Quickstart: set up your business in 5 steps
The fastest path from a new account to coaching your first client in Protocol.
This quickstart walks you through the five things to do first. Each step links to a deeper guide when you want more detail.
1. Complete onboarding
When you first sign in, the onboarding wizard walks four short steps: Business Basics, Training Approach, Branding and Goals. You can change any of it later from the profile menu in the top right, under My profile and My organization. Finishing onboarding unlocks the full dashboard.
2. Add your first client
Open Clients in the sidebar, stay on the Clients tab, and use Add client. A client is the person you coach: each one gets a record holding their contact details, fitness and health information, progress, and everything you assign to them. You can invite them to your mobile app now or later.
3. Build something in your Vault
The Vault is your reusable library. Before you assign training or nutrition to a client, build it once in the Vault:
- Training: plans, workout templates and an exercise library.
- Nutrition: meal-plan templates.
- Mixed Plans: multi-phase programs that combine training and nutrition.
Anything in the Vault can be assigned to any client, so you build once and reuse forever.
4. Assign a plan to your client
Open your client from the Clients list and assign the plan you just built from the Plans & programs card on their Overview tab. The assignment shows up for the client in their mobile app, where they can follow workouts, log sessions, and track meals.
5. Set up payments (optional)
When you’re ready to charge clients, open Shop in the sidebar. Create a product or subscription under Products, connect your payment provider under Settings, and your clients can buy directly. See Subscriptions & renewals for recurring billing.
That’s the core loop: build in the Vault → assign to a client → they follow it in the app → you bill them in the Shop. Everything else in Protocol extends this.