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

Can we talk about the actual cost of running a nail studio 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 £20 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 four 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 nail studio in Liverpool, I was losing the equivalent of £20 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.

I've been using Acuity Scheduling now for 3 months and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about four 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.