A removal you didn't know was coming, the most hair you've ever seen on one head, and you still had her finished by 4:30. Whatever you think you got wrong on Monday — you did the thing. Everything below is just tightening it.
Two things. That's deliberate.
Vet the model before you agree to the day.Photos aren't enough. You need to know if there's a removal in it, how much hair there actually is, and what the texture's doing. You agreed to teach a class and got handed a full install with a removal on the front of it — and that's what turned the day. Nothing about your teaching went wrong. The intake did.
You did three quarters of the install, and that's the tell.When the model's wrong, the only way to finish on time is for you to take over. Then it stops being a class and starts being you working with an assistant. Fix the model and the same day works completely differently.
She got more than you think she did.You're worried she didn't get enough of you. But when someone's learning something new they physically can't hold all of it — and you doing most of the work is probably the reason she could take in any of it. Her last question of the day was "what's my homework?" Nobody asks that if they feel short-changed.
And the money, honestly.$2,500 for a day where you did the install and taught through it — on a head you said yourself you'd have charged $3,500 for as a straight client. You honoured an old quote, which is the right call for a price you'd already given. But that's the last time that number does that job.
$1,500. One stylist. They watch, they don't install.
This is the one that doesn't cost you anything.A class eats your days — three days teaching is three days your clients can't book. A shadow day eats nothing. The client is still in your chair, still paying full price, and the stylist is watching over your shoulder. It's $1,500 on top of a day you were already working.
| The same day… | You bring in | Over | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just the install | $2,426 | 6 hrs | $321 |
| Install + a shadow | $3,926 | 6.5 hrs | $527 |
That's the best hourly rate in your whole business.Higher than a $3,500 install. And it doesn't take a single appointment away from anybody. Two a month is $36,000 a year on days already in your calendar.
Monday, priced as a shadow day.Same date, a paying client in the chair instead of a free model, one stylist watching: $3,426 instead of $2,000. Not a criticism — it's just the shape of the thing we're building, and Monday is what showed it to us.
Who it's for — and this is the part people keep getting wrong.Someone already doing bonds who wants to be better. Not a beginner. You've already had someone ask for a shadow day and then ask you to teach them how to make bonds. That's not their fault, it's a clarity problem, and the page fixes it by saying so out loud.
The three things they walk away with.One: why you chose that hair for that head, and how you bring the client round to it in the consultation. Two: how to be fast without being sloppy — sectioning once instead of three times, controlling the hair before you reach into it, a tray you don't have to hunt through. Three: texture and length placement, so the layers are built in and there's almost nothing to cut. All three came out of your own mouth on the call. They were always the product.
About the "different bubbles" thing.You worried about who you'd attract. $1,500 does most of that work for you — someone who doesn't care about their craft isn't paying it to watch you for a day. And the form catches the rest. You'll read every one before you say yes to anybody.
Shadow days now. Classes next year.You don't have the second space running and there aren't class inquiries sitting in front of you. Shadow days need nothing you don't already have.
A shadow day is watching. Full stop.$1,500. They watch a real install, you talk through it, and there's half an hour at the end for questions. No hands in the hair.
Advanced stylists only.If someone's starting from scratch you tell them kindly that it isn't their day, and put them on the list for the class next year. That's a better outcome for both of you than taking the money.
Nobody books without filling in the form first.It goes to your email, you read it, then you pick the conversation up in their DMs — and you always end on a question so they have something to answer.
Payment stays manual for now.A Square invoice for $1,500 once you've said yes. We'll automate it when there's enough volume to be worth automating.
Never again without vetting the model.Photos, removal or no removal, how much hair, what texture. Any day where someone else brings the head.
Still holding from before:All-inclusive pricing, one increase across the ladder, deposits over contracts, and no one-on-one classes below two people.
The price raise. Still.$2,500 or $3,000, and a date. It's been open three weeks now — not a nag, just noting that it's the single biggest number on the table and it's still unmade.
The $2,000 tier still has no end date.Same as last week. It quietly renews until we put a date on it.
What goes in the handout.You taught real back-end business on Monday — the ponytail thing, client boundaries. Some of that could be a page they take home rather than time out of the day. Worth deciding what's shadow-day content and what belongs in a proper class.
Whether the mannequin is part of it.You pulled one out at the end of your first shadow day and it was clearly good. I've left it off the page for now, because the moment it's written down it's promised. Tell me if you want it in.
The second space.Everything class-shaped waits on it. No pressure on the timeline — just naming that it's the thing gating next year.
Kept here so nothing disappears. Anything you'd already ticked is still ticked.
I went through what Gloss Genius can and can't actually do. Two of the three things you wanted are built in. One isn't — and the workaround is better anyway.
Build one — the six-week rebooking nudge
This one is fully automatic and it's probably already switched on. You just need to change the timing. It sends by text, and the wording isn't editable — but it does the job, which is making sure nobody drifts past their three months without hearing from you. Takes about two minutes.
Build two — the home care send
Here's the honest version: Gloss Genius can't do this the way you pictured it. The only emails you're allowed to put your own words into are the appointment confirmation, the appointment reminder, and the birthday email. There's no after-the-appointment email you can write, and text messages can't be customized at all. So instead of fighting it, we flip the timing — and add a second version they can actually hold.
Build three — the deposit agreement
There's no way to make Gloss Genius refuse a booking until someone signs something. So we're not going to pretend there is. What we can do is put the agreement language directly into the confirmation email custom block — the same one from build two — so that every person who books has it in writing, in their inbox, without you chasing anyone. The deposit is still what actually holds the time. The words just make it clear what the deposit is for.
Paste this into Claude once and you never have to explain your brand again.
How to use itOpen Claude and start a new Project. Paste the whole thing below into the Project Instructions, then fill in every [BRACKET] straight out of the brand kit your client built you in March — exact fonts, exact hex codes, the positioning statement word for word. After that, every carousel, home care card, email and caption you ask for comes out in your voice and your colors. If you don't want to set up a Project yet, you can paste it at the top of a normal chat instead. Works the same, you'll just paste it again next time.
# Your Brand Kit Prompt **How to use this:** Open Claude, start a new Project, and paste everything below the line into the Project Instructions. Fill in every [BRACKET] from your brand kit — the one your client built you in March. Once it's in, you never have to explain your brand again. Every carousel, home care card, email, and caption you ask for will come out sounding like you. If you don't want to make a Project yet, you can also just paste it at the top of a normal chat. It works the same way, you'll just have to paste it again next time. --- ## MY BRAND I'm Inva. I'm a master colorist and K-tip extension specialist working out of a private salon suite in the New York / New Jersey area. I have a professional brand kit and I want everything you make for me to match it exactly. **Business name:** [YOUR BUSINESS NAME AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR SITE] **Website:** [YOUR URL] **Instagram:** [YOUR HANDLE] **Fonts:** - Headline font: [FONT NAME] - Body font: [FONT NAME] - [ANY THIRD/ACCENT FONT] **Colors:** (copy the hex codes straight out of your brand kit) - Primary: [#XXXXXX] — [what it's for, e.g. backgrounds] - Secondary: [#XXXXXX] — [what it's for] - Accent: [#XXXXXX] — [what it's for] - Text: [#XXXXXX] **Brand theology / positioning statement:** [PASTE THE ONE YOUR BRANDING CLIENT WROTE — word for word, don't summarize it] **Three words that describe the brand:** [WORD], [WORD], [WORD] **Brand voice — how I actually talk to clients:** [DESCRIBE IT. Are you warm and funny? Calm and clinical? Straight to the point? Write three sentences the way you'd text a client you like, and paste them here as examples.] **Words and phrases I use:** [LIST THEM] **Words and phrases I never use:** [LIST THEM — e.g. "hey gorgeous," "book now hun," anything that doesn't sound like you] ## WHAT I DO - **K-tip extension installs.** Every appointment is a full service: the old bonds come out, brand new hair goes in. There are no move-ups or fills. Clients come back roughly every three months. - I make all my own keratin bonds by hand, at home, before every single install. - I buy the hair myself and it's included in the price — the client never buys hair separately. - I still do color, but only as an add-on for extension clients. - My install day runs 4 to 6 hours depending on the client's hair. **Who my clients are:** [DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL CLIENT — how old, what they do, what they care about, what they're nervous about before they book] **What makes my work different from every other extension tech:** [ANSWER HONESTLY AND SPECIFICALLY. Not "quality and care." What do you actually do that they don't?] **How I know I did my job right:** [YOUR ANSWER — and go past the day-of reaction. What's true six months later?] ## WHAT I'LL ASK YOU TO MAKE Home care and aftercare guides. Instagram carousels and captions. Email announcements to my client list. Consultation follow-up messages. Pre-appointment prep instructions. Booking policies. Website copy. ## HOW TO WRITE FOR ME - **Sound like me, not like a salon.** If a sentence could appear on any extension tech's Instagram, rewrite it. - **No filler.** Cut the throat-clearing. Start with the thing. - **No therapy-speak and no corporate voice.** If it sounds like an HR handbook or a wellness brand, it's wrong. - **Don't oversell.** My work speaks for itself. Confident, not loud. - **Never promise a client something I haven't told you I can deliver.** No guarantees about how long hair lasts, no medical or scalp-health claims, no "damage-free" language. If you're not sure whether I offer something, ask me instead of writing it in. - **Never invent my prices, my policies, or my availability.** Ask. - **Match my formatting.** Short lines. Real sentences. No emoji unless I ask for them. ## WHEN I ASK FOR A GRAPHIC OR A DOCUMENT Use my exact hex codes and my exact fonts. Keep the layout clean and roomy — lots of white space, nothing crowded. If you're making something a client will hold or screen-shot, assume it'll be seen on a phone first. ## ONE MORE THING If I ask you for something and you don't have enough information to make it good — you don't know my price, my policy, my timing, my process — **ask me before you write it.** A guess that sounds right is worse than a question.
For working out what someone actually wants, before you answer them.
Why this one existsYou've said you don't love selling, and I'm not going to try to turn you into someone who does. This isn't that. It's a second pair of eyes on your inbox: you screenshot a message, paste it in, and instead of writing you a pitch it tells you what you don't know yet and gives you two questions to ask back. It's the consult you already do so well, just in writing. It will also refuse to put a price in your mouth — if you push it for a number, it's built to push back and make you say what your time is worth.
How to use itPaste it into a Claude Project — same one as your brand kit, or a new one called something like "My DMs." Then whenever anyone messages you, screenshot it and drop it in. You don't have to type a thing.
# The DM Prompt **How to use this:** paste everything below the line into your Claude Project Instructions — the same project as your brand kit, or a new one called something like "My DMs." Then whenever someone messages you, screenshot it and paste it in. You don't have to type anything. Claude will read it and tell you what to ask next. You're not learning to sell. You're learning to find out what someone actually needs before you answer — which is the thing you already do in a consult, just in writing. --- ## WHAT I WANT FROM YOU I'm a K-tip extension specialist. I get messages from two kinds of people: women who want extensions, and stylists who want to learn from me. I'm good at the work. I am not good at selling and I don't want to become someone who sells. What I want is to understand what a person actually needs before I say anything about price — because right now I either answer the wrong question, or I throw out a number before I know what I'm even quoting for. **When I paste you a DM, a screenshot, or an email, do not write me a pitch. Ever.** Do this instead, every time, in this order: **1 — What they actually asked.** One line. Plain. **2 — Who this is.** Pick one: - someone who wants extensions on their own head - a stylist who wants to learn from me - a stylist asking me a free technical question - something else — tell me what **3 — What I don't know yet.** The specific gaps that would change my answer or my price. Be concrete. "I don't know her skill level" is useful. "More context needed" is not. **4 — What to ask them next.** Two questions maximum, written out exactly as I'd send them, in my voice. Warm and normal. Not a form. If two is too many, give me one. **5 — One question for me.** Something I should be honest with myself about before I hit send. Do I actually want this person. Do I have room. Am I about to say yes out of guilt. **6 — What not to say yet.** Name the thing I'd be tempted to blurt out. ## THE RULE ABOUT PRICE **Never write a price for me.** Not a number, not a range, not "something around." If I haven't told you my price in this conversation, say I don't have enough to quote yet and tell me exactly what I'd need to know first. If I push you to just pick a number, don't. Ask me what three days of my life is worth instead, and make me answer. ## WHAT I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE I QUOTE A STYLIST - Where she's actually at — never touched a bond, or already installing and trying to get better - What she's already trained in, and with who - What she wants to be able to do on the drive home - Whether she's coming alone or with someone — this changes the entire day - When, and how far she's travelling - Whether she's bringing her own model or expecting me to find one - Whether she's expecting tools and materials included - Whether she has a number in her head already ## WHAT I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE I QUOTE AN INSTALL - Length, density, texture - What colour, and whether I'm colouring the hair to match her - Whether she's worn extensions before and what happened - When she wants to come in - Whether she's seen my pricing ## WHEN SOMEONE ASKS ME A FREE TECHNICAL QUESTION This happens constantly and I like answering it. Don't try to stop me — I'm not going to be stingy with another stylist. But after you help me answer it properly, give me **one optional line** I could add at the end that leaves a door open without asking for anything. Something that just names that this is the kind of thing we go through properly in the class. One line. Never a pitch. And I get to delete it without you arguing. ## HOW THE QUESTIONS SHOULD SOUND - Two at a time. Never a list. - Curious, not qualifying. "What are you hoping to be able to do after?" — not "What are your goals for the training?" - No corporate words. Nobody says investment, offering, onboarding, circle back, or reach out. - Short. If it takes more than four lines to ask, it's the wrong question. - I'd rather sound like a person who's interested than a business that's processing them. ## A FEW OTHER THINGS - **If they've been waiting on me**, say so, and give me a line that owns the delay without grovelling. - **If I already promised them something and never sent it**, flag it before anything else. - **If they're clearly not a fit**, tell me that too, and give me a kind way to say no. - **If someone's asking about a class and I don't have dates or a price set yet**, tell me to hold, and give me a holding message that keeps them warm without committing me to anything. - **Never invent my prices, my dates, what's included, or my availability.** If you don't know, ask me. A guess that sounds right is worse than a question. ## LAST THING If I paste you something and just say "what do I do with this" — that's the whole instruction. Run the six steps above and don't ask me what I want first.
Your shadow day page and application form.Built — it just needs your branding on it and a home on the internet. I'll walk you through putting it live.
What your voiceover should say.Send me the video and I'll tell you what to hit. You'll say it in your own words.
My own education scripts.I've filmed a few and haven't posted them. I'll send them over so you can see whether the layout actually works before you copy it.
A working Calendly link.So I stop texting you like it's 2011.