Booking, Clients & Payments (Your Core System)
Ideally, this all lives in one place.

• Fresha
All-in-one booking, client profiles, payments, reminders and reporting. Great for solo therapists and salons.

• Square
Strong option if you offer services and sell retail. Combines bookings, POS and payments.

• Timely
Well suited to growing salons with staff, advanced scheduling and reporting.

Action point:
Choose one system to manage bookings, payments and client data. Avoid using multiple tools for the same job.

CRM & Client Communication (Retention & Rebooking)
This is where long-term revenue is built.

• Klaviyo
Ideal for automated emails, aftercare, rebooking reminders and client journeys.

• Mailchimp
Simple and beginner-friendly if you’re just starting with email marketing.

• GoHighLevel
Powerful all-in-one system for bookings, email, SMS, pipelines and automation. Best for scaling businesses.

Action point:
If you’re not following up with clients after appointments, you’re missing easy repeat bookings.

SOPs, Processes & Internal Systems
This is what removes chaos and creates consistency.

• Notion
Perfect for SOPs, workflows, checklists and training in one organised space.

• Google Drive
Simple folders for SOPs, templates, policies and documents.

• ClickUp
Great for task management, recurring workflows and team structure.

Action point:
If a task is done more than once, it needs an SOP.

Payments, Invoicing & Money Management
Clear finances support confident decisions.

• Stripe
Ideal for deposits, online payments and subscriptions.

• Wave
Simple and free accounting for small beauty businesses.

• QuickBooks
Better suited to higher turnover salons or businesses with staff.

Action point:
Know your monthly numbers or you’re guessing, not planning.

Automation & Time-Saving Tools
These reduce admin without hiring.

• Zapier
Connects systems so information flows automatically between tools.

• Calendly
Useful for consultations or calls outside your main booking system.

Action point:
If you’re manually copying data between systems, that’s your automation opportunity.

Remember, it's not that you cannot do these tasks yourself, it's that you shouldn't have to. Make sure you are spending your time and energy on what really matters, not admin and data entry.