Follow the Getting started card from sign-up to your first bookable appointment

A Getting started card sits at the top of the screen while you are new. It takes you from creating the account to a service that clients can really book, and it checks your real information every time it is shown, so a tick always means the thing is truly done. You never tick anything yourself.

Accounts created with guided setup (every new sign-up) see this list of required steps, with a line such as "3 of 7 done":

• Set up Zelun subscription billing
• Review service duration and price
• Confirm branch time zone
• Add a staff member
• Assign a provider to the service
• Confirm provider and branch hours
• Configure required rooms or equipment

When all of them are done you Preview booking and then Publish booking. Extra services, teammates, more locations, branding, imports, messaging, products and quotes are optional: each has a sensible default and stays available in your settings. The card also offers Help me set up, an assisted draft you review before anything changes. The article on assisted setup explains it.

Older accounts keep the short card with the line "A few steps to your first bookable appointment.": Add a service, Add a staff member, Set branch hours, Connect payments (optional) and Choose what you sell. That card hides itself once the service, staff, hours and sections items are done, and the payments item never keeps it visible.

The words on the card follow your business type: a clinic sees an appointment type where a salon sees a service. My business also has its own list, Before taking bookings, with more items. The card is only a guide and never blocks another screen.

1. Finish creating your account. The sign-up article covers it.
2. Your Zelun subscription needs a payment method. Setting it up does not charge you: the 15-day trial starts once the billing provider confirms it, and the screen shows the plan, price, first charge date and how to cancel before you approve.
3. Know roughly what your first service lasts and costs, and when you are open.

With guided setup

1. Read the card. It shows your progress and the steps still missing.
2. Press an item to go straight to the screen where it is fixed. If the billing provider sends you to its own page, finish there. When you come back, Zelun waits for the provider to confirm before it treats billing as done. Until then, setup shows that verification is pending and your booking stays off.
3. Under the starter service Zelun created at sign-up, review its duration and enter a price or choose No charge before pressing Confirm service. Until then it reads Price to define and is not offered on public booking.
4. Confirm the branch time zone. Your own staff entry already exists with the starter services assigned; if you work alone, you do not need to invite or assign anyone. If another person serves clients, add them and assign the service.
5. Make sure the person's hours and the branch hours overlap. If they do not, Confirm provider and branch hours stays not done.
6. When every required item is ticked, press Preview booking. Zelun shows an available time using the same rules as the public booking page. Preview ready. No appointment, charge, or message was created. confirms nothing was booked. If no time is available, you see No slots are available yet. Check branch and provider hours, then retry.
7. Press Publish booking. Zelun checks everything again at that moment. If something changed since the preview, publishing is refused and tells you what to fix.
8. If anything fails to save, you see a message and Try again. Retrying never creates duplicates.

If you chose clinic, Patient privacy appears as an optional step. The owner confirms in one panel whether to hide prices, send discreet reminders and restrict who can read notes. This step does not block publishing bookings.

Leave and come back

1. Your progress is saved. You can reload, sign out or leave to set up billing.
2. If you press Dismiss, the card is replaced by a Resume setup button that opens the Plan section of My business. Press it to see the card's next missing step again.
3. After you publish, the card is replaced by the Help me set up button, and the required list goes away.

Taking payments from clients

Connecting payments to charge clients online is separate from your Zelun subscription and is optional. You only need it for online deposits or other online collection. The article on operating without online payments explains it.

On an older account

1. Do each item on its own screen, as usual: add a service, add staff, set the weekly hours of every branch and choose what you sell.
2. Go back to any screen. The item now shows a tick. If you later undo the work, for example by deleting your only service, it returns to an empty box.
3. Press Dismiss to hide the card for your whole company at any time. It does not come back by itself.

Nothing until you publish. After you publish, the branch and service you previewed can be booked on your public booking page. A second branch you have not finished does not stop the first from going live, and it stays unavailable to clients until it is ready. On older accounts, clients can book once there is a service, a person to book with and branch hours.

• Having a service and staff but nobody assigned. The card stays incomplete until a person who can perform the service is assigned.
• Hours that never overlap. If the staff member works afternoons and the branch is open mornings, there are no times to book.
• Skipping the preview. Publishing needs a preview first, so you know what clients will see.
• Thinking billing is done after returning from the provider. Wait for the confirmation. A browser return alone does not activate your account.
• Confusing the two kinds of payment. Your subscription is what you pay Zelun. Client payments are what your clients pay you, and they are optional.
• Dismissing too early on an older account. The card does not come back by itself. Check your services, staff and hours yourself afterward.
• Stopping after one branch. On an older account the hours item is only done when every branch has hours.
• "Price to define". Starter services are created without a confirmed price and cannot be booked online. In Review the service duration and price enter the price, or tick No charge, and press Confirm service. Tutors also adjust the group class seats. If the card proposes a week, confirm it with Confirm hours.

Signing up, assisted setup, branch settings, weekly hours, the staff directory and operating without online payments are covered in the related articles.