When you sign up for Cradled, your dashboard shows an onboarding checklist with the items that need to be true before you can send invoices, collect payments, and book clients. Here's what each item means and why it matters.
1. Set up your profile
This is your name, title, profession, timezone, and currency. It drives:
- How you appear to clients on their mobile app.
- The "Signed by" line on contracts.
- The timezone used for appointment times.
- The currency used on invoices.
Get this right once. Changing currency after you've sent invoices gets confusing.
2. Add business details
Your business name, address, tax info, and payment instructions. These appear on invoices and contracts. If you're a sole proprietor, your business name can be your own name — doesn't need to be an incorporated entity.
→ Configure your business settings
3. Connect Stripe
If you want to accept card payments through Cradled, connect Stripe. Your clients can pay invoices with a card, and money flows straight to your bank account. Cradled takes no cut — just standard Stripe processing fees.
You can skip this if you only use e-transfer, bank transfer, cash, or cheque. Just make sure your Payment instructions in account settings describe how clients should pay.
4. Add your first client
Either:
- Invite a real client to use the Cradled app (they sign up, get linked to you, full app experience), or
- Add a managed client manually (for inquiries or clients who don't want the app).
If you have no real clients yet, turn on the demo client to see what a populated dashboard looks like before committing.
→ Add your first client · The demo client
Everything else can wait
The checklist covers what you need to start. Templates, reports, inbox preferences, and Google Calendar sync are all things you can set up once real work begins.