Sole Trader — Role overview

Overview

Sole Trader is single-operator mode in MyApprentice. You run the whole business yourself — setup, clients, quoting, jobs, doing the work on site, invoicing, Xero, and accounts. There are no team handoffs because there is no team; every workflow you would expect a Business Owner, Supervisor, Tradie, and Finance user to share is yours to perform.

Who This Workflow Is For

The Sole Trader role is for single-operator businesses — trades who work alone and handle every part of the business themselves. If you grow and bring on team members, you can move to a team business (with the Business Owner / Admin / Supervisor / Finance / Tradie / Apprentice roles) — until then, Sole Trader keeps things simple.

What this role can do

As a Sole Trader you have the full operating scope of MyApprentice in one role. The articles in this library cover:

Set up the business. Complete the business profile, configure features, upload your quote and invoice logo, set payment terms and methods, set quote validity and reminders, manage your subscription, and connect Xero where you use it.

Take work in. Turn on the public enquiry form, share its URL, action enquiries, and convert them into quotes.

Quote and sell. Create, edit, and send quotes. Record client acceptance (portal, email, or manual). Handle expired quotes by reissuing or duplicating.

Run jobs. Convert accepted quotes into jobs, or create jobs manually for work that did not start as a quote. Add Job To-Do’s and internal notes. Mark jobs complete when the work is done.

Schedule and do the field work. Optionally put work into the schedule for your own visibility; do the work on site; clock in and out; tick Shift To-Do’s; add notes and photos.

Invoice and get paid. Create invoices from quotes, completed jobs, or manually. Edit and send invoices. Record payments via Mark as Paid (three-dot menu next to the invoice amount, or from inside the invoice). Push individual invoices to Xero, or use Send all to Xero for an end-of-month bulk push.

Manage materials, suppliers, and supplier invoices. Build your materials library, adjust stock, manage suppliers, upload supplier invoices, and apply them to inventory.

Document History. View what was changed and when. Restore any deleted record you removed in error.

Communicate with clients via Messages (when the Client Portal is enabled). Start a new conversation scoped to a job or quote (the quote must have been sent to the Client Portal first). Reply to incoming client messages. Messages are text-only — no attachments. The client receives an email and replies via the Client Portal.

Manage your own account. Edit your profile, change your password, set up MFA, set up OAuth sign-in.

Before You Start

After registering and verifying your email, set up MFA on the Customisation → Security tab. MFA is required for sensitive actions including Manage Plan, Manage Billing, and connecting Xero or Stripe.

How Sole Trader is different from a team business

• No team handoffs. Every workflow is yours. Articles never say “the Supervisor will schedule the work” — you do it.
• No user management. There is only one of you in MyApprentice. You manage your own profile; there are no other users to invite, change, or delete.
• Simplified dashboard. Team-noise elements (unassigned shifts attention items, multi-worker views) are simplified or hidden because they do not apply to one person.
• Single-role view. You see and do everything; there are no role-based scope rules dialling down what you can see.
• Stripe / Xero / public enquiry form. All optional, all available at the same level a Business Owner has in a team business.

Related guides

The full list of Sole Trader Help Centre articles is in the Sole Trader Role Index. Articles to read first if you are new to MyApprentice as a Sole Trader:

• Set up MFA (if you have not already)
• Set up your business
• Add a client
• Create and send a quote
• Do the work and record it
• Create and send the invoice