3 Reasons You Should Try SolaGenius

If you follow Sola, you probably recognize the name Ashley Lantz. Not only was she one of our  2018 Faces of Sola, a SolaGenius ambassador, and an educator for both Matrix and Twisted Fringe, but she’s also about to welcome her first child any day now! To say she has a lot going on would be a bit of an understatement. 

With so many hats to wear both in and out of her salon, Ashley relies on SolaGenius to help her juggle it all with grace and style. We asked her to share her top three reasons she loves SolaGenius, the all-in-one salon management tool, made for Sola by Sola.

1. Technology For The Not-So-Tech-Savvy

Ashley confessed she’s not the most tech-savvy person, but…“I heavily depend on all my technology, especially my iPad for business. It took about a week to understand all its capabilities, and I used my downtime between appointments during that first week to click on everything.”

After switching from another app, the first thing she noticed is that “SolaGenius properly represents me, my brand, and my work when it makes the website for you. I never developed a website before and wasn’t inclined to do so.” 

With SolaGenius, you don’t need to be a tech guru to score a gorgeous website. Check out Ashley’s website for inspiration.

2. Gain an Extra Day in Your Week

Ashley is all about analytics and loves how SolaGenius sends her a “Week in Review” email, showing up-to-the-minute time savings.

“I’m a goal-setter. Every week I determine how much money I want to make, whether I can take a new client, and how much retail I want to sell. SolaGenius aligns those goals so I can check them off my list. Just last week, I saved 8 hours and 45 minutes!”

Curious how she managed that? Two words: online booking. 

“My clients love it [online booking] because they don’t need to create a login and remember yet another password. All they type is their name and phone number, and it remembers their account.”

Another time saver: SolaGenius’s newest feature, expense tracking.

“I’ve tried QuickBooks, but because I’m not good with switching back and forth with that program. I found myself doing it all over again preparing for tax time. I’d have my receipts in a coupon organizer, making my own spreadsheets because the QB spreadsheets were anything but quick.”

SolaGenius automatically features the categories every studio owner needs. You just pick the category, take a photo of your receipt and upload it. It does it for you.

“SolaGenius has this function built within the app I’m already using all day long. On my last supply run, my expenses were tracked before pulling out of the parking lot!”

3. Painless Tax Prep

“Whether I’m doing product education outside Sola or talking to other Sola pros at our in-house coffee shop, the number one conversation topic we have about running your own business is taxes,” she notes. 

Sound familiar?

“I’m not overpaying or underestimating my taxes anymore. My SolaGenius has Arizona’s TPT (transaction privilege tax) forms, and it’s so much easier to hit click than it is to individually tally every single retail product sold. Between income from my studio, product sales, plus the 1099s I get from working as an educator. SolaGenius does all of my accounting!”

Because the app calculates retail and services separately, she’s excited to say, “I’m 100% caught up through my last day at work before maternity leave. Its analytics are a huge time saver, making tax time so much easier. I just email the reports to myself, print them out, and effortlessly file.”

For those of you filing quarterly, it’s four-times more efficient 🙌

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Think of SolaGenius as your little secret to success to help you run your Sola like a boss! If saving time and money sounds good to you, visit SolaGenius via the App Store or Google Play.

Ashley’s bottom line advice: “Take advantage of the free month-long trial and see if SolaGenius is better than what you’re using. Find out what things you need to be worked out, let them know, and they’ll take care of it.”