Creator quick start

This is the playbook we wish we'd had when we were setting up the first Avatok accounts ourselves. It assumes nothing except that you've signed up, you have ninety minutes, and you want to leave the session with a real listing live on the marketplace.

Read it once end-to-end before you start. A lot of the ordering is deliberate — KYC first because it takes the longest, pricing before listing because the listing depends on the price.

Block 1: KYC and bank account (15 minutes)

From the dashboard click Become a Creator. Avatok hands you over to Stripe Identity. You'll need:

• A government-issued photo ID — passport, driver's license, national ID.
• A device with a front-facing camera (phone or laptop).
• The bank account details you want to be paid into.
• Your tax info. US creators submit a W-9; non-US submit a W-8BEN. Stripe collects both inline; have your SSN/ITIN or non-US tax ID handy.

Stripe walks you through ID capture and selfie capture. Most people finish in under five minutes. If it gets flagged (usually glare on the ID or a blurry selfie), you retry from the same screen. Plan for fifteen minutes total because occasionally one of the substeps takes a minute longer than expected and you don't want to be rushed.

Why this first: KYC is the only step that can't be done in parallel with other work, and it's the only step that can introduce an external delay (manual review). Get it submitted before you start anything else; if it gets flagged you can still use the rest of the time to do everything that doesn't require approval.

Block 2: profile (20 minutes)

Open Profile settings → Public profile. Fill out:

• Display name. The name your audience already knows you by. If you're inconsistent across platforms, pick the version that's easiest to spell.
• Username (handle). Permanent. Lowercase, short, no underscores or numeric suffixes if you can help it. your-handle beatsyour_handle_2025 every time.
• Avatar. A real photo of your face, square aspect, at least 400×400. A logo will work for established brands. For everyone else, a face photo converts better.
• Bio. Three short paragraphs:
  • Paragraph 1: what you do, in one sentence.
  • Paragraph 2: who you do it for, in one sentence.
  • Paragraph 3: a credibility signal — clients, outcomes, audience, publications, degrees. Be specific. "Helped 200+ engineers land senior roles" beats "Experienced career coach."
• Languages. Pick every language you can comfortably hold a 60- minute session in. The marketplace filters by this field; missing a language is a missed booking.
• Timezone. Pick the timezone you actually live in. Availability and reminders all anchor on this.

Block 3: pricing decision (15 minutes)

Before you create the listing, decide the price. Read the longer pricing playbook if you want the full method. The short version:

1. Open the 1:1 marketplace filtered to your category. Look at the median price for offerings comparable to what you're about to list.
2. Anchor at the median unless you have a strong reason to be higher or lower.
3. Decide fee mode: creator-pays gives a round customer-facing number; user-pays gives a clean take-home target. Either works.
4. Decide duration. 30 minutes is the easiest first product because the perceived commitment is low for the buyer.

Block 4: availability (10 minutes)

Open Creator dashboard → Calendar. Set your weekly recurring availability — e.g. Tuesday and Thursday 14:00–18:00, Saturday 10:00–13:00. Don't try to cover seven days a week; start narrow, expand as bookings come in.

Connect Google Calendar (or another supported calendar provider) under Profile settings → Integrations. This is the single highest-leverage five-minute task you can do — it prevents double-booking and writes confirmed bookings back to your calendar with the meeting link.

Block 5: your first listing (20 minutes)

From the creator dashboard click New 1:1 session. Fill in:

• Title. Lead with the outcome, not the topic. "Resume review with structured feedback in 30 minutes" beats "Career coaching."
• Description. 120–180 words. Three parts: what you'll do in the call, who it's for, what they should bring. Avoid marketing-voice. Write like you're explaining it to a friend.
• Cover photo. Same photo as your avatar usually works; if your offering is visual (e.g. design feedback), use a sample of the work.
• Category and tags. Categories you're obvious in; tags for how someone might actually search. If you do startup pitch deck reviews, " pitch deck," "startup," "fundraising" are tag candidates.
• Price + duration + fee mode, from block 3.

Hit Publish. Open the listing in an incognito window and view it as a buyer would. Does the title make sense out of context? Does the description tell someone what they're getting? Is the price visible? If anything trips, fix it now.

Block 6: ten-minute promote (10 minutes)

Don't make this a marketing project on day one. Two motions:

1. DM the five most-engaged people in your existing audience (mailing list, Discord, Twitter DMs, whatever you have). Use their name, mention something specific to them, share the link, offer the first session at a 50% founding-customer discount.
2. One post on your largest public platform: a screenshot of the listing, a one- paragraph description in your own words, the link. Pin it.

That's ninety minutes. If you finish on schedule you have a real, indexed listing on the marketplace, a discount link in five trusted inboxes, and a public post that'll work for you while you do something else.

What to do tomorrow

Open the dashboard. Check whether anyone booked overnight. If yes — congrats, you're a paying creator. Run the session well, get the testimonial, list another time slot. If no — that's normal in the first 48 hours. Don't panic-edit the listing yet. Wait a week, see what the data says, then iterate.

The follow-up playbook is your first 1:1 session checklist: how to actually run the call when someone books.