A website for a massage therapist who works alone, without answering bookings at midnight
A website for a massage therapist shows your open hours and lets clients book while you're giving a massage. In Proyecta you set your days and hours, the time between appointments, how much advance notice bookings need, and the hours you block off.
Miriam gives massages in Huatulco, on her own, in a room she rents in La Crucecita: relaxing, deep-tissue, sports, and hot stone. Many of her clients are hotel housekeepers and waitresses who get off work at eleven at night, and that’s when they text her: “do you have tomorrow at 10?” Miriam sees it at seven in the morning, by which point someone else has already said yes. In the afternoon her phone buzzes on the shelf mid-session, and she’s not about to wipe the oil off her hands to answer. That’s why she looked up “website for a massage therapist.”
In September she put her schedule on her website, and in the first week two things happened. Ofelia, one of the housekeepers, booked 1:00 pm, right when a hot stone session was ending, leaving no time to clean the stones and heat them up again. And a new client booked the 6:00 slot at 5:40, while Miriam was mid-session; she found out when she stepped out, five minutes before the client arrived. Neither was the website’s fault: Miriam had never told it how long her stones take to heat up, or how much notice she needs before a booking.
What does a website need if you’re a massage therapist working alone?
A website for a massage therapist is your list of massages with your open hours, on a link where clients choose and book on their own, at any time of day. In Proyecta, the website and the schedule are the same thing: whatever gets booked lands in your Schedule, and that’s where your rules live.
If you’re an independent massage therapist, there’s no receptionist watching your schedule, so the website has to know your rules. There are five: which days and hours you give massages, how much time you leave between one client and the next, how much advance notice you require for a booking, how far out clients can book, and which hours you block off for your own things. If you don’t touch them, your website leaves no time between appointments, accepts an open slot even if it’s just ten minutes away, and allows booking up to 28 days ahead. And if you want clients to pay when they book, or leave a deposit, say so when you describe your website.
How do you set the days and hours you give massages?
In Schedule, under Hours, you’ll find your Weekly hours: each day with its own toggle and hours. The ⊕ next to a day lets you add a second time block, splitting the day in two.
Miriam knows that after the fifth massage her wrists start to ache. She set her hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 1 and 5 to 8, to catch the morning-shift workers once they’re off at the hotel, and turned off Sunday and Monday. She set up Tuesday, copied it to the other open days, and tapped Save.
How do you leave time between one massage and the next?
With Prep time after, which you set for each service under Hours, in Duration per service. It ranges from 5 to 60 minutes, and no one can book you during that window. Your client doesn’t see it on her appointment.
Miriam set 15 minutes after the relaxing, deep-tissue, and sports massages, to wash up to her elbows, drink water, and stretch her hands. After hot stone she set 30, because the stones need time to heat back up. On her calendar, each appointment carries a “Prep time” block underneath it, and on her website fewer slots show up around each appointment, because the massage and its prep time both have to fit.
And it applies to her too. If she tries to pencil someone in during those minutes, the schedule won’t let her, and tells her that slot falls within the previous appointment’s prep time.
How do you stop people from booking you twenty minutes from now?
With Minimum notice, under Schedule, in Settings. Under “Clients book at least” you choose between 1 and 48 hours, or “No minimum”; slots that start sooner are no longer offered, and your website tells the client: “Bookings need at least 3 hours’ notice.”
Miriam chose 3 hours. None of her massages run longer than 90 minutes, so anything booked while she’s in session starts, at the earliest, once she’s had time to step out and check her phone. Appointments she adds herself don’t have that limit: when a regular client texts at 9 for a 10 o’clock slot, she still fits her in through New appointment.
How far ahead can clients book you?
Up to 28 days ahead, if you don’t change it. You change it in Hours, with the pencil icon on your schedule: under Edit calendar, Book up to accepts anywhere from 1 to 730 days.
In October, a woman who spends every Christmas in Huatulco wanted to book her three December massages, and the website’s calendar showed those days as “Not bookable yet.” Miriam raised it to 90 days. It also works the other way: if you still don’t know what you’re doing in January, leave it short and no one books time you haven’t decided on yet.
How do you block off time for yourself so no one can book it?
From the Calendar: tap the empty slot and choose Block time. Enter the Day, From, To, and, if you want, a Reason (optional), and once you tap Block, no one can book that slot.
On Thursday Miriam had a dentist appointment from 11 to 12:30. She blocked it on her phone between two massages and wrote “Dentist.” On her calendar that slot shows crossed out with the reason, and if it falls through, she taps it and chooses Remove block. For a full day off, like the reflexology course she’s taking in November, there’s Change the hours on a date under Hours, with “Closed all day.”
How do you check your day on your phone between sessions?
You open your Schedule and see today’s Calendar, one day at a time: each appointment with the client’s name and the massage, its prep time underneath, and your blocked-off time crossed out. If you navigate to another day, Today brings you back.
An empty day reads “No appointments today · tap an hour to book,” with your next appointment listed below. Miriam checks it after every session, while drying her hands, and knows who’s coming next without opening a single chat.
How do I set this up for my business?
Describe your business to Proyecta in your own words. Something like: “a website for my massage business in Huatulco, where I work alone out of La Crucecita: 60-minute relaxing massage $600, 60-minute deep-tissue $650, 60-minute sports massage $650, and 90-minute hot stone $850; online bookings Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 1 and 5 to 8; require at least 3 hours’ notice for bookings; WhatsApp button”.
Once your website is published, go to Hours and set the prep time for each massage.
And today, after your last massage, jot down on your phone how many you gave, and tomorrow morning note how your hands feel. After a week of notes you’ll know your limit, and your schedule gets built so you never go past it. Get started at proyecta.dev.