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5 Virtual Holiday Ideas For Your Calendar

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5 Virtual Holiday Ideas to Lighten Up Your Calendar

In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed and even canceled plans for the holidays as people strive to stay safe and stop the spread of the virus. Many people are wondering how it can be possible to enjoy the Christmas season without many of the activities and events they love this time of year. Luckily, a lot of organizations have put together some digital Christmas events to try and provide some holiday spirit to everyone staying at home. The following are examples of events that can be added to your Calendar this December and give you an idea of other virtual holiday events:

Try a Virtual Holiday Cooking Class

There’s a lot to be excited about during the holiday season, but the food is definitely toward the top of the list. This special time of year means you can justify pulling out all the stops on extravagant meals and delectable desserts. However, not all of us are expert chefs, so we can use all the help we can get.

A fun way to prepare delicious treats for the whole family is to join a holiday cooking class. For example, you can visit a website such as Cozymeal to join a guided cooking class held over a Zoom call. You’ll be instructed on what ingredients to bring and how to combine them into dishes that will be the talk of the town.

This class by Chef Zach will give you an idea of what sort of cooking classes are available. Not only will a professional chef be a helpful guide, cooking with a group will be a lot of fun.

Dates: December 4th, 2021, December 10th, 2021, December 11th, 2021

Price: $39 per device

Take a Virtual Tour of the Holy Land

Christmas has deep roots in the Holy Land of Israel. Many people are unable to make the long trip to visit these locations. Though a virtual tour can’t make up for a real trip, it will still be very satisfying. If you’re still wary about travel, this is an excellent decision for your upcoming Christmas plans.

Taking a virtual tour of Jerusalem is great for everyone. Most religions consider this a sacred place, which makes this an appropriate activity for those celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and more. Even if you’re not religious, the history, geography, and architecture are fascinating enough to capture your attention.

Another potential virtual tour opportunity is seeing the city of Bethlehem, the birthsite of Jesus Christ whose namesake marks this holiday season. Below is an example of one of the virtual tours you can take, this one offered by the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America.

Date: December 12th, 2021

Price: One ticket per household received after donation

Join a Virtual Choir

Most of the virtual events you will find online involve some sort of singing. There are so many memorable tunes to choose from, and radio stations are already broadcasting some of their favorites. Listening to some Christmas carols or even joining in yourself is sure to bring the spirit of the holidays into your home.

Many concerts are offered for free, especially those provided by local organizations. However, there are also concerts that use ticket sales to support a worthy cause. For example, the UK branch of the Alzheimer’s Society is putting on a fabulous concert show that will bring light to many families and bring in donations to help many more. Their virtual option is affordable and allows you to participate in the event from afar while still extending your support to the organization.

Date: December 15th, 2021

Price: £10.00 for an online ticket

Enjoy George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker

This exquisite production performed by the New York City Ballet has become a Christmas classic. The first premiered this show in 1954 and it has been an annual tradition ever since. They are welcoming back fans and guests in person this season, but not everyone can make it to New York to witness such a performance.

Luckily, there are virtual performances of The Nutcracker that you can watch from home. One of these events comes courtesy of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. With a show time of just over two hours, your family can enjoy a movie-length show while wearing Christmas PJs and stocked up on treats. All you need to do is buy a digital pass one time and enjoy it with as many friends and family as you can.

Date: December 20, 2021 – December 28, 2021

Price: $49 flat rate

Participate in a Virtual Holiday Run

Believe it or not, running is a holiday tradition for many people and families. With COVID-19 concerns, a lot of races have gone virtual as an extra precautionary measure. One of many virtual fun run events is the Christmas Jingle Virtual Run, with registration open until Christmas Day.

All you have to do is sign up for a virtual run and they’ll ship you your race gear and finisher medal. Participate in the event on your own time and see how you square up with other virtual runners. Many of these events also donate proceedings to foundations and charities, making it an even more heartwarming holiday tradition.

Date: December 25, 2021 – January 23, 2022

Price: $5 – $40 per participant

Add one or more of these to your online calendar for a completely unique Christmas experience. You can also plan your own virtual event with family, hosting a bake-off, caroling session, or unwrapping presents together virtually on Christmas morning. Do whatever it takes to make the season bright. You may even come up with a fun new tradition to come back to every year.

5 Virtual Holiday Ideas to Lighten Up Your Calendar was originally published on Calendar by 

5 Reasons Customers Prefer to Schedule Appointments on Their Own

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5 Reasons Customers Prefer to Schedule Appointments on Their Own

Nowadays, more and more people simply prefer to do things on their own. Whether it’s using the self-checkout at the grocery store, paying for gas at the pump, or ordering meals online, using technology to make processes faster and easier is a hit across all industries. It’s no wonder why online appointment software has experienced so much success. As a result, more people prefer to schedule appointments on their own too.

Why Customers Prefer to Schedule Appointments On Their Own

There are many self-service aspects that online appointment software will introduce to your customers. In fact, you could easily see your calendar fill up by using online software since many customers prefer to schedule appointments on their own. Here are some of the reasons why that’s the case:

1. They Don’t Have All Day

Your customers have things to do and places to be. They don’t want to wait on hold or stand in a line waiting to confirm an upcoming appointment. Even if they did, wait times are frustrating and typically a waste of time. Online appointment scheduling is much faster and can be done at the customer’s leisure.

Another aspect of appointment setting that can get tedious is the amount of time customers have to spend writing or dictating their personal information. When booking an appointment online, they can add this information faster. If customers have autofill enabled, the software can add their pertinent details so they don’t have to type everything in.

Once customers add information to an online customer profile, it stays there. Each subsequent booking will automatically update any necessary information. They will only have to make small adjustments as needed.

2. They Can Correct Their Own Mistakes

We make mistakes every single day. That doesn’t mean it gets any less embarrassing when we commit one. In the case of self-service solutions, customers can discreetly fix their mistakes if they accidentally book the wrong appointment time or input the wrong information.

Some changes are necessary not because of a mistake but due to a simple change of plans. For example, a customer might have booked an appointment and then received a surprise visit from the in-laws. By going online, they can easily reschedule an appointment without making a scene.

3. They Can Make Secure Payments Online

Online payments are quick and efficient and are actually quite safe. There is great benefit in being able to pay for appointments in advance in order to cut down time spent waiting in a lobby. Knowing that these transactions are completely secure means customers can rest easy while taking advantage of this convenient option.

Just as customers can choose to save their information with your business to save time while booking appointments, they can also save their payment information. While fewer customers will want to save payment information online, this can be a convenient option for consumers who want a faster checkout experience.

If you do offer online payments, don’t take data security lightly, especially when it comes to financial information. Make sure you’re staying on top of cybersecurity trends and train your employees on proper data security. Software and hardware offer a lot of protection when coupled with cybersecurity knowledge. So be sure you provide the safest payment options for your customers.

4. Appointment Questions Are Easily Answered

Want to know how many appointment slots are available next Friday? With scheduling software, customers no longer have to call and hope they can speak with a representative to ask. Instead of waiting while a customer service rep scours the calendar for an opening, they can check available time slots on their own.

This feature makes scheduling so much easier for customers. If someone is trying to plan out their week on a Sunday afternoon, they can look at appointment openings and even schedule appointments on their own without having to wait for your business to open the next day.

Your scheduling software landing page can contain other useful information and answers to frequently asked questions. Information such as how long appointments normally last, cancellation policies, and what a customer is expected to bring to their appointment can all be listed for them online.

5. The Appointment Options Are Endless

Not only do customers like to do their own thing, they like to have options. Online appointment software enables self-service, but it also allows customers to customize certain aspects of the booking process.

For example, customers can book appointments from any device whether it’s from a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. In some cases, they might even be able to create appointment bookings through texting or email chains.

Other customization options can include aesthetic details such as changing the display to night mode or increasing text size. While these changes aren’t monumental, they can mean a lot to customers who like to tailor their experience to their personal preferences as much as possible.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and ask yourself what self-serve functionality you would want when setting appointments. Look to make that possible with your own business. By doing so, you’ll see those appointment slots start to fill up much more regularly than they did before.

3 Reasons Scheduling Software Can Help Businesses Build Camaraderie With Customers

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3 Reasons Scheduling Software Can Help Businesses Build Camaraderie With Customers

There isn’t a single business on earth that can survive without customers. Even business-to-business companies need a reliable client base in order to stay afloat. While your products and services are extremely important, your highest priority should always be to take care of your customers.

One of the best ways to develop a strong relationship with your customer base is to value and respect their time. Each interaction with a customer is a chance for your brand to express that respect for customer time and attention. This will in turn foster camaraderie and loyalty over an extended period. 

To provide more value to your customers and honor their time, scheduling software is your go-to solution. Here are three reasons why implementing a scheduling software solution is the right choice for your business:

1. Customers Appreciate a Straightforward Experience

Clients will appreciate that you’ve prioritized making scheduling easy for them. It’s a simple gesture that shows that you care about their experience and want to make it better. Improving appointment scheduling doesn’t have to be difficult, either. All you need to do is enable online appointment software, and you’ll have already made a dramatic improvement. 

Being able to book appointments online opens up so many doors for customers. They no longer have to stay on hold to inquire about availability or wait until 9 a.m. to book the next available slot. Online appointment software is functional 24/7, meaning customers can always check or adjust appointment times based on their personal schedules. 

Scheduling software also speeds up the check-in process at the beginning of an appointment. When all of their appointment information is already booted up online, customers can show up mere minutes before their appointment starts and be welcomed in promptly. 

Leaving an appointment is also more straightforward. Customers can pay in advance through the scheduling software itself and book a return visit on their own time. Clients will never have a quicker or more painless appointment experience. 

2. Customers Will Know They Can Rely on You

Online appointment software makes your business seem reliable. When customers feel like they can depend on your system of operations, they’ll be more inclined to stick around for the long haul. Customer retention is one of the most valuable metrics your business will ever track, and the improvements you’ll make in that area alone make scheduling software worth every penny.  

If your company is constantly messing up appointment times and leaving callers on hold for lengthy stretches, you aren’t developing a reputation as a very reliable brand. Customers will view your business as a last resort rather than a superior option.

When you build in buffer time, scheduling software can also help your business prevent appointments from running long. Its automated notifications will likewise discourage late arrivals. These two actions will lead to a more fluid appointment experience for everyone. Customers will be more willing to book multiple appointments if they’re confident that your business will work with their schedule and make sure they get in and out on time. 

3. Analytics Enables Loyalty Programs

Membership programs that offer special benefits and rewards are a surefire way to build camaraderie between your business and its customers. Rewards foster a desire to book multiple appointments over an extended period, boosting your retention rates and yielding more revenue. A good rewards program can also set you apart from your competitors, even if they offer similar services (as is inevitable in every industry).

With online appointment software enabled, businesses can look at past scheduling analytics to put together a proper rewards program and follow through with it. For example, one of your promotions might be that members get a free day of service on their tenth visit. Thanks to scheduling software, you’ll know exactly when that tenth visit is for each customer even if they happen to forget. Discounts can be automatically applied online as a welcome surprise for your loyal patrons. 

Since scheduling software is accessed online, you can attach any deals or promotions you have going on to the booking area of the software. New customers can enjoy an ongoing sale even if they weren’t aware of it previously, and they will be thankful that your business included them in the deal instead of making them pay full price. 

Remember to be transparent when collecting data. Many consumers have grown wary of companies using their information for financial gain. Be open about what data you collect and exactly how it’s being used. Make it easy for customers to change data settings if they don’t want to share certain information. This transparency alone will build a strong bond between your customers and your business. 

Online appointment software is useful for so many other things. The only mistake you can make is taking any longer to implement scheduling software into your business. Your customers will be even more grateful than you will be for the changes you make with this technology. 

How to Power Calendar Your Meetings

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How to Power Calendar Your Meetings

Being a leader typically means giving time to your team. But, what is the right amount of time? As businesses grow, they develop a system for keeping schedules and meetings organized. Here are some helpful tips to ensure that your time stays in order.

Use your calendar as a time-saving and efficiency tool. These suggestions will help you keep an edge while working smart.

1. Don’t hold meetings on a specific day.

Create a company policy that says, “No meeting on Wednesdays.”It’s the day everyone puts up their feet and daydreams. With no interruptions, it’s much simpler to maintain the workflow. Try it; you’ll love it!

2. Let your team plan brainstorming sessions, updates, and meetings. Allow them to do their own scheduling. Your teams can do all their own planning and execution on the actual presentations. Just give them the lead and see what happens. You’ll notice they become more fully vested in the meetings. Your team may need a quarterly meeting to plan when to meet during the quarter.

3. Have the Team Lead check that everyone is prepared.

See to it that everyone is prepared. For example, if you plan to use audiovisual equipment, ensure that your tech staff has all the equipment set up before time. If you are able, conduct a test run-through before the event to ensure that everything is “ship shape and Bristol fashion.”

A quick run-through is especially important when presenting a PowerPoint or when using video-conferencing software such as Zoom for the first time. Make sure that everyone on your team is familiar with all new equipment and tools. Have regular pieces of training.

4. Create an agenda for meetings.

Meetings that produce the best results begin with an agenda and a clearly defined objective. If you’re trying to establish the plan for your meetings — confirm the appointment of an employee, or simply exchange ideas — describing the goal of the meeting can help set the expectations of all participants.

5. Follow the guidelines.

Allow time for an open stream of thought, but make sure everyone realizes that time is money and that your meeting sticks to an exact time schedule.

Keeping on an exact schedule for your meetings (and everything else) holds the entire team responsible for intelligent time management. No one should have to delegate the responsibility for managing time — everyone present should be present, engaged, and eager to display the ability to optimize everyone’s time.

6. Track your time for meetings.

Break your meeting times into 30-minute blocks. Ask the question: do you really need a full half-hour to hold your conference, or can it be done in just 15 minutes? It’s astonishing how much your team could achieve when everyone is time-sensitive. Have a clock on the wall — fully visible at the time of the meeting and in the room. Clocks make everyone more aware that time marches forward.

7. Plan meetings in blocks.

If you can, schedule your meetings in blocks. It doesn’t matter if your meetings are in the morning or in the afternoon — using a time-blocking schedule will allow for a smoother operation.

Meetings are not the goal. It’s the actions that come from them that are essential. One word of caution: with longer meetings, do not forget to schedule an interval of 15 minutes so you can take care of “nature’s call” and tummy treats.

Employees will want a drink of water or take a bathroom break and grab a quick healthy, and nutritious snack during the meeting. Having snacks available in the room sometimes cuts down on needed break time.

8. Audits are held at the close of every quarter.

In the first week of every quarter, look over your regular gatherings and consider if it is appropriate to keep the meeting in the future? Should they be regularly scheduled, or is it possible to move to a biweekly, perhaps even an annual one?

Repetitive meetings can quickly take over your schedule. For instance, at the beginning of each Calendar Quarter, some companies eliminate all scheduled events from Calendars and start making a new Calendar.

9. Simply tell them “no.”

Be aware of the fact that time and energy are entirely yours to regulate. You have the option of saying “no” when you are asked to use your time. It’s quite a powerful practice. It’s crucial to are taking the time to review strategies, prioritize and ensure that your business is moving in the proper direction.

As leaders, our responsibility is to support our teams and convey the results to our managers. A vital aspect of a manager’s job is to present themselves as confident and enthusiastic. It’s challenging to stay confident and move forward in your business when you’re trapped in a void of meetings which only create more meetings.

Don’t have your company decide not to continue to have meetings. Ensure that every meeting counts and that your team is all on board to get your work done. Then intersperse group meetings with one-on-one and face-to-face meets to keep your team rotations fresh, efficient, and valuable information exchanges.

How to Maximize Your Time With Appointment Software This Holiday Season

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How to Maximize Your Time With Appointment Software This Holiday Season

If there is any time of the year where personal time is most precious, it’s the holiday season. Family events, parties, decorations, and gifts are at the forefront of our minds — but our responsibilities outside the home will never go away. Annual checkups, haircut appointments, dentist visits, and more demand our attention. To maximize the time you have for the fun stuff, using a convenient scheduling platform can help you slot in each necessary appointment when it works best for you. 

Manage Appointment Plans at Your Convenience

The time-saving benefit of this kind of software is beyond doubt — you can book appointments remotely and at the click of a button. There’s no need to spend time making calls or navigating irksome automated phone trees. 

Better yet, you don’t need to wait for open office hours to schedule an appointment. You can log in whenever the necessity pops into your mind and can even reschedule later on (rules permitting) with ease. This offers peace of mind should an issue arise late at night or at the last minute. You can, for example, promptly set up testing and treatment should a medical condition or illness emerge suddenly. 

Even if you can’t receive immediate attention, anytime scheduling software allows you to easily set a time and date for your concern to be addressed in the future. Your most preferred appointment time might not be available, but blocking off a specific time to deal with the issue can help take the worry off of your mind for the time being. Knowing you’ve taken action will let you focus on ornament making with your kids instead.

Explore All Scheduling Options

When calling into an office to schedule an appointment, you’ll oftentimes be offered only a few time options over the phone. Sometimes, you may only get one. In these (sort of) post-pandemic times, doctor’s offices are commonly booked for weeks and even months into the future. 

To ensure that you’re seeing the whole picture of availability, online booking platforms typically show all schedule slots at once. You can see every possibility and book your appointment accordingly.

This is what can make it so easy to reschedule — free appointment times are updated as cancellations make them available. You can swap yours for another with the click of a button if something comes up or if you see an opening that better suits you. You can also join a waitlist in the event that you want a better time slot or can’t get an appointment otherwise. When one becomes available, it will be reserved for you immediately.

Automate Your Calendar

The ease of task automation means that the time you spend doing prep work each day can instead be spent elsewhere, like with family or friends. Many appointment software solutions feature functionality that can connect your digital calendar to their system to exchange data and change settings accordingly. That means you can book an appointment, and that time slot will automatically be entered into your calendar along with all your other plans. You don’t have to lift a finger.

If you automate notifications as well, you can make it so that your calendar will let you know when your appointment is coming up. If you step away from your computer for any reason, your calendar programs will pop up on your phone to make sure you don’t miss any important appointments. You may be engrossed in shopping for stocking stuffers, but automated appointment reminders will ensure you don’t accidentally forget to show up for your pre-party mani-pedi.

Remotely Handle Appointment Prep and Payment

Once your appointment planning is complete, you can take advantage of other features of these programs. In case you need to check in a certain amount of time beforehand, you can once again do this instantly via the scheduling program. You’ll no longer have to arrive early to take care of paperwork, and your appointment can begin much quicker. 

Some appointment software also allows you to take care of paying any fees or copays directly within the program. Whether you want to do so before your appointment or after, you can make sure your payment is in order and prevent delays at the reception desk. You won’t get stuck behind a patient with insurance questions or a salon patron wanting product recommendations when you’re in a rush to get to your daughter’s choral concert.

You only have so much time in the day for holiday preparations. Keeping outside commitments is necessary, but this season is special to you. By using appointment software to schedule your engagements, you’ll be able to tend to both — getting everything done that you need to and doing everything you want to. Squeezing in that gingerbread-making session will be no sweat when you use appointment software to help you maximize your time. 

How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

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How to Recognize and Destroy Time Wasters

They are everywhere. Time wasters. Chronological cat burglars. Minute moochers. Is there any way to stop them? You bet your sundial there is a way so you can improve your time management!

There are chronological criminals among us. So here is some lighthearted advice to take or not as you see fit.

Time is an interesting concept. Babies don’t know anything about it. Children bend it to suit their own selfish needs. Teenagers can be big-time wasters, as long as it makes their parents mad. Adults become enslaved by it. Seniors are threatened by it. And, of course, the deceased don’t worry about it anymore. That’s why you see so many sundials on graves. They’re laughing at the rest of us.

So what does time really mean to us? The living. The working. The anxious. The serfs. All you rich people who might be reading this article at the moment can go hop on your private jets and fly to Bermuda because you don’t care about time one way or the other, do you?

But for the average Joe Timex, time is a nagging presence that hovers over us — giving an evil chuckle from time to time when our schedules go awry. And what makes our schedules go awry? Time wasters!

Now when you’re at home or away from the office, you can deal with time wasters any way you want, legal or otherwise. But, right now, we are dealing with those insidious time wasters in the office, on the factory floor, who keep you from finishing your work.

Time is money, and you’re already in debt!

Let’s start in the home office. Many poor deluded souls believe working at home saves them time. But, of course, that might be true for the lucky few who don’t have spouses, children, neighbors, or pets just waiting to bushwhack them their schedule.

Take children, for instance. They have a built-in radar that knows precisely when you are in a Zoom conference with your manager. When they sense this opportunity, they go into action. Cereal is spilled. Knees are cut. Fights break out. In other words, all hell breaks loose. And for some strange reason, you are the one they expect to take charge of the situation.

By the time you get things settled, your boss has gone off to happy hour, and you wish you could too.

Here’s what to do . . .

  • When your spouse doesn’t respect your work schedule at home, try divorce. If that’s too expensive or emotional, try earplugs.
  • Perchance earplugs are too itchy for you — use that golden question: “Can we talk about this when I take you out to dinner tonight?”
  • If worst comes to worst, prepare a hidey-hole in your home office where you can secret yourself from the tender attentions of your spouse.
  • For pesky neighbors, the best recourse is a vicious dog. One that would bite the leg off of the Dalai Lama.
  • The only exception to this rule would be if your neighbors bring you good things to eat. If that’s the case, use land mines. So they have a sporting chance to get through.
  • Children should be treated with kindness and consideration. They are unaware of the awful burden you bear as a slave in the salt mines. So when they come to you with their petty squabbles and tears, do not turn them away. Just give them lots of candy and lead them to the TV. You’ll never be bothered by them again.
  • (The ASPCA has approved the following recommendations.) Cats should be sedated with catnip. Dogs should be given the biggest bone the butcher has. Birds should be let out of their cages into the great outdoors. Lizards and snakes, which don’t make any noise anyway, should be donated to the local zoo. You don’t have time to take care of them properly.

Time In the office . . .

A time thief may be your own boss. If that’s the case, just grit your dentures and suck it up. It might help to daydream about the beaches of Thailand while your boss is bloviating. On the other hand, if it’s a coworker who constantly purloins your need to count the bottle caps in your desk drawer, then the answer is just put some cotton dipped in red food coloring in your ears.  And if a colleague still attempts to take your time, just point to your ears and shake your head. If this doesn’t discourage them, then try a piteous groan or two. They should take the hint.

In conclusion . . .

Although this has been a lighthearted look at time wasters — and maybe, perchance a time waster to read — the problem of time wasters is real and it is serious. The best way to keep busy and uninterrupted is to look extraordinarily harried and busy and like you will not stand for any interruption. That’s all you really need to know. That will keep most time parasites away.

Why Syncing Your Work and Personal Calendars Simplifies Appointment Scheduling

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Why Syncing Your Work and Personal Calendars Simplifies Appointment Scheduling

If you’re a busy individual, you probably have a separate calendar for work and for your personal life. This helps you divide up your different commitments so that a single calendar doesn’t get overcrowded. However, managing two separate calendars comes with different challenges you need to take into account. 

No matter what kind of error you want to avoid when juggling dual calendars, syncing will be your best solution. This will make your appointment-scheduling process so much easier whether you’re planning activities with your family and friends or organizing a new entrepreneurial venture. Here’s how calendar syncing is going to help you:

Improves Planning

When your work and personal calendars are intertwined, both calendars can be reviewed simultaneously. This allows your online appointment scheduling software to show you all available time slots that work for you. Otherwise, you might book a meeting that fits into your work calendar while overlooking a family commitment you had made for the same time. You don’t want to miss your daughter’s soccer game because you arranged a simultaneous client coffee date. 

With both calendars linked together, you’ll have a better idea of what you have to plan for in the upcoming days. Improved planning leads to increased efficiency, fewer mixups, and ultimately better results as your schedule falls into place.

Helps Manage Your Life Balance

With both calendars synced up, you can also improve that much-needed work-life balance. If you’re noticing that your work calendar far outweighs your personal calendar, maybe it’s time to schedule some more activities with your family. This can also be done in reverse. You might realize you’ve been taking a lot of time off recently and recognize the need to get back to the old grindstone, refilling that work calendar once again. 

Syncing your work and personal calendars will also help you learn the difficult art of saying no. Some appointments you’re just going to have to decline in the name of life balance. Turning down a single work appointment won’t be the end of the world for your career, especially if it contributes to a better family life. 

Stops You From Overbooking

Appointment software will not allow you to schedule over other events, even if you try. You’ll get a nice, big alert warning you that the time slot you’ve selected has already been filled. This will help with tricky situations like the one mentioned previously, where you create a work event without realizing there’s been a personal event scheduled there already. 

This will also prevent others from trying to overbook your time. Many managers use appointment software to make their time available to employees needing to ask questions or report on a project in progress. You don’t have to list out any specifics, but having both of your calendars covered in your available time slots will stop an employee from trying to bother you while you’re at a family gathering. Emergencies are always an exception, of course. 

Automates Schedule Additions and Changes in Both Places

After any appointment is scheduled, it’s automatically added to both of your calendars. This is one less thing you have to do, saving you a little bit of time and hassle when scheduling. Manual syncing is tedious, and also leaves more room for human error than any of us would like. You could accidentally input the wrong time in one calendar or simply forget to include the commitment when taking your other calendar into consideration. 

Automatic syncing will also come in handy when you share your calendars with other people. For example, you might share a personal calendar with your significant other. If they plan an event in your shared calendar, you’ll want that to pop up automatically. This will enable greater communication between you two and prevent conflicts from arising because of a lack thereof. 

The syncing of calendars with appointment software is great if you use these tools to better coordinate with your team as well. Sending an appointment invitation for an upcoming meeting will give employees the time to arrange their personal schedules accordingly. 

Enables Easier Transitioning

It can be difficult to shift your thought process from your work life to your personal life. By syncing their two respective calendars together, you’ll be able to make easier transitions throughout the day. 

For example, a major perk of using appointment software is to send and receive reminders and notifications. This can help cut down on tardiness and no-shows. However, you can find yourself feeling flustered if your notifications seem to be competing instead of coming in a linear fashion. Synchronized calendars will reduce this effect. 

There’s no time like the present to begin syncing up your work and personal calendars. It will make your appointment scheduling so much easier and improve your time management as you head into 2022.

Don’t Let Your Busy Schedule Overwhelm You: 5 Ways Appointment Software Can Help

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Don’t Let Your Busy Schedule Overwhelm You: 5 Ways Appointment Software Can Help

Sometimes, in our efforts to be productive, we can all too easily overdo things. While it can be good to stay busy, it’s definitely not worth maxing out your schedule to capacity every single day if you’re not handling it well.

Feeling overwhelmed will sap the productivity right out of all your busyness and likely leave you feeling stressed all day. That being the case, it’s highly doubtful you’ll be accomplishing everything you set out to do.

A healthy balance between productivity and time management is much easier to achieve through the intentional use of appointment software. With just one tool, you can stay busy without feeling overwhelmed by your massive to-do list. Listed below are five tips for using online appointment software to help you find the balance that’s best suited to your personality and work style.

1. Learn to delegate.

Learning to delegate can be a difficult process for younger or inexperienced entrepreneurs. After all, your start-up is “your baby.” Passing off your baby to someone else is never easy. Can you trust others to take exceptional care of your start-up the same way you do? Through the savvy use of online appointment software, you can at least point them in the right direction.

At the simplest level, appointment software can at least push those employees with delegated tasks to complete their assignments on time. Appointment bookings can act as agreed-upon time slots for their responsibilities as well as deadlines for their assignments to be completed. As you get more comfortable with deadline-driven task delegation, you’ll cultivate reliable helpers who help bear the burden of your intense daily workload.

2. Go all in on automation.

The greater the number of routine tasks you’re able to automate, the less cumbersome your busy schedule becomes. Automation can even free up your schedule so it’s not as busy as the pace to which you’ve become accustomed. Nowadays, automation doesn’t have to cost a lot, either.

The first thing online appointment software can enable is customer self-service. For example, let’s say you’re a car mechanic. A customer can book an appointment for an oil change without having to call you and distract you from your work. Your schedule stays busy, revenues increase, and you cut out some of the more tedious details.

Another example might be using automation for other aspects of customer relations. Sending appointment reminders, invoices, and feedback surveys can all be done automatically through the use of online appointment software. You won’t have to spend your time on these tasks and can instead choose to get home at a decent hour or finish an extra project before the end of the day.

3. Take regular breaks.

Your schedule can probably use more than just a little breathing room here and there. You’ll actually increase your productivity by taking a break every once in a while. Even if you’re a superstar entrepreneur with a rapidly growing start-up, you have your mental and physical health to prioritize over everything else.

Using online appointment software to schedule breaks ensures that you might actually take them. Otherwise, you might find them all too easy to blow off, filling your schedule to the brim with even more stress-inducing activities. While these might be productive, your excessive activity can lead to burnout — and even physical illness — if allowed to go on for too long.

Another way to make sure you take a break from an overloaded schedule is to make time for personal matters such as family or hobbies. You can — and should —  pepper your schedule with family meals or a trip to the movies. When you prioritize non-work activities, you’re far more likely to relax, refresh, and not feel so uptight throughout your waking hours.

4. Leave yourself some breathing room.

You can maintain a busy schedule while still adding in some wiggle room. In fact, a little bit of breathing room is strongly encouraged, especially if your busy schedule is leading to physical stress and heightened levels of anxiety. If you’re finding it difficult to space out your schedule, try using appointment software to make it happen.

Adding breathing room can be done by adding buffer times between your other commitments. Enforcing a mere 10 minutes in between appointments provides sufficient time to catch your breath, check an email or two, or grab a snack to refuel.

Additionally, enforcing buffer time can save your neck whenever appointments run longer than originally planned. That 10-minute window can help you make sure the following appointment doesn’t start late. (Just make sure you take the following buffer period as a break!)

5. Minimize errors.

Whenever your schedule is packed end-to-end, you aren’t leaving any room for error. One mistake or simple miscommunication can cause a ripple effect. One late arrival disrupts your entire day, leaving you and your tight schedule in shambles. Using online appointment software helps you avoid many of the errors that happen simply due to your mind being scrambled.

Overbooking is a classic example of a common mistake easily solved by using appointment software. Without it, you might accidentally double-book an appointment slot if your too-busy mind causes you to overlook the actual number of available slots. Appointment software uses built-in algorithms to stop overbooking in its tracks and direct customers to available slots.

Yes, you can stay busy and productive without giving yourself a problem with high blood pressure. You’ll notice a difference in stress levels when you start using appointment software to enhance your schedule.

Why Every Gig Worker Needs an Online Calendar

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Why Every Gig Worker Needs an Online Calendar

The spotlight was shined on the gig economy during the heat of Covid-19 as thousands of workers looked to earn paychecks as businesses closed around them. While most of the world has since reopened, the gig economy is still alive and well. There are a lot of positive aspects of being a gig worker that has kept people around for the long haul.

Several skills are helpful when becoming a gig worker, but none are as important as that of time management. When you’re not being paid by the hour, time is extremely valuable to you. That’s why every gig worker should have an online calendar. Let’s dissect the reasons why:

Managing Your Workload

Not having direct supervision as a gig worker is both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, you get a lot more freedom and flexibility than you would by working on a salary. On the opposing end, though gig work is exciting and much more interesting — becoming a successful gig worker requires a lot of drive and initiative to get moving.

You also need to be careful about biting off more than you can chew. By tracking projects in your online Calendar, you can see if you’re getting a little overloaded and need to stop taking on new projects for a short time. For example, it’s better to complete three projects in a week with time to spare than to take on five and need to push back deadlines and endure some stressful, sleepless nights.

Meeting Deadlines

As a gig worker, the most essential aspect of your job will be to meet a plethora of deadlines. If you miss deadlines, you don’t get paid, and you’ll quickly lose customers. You want to be known as a reliable worker so that the request and recommendations continue to roll in.

What do you need to do in order to meet deadlines? Perhaps you need project management software to break down your projects into manageable pieces. On the other hand, maybe an endless stream of reminders and notifications is what you need to stay on track. Find out what methods work best for you and put them to work using your online Calendar.

Balancing Work and Home

A lot of gig workers are actually able to work from home. For these individuals, the lines between work and home can sometimes blend together. If you’re not careful, work can overtake your personal life entirely, which can be dangerously unhealthy.

With your Calendar in hand, make a proactive effort to dedicate time to family, friends, and hobbies. Learning where and how to use your time might feel forced at first, but it will help you learn how to prioritize the various aspects of your life and create time for everything. Of course, if that means you have to schedule in your family dinner in your Calendar — so be it.

A great way to tell how your work-life balance is faring, turn to Calendar analytics. This page of your Calendar will display the usage data of your time for accurate comparison. For example, if you’re noticing a very low percentage of your planned activities are geared toward family, you’ll know it’s time to plan some more activities in this area.

Scheduling helps you make sure that your created life pans out according to your dreams and the goals you’ve set for yourself.

Connecting With Clients

Your customer and client meetings are essential to both schedule and master to provide the best results to customers. Using your Calendar, you can start every meeting off on the right foot by being punctual every single time. Showing up late to your own meeting is never ideal for a first impression.

Using an online calendar will also help your clients be more timely with proposed meetings. It’s mighty frustrating to waste idle time for a customer to show up for a preplanned meeting. Reminders will often come in the clutch, and the ability to share video conferencing links directly in event invitations for any digital meetings you have.

Handling Money

Many contracted workers in the gig economy have found that there is more money to be made by being your own boss. However, paychecks can be inconsistent, and company benefits are no longer available. Therefore, you need to be smart with your finances if you want this to be a viable long-term commitment.

While online Calendars are known for their ability to help you manage your time, they are also helpful when it comes to budgeting. For example, you can set recurring reminders to set aside money for taxes, contribute to a savings account, or stay on top of bills. When you stay on top of your bills, it will help your finances feel consistent even when your paychecks aren’t.

Marketing

Gig workers are basically just miniature versions of entrepreneurs. Instead of running an entire business, they operate through a personal brand. With that being said, how you market yourself is incredibly important.

Depending on your line of work, there might be umbrella companies that can help you with marketing and advertising or eliminate the need entirely. Ridesharing or food delivery, for example, typically run through apps that customers use without requesting a specific driver. In addition, gig worker sites such as Fiverr provide a platform for all sorts of different contracted projects to increase visibility.

Other gig workers might need to use other means to draw attention to their services. Social media is an excellent example. Let’s say you’re an independent plumber working under your own name. A simple social media page can have contact information, pricing, and examples of your work to help increase customer acquisition.

If you want to see if the gig economy is right for you, pick up a few projects in your downtime to ease into the transition. If you decide to make the complete switch, keep these tips in mind so your new lifestyle can be a successful one.

5 Needs Appointment Software Can Meet for Your Business

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5 Needs Appointment Software Can Meet for Your Business

Every business has needs. Even though specific brands and industries will differ in a lot of ways, many needs are universal. Though some companies may try to disrupt the status quo, at the end of the day, your business will probably need to fulfill these needs to stay afloat. 

Business owners are always looking for the best solutions to keep their entrepreneurial dreams alive and serve as many customers as possible. When it comes to meeting business needs, few tools are as versatile as online appointment software. 

While a single program might seem one-dimensional at first glance, it can actually fill a number of roles in your business. Here are just five common business needs you can knock out by implementing appointment software into your business model:

1. Timely Supply Delivery

Even appointment-based businesses require materials to run. A dentist’s office will need periodic deliveries of fluoride rinse; a hair salon will have to re-up its shampoo supplies. This means working with suppliers to manage shipments that are both timely and cost-effective.

With appointment software, you can schedule shipments more accurately. You’ll be able to minimize the risk of materials coming in late and interrupting service to your customers. 

On the other end is gauging demand for various products. By tracking the different kinds of appointments (cleanings vs. extractions, haircuts vs. colorings), you’ll be better able to anticipate which supplies you’ll need to have delivered and when. Appointment software will help you fine-tune your process so that there are no kinks in the system. 

2. Social Media Strategy

What’s the easiest way to connect with customers? Those same social media sites probably fill up a lot of your break time. Social media platforms are free to use and can help businesses reach thousands of new and existing customers creatively in real-time. 

Finding success through social media requires consistency. Using appointment software, set up a content calendar that prompts you and your team to create and post content on a consistent basis. By posting actively, you will have more data to use for improving your social media strategy over time. 

Besides keeping a social media calendar, use your appointment scheduling tool to make time for social media audits and game planning. Put that data to use and regularly make adjustments to your content so that you’re always heading in the direction you want with social media. 

3. Scheduling and Employee Management

Every employee has an obligation to come to work on their assigned days. In that sense, they’re maintaining an appointment scheduled with your business. Using appointment software will help both sides stay accountable to their time commitments. 

Employee scheduling mishaps can be a nightmare if you depend on team members to arrive punctually every day. Some creative roles can be more flexible, even working from home without direct supervision, but customer-facing roles don’t have that luxury. Appointment software will help keep everyone on time so your customers aren’t kept waiting. 

Managers benefit from using appointment software by being able to better connect with employees. If an employee needs to speak with their manager about a certain issue, they can check their availability via the appointment software. This ensures that communication always happens at a good time and as soon as possible. 

4. Customer Acquisition

For businesses, customer acquisition is an endless battle. Every business has some level of turnover rate, and that must be combated by introducing new consumers to the brand. 

How does appointment software help with customer acquisition? For starters, it’s a user-friendly tool that works in conjunction with your website to bring customers to your physical location. Accessibility to appointment-booking online is a huge selling point for many customers who want to make the appointment process as painless as possible. 

Online appointment software also provides your target audience with the perfect call to action. A link to your scheduling platform can be placed in social media posts, blog entries, and even email advertisements. You can expect a healthy click-through rate for this CTA thanks to the ease and convenience of online appointment scheduling. 

5. Customer Retention

You’re selling your business short if you don’t prioritize customer retention just as much as you do an acquisition. Gaining new customers is certainly important, but it’s more expensive and time-consuming for businesses. By focusing on retaining existing customers, you’ll keep revenue high by reducing turnover. 

Online appointment software makes it easy for customers to keep coming back for more. Booking an appointment online can be done in a few clicks, eliminating the need for phone calls or walk-ins. Keep improving your user experience, and you’ll be able to cater to your customers’ every need. 

Appointment software also opens up a new world of retention-focused communication. You can use appointment reminders and notifications to help customers arrive on time and urge them to make return appointments. 

If you’re encountering some problems with your business, ask yourself how online appointment software can help. You’ll be surprised to see just how multifaceted this tool can be and how many holes it can fill. 

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