The questions real owners ask us. Can't find your answer? Get in touch.
A few minutes for most people. Pick what you do, enter your business details, choose the services you offer, and set your hours. We do the rest, and your website goes live in under a minute once you finish.
Yes. You can sign up and start taking bookings right away. When you're ready to accept card payments, Stripe Connect Express accepts individuals with just your name, date of birth, SSN last-4, and bank info, no EIN required to start.
Yes. On the second question of onboarding, check the 'I already have a website' box and paste your URL. We'll skip site generation and still set up everything else, booking, invoicing, mentor, compliance.
Nothing until you earn your first dollar. Then 5% on payments collected through StartSmith.
No monthly fee. No contract. If a customer pays you in cash or check outside StartSmith, we don't take a cut.
Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ fee applies to card payments, charged directly by Stripe, same as anywhere else.
The first invoice a customer pays through Stripe on our platform. After that payment completes, subsequent Stripe payments include our 5% platform fee (automatically deducted).
Anytime. Settings → Delete account. Your data is permanently deleted within 30 days. No cancellation fee.
Your generated website has a booking widget on every page. Customers pick a service, pick a time, enter their contact info, and (if required) pay a deposit.
You can also share your booking link directly, it's yourbusinessname.startsmith.co/book. Text it to people who call you, put it on your business card, or embed the widget on your existing website (Settings → Booking widget).
You get a text within 10 seconds. The customer gets an instant confirmation text with the details. We send a 24-hour-before reminder automatically. You can manage the job from your dashboard, tap 'Start job' when you arrive, 'Mark complete' when you're done, and the invoice auto-creates.
Turn on deposits. Go to Services & prices, pick a service, set the deposit type and amount. Customers pay the deposit when they book, dramatically cuts no-shows. Recommended for jobs over $150.
Yes. Everything works without Stripe. Customers won't be able to pay online, but you can still book jobs, send estimates, and mark bills as paid manually (cash, check, or other).
Every 2 business days on the standard Stripe schedule. You can enable instant payouts in your Stripe dashboard (1% fee). Revenue shows up on your StartSmith dashboard within 60 seconds of the customer paying.
It knows your business, your city, your services, and your recent activity (jobs completed this month, revenue, review count). Questions like 'should I raise my prices?' get answered with specifics, not generic advice.
No. The mentor is like a knowledgeable friend, useful for pricing, marketing, and operations questions. For licenses, contracts, or tax filings, use the compliance checklist links and consult a licensed professional.
Yes, under the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act). Every booking through our widget asks for SMS consent via a checkbox. We only send marketing-type texts (review requests, re-engagement) to customers who consented.
We automatically opt them out and confirm it with one reply. They'll never get SMS from you through StartSmith again until they reply START.
The dashboard works offline for recent data but writes (starting a job, marking complete) need connectivity. Best practice: start the job at the beginning of the drive there, when you probably still have signal.
AWS DynamoDB in the United States. We never sell or share your data. You can export or delete everything anytime (Settings → Delete account).