Guides

The fastest way to get value from ShoBiz is to set it up in the right order. Each step below builds on the one before it, and you can stop wherever it stops being useful — nothing forces you to adopt everything.

Detailed, step-by-step help lives inside the app. Look for the ? button on any screen: help is contextual, so it shows guidance for what you are actually looking at rather than a manual you have to search.

1. Set up your business

Start here regardless of what you came for. Almost everything else attaches to a business record.

  • Create your business and set its industry — the industry shapes which modules appear

  • Add your logo, colours and details; these flow through to invoices, agreements and emails

  • Invite your team and give each person their own login

  • Set roles so people see only what they need

Do not share one login between people. Roles, audit trails and accountability all depend on individual accounts.

2. Bring in your clients

  • Add clients individually, or import an existing list in bulk

  • Record the contact details, documents and notes you already hold

  • Set up the statuses that match how you actually work, rather than adapting to defaults

Import before you configure everything else. Real data makes it obvious which settings matter and which you were about to fiddle with for no reason.

3. Connect banking and cards

  • Add bank accounts and credit cards

  • Import statements as PDF or CSV, or connect an account directly

  • Use Statement Match to reconcile imported transactions against bills, expenses and invoices

  • Set expense rules so recurring transactions categorise themselves

This is where the platform starts saving time rather than just storing things.

4. Set up accounting

  • Review the chart of accounts and adjust it to your business

  • Add vendors and products, marking what you sell and what you buy

  • Create your first invoice and record a payment

  • If you take card payments, configure processor fees so your books match what actually lands

5. Documents and agreements

  • Upload the documents you already hold against the right client or business

  • Build an agreement template for the thing you send most often

  • Send one for signature and watch what the recipient sees

Signed agreements record a timestamp, IP address and user agent as evidence — see the Terms for how electronic signatures work.

6. Communication

  • Connect your email

  • Set up SMS if you message clients — read the Messaging Policy first, because consent, opt-outs and quiet hours are legal obligations, not preferences

  • Configure who gets notified about what, so alerts go to the right person

7. Tighten security

Worth ten minutes once everything is in:

  • Turn on two-factor authentication and save your backup codes somewhere safe

  • Review who has access and what their roles allow

  • Remove anyone who no longer needs access

  • Decide whether AI features should be on for your business — Business Settings → Privacy & AI

See the Security page for what we protect and what is yours to handle.

A suggested first week

Day

Do this

1

Create the business, invite your team, set roles

2

Import clients and existing documents

3

Add bank accounts and import a recent statement

4

Reconcile that statement; set up two expense rules

5

Send one real invoice and one agreement

By the end you will know whether this fits how you work — which is worth more than reading about it.

Stuck?

Contextual help is on every screen behind the ? button. Beyond that:

Tell us which guide you want next. Write with subject line Guides — what people ask for most is what gets written first.

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