Success Story

SimplyTogether

Relationship Coaching and Blog

A look at how SimplyTogether uses Simply Schedule Appointments® to streamline their one-on-one coaching services.

It feels like Simply Schedule Appointments works the way you would want it to as a user; I integrate it into my business, my clients can book appointments without me having to interact with them, and they get the confirmation emails. It's wonderful to have all that automated.

Karolina & Gabriel, Creators and Coaches for SimplyTogether.com

What SimplyTogether Had to Say

We interviewed Gabriel, the co-creator of SimplyTogether, to gain some insight into how Simply Schedule Appointments is helping their relationship coaching business.

Tell us a bit more about SimplyTogether and the Coaching Services

At SimplyTogether, we have a coaching service for all relationship problems. A lot of the demand is for breakups, and we offer one-on-one coaching between our clients and either myself or my wife.

The blog itself has been up and running for six years. And the coaching, I think we’ve been doing for about three years now. We started during the pandemic, and we wanted to have more freedom and more independence. Offering coaching services seemed like a great way to do that since it gave us the option to travel the world together during a time when everyone was working from home anyway.

Since we had already been together for quite a while back then, a blog plus relationship niche made sense. After building the blog for a while, our audience would write comments, write us emails, and say, “Oh, would you offer coaching?” and, “Can I talk to you?”. So it happened quite organically, and more so during the pandemic when there was online demand for coaching.

We help a great range of people online from all walks of life. Anybody from 19-year-olds’ first love all the way to 78-year-olds getting through their third marriage. We focus on people looking to find the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with. And we’ve found that everybody has had these types of challenges at some point in their lives.

How do your coaching calls operate on a daily basis?

It’s constantly evolving over time, but typically, we do 2 to 3 one-on-one coaching calls each day, and that’s kind of what we prefer to max out at. We discovered that we’re at our best with the two-call limit because a lot of the subject matters can be very heavy and very emotional.

You think, “Oh, just relationships.”, but people bring in their childhood or life experiences, which can be complicated topics to work through. So we like to dose it to a limit that we feel comfortable with.

This also helps balance out the other administrative stuff we have to do for the blog. Like going through comments on blog posts, getting back to emails, working with partnerships, etc. Those tasks happen behind the scenes end up taking a good amount of time each day too.

What made you decide to use a booking system?

Quite simply, with the demand for coaching, a booking system was a necessity. I mean, trying to do this manually would be a nightmare. Figuring out time zones and juggling slots between clients would be very time-consuming and tedious. You need an online tool that does that for you.

We immediately jumped into looking for booking software, but there were problems with some of the platforms we tried early. Our biggest requirement was that it works. That might sound painfully obvious, but that’s not always the case and even the support for some other products we found was not willing to help.

However, I felt that the SSA team made a really strong effort to make this work. And the customer support was marvelous. So despite the initial pains and frustrations, it really works pretty seamlessly at this point.

Overall, I think it was like a 20-minute job to set up Simply Schedule Appointments. And I think most importantly, it was painless.

How does your business use Simply Schedule Appointments' booking system?

We use the payment feature with Simply Schedule Appointment, the plugin has the option to pay with Stripe and PayPal, which our clients value. The booking system is also reliant on the Web Meeting links, Google Calendar integration, Blackout Days, and Email Notifications.

The email confirmations and Google Calendar events are very important to the booking system in particular, we keep a very close eye on these because we deal with a lot of last-minute reschedules. With these types of meetings, something always comes up for people. But I’m a big believer that when you make an appointment, its because this is for an important thing in your life and we should talk about this today, not postpone it. But you give clients too much wiggle room and it can be weeks on end of postponing.

How has your experience been with Simply Schedule Appointments so far?

Two years ago, it was a bumpy start, there were issues we found in the plugin related to new features and updates. But what kept us going was honestly the SSA support. The fact that you took our concerns seriously, you were proactive in the emails, and the responses came quickly. It felt like, “Okay, this is a team that is really going to work hard to make this work and stay on.”

And since then, it’s really been smooth sailing, it feels like Simply Schedule Appointments works the way you would want it to as a user; I integrate it into my business, my clients can book appointments without me having to interact with them, and they get the confirmation emails. It’s wonderful to have all that automated.

I can just jump on the call like, that’s that’s the idea, right? That tool can reduce the workload significantly.

Our experience has been very positive.If someone were to ask me what scheduling software I should use, I would definitely say Simply Schedule Appointments. There’s a lot of stuff out there that might market itself differently, or look flashier, or whatever it is – But this is what I would stick to.

Business Overview

Organization: SimplyTogether

Location: Remote, Love to Travel!

Edition: SSA Professional Edition

Highlights:

Per Day Limit settings help balance out their day-to-day work balance leaving room for other admin tasks for the blog.
Automated web meeting links make online coaching calls a breeze from anywhere in the world.
Stripe and PayPal integration lets the coaches get paid for their time up front
Custom Form Fields give their clients room to include important details for their coaching call

If someone were to ask me what scheduling software I should use, I would definitely say Simply Schedule Appointments. There's a lot of stuff out there that might market itself differently, or look flashier, or whatever it is - But this is what I would stick to.

Gabriel from SimplyTogether.com

SSA Highlights

Key Features: Stripe and PayPal

How Stripe and PayPal Helps: The SSA Stripe and PayPal features make coordinating coaching calls and payments straightforward; no invoices are needed. Getting paid for your time and expertise is instant!

Success Story Summary

A quick wrap-up of our interview with SimplyTogether, including the Challenge they faced, how Simply Schedule Appointments was able to help them, and the happily ever after.

Challenge

SimplyTogether needed a booking solution that would help them meet the growing demand for coaching services from their relationship blog. They wanted something that would handle worldwide timezones, payments, and web meetings since they planned to continue working remotely and freely travel.

Solution

Simply Schedule Appointments helps the SimplyTogether team by allowing them to schedule 2-3 calls for each coach every day. They can balance their work by setting a Per Day Limit and using Blackout Days when needed. They don’t have to worry about any back-and-forth since all their communication is handled through upfront payments and automated emails with web meeting links.

Result

SimplyTogether has successfully been booking appointments and helping people change their lives for the last 2 years. A reliable and automated booking system has helped Gabriel and Karolina create a sustainable and growing business, allowing them to quit their jobs and travel the world full-time!