Preferred Communication and Booking Platform

With increasing business and too many social media outlets, it's time for some changes!

When the shop started accepting appointments on the tail-end of the COVID-19 shutdowns back in 2020, it was clear that the "open door" or "walk-in" policy that I operated under since starting this business in 2012 would no longer be applicable. Sure, there might be some leeway in having a short-notice retrieval of completed and paid-for work, but overall I can't see how to operate this business as a one-man entity and not require appointments for all guests to the shop.

The platform I stuck with for appointments was Facebook, since I used to frequently post and promote the business on their site. While I understand that not everyone has Facebook nor likes to use it, I have always made it clear that a phone call, text, or email could also grant access to a time-slot. This week's Facebook outages caused some havoc in terms of scheduling, and while I had contemplated moving the booking process to a non-FB platform in the past, it is now clearer than ever that this must take place soon. As I test out new booking avenues, the Facebook booking page will remain active, but I do plan to change this by the end of the year.

Along with booking woes, there are ongoing issues that I have regarding social media outlets and communications therein. I've vented about this in the past, but I must once again stress this point: the absolute best ways to contact me are via email, phone call, or text message. I do not sit in front a computer all day, and I am not constantly on my phone liking or commenting on posts on Instagram. I think I have sent maybe 10 tweets in my entire career. While I used to post photos all the time on Facebook, those are typically scheduled posts lined-up many days in advance during non-shop time. Due to the overabundance of these social media pages, direct messages on any of the shop's social media pages are not preferred forms of contact. Please use the shop's phone number and email addresses to contact me & I promise to get back to you as soon as I can.

Managing the social media presence of a one-man shop that is as hectic as mine can be like wrestling with an octopus (thus the image). Properly scheduled appointments and customer adherence to the scheduling policies in place will help me not only perform quality & timely work on your instruments but on everyone else's as well.

As always, I'm a text/call/email away. See you at the shop soon (appointment required)!