Onboarding walkthrough

The mentor onboarding wizard has seven steps. You can do it in one sitting (15 minutes if you have your bio and photos ready) or pause between steps and come back; progress is saved.

To start, go to /mentor/onboarding. The wizard auto-redirects you here after signup until you complete it.

Step 1: Basic info

The most important step. Once you complete it you have a profile URL.

Fields:

• Display name. What people see on your profile. This is editable; it does not have to be your legal name. Stage names, professional pseudonyms, or your first name are all fine.
• Profile slug. The URL-safe part of your profile URL. We suggest one based on your display name (e.g. "sasha-king") but you can edit it. Slugs must be globally unique. The wizard will tell you if it is taken.
• City and country. Your primary anchor. Use the location search; it autocompletes from Google Places. The city you pick is what people see on your profile and what determines which city directory you appear in.

What is private vs public here:

Your display name, slug, and city are public. They are part of your URL and your profile header.

Step 2: Logo / photo

A square profile photo, 400×400 minimum, ideally 1000×1000 or larger.

The image cropper lets you center on the right framing. The photo should be of you, recognisable. Studios use logos here; mentors use a clear headshot or activity photo.

Tips:

• Good lighting. Natural light, near a window, no harsh shadows.
• Eye-level, not too close, not too far.
• Solid background or a slightly blurred natural setting.
• Smiling helps. Even a small one.

You can update this any time later in settings.

Step 3: Bio

Your professional story. Anywhere from a paragraph to several screens of text. The good ones have:

• What you teach. Style, lineage, modality. "I teach vinyasa yoga with a strong alignment focus." Two sentences max for this part.
• Who your classes are for. Beginner-friendly? Advanced? Specific population (pre/postnatal, men only, all bodies welcome)?
• Where you trained. The schools, mentors, and frameworks that shaped you. Specifics: "200-hour with Jessamyn Stanley, 50-hour Restorative with Judith Hanson Lasater" lands better than "various intensive trainings".
• Your style. Do you talk a lot? Cue minimally? Hands-on adjust? What is the energy of your class?
• Anything else. What you offer that is not in the class description: a particular warm-up sequence, a savasana with sound, a closing meditation.

Length: 200-600 words is the sweet spot. Shorter feels under-cooked; longer no one reads.

Step 4: Cancellation policy

Pick one of the standard policies or set a custom one.

This policy applies as the default on every class you create. You can override it on individual classes if a workshop needs a different policy.

The standard advice: pick the most flexible policy you can live with. Strict policies discourage bookings; flexible policies build trust and lead to more repeat clients. Most successful mentors run Moderate (48h).

See cancellation policy for the full discussion.

Step 5: Locations

Where you teach. You add one location during onboarding; you can add more after.

Each location needs:

• A name (e.g. "Riverside Yoga Studio" or "My home studio").
• A full address. Use the place-search field to autocomplete; we geocode it so the map pin is right.
• Optionally: parking info, accessibility notes, what kind of space it is (studio, home, park, etc).

The location appears on your profile and on any class you attach to it. You can have separate locations for different classes once you finish onboarding.

Step 6: Payments

The most consequential step for money flow. You decide which payment methods to accept.

Stripe Connect (recommended):

• Click "Connect Stripe" and you go to Stripe's hosted onboarding.
• Stripe asks for legal name, business type (mostly "Individual" for solo mentors), date of birth, address, last 4 of SSN (US) or equivalent ID for non-US.
• Stripe runs a quick KYC check (usually approves in minutes; sometimes asks for ID upload).
• Once approved, you can take card payments. Funds land in your bank in 2-7 days depending on country.

Manual methods:

Pick any combination. The form has fields for each:

• Bank account: IBAN / account number / SWIFT / sort code, depending on country.
• PayPal: your handle or email.
• Venmo: your @handle (US only).
• Cash App: your $cashtag (US only).
• Zelle: phone or email (US only).
• Cash: just toggle on.
• Crypto wallets: pairs of (network, address) e.g. (Ethereum, 0xabc...).
• Other: a name and free-form instructions.

You can mix freely. Most mentors run Stripe + cash + one digital wallet.

Currency:

Pick the currency you want to be paid in. This is the currency Stripe payouts come in, and the currency manual methods are denominated in. Default is your country's currency.

See accepting payments for the full payment-method discussion.

Step 7: Review and publish

The final step shows a summary of everything you entered. Review it, click "Publish my profile", and you are live.

Your profile URL is now active. Share it. Use it in your Instagram bio. The world can find you.

What if you need to come back and finish later

The wizard remembers your progress. Close the tab, open it later, log in, and you resume from the step you left off on. The dashboard shows a "Complete your onboarding" reminder card until step 7 is done.

You cannot host classes or accept bookings until onboarding is complete. The middleware redirects you back to the wizard if you try to navigate to /mentor/classes mid-onboarding.

Things to do AFTER onboarding

• Add certifications at /mentor/settings/certifications. On Pro+ they display on your profile.
• Add additional locations if you teach at multiple venues.
• Set up calendar sync so your MoveMentors schedule appears in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar.
• Create your first class. The class wizard is its own onboarding; see creating a class.

Common questions

Can I skip a step? Steps 1-6 are required to publish. Step 7 is the publish action itself. You can leave most fields within a step at their defaults; the wizard is generous about minimums.

Can I onboard without Stripe? Yes. Skip Stripe and configure only manual methods. You can come back and add Stripe later.

My Stripe account is stuck in pending. See Stripe Connect verification stuck for the full diagnostic.

Can I change my slug after publishing? Yes but be careful. Changing the slug breaks any external links pointing at the old slug. We set up a 301 redirect from the old slug for 90 days, then it goes away. Try to pick a final slug at onboarding.

Next steps

• Profile published? See Your public profile for what to polish next.
• Ready to create classes? See Creating a class.