SolaGenius 101: The Who, What, Why & How It Will Change Your Life & Business

As a Sola studio owner, you have the opportunity and flexibility to call the shots when it comes to your business. You also have the freedom to manage a schedule giving you the chance to embrace a work/life balance. Because we want to help you be successful and live a rewarding life and career, we developed SolaGenius; a cutting edge app designed to supercharge your business and streamline processes. Even if you’re not tech-savvy (or think you’re not), you can benefit from the simplicity of SolaGenius.

But before we dive in and explain all the reasons why your life and business will benefit from using SolaGenius, we want to take a few seconds to explain something extremely important. 

Technology is a scary word for many. For some it means change, and for others it means having to learn yet one more thing that may be confusing. Consider SolaGenius a virtual personal assistant that you manage on your phone. It sounds pretty glamorous and savvy, because it is, and also like someone who knows what they’re doing. 

Imagine having a webmaster, a marketing guru, a receptionist to book appointments and close the sale, a project manager to keep you on schedule, someone to jot down all your client information and notes, and a bookkeeper all on hand, at your beck and call. That’s exactly what SolaGenius is. 

Let’s go through each reason why your life and business needs SolaGenius to wear the many hats you have to throughout the day. It’s most important to know how helpful, productive, powerful, and necessary your new “virtual personal assistant” will mean the moment you start using it. 

Who Needs & Benefits from using SolaGenius 

There are actually two groups of people who benefit from using SolaGenius. First, it’s you. We created this for the Sola salon professional who:

• Has a desire to take their business to the next level without having to do any of the heavy lifting. That means not having to hire a webmaster to build you a website or upgrade your existing one.
• It’s also created for the salon professional who wants to spend less time booking appointments, sending out reminders, and worrying about filling holes in one’s day.
• And if you’re the type of stylist who wants to spend less time running analytics, sifting through numbers, and trying to recall what you did at your client’s last appointment, then SolaGenius is going to help with all this, and more.

But...it’s not just for you, the Sola salon pro. We also developed this for your clients. Here’s why. Because your clients are spending a significant amount of the day on their phones, and they are booking their online appointments at THEIR leisure and convenience, and sometimes they just need a reminder (or a gentle “push”) to get them to pre-book their appointment, is why SolaGenius was created. We don’t want you to miss out on them walking through your salon door. 

• According to TechCrunch.com, a study conducted by the analytical firm Flurry reported that U.S. consumers spend up to 5 hours per day on their mobile devices.
• In addition to that, lsainsider.com reported that 40% of online booking is happening after hours.
• And Mobilexco.com shared that 10% of mobile users have booked an appt after receiving an SMS message.

“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Author

What Is SolaGenius, Exactly?

Have you heard of Vargo, Styleseat, or Schedulicity? SolaGenius is similar but uniquely made for Sola Stylists.

To put things clearly, SolaGenius is:

• An opportunity to build your business, your revenue, and your clientele.
• It is a streamlined way for your clients to book online.
• A way of engaging with them on their mobile device during and after your salon hours, and during times when it is convenient for THEM.
• Solutions to your everyday concerns as a salon owner and solo entrepreneur.
• An effective way to keep client contact info, notes, color formulas, retail purchases, and more in one safe, digital place.
• A way to say goodbye to managing your business and books (schedule and financial) via pen and paper and completely eliminate the fear of losing your client’s info, upcoming appointment, etc.

Why Should I Be Using SolaGenius?

Running a business takes time, and let’s face it, time really is money, so when an opportunity presents itself and gives you the chance to protect your time, it’s not just a win-win for your business, but also for your career and for your personal life. 

When you’re not burning through time corresponding and booking appointments, calculating and crunching numbers in Excel or on (gasp!) paper, managing marketing strategies, and making sure you have a social media presence, you have more time to further your skills, education, do what you love, and most importantly live life. 

Let’s drill these down even one more step further because your time is valuable and it should be used wisely. We mentioned earlier that SolaGenius can “wear a lot of hats” and that it eliminates the need for having a bunch of extra “people” in your professional life that would cost you extra money in addition to helping you streamline processes. For example:

• Because you get to create yourself an attractive and easy-to-use unique booking website that reflects the unique nature of your brand, this eliminates the need to have a website made from scratch or time spent on Squarespace, Weebly, or WordPress.
• Because your clients can book their appointments online, this eliminates you having to return a lot of phone calls or emails or respond to a flurry of text messages.
• Because you can set up your account to receive client reminders, this eliminates you from #1) double-booking, #2) having to keep a separate calendar/schedule, and  #3) the worst thing ever - forgetting your client’s appointment. 
• Because you get full analytics and reporting, you can see how your business is performing, set goals and benchmarks, and not be so worried about the financial side of running a business, especially if you’re not “a numbers person.”
• Because you’re able to accept credit card payments through SolaGenius, you’ll be receive the lowest rate, never need to upgrade equipment, receive a tip and next-day deposits and provide your client with email or text receipts. This is the same technology used by Amazon, PayPal, Uber, Sephora, and grubhub.
• Because “word of mouth” is how consumers determine whether or not to receive services, SolaGenius allows your clients to leave reviews. This review form is on the email or text receipt. All they have to do is click the link on the receipt, which will display their transaction breakdown and provide the 5-star scale for your client to rate you. Once they click on the stars, they can also leave you a written review. Plus, you can easily post these reviews to your social media feeds and website.  

Where Can I Find SolaGenius?

If you have Sola Pro on your phone, that is the quickest way to access the app. Just open Sola Pro and click on the SolaGenius section on the main screen, that will take you directly to the download page.

Or you can search for SolaGenius or Gloss Genius in your app store. The icon will look like this: 

Then choose GET or INSTALL.Once you’ve successfully downloaded the app, you’re ready to get started.

Once you open the app for the first time, the screen will look like this on the bottom of the screen and you’ll see the words: Are you Sola Professional?

Click on those words. Once you click on that, you’ll be taken to the main screen where you will need to sign up for SolaGenius. Please make sure that you use the same email that you used on the Sola website so we can identify you within our system.

What is the cost associated with using SolaGenius?

For the price of 5 Starbucks Venti Skinny Vanilla Lattes in one week, you could be using SolaGenius for the entire month. Not a coffee drinker? Then how about 3 vegetarian burrito bowls from Chipotle, or 2 martinis after work, or admission for 1 to see a 3D IMAX movie. The money you spend on dining out or taking in a blockbuster hit can be spent on building your business, your brand, and your bank account. The average price of a woman’s haircut is around $45. To afford SolaGenius, you have to at least perform a half a haircut per month.   

It’s that cost-effective and affordable. 

And when you want to compare it to the other platforms we mentioned—Vargo, Styleseat, and Schedulicity—there are no additional hidden fees and you access to EVERY feature and you don’t have to purchase any additional hardware like a card swiper. 

Let’s break down some more perks:

• When your client pays with plastic, there is a flat 2.6% payment processing rate. There is no key-in fees, no transaction fees, no hidden fees and absolutely no transfer fees.
• All of our competitors charge a fee to create a custom website, but with SolaGenius there are no extra costs.
• None of our competitors offer text message marketing. We do because this form of marketing is one of the most effective forms of filling your schedule. According to venturebeat.com, 90% of people read a text message within the first 3 minutes of receiving it. Kelsey Morris, owner of Studio K at Sola Salon Studios in Columbus, Ohio sent a mass text message to her clients through SolaGenius about available appointments. Within an hour of sending out the texts, she locked in 15 appointments which resulted in over $1500 in final sales.

How Do I Use SolaGenius?

What’s ideal about all this is that you don’t need a huge manual to get started and use SolaGenius.We use smart technology (we promise not to use that word again) that guides you through your set up from beginning to end, and it is always prompting your next step and course of action. So as you go through and set up your online booking website and get everything up and running, you’re not going into it blindly and the “virtual assistant” is there to help you. But just in case for any reason you get completely stumped, we have 24/7 customer support ready and willing to ease you through the process and any hiccups you may encounter along with way. 

STEP 1:

After you download the app and sign up, you will be prompted by our “White Glove Service” to enter in all your contacts. This is by far one of our most embraced and celebrated features because it is truly a time-saver. With White Glove Service, and you can arrange to have all of your appointment, contact information plus notes transfer from another app or your notebook (or both) into your SolaGenius app. This saves you valuable time and energy. 

• Are your contacts on your phone? SolaGenius will import your selected contacts.
• Are they on another booking site? Give customer service access to your account and all of your contacts will be copied to SolaGenius.
• Are you using a paper book? Take pictures of the pages and SolaGenius customer service will digitize the information into your account.

STEP 2: 

Once you’ve downloaded SolaGenius, and imported your contacts you’re ready to get going. 

The best way to customize the app so that it works for you, will be by accessing your personal assistant - take a few hours out of your day let the assistant guide you through how to set up your business. 

You can also watch the video by going to settings, and clicking on University. 

Throughout the year new blogs will be added so you can learn how to make the most of your SolaGenius. 

And if you’re ever unsure of what to do, where to go, or how to do something, you can always access our FAQs or revisit the videos available in Sola University.

We have given you a ton of information and it may feel a little intimidating, but know one thing is for certain - we have created SolaGenius to be as easy and as streamlined as humanly possible because we want you to succeed and enjoy being an entrepreneur.  

“Coming from over 30 years as a beauty professional, I admit the leap of faith into the digital world, is one of the scariest of all. Sola Genius has made that leap so easy, supported and FUN the whole way. My business has never been more successful and I know in my heart I can move confidently into the next 30 years with SolaGenius by my side!”

- Kim Bennett Horvath, Sola Studio Owner