Here’s how to set up your Liquid account to make compliant, secure 2-day payments to freelancers, consultants, contractors, vendors, and suppliers worldwide.

Welcome to Liquid — a platform for contracts, projects, and payments to independent contractors, freelancers, vendors, and suppliers. Feel free to skip ahead to the section you’d like to learn about:

• Creating your Client account in Liquid

• Business Profile Setup in Liquid

• Entering your Business Name in Liquid

• Entering your Restricted Businesses in Liquid

• Entering your Business Structure

• Entering your Tax ID

• Entering your Business location

• Liquid Plan Setup

• Liquid Payment Information

• Completing Initial Liquid Setup

• Finance Setup in Liquid

• Adding your bank account to Liquid when it can’t be found in Plaid

• Account Holder Information for your Bank Account

• Adding an Invoice Payer to Liquid

• Legal Setup in Liquid

• Adding a Contract Signer to Liquid

• Next Steps in Liquid

Let’s set up your Liquid Client account.

Creating your Client account in Liquid

Start by going to the Liquid platform. You will be prompted to Log In or Create an Account. Or, if you click the teal Get Started in the upper right header of our website and blog, you will be sent directly to the Create Account form.

Once you are in the Create Account section, complete the form, and then press the Create Account button. Be sure to use a secure password and agree to terms. This will create your account and log you in.

The next screen will prompt you to decide whether you are here to hire and manage vendors (Client user) or to do work and get paid (Vendor user). As a Client user, press the “I’m here to hire and manage vendors” box to begin creating your Client business.

After you have selected the “I’m here to hire and manage vendors”, you’ll press the Confirm button to begin your Business Profile Setup.

Business Profile Setup in Liquid

Business Name in Liquid

The first step of the Business Profile setup is to enter your business name. You should enter your business’s legal name in this initial field. A business can be an individual, group, or business entity that works with or subcontracts to freelancers, vendors, and suppliers. If you have incorporated or organized a legal entity to do business, then you’ll complete your setup as that entity and use that entity name in this field. If you do business as yourself, you’ll want to complete setup as yourself (as an individual or sole proprietor) and enter your own personal name in this field.

Restricted Businesses in Liquid

Next, you’ll review the categories of businesses and business practices that are restricted from using Liquid due to our banking and financial service provider partnerships. In certain cases, businesses listed below may be eligible for processing with explicit prior approval. If you find your business listed on this page, contact us via chat. Otherwise, click the checkbox to confirm my business is not in one of these restricted categories and then press the Next button.

Business Structure

Next, you’ll select the legal and tax structure used for your Business. This information is used to populate your contracts. Be sure to choose the business structure of the entity you use. If you work as an individual or sole proprietor, select Sole Proprietor. If you have a single-member LLC, select or Single-member LLC.

If you have a multi-member LLC, then you should pick the option that matches how you have chosen to have your LLC treated for tax purposes:

• LLC taxed as a C-Corporation

• LLC taxed as an S-Corporation

• LLC taxed as a Partnership

Tax ID

Next, you’ll enter your tax ID. If you selected Sole Proprietor or Single-member LLC, you’ll be able to enter your EIN or SSN. If you selected any of the other business structures, you will have to enter your EIN. Rest assured that all of your information is transmitted to Liquid using state-of-the-art cryptographic algorithms and our servers are kept in PCI-certified data centers with 24×7 monitoring.

Business location

Next, you’ll enter the address for your business. This address will be used for your contracts and on invoices submitted by your invoices and will be used by Liquid to verify your business. After submitting your address, you will be asked to select the state in which your business is incorporated or organized (if you selected Sole Proprietor, you will not see this field).

Liquid Plan Setup

Next, you’ll select the Liquid plan that works best for your business. You may review the options on our Liquid pricing page. You can always change your plan within the Liquid Plan in Settings.

If you have a promo code, you’ll be prompted to enter it after you have selected your plan. If you have any questions about our pricing or plans, use the chat function to reach out to us!

Liquid Payment Information

Now that you’ve selected a plan, you’ll be prompted to enter your credit card or debit card information. Liquid plan and transaction fees will be charged to this card. This secure form is provided by our credit card processor. This payment information is separate from the bank account you will enter later, and which is used to make vendor invoice payments.

Completing Initial Liquid Setup

After submitting your credit or debit card information, you must click the Finish button to complete the initial business setup in Liquid. After pressing Finish, you will be directed to your Liquid dashboard. Here you’ll see two more important setups to complete: Financial Setup and Legal Setup.

Let’s walk through these next.

Finance Setup in Liquid

If you click the Financial Setup Required from your Dashboard, you will be presented with the Initial Finance Setup module. In order to pay your Vendors through Liquid, you will need an active and verified bank account. This module will walk you through adding your bank account information via our partnership with Plaid. Start by searching for your bank, and then entering your banking login information.

Plaid is used by companies like American Express and Venmo to authenticate and verify bank accounts instantly. This enables Liquid to facilitate quick transfers between accounts via ACH. Plaid is very secure and connects to more than 10,000+ US financial institutions and is used by more than 3,000 financial apps and services (including Liquid).

When you are filling out the information in Plaid, none of that information is shared with Liquid. You can rest assured that Liquid does not and will not have access to your banking login information. Once your account is verified by Plaid, Plaid sends to Liquid your routing number and account number to our encrypted servers. As a Client user, this information is used only upon your authorization to make payments and, if you have this option selected, to pay your Liquid platform and transaction fees.

Adding your bank account to Liquid when it can’t be found in Plaid

For the smallest banks or credit unions, Plaid offers manual micro-deposits in which users will confirm the deposited amounts. When you can’t find your bank account, press the small button that says “Link with account numbers.”

Adding your bank account via Plaid with an account number and routing number

Then, you will be able to manually enter your account information. Make sure to enter information that matches your bank information (Account hold name, Personal vs Business, Checking vs Savings) as incorrect information could cause this process to fail. Plaid offers Same Day ACH so micro-deposits appear in an account within 1 business day.

If you manually enter your bank information, you’ll have to check your bank for the micro deposit accounts to verify your bank account in your Payment Methods(within Settings) in 1-2 days after completing the setup. Verify the micro deposit amounts for bank accounts added via Plaid with an account number and routing number.

Account Holder Information for your Bank Account

After completing the Plaid setup, you’ll enter your Account holder information. Check this information carefully as it must match your bank account’s details or your invoice payments to Vendors may be delayed or even canceled.

Adding an Invoice Payer to Liquid

If you have others in your business who help pay Invoices, you can invite them to Liquid in the final portion of the initial Finance Setup. If you choose not to invite anyone, you can always invite more users later.

After completing the Finance Setup, press the Finish button to close this module.

Legal Setup in Liquid

If you click the Legal Setup Required from your Dashboard, you will be presented with the Initial Legal Setup module. In order to invite your Vendors, you will need to complete this module to set up your contracts. First, you’ll let us know whether you want to use Liquid’s templates or your own. Note that custom contracts are only available to users of our premium plans. If you select custom contracts, you’ll be prompted to send us your templates. Please note that it can take up to 2 business days to process your custom contracts and have them added to your account.

If you choose to use Liquid templates, you’ll be asked to verify your business information, which will be injected into your contracts. You’ll also be asked to select the state you want to resolve conflicts in. Most often this will be the location of your headquarters. If any of the information here is incorrect, go to Settings to make the appropriate changes, and then return to this module via your Dashboard.

Adding a Contract Signer to Liquid

The next question is “Are you the person who signs legal documents for your business?” If you will be signing most of your legal contracts, select Yes, I am the signer for all contracts.

To complete the Initial Legal Setup, you’ll confirm your legal name, enter your title as it should appear on contracts, and add your signature. Your signature will be added to fully executed documents and will only be used when you authorize it.

If you do not have signing power at your company, select No, I would like to invite a Contract Signer now. This option will skip the steps to confirm your legal name, enter your title as it should appear on contracts, and add your signature. Instead, your invited Contract Signer will be prompted to add their legal name, title as it should appear on contracts, and their signature after they create an account on Liquid. You’ll be prompted to enter the email address for your Contract Signer to initiate that invite.

After completing the Initial Setup, press the Finish button to close this module.

Next Steps in Liquid

Upon completion of the initial business setup, the initial finance setup, and the initial legal setup, your account is now ready to use. If you manually entered your bank information, you’ll have to check your bank for the micro deposit accounts to verify your bank account in your Payment Methods (within Settings) in 1-2 days after completing the setup.

The next step to getting the most out of your Liquid account is to invite your Vendors. If your Vendors need help accepting the invitation to join your business on Liquid, please have them reach out to us via chat.

Once one or more of your Vendors have accepted your invitations, you will be able to upload invoices to pay or create and send Work Orders to your Vendors. If you have any questions about best practices for creating Work Orders, we would be happy to help. Feel free to reach out to our US-based support team anytime via support@poweredbyliquid.com or via chat.

Ready to use our complete contractor and vendor management solution? Try Liquid today.