> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up your studio

> Go from signing up to your first student's lesson on the calendar.

## When you'd use this

You've just signed up and want your studio ready to teach and bill. Signing up starts a [30-day trial](/docs/your-plan#the-trial) of the Professional plan with no card, and Harness opens a short welcome flow before you reach your calendar.

## Steps

The first two steps happen in the welcome flow, and the rest in Harness itself.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Tell Harness about your studio">
    The welcome flow asks for your profile, your [studio details](/docs/studio-profile), your [studio policy](/docs/studio-policy), and whether to turn on your [sign-up form](/docs/sign-up-form) as **Dynamic (Recommended)** or **Simplified**. The policy and form can wait: choose **I'll do this later**, or leave **Enable Form** off. A policy you paste goes live for families right away. Nothing saves until you click **Open Harness** at the end, so finish in one sitting. If you leave partway, you start again from the beginning.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose how you bill">
    The welcome flow ends with your billing preferences: your [billing cycle](/docs/automatic-billing#billing-cycles), how often charges collect into an invoice, and your payment terms. Monthly is already picked. The flow doesn't ask how much Harness automates. Every new studio starts on [Draft for review](/docs/automatic-billing#how-much-harness-does), where Harness drafts each invoice and nothing reaches families until you send it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add your first student">
    You land on your calendar, where a welcome message points you to **Add your first student**. Before you click it, add a [rate preset](/docs/lessons#rate-presets) in **Settings → Rate presets** (open **Settings** from your name at the bottom of the sidebar). Without one, your first lesson has no price and marking attendance charges nothing. **Add your first student** opens the [Add student](/docs/students#add-a-student) form, which also sets up who pays. To let families sign up instead, turn on your [sign-up form](/docs/sign-up-form#share-the-link) in **Settings → Sign-up form**, then share its link; it doesn't work while the form is off.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set their first lesson">
    The form's last steps set the day, time, and how often the lesson repeats. The lesson is priced from your first rate preset. Leave **Send welcome and portal invites to contacts** ticked to invite the family to the [student portal](/docs/student-portal#give-a-family-access). If you'd rather wait, click **Skip for now** and [make the lesson from the calendar](/docs/lessons#make-an-event-a-lesson) later. Until then, the student stays [inactive](/docs/students#active-inactive-and-pending).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect Stripe (optional)">
    To let families pay invoices by card or bank, [connect Stripe](/docs/online-payments#connect-stripe) in **Settings → Stripe & payouts**. Online payments are on the Professional plan, and your trial includes them. Without Stripe, you [record payments](/docs/payments) by hand.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What you end up with

Your student's lesson is on the calendar every week. When you mark attendance, the lesson is charged to the family's account, and each billing cycle Harness drafts their invoice, which you check and send. When the trial ends, you choose to upgrade or stay on the Hobby plan, where you invoice by hand. Automatic reminders start off; turn them on in your [invoice defaults](/docs/invoices#invoice-defaults) if you want them. To see how the pieces connect, read [Key concepts](/docs/key-concepts).


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