While most of our instructors have employees, I (Mary-Claire) have steadfastly remained a solo therapist. There are a variety of reasons, but that’s the way I like it. As our team loves to share different ideas and products that we love, I HAD to let solo therapists know about the awesome scheduling software I’ve used for many years, Bodywork Buddy.

I like to think of myself as Bodywork Buddy’s (BWB) unofficial mascot since I truly love their services and praise the software to anyone who needs a scheduler.

To say that BWB is an online scheduler is true, but there’s SO. MUCH. MORE. I’ll cover some of the features today, but I have plenty to say about lots more, so we’ll add another blog post or three. Maybe more. Seriously, I love them that much.

In this series of post, I’ll start with the ease of use for both clients and the therapist and how to start setting it up.

Firstly, it’s important to realize that BWB was designed by the husband/wife team of Berin and Cindy Iwlew. As a massage therapist, Cindy wasn’t able to find software that suited all of her needs. Berin, a techy guy, solved her problems. Whenever you need help with their software, the customer response is par none. Seriously quick and efficient.

Ease of use for clients

Clients frequently tell me how easy it is to use the system. This is super important!

The only complaints I’ve ever gotten were that “the system must be broken because it doesn’t show any open appointments this week” (no appointments were actually available) and “I can see the dates but not the times available”. That particular instance was from someone who had enlarged her screen a bazillion fold so she didn’t have to put on her reading glasses to use the computer. Once she hit the “CNTRL -” a few times, the screen reduced enough that the schedule was available. (It’s “command -” on a Mac.)

Convenient for ME-knowing my schedule ahead of time

I was hesitant to move onto any online scheduling system for years because:

1. I like to know what my day is going to look like at least 24 hours in advance. With children, that’s a must.

2. I was afraid someone would schedule an appointment while I was at the grocery store after I had just paid $$$ and my ice cream would melt all over the car as I wouldn’t have enough time to get the food home and unpacked.

3. As a solo practitioner, I feel safer not taking same day appointments.

With BWB, these concerns were completely unfounded. You can opt for immediate scheduling (which would work well if you had the time, stayed at your office, and didn’t mind same day appointments) or you can choose to have at least one-day advance notice.

Keeping enough space in between my appointments is a breeze

It took about 3 days for me to realize that I needed more than a few minutes (I had originally scheduled 15 minutes between clients) for me to feel not stressed about having clients all day. Giving myself 30 minutes in between appointments gives the client enough time to change, time for me to reschedule and take their money, and have a little breathing room if they ran late or showed up early.

Setting this time up literally takes moments.

Creating your services menus-a no brainer

Go to the drop down menu on the left of your screen. Under “services” you’ll first create a Service Group, which is the kind of massage you’ll be doing. You break it up into your different styles.

You can name them whatever your little heart desires, but you’ll want to remember to keep the Group name short. In the service group description, you’ll write more about the services themselves.

Next, you’ll add the actual services.

Create the code (Service Code)-this is just for tracking purposes, then a Service Name, which the clients will see. Choose the Group that the service belongs to.

This will show up on your scheduler ONLY in that group, so make sure you choose the right one. Don’t worry if you mess up, because it’s super easy to change.

Now, add your price and then you MUST add in the proper time allotment for the services or you will really screw up your schedule. In the example below, my service is 2 hours at $174, so I chose 120 minutes. You can choose to make it public or private.

In this instance, it’s private because I have an upcharge for working at certain times, and I don’t want my clients to accidentally choose the wrong payment or session. When a session is marked “private”, you’ll be the only one to see it.

Why would you want that?

For instance, I offer a 2.5 hour massage to certain clients, but I don’t want to offer it to everyone. Most people don’t want or need that. I make sure they’re fine with 2-hour sessions first, and I need to have plenty of problem spots to work with.

Another instance where I marked it private was the only client I do a house call for–she’s elderly and doesn’t drive. I block myself off for 2.5 hours to go to her house for a 1-hour session. I don’t want to do outcalls for anyone else.

At the bottom, you can choose an icon to match your services. This is great if you have multiple services that you’d like to easily glance at and tell them apart.

On the left is the feet for barefoot massage, and on the right is little bamboo for hot bamboo massage.

Next week, I’ll go deeper into some features that make using Bodywork Buddy a no-brainer for the solo therapist.

You can even try it for 2 weeks FREE without even entering your credit card.