Project overview · Proof of concept
Tracy's Big
Booking Buff-Up
A Pacaya Digital LLC concept built for Tracy, our hairstylist hero whose booking flow is badly in need of a glam up.
10
booking blemishes buffed
7
days, concept to delivery
1
happy hairstylist, with big hair and bigger margins
What We Built
How we fixed a real rats nest of a booking flowFrom interest to booking to booked again (and again (and again))
Before we met, Tracy was overwhelmed, exhausted, underpaid, and buried with tedious admin work stealing time from the job she loved: styling hair. Tracy reached out for help through a friend. Here's what we did to dig her out and enjoying her work again.
Narrated by Mr. Pinky · 3:14.
Press play — it follows you as you scroll
The Setup
Tracy's sitch and the opportunity therewithinOverworked
Tracy’s hands are busy all day. Business work — massaging scalps, answering inquiries, juggling reschedules, chasing confirmations — gets squeezed in between appointments or pushed to after hours. In a competitive market like hair styling, every hour of unnecessary admin drags her realized earning rate down.
Already-tight margins
Hair stylists are solo-preneurs. Every empty slot and late cancellation or no-show isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s unrealized income. Independent professionals know that good software can make their working life significantly better, and yet traditional booking software is mostly built for front desks and multi-chair salons that don't work within the constraints that a one-chair stylist actually works within.
Room for expression
Tracy likes big things: big hair, big feelings, and big expression. She's tired of trying to squeeze her business into the boring memetic faux-luxury salon landscape and ready to express her personality to her customers with TrimsByTracy.com
The Big Hairy Opportunity
Which makes Tracy’s big hair use case an even bigger opportunity: she knows good software can help her, but needs it to be thoughtful and designed around her actual workflows, not just another generic booking management SaaS with a salon website on the frontend.
Why Lovable fits
Lovable is a great tool for exactly this use case: it's opinionated enough that the result feels coherent, flexible enough to bend around the nooks and crannies of a very particular workflow like Tracy's, genuinely good at design out of the box, and integrations — auth, database, payments, AI — come pre-wired instead of hand-rolled. All of which means that a Lovable Expert can build something amazing in a week that might otherwise take multiple weeks or months...or never get built at all.
Problems, Quirks, etc.
What we identified as needing a makeover, and our plans to address it:Pre-booking
The bottlenecks
3 issuesPotential clients get lost
Ideally, Tracy is busy with clients all day with little time between appointments, which means if someone shows interest in her services -- whether on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, email, phone, SMS, etc — and doesn't hear back fast enough, they disappear…and reappear in someone else's chair.
What we built
Unified inbound inbox
We hook up all of Tracy’s inbound channel to a single unified inbox where Mr. Pinky captures the contact, files the lead, and sends replies on Tracy’s behalf with booking links. Nothing slips through the cracks, and Tracy is empowered to follow up when she’s available.
Watch the leads come in →Inaccurate scoping, opaque pricing
When a new client makes a booking, they know what they want, not necessarily what products and services go into it: giving them a long menu with lots of options makes that problem worse, not better, which means the booking flow can't show straightforward prices, only vague 'starting at' ranges that stall the buyer’s decision.
What we built
Consults as a Service
To get accurate prices in front of clients, we realized we couldn't avoid tackling pre-booking consults. This was a unique challenge since it's essentially a second type of appointment, but one that can be handled without being in the chair. We decided that we'd build all three options: in-person, video, and Mr Pinky. We were honestly surprised by how well it all came together.
Try the booking flow →"Uhhh, do I know you?"
Right now, all of Tracy’s clients go through the same booking flow and Tracy needs to make sure she has their history recorded in her notes.
What we built
Per-client dossiers
New bookings create clients and every client has their own dossier with history, formulas, photos and preferences, which Tracy can reference at a glance 5 minutes before they arrive, her inventory system can flag if a product is missing for an upcoming booking, and client’s can access to review and rebook in about fifteen seconds.
View client dossiers →Post-Booking Coordination
The bottlenecks
3 issuesDaily downtime
Today, clients book whenever Tracy has availability, regardless of how her schedule looks as a whole, which results in forty-minute gaps between appointments that are too short to sell and not long enough for her to do something productive. So Tracy passes time scrolling TikTok while her income shrinks.
What we built
Context-aware scheduling defaults
When a client is shown scheduling option, we default them to slots that work best for Tracy, while giving them the option to view others. This slight friction in the booking flow costs the client nothing and makes Tracy money in otherwise lost productivity.
See how Tracy's schedule blocks →Upstream client chaos
Today, Tracy is subject to the chaos of her clients’ schedules — they cancel, reschedule and ghost (real life is messy). Every missed appointment takes a bite out of Tracy’s bottom line, and chasing them down costs time she doesn't have.
What we built
A policy that enforces itself
A deposit and a plain 48-hour agreement at booking. Clients reschedule or cancel themselves in the portal — inside 48 hours it becomes a request Tracy accepts or declines in one tap or is gracefully handled by Mr Pinky.
Try rescheduling as a client →Manual follow-up tax
Today, when a client books, all of Tracy’s appointment information goes out in a single confirmation email and the client is expected to save and remember it, which results in a lot of frantic texts and late arrivals, which messes up Tracy’s schedule every time it happens.
What we built
Messages that go out on their own
We keep the good part: the moment they book, clients get the buzzer code, parking, and prep info. And on top of that, we build a reminder system that stacks and adapts: depending on when the client booked, we send 7-day, 2-day, and day-prior reminders with messaging tailored to whether the client has confirmed their slot and the same helpful details as the original confirmation email are provided again. RSVPs are saved to the appointment so Tracy can see who is confirmed and who is at risk of canceling or ghosting, all without spending a second on chasing clients herself.
View Tracy's outbox →In the Chair
The bottlenecks
1 issue“Oh my. What do we have here?”
Tracy’s clients know what they want but rarely have an accurate picture of what goes into what they want: someone asks for a touch-up and when they arrive Tracy finds three years of hidden box dye. She either cancels on the spot, the day runs late, or the work gets rushed.
What we built
Photos and hair history up front
In the same flow where we fix the client expectation gap in pricing, before booking, clients upload current and inspiration photos and answer a few quick questions with Mr. Pinky. Consults are required for new clients and are either booked separately as in-person or video, or are done by Mr Pinky, according to client preferences. Post-consult, the actual appointment gets booked with accurate information, so the client knows what to expect and scheduling stays honest.
Book a consult →After the Chair
The bottlenecks
2 issuesOne and done
Right now, if Tracy doesn’t get a rebooking on the spot, there is no re-engagement or she follows up manually.
What we built
Reminders timed to the actual hair
Automatic re-engagement reminders timed to the hair on the client’s head: a trim nudges at four to five weeks, a gloss at six to eight, a full transformation at twelve to sixteen — with the booking link one tap away.
View Tracy's re-booking reminders →Lost marketing opportunities
Tracy already takes great photos for almost every client, which they love and share with their friends and social networks, but it’s only ever tied back to Tracy if they mention her.
What we built
One tap finishes everything
First, we made sure that Tracy’s photos are stored on the client profile so that they can see their history and transformation over time. Then, for every appointment, she has the option to upload two photos and when she marks an appointment complete, the gallery link, social sharing offer and review request all go out in a summary email, with polished watermarked photos and credit for tagging the salon on social or leaving a review.
Complete an appointment →Creative Independence
The bottlenecks
1 issue“Help me fix my booking flow!"
Today, every time Tracy wants to make a change to her booking flow, she calls up Pacaya Digital LLC and we perform an audit, propose a proof of concept, and she refinances her mortgage to make room for the expense.
What we built
Self-serve booking flow experimentation
Tracy has an Analytics page in admin where she can design, publish, analyze and pick winners to her own booking flow experiments. She can build them by hand or simply describe them to Mr Pinky and he builds out a draft for her.
Check out Tracy's Analytics →Meet Mr. Pinky
Most booking software gives you a chatbot that answers FAQs. Mr. Pinky is a business manager with keys to the building: he runs the client consults, triages the inbox, checks the calendar and proposes the fix — and nothing important happens without Tracy's yes.
He's voice-first — tap into his chat below and he'll speak up.
Mr. Pinky
Live audition · limited
The consult
New clients talk to Mr. Pinky the way they'd talk to Tracy: photos, hair history, inspiration and timing — by voice or text, in his best British accent. He suggests services and times, but he never books, never takes payment, and never touches checkout. That stays with the client.
Inbox triage
Every inbound message — Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, iMessage, an email reply — gets parsed for who it's from and what they want, filed as a lead in Clients, and answered with a drafted reply carrying the booking link. Simulated channels today; real ones plug into the same inbox.
Calendar doctor
Ask why a day is blocked and he shows the math: hours, lunch, bookings, the longest window. Then he proposes the fix — a one-off date change or new weekly hours — and only saves it after Tracy taps yes. Bookings, clients and prices stay out of his reach.
Experiment drafts
He drafts new booking-flow variants for Tracy's A/B tests on request. She previews, publishes, unpublishes and picks the winners herself — booking-critical fields are owner-controlled, so his drafts can't change what clients actually pay or book.
Future work
This is a proof of concept, so a few things are simulated rather than wired to real services. Here are ideas for what we'd build next, in no particular order.
Google Tag Manager + Analytics
The built-in analytics track the booking funnel itself. GTM and GA4 are a standard snippet install on top, and they can share tags and events with what's already here.
What it unlocks
Tracy sees where her bookings come from — which posts, searches and campaigns actually fill the calendar. Combined with the internal funnel numbers, she'd know exactly which gaps in her week to push and where new clients discover her.
A real phone line & real texts
The demo simulates every text. Two pieces make it real: a one-time US carrier registration (known as A2P 10DLC — an identity check and use-case filing with a small monthly line fee; there's no meaningful free route), and Tracy's own Twilio number. That number becomes her public studio line: clients text it, texts arrive here automatically, and missed calls log a lead and can trigger a text back.
What it unlocks
Reminder texts, day-of buzzer codes and photo gallery links land in clients' actual messaging apps — and a missed call never becomes a lost client, it becomes a lead Mr. Pinky can follow up. The silent no-show and forgotten-photos bottlenecks close completely: Tracy never picks up her phone, but her clients still hear from her.
Client photo + video storage
The proof of concept can collect consultation photos and short videos, but production needs durable, private storage with upload limits, access controls and reliable playback across devices.
What it unlocks
Every visual reference stays attached to the right client and appointment, giving Tracy a clean before-and-after record without searching through texts or her camera roll. Better context means more accurate scoping, fewer surprises in the chair and stronger follow-up content.
Stripe payments
Today deposits and cancellation fees are simulated. Stripe integration is essentially out of the box with Lovable: connect an account, and the booking flow's deposit step starts charging real cards.
What it unlocks
The cancellation agreement enforces itself with real money. No-show deposits are actually kept, late cancels are actually charged, and Tracy's day is protected before anyone sets foot in the loft — no awkward conversations, ever.
Zernio social publishing
The share flow currently opens Instagram and TikTok one network at a time. Zernio is a publishing connector: one integration instead of custom code for every platform, so posting to several accounts is a single click that we don't have to maintain.
What it unlocks
One tap after the chair pushes studio photos to every social account at once, with the salon tag and referral credit attached. Every finished head becomes an ad across all platforms — word of mouth stops depending on whether clients remember to post.
Our Process
A peak into our internal process as we built TrimsByTracy.comA PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Despite being a Proof of Concept, building TrimsByTracy was a full 7-day project, with plenty of thought and care put into each flow and feature. From conceptualizing the Hairspray-inspired design system to building a new internal testing framework, we touch on some of the most important decisions we made along the way.
Press play — it follows you as you scroll
Designed for a hero
Before building anything, we asked who this app was for and went looking for a hero: a solo stylist with big personality and bigger hair in need of a sidekick. We found one in Tracy, a character from the Hairspray musical. Tracy's world gave us the persona; Hairspray gave us the palette, the type, the sparkle. Then we built Trims By Tracy as an experience from that world — characters like Mr. Pinky, candy-pop color, and a booking flow that feels like part of the show, not a form to fill out.
Tracy's workflows came first
In spite of a thoughtful design system, 90% of the work was making otherwise tedious administrative work feel seamless and magical. We studied how Tracy actually runs her chair, then shaped the app around one question: how do we maximize the time Tracy spends doing what she loves while giving her clients an effortless booking experience?
Building for Tracy's next ask
We are no stranger to the client follow up request and so tackled it up front by building for not just what she needs today, but what she'll want after that as well. Every feature was chosen with an eye on what happens when Tracy realizes her newfound superpowers, anticipating future development requests so she stays unblocked as long as possible.
Punting on everything that isn't booking
Anything not directly related to getting a client in the chair was punted to the Future Work section. Restraint is a feature: the proof of concept stays focused on a deep, comprehensive solution to the booking problem it set out to fix.
Human-in-the-loop testing
We overhauled our internal testing to be more efficient and user-friendly for the Lovable Expert running it — scenario-based end-to-end checks that exercise both the client and Tracy sides, so the easy stuff was caught before manual review.
Asking a LOT of questions
Throughout the build we used Lovable's new "Chat" feature a LOT — on feasibility, on brainstorming, on edge cases, etc. While there were times we were frustrated by the workflow, we think Tracy's app benefitted tremendously from being able to provide context, clarify uncertainties, weigh tradeoffs, etc from within the Lovable UX.
The whole point
From “can I book?” to “you're booked” to "see you soon" to "nice to see you again."
Both the client and admin experiences are live in the demo. Book a visit as a client, then switch over and watch it land on Tracy's day, finish it in one tap, and see every message that goes out on its own.