Why I now only take bookings through Shedul and blocked my DMs
Glenn Green
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Freelancer · Coventry · 4mo ago
Can we talk about the actual cost of running a hair salon 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 £30 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 hair salon in Brighton, I was losing the equivalent of £30 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using Fresha now for two years 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 £30 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 hair salon in Brighton, I was losing the equivalent of £30 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using Fresha now for two years 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.
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This is really relatable. I went through almost the exact same process 18 months ago. The biggest thing for me was realising that the clients who pushed back hardest on deposits were the ones who'd let me down before. Once I saw it that way the decision became very easy.
#1
Totally agree about Fresha's transaction fee adding up. I did the maths for my price point and the 'free' plan was actually costing me more than a paid subscription to Trafft by the time I factored in the percentage on every booking. Read the small print before assuming free is cheaper.
#2