Get started · Guide 01
From sign-up to first booking in 10 minutes
Set up the few things Barclo needs, add your first client and make a booking. You can change everything later.
What Barclo does in one sentence: you set up your services and when you're open, your clients book online, and Barclo keeps the calendar, reminders, invoices and payments in one place.
Barclo is built for dog walkers, groomers, day care and boarding businesses, pet sitters and trainers. You don't need to have used software like this before, and most people have it running in one sitting.
When you first sign in, Barclo opens a Welcome to Barclo checklist with a progress bar. The nine steps below follow the same order. Each row on the checklist ticks itself off when the job is done.
The nine steps
Sign up
Enter your name, email, a password, your business name and what kind of business you are. Your 14-day free trial starts straight away, with no card needed. Then open the email we send you to confirm your address: until you do, Barclo can't email your clients for you. Getting started
Check when you're open
Every new account starts open Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 09:00 to 14:00, closed on Sunday. Change these to your real hours in Settings › Business › Opening hours, and add any holidays. This is one of the two things you must have before anyone can book. Working hours
Add your first service
Go to Services and press Add service. Pick what it is (a walk, a groom, day care, a stay and so on), then set the price and how it's scheduled. This is the other must-have: until you have a service, nobody can book you. Services
Fill in about your business
In Settings › Business, add your phone, address and logo. They show on your booking page and invoices. Business settings
Set sessions (only if a service runs at set times)
If you run group walks, classes or other bookings at fixed times, choose Set sessions when you build the service and add its sessions there, with the days, times and how many pets fit. Services › Weekly schedule then shows every session on one week. Skip this if clients pick their own times. Sessions and the weekly schedule
Share your booking link
Your booking link is made for you when you sign up, from your business name, and online booking is on from the start. In Settings › Bookings, choose how clients book (new accounts start on Clients ask, I approve), check the link, then copy it into your website, Instagram or WhatsApp. Client booking portal · Public profile
Add your first client and their pets
Go to Clients and press Add client, then add their pets on the client's page. Moving from another app? Import a spreadsheet from Settings › Account › Import and export instead. Clients · Pets · Import and export
You don't have to finish in one go. Only steps 2 and 3 have to be done before you can take bookings. Every other row has a Later button. Once your first service exists you can press Hide checklist, and it shrinks to a small progress button at the top of Today.
Got staff? Add them in Settings › Team whenever you're ready. Working on your own? You can skip it. Team
Your daily rhythm once you're set up
Most days start on Today. It shows today's schedule, any booking requests waiting for you to accept or decline, unread messages, and who is waiting to be paid. Use Calendar to look at the week ahead, Messages to talk to clients, and Money to send invoices and record payments. That's the loop: Today, bookings, money, day after day.
Ready to start?
Head to Getting started and you'll be set up before your next cup of tea.