You thought you had 165 clients. You counted, and it's 47. And here's the part you didn't expect: you told me 75% of them were at $2,000. It's actually 49%. More than half your book is already paying above two grand. The story you had about your business was harder on you than your business is.
Click any step to check it off — your progress saves automatically.
47 repeat clients — the people who've come back at least twice.
| Tier | Clients | Share of book | What they're worth a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | 23 | 49% | $8,000 |
| $2,500 | 14 | 30% | $10,000 |
| $3,000 | 4 | 9% | $12,000 |
| $3,500 | 6 | 13% | $14,000 |
| Average | 47 | — | $9,700 |
Your average ticket is $2,426, and the whole thing checks out.47 people, four visits a year, at $2,426 comes to $456,000 a year — about $38,000 a month. That's exactly what you've been depositing. Nothing is missing and nothing is hiding. This is just your business, finally written down.
Half your book already left $2,000 behind.Twenty-four of your forty-seven clients are paying $2,500 or more, and ten of them are at $3,000–$3,500. Every time you've raised a price, people have stayed. You keep proving this and then not believing it.
And you had a feeling about the $2,000s.Your words: "I'm getting to that point of how I did when I was doing $1,500 as my lowest, where I'm like, oh, the $2,000 just isn't it." You said that before you saw any of my math. Trust that instinct — it's been right every previous time.
Same 47 people, same three-month cycle, no new clients.
| If you… | Avg ticket | Per hour | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leave it exactly as is | $2,426 | $321 | $456,000 | $38,000 |
| Move only the $2,000s to $2,500 | $2,670 | $362 | $502,000 | $41,800 |
| Everyone to $3,000, keep the $3,500s | $3,064 | $427 | $576,000 | $48,000 |
Moving 23 people from $2,000 to $2,500 is worth $46,000 a year.That's the gentle version, and it's not nothing. Going to $3,000 across the board is worth $120,000 a year and gets you to $48,000 a month without teaching a single class or taking a single new client.
You don't have to decide between them yet.But notice: the $500 jump and the $1,000 jump land on the same 23 people and cost you the same conversation. The nerves are identical. Only the number on the other side is different.
Three days of your life. Here's what it has to be worth.
Start from what those three days already earn.Three install days at your current average is about $7,300 in, roughly $5,800 after hair. That's not a target, that's the floor. Any class that nets less than that is a class you paid to teach.
| Students | Each pays | You net after hair | vs. three days in the chair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,000 | $5,500 | −$300 — you lose money |
| 2 | $5,000 | $9,000 | +$3,200 |
| 2 | $6,000 | $11,000 | +$5,200 |
| 3 | $6,000 | $16,500 | +$10,700 |
| 4 | $6,000 | $22,000 | +$16,200 |
Read the top row again.One student at $6,000, over three days, pays you slightly less than if you'd just booked three clients. All the prep, the booklet, the models, the hair, the teaching — for a small loss. That's not a reason to skip the class. It's the reason your minimum is two people, and you got there on your own before I said it.
What you already know about how to run it.You taught for Esther at $5,000 a head with seven to ten people at your table, and you hated the pace because you couldn't slow down for someone who needed it. So you already know your format: small, intimate, nobody left behind. Three to four people, maximum. That's not a compromise, that's the product.
One number I don't have yet.What your tools and materials actually cost per student — you've bought their tools before. Bring me that and the table above gets exact instead of close.
No one-on-one classes.Two students minimum, three or four ideal. Your words: "I don't think I want to do just one-on-one, it's not worth the money — I'd rather just do a client." Correct, and the math backs you.
She doesn't get a price until we've built the plan.You already sent her the day-by-day draft and she said it sounds amazing, so the interest is real and it'll keep. The voice memo comes first, then the number.
She brings her own model.You said it and I agree — sourcing models is not part of what she's buying.
Your content shifts toward education.Roughly two-thirds education, one-third client work, mixed together. You've already noticed that the education posts bring stylists — that's the audience that buys a class.
Still holding: all-inclusive pricing, one increase across the ladder, deposits over contracts.Nothing from last week changed.
$2,500 or $3,000, and when.Yours to pick. We'll set the date once you pick the number.
The part that doesn't fit yet — and we should look at it straight.47 clients coming every three months needs about 16 appointments a month, which is closer to four days a week than three. A true three-day week holds around 39 clients. So a three-day week, a full book, and two classes a month can't all be true at once. That's not bad news — it just means the raise isn't optional, it's the thing that buys you the room.
How many classes a month is realistic.One class of three, plus ten client days, gets you to $48,000 a month at $3,000 installs. Two classes of three gets you to $57,000. The question isn't the math, it's whether you can fill them — which is exactly what those DM screenshots are going to tell us.
Open enrollment or one-off.You floated announcing dates and capping it at three or four, the way Kristen Marie does. I like it. Let's see who's in your DMs first.
Still open from last week:The $2,000 tier still has no end date on it. The 300 dead color records are still clogging Gloss Genius. And I still don't have your inquiry count — how many new people reached out over three months and how many booked. That one tells us how much room you have to lose anybody at all.
The first one is the real assignment. The other two only if you've got the energy.
01 · The three days, out loud and in order.This is the one that matters. Don't summarize — narrate. Day one, first thing in the morning, what happens. Then what. The drawing card, the keratin, how much, the color, the bleach, the mixing. Then bonds — and don't say "then we make bonds," say what your hands do. Ten or fifteen minutes minimum. Backtrack whenever you want, I'll sort it.
02 · What you actually loved about this week.You were off Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and you said it felt amazing. You also kept your son home and had a day with him that wasn't squeezed around a client. Tell me what was different — not "I had time," but what it actually felt like to not be running.
03 · What you want a student to walk out being able to do.Not everything you know — you said it yourself, there's only so much a brain holds and more just makes overwhelm. If she leaves after three days and can do exactly one thing well, what's the one thing?
Your Week 1 list, 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.
The full $600K pricing breakdown.Every scenario with the math showing, so you can argue with it. Before Wednesday.
A working Calendly link.So I stop texting you like it's 2011.