bookedin for appointment scheduling?

The free trial initially drew Jana in… but it was all the features that kept her. The app gave her the option to take her *salon* home without her clients experiencing any difference in service. She could see what her appointments were, what was available, and what she could schedule – it made her look professional.

How did online booking change Jana’s life?

Moving to salon scheduling software has reduced the time and effort Jana has to spend interrupting the clients in her chair to pick up the phone. The hours wasted returning missed calls & endless messages left on voicemail. Jana also no longer has to worry about micromanaging the other stylists that work at her salon. They have full control over their day-to-day schedules, giving her more time to spend with her clients and family.

Related → The 4 Best Methods for Attracting New Clients to Your Salon [2020 update]

You can read our interview with Jana below:

 

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A post shared by Rexburg Hair and Beauty Salon (@styles_and_smiles_family_salon) on Mar 25, 2020 at 9:32am PDT

Tell me a bit about how your hair salon got started.

I was a stay-at-home homeschooling Mom with five kids and pregnant with number six, and I decided I needed something more to do. So I just thought I should buy and open up my own salon because I’m just like that, where I just like to have a lot on my plate. So I talked my husband into it and opened up my own salon. I opened in September of 2016. So we’re just coming up on four years now. I feel like we’re legit now. Like, we’re not so new anymore.

What challenges were you experiencing in your business that led you to look for a solution like Bookedin?

Well, I knew that I wanted something that would help save client information because we were using paper books to book people, I wanted something that would save my client information. Where I could save their color information, or their hair cutting information, or anything that I wanted to save on the client, and their appointment history.

I knew I wanted something that would help with that, and so that’s why I was looking for booking software. That, and the fact that I didn’t wanna have to pay for a salon phone. Because local phones cost so much and you get hardly anything out of it. So I didn’t wanna have to pay for a local phone. And so I wanted something that I could do on my own phone. And so something that had an app with it that would save information.

What made you choose Bookedin over other products on the market?

I just saw that it had the features I want. I liked that it had the app, and I liked that I could do it on my phone, and it had the computer version so I could use it on the computer at the salon as well. So they do have different views, and so I like that there are different ways you could have it on your phone.

But then, kinda the biggest thing, because I was just starting out and there are so many costs of starting a business. It was because it had a 30-day trial as opposed to a three-day or a one week, or a two-week because I wanted to cut down my costs as the start-up, and then I wanted to make sure that I liked it before committing to paying for something when I was like, “I don’t know if I’ll like it, I don’t know if this will be useful.”

I didn’t wanna have to fork out that money to start up with. So it was kind of that free trial, I was like, “Oh, this one has a longer free trial than the other one.”

So that’s kind of what got me because there are so many costs that go into a business. So, cutting them out wherever I could, and just looking at the monthly price and things like that as well. Well, this one has a free trial and then the monthly fee was cheaper than maybe some of the other ones as well. So I was looking at that as cost-wise.

And then I liked it enough that I kept with it, but I wanted to make sure that I liked it before spending the money on it. And I found that it was worth it, so I kept going with it, obviously. So I’ve had Bookedin from the very beginning. It was one of the very first things that I did. I was like, I’m gonna need something for my clients, I’m gonna need something for appointments, and I’m gonna need something that I can do from home, so I can answer the phone at home and pretend like I am at the salon and schedule people’s appointments right there, so.

Even with screaming kids in the background, I could say, “Yes, I’m at the salon. Let me look after you.” So, I could just fake it, just go hide in the bathroom and book appointments.

It made it nice that way that I could have a phone at home and I could take calls anytime 24/7. And I could see what my appointments were, what’s available, what I can schedule, and just do it right there from the phone. So it made it really nice that way.

We have a website now that we get a lot of bookings [on]. And I love that with Bookedin, I could embed it right on my website instead of having a link to go to a different website. A lot of booking systems have to do that where they have to click a link and then take them to a different website, but I was able to embed it right in there.

So my other stylists get a lot of bookings from our website, but then with Bookedin, I’m able to give them each their own login so they can have it on their phone. So they can check their schedule, they can adjust their hours if they need to, if they want to schedule appointments. And then it just shows on my end who scheduled the appointment, whether it was a client booked, or if one of my stylists booked it versus like if I booked it from my login or something.

So it does show who booked the appointment, and how it was booked and stuff. And so it’s nice on that end too, that I can see that the clients did it, or that my stylists did it, but then they can adjust their schedule. If they have extra hours and they wanna come in for more hours, they can adjust that on their phone and get more bookings. Or if they have to get off early, then they can adjust their schedule that way too, so I don’t have to worry about always having to do it myself.

So it’s nice that the stylists do have their own logins so that they can do it from their phones, and check their schedules, and know that they have appointments. I don’t have to do everything for them. They don’t have to call me and say, “Hey, I need to get off early,” they let me know, but then they can adjust it or if they wanna come in early or whatever.

I don’t have to do all that admin stuff of controlling everyone’s schedule and controlling everything. We have the weekly normal schedule that they have in there, and then they can adjust it as needed. They can book their own appointments with their friends, with their family, or if they find somebody on Facebook that’s looking for an appointment, they can book it rather than just sending to our website, but they do get a lot of bookings from the website as well.

Special note on Bookedin’s customer service:

One thing that I love about Bookedin is that you guys are always asking for feedback that I get regular emails of like, what else do you guys wanna see. What can we improve on? And so I really like that about you guys, that I feel like you guys are listening to us. And it’s not just there’s a bajillion users, ’cause some of them… Like there are other bigger booking companies, but I don’t feel like when I’m in my hairdresser groups, a lot of them are like, “Oh, you guys, I’m having this or that issue,” and they’re like, “Yeah, you’re not gonna hear from their tech support, you’re not gonna hear from their… ”

But I feel like, with Bookedin, I do get heard when I’ve ever had any issues and I email in, then there’s always somebody like, “Okay, how can we work on it?” They’re visiting my website, they’re clicking on things, seeing if they can figure out what’s going on. So what I really like about Bookedin is the customer service side. And customer service is a big deal for me, so I love that there is that part of it.

Related → Three Lies and a Truth About Appointment Scheduling Software

What specific improvements have you seen as a result of using Bookedin?

I’ve actually moved on from taking phone calls, so I don’t even have my phone number listed anymore. And so rather than taking phone calls and doing the bookings from home and taking phone calls 24/7, which I did at the beginning, now I send everyone to the website.

I’ve actually had a lot of people say that they’ve booked with us because of our online booking because they could just do it from home. I’ve had people book appointments in the middle of the night when they’re thinking about it, when they’re up late, nursing their babies in the middle of the night, and they’re like, “Man, my hair really needed to be done. Oh look, I can book an appointment.”

So I have had really, really good feedback from all of my clientele that they love the online booking feature, ’cause a lot of my clientele are busy Moms or stay-at-home Moms or Moms that are working part-time or things like that.

Students—we’re in a college town, so a lot of them are young Moms that are students or putting their husbands through school or just college students—and they love that they have the simplicity. They can look, they don’t have to make a phone call, they don’t have to try and do it during business hours, they can book any time. So I’ve gotten a really good response and a lot of people saying that they booked and came to us specifically because of our online booking and how easy it was to use.

For Jana: 

I can just, whatever, just send it to voicemail, the voicemail sends them to my website. And it’s easy enough that I’ve had very few people say that they can’t figure it out, but they’re more ones that are older people or ones that are not as tech-savvy. But for the most part, most people are like, “Oh my gosh, it was so easy. I just found the time that I wanted and I clicked on it, it was great.” So I’ve had really good feedback on the simplicity of it, and they love it.

What would you tell other salons who are experiencing similar challenges like you were?

Well, online booking is definitely the way to go with the people that you’re wanting to bring into your salon, the younger crowd. Everybody wants the convenience of online booking. So it’s an absolute must in salons nowadays that you have to have online booking. If you’re still using paper books and you’re scheduling everything by hand, that’s so obsolete, so you have to go with online booking.

And finding something that’s user-friendly, simple for people to use, that they can go right and find that time they need, that is so, such an essential thing in our business these days, especially where you can save all your client information so you know how many times they’ve been there, you know what they’ve scheduled for before, you know what you’ve done on them before. And so, it’s absolutely an essential thing for salons to have some kind of an online booking system. And so, to find one that’s gonna work for you, I love that we can do it from home, that we can have the apps, that everybody can see what their schedule is, that I can see what everyone else is doing, I can be checking on them from home.

And so, as a salon owner, you want to know what your stylists are doing. You don’t wanna just be like, “Well, I hope they’re not sitting around doing nothing,” because if you’re just on paper books, you have no idea what they’re doing.

So paper books are just out the window, out of the way. Nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to have to call. If they can just go right to your website, book an appointment, you’re 10 times more likely to get that client. Especially with social media these days, where I can just have a Book Now button on my Facebook page where they just click that Book Now button, it sends them right to my booking site. Having my website link in my Instagram, so people can go to my Instagram profile, go right to my website, you don’t have to worry about getting DMs, you don’t have to worry about getting text messages, you don’t have to worry about getting phone calls and taking up all of your extra time, that your time is essential. When you’re working, you wanna be working and not being interrupted.

When you’re at home, you wanna be able to spend that time at home doing what you wanna do. So being able to have online booking is so freeing, and it’s liberating for you as a stylist, as a salon owner.

But then it also is so nice for those clients that you want to get in your chair. And you’re more likely to get them in your chair if it’s easy and effortless on their part, that they can figure out exactly what they need and just book it right there without having to jump through a million hoops of making a whole profile, log in on your website. People don’t wanna do that. They wanna just be like, “Oh look, this is what time she has free,” click on it.

And so that’s what I love about Bookedin. I’ve seen a lot of other different software, but so many of them, you can’t even see the appointments that are available unless you create a whole log in, and I don’t know if I wanna go here, I don’t know if I wanna make a whole profile. I just wanna see what time if she has an opening tomorrow, you know?

To see that quick, easy at a glance. Yeah, she’s got the time that I want, then click on it. Then you can put in your information. So I think it’s just user-friendly that way that it kind of has what people want. It has what the clients want, it has what salon owners and salons… And stylists want, so it’s definitely a huge asset in the business world and in the salon world to have this online booking.

Do you have anything else to add?

I think just the main thing is to get a booking system. That’s 100% essential, is just get it. It’s worth the cost. It can feel like it’s a huge cost when you’re looking at the numbers, but when you look at it for the year, it’s like, “You know what? How little we’re paying in order to get 10 times more people in our chair,” because that’s literally, you’re getting that many more people coming in because they can book online.

So, if you didn’t have all those butts in your chair, then… You’ve gotta pay for it, but because having it, it gets all those people coming in. So it’s definitely worth the cost, so don’t worry about it. You have to make an investment in your business, and it can be hard, but it’s definitely one of those costs that is absolutely essential and worth it, so.

Butts in the chair. That’s all we want. And have those butts keep coming back because they’re happy. But you gotta get ’em in the chair first off, so…

You gotta make it easy so that they want to, and then once they’re in the chair, it’s on me to make ’em happy to wanna come back. But they’re definitely more likely to come in the first place if they can figure out how to get an appointment rather than, “I don’t know. Do I have to call during business hours?”

I wish everything had online booking, honestly. I wish all my doctor’s appointments, dentist. I don’t wanna have to try and call during business hours, nobody does these days. We’re all so busy and on the go. If you can be sitting there at your kid’s soccer game and book your next color appointment or book your next haircut, then these Moms are more likely to come and actually do it. Because we have so little free time that if we can make things easier by just doing online booking, they’re more likely to come. So it’s definitely, absolutely worth the cost.

Ready to take online appointment scheduling for a spin at your salon? Click here to start your free trial.

Meet Eddie, Owner of Uptown Barbershop in Naples, Florida.

Say hello to this *new-to-the-Bookedin-family* barbershop owner, Eddie Murawski {aka Mr. Eddie Barber} from Uptown Barbershop in Naples, Florida!

Just two years ago Eddie was working multiple jobs and dreaming of opening up his own barbershop. Today he’s got 6 barbers on staff, over 73,000 YouTube subscribers, and a whole lotta expert advice. So if you’re looking to open up a shop or make your shop run “smooth as silk”, watch the interview below.

Why did Eddie choose Bookedin for appointment scheduling?

Eddie needed the transition to online scheduling to be a smooth, simple process, and that’s what he found with Bookedin. After a 4-minute Zoom call with his team they felt confident moving forward with the new app, and his clients (both young & old) “took to it very easy.” Notifications eliminated no-shows & the flexibility filled his books.

How did online booking change Eddie’s life?

Having back-to-back clients for hours on end was burning Eddie out, not only physically but creatively. He saw that Bookedin offered him the ability to block off time to breathe:

“I’m able to actually eat lunch, get away from the shop for a few minutes, kind of recuperate and come back. And that was super important to me.”

You can read our full interview with Eddie below:

 

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A post shared by Uptown Barber Shop Naples (@uptownbarbershopnaples) on Jun 20, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

Tell me a bit about how your shop got started.

I wanted my own shop since I was 15 years old. My whole family did hair, and I just wanted it for a long time. And I just… I wound up kinda struggling to get it started, it was hard. I come from a very poor background, my parents and everybody… Nobody has money. So really to make a long story short, I was actually in a factory only like two years ago. And I cut hair on the side also, during this time, but I tried to leave and it was miserable. I went every day with a pit in my stomach and I was like, “I’ve gotta get myself out here, man.” 

So I began reading business books and stuff like that, and I thought about the comeback and what I would do. And in literally, the span of only two years, I found myself sitting at from 6,000 subscribers to 72,000 subscribers from basically no shop at all, to finding the courage to leave that dead-end job, know that it wasn’t making me happy, and find the courage to follow my dream with my shop. 

So we got started about a year ago, I officially took over last March, and this place has grown. It was like a sleepy old man’s like kinda hangout, it had carpet. I mean, it was awful. But I just pretty much totally made it my style, and you know kinda came through with the logos and the UpTown and all the stuff, and we really revamped the place. It’s all young barbers now, and it’s a really cool hip place.

Related Post → How to Quit Your Day Job and Start Your Dream Business

What challenges were you experiencing in your business that led you to look for a solution like Bookedin?

I’m a long time walk-in barber. I mean, I did walk-ins forever and it was miserable. And the person that I worked for, they were dead-set against doing appointments, they didn’t wanna do them. I rarely got lunch, I would… I was one of the… I was not one of them, I was the busiest barber in the shop. It wouldn’t be uncommon for me to have five or six people waiting for me. 

And just knowing that I’m just overwhelmed, and I feel like I need to rush, and I just… I needed to bring some sanity to my situation, so I began kinda researching and looking into places, and you know I kinda found you guys. And you guys had a great free version with a lot of features. It was just very packed full of features, and I was able to kinda feel it out and see if I’d be able to use it. And I can say that my customers have found this extremely, extremely easy. It is as straightforward as it gets. I mean, when I set up the whole thing, it was really a breeze.

What made you choose Bookedin over other products on the market?

Well, when I started to look at them one of the things that were definitely a draw was needing that lunch break. And I found that you guys actually were able to separate my schedule, so now I’m able to block off a half-hour permanently of my life. And if I wanna take a client in there or something, that’s my own business, but for the most part, I’m able to actually eat lunch, get away from the shop for a few minutes, kind of recuperate and come back. And that was super important to me.

And I didn’t like how some of these other apps, they used this like review feature. And then the moment you’re gone, you lose all your reviews. So all the progress you made… It becomes like a bad marriage, you just can’t separate from. And if you train all your clients into one thing, it can be an enormous task to try to get them to go with another thing. And you don’t wanna start with the wrong thing, you wanna definitely start on the right foot. And that’s why I was pretty happy that I found this [Bookedin], because my customers took to it very easy, and you know I haven’t had any real issues or anything.

And it’s been really smooth. And my team too, like, just to highlight that side of it too, because I had to go back and train my team. But there was really not much to be done, because it was so straight forward. They were all like, “Okay, cool.” I had a Zoom meeting with them, and we talked about it for about 4 minutes, and they were like, “Oh okay, I see how it works.” That was that.

And it’s nice getting the notifications, and they send the notifications off to the customer, so you don’t have to worry that they’re not gonna show up. And I can say, based on some of the other options I used before this, it… It’s so much easier for them, and they have had way fewer issues. They don’t have to download apps, they don’t have to go through a bunch of rigmarole. I’ve got a lot of old clients. I don’t need that. I need it to be just an easy process, and that’s definitely what I found with Bookedin.

And having the time for the clients and not feeling rushed, that’s just brought a very good feeling to me, and it’s helping me with my creativity, it’s helping me with my comfort. It’s not nice to cut hair with 1000 people breathing down your neck looking at you like, “God. I’ve been here for three hours, why am I still here?” It’s so nice to just be on track, take a customer, get rid of a customer, especially with the new situation we’re all dealing with.

It’s so nice to not have… And I have six barbers. So if we were walk-in… Just theoretically speaking, what if everybody had two or three people waiting for ’em? It wouldn’t be long before the entire shop was just packed full of people, and that would just not be good right now. So everybody comes in, goes. Comes goes, and it’s been smooth as silk.

Related → How Successful Barbershops Get Booked Solid

What specific improvements have you seen as a result of using Bookedin?

I have noticed that when I tried the previous app, I noticed that I was getting a lot of people who were no-showing me. And I think that this Bookedin, the way that they notify their customers, has pretty much… It prevents that. I actually had one no-show since I’ve been using it. It was a no-call, no show, and I just sent them a nice text message to just say, “Hey, if next time you wanna book with me, please save me a little bit of time.” And he actually felt so bad, he paid me through VENMO. So I ended up getting paid…

For that service anyways. It all worked out nicely. I actually had a walk-in come in and it was like nothing ever happened. But I just love the fact that they’re sending out those notifications, and they’re not letting people forget. So if you are wise, you usually will have your clients book maybe far enough ahead and maybe even before they leave the shop. 

For some of your older clients, it’s nice to just tell them, “Hey, do you want me to book it for you real quick just before you go?” That way, you know that they’re coming back, and it’s gonna send them a message, and they’re gonna know it’s time for a haircut, 7:00 AM tomorrow, or 7:00 AM in three weeks from now, they’ll get that notification and they’ll show up.

And the repeat bookings, too. That’s what I’m always preaching to my staff. The feature that you guys have for the repeat booking, and especially it’s great because it’s unlimited. Like with the other apps there was an option for weekly, there was an option for bi-weekly, but there wasn’t an option to customize it, and I was frustrated with that, because not everybody comes every three weeks or four weeks, but somebody, he’s like, “Hey, I like to come on the second Friday of the month.” 

You can literally customize that repeat however you want. So I’m driving my staff to do the repeat appointments for as many people as you can because you will be booked solid. I’m booked solid almost every single day, and if I’m not booked solid before I get there, more often than not, I share two posts on Instagram and it’s booked again. So it’s working really well with the repeat appointments.

What would you tell other barbershops who are experiencing similar challenges like you were?

I would tell them, “You need to plan your work and work your plan.” You have to create this mind state where you’re just not gonna take no for an answer. I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the resources. There were so many things that I could have just used as an excuse to hold me back because, in reality, that’s what it would have been. But I knew this was right. So whoever, or whatever the challenges in your life, you’ve gotta try to dig down and find that courage. 

Now don’t just go leaping off a bridge. That’s why I’m saying, just read some books, educate yourself, prepare yourself, make a plan, and then follow it. And you’ll get there. I accomplished more in the span of a single year, than I ever have throughout the entire time I’ve been barbering, which I’m coming up on my 18th year. So how is it that I was able to do that in one year? It was because I wanted it more than anything in the world, and I pushed myself to figure out how to do it. 

There are so many ways to negotiate. There are ways to get your own shop, and you’ve just gotta be patient, dig in, educate yourself, and you’ll get it. You will get it.”

Most of us are just creative souls, and we need to express our art in some way, and being on an assembly line, or just being in someplace that’s not making you happy is just… It’s just soul-crushing and you don’t want that. You will excel at what you’re passionate about. That’s what I tell people. It doesn’t have to be any particular thing. It’s whatever you’re passionate about, you’re gonna perform that well, and it’s not gonna feel like work.

Do you have anything else to add?

Thank you so much for having me, I really appreciate it. If you guys wanna come check out my channel, YouTube Barber Academy, we’ve got plenty of tutorials. We go live every Saturday at 8:00 PM. I’m really focused on actually teaching. It’s a channel that’s using… We’re using it as a resource. This is a resource for you. Anything that you wanna learn about barbering, I’m sure I’ve done more than 10 videos about it. So stop by and check us out.

Ready to take Bookedin appointments for a spin at your barbershop? Try our barber booking app.

Meet Angel, Owner of Guardian Art Gallery in Orange, Connecticut.

We had the pleasure of interviewing our long-time customer Angel Caban this week. He told us all about why he uses appointment scheduling software for his tattoo shop and how it instantly solved his troubles with double-bookings. Bookedin keeps their calendar full and client-load steady, eliminating their scheduling headaches.

Watch the video below or just scroll on down to read the transcript.

Why did Angel choose Bookedin for appointment scheduling?

Angel had tried a ton of tattoo booking app, some were strong in certain areas, but lacking in others. Bookedin had everything pulled together—it was easy to use & simple to install. With Bookedin’s ability to perform across all platforms, Angel’s life became less hectic and his tattoo shop began running smoothly.

How did online booking change Angel’s life?

Double bookings instantly eliminated. No more tension-filled run-ins between two clients. And — perhaps even more important, the shop is steady. No more sitting around for hours on end twiddling their thumbs waiting for a client.

You can read our full interview with Angel below:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Angel Caban Tattoos (@angelcabanartwork) on Aug 1, 2019 at 4:54pm PDT

Photo Credit:@ab_iv | @guardian_photography

Tell me a bit about how your tattoo shop got started.

Well, I’ve been working for over 15 years, and I’ve been working for a couple of shops, and it was pretty much time for us to just start our own thing. My wife and I decided, and here we are.

What challenges were you experiencing in your business that led you to look for a solution like Bookedin?

Everything we did was by hand, so appointments were held in a notebook by hand in calendars on computers, and everything was scattered all over the place. Nice thing about Bookedin, it was all in one, so I was able to make my appointments and to even take payments, so everything came together all in one, which was really nice.

Related → How to Get More Tattoo Clients—The Ultimate Guide

What made you choose Bookedin over other products on the market?

I’ve tried SO many products, some were very strong in certain areas, which I liked about it, but it was lacking somewhere else. Bookedin really had everything pulled together. Uh, easy to use, easy to install. It works across all platforms. Which made my life easier, made the shop’s life easier, and we just took the from there.

My wife, she does all the bookings, upfront, so she’ll use the desktop. If we’re in the back with a client will use the mobile unless we bring them up to the front. So definitely versatile in using both.

What specific improvements have you seen as a result of using Bookedin?

We saw improvements instantly. One of the biggest things is double-booking. It’s the worst thing you could do is double-book, you will have two clients out there fighting for position and you don’t want that. This eased that tension. There are settings in there where it won’t let you double-book… And so it also reminds them of their appointments in case I set up something, and it’s two months away. It won’t let them forget and if something does come up that they have to reschedule, I have enough time to get someone else in.

I try to make it a point to call them and remind them, but even sometimes if I write the wrong number down or anything like that, it gets lost. And with this, the second you set up an appointment, it immediately sends them that text confirming it. So I know everything is good, I don’t have to worry about it.

It’s just horrifying to be at the shop eight hours a day and do nothing. With this, it keeps you busy. So if something comes up that someone can make it, you have at least… You can set the terms. You have a week to two days to actually fill that spot in. It’s so easy, it’s always easy to do. And because of that, I haven’t had that time to sit around. The shop has been nice and steady.

I’ll set something up and then it’ll be three months from now. I could forget, they could forget. It keeps us all in the loop and it keeps us consistent with all of our work.

Related → 30 Things Your Tattoo Artist Wishes You Knew

What would you tell other tattoo shops who are experiencing similar challenges like you were?

Honestly, I would tell them, “Don’t wait just do it. If you procrastinate it, you’re gonna lose out, everything is there for you to use everything works and they’ll be wasting time if they don’t use it, try it out, even if you do a trial, I’m sure you will fall in love with it and start using it consistently.”

Do you have anything else to add?

Don’t waste time, try it out, it’s worth it, it’ll change your whole shop’s perspective.

Ready to take online appointment scheduling for a spin at your tattoo shop? Click here to start your free trial.

If you’re wondering,  “is this online booking thing really worth it?” … look no further. Today we’re chatting with long-time BookedIN user Jason Medina, a tattoo artist and shop owner. For Jason, at first he was hesitant, but after seeing his girlfriend pull in $200 while chilling on the couch watching movies, the allure was just too hard to ignore.

Read on for Jason’s story and the challenges and rewards of switching from the “old school” way of booking clients to new online appointment scheduling tools like BookedIN.

Jason has been an artist since 2002 and opened his own shop, Dedicated Tattoo in 2010. He has an award-winning crew of eight artists, piercers and microblading experts serving the Temecula, California region. They offer a wide variety of styles, while Jason specializes in American Traditional, Asian inspired, and areola re-pigmentation which is a service specifically to help women who have beaten breast cancer. He can tattoo a 3D nipple. Pretty amazing stuff.

Related: 30 Things Your Tattoo Artist Wishes You Knew

The push and pull of new technology

At first, Jason admits he was resistant to the idea of a tattoo booking app. He’d heard of it before and his gut reaction was that it might be weird or less personalized for his clients. But then one day his girlfriend caught him on to the idea.

“We were sitting there watching a movie and then BAM! She had collected $200 in deposits.” Jason’s girlfriend runs her own eyelash extension business, and she books her clients online using an app instead of a paper book or simple calendar. He mentioned she is always very busy.

“In a matter of a few seconds she had booked two new appointments and collected $200 worth of deposit payments while just sitting there. This blew me away. I was like, wow that was pretty damn cool. How could you NOT be interested in that type of service?”

Jason did confess that when setting up his own online booking account, the new way of doing things definitely took some getting used to. But the big payoff for him is things are now much more streamlined.

“Now if somebody shoots me a text asking about appointments this week, I will just ask them to hit up my BookedIN page to book an available slot. This means no more calling or texting back and forth. A whole dialogue I can now avoid,” Jason said.

“I don’t need to do that, I need to watch my kids wrestle and just watch my kids do whatever. At the end of the day I want to free up my time. I don’t want to be texting at the dinner table.” 

Playing “nice guy” vs. getting paid

Ever have a 4-hour tattoo session cancel on you the morning of the appointment? That’s $500+ of lost revenue for the day. The pain of this used to be all too real for Jason. No-show means no-money.

Back when he used to schedule appointments the old way, no-shows were a big problem for his bottom line. He said if he would play “nice guy” with people, they would book, then sometimes they would just not show up.

Jason wonders if some clients were just out at the bar the night before and spent all their money? He said other clients would call in saying simply, “Sorry I have to cancel because I picked up a shift at work.” It’s truly amazing how some people don’t even realize the predicament this puts an artist in. Jason joked and said it used to seem like some people think their time is more valuable than his. Thankfully all these issues are a thing of the past.

“I love the deposit feature, integrating this was priceless to me.” (Jason’s booking page requires a person to pay $100 up front to secure their tattoo session.)

Related: Is There A Perfect Scheduling App Out There?

At first Jason wasn’t sure how clients would respond to being forced to pay online. In the past he had let everyone just book, and they wouldn’t have to pay until the day of their appointment. But when he made the switch and started collecting deposits up-front, even his regular clients caught onto it quickly with no problems at all. People were happy to pay the $100 deposit online in order to lock in their appointment time and date.

It seems that this day and age, clients are accustomed to paying for things online. And for people who aren’t willing to put down the cash, perhaps they aren’t truly serious about getting “lil peep” tattooed on their arm? True story.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

One thing that came as a surprise was that in Jason’s crew of artists, he is the only one using online booking. Everyone else in his crew still books clients the old-school way. Each artist at the shop is an independent contractor, so they run their own method for booking clients. They process their own payments too, and just pay Jason a commission “drop” at the end of the day.

He explained, the other artists, in terms of booking their own clientele are more old fashioned. “They do things the old school way.”

Some give out their cell number and arrange appointments by text. Others don’t even put a phone number on their business card. Clients would phone the shop or physically drop in and leave a message at the front desk. Then the artist will call the client back to set up a consultation appointment.

It’s fair to say that not all artists are ready for online booking. There’s a learning curve, and some people are happy with the old way of doing things. But for Jason the switch ended up being priceless. The initial pain of learning a new technology paid off by freeing up his time so he can run the shop. He’s spending less time glued to his phone, and more time with his clients and his family.

Thank you Jason!!

Huge shout outs to Jason for sharing his time with us, and for giving us a look behind the curtain of his business. Please show him some love and follow Jason on Instagram or if you’re in the Temecula area, hit up Jason’s BookedIN page to book a session now.

Thousands of tattoo shops, hair salons, barbershops & beauty professionals around the world trust BookedIN for their appointment scheduler.