Due to an increase in the number of webinars, workshops, interviews and other projects I’m working on, I added an event calendar and appointment calendar to Marcie Writes to organize and manage my time and my life. Here’s why.
New Calendars on Marcie Writes
Appointment Calendar
Trying to schedule consultations and interviews is grueling, especially via email. Getting responses from people can take as little as a few minutes or as long as a number of days. Although it takes little time to compose and send an email, the number of email exchanges gets old after a few hours.
To reduce the time I spend on these exchanges, I started using Acuity Appointment Online Scheduling. I entered the times I’m available for interviews and consultations, which allows people to schedule 1-hour appointments during those blocks of time. There’s also an option to block time manually should my schedule change.
I can integrate the calendar on my site. When people want to make appointments, I send a link and they pick the time that works best for them. Here’s a cool thing. I send a link from my site, not Acuity, which makes my business look more professional.
Once an appointment is made, I immediately receive an email notification with the person’s name, reason for appointment and time of our appointment. Every Sunday I get a weekly email reminder of appointments for the upcoming week.
Their plans range from free for solo enterprises up to $50 per month for larger ventures. With the paid versions, reminder emails and text messages are sent to clients; time zones can be converted; money can be collected; you can brand your calendar; and sell subscriptions and packages.
Acuity is good for the busy business person who wants to put a reign on email exchanges.
Event Calendar
As I conduct more online and in-person events, it’s important to track my activities. This is why I added The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe. Other benefits of this tool are to let my readers know about my events and interviews and to promote other people’s events (after I find out how to let visitors add their own events). Also, I had to determine if the calendar project I’m considering is worth the time, money and effort.
You can your events in a list, by month or day-by-day. It saves information so you don’t have enter it again. And you can upload featured images.
They offer a pro version with more robust services, including selling tickets, collect RSVP plus additional calendar views. You can include maps and export events to Apple and Google calendars. The price of plugins range from $89 for one site to $299 for 10 sites.
Both my appointment and event calendars helped organize and manage my time and my life. Check them out when you get a chance.
Image credits: tigerlily713 on Pixabay, Acuity Scheduling, The Events Calendar