It has been a hectic few weeks over here at Rob Hodgins Calm.
And it has been fulfilling.
Former clients and new friends had been asking if I’d ever get back into massage. At first my response was a firm “No”. I have always made it a policy to never reopen a door once I have closed it. I’ve been like that all my life.
BUT…the thought of reopening kept coming back to me….
So, over the last month I have taken the steps towards getting the massage business going again.
Getting licensed by the City of Edmonton was a breeze. My landlord is very supportive. I rejoined my massage association. I have got parking available for clients. I can accept payment by eTransfer (my favoured method), debit/credit card, or cash. I have access to business mentors to guide me should something unexpected happen “down the road”. And I have 8 years of massage experience and way more than that of business experience behind me as well.
And I have a lot of people interested in booking with me. And therein lies the rub…
Booking appointments.
Any idea how many booking apps/plugins/programs are out there? LOTS.
Any idea how similar their offerings are or how much they cost? They are not. The offerings and costs are literally ALL over the map.
Choosing one was not a slam-dunk decision. I had the following criterion: Maximal flexibility for minimal cost while maintaining maximal convenience for the client. End of story.
I found the solution to my booking woes in a plugin I’ve used before called Booking Calendar. Love it. You can see it on my Booking page. It fought with me for a bit until I figured out that the setup of the plugin didn’t get along with my WordPress theme. That’s what you’re looking at right now. It’s called Graphene and I’ve been using it for years. To get the Booking Calendar set up I had to change the theme from Graphene to one of WordPress’ default themes (Twenty Twenty Two, to be exact). Once it was configured, the Booking Calendar ran fine under Graphene.
Whew! That last bit I got wrapped up tonight. And (re-)opening day is in two days. That is this coming Tuesday (the fifth of September). Just in time with a bit left over for some needed naps!