Setting Up Your Studio

When you first sign in to Trio as a studio owner, an onboarding wizard at the onboarding page walks you through the initial configuration. The page greets you with "Welcome to your studio!" and takes about five minutes end to end. Most steps can be skipped, and your progress is saved automatically, so you can return at your next sign-in to pick up where you left off.

The Onboarding Wizard

A numbered progress bar tracks your position. The label above each step reads "Step X of Y" with the step name. The steps are:

Studio Profile
Weekly Availability
Studio Policies
Add First Student
Connect Stripe

If your account does not have a verified phone number yet, a Phone Setup step is added as the first step and the remaining steps shift down by one.

Phone Setup

This step appears only when no phone is on file. Enter your Phone number, check the SMS consent box, and click Send code. Enter the 6-digit verification code and click Verify & continue. Adding a phone lets Trio send you text alerts. Click Skip to move on without one.

Studio Profile

Enter your Studio Name (required), pick the instruments your studio teaches with the Instruments Taught combobox, and select a Timezone (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, or Hawaii). Set your timezone correctly before scheduling anything - every lesson time and recurring-lesson rule is computed against it.

Weekly Availability

Add the time slots for each day of the week when you are available to teach. Parents see these times when booking, and the slots drive conflict detection when you schedule lessons. You can refine this later from Availability.

Studio Policies

Set your studio-wide defaults:

Cancellation Notice (hours before lesson) - how much notice families must give
Default Billing Frequency - Monthly, Weekly, or Per Lesson
Default Lesson Rate ($) - your standard per-lesson price

These apply to new students by default; per-student overrides are available later.

Add First Student

Enter the student's First Name and Last Name (both required), choose an Instrument, and add the Parent First Name, Parent Last Name, Parent Email, and Lesson Rate. Providing the parent email sends an invitation so they can access the parent portal.

Connect Stripe

The final step links a Stripe account so you can accept card payments and have funds deposited to your bank. The card lists why connecting Stripe helps. Click Connect Stripe Account to start Stripe's hosted onboarding, or Set up later to defer.

Skipping and Resuming

Every step except Studio Profile has a Set up later or Skip option. Skipped steps are remembered so reminders can appear on your dashboard. If you close the browser mid-wizard, Trio resumes on the same step at your next sign-in.

After Onboarding

Once the wizard finishes, you land on the teacher dashboard. Fill in any gaps from these areas:

Owner Settings - studio identity, branding, localization, payments, and subscription
Studio Settings - instruments, skill levels, locations, rooms, and lesson defaults
Availability - full weekly grid and one-off date overrides
Students - add more students any time