First booking checklist

You can add an agreed appointment privately, or publish your page to start receiving enquiries. Use the route that fits your first client. If you're preparing your public page, start with Set up your studio.

Add an agreed appointment

For a phone booking or walk-in, open Appointments → + Appointment or select a free calendar time. Enter the client's name, a session description, artist and times. Email, phone and agreed price are optional. Check the availability message and save. If space tracking is active, suitable station space must be available too; solo artists do not need stations.

To try the workflow, use a clearly named test client and leave email updates off. Check the saved booking, practise a reviewed time change and cancel the test appointment when finished. No payment is taken. Public publication and Stripe connection are separate from this private booking route. Follow Phone and walk-in bookings for email choices, blocks and payment arrangements.

Verify your account email and complete your studio and artist profiles.
Check your address, contact email, public portfolio and visible services.
Set working hours and time off in Booking hours.
Save your legal seller, complete Stripe business verification and resolve any InkWell seller review before publication.
Preview your public page and resolve the publishing checks shown in Studio.
Once the page is accepting requests, send a clearly labelled practice enquiry from a phone with a screenshot and an inspiration link. Find it in Requests, check its Images section and confirm both the customer acknowledgement and studio notification arrived.
Agree who will manage enquiries and who will tattoo each client.
Review Settings → Booking setup for enquiry questions, terms and the staff checklist.

Need the full setup sequence? Follow Set up your studio.

When an enquiry arrives

Read the idea and open the uploaded images and reference links when you're ready to review them. Check the body area, rough size and any optional placement guide. Uploaded references are private to the enquiry; the acknowledgement emails show counts, not the images.
Assign an enquiry owner and tattoo artist where needed.
Save the quote in Payments and review Draft reply with saved quote, or choose Message client to ask a question.
Read replies in Client contact → Conversation and agree the final price, artist and time with the client. Clients use the private email link without creating an account.
Review and share the booking terms, or record the agreement from your studio's external process where available.
Open Session, check the calendar and choose Ready to book.
Confirm the client's agreement, choose Book agreed time, then check the saved appointment's artist, duration and time zone. If you need to arrange the deposit first, use Hold time & arrange deposit where available and check the displayed deadline.

See Booking setup for agreement and staff-checklist settings.

Arrange the payment

When online payments are enabled, an owner or admin can prepare a request for the required deposit, full agreed price or remaining balance in Payments. Review it before sharing the private link or sending the payment email. Check the confirmed receipt before treating money as received.

If collection is switched off, keep your existing arrangements and tell the client how to pay. Connecting Stripe alone does not turn on collection. If a payment result is uncertain, check its status before trying again. Read Client payments.

Before the session

Review the booked time, artist and price. Use your studio's existing process for health screening, age checks and tattoo consent.

If your studio uses digital waivers, prepare and share the current form from Session, then review the submitted health answers with the client and record the staff review before tattooing. Follow Booking setup. A paid deposit does not complete consent or health review.

If your studio has a Before-session checklist, complete the staff checks in Session. Where booking agreement is required, it reads the saved agreement rather than asking staff to confirm it twice. The checklist does not collect medical answers or a client signature.

After your first week

Think about where you or a client had to pause: was a service description unclear, a question missing or the next step hard to find? Adjust those details as you learn how the page fits your studio.

Review unread client replies, quote follow-ups and upcoming sessions. Check who owns the next action. Use Analytics, included on every plan, to review enquiry activity and the work ahead. Reporting remains available during private setup and after a subscription ends. Keep payment and accounting records in your existing process.

If a step is unclear or something is missing, contact Support.