From Time-Consumed to Time-Saved: How Online Scheduling Can Transform Your Business

Kristina Stubblefield: [00:00:00] Are you scared of implementing a system or process in your business? You don't want to miss this episode as I talk to Mike about how he implemented his first system for his business.

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I'm Kristina Stubblefield and I'm so excited to have my good friend and periodic co host with me, Michael Gaddie. Thanks [00:01:00] for joining me again. 

Mike Gaddie: No problem. I love it. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Are you excited about today's topic?

Mike Gaddie: I'm always excited when I'm with you. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And we're not even drinking. It's exciting. Okay. Seriously, we kind of talked a little bit about this before. 

Mike Gaddie: We have. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And. A lot of people get nervous when you start to talk about software, a tool. Heck, you even mention some kind of technology, and their eyes glaze over this, that, or the other.

And I really want to change the narrative around technology because I know the other side of it. I know how much it can be a benefit for people, especially those with a small team or those that are a solopreneur, that they're running their business by themselves. To be honest, The term game changer I know is used over and over, but technology can play such a crucial role in business growth.

Mike Gaddie: If you would have told me business [00:02:00] growth a year and a half ago, or maybe even when we started this four years ago when, in COVID, when we started, we had our other podcast, I would have thought, you were nuts, to be honest with you. 

Kristina Stubblefield: You did think that at some times. 

Mike Gaddie: I did. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Yeah. 

Mike Gaddie: But what you have shown me and taught me with the different programs that we use now, my life is totally different.

And I can't even begin to even say how many things , how it's helped me. So, hopefully, by talking here today, it will educate other people to do the same thing. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I hope it just opens people's mind to consider technology. Because let's be honest, I want to go back before we ever did anything, but let's be honest, you weren't open 

Mike Gaddie: I was not open.

Kristina Stubblefield: And I'm not somebody that like pushes it down someone's throat. Like It has to be something because you've got to be a part of it for it to work, right? Someone can't just bulldoze over [00:03:00] and be like, here's your system. This is how it works. Here's the five steps. Okay, use it That doesn't work 

Mike Gaddie: No, it doesn't work that way. And it was a learning experience for me. As you know, your phone rang off hook a few times. Like, Oh hell, it's Mike again. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I never thought that. 

Mike Gaddie: Okay, good. 

Kristina Stubblefield: But, but we did talk for at least a year about there's some options to help make things easier. 

Mike Gaddie: Yes. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And. When you got a little more serious about it is when I said let me show you what I've done for somebody else. Let me give you an example 

Mike Gaddie: and then when you gave me the example, that's when it changed things 

Kristina Stubblefield: and then you're like, but this can't work for me. I don't this I don't know that this can work and it was multiple conversations after that. It wasn't like a light bulb moment.

Oh, yes. I want to use technology. Because being real that don't happen that doesn't happen so think back, before you had anything. Let's just briefly talk about how things [00:04:00] operated from that standpoint. Like, before there was anything. 

Mike Gaddie: I'm going to explain this, and I'm not exaggerating the way it was. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Okay.

Mike Gaddie: Okay. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Let me get my water. 

Mike Gaddie: But in the olden days, which was just two, three years ago, if a bride called me, and wanted to make an appointment. And if I wasn't there, they put them in my voicemail on my phone. So I would come to work and I'm saying like when I'm on an off day, come to work and there'd be five or six people.

Kristina Stubblefield: Then you had off day? 

Mike Gaddie: Yeah. Well, very seldom, but I would come back and there'd be five or six people on my brides in my phone. I need to make an appointment. So I would sit there and I would call them all back. Go back and forth. Okay. Can you do this day? I can, but my mother can't. My maid of honor can, but my mother can't.

So we're going to do it. Can we do it this day? Well, no, I'm booked that day because I don't do appointments on this day. And it was a constant back and forth. And I did that. I'm not exaggerating for three hours on Thursday morning when I went in [00:05:00] there. 

Kristina Stubblefield: If they answered the phone. 

Mike Gaddie: If, if, that's exactly right, if they answer the phone, because they may not answer the phone now, then they'll call me back later on.

Kristina Stubblefield: They may be at work. 

Mike Gaddie: Exactly. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Right, okay. 

Mike Gaddie: So, that was a pain in my butt, and I thought, that's when I finally realized, I've got to do something. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I remember you talking a decent amount. Like, I don't know what I'm going to have to do to get people to call me back. Like, they call back at 9 or 10 o'clock at night, or, they call back a week later and they didn't get my message.

I just remember hearing this noise about, and I don't mean that in a bad way, you just constantly frustrated with it. 

Mike Gaddie: It was a constant battle. And we'll get into this, but I used to take appointments Monday through Saturday. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Which I thought was crazy. And do you remember the first, I was like, wait, how do you do that when you're trying to get events ready?

Mike Gaddie: Well, the thing about it is I didn't want to say no. And I didn't want to lose that on that sale. So, you know, when [00:06:00] we implemented this new system, that changed completely. And, but I was worried because I thought, you know what, they're not going to be able to, they won't pick a time for that, for this. And it's crazy.

It is absolutely crazy when we get into this deep conversation. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And before we get started with this, let's first of all share The system we're talking about, an online scheduling system is roughly a hundred dollars a year. 

Mike Gaddie: Yes. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Roughly. So for those that may be thinking, Oh my gosh, before you all talk about this, what are you talking about?

So. I consider that a very affordable system. And this is before you did work on your website before you really focused much in on social media. This was happening with your everyday business before any more push. This is just what was coming to . 

Mike Gaddie: Correct. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And I remember saying, have you thought about an online appointment?

And you were like, Look, I'm good to use my cell [00:07:00] phone and check my emails. And I was like, Oh, okay. We had a couple of conversations like that. hearing this back and forth because then you shared with me that you had went to texting people because we had had conversations about text message marketing and you had shared with me that you had went to texting and that that was going better but still people were texting all different times and some were confirming some weren't confirming so forth and so on so finally we broke through and you were like Okay, just let me see how it would work for me.

And I said, well, the only real way to see how it would work for you was to be, to connect it how you need it and customize the appointments, how you currently run your business, which is two different types of appointments. 

Mike Gaddie: Correct. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And I can still remember you sitting there saying. I just don't see how all this will work.

Like, I know it might work for other people. [00:08:00] I just can't see this working for me. But you stuck with it. 

Mike Gaddie: I stuck with it. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And it wasn't a long setup time. 

Mike Gaddie: No. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Like, it really wasn't. But it was like, okay. We need to click the on button. 

Mike Gaddie: Well, the one thing too, before we get into it is what really upsetting me the most too, when I was going back and we were playing phone tag to make sure that we got their appointments set, then they wouldn't show up.

Kristina Stubblefield: But also after you set the appointment, didn't you do some kind of confirmation to before, or didn't you call or something? 

Mike Gaddie: I would text and then they would confirm it, but they didn't matter because it never, sometimes they would show up and sometimes they didn't. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And you had dedicated the time. 

Mike Gaddie: And then they would ignore me. Because I couldn't make it and then they'd just ignore me. Because they knew my number. 

Kristina Stubblefield: So when we first did this, I said to you, I'm going to share with you how it has worked best for me. I functioned completely off of my Google calendar. Meaning, I have a personal one and a business one, and I put everything [00:09:00] in it, including when I need to block off, whether I'm going to be out that day, no matter what you have to have that information in your calendar.

And a lot of people that I've talked to that are thinking about getting into doing online bookings or online scheduling, I first say to them, one of the best things that you can do is start to live by your calendar. Because that's the first step. I've got somebody that just recently did this who didn't use Google Calendar.

Or iCal, the Apple Calendar. They used paper. That's steeper learning curve. It's not It's doable and they come a long way in just two weeks, but it makes it a bigger learning curve, so You were like I remember you said I mean, I got to put everything in my calendar. Yes. If you don't want to work on a day, you need to just go in and block it off.

And you said, I don't have to log into that system to do it. No, because it connects up to your calendar and it will search if there's availability and [00:10:00] what surprised you the most, as soon as I say this, you're going to remember was you could pick the days and times that you would take appointments.

And we went back and forth on this, not in a bad way. But you said, people are used to me being available six days a week. What if they don't schedule with me because I can't do it, I don't do it. Not that I can't, but I don't show I'm available on Thursday or I don't show I'm available on a Saturday. 

Mike Gaddie: And that was my biggest worry.

Kristina Stubblefield: You were sweating bullets. 

Mike Gaddie: I was. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I clearly remember. . 

Mike Gaddie: But since we went into this system, I only do my appointments on Mondays and Tuesdays, starting at 2 o'clock. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Do you know where that came from? Do you remember that conversation? I said to you in the perfect world, if nothing else mattered, what days and times would you do your appointments?

And you immediately shot back Monday, Tuesday. You didn't say the times right away, but that's the days you picked. And then I don't remember how you arrived at your appointment [00:11:00] times, but you, from the beginning, you only made available Monday and Tuesday. 

Mike Gaddie: And I still do that. And my appointments are from 2 and my last one is at eight o'clock. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And I like to walk people through, there's multiple different programs out there that you can use, but I like to walk people through the features and the settings because you get to decide, are those appointments back to back? How many of those appointments will you do in a day?

Do you need any padding, any space between appointments? Do you want to approve that appointment before it's scheduled? Just to double check, which I say is a great feature. 

Mike Gaddie: I love that feature. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Especially when you're first getting started, I think that was the saving grace for getting you to go in this is you get to get your eyeballs on this, but for you in the event industry, if you could already be booked on a someone's event date, and you wanted to know that up front before you wasted your time or their time [00:12:00] with a meeting. And we were able to customize very easily the questions it asked them when they request that appointment. And I think that helped you being able to see it.

I remember, like, this is overwhelming. And I said, well, let's go through it one by one. And let me explain what this is, but you also got to choose the message that they saw on the screen right after. But I hadn't really, I guess, shared with you at the time that there were reminders and automation built into that where you didn't have to, because you were like, wait, I'm not going to have to confirm.

And you can set up where they get an email reminder, however many you want them to, and text reminders now, about their appointment, but then also, without having to call you, if they need to reschedule, they can, but there's a parameter where they can only do it so many days, like they can't do it the day of their appointment.

Mike Gaddie: One of my biggest thing that I love the most is a follow up. Because I did not [00:13:00] follow up with my brides. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And we didn't turn that on in the very beginning. 

Mike Gaddie: We did not. We did not. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And we kind of phased a little bit into this. You know, because we were really focused on your initial appointments in the beginning.

But then you also offer a secondary type of appointment. And you have both of those available. 

Mike Gaddie: Well, I can honestly say that every Monday and Tuesday, unless I've marked it off because I'm on vacation or whatever it may be. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Or you forget to mark a holiday off. 

Mike Gaddie: Exactly. That's happened. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I know it has. 

Mike Gaddie: But I am booked every Monday and Tuesday from two to eight. There's not a Monday or a Tuesday that I can remember that i'm not at work until at least nine o'clock But those are the two days that they were designated to that and I don't have to worry about the rest of the week. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Okay, so I'm gonna fire some questions at you. How many hours do you know about from when you used to do it? About how many hours did that save you with the phone calls the emails the follow ups? 

Mike Gaddie: Oh I would [00:14:00] say at least 10 to 12 hours a week. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Really? 

Mike Gaddie: Yes. Let's say, wow. Probably 

Kristina Stubblefield: that's more than I would've guessed. 

Mike Gaddie: That would say about 20, let's say about 25 hours a month. Let's say it that way. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Like that's staggering. 

Mike Gaddie: Yeah. 

Kristina Stubblefield: That's, that is potentially a week's worth of work. 

Mike Gaddie: Yes.

Kristina Stubblefield: And honestly, when the way we're talking about. Not as it, not only is it more organized, but there's less room for error. Because what I just heard you say, if you're doing 25 hours of this admin scheduling appointments, you're on the go, you're making flowers, you're jotting this down, this isn't going into a calendar right the second when you're on the phone with them, not always.

Mike Gaddie: And that's a thing. My mind is juggling things all the time. This has made my life so much easier. 

Kristina Stubblefield: 25 hours a week savings. And that's why I want to change the narrative around technology. Because people are leery about it. And honestly, rightfully so. Because a lot of times all you [00:15:00] hear, especially like AI right now, what most people are hearing is what's in the news.

They don't see how they can utilize it in their business. But also when they hear things about social media platforms, Oh, you're opening yourself this up with privacy issues. And this sometimes all you hear is the negative side of it, potential negative side of it. You don't hear the positive, especially for small business owners.

You said that you went from Monday through Saturday, with appointments, down to two days only. 

Mike Gaddie: Two days a week. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And you've been, well, how long ago? Was that four years ago? 

Mike Gaddie: Three and a half years ago. 

Kristina Stubblefield: How many people have a Monday and Tuesday not worked? 

Mike Gaddie: I can't think of, you know, maybe I have a bride that's out of town.

Kristina Stubblefield: I was going to say, I only one or two times, but they were people from out of town that you mentioned to me. 

Mike Gaddie: And if it comes up, I matter of fact, this just happened last week. I've got a lady and her mom and the bride was from Atlanta and they were coming in town this weekend. The only time they could come [00:16:00] is on Friday.

They wanted to come on Saturday. I said, well, I've got three events on Saturday. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Cause you don't just do one, you got to do multiple events in a day. 

Mike Gaddie: I said, when will you be in Louisville? She said, we'll be there around four o'clock. Well, I did meet with her at four o'clock on Friday, but it was only because she was out of town. 

Kristina Stubblefield: But that's one out of how many appointments, one out of 50, one out of 75, however many.

Wow. Have you had anybody that was like, I would have booked with you, but You only did appointments one day or two? 

Mike Gaddie: Not one. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And that's the thing. 

Mike Gaddie: Actually, they're usually saying, Thank you for meeting me this late. Thank you for working late. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, because you're narrowing it down to two days. Because people they may not be able to come in till after five o'clock. 

Mike Gaddie: I mean, there's a lot of brides that can't come in till after six o'clock anyway. So, it helps them. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, I played devil's advocate when me and you started talking about this. And I said, if I could see on the screen, if I need to bring three [00:17:00] people with me, I understand you might not want to put up with four of us, but if I've got three people plus my own schedule to figure out to come do this appointment for this one amazing day in my life, If I could just see, I could figure that out between us before I get that appointment. And you were like. 

Mike Gaddie: And I don't have to be involved with it. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Let me see a little bit more of that, but what you're doing is, you're also providing a convenience to your clients, here's my availability, choose the day and time that works best for you. Where you were thinking from a standpoint of, I'm only showing this availability, but to be honest, the perception.

To consumers is it's a convenience for them. And, and now people are doing this at midnight, 3am. I'm not saying your clients, but I'm saying people are on their phone and laptops and tablets all hours of the day and night. People work different schedules. [00:18:00] Not everyone works first shift or Is available in the daytime.

Mike Gaddie: And they're able to go in there, do it when it's convenient for them. And, you know, even when a bride calls and does not know that I had this system, my salespeople says, all you need to do is go to LloydsEvents.com, scroll down and you'll let you book an appointment right there. That takes all that pressure off my sales people, where they can be selling something other than telling them how to, or taking an appointment, or leaving a note, or putting them in my voicemail, and Mike will call you back later. I mean, it's amazing. 

Kristina Stubblefield: The other thing I like about a lot of these softwares, I'm going to get technical for a minute, you can take and embed it into your website where you're not taking them off to a different platform or a different landing page. They're still on your website seeing the information and that might not mean something to everyone out there.

But when you can keep them on your own website. 

Mike Gaddie: [00:19:00] Well, and you know, when they book an appointment on my website, they've got tons to look at. They've got pictures. That we've put on there all my blogs are on there how many how long can you stay on there and click on the blogs and read information that we've posted over the last year. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And we are talking about your specific business And those that are in the event and hospitality industry online scheduling, it's an amazing tool. But also, I've worked with caterers that use this for their tastings. Or for their meetings that they have, for corporate events.

Not, not just weddings, or not just parties, but for other types of events. But I've also helped people utilize this that are coaches. Someone that's in the service based business, but people need to schedule a dedicated time for their specific need. This can be used across multiple industries. And in many different ways, a lot of these tools [00:20:00] that are available have flexibility to have multiple different types of appointments. Not everything has to be chunked into one type. There's a lot of flexibility with that. So any type of business that does any type of scheduling and your appointments are in person.

So just because i'm calling it an online scheduling tool does not mean it has to be a zoom or a google meet 

Mike Gaddie: But it can be 

Kristina Stubblefield: it also can be and there's other ways to integrate those in where you don't have to generate your own links and things like that. The best part about this is when you first started using it We probably only put in place 50 percent of what that tool could do just to really kind of dip your toes in the water.

But I remember within just a couple weeks, you were like, okay, what's the next step? Like, it was pretty quickly that you realized, this is making a difference. This is making a big enough impact for me to say, [00:21:00] what else can we do? 

Mike Gaddie: I really wish that it was really hard for me to do it and my wife is even harder. But I wish we could get her set up and 

Kristina Stubblefield: baby steps, Mike. Baby steps. 

Mike Gaddie: I know, but it would make Pam's life so much easier and she doesn't see that. But. with you all the time, it encouraged me to do it. But I really think like you said, any type of business that 

Kristina Stubblefield: does appointments 

Mike Gaddie: appointments, even doctor's offices, dentist's office, all that, it's so much easier. So much easier 

Kristina Stubblefield: Absolutely, because it really allows you to carve out that time for that client, but know that you're setting the expectations. Oh, this is a one hour appointment. A person is seeing, Okay, I'm scheduling at two o'clock. It's a one hour appointment. I'm going to be done at three. They're not thinking in their mind, Oh, it's going to be a two or three hour appointment.

You're helping set those expectations. 

Mike Gaddie: That's one thing that I do get. Is are we going to be able to do this in an hour? And the thing about that I have learned and when they sit down with me [00:22:00] for 10 minutes, they know I have a routine. 

Kristina Stubblefield: We probably need to showcase that routine. Just a little bit. Side note there. 

Mike Gaddie: Yeah. Because I've got a program that I follow and it's bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Now I'm going to be honest with them. I'll mention this, but I think it's good to let wedding planners, know, or wedding coordinators or whatever you want to call them, because there's lots of names for them.

But when you designate a time for florist, caterer, photographer, video person, be respectful to that time 

Kristina Stubblefield: It's not respect just for the business, but it's the other people that are there with you as well. 

Mike Gaddie: Exactly. Because like you said, I've got one hour scheduled. We're there to concentrate on flowers because there's another one coming in right behind you.

And that's what I like about this system is Like you just said, it tells them you've got an hour 

set aside. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Also, when your email goes out to them, you're saying, [00:23:00] This is the information that I would need for your appointment. There's ways to customize that. There are messages they get. Things like that that can really help move that meeting or appointment along.

And that's one of the things that's great about technology is It can usually be customized based on your specific needs. 

Mike Gaddie: Well, I used to sit there and waste, I won't say, use the word waste, take ten minutes. Okay, where is the wedding going to be? Where is the church? How long is the reception going to be?

What time is pick up? They fill all that information out. So when they sit down, Kristina, you come in and I pull your order up, it's already there for me. 

Kristina Stubblefield: The structure, the beginning of 

Mike Gaddie: the structure is totally different. And so, and you 

Kristina Stubblefield: It's like the foundation of a house and then you're working on all of the other stuff when they come in.

Mike Gaddie: And as soon as I sit down, I'm going to say, okay, we're going to start with your bridal bouquet. And they're automatically, when we're at like 15 minutes in and they go. Man, you know what you're [00:24:00] doing. 

Kristina Stubblefield: They're settled in. They're starting to see their vision come to life. I got to experience that.

Because I had never been through one of your appointments. When friends of ours are getting married. I was shocked. I mean you were whipping cards out and this that and the other. But, When you use technology, it allows you to stay in your zone of genius. And that's why I want people to realize that because you enjoy more working on the event and the florals and the decor than you do sitting at the computer.

Mike Gaddie: I want to make sure that I get all the details that that bride and groom, and I'm going to say mother to once for that special day. And this has helped. do that because we have less time of talking about other things that we don't need to be talking about. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, the other thing I'll bring up is we worked on weddings. Are a big part of your business and we really focused in on that and we've talked about expanding this out with corporate non profit type events so it can be streamed [00:25:00] line, Depending on the type of event they're having and I think that's something to know is You don't have to go completely all in like on all different aspects But by dipping your toes in you can start to get a little comfortable now there are some technologies that You gotta be, it's all or nothing, that wording, that thought process does not work with the other things.

But, with online scheduling, there is a lot of businesses out there that schedule something. And to cut down on the phone calls, the voicemails, the emails, the texts, Facebook messages, Instagram DM. That's the thing is you're juggling all of these different communication channels and now it's pulled right into one.

Mike Gaddie: Well, it's funny because usually I would go in and I would have, like I said, five or six voicemails on my phone. I don't even need that phone anymore because I very seldom have even messages on there because everybody communicates through that system. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, I think I will close this out with saying, we've had [00:26:00] conversations before about boundaries and I think that's the other part to highlight with technology.

It really helps you set boundaries without having to say, no, I only do appointments Monday and Tuesday from 2 to 8 p. m. or whatever it is in your business. That element is naturally disclosed. In that software, in that tool that you use. In this case, online bookings, where you are not conflicted on.

I want to say no because I don't want to be here, but I feel I'll feel guilty or it's somebody I know or this that or the other You're eliminating all of that. So boundaries, expectations, saving time time equals money and you're allowing yourself room for business growth.

Mike Gaddie: Well, you're allowing room for freedom of your own life, too.

Kristina Stubblefield: Oh, wait, what? A vacation? A vacation? No, this has been great, and thank you for helping assist me with sharing with people. You know, [00:27:00] technology is not there to be a burden. It really is there to help you ultimately save time and money and, or help grow your business. 

Mike Gaddie: Best thing I've ever done. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Thank you for joining us today on Simplified Solutions. If you found value in this episode and want to dive deeper into topics like this, here's how you can stay connected. Join our vibrant Facebook group, Simplified Solutions with Kristina Stubblefield, to connect with fellow entrepreneurs and continue the conversation.

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Until next time, remember, there are always simplified solutions for your [00:28:00] business.