Finally ditched the paper diary — here's what 3 months with Jane App has taught me

Can we talk about the actual cost of running a barbershop without a proper booking system? Because I think a lot of people are making the calculation wrong.

They see the monthly fee — let's say £50 per month — and think that's an expense. But they don't add up what they're already spending:

- Time doing manual admin (at least five hours a week for most people I speak to)
- Money lost to no-shows with no deposit protection
- Clients you miss because they couldn't get through on the phone
- Late-night WhatsApp messages you answer because you feel you have to

When I sat down and actually counted this up for my barbershop in Bristol, I was losing the equivalent of £50 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.

I've been using Trafft now for 18 months and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about five hours a week from what used to be a lot more, and I haven't had a no-show in over a month because the deposit system filters out the chancers before they waste my time.