Guided studio setup

Your setup link opens on a welcome page that already looks like your studio — your logo, your colors, even your typeface — greeting you by name and listing what is already prepared, from your branding to your dance levels and instructors. Choose a password right there and you step straight into the guided setup, which always begins at the first step — so even with most of your studio already prepared, you review everything from the top.

Each step shows what we prepared and asks you to confirm it or fix it. Every step uses the same three buttons: Back returns to the previous step without saving, Next saves the step and moves you forward, and Skip for now simply moves you along without saving — it never marks the step done, it just leaves it open so you can keep going and finish it later.

Changed your mind about something you already confirmed? Click its marker on the progress bar to reopen the step, make your edits, and press Next to save and move on to the following step, just like the first time through.

• Your studio's look — your logo, name, color, and typeface, tuned from your website and editable right on the step. Upload a logo or replace the one we found without leaving the step — PNG, JPG, WEBP, AVIF, or SVG up to 2MB. Choosing an image opens a small crop tool: drag to reposition, zoom with the slider, and pick a square tile or a wide banner shape for how it sits in your sidebar (SVG files skip the cropper and upload exactly as they are). A Crop button lets you re-frame the logo you already have, a switch chooses whether your studio name shows as text next to the logo — turn it off if your logo already includes the name — and Reset removes the logo entirely. Adjust your brand color with the color swatch or by typing a hex value like #7c3aed, and choose the typeface your families see everywhere: the Ida default, or one of a set of hand-picked font pairings, each previewed in its own lettering. Next saves your look; your logo and color also stay editable later under Settings → Branding.
• Your locations — the step opens with one question: does your studio run classes in one place, or more than one? The two answers sit side by side as cards, so changing your mind is just a matter of picking the other one. Choose 'One location' and there is nothing to fill in — press Next and the step is done, and if you ever expand you can add locations later in Settings. Choose 'Multiple locations' and you name each place (an address is optional); any locations already on file are listed for you to correct, and Next asks for at least one named location. You can also skip this for now — and when you revisit the step later, your earlier answer is already selected.
• Your levels & pricing — your tuition plans, one per level, managed with the exact same plans manager you will use day-to-day from the Tuition plans page. Press New plan to add one: name it, pick the dance level it covers, choose how it bills — per month, per quarter, per 6 months, or per year, with non-monthly plans charged the full amount for the period (like $450/quarter) — and set the price. Monthly plans can also carry seasonal prices for the months that differ (like a lighter July), and every plan can take an optional registration fee — a one-time sign-up amount per dancer, kept for your reference when you record a new dancer's registration payment; it is never billed automatically. Each plan you save is confirmed with a quick notification and joins a table showing its regular price, its seasonal months (with the current month highlighted), its registration fee, and whether it is active — and the menu beside a plan lets you edit, archive, or delete it. Any plans already in your studio are listed for you to make your own. Your dance levels themselves arrive already prepared; rename them or change their order anytime under Settings → Branding. Billing details from your call with us appear alongside as a reminder, and families are billed from these plans. Press Next once your plans look right to check the step off — everything you set here is exactly what you will find under Tuition plans afterwards.
• Your instructors — the teachers we found on your website. Fix any names, add who's missing, and add each instructor's email. Emails are optional here, but they are how you invite instructors to their own logins later. You can also skip for now.
• Add your first class — the step is your real calendar, exactly what you and your families see. It opens on a month view of your busiest upcoming week, so if your classes start next Monday they are in front of you rather than a blank grid. Click any open time to add a class — the same way you always will from the Calendar page — and it appears on the schedule instantly, visible to families in their portal. Any classes we added from your website are already on it for you to adjust, and everything stays editable later in the Calendar. Adding your first class checks the step off on the spot — a little celebration marks the moment, and that is all the step needs. Add more now or anytime from the Calendar page, and press Next when you are ready to move on.
• Add your first family — start your roster right on the step. Add a family by hand with the same form the Families page uses, and the moment it is saved Ida opens the add-student form for that household, so you can enter its dancers one after another without hunting for another button. Every family you add appears in a list on the step with its student count, and an Add button beside each family lets you put in more students whenever you like — your first family even gets a small celebration. Added a family by mistake? The remove button beside it takes it off your roster again. Have a roster already? Upload whatever you have (a spreadsheet, an export from your old system, even a photo of a list, or pasted text) and Ida reads it into a family roster you review — nothing is added until you approve the preview, and if your studio already has families a new import adds to them; it never replaces them. Next asks for at least one family on your roster — or skip for now and build it later from Students and Families.
• Getting paid — your payment account is already prepared with your studio's details, so Stripe asks you to confirm them, verify your identity, and connect your bank rather than retype everything. Already use Stripe? You can reuse your existing details inside the same flow. You can also put this off until before your first billing run.

You can jump to the dashboard at any point — your progress is saved. While setup is unfinished, a 'Finish setting up your studio' card sits at the top of the dashboard and takes you straight back.

Skipping a step never finishes it — it just moves you along. When you reach the end with steps still open, the setup page shows 'Almost there': a review of where your setup stands, with a checkmark beside each finished step and an 'open' marker beside the rest. Click any step in the list to jump back in and finish it — or press Finish for now to wrap up anyway: you land on the 'your studio is ready' screen, which notes how many steps are still open so you can pick them up any time from the dashboard or the progress bar. Your studio works in the meantime, but setup only counts as complete — and the dashboard card only disappears — once every step is genuinely done.

Once every step is done, you get a confirmation that your studio is ready — and the setup page keeps the labeled progress bar under that confirmation, so you can come back and reopen any step even after everything is done.

When you wrap up setup — every step done, or Finish for now — the completion screen also offers the Ida iPhone app: scan the QR code with your phone's camera, or tap the App Store badge, to install it. With the app you carry your schedule, families, and payments wherever you are. It is entirely optional — never a required part of setup.