Thesis
Plain version: nobody buys deliverables from us without buying the story work first. The Sprint is the front door to every engagement. If a prospect wants a video with no strategy attached, we pass.
We define brands before we decorate them. Every engagement starts with paid story work. No standalone execution, ever.
The Ladder
The four things we sell and what they cost. Every client enters through the Sprint, then moves up. The Partnership is the destination because it is recurring monthly revenue.
| Tier | Scope | Price |
|---|
| Story Sprint | 1 week. Narrative doc, messaging guide, creative direction notes. Credits up within 60 days. | 2,500 flat |
| The Feature | 4 to 6 weeks. Anchor film plus 3 to 5 cutdowns. | 20K to 30K |
| The Construct | 8 to 12 weeks. Sprint, then identity, guidelines, site. | 40K to 60K |
| The Partnership | Fractional creative dept. Offered only at delivery. | 8K to 12K/mo, 6 mo min |
Non Negotiables
The sales rules. They exist because of two documented failure modes: friendly calls that end with no commitment, and proposals emailed into silence. Every rule below blocks one of those two.
- Price is said out loud on every call.
- Proposals are presented live in a booked review session, never emailed cold.
- Diagnose, do not treat. The fix starts when we start.
- No discounts. Scope down instead.
- Closed work only in the proof layer.
- Automate the memory, never the message.
Content Inventory
Everything we have to make, what each piece is for, and who owns it. This is the "content engine" Rock spelled out. Creative direction on all of it is shared. Nothing in Paid Budget spends a dollar until this list exists.
| Asset | What it is | Where it goes | Owner |
|---|
| Sprint explainer | 60 to 90 second video: what a Story Sprint is, what you get, what it costs | Landing page, IG, retargeting ads | Mike films, Adam edits |
| 4 teardowns | 2 to 3 minute videos: 2 story teardowns from Adam, 2 design teardowns from Mike. Each one gets cut into 3 to 4 short clips, so 4 teardowns feed 12 to 16 pieces | IG, YouTube, cold Meta ads | Each on camera for their own 2, Adam edits all |
| Case cutdowns | 30 to 60 second proof clips from Bright Buoy and RFTM | Landing page proof, retargeting | Mike |
| Landing page | One page: the ladder, proof, book a Story Audit | Where every ad and email points | Adam copy, Mike build |
| Reactivation emails | A tier personal notes, B tier skeleton personalized, C tier broadcast | Personal inboxes (logged via HubSpot Gmail extension), C broadcast from HubSpot | Each works their own A and B lists. Mike sends C |
| Field Guide + nurture | Lead magnet PDF plus email sequence | Meta funnel, phase 2, about 30 days after launch | Adam writes, Mike builds flow |
| Monthly email | One useful story note to the full list | HubSpot | Adam |
Paid Budget (months 1 and 2: 2,500/mo)
What the money does: cold video shows teardowns to strangers cheaply, with one job, building a pool of people who watched. Retargeting shows the Sprint offer only to that pool, which is where conversions happen. Google Search catches people already typing things like "brand studio austin." Every channel has one job and one number. Nothing turns on until the Content Inventory above is done.
| Channel | Monthly | Job |
|---|
| Meta cold video | 750 | Build the warm pool. Thruplays under 3 cents. |
| Meta retargeting | 750 | Sprint offer to the pool. The conversion layer. |
| Google Search | 600 | Exact match intent, Austin and Honolulu. |
| YouTube in feed | 400 | Teardowns. Feeds remarketing. |
| LinkedIn | 0 | Organic only. |
Kill rule: 150 spent with no audit and under 15 percent hold, pause it, no debate. Scale to 5K month 3, allocated by cost per audit (target 150 to 300).
Cadence
The posting rhythm per channel so this does not drift. One batch shoot day a month feeds all of it. If content creation eats more than two days a month, we cut posts, never client work.
IG 4x week. LinkedIn 3x week. YouTube 2 long form monthly plus Shorts. Blog 2x month (SEO only). Email monthly.
Outbound
How the 100 plus name reactivation list gets worked, tier by tier. Both partners work their own past clients: Adam sends to his A and B names, Mike sends to his. Same tier rules for both.
| Tier | Who they are | How they get hit |
|---|
| A | Closest past clients and warmest relationships | Individual personal notes, one at a time, week 1. No template. |
| B | Warm but not close. Know the work, cooled off | One skeleton draft, personalized per name, weeks 2 and 3. |
| C | Everyone else on the list | Single broadcast send, week 3. |
Cold: 8 targets per two week batch, 4 touches, replies come touches 3 to 5. Engagement flags get a same day personal note.
The Stack
The tools, what each one does, and where AI takes the grunt work off our plates. If a job lives in one of these, it does not live anywhere else. No duplicate systems.
| Tool | Job |
|---|
| HubSpot | System of record. Deal pipeline (Reply in through Won and Lost), full contact list tagged A/B/C, C tier broadcast sends, landing page forms, meeting links. Gmail extension logs every personal note to the contact automatically. Free tier now; Starter only when we need HubSpot branding off the sends. |
| Claude | Mike on his own seat. Drafts copy, emails, proposals, and deck content; runs this ops board. Nothing ships without a human pass. Connected to HubSpot, Figma, Gmail, and Drive. |
| Figma | Design system home plus the deck engine. One master pitch deck, componentized, every text layer named. Per prospect: Claude takes the audit call notes, writes the copy with the prospect as the hero, and fills a duplicate of the master. A full day of deck building becomes 30 minutes of review. Build cost: one day, once. |
| Calendly | Story Audit booking with the 7 question intake, budget range included. |
| Stripe | Payment and contract flow. |
Delegation
Who owns what. Creative direction is shared: Mike leads graphics and design, Adam leads story and video. The only geographic split is relationships: Adam's list is Austin, Mike's is Hawaii. Everything else is collaborative. One name per line so every number has exactly one owner at the Tuesday review.
| Adam: Story + Video | Mike: Graphics + Web |
|---|
| Creative | Narrative and messaging. Scripts, on camera, VO. All video editing: explainer, teardowns, clip cutdowns, anchor films. | All graphic design. Web design and builds, landing pages. Brand books and identity systems. |
| Ops | Every audit and sales call. All pricing said out loud. Proposals presented live. His relationship notes (Austin list). | HubSpot: pipeline stages, imports, sends, daily engagement flags. Ad ops and the kill rule. Calendars, batching, shoot day logistics. Proposal and contract docs. His relationship notes (Hawaii list, Bright Buoy). |
Seat owner answers at the Tuesday review regardless of who executed. Nobody touches the other seat's system without asking.