Why You Need an Online Calendar

“Yes,” she said. “1:00 pm works perfectly for us. We were hoping that would work for you!”

“Perfect!” I replied. We then continued to nail down the specifics of the gig.

This new client had called me hoping to schedule on the same day as another gig. They were in the same town, only a few minutes away from each other.

I was only too happy to accommodate her. The first gig was for a library I’d worked with for years.

The library’s first show was at 10:30 am on the day in question. Their second show wasn’t due to start until after dark, around 8:30 pm.

The library was also two hours away from my house. So until the second client found me, I was staring down the barrel of a long boring day between shows.

Thing is, this gig was rained a few days ago. I just started doing foam parties this year. While I enjoy doing them, coordinating rain dates has been tricky.

Once the library booked their new date, it went on my online calendar.

The second client, seeing the information on my calendar, reached out to me, hoping to book on the same day.

“After all,” she said, “you’re already going to be here.”

Best of all, she booked a whopping two-hour foam party, meaning I was now going to be busy for a good chunk of the day between those library gigs.

To show my gratitude, I gave the second client my local prices, so they didn’t pay extra for travel since I was driving for two hours.

She appreciated that, too.

So this was a double win.

This, dear reader, is the advantage of having an online calendar.

Many clients (or should I say potential clients) will view your calendar and self-select dates.

Some of them do it to save you time since you’ll already be in their area. Others will do it hoping for a discount.

Either way, you win big. You get to fill another slot in your calendar. And you get the second gig close to the first, saving drive time.

If you’re insane like me, you can see how this would save you hassle later on.

When I first hit the six-figure mark in my income, I did it without really planning out my schedule.

I’d book a gig in New Jersey but wind up booking a gig in Ohio the next day. So I’d have an eight-hour (or more) drive between gigs.

I used a paper calendar on my desk in those days. If I was on the road and another call came in, I’d have to rely on my shoddy memory to remember what dates I had open.

But I couldn’t remember what was booked the day before or after, resulting in some really horrendous road trips.

It was insanity.

Later, when I revamped my website, I added an online calendar.

At first, I did this for me. I could glance at my phone when booking a gig to make sure I didn’t do anything dumb like that again.

But over time, schools and libraries began looking at my calendar to see what I had open. Then I could guide those who hadn’t looked at the calendar toward the open dates that made the most sense distance-wise in my schedule.

Sometimes I’d book one school on a Wednesday. Eventually, through no effort of my own, I’d fill the whole week in when schools saw for themselves where I’d be.

Having access to my calendar on my phone meant I could quickly look up where I was going to be when a potential client called.

If you don’t have an online calendar, consider adding one to your site. It looks very professional and if you work a lot, it shows potential clients how busy you are.

That’s a nice perk, too. Everyone wants to book a busy successful performer.

Here’s another tip: Send emails that have links to your calendar in them.

When someone fills out one of my contact forms on my site, they immediately receive a few emails giving them the free lead magnets I promised, info about the specific show they want, and more.

Inside the informational email, I include a link to my schedule. This way, they can see for themselves what I have open.

This prevents the whole “What dates do you have open” back and forth which sucks a lot of time and drives me nuts.

If you feel you’re not busy enough to warrant having a calendar on your site, here’s a little sneaky trick you can use.

On your online calendar, simply block off dates and times when you are busy with other things.

If, for example, you’ve got a 9:00 am dentist appointment on a Tuesday, simply mark that time as “Booked – 9:00 am – 10:00 am” or whatever.

Later, as you get busier, you’ll want to add the city and state (again, if you’re insane like me and travel a lot).

On my schedule, I list my gigs like this:

10:30 am – Geneva, NY – “No Bully Zone”

This format lets clients see where I’m going to be, the time, and even the show I’m performing.

So they get to see that not only am I busy, but I offer a lot of different services.

One thing I do not do is list the actual venue on my online calendar.

I’ve heard unscrupulous performers will directly contact these venues and try to talk themselves into a show.

I’m not worried about ‘competitors’ who would try that on me, but I don’t want my clients – especially schools – to be harassed like that.

Do you have an online calendar for your shows? If not, consider it.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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