Timely review: is the premium plan worth the price for a solo therapist?
Liam Sheikh
👑 VIP
👑 VIP
Salon / Hair Studio · Bolton · 4mo ago
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 £5 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 two 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 Birmingham, I was losing the equivalent of £5 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using BookPin now for 3 months and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about two 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.
They see the monthly fee — let's say £5 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 two 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 Birmingham, I was losing the equivalent of £5 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using BookPin now for 3 months and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about two 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.
💬 5 Replies
👁 1.5K Views
💬 5 Replies
Join the conversation! You need to be logged in to reply.
Completely agree about the Sunday evening admin. I never quantified it until I read a post like this and actually counted. I was spending 6+ hours a week on booking admin. Six hours I could have been doing literally anything else. The system pays for itself in week one if you value your time properly.
#1
I use Appointy alongside Xero and the integration is really smooth. Invoices sync automatically, payments are recorded, and my accountant has stopped asking me for spreadsheets every quarter. If you're trying to run a proper business rather than a hobby this kind of integration matters.
#2
The no-show stats in this post match my experience almost exactly. I was losing roughly £25 a month to no-shows and cancellations before I introduced deposits. That money was just gone. Now it's protected. The maths on deposits is completely obvious once you see it.
#3
I made the same switch and I'd add one thing: tell your clients it's for their benefit, not yours. Frame it as 'you can now book at any time of day without having to wait for me to respond'. That framing works really well and it's also genuinely true.
#4
I use SimplyBook.me alongside Xero and the integration is really smooth. Invoices sync automatically, payments are recorded, and my accountant has stopped asking me for spreadsheets every quarter. If you're trying to run a proper business rather than a hobby this kind of integration matters.
#5