Hey everyone,
Seems like I say this every year, but where did the time go? It’s hard to believe that 2017 is almost over. I must admit, I’m excited to celebrate the holidays. Family, food, the Christmas spirit… This really is the most wonderful time of the year!

But before we close the books on 2017, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for being part of the BookedIN family – the premier appointment scheduling software . I wish you continued success in your business, a very merry holiday season and a happy New Year!

Here’s to 2018, may it be the best year yet.

-Mike

Ah, entrepreneurship… It’s the dream, right? To be your own boss, make more money than you know what to do with and work from some exotic island escape – just because you can!

Unfortunately, the realities of owning your own business are far less glamorous. In fact, 50% of all businesses close their doors after just 5 years.
But successful entrepreneurs understand the secret to running a business… the “recipe for success” if you will…

And this “recipe” goes way beyond the latest app or productivity trick… Those are just tools. True success lies in the philosophies and mindsets an entrepreneur adopts.

Let’s take a look at what these important philosophies and mindsets are.

1. Know Your “Why?”

Running a business is hard. Really hard! There’s a lot of risk, constant uncertainty and long hours. Examine closely why you want to subject yourself to this and make sure your goal is worth the sacrifices that will be required.

For example… maybe your goal is more control? More money? To make the world a better place?

Whatever your reason is, it’s really important to know “why” and remind yourself of this regularly. Otherwise, it’s easy to quickly drift in the wrong direction.

2. Know Your Customers

Can you effectively sell a product or service to someone you know nothing about? It’s not likely… One of the keys to successful selling, and consequently, to your business, is knowing what your customers actually want.

Why do they buy, what are their needs? When you understand this, you can effectively present your product as the perfect solution.

Not sure what your customers want? Finding out really isn’t that difficult… Ask them! This can be done via email, phone, online survey… whatever works for your business.
Other tools such as Google Trends can tell you what the general public is interested in and a quick perusal of social media, online forums, or blog comments will give you a good idea of what your ideal customer likes, dislikes and is concerned with.

3. Cashflow is EVERYTHING!

The minute you start your business, you will have expenses (even if it’s just paying for your domain name, buying paper and pens, whatever). Start mapping out your revenue and expenses at least 12 months into the future so you have a clear month-to-month view of how much cash you have.

Be as pessimistic as possible and reconcile your cash flows each month using your bank statement (adjust future months as needed). Running out of money is an absolute dead end. You don’t want to be caught off guard and not have the funds to pay employees/suppliers… or start racking up high-interest debt (ex. credit cards).

Reviewing your cash flows each month will alert you to possible cash flow deficiencies down the road and allow you to plan for it ahead of time (ex. reduce costs, find additional revenue, low-interest debt financing or equity financing).

Using a tool like QuickBooks is invaluable as it allows you to easily keep track of your finances, communicate with your accountants (most are familiar with Quickbooks) and do year end taxes.

4. Mind Your Energy Supply 

Running a small business will take a LOT out of you. You’ll have plenty of beginner adrenaline at first and you can run on this for while. BUT the honeymoon period eventually ends and that’s when the hard work really begins.

There’s a lot of ideas out there on how to be successful, but the only consistent ingredient is… persistence. Success is inevitable, you just don’t know when it will come. In the meantime, you have to find a way to enjoy the journey.

Simple things like eating healthy, daily exercise routines, unplugging, getting away and spending time with friends/family are critical. If you master this, your success is 100% guaranteed. If you don’t, you’ll likely give up or end up ruining your health and your relationships.

5. Invest In Yourself

No matter who you are and what your experience level is, there’s always something to learn; some skill to improve upon. A successful entrepreneur understands this and is constantly looking for ways to grow.

In the information age, there’s no shortage of books, courses, webinars and conferences. The key is finding the right ones for your needs and budget…

Start with an honest examination of you and your business. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do your customers need more of? Is there a specific skill that, should you acquire it, will likely lead to increased revenue, time saved and/or more success?

Once you know what you need to learn, the next step is discovering where to learn it or who to learn it from. There are many resources out there in every subject imaginable; some good, some bad, some free and some quite expensive.

Use good judgement, do NOT exceed your budget (remember what I said about cash flow?) and be sure to only purchase resources you actually plan to utilize… The course you never complete is worthless and only serves to burn a hole is your wallet.

6. Celebrate Every Win

Did I mention that entrepreneurship is hard? Well it bares repeating… That’s not said to discourage you, but to prepare you for the journey. Yes, running your own business will be tough, but it’s also incredibly liberating and exciting!

One tip I’ve found essential in my own entrepreneurial journey is to celebrate the wins, big and small. This doesn’t mean I throw a party every time we get a new customer. But it does mean I take time here and there to congratulate my team, reflect on the good things we’ve done and yeah, sometimes even throw a party!

What do you think? Anything you need to work on or disagree with? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your “recipe for success” and how it’s helped you achieve your goals.

BookedIN’s new iPhone and Android app helps small businesses calm their appointment scheduling chaos.

May 25, 2016 (Winnipeg, MB) — BookedIN has just launched the long awaited mobile version of it’s popular online booking service. Last minute bookings? No problem. The beautifully designed Android and iPhone apps will notify you of last minute appointments, cancellations and help manage your schedule on-the-go.

“We spent a lot of time researching what our customers wanted, designed and tested several versions before delivering the final product,” said Mike Iwasiow, Founder and CEO of BookedIN. “In addition to great calendar and scheduling features, we’ve also added an Activity view that helps to track all your bookings, cancellations and payments in real-time. It’s been a big hit with our customers!”

BookedIN is an online scheduling solution for service-based businesses. BookedIN lets customers book appointments and pay for services at anytime, from anywhere in the world. It helps businesses reduce stress, improve customer service, increase productivity and drastically cut down the number of phone calls, voicemails and emails sent each day.

BookedIN was founded in 2010 and is privately funded. Our purpose is to help other small businesses succeed and grow. BookedIN is featured in the Chrome Web Store, WordPress, Windows App Store, Capterra, and PayPal Partners. We’re headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba and online at bookedin.com.

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Media inquiries:
Mike Iwasiow
Founder and CEO
mike.iwasiow@bookedin.com
(888) 966-8176

New website widget helps end appointment scheduling chaos for small businesses across North America

February 11, 2016 (Winnipeg, MB) — BookedIN just rolled out an exciting new feature that allows small businesses to accept online bookings and payments directly from their website.

“Small business owners spend a lot of time and money building their own websites only to redirect their clients to some other site to book an appointment. We wanted to help small businesses get more value from their websites,” said Mike Iwasiow, Founder and CEO of BookedIN.

“Our booking widget allows you to keep clients on your site through the entire experience. It’s customizable, responsively designed, and very easy to add to any website.”

BookedIN is an online scheduling solution for service-based businesses. BookedIN lets customers book appointments and pay for services at anytime, from anywhere in the world. It helps businesses reduce stress, improve customer service, increase productivity and drastically cut down the number of phone calls, voicemails and emails sent each day.

BookedIN was founded in 2010 and is privately funded. Our purpose is to help other small businesses succeed and grow. BookedIN is featured in the Chrome Web Store, WordPress, Firefox Marketplace, Capterra, and PayPal Partners. We’re headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba and online at bookedin.com.

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Media inquiries:
Mike Iwasiow
Founder and CEO
mike.iwasiow@bookedin.com
(888) 966-8176

We’re on the home stretch everybody! 

The mobile app design and development team has been very busy the past several months. We’re in the final stages of launching an app for iOS and Android! With the new appointment app, you’ll be able to log into your BookedIN account and easily manage all of your appointments from your smartphone.
No more pinching and zooming on the calendar. Whew!

We’ll admit, it’s been a long road, and we still have some hard work ahead: final edits, bug squishing, and the famous app store submission process… But we wanted to share a few screenshots with you and keep everyone updated on progress.

The rough launch date for the app is shortly after New Year’s.

[edit: Our development timeline has been delayed to spring 2016. Please contact us if you’d like to get notified when the iPhone & Android apps launch.] 

Mobile App Features

• Sign in to your existing account
• Create a new account for your business
• View and edit all appointments
• Cancel or reschedule appointments
• Confirm appointments or mark as “no-show”
• Book new appointments (will send client notification)
• Alter your availability (recurring or single day changes)
• View recent activity (payments, appointments, cancellations)
• Browse clients & their history
• Change settings (services, schedules, business info)
• Set up online payments for appointments
• And more

A Big Thank You
We also want to extend a big thank you to everyone who sent feedback and ideas for the app over the past year or so. The team here appreciates all of your input, and trust us, we keep track of every single idea that comes our way. We know how challenging it can be to run a small business (we’re in the same boat, after all) but by better understanding your day-to-day challenges, and talking to hundreds of our customers, we believe we have built something really valuable here.

So thanks to everyone for taking the time to let us know what you think the BookedIN app should look like. And thank you for your continued support and patience through the development process.

Questions or thoughts? Please leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Founded in 2009, BookedIN has grown to be an industry leader in online scheduling and proudly serves thousands of small businesses worldwide. For those who may be curious, here are a few interesting facts about our little company.

A Canadian Startup

BookedIN is a proud Canadian startup based in Winnipeg, Manitoba – a.k.a. the coldest place on earth. I created BookedIN because I was frustrated with how difficult it was to book a hair cut, dental appointment, oil change and many other common services. Also, friends with local businesses would express how difficult it was to juggle marketing, answering phones and scheduling clients. I wanted to fix this.

A Global Team

BookedIN’s official office is located in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District, however our team members work and collaborate all over the world. We’re in Portland (US), Thunder Bay (Canada), Nassau (Bahamas), Montreal (Canada) and Brussels (Belgium). The ability to work remotely gives us access to a global talent pool which is a big advantage for any startup.

Obsessed with Customer Service!

Every team member at BookedIN plays a role in providing customer service. Whether it’s online chat, phone support, answering tickets or 1-on-1 online support sessions, we all take part in making sure our customers can connect with us anytime.

Our Mission

“Our mission is to seamlessly automate the marketing and scheduling of common, everyday services.”

When you’re starting a small business, it’s difficult to figure out how to market yourself and you certainly don’t have time to mess around with appointment scheduling, co-ordinating, answering redundant phone calls, etc. We’re a small, privately funded business ourselves and many of our team members have run their own small businesses. We understand the pain and we won’t stop until it’s fixed!

We’re excited to announce a new feature that you’ve been asking for: Custom emails!

Now you can add a custom message to your booking confirmation and reminder emails. It’s quick and easy to set up, and it will help improve communication with your clients. 

Here’s how to add a custom message:

There are countless ways to use this feature. Add a thank you note, parking instructions, a survey link, or even detailed instructions for each of your services to help clients get ready for their appointment. Get creative!

You can write one message for all emails, or add unique messages for each of your services.

To get started, sign in to your BookedIN account. In the navigation click ‘Settings’ then ‘Email Notifications’. 

If you get stuck, check out how-to set up custom email messages in our FAQ.

So what kind of message are you going to add? We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

We’ve been talking a lot about smartphones lately at BookedIN. Our customers have been patiently waiting for us to launch mobile apps and we’re preparing to do just that in the new year. While researching this topic, I’ve gained some interesting insights into the smartphone industry that might be helpful with your holiday buying decision.

Smartphones have been around for a while and there’s 3 main flavors: Android, iPhone and Windows. Which one should you pick? Short answer: it depends.
Mainly, it depends whether you just want a cheap phone and don’t care too much for fancy smartphone features (Android). Or you really want to embrace technology to make your life easier (iPhone). Or you’re an Xbox gamer, love Windows or just want to try out something new and innovative (Windows phone). Here’s some further insights on the overall market strategy and future of the 3 big mobile players.
Mobile OS Market Strategies
Here’s 2 articles I pulled off the newswire this morning that perfectly define the difference between Apple and Google’s mobile strategy:
iOS 7.1 likely to unlock Apple’s upcoming iOS in the Car feature
Very cool and potentially very useful technology advancement. Meanwhile, over at Android…
Google Kills A Cool Privacy Feature In Android That It Didn’t Intend To Release
iOS has had the ability to select privacy settings per app for a long time. I really have no clue why Android struggles with this. Oh wait… could it be bcs 90% of their business depends on removing as much privacy as possible? No, no, that couldn’t be it. After all, their mantra is “don’t be evil”
Apple continues to make deals with media companies, cable companies, car companies, etc. to make tech advancements that are meaningful and useful. They will be launching the iWatch next year and iTV will be coming soon. Apple will undoubtedly continue to rule the device world by building elegant, simple and useful technologies that truly enhance life. This is likely why top industry insiders predict that the iPhone will continue to surge in popularity while Android’s honeymoon rise will start to taper off. Android will continue to be the king of the low end, discount market for a while yet but the competition is starting to heat up.
Of course, the mobile discount market has been Google’s play all along and a smart one at that, if you ask me. When Apple re-invented the mobile space, there immediately became a need for the low-end, discount option (every market needs one). Google saw this opportunity (along with a whole new medium for advertising), purchased Android (basically a replica of iOS), offered it for free to all carriers and Bob’s your uncle! Now, what on earth would motivate Google to do all this for free you ask? Well, to collect your mobile data and sell more ads of course. If you believe Google had any other motive for mobile, you’re sadly mistaken. Remember where their money comes from.
Windows Phone is the interesting one… it’s on the rise, has unique design/feel, is hooked in with xbox and popular with kids. They have a weak app marketplace and not many handset options (Nokia being the main option). However, Microsoft is a brilliant marketing and sales company and quite innovative (when it wants to be). They have a MONSTROUS user base and their mobile OS technologies show a lot of promise. I have no doubt they will continue to rise in the mobile device space… esp. once they finish cleaning up their internal org issues.
The Future
The mobile space is bound to get tighter in the next few years but the big 3 will have different motives given their core business model:

• Android will continue to play on Google’s strength in search and artificial intelligence and focus on strengthening Google’s advertising empire. Expect Android to get smarter AI capabilities and show more ads in more places than ever!
• iOS will continue to  support Apple’s growing integrated devices empire. Expect it to stay simple and elegant while seamlessly integrating into more and more embedded devices which will soon include watches, TVs, cars and likely a lot more down the road.
• Windows may continue to attempt to compete with Apple but I think, if they’re smart, they will shift focus to enterprise mobile market. Competing head-to-head with Apple in the consumer space is not the way for Microsoft to penetrate the mobile space. They simply don’t have the culture to produce the simplicity and elegance that Apple delivers. They’re strong enterprise players, have decades of built up trust and relationships, industry leading office software, etc. And from what I see… enterprise mobile is one space that isn’t served terribly well by anyone. Since the fall of Blackberry, many companies have adopted the iPhone simply bcs it’s the only reliable and secure option (sorry Android, you’re short on both ends here). Windows has big opportunity to use this space to to slingshot themselves into a strong mobile presence. And the lack of strong app marketplace, which is a HUGE problem for Windows in the consumer mobile space, will not cripple them as much in the enterprise arena. Plus, enterprise mobile app development is a fast growing industry and no one is better positioned to take advantage of this than MS given their massive developer community.

So, to sum up… if you just need a cheap phone, don’t care about fancy features and don’t mind struggling with basic functions like auto-correct and copy/paste, Android will do you just fine. If you truly need “smartphone” features, don’t want to struggle with basics and don’t mind paying a little more, buy an iPhone (or any iOS device). And, if you work for big enterprise… be prepared for the announcement from your boss “you’re getting a Windows phone”.
As for the BookedIN appointment app, we plan to release for all 3 platforms (via HTML5 technology). Stay tuned for more news on this in the new year. In the meantime…
Happy shopping!

March 26, 2013 (Winnipeg, MB) – BookedIN is pleased to announce that it will be partnering with the Eureka Project through the end of 2013. BookedIN provides appointment scheduling software and other online business solutions for small, service-based businesses like personal trainers, hair salons and tattoo parlors. The Eureka Project specializes in providing business development opportunities to local emerging small and medium-sized technology start-ups.

“We’re really excited to be partnering with the Eureka Project,” said Mike Iwasiow, Founder and CEO of BookedIN. “Their sales and marketing expertise has been instrumental in helping many local start-ups grow into world-class tech companies.”

“The companies we work with usually come to us because they’re new start-ups who are strong on the technology side, but they haven’t had a lot of business development experience,” said Eureka Project President and CEO Gary Brownstone. “Tech start-ups face some really unique challenges when it comes to sales and marketing, because often they are selling a product that customers might not fully understand. Our niche has been to help these companies capitalize on the business management end and expand the sales and marketing of their products.”

In the six years since its inception, the Eureka Project, located at the University of Manitoba’s Smart Park campus in Winnipeg, has partnered with approximately 40 local tech start-ups. Some of the more successful partnerships have included Complex Games, Manitoba’s first and largest videogame development studio, and Project Whitecard, a virtual learning and education provider who is currently partnering with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA.

BookedIN is a privately funded software company created to help other small businesses succeed and grow. BookedIN provides businesses with a free web page and a customizable scheduling tool that lets customers make and pay for bookings at any time, from anywhere in the world. BookedIN has been featured in the Google App Store and is in the Mozilla Marketplace.

Media inquiries:
Gary Brownstone
President and CEO
Eureka Project
gary@eurekaproject.ca
Phone: +1 (204) 262-6400
www.eurekaproject.ca
Mike Iwasiow
Founder and CEO
BookedIN
mike.iwasiow@bookedin.net
Phone: +1 (204) 415-6627
www.getbookedin.com

March 14, 2013 (Winnipeg, MB) – BookedIN is rolling a medley of new, enhanced customizable features this week—all designed to help small businesses get the most out their BookedIN business solution. Thousands of small businesses have already discovered the advantages of getting BookedIN to help get noticed, get booked and get paid. You had feedback, and we listened.

“We’re constantly evolving BookedIN to suit our client’s needs,” said Mike Iwasiow, Founder and CEO of BookedIN. “Every business is different, and we realize that for our customers to get the most out of BookedIN we have to continually offer exciting new, valuable features. The challenge is to keep the service easy to use. We’re very committed to that.”
The new features let users get organized by colour coding services in their schedule and attaching comments and notes to client files, services and bookings. New custom fields let you collect client addresses, special notes and other important client information. And of course, BookedIN always gives you the flexibility to make bookings and request payments online-from anywhere, at any time.
BookedIN is an easy-to-use, online solution that allows service-based businesses the essential tools that they need to get up and running quickly. BookedIN provides businesses with a free web page and a customizable scheduling tool that lets your customers make and pay for bookings at any time, from anywhere in the world.
BookedIN is a privately funded software company created to help other small businesses succeed and grow. BookedIN has been featured in the Google Chrome Web Store and is in the Mozilla Marketplace. We’re headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba and online at www.bookedin.com.
Media inquiries: