Set-up

Once we receive your desired classes and price points, your booking portal can be ready to be viewed the same day!

There are a few more steps needed before your clients can book you.  These include signing up for a free Square account and Zoom account if you don’t already have them.  We will then connect those accounts to Empowering the Artist.   Once these things happen, your booking portal will be fully functional! *You should receive an email upon sign-up leading you through this process.

If you don’t already have them, you will need to sing up for a free Square account and a free Zoom account.  Once you’ve secured these, you can send the email associated with these accounts to Empowering the Artist so we can connect them to your portal. *You should receive an email upon sign-up leading you through this process.

After your portal is set up, you will be given login information for your Acuity scheduling account.  There, you can adjust your hours, sync your calendar, and block off any additional days times as you wish.

For your free Square account, visit: Square.com

For your free Zoom account, visit: Zoom.us

No problem! Once you’ve signed up, we will lead you through the process of connecting those to your booking portal.

If you have your Zoom account already connected to another booking service, we may need to create another free account to connect to your portal.  It is very easy to do!

For a one time fee of $50, we can use a template through your Square account which can display your credits, pictures as well as your booking portal to give your clients a one stop shop. This option keeps your costs as low as possible while still giving you a simple, professional looking website that can feature more about you than just your appointments. 

For a one time $25 fee, we can either embed your booking portal directly onto your website embed or a button that sends you to your booking portal.  You will need to know your website login information and allow us access in order to make this happen.  

You can also just put the link to your booking portal in your social media profiles.  This will send your clients directly to the booking portal without needed to go to your website.

If you liked the example we created via the Square account better than your own website, we can set that up for you for a one time fee of $50.

Yes!  Zoom, Square and Acuity all have dedicated apps for either Apple or Android phones.  We encourage you to download them.  

Your booking portal is not through an app, per se, but is optimized to work on a computer, tablet, or mobile device.

We recommend checking out this page entitled Syncing Acuity to Other Calendar Software

The “two-way sync” option is ideal, because it allows you to work totally from your preferred calendar (i.e. iCal or Google Calendar). Any appointment booked through your portal will automatically show up in your preferred calendar. In addition, any personal or other business appointment you have in your preferred calendar will automatically be blocked off in your portal calendar. 

The only time you’ll need to go to your portal calendar through Acuity is to set up your overall hours of business (i.e Mon-Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday 12pm-6pm, Sunday off).  Once you’ve set these, you don’t ever have to deal with Acuity’s calendar again.

Let us know if you have any trouble with this.

Absolutely! You are not bound to our service alone.  If you are getting clients through other companies that you wouldn’t be able to get one your own, then it is beneficial to be listed there as well. 

However, if you are bringing in your own students, then you should send them through the booking portal we build for you and keep more of your fee!

Payment

You will receive payment via direct deposit through your Square account.  When you sign up for your Square account, it will ask to connect to the bank account of your choice.  Any earnings received through your portal will be sent to the bank account connected to your Square account. 

If you would rather have your earnings sent to your Cash App, we can make this happen through your Square account as well.

Payroll will be run once a week on Mondays.  The payment will include any earnings from bookings made between the previous Monday through Sunday regardless of when the appointment actually takes place. It may take a few days for the money to be direct deposited depending on your bank.

You are being paid by Empowering the Artist as an Independent Contractor.  You will receive a 1099 at the end of the year and are responsible for paying your own taxes.

We do not report which weeks you worked or were paid.  We only send your total earnings at the end of the year in your 1099.

Getting Clients

We have found that your social media accounts are one of the best way to get new clients.

  • Instagram: Put your booking link (or website link if you have your booking portal there) in your Instagram profile. Whenever you post that you are available for teaching, be sure to reference your “link in bio”.  Consider posting something similar to your stories and then save that story to your profile.  Label that saved story category as “Coaching”.  It will live in your profile on top of your regular posts for your followers to easily see.
  • Twitter: Again, put your booking link or website in your bio.  You can link your Instagram account to Twitter and Facebook so that your single post will post to all three site simultaneously and avoid the need for 3 separate posts.
  • Facebook: You’d be surprised how many of your friends and family might be interested in booking a class with you.  In fact, your facebook family may be your best source of referrals. They all know young, budding talent that are dreaming to work with a professional like you!  This might be an excellent venue for using 1st time discount codes!
In general, post consistently but not too often.  You want to remind your followers what your offering, but you don’t want to 

Use your networks!

  • Previous Companies: Many of you have already worked with students through visiting schools, talkbacks, regional theaters, other companies with group classes.  Send them an email and let them know that you are now available to teach online.  Remember, geography is no longer an impediment now that everything is virtual!
  • Camps, Dance Companies, Theater Programs: Remember, most of these programs are either shuttered or working at much smaller capacity.  Many are yearning for virtual content to offer their current students.  Call or email them and be the solution! They may still not know how much talent is available online now.
  • Friends and Family: Send notes to your community and let them know what you’re offering.  You’re prices may feel higher than they are used to.  Remember, you are at the top of your game and command a premium.  However, it may be helpful to offer discount codes for smaller markets or people that are close to you.  You can choose to make it a one time deal or a continuous.

There are a number of free apps that allow you to use templates or build yours from scratch.  Canva is a great option. 

In general, less is more.  Put only enough information on there to get them to click on your link.  Once on your webpage or booking portal, they’ll see all the specifics.  

It is frustrating that Instagram only lets you include one link in your bio.  However, there are a number of free solutions that have popped up and work really well.  Essentially, these companies give you one link that will then lead your followers to all your links in one click.

We recommend two companies that have free versions:  Lnk.bio and Linktree.

Either one will allow you to list any teaching sites you are on, including your own (you should definitely put yours first). It can also include any foundations or organizations that you support in the same link.

We suggest sending them all through your new booking portal.  This way everyone is using the same process and avoiding overlapping bookings.  They will also be able to save their payment method so that each subsequent booking is streamlined.

If you are used to accepting cash transfers, we realize there is a small added expense to using this enhanced booking system.   It is your choice to absorb the cost yourself or pass it on to your students.  The ease of use should allow you to use that freed up time for more bookings and attract more clients.

This is a great way to build new business!  It is also a wonderful way to offer your services for a discount to specific groups or students that might not otherwise be able to afford it without lowering your public price.

This is another: You dream it, we’ll create it!

You can can create a discount by percentage or a dollar amount.  It can be a one time use or used in perpetuity for anyone or a specific person.  I can also be limited for only certain types of appointments (i.e. only 1-on-1 coaching, or only group dance classes).

Once you’ve signed up for our service, you can send your ideas for your personal discount coupon codes to EmpoweringtheArtist@gmail.com  You can say “I’d like to offer 10% off for new students for their first booking” or “I want to offer $15 off each booking for my long time student Jessie Donaldson jessie.donaldson@email.com”. 

Pricing

Our pricing is simple: $5 per month and 5% of your fee after credit card fees.  If you choose any add-ons, those are a separate one time fee.

With this package, you won’t need to pay for your own subscriptions to the Acuity scheduling service, a Zoom pro account, accounting services, or even your own website.  Yet you get to use all these services for much less than the $75-$150 per month you would have to pay if you purchased them yourself.  

As you’ve probably noticed, this is WAY lower than any other options out there. We created this business as a service to our community. We do need income to provide the services, but we try to keep the overhead as low as possible and pass those savings on to you.