Category Archives: Scheduling

Scheduling Kids Activities as a Working Parent

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Scheduling Kids Activities as a Working Parent

Being a working parent can make your life extremely busy by itself. That’s not even including scheduling kid’s activities in as well. With students back in school and fun activities now more of an option, it’s only natural that kids will want to do more, and as a parent, this will fill your weekly schedule. However, kids can thrive in these activities and learn so much. They keep children busy and are also a great way to meet new friends.

Instead of getting overwhelmed by scheduling kid’s activities, the key is to establish a routine and start working these after-school activities into your current schedule.

Here are a few ways to help carve out the time and energy for the kid’s activities as a working parent while still balancing and finishing work in other areas of your life.

Specify Your Daily Schedule First

The great thing about scheduling kid’s activities is that you’re in charge of which days and times you sign up for. So be sure to look at your current Calendar first to see when the best time would be to add an activity. Now, you may not be able to fully control precisely when practices or meetings are, but knowing when you’d have free time can help you narrow down the best kid’s activities for the current season you’re in.

Establish a Good Routine Post Work 

Once you have your schedule settled in, a crucial aspect is establishing a good routine once you’re out of work. Your routine is key because if you don’t get tasks done between getting home and bringing your child to a program, you’ll be in bad shape.

Go in with a game plan and use that time block between work to schedule important prep tasks. For example, your game plan could include preparing dinner, household chores, or errands. If you have other kids around the home, assign them a household chore as well and get organized.

If your partner is home around the same time and can help too, that’s even better. Divide and conquer. You can also intentionally schedule fewer things on activity days. By narrowing down your schedule and keeping a detailed calendar, you can prepare by having dinner cooked in advance or ordering out on busy days. You can also have your kids do their chores the night before to clean the house or postpone errands to a less busy day.

Utilize After-School Transportation

If your child is doing an after-school activity and transportation is provided, be sure to take advantage of that. For example, if basketball practice runs directly after school until 5 pm, this can give you more time to finish up work tasks and take care of other responsibilities. In addition, joining activities through the school means your child doesn’t have to leave campus, and there may even be transportation options afterward.

If transportation is an issue, see if you can team up with another parent and carpool. For example, assign a day or two where you can pick up your child and a friend from their activity and another day where the other parent can take over that responsibility.

Limit Activities and Consolidate Other Tasks

Avoid overwhelming yourself with too many activities. No parent wants to be running around across town every afternoon. Know your schedule and limit yourself to maybe one-weekday activity and one-weekend activity. Or, alternate if you have a few kids. For example, one child could do an activity in the fall while another child does an activity in the winter or spring.

In addition to limiting activities, try to consolidating other tasks to free up more time. One example is to prepare simple dinners on activity days. Whether it be 15-minute meals, crockpot meals, or grab-and-go options, these are just a few of the ways to consolidate dinner and make it easier to get back out the door.  For those dinners using plastic, utensils can help you avoid a pile-up in your kitchen sink. Be sure to stock up on paper plates, cups, forks, and spoons. That way, you are filling up the garbage can instead of the dishwasher or kitchen sink.

If your kids have study hall at school, encourage them to do homework during that time or stay after class one day of the week for tutoring from the teacher. Having children manage homework directly at school can limit time spent doing homework at home and clear their schedule for an activity. In addition, I have found that managing homework in a more business-like manager can help teach and prepare kids for working in an office.

Order things online to save time spent at the store and consider using local grocery pick-up options. As a family, you can also deep clean your home once a week or hire someone to do it, so all you have to do is maintain it during the weekdays.

Use Your Calendar!

Another way to get or stay on track is by utilizing your Calendar every day. It may sound like a small part, but this is one of the most important. Life is busy, and things can get skipped or forgotten. So you shouldn’t set an expectation for yourself to remember every little thing and keep every little appointment.

If you have everything on your Calendar, then you should be in a good place. Calendar makes it easy to schedule out your days that way, you can turn your attention to the things that matter. Calendar strives to help you organize your schedule. One tool is the smart scheduling link which enables you to avoid the back and forth emailing to schedule meetings with other people.

It’s also easy to add any events on Calendar, and you can even connect calendars that sync with Outlook and Google. But, of course, the other benefit to syncing these calenders is having everything in one place, so you know what time slots you have open and what days are your busier ones.

Summary 

Scheduling kid’s activities as a working parent and maintaining your sanity is possible. Work is essential; we all need to make money to take care of everyday expenses.

Working as a team with coworkers — and working as a team, especially in your own home is essential. But, as always, staying organized is your key to success.

Try to make time to allow after-school activities for your children. The reality of after-school activities for our children can make all the difference to their success when they enter the adult world.

Please take some steps to make your child’s world a great place to come from — and remember. Hopefully, these steps can help you make it all work.

Great Shared Calendar Apps for Startups

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Great Shared Calendar Apps for Startups

app It may not be at the top of your priorities, but sharing a Calendar with the rest of the folks in your startup is a must. After all, it’s the best way to keep everyone on the same page. It also boosts productivity and prevents precious time from being wasted. But, creating and managing your team’s calendar starts and ends with the right calendar app. And, here are ten of the best options for startups.

1. Calendar

Calendar is a time management and scheduling tool that eliminates those lengthy back-and-forth communications when setting up an event. Instead, share the app’s scheduling link, and it does the rest of the work for you. It’s not magic, if you’re wondering. Instead, Calendar relies on machine learning so that it will make smart suggestions on how to schedule your next meeting.

But, that’s just scratching the surface. Calendar also uses machine learning so that you can add new events quickly. It’s also time zone friendly, meaning that it takes care of availability for you — as opposed to you attempting to figure this when traveling or scheduling meetings with remote teams. Finally, Calendar integrates with your Apple, Google, and Office 365 calendars so that you have one real-time view of your life.

2. Google Calendar

Is this an obvious choice? Sure. But, Google Calendar has proven to be one of the best online calendars on the market. Mainly this is because it’s easy to use and comes packed with features that allow you to get the most out of it, such as color-coding and sharing your calendar via email or embedded link.

Google Calendar also allows you to add your team’s calendars, create out-of-office messages, and add events with natural language. Also, because it’s part of the Google suite of tools, your events from Gmail are automatically added to your calendar. And, you can share and collaborate on docs, spreadsheets, Keep, and Jamboard.

Even if you can’t use the free version, this is still an affordable option. Business plans start at just $5 per month.

3. Any.do

Any.do is more than just a calendar app. It’s one of the best tools to house your agenda, to-dos, and goals. As a result, it’s arguably one of the best options to keep you and your team organized and productive.

There are also some pretty cool features within the app. For example, there are location-based reminders and the option to receive your agenda every morning. In addition, the color-coded dots for all of the events in your calendar make it easy to identify what you have on the docket for the day.

Any.do does have a free version. However, for teams, you may want to switch to the premium plan, which starts at $2.99 per month.

4. Teamup

This tool was designed specifically with groups in mind. As a result, you can schedule assignments, track progress in real-time, and share calendars with everyone on your team. And, you can organize all of this information by using color-coded sub-calendars.

One of my favorite things about Teamup is that you don’t need an account to access your calendar. That means anyone you share your calendar with a view without having to waste time logging in. Best of all, for small teams, it’s free. For larger one’s plans start at just $8/month,

5. Calendly

Calendly is another calendar app that makes scheduling a whole lot less stressful. Less stress because it reviews your existing calendars, and checks your availability. You then share your availability with others, and they pick a time when they’re free.

You can then set buffers between meetings and block last-minute meetings requests. There’s also time zone detection, and it works with a wide range of apps like Zapier, Salesforce, GoToMeeting, and Stripe.

The basic plan is free. But, if your startup has various event types planned each month, you’ll need to get with a paid plan. The premium version is $8 per user/per month.

6. Float

Float is a scheduling and planning tool. It provides real-time scheduling updates and the ability to edit events through drop-and-drag. You can also create recurring events and receive reports to help you improve your efforts.

There are also features like time-off tracking and overtime alerts for your full-time staff. But, if you’re working with contractors, you add short-term gigs. It also plays nice with iOS, Android, Slack, and Zapier. And, there’s a flat fee of $5 per person scheduled per month.

7. Plan

Described as part calendar and part project manager, Plan goes beyond creating and sharing a team calendar. There’s the ability to create agendas and a working timeline. The team feed can be useful when working together on a project since you can see what’s been completed and solicit ideas.

Plan organizes all of the data you have stored in your calendar, email, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Github. Doing so means that all relevant projects and scheduling information are in one convenient location. Because of this, teams report that they save 15 hours per week.

The plan is free if your startup has no more than four users. For larger groups, the premium plan is $6.67 per user per month.

8. Woven

Woven is an intelligent calendar app that uses a visual graph for scheduling and planning. As a result, you can see how you’re spending your time so that you can better manage your days. The app also comes with a virtual assistant that handles all of your scheduling for you.

It also lets your team collaborate on any upcoming events. You can share your schedule via email, text, and Slack to speed up the scheduling process. As of now, Woven syncs seamlessly with Google and G Suite calendars. However, the free tool is working on Office 365 integration.

9. Teamweek

Teamweek is another tool designed with teams in mind. It also takes a more visual approach to planning and scheduling the projects within your startup. Teamweek lets you see what everyone is working on, as well as their progress so that you can hit the goals you’ve set.

Additional features include project roadmaps and timelines for your team. There’s a free plan if you have fewer than five people. But, for larger teams, you’ll have to select a paid plan for $39/month.

10. Trello

Trello is a project management tool. Because of this, it’s ideal for assigning and keeping tabs on tasks and projects. But, what sets it apart from other similar tools is that it uses digital boards.

How does this work exactly? Well, let’s say that you handed off an assignment to someone. You would place a card on the board. Now, when switching to the calendar view, you can see when the task is due. Additionally, you’ll be able to see all due dates on that specific day, week, or month.

8 Rainy-Day Initiatives to Add to Your Online Calendar

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Rainy-Day Activities for Your Online Calendar

There’s no need to wish for the rain to go away — especially right now — we need it so desperately right now. Not only is any precipitation great for the planet — but it gives you an excuse to tackle some indoor projects. The sun will be back soon, and you’ll have plenty of time for those outdoor activities. Unsure of what to do with your rainy days? If you look around, you’ll always find something. It’s just a matter of finding a spot in your online Calendar.

I like to have a rainy day list, so there is no decision to be made — just grab out your list, and you’re in business. Get your list ready now — have your tools in a to-go tote or to-go book bag — and you’ll be excited and ready to grab your supplies (which are always on hand) and go to work.

BTW — I also have a Windy and Snowy day Calendar list. It’s not that you’re stuck indoors, exactly — it’s that you can take a moment to think differently on your Rainy, Windy and Snowy days. You can vary your thinking process to keep your life interesting and supple — and add some deep joy on Rainy, Windy, and Snowy Days.

Rainy Day Ideas for Your Online Calendar

These eight indoor projects are great additions to your Calendar when rain is in the forecast:

1. Clean Up the House

No matter how hard you try, your home will never be entirely clean. So a rainy day is the perfect opportunity to catch up on house cleaning.

Plan a “spring cleaning” (or fall cleaning) in your online Calendar for the next rainy day in the forecast. Clean the countertops, dust the furniture, move the furniture and vacuum the carpets — and generally give your whole home a polish.

Home improvement projects are also great for a rainy day. Take this opportunity to do some painting or remodeling inside with the time you might’ve spent out in the yard.

2. Read a Book

Is there a book you’ve sworn to read that’s collecting dust on your shelf? Now’s your chance to finally crack it open. For one — if you really want to read a book, read it — don’t wait for a rainy day. But sometimes I find something wonderful in a book — and I save it for this type of opportunity.

There are so many great reads out there to choose from, from creative fiction novels to inspiring self-help books. Scheduling reading time in your online Calendar will make sure you capitalize on a rainy day opportunity.

Reading isn’t just an enjoyable pastime; it’s also incredibly beneficial for your health. Regular reading strengthens your mind, reduces stress, and may even help you live longer. That’s not to mention the lessons we can learn from the greatest minds around the world.

3. Have Some DIY Fun

Taking charge of a project and seeing it to completion can be incredibly gratifying. In addition, tackling a do-it-yourself (DIY) project allows you to develop your skills, discover new hobbies, and refresh your home.

There are countless DIY projects you can tackle. I like to watch for these projects at the quilt store and the hardware store — like watch for some crazy, wild creative pursuit. One time I took pieces of scrap metal (I cut it up) and threw the metal pieces against a piece of pine — then glued the metal on the board where it would have stuck in if I’d tossed hard enough.

It was a blast. When else would I feel I could just relax and do something free like that? Not with the hustle of work — no way — but a rainy day weekend was great. Perhaps you want to try your hand at woodworking to add some handmade decor to the house, or maybe you want to put together a craft to do with your kids. The possibilities are endless.

4. Prepare Next Week’s Meals

Meal preparation helps you eat better throughout the week. Put together a grocery list, put meals on the Calendar, and prepare them as a batch. With meal planning, you can control everything you eat, limiting the amount of fast food, snacks, and junk food you put into your body.

Not only will meal planning improve your health, but it will also save you money. Cooking from home is less expensive than eating out, although it does take some more time and effort. That’s why those rainy days are the perfect time to buckle down and get it done. Having meals ready for the rest of the week is worth it.

While you’re thinking about it, you can clean out the kitchen drawers and under the sink. If you’re low on sponges and disinfecting sprays, be sure you make a note on your grocery list.

4. Hold a Planning Marathon

This is where your online Calendar really comes in handy. When a rainy day disrupts your plans, take the time to make some new ones.

Your weekly and monthly plans can be as detailed as you’d like. When you hold a planning session, you’re able to fit more into your Calendar earlier so that other non-essentials take over your essentials. If you struggle with balancing your activities and responsibilities, then this is the perfect rainy day project for you

5. Clean Out Your Inbox

Managing your email can take a lot of time. If you run a business or work at one that relies heavily on email communication, you’ve experienced the overload and unanswered emails firsthand.

When a rainy day slows things down, take the time to clean out your inbox. Respond to all necessary emails and delete anything that’s not needed. You can even create some folders, such as “read” and “responded to,” to keep your inbox more organized for the future.

6. Make All Your Calls

Got a list of people you’ve needed to talk to? Give them a call while the rain pours down. You can reach out to partners or clients, but don’t forget to give grandma a call as well.

To avoid dropping in without warning on those who wouldn’t appreciate it, you can send scheduling links asking them if they are available for a call that day. Professionals like salespeople and investors can’t always take calls on a whim. You can schedule calls and get many people contacted, as you blast through your home cleaning if you put people on a Calendar schedule and keep calls to about 30 minutes.

7. Purge Your Paperwork.

If your filing system is full of old bank statements and mailers, take a rainy day and toss the junk. Keeping things organized saves you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

When the rain hits, block off time in your Calendar to go through your documents. Remember to save tax forms for at least three years. Shred or burn anything sensitive, so the information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Conclusion

You may not be able to take off work on a rainy day — but learn to appreciate rainy days as your friend. If you live by the ocean — it looks overcast every day, and it’s not rainy. You can get so much done during a rainy day if you put your mind to it. To hold yourself accountable, schedule your activities in your online Calendar.

I also have a windy day schedule and a snowy day schedule on my Calendar. Windy and Snowy days look somewhat like my Rainy day schedule. I used to sell paintings — but I don’t anymore (It’s hard to make a living in visual arts). On Snowy days, I pull out my artwork tools and force myself to begin a new piece. Maybe this piece will be for someone for the holidays or for a client. On Windy days — I try to write a piece of music or practice the piano in a deeper way.

The main point is — use these days as a reminder: rainy, windy, snowy — and catapult your beloved work to a new level. You’ll be amazed at how much richer your life will be — and how much you can accomplish in a few hours spent differently on those days.

Moving? Make it Easier With an Online Calendar

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Moving? Make It Easier With an Online Calendar

Moving to a new city can be equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. It can also be a logistical nightmare if you’re not prepared for the challenge. There’s no need to make moving harder than it already is. You will likely move many times in your life for a variety of reasons. Learn how to make the best of the moving process. To make moving as easy as possible, leverage your online calendar.

An online calendar is a wonderful time management tool will help you break down the project at hand, so it’s more easily managed. Check out these 7 online calendar tips for your upcoming move:

Go on a Shopping Trip

What kind of materials do you need to accomplish your move? In most cases, this means acquiring an absurd number of boxes and bags to store your belongings. However, if you don’t have enough, make a trip to get everything you need.

An online calendar can help you plan the most efficient shopping trip ever. Track the best times to miss crowds and traffic, and organize your to-buy list, so you don’t forget a thing.

Hold a Yard Sale

Getting rid of some clutter makes packing up a lot more manageable. Of course, you could throw some stuff away, but you might as well try and land some extra cash by holding a yard sale. Use your online calendar to plan your sale days in advance, leaving enough time to advertise it to the community.

For anything you’re unable to sell, consider donating it to a local charity. This will be one final act of goodwill before you pack up and leave the place you’ve called home for so long. If you have family and close friends around, you can send some gifts to them as well. Many young families will jump at hand-me-down clothes or baby toys.

Organize Your Packing With Your Calendar

Once your move is in the works, you’ll need to start packing up your belongings. This will take a lot of time, and isn’t a task you want to put off until the last minute. To ensure it’s all done promptly, organize your efforts with an online calendar.

With this planning tool, you can set aside time every day to chip away at your packing. This way, you can log continuous progress up until the day of the move. Then, stick to your packing schedule, and there will be little to do once that day arrives, saving you a lot of stress and headache.

To further organize your packing, you can break down your time and where you concentrate your efforts. Your schedule can look a little something like this:

  • Monday – Pack any kitchen appliances and dishes you won’t be needing
  • Tuesday – Clear out and box up storage closets and bathroom cupboards
  • Wednesday – Pack the basement and deep clean
  • Thursday – Bubble wrap and box up pictures, wall decor, memory albums, books, and any fragile household items
  • Friday – Pack up guest and laundry rooms as deep clean

Of course, the days and tasks are totally up to you. The important thing here is that focusing on singular tasks will help you be more effective than just chipping away at random little things.

Plan the Trip Using Your Online Calendar

Does your move include a cross-country drive hauling a trailer of belongings? If you don’t have the necessary moving equipment, you’ll need to rent some. Moving companies typically charge by the day, so planning an efficient trip can prevent the costs from piling up.

Your online calendar will not only make your drive more efficient but more enjoyable as well. Plan hotel stays and stopping points along your drive, and you’ll make the trip in a timely manner. This will help you get some needed rest and make memories along the way.

Enlist Some Help

On the day your moving truck arrives, there will be a lot of packing and lifting to be done. To get this done as quickly as possible, you can enlist the help of family, friends, and neighbors.

To organize volunteering efforts, make an event in your online calendar. You can share this event with others to collect RSVPs and get all of the work done in a single time period. This will get all hands on deck to complete the project instead of a little bit of help trickling in here and there. You might even whip up a batch of cookies the night before to thank your helpers.

Execute Your Arrival Using Your Online Calendar

The move doesn’t end when you arrive at your destination. There will be just as much unpacking to do as there was packing. Everything you did to depart will need to be replicated for your arrival.

You can plan these efforts the same way you organized your leaving. Enlist help, have cleaning supplies handy, set time for unboxing, and make a plan to follow in your online calendar. This will help make it less of a chore and allow you to better settle into your new home.

Get Familiar With Your New Home

Unless you’re moving back to a previous residence, there will be a lot of unknowns in your new hometown. You will need to get familiarized with key locations such as gas stations, schools, and grocery stores. You’ll also be interested in hitting up local sites like movie theaters and parks for entertainment.

Schedule times to hit the town in your online calendar. This way, you can see as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. In addition, the more comfortable you get with your new surroundings, the sooner you can call it home.

Leaving one place in favor of another is a challenge in itself. There are so many things to get accustomed to, and the difficulty of moving shouldn’t stop you from making the transition as positive as possible. Use these tips and your online calendar to make moving a cinch, and get down to business in your new home.

9 Pro Tips for Conducting a Hybrid Meeting

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9 Pro Tips for Conducting a Hybrid Meeting

As companies return to having employees in the office, they may realize hybrid operations meetings are a must. 

Now instead of having meetings with everyone in person or everyone online, you need a hybrid solution. However, this solution creates a new set of meeting challenges to overcome. 

Here are a few smart tips for including video attendees in important in-person meetings without making it awkward for everyone.

1. Share the Agenda

Meetings run smoother when you have an agenda and stick to it during the meeting—sharing it before the session helps attendees prepare. It also helps keeps remote workers connected so they know what is going on and meeting expectations. Add any online references or links to resources that everyone will need. The central information center will help keep the entire team in sync.

2. Use the Most Current Technology

If your conference room equipment hasn’t been updated in a while, now is the time to do it. After a year of everyone being on video conferencing, people expect to see and hear everything clearly. As a result, old conference room telephone systems and outdated audio need to be replaced to keep remote participants engaged.

Don’t forget to check for software updates too. For example, platforms are adding emoji options to give video participants ways to react and share feedback without disrupting the meeting. Some providers are also developing new tools so participants in the room can use chat along with online members. 

3. Show Everyone’s Face if Possible

Remind online participants to keep their videos running and show their faces. If that isn’t possible, encourage them to use a professional headshot for their off-video setting. You also want to have cameras set up in the conference room to capture people’s faces in the room. 

It also helps if you can use a big screen to show the gallery view of participants. Helping everyone be able to see each other’s faces and expressions builds a connection with online participants. In addition, it helps remind speakers to make eye contact with people not in the room by looking at the camera as another person in the room.

4. Start the Video Before the Meeting Starts

Assign someone to start the online meeting room before the official start of the meeting. This can serve a couple of purposes. First, it’s a good time to troubleshoot any technical issues. Second, it gives you a chance to ensure video and audio are working so you can save the meeting time for the agenda.

Finally, it also gives online participants a chance to accomplish a tech check of their own. They’ll be more engaged and less stressed if they aren’t trying to fix their tech issues after the meeting has started.

As a bonus, they’ll be able to take part in the informal conversations and watercooler talk that happens between in-person attendees while they are waiting for meetings to start.

5. Discourage Side Conversations

Online members can’t hear what’s being said clearly when more than one person is talking. Microphones will pick up the side conversations, even whispered sounds. It’s a sign of respect to your video participants to make sure only one person is talking. That way, everyone can hear and participate.

Sometimes the conversation may get exciting, and people try to talk over each other. You may want to add a touch of humor and a trick to moderate this by using a physical “talking stick.” The only person allowed to talk is the person with the stick. When they are finished, they can pass the stick to the next person. The meeting leader should proactively make sure that online members get a virtual stick and a chance to speak too. 

6. Be Deliberate to Include Online Members

It’s easy to overlook people who aren’t in the room. To keep them connected and engaged, be deliberate about making sure to include them. For example, when the meeting starts, greet them by name and ask them to recap their weekend. Giving them a chance to share helps people in the room connect with the virtual audience as well.

As the meeting occurs, don’t forget to ask those on video if they have questions or comments. And remember, silence can be your friend here. It may take people a moment to come off mute, so don’t be in a rush to fill the quiet.  

At the end of the meeting, go around and ask everyone for their takeaway from the meeting. And start with those online. That guarantees members have a chance for any final questions or comments they needed to add. 

7. Plan Facilitation Help

Meeting leaders may find it helpful to ask a co-worker in the room to act as a facilitator. Their role here is to watch the online participants for indications they need to add a comment. For example, virtual members may turn off mute or use the raise hand function to indicate they want to speak. If members in the room don’t notice, the facilitator should mention it to the room so the online members can share. 

8. Use Group Collaboration Tools

Many times, meetings include whiteboard activities. Most platforms have added virtual whiteboards that video participants can also see. If the virtual whiteboard isn’t an option, make sure you have a way of showing the papers in the room on camera so that everyone can read them.

Another good practice is to use polling software that can consolidate responses from people in the room and online. That may mean employees in the room also need to have an online device with them in the meeting. Let them know this ahead of the meeting to have their device with them and the app installed.

9. Get Feedback

As people start returning to offices and in-person meetings, hybrid meeting practices will grow and evolve. Seek feedback from meeting attendees. Ask them to rate the meeting and provide suggestions for how to improve the experience. It may also help to make sure facilitators occasionally attend hybrid meetings virtually. This first-hand experience will help them get a feel for the online experience and what can be done better.

Conclusion

A recent survey conducted by McKinsey shows that nine out of ten executives expect to have hybrid work. Moreover, as people return to in-person operations, most people expect more remote work than before the pandemic.

The tips above can help make sure your hybrid meeting runs smoothly and keep everyone engaged wherever they happen to be located.

Your Calendar Will Help Make Your Camping Trip a Success

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Your Calendar Will Help Make Your Camping Trip a Success

Remember going camping as a kid? Even if it was only a few times growing up, camping trips make for enjoyable summer memories for the whole family. So invite friends and family — and have a blast!

Your Calendar Will Help Make Your Camping Trip a Success

Unfortunately, many people don’t have great memories of camping — but everyone needs to say they’ve camped at least once in their lives. I call it “life lessons and learning.” And, yes, I laugh when I say that. But, whether the former camping trip was boring, got rained on, or someone was eaten alive by mosquitos — some things can get in the way of a good time. Prevent catastrophe from striking your camping trip by organizing your efforts with your Calendar. Here’s how:

Choosing Dates

Hey, you only have about six weeks before the kids are back in school — so get cracking! First things first, you must select the dates of your camping trip in advance. Very rarely will an impromptu trip work out well, especially for larger families and all of their different schedules. However, some of our impromptu trips ended up the best ever —  so don’t discount that possibility.

Using your Calendar allows you to view all of these conflicting schedules and find free days for everyone. Then, once the date is chosen — create a Calendar event and share it with everyone who plans to attend so that they don’t end up booking something for the dates selected.

Remembering to Pack

Nothing is worse than arriving at your location and realizing you forgot to pack something important. Don’t let that happen to you by setting one or several reminders in your online Calendar. I, for one, always have camping specifics in a packed bag so I can just look through the items and make sure they aren’t out of date.

You can set a reminder for virtually anything you think you might forget. For example, a Calendar notification will help you get out the door at the right time. Another event will remind you to make a trip to the store to get all the snacks and supplies you need.

You will also find it useful to set a reminder to make sure you double-check your home, set the lock, turn the camera on, check the auto sprinklers, let the neighbor know to pick up mail. I keep this same list for trips on my Calendar, so I don’t have to write a new list each time we go somewhere. That puts everything in order before leaving town for a few days. I also have a “before you go cleaning list” to not be overwhelmed when I return home.

Planning the Road Trip

The best camping spots are usually a long-distance away. Those drives can get pretty grueling, especially for young kids and big families. Your Calendar will come in handy for planning the upcoming road trip and making it as painless as possible.

Most National Parks have a number you can call and select your date and reserve your spot. You have to be there by a certain time (usually 6:00 PM) or give them a late check-in time. If you aren’t there on time — the park will give away your spot.

Looking for a spot to camp at midnight, especially if you’ve brought a baby along, is not a pretty sight. And sleeping in the car because you lost your camping spot tends to be the memory that sticks with your fam and friends forever.

Thanks to GPS technology, you don’t have to plan your route as extensively as in generations past. However, it may be worth your time to plan some stops along the way. For example, optimize your bathroom and lunch breaks or scope out some roadside attractions that are worth checking out.

Plan these out in advance, and you can make the drive more enjoyable while still making it to your campsite at a reasonable hour.

Creating an Itinerary

Camping is so much more than sleeping in a tent on the hard ground. What makes camping worth it is all the activities you plan throughout the day. Your Calendar will help you create the perfect itinerary to fill your days with plenty of activities.

Do you want to go on a family hike? You want to plan water activities when it’s the warmest and plan everything else around it. We like to take our bikes and have a big long bike trip around the lake early while it’s still cool and then have lake time to cool off around noon or 1:00 PM. You could also check to see if the park rents bikes, paddle boats, or canoes. That way you don’t have to bring your own. But all these types of activities and questions can be answered by making an itinerary for your trip.

There’s also some merit in making time to do nothing but relax and get lost in your surroundings. Feel free to include your personal “away” time on your Calendar as well. Especially if it’s a high priority to you. If you’re an adventurous type, you can also freestyle the trip and see where it takes you.

As a footnote, your Calendar doesn’t always have to be online in order to be helpful. While traveling, you can still access the itinerary in offline mode. Thankfully there are fewer places where you won’t have cell service. But be aware no cell service does occur. Sometimes I take a screenshot of my Calendar so I have it in my photos if cell service is not to be had.

Getting Work Done

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean the work has stopped. If you’re taking a weekday trip, you’ll need to ask for time off and might need to get some extra work done before you embark. Even a weekend outing can be a little stressful if you get home late Sunday night and need to get things ready to go to the office the following morning.

This is the perfect opportunity to use your Calendar for what it does best; time management. Leading up to your trip, try using time blocking or experiment with the Pomodoro Technique to get as much work done as possible so that you can take a camping trip without stressing about missing work.

Your Calendar will help you make a seamless return as well. You can organize all of your meetings and deadlines ahead of time to arrange your entire schedule before you even leave for your trip. Then, once you make it back home, all you have to do is check your Calendar for everything that needs to be done next.

Recording Memories

Just as was mentioned from the start, the goal of a camping trip is to have fun and make memories. Therefore, every event and note you add to your Calendar will serve as a reminder of the fun you had even long after the trip has finished.

You can also use your online Calendar to plan out a scrapbook or photo album of all the camping trips you ever take. This is a more visual and organized way to preserve memories for a very long time.

You can have a lot of fun roughing it if you come prepared. Before you leave to come home from a trip (camping or otherwise), get everyone to share photos from your phones. I put a reminder in my Calendar because sharing photos has become such a staple of our adventures and the highlight of our trips now.

Strengthen Your Budgeting Resolve by Enlisting Your Daily Planner

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Strengthen Your Budgeting Resolve by Enlisting Your Daily Planner

Many people create budgets to help stay on track with bills, savings goals, and fun money. Some are more detailed than others in their budgeting, but it’s important to at least know what your income is and how much your fixed bills are each month. What’s left is what you live on. Even though you may set out with the intention of tracking your expenditures, it’s easy to end up with more days in the month than money left in the bank.

Why is that? Well, it could be that you have a “set it and forget it” mindset when it comes to budgeting. Maybe you created a rough budget several months or years ago when you got a new job or bought a new house, but now you don’t look at it each month. 

Strengthening your budgeting resolve first comes with paying attention to your plan for your money. People typically excel in what they put their focus and time into. It’s amazing what you can accomplish by setting your priorities. Scheduling time each month or each pay period to look at your expenses and budget can be invaluable. Here are four ways you can make sure this happens:

Make Budgeting Appointments in Your Daily Calendar

Set up an appointment on your phone or through your online scheduling app to remind you to budget. You make appointments for doctor’s visits or to remember to buy a gift for your niece’s birthday. Keeping track of your budget is important, so set a reminder for that, too. These reminders provide an ongoing visualization that can help you make more informed decisions when the temptation to spend arises.

If you haven’t been using your phone for online scheduling, check out some options online that would work best for you. If you’re a Gmail user, you might find Google calendar the ideal platform. Or, if you love all things Apple, you can use your iPhone’s calendar. Whatever you like using, stick with it. 

Create Calendar Reminders for Bill Due Dates

Setting personal budget meetings helps you stay on track with your budgeting and financial goals. These meetings are a great way to see your overall financial picture and where you stand in sticking to it. To help you stay on target even more, you could take it a step further and add calendar appointments for your bill due dates and to mark your paydays. 

Adding these to your calendar lets you easily see when money is coming in and going out of your account each month. The month-at-a-glance perspective allows you to check on this in an easy-to-manage format. If you have a hard time remembering to pay your rent or electric bill on time, this can be a huge help and keep you ahead of the game. 

Increase Your Budgeting Appointments During High-Cost Times of Year

Are there certain times during the year where you’re more tempted to spend? If so, increase your budgeting meetings during those times. If you go nuts over the Christmas holidays, purchasing cute decorations, gifts, and holiday treats, schedule your budgeting check-ins every other week or every week after Thanksgiving. Hold yourself accountable and keep tabs on how much you’re spending. 

Maybe summertime is when you relax and let loose with spontaneous beach trips and long weekends to see friends and family. If so, this might be the time of year to keep up with your budgeting meetings or add in more. Even if you’re going on vacations or other planned trips, if you don’t set a budget, you may have the stress of tight finances when you get back. 

Do yourself a favor: Create a vacation budget before you go. It gives you permission to spend and won’t leave you guessing when you get home. 

Make Long and Short-Term Budgeting Goals

Not only do your budgeting appointments keep you accountable, but they can also be used to set goals and timelines. Establish benchmarks for where you want to be financially. If your goal is paying off debt, for example, break this large goal down into smaller, measurable goals. 

Put your target pay-off date in your calendar way off in the future. Then, determine how much you hope to pay off quarterly or monthly. Put those smaller goals into your scheduling app. When you get the reminder, look at your progress. You can then adjust accordingly. 

Maybe you’re hitting your goal faster than you thought. That could light a fire under you to reach the goal even faster. If you’re lagging a bit, look into the reasons why. Maybe you ate at your favorite restaurant too many times last month and need to rein in your spending a bit so you’ll have more left to throw at your debt payment. This method can work well for saving goals, too.

Putting an important meeting, workout, or friend call on your calendar helps you stay committed to what’s important to you with regard to work, physical health, and personal relationships. Why not do the same for budgeting? Enlisting your calendar to hold yourself accountable can go a long way toward helping you meet your financial goals.   

How to Make Your Work Meetings Work for You

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How to Make Your Work Meetings Work for You

You know all about the workday marathon. You finish with one work meeting, and then you have to sprint over to the next meeting. You may even end the first meeting early just to get to the second one on time. The situation certainly isn’t ideal. 

In fact, this kind of terrible time management can cause all kinds of problems. It leaves too little room for error and causes unnecessary stress.

How you schedule your meetings will determine how successfully you’re using your time. If you schedule back-to-back meetings, you’re making your life harder than it needs to be. Thankfully, there are things you can do to change this. The following tips will help you alter your meeting habits for the better. 

Add Buffer Time Between Meetings

The first thing you should do to prevent work meeting overlap is to add buffer time to your schedule. A few minutes between meetings will give you some time to catch your breath after you dash from one to another.

Sitting through the end of a meeting knowing you’re going to be late for the next one is incredibly stressful. You’re more likely to be distracted, and you may even miss important information. Plus, a presenter can tell when you’re itching to leave.

Then there are the concerns about the second meeting. Tardiness is often seen as inconsiderate. If it’s a meeting with the boss, you certainly don’t want to look bad.

It’s much better to be safe than sorry. Build-in buffer time even if you don’t think you need it. 

Plan for Longer Work Meetings

Don’t be afraid to schedule a bit more time than you actually need when organizing a meeting. Take a training meeting, for example. You can’t predict exactly how many questions employees and new hires will have during the event in question. It’s best to get all questions answered rather than cut the discussion short. 

To be clear, this should be separate from adding buffer time. Buffer time gives you what you need to get to and from appointments. Planning for longer meetings also helps other employees manage their schedules. 

Basically, this means scheduling an hour and a half for a meeting, even if you think it’ll take an hour. After that 90 minute block, you’ll still want an additional buffer of 10 minutes. After all, nature could be calling by then. 

Evaluate Your Meeting Locations

Your work meetings’ locations have as much of an impact as when they’re scheduled. For example, you might need to take a long-time client or a group of investors to lunch one day. You’ll need a lot more buffer time if you have another meeting scheduled back at the office afterward. 

This won’t be as much of an issue if most of your meetings are online. However, you’ll still need to keep location in mind. Small relocations, like going from the conference room to your office to set up a Zoom call, can still take time. After all, technology can be unpredictable, and you might need the extra time to fix your mic or hunt down a presentation. 

Prepare Meeting Agendas in Advance

Just as important as planning the times of your meetings is planning their content. You’ll find that meetings run a lot more smoothly when there’s an agenda to follow. Use your online calendar to set a reminder to make an agenda before every planned meeting.

If you’re attending a meeting rather than leading it, ask the host for an agenda. This might prompt them to make one if they haven’t already. This small request can help ensure that meetings go efficiently, even when you’re not in control. 

Keep the Number of Meetings to a Minimum

Did you know that the average employee is wasting 31 hours a month in unproductive meetings? Think of all the things you and your team could accomplish with those lost hours. How can you reclaim that time? By identifying and cutting out unnecessary meetings.

Deciding which meetings to keep can be a challenge. Start by asking yourself a series of questions. Can everything you plan to say in this meeting be written in an email? Are these meetings actually just a way to micromanage others? After some introspection, you should be able to clear your calendar of at least a few meetings. 

Internal communication platforms should keep the need for formal meetings to a minimum. Individual questions can be sent through direct messages. Plus, project management software allows you to give plenty of instructions for specific tasks. 

Avoid Last-Second Meetings

Sometimes a last-minute meeting pops up, and you’ve got no choice but to drop everything and go. However, when you can avoid last-second meetings, you should. Nothing will clog up your schedule more than an unexpected meeting. Trying to squeeze it in between your previously scheduled commitments is just asking for trouble.

If someone requests a meeting with you for the same day, take a look at your calendar before saying yes. Look for a clear opening in your schedule. If there isn’t time for a couple of days, see if that time frame would work for the other person. Very rarely will you actually have to fit in a last-second meeting. It’s always easier to negotiate a meeting time than to reschedule existing commitments. 

Schedule Blocks of Time Without Meetings

If meetings start to overwhelm you, schedule some times where you won’t allow meetings to take place. This will ensure that you can get some actual work done. If you know when you’re most productive, you can schedule this time accordingly. For example, some people do their best work early in the morning. If that describes you, it’s best to block off that time for your own work.

Some people prefer to have all their meetings on one day. Then they have the rest of their week for other work. Others like to keep their meetings spread apart so that they never run too closely together. Whatever your preference, make sure to designate some time away from the meeting room when you can. 

Meetings are an important aspect of any business, but they can take over your professional life if you let them. Finding the right approach to organizing your meetings will keep you from becoming stressed. Open up your calendar now and start making the adjustments you need for smooth sailing at work. 

Best Appointment Scheduling Software: 7 Apps for Business Scheduling

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A person manually setting up appointments without any of the best appointment scheduling software.

It isn’t fun to manually set up schedules, follow up with appointments, handle emergency bookings, and skim several calendars to see appointment dates. 

Creating manual appointments can cause you to lose customers and set back your business growth because your scheduling processes are all over the place. 

It gets worse if you continue to do this day in and day out every week.

What if you could streamline your appointment workflow in minutes, book customers faster, and make more money?  

The best appointment scheduling software streamlines bookings, messaging, payments, and other business scheduling. These booking systems help automate repetitive appointment processes and free up time so you can focus on your zone of genius.

Think of an appointment scheduler as your low-cost, super-efficient virtual assistant who doesn’t take breaks but continuously sets up meetings with your customers. It’s a must-have for all business processes and appointment types for an easier booking experience.

Here’s what you’ll find in this guide:

Appointment Scheduling Apps: Definition and Uses

What To Consider When Choosing Appointment Scheduling Software

Best Appointment Scheduling Software

  1. Appointment.com
  2. Calendar.com
  3. HubSpot Meetings
  4. Appointy
  5. Acuity Scheduling
  6. Calendly
  7. Chili Piper

Final Thoughts: The 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software

Appointment Scheduling Apps: Definition and Uses

Appointment scheduling apps are a solution to manual tasks and processes for booking appointments. With these appointment schedulers, you can automate scheduling processes such as: 

  • Booking
  • Rescheduling
  • Cancellation
  • Follow-ups
  • Payments 

Your customers and prospects can access your appointment scheduling software through a simple URL and book meetings themselves. You can share the scheduling link to your booking page via e-mail and social media, or you can embed an appointment widget on your website and other business pages. 

Booking services has never been easier. An appointment scheduler erases the need for the tedious appointment setup, human error, and back-and-forth communications that characterize manual appointments. 

Appointment scheduling applications empower your clients to choose a time and date most suitable to them while letting you input your available hours. Your clients can book their own appointments without overbooking and stretching you thin. 

The Benefits of Appointment Booking Software 

A person looking at a computer screen reading the best appointment scheduling software reviews.

Here are some of the advantages of using appointment booking apps:

  • Online appointment scheduling software reduces the length of your sales cycle
  • Provides a better booking experience
  • The best appointment schedulers ensure you get paid faster
  • Enables your customers to self-schedule or adjusts their bookings
  • Reduces the number of no shows
  • Appointment schedulers eliminate manual tasks and stressful marketing
  • Prevents overbooking and scheduling errors
  • Provides automation to follow-up with customers
  • Saves you time, energy, and customers
  • Gives you the space to focus on your zone of genius

What To Consider When Choosing Appointment Scheduling Software

The best appointment scheduling software solutions have certain features that cut across them. Here are the five features you should look out for when choosing an appointment scheduling app for your business. 

Calendar Syncing

Calendar syncing is one of the most common features of the best appointment scheduling software. It’s essential to integrate your scheduler with your personal and work calendars. 

Calendar sync increases your efficiency by conserving your energy and saving time. This feature enables you to view your business appointments alongside your personal to-dos and holidays at a glance. 

Check for software that syncs to your Google calendar, iCal, or Outlook. It can be tedious opening one calendar after the other to see when you have appointments. 

Flexibility

Companies often have different appointment scheduling needs depending on their business type and niche.

The best appointment scheduling software solutions consider the versatility of the business world by offering several customization options. Some of these booking apps even create tailored interfaces to suit specific types of services. 

Understand your business’s scheduling needs before you invest in any appointment scheduler, as this will help you know what customizations your business processes need. Then, look for the appointment booking app that matches those needs. 

A person looking at their scheduling needs to determine the best appointment scheduling software for her business.

Easy Access

Your clients need to access your appointment scheduler from anywhere. Go for the best appointment scheduling software that provides multiple access points. 

Ideally, your appointment scheduler should provide a sharing link, integrate with social media platforms and messaging channels, and have website embed functions.

Payment Processing

One of the simplest ways to grow your revenue is to set up an easy online payment system. 

The best appointment scheduling software empowers you to automate payments alongside bookings so your customers can use a credit card or merchant website like Paypal to pay you quickly and easily. 

To reduce financial and time losses, you can have customers pay at the point of sale before the appointment kicks off.

Reminder Settings

Life gets busy, and so do people. Your customers will most likely have other things besides your meeting on their minds. That’s why you should send a reminder ahead of your meeting time to minimize the number of no-shows and emergency rescheduling.

This can be a hassle if you have to send follow-up messages every time you get booked manually. 

The best appointment scheduling software automates reminders, so your meeting attendees are always aware of their appointment time and date beforehand. 

Best Appointment Scheduling Software

  1. Appointment.com
  2. Calendar.com
  3. HubSpot Meetings
  4. Appointy
  5. Acuity Scheduling
  6. Calendly
  7. Chili Piper

Based on several appointment scheduling software reviews and features we analyzed, we’ve rounded up seven of the best appointment scheduling software you can use for your business. 

While the functions and pricing of these app schedulers vary depending on the businesses they support, your choice ultimately depends on your budget, business type, online booking needs, and marketing strategy.  

Here’s the breakdown of the seven best appointment scheduling software:

1. Appointment

Appointment.com is one of the best appointment scheduling software you’ll find online. This scheduler has been satisfying the appointment needs of various business types since 1999. 

The best part of Appointment.com’s software is that you don’t need a website or to install the app or sign any contracts before you start booking clients. 

So, whether you own a coaching business, health club, or tanning salon, Appointment.com has an appointment solution tailored to your unique requirements.

With Appointment.com, customers new and old can book an appointment with you whenever they want, be it day or night. They can also cancel and reschedule appointments themselves. 

An advantage of using Appointment.com so your customers can book appointments on their own is that it allows you to grow your customer base cost-effectively. 

Key features of Appointment.com:

  • Fast set up in minutes
  • Appointment book and scheduler
  • Full-fledged customization options
  • Gift cards and a tracking system
  • Syncs with calendars like Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal
  • Appointment reminders and waitlists
  • Multiple locations, departments, and categories management
  • SSL encryption for customer transactions
  • Powerful API that allows for smooth integration with other systems
  • Extensive business analytics
  • Supports payments through PayPal
  • Compatible with any device
  • Free coaching call

Best appointment scheduling software for: Small businesses, both service providers and product sellers.

Price: Free 30-day trial. Plans start at $29/month (pay-as-you-go, monthly, and yearly plans available).

2. Calendar.com

Calendar

Calendar.com is a low-cost option among the best appointment scheduling software. It’s an effective bookable calendar and time management solution for solopreneurs and small teams.

Calender.com is an AI digital calendar that syncs across several devices that empowers you to plan bookings, events, time, and scheduling changes in a single dashboard view quickly and easily.

Key features of Calendar.com:

  • Lets you know when other Calendar users are available and create events around their availability
  • Analytics so you know how you spend your time
  • Support for teams
  • AI-powered — the software learns your schedule and customizes your experience over time
  • Supports Gmail, Office 365, and Outlook
  • Web embedding with white labeling
  • More than 2,000 app integrations with Zapier
  • Access to 24/7 support from the help center
  • Automated email notifications
  • Scheduling time slots
  • Shared and sub-calendars
  • Excellent user interface 
  • Available for mobile devices on the Google Play and Apple app stores 

Best appointment scheduling software for: Freelancers and small businesses looking for an effective, low-budget scheduling solution.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $6/month when billed annually. 

`3. HubSpot Meetings

HubSpot Meetings is a free scheduling tool that has what you need to take your hands off manual appointment scheduling. It’s completely free and one of the best appointment scheduling software you can use for your business.

HubSpot Meetings’ scheduling app empowers you to add form fields to your meeting page to collect important contact details, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers. It’s an all-in-one field service management app that captures lead and customer data for future marketing outreach.

HubSpot Meetings integrates directly with HubSpot’s free CRM software and automatically creates records for new contacts so you can monitor and manage your appointments. You can also automatically log call recordings directly to your CRM.

Key features of HubSpot Meetings:

  • Syncs to Google Calendar and Office 365
  • Unlimited bookings
  • Round-robin meeting links that connect you or your sales rep to your prospects
  • Group meeting availability
  • Support for custom domains
  • Direct meeting scheduling
  • Video conferencing software integrations
  • Automated follow-ups
  • Automatic integration with HubSpot CRM

Best appointment scheduling software for: Businesses (small, medium, or enterprise) looking for a free, reliable appointment scheduling solution.

Price: Free 

4. Appointy

Appointy

Appointy is the best appointment scheduling software for you if you own a brick-and-mortar business. It makes it a breeze for companies with physical stores — in any industry — to book appointments while adhering to any applicable social distancing guidelines.

Whether you want to schedule appointments, resources, workshops, classes, events, or tours, Appointy will fulfill scheduling demands with its custom-made features.

Key features of Appointy:

  • Multi-channel bookings on platforms such as your website, Facebook, and Instagram
  • Group scheduling 
  • Zapier integration
  • Integrates with multiple payment apps, including Square, PayPal, and Authorize.net
  • Automatic reminders
  • Syncs with personal and work calendars, such as Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook 
  • Integrates with video conferencing apps
  • Fair usage policy limit of 2,000 appointments a day
  • Unique subdomain

Best appointment scheduling software for: Brick-and-mortar business owners looking for an appointment solution that adheres to social distancing regulations.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $19.99/month when billed annually.

5. Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling, owned by Squarespace, takes out the stress and delays of manual appointment scheduling. It is another one of the best appointment scheduling software because it lets you book appointments with clients in a way that allows them to see your real-time availability. This scheduling app also empowers you to send customized follow-ups.

Key features of Acuity Scheduling:

  • Accepts payments through Stripe, Square, and Paypal
  • Integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting
  • Integrates with 2,000+ other apps through Zapier
  • Syncs with Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, and Office 365
  • Lets you offer coupons and discount vouchers
  • Optional support for client tips 
  • HIPAA-compliant for top-notch privacy
  • Integrates with Google Analytics
  • Integrates with QuickBooks and Freshbooks for invoicing and accounting

Best appointment scheduling software for: Businesses that want scheduling customization that fits their branding.

Price: Free 7-day trial. Plans start at $14/month when billed annually.

6. Calendly

Calendly

Calendly is one of the best appointment scheduling software that empowers you to connect your calendar and book unlimited meetings.

With Calendly, simply set up your schedule and automation, share your link, get booked, and it will automatically send out email notifications and reminders to clients who book with you.

Key features of Calendly:

  • Automates reminders and follow-ups
  • Automatic “thank you” notes
  • Connects to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting
  • Unlimited appointment and one-off meetings
  • Custom branded pages
  • Payment processes with Stripe and Paypal (Pro and Enterprise plans only) 
  • Webhooks automatically send updates to connected apps
  • Custom email and SMS notifications
  • Connects to Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Intercom
  • Tracks with Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics
  • Connects to Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook, and iCloud
  • Available on both web and mobile apps (iOS and Android)

Best appointment scheduling software for: Individuals, small teams, and enterprises looking for low-cost customization and advanced features.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $8/month when billed annually.

7. Chili Piper

Chili Piper

Chili Piper is an effective scheduler designed to help B2B brands book meetings in one click and send automatic updates to their CRMs. It is one of the best appointment scheduling software that eliminates manual tasks and makes bookings and rescheduling easy. It also enables you to schedule multi-person meetings and hold conversations with ready leads in real-time.

With Chili Piper, when you send emails to clients, instead of adding a link to a landing page where they look through your calendar, you can add buttons for them to book meetings with a single click.

Key features of Chill Piper:

  • Instant web form scheduling
  • One-click booking
  • Flexible round-robin scheduling
  • Unlimited event types
  • Calendar integrations with Google Calendar, Office 365, and Outlook
  • Handoff meetings
  • Automated emails, email signatures, and SMS reminders
  • Automatic lead routing to CRM
  • Embeds within website
  • Group meetings coordinated using multiple calendars
  • Instant Booker plugin to schedule appointments from your sales tools
  • Tracks meetings, no shows, reschedules, and cancellations in your CRM
  • Team meeting templates and reminders

Best appointment scheduling software for: B2B brands and companies looking to schedule multi-person meetings at once.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $15 per user per month when billed annually (Instant Booker package).

Final Thoughts: The 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software

As a solopreneur, small team, or large enterprise looking to book more customers and expand your business, you need an appointment scheduler to sharpen your functionality.

While manual appointment scheduling can cause you to burn out, lose customers, create errors, and ultimately lose your vibe, online scheduling software is the virtual assistant you need to book more clients with ease.

If you’re not using an online appointment scheduler, choose the one that suits your business and scheduling needs from our list of the seven best appointment scheduling software.

Ready to book more clients quickly and efficiently? Try Appointment free for 30 days.

Employee Vacations Don’t Need to Slow Down Your Business

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Employee Vacations Don’t Need to Slow Down Your Business

As summer arrives, many employees are eyeing their next vacation destination. Managing absences can get tricky. Even for experienced business managers, especially if they don’t plan ahead.

However, employee vacations don’t have to slow your business down. There are ways to plan around them, and even encourage them, to keep workflows running smoothly and employees energized. Here’s how you can make it happen:

Recognize the Importance of Employee Downtime

First of all, you need to acknowledge the fact that employee vacations are necessary. When a manager is willing to work with employees to take time off, the process becomes a lot smoother. Additionally, you’ll see notable improvements in workplace productivity.

The American Psychological Association’s Work and Well-Being survey found that 58% of workers were more productive and 55% believed their work quality increased following a vacation. Paid time off (PTO) allows employees to recharge and come back with an improved mindset, which ends up paying dividends to your business. 

Once you realize that vacations help your business instead of hurt it, you’ll be more open to implementing the following suggestions to make time off increasingly possible. Employees, in turn, will be more willing to cooperate with your PTO guidelines when you show them that you truly value their vacation time. 

Operate Above the Bare Minimum

A big reason why businesses struggle with employee vacations is because they regularly operate on a bare minimum basis. They have just enough employees to cover every shift. When someone asks for PTO, it means there’s no one who can pick up the slack. 

Employees will burn out quickly when they are overworked and feel incapable of taking time off. This leads to a decline in job performance and high turnover rates, which are complicated and costly for businesses to handle. 

Sit down with your finance team and calculate the budget needed to add one or two more team members to your roster. Even having a few part-time or on-call employees can help cover essential tasks when a worker is on vacation or even taking sick leave. 

Encourage Vacations During Slow Season

While you’re building a culture that supports time off, try to do so as efficiently as possible. Businesses will be able to support employee vacations much more easily during their slow season as opposed to their peak months. 

Let’s use a car dealership and/or its service department as an example. The auto industry typically booms in the summer when driving conditions are optimal and travel is more feasible. You’ll want all hands on deck in these months, so encourage your employees to take more time off in the fall and winter. 

Of course, many vacations and family reunions are planned in the summer when kids are out of school. Don’t use the busy months as an excuse to never allow an employee to take time off. Work with all employees to stagger their PTO so you can cater to their personal situations and the needs of your business.

Update Your Scheduling System

Many organizations use outdated systems to field and approve time-off requests is outdated. There are too many hoops to jump through, or forms get lost and verbal commitments are forgotten. If you really don’t want employee vacations to slow down your business, update your scheduling system.

Start by moving the entire process online. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already use online appointment software to benefit your business and its customers. Implement technology to do the same with your employee PTO scheduling. 

Scheduling software will keep employee shifts organized, ensuring that everyone knows their work schedule and every day is covered. PTO requests can be digitally submitted, reviewed, and approved in minutes. The schedule can then be altered accordingly without miscommunications or lost time. 

Establish PTO Guidelines

Rules are never fun, but they’re necessary to maintain order and equity. With a set of rules and guidelines in place, your employees will be able to better choose when to cash in on their vacation time.

For example, one of your rules might be that two employees in the same department can’t be on vacation at the same time. Workers then know that they won’t be able to ask off work, except for emergencies, if certain dates are already claimed. This also encourages employees to plan in advance so that a lack of foresight doesn’t cause them to miss a wedding or a family reunion. 

Transition as Much As Possible to Remote Work

Employees who work from home have much more flexibility when it comes to taking a vacation. In many cases, they can still work on the road, and the business won’t even notice they’re gone. Enabling as many remote work opportunities as possible keeps your business running even with vacation time in the mix.

For appointment-based businesses, there may be fewer opportunities right now for remote work. Still, you can look at digital customer service options or have your back-office teams work from home. Your IT technician can be just as effective from a hotel room in the Bahamas if you really need them. 

Another exciting development in the world of appointment-based businesses is telecommunication. Some professionals, such as physicians and therapists, can hold consultations with patients via videoconferencing. This gives these service providers more scheduling flexibility, allowing them to plan vacation activities around the appointments they have each day. 

Vacations are an essential part of life. Make sure both you and your team are taking the time you need to unwind and relax. And use these tips to make sure your business doesn’t suffer because of it. 

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