How to Invite Your First Specialist

Category: Getting Started Reading time: 5 min

Specialists are the team members who perform services in your shop. Each specialist you add gets their own login portal, their own calendar view, and their own commission tracking. This guide covers how to invite them, what they'll see when they join, and how to configure their settings correctly.

What a Specialist Account Includes

Before you invite someone, here's what they get access to once they join:

They can see:

• Their own upcoming and past bookings
• Services assigned to them
• Client notes for their appointments
• Tasks assigned to them by the owner
• Their own commission and tip earnings

They cannot see:

• Other specialists' data or earnings
• Your financials, expenses, or income reports
• Business settings or subscription details
• Other specialists' client lists

Specialists log in through a separate URL: groomera.com/auth/login?role=specialist — not the same login page as owners.

Step 1 — Go to the Specialists Section

1. Log in as an owner
2. Click Specialists in the left sidebar
3. You'll see your current team list (empty if this is your first specialist)
4. Click Invite Specialist or + Add Specialist

Step 2 — Send the Invite

Groomera uses an invite link system. You enter the specialist's details, and they receive an invitation to create their account and join your shop.

Fill in the invite form:

Click Send Invite. The specialist will receive an email with a link to set up their account.

⚠️ The invite link expires after 48 hours. If your specialist doesn't accept within that window, you can resend the invite from their profile in your Specialists list.

Step 3 — Configure Their Profile (You Can Do This Before They Accept)

While the invite is pending, you can already configure the specialist's settings in your dashboard. You don't need to wait for them to accept.

Commission Settings

This is where you define how they get paid.

Set these to match your existing pay structure. Specialists can see their own commission earnings in their portal — so make sure these numbers are correct before their first appointment.

💡 Tip: If a specialist is salaried rather than commission-based, you can set their commission to 0% and handle their pay outside Groomera. The commission field isn't mandatory for the platform to function.

SMS Reminders

Each specialist can have SMS reminders enabled or disabled separately. This is an add-on at $5.99/specialist/month charged through Stripe.

To enable:

1. Go to the specialist's profile
2. Toggle SMS Reminders on
3. You'll be prompted to confirm the Stripe charge

When enabled, clients with bookings under this specialist will automatically receive an SMS reminder the day before and the morning of their appointment.

📌 Note: Email reminders are included for all specialists at no extra cost. SMS is the paid add-on.

Assign Services

Assign which services this specialist performs:

1. In their profile, find the Services section
2. Check all services they're qualified to offer
3. Save

Only services assigned to a specialist will appear as bookable options when a client selects that specialist. If a service isn't assigned, the specialist won't show up for that booking slot.

Set Availability

You can define which days and hours this specialist is available to take bookings. This is separate from your shop hours — a specialist might only work Tuesday through Friday, even if your shop is open Monday through Saturday.

1. In their profile, go to Availability
2. Toggle their working days on or off
3. Set their start and end times per day
4. Save

Step 4 — What the Specialist Does Next

Once your specialist accepts their invite and sets up their password, they can log in at:

groomera.com/auth/login?role=specialist

On their first login, they'll land on their specialist dashboard where they can see:

• Their booking calendar for the current week
• Any services assigned to them
• Tasks assigned by the owner
• Their profile and commission summary

They don't need any training to start using it — the specialist portal is intentionally simple. Their view shows only what they need for their workday.

Managing Specialists Over Time

To edit a specialist's profile: Click their name in the Specialists list and update any field. Commission changes apply to future bookings — not retroactively to completed ones.

To remove a specialist: You can deactivate a specialist's account if they leave your shop. Their historical booking data stays intact for your records; they simply lose login access.

To resend an invite: If the invite expired or the specialist didn't receive it, go to their entry in your Specialists list and click Resend Invite.

Multiple specialists, one service: If multiple specialists all offer "Full Groom," clients booking that service will see all of them as available options — filtered by who's available at the time they choose.

Solo Operators — Do You Need a Specialist Profile?

If you run the shop alone and you are the only groomer, you still need a specialist profile for yourself. Here's why:

• Clients booking through your storefront need to select a specialist to see available time slots
• Your bookings are tracked against a specialist profile for commission and reporting
• You'll log into the platform as an owner, but your grooming appointments are assigned to your specialist profile

To set this up: create a specialist with your own name and email. When a client books, they select you. Your appointments appear in both your owner dashboard and your specialist calendar.

Common Issues

Specialist didn't receive the invite email. Ask them to check their spam/junk folder. The email comes from Groomera via Resend. If it's not there, resend the invite from their profile.

Specialist can't log in after accepting. Make sure they're using the specialist login URL (/auth/login?role=specialist), not the owner login page. The role matters — the same email on the wrong login page won't work.

Specialist's availability isn't showing on the storefront. Check that: (1) their availability days and hours are set, (2) they have at least one service assigned, and (3) the service is also listed in your main services list.

Next Step

Your specialists are invited and configured. Time to see what your clients will actually experience.

Next: Launching Your Public Storefront →