- Stay with spreadsheets if you see fewer than about five clients a week, sell single sessions, and enjoy keeping your own system.
- Move to PackOffice if you sell programs or payment plans, run classes, chase payments, or do admin most evenings.
What spreadsheets do well
Credit where it is due. A calendar and a spreadsheet cost nothing, you already know how to use them, and they bend to fit anything. Lots of good trainers started this way. Nobody can put your prices up or change how your system works without asking you.
Where it starts to hurt
- Finding a time takes a string of messages, because clients cannot see when you are free
- Reminders are texts you send yourself, the night before, every time
- Packages live in your head: who has used four of six sessions, and who is due to rebook
- Payment plans mean remembering who owes the next instalment, and chasing it
- Classes mean a roster in one place, payments in another, and a waitlist on a sticky note
- The BAS means going through the bank statement line by line to find which payment was whose
Side by side
| Job | Calendar, Sheets and banking app | PackOffice |
|---|---|---|
| Clients book a time | By message, back and forth | From your real availability, or request only |
| Intake details | Copied from a form or DM | Land straight in the client file |
| Reminders | Sent by you | Email and text, sent for you |
| Packages and programs | Tracked by hand | Session 3 of 6 on every booking and reminder |
| Payment plans | Remember and chase | Instalments with automatic nudges |
| Group classes | Roster, payments and waitlist in separate places | Caps, waitlists and phone check-in together |
| Invoices | Written one by one | GST tax invoices from the booking, with a pay link |
| Matching payments | Line by line from the statement | Card payouts and transfers matched to invoices |
| GST for the BAS | Added up from the sheet | G1, 1A and 1B by quarter |
| Cost a month | A$0 plus your time | A$59 (Solo) plus card fees |
What the hours cost
A working trainer's own practice put admin at about 80 minutes per new client by hand, and about 10 with software. At 10 new clients a month that is close to 12 hours. Valued at A$120 an hour, a typical private session rate, those hours are worth about A$1,400 a month, against A$59 for Solo.
Your numbers will differ. Try the calculator on our homepage with your own.
Moving off spreadsheets
Save your client sheet as a CSV and import it into PackOffice. A single "Name" column is split into first and last names. Founding trainers have this done for them on a two-hour setup call. How switching works.
Questions
Can I run a dog training business on spreadsheets?
Yes, while it is small. Google Calendar, a spreadsheet and your banking app cost nothing and work for a handful of clients a week. It usually stops working once you sell packages or payment plans, run classes with rosters, or spend more than a couple of evenings a week on admin.
How much time does admin by hand take?
About 80 minutes per new client across finding a time, copying details, invoicing, reminders, chasing payment, matching the bank and notes, based on a working trainer's own practice. Software cuts most of that to about 10 minutes.
Are spreadsheets OK for GST and BAS?
They can be, if every payment and expense goes in with its GST and you reconcile against the bank each quarter. Most errors come from payments that never made it into the sheet.
Keep the flexibility, lose the evenings
PackOffice is built only for dog trainers, from A$59 a month. Founding trainers keep today's prices for as long as they stay subscribed.
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