Playbook

A LAUNCH PLAYBOOK The Founder's Field Guide For launching a tennis-mahjong lifestyle brand without losing your weekends. BRAND & VOICE CONTENT SYSTEM LAUNCH PLAN i. The Playbook ii. Build the Website iii. Create Content INSIDE • i. The five tools you actually need 01 ii. Set up your Claude project 02 iii. The four prompts that run everything 03 iv. Your fourteen-day pre-launch calendar 04 v. The weekly rhythm 05 vi. Why this beats hiring help 06 vii. The one-page cheat sheet 07 i. The five tools you actually need Ignore the noise. These five — and only these five — run the whole operation. Everything else is a distraction until you hit your first $20K month. 01 Shopify Storefront, checkout, customer hub Use the free Dawn theme. Don't shop themes — Dawn is what every clean lifestyle brand starts on. $39 / MONTH 02 Claude Creative director & copywriter Captions, emails, photo direction, content plans, product copy. Trained on your brand once, useful every day after. $20 / MONTH 03 Canva Design platform Where Claude's structure becomes a polished post. Save templates after the first use; week two takes half the time. $15 / MONTH 04 Klaviyo Email marketing Welcome flow, abandoned cart, launch campaigns. Even fifty subscribers before launch is meaningful. FREE UNDER 250 05 Printify Print-on-demand for lifestyle pieces Sweatshirt, tote, hat, towel — connected directly to Shopify. No inventory risk while you find what sells. FREE TO START "You don't need every AI tool. You need one tool that knows your brand." ii. Set up your Claude project This is the highest-leverage thirty minutes of the whole launch. Once your brand context lives inside a Claude project, every prompt after this gets shorter and every output gets sharper. How to set it up Inside Claude, click + New Project. Name it your brand name. Paste the document below into the project knowledge / instructions field. Then upload, as project files: • 10–15 Pinterest screenshots of your visual world • Your product photos (as you get them) • 1–2 screenshots of inspiration brand homepages (Tuckernuck, Sail to Sable, etc.) Fill in the bracketed parts with your specifics. Everything else is ready. COPY WHAT WE MAKE Tennis-inspired mahjong tile sets and a small lifestyle collection (sweatshirts, totes, hats, towels) for women who host, play, and gather. POSITIONING Where tennis girls become mahjong girls. A modern lifestyle brand for the country club crossover crowd — women who already host book clubs, play tennis socials, set a beautiful table, and are now discovering mahjong as their next favorite ritual. WHO WE'RE FOR • Women, 30s–60s, who host • Tennis players, country club members, sorority alumnae • Palm Beach, Charleston, Nashville, Greenwich, Newport Beach, Dallas • Already buy from Tuckernuck, Sail to Sable, Lake Pajamas, J.McLaughlin WHO WE'RE NOT FOR • The Vegas mahjong crowd • Hardcore competitive tournament players • Anyone hunting the cheapest Amazon set BRAND VOICE Warm, witty, a little nostalgic. Confident without being precious. Conversational, like a friend who hosts beautifully. Never corporate, salesy, hashtag-heavy, or "shop now!!" energy. VOICE EXAMPLES • ✓ "For the long afternoons between matches." • ✓ "Bring snacks. We'll bring the tiles." • ✓ "A set worth leaving out." • ✗ "Buy now and save 20%!" • ✗ "Game-changing mahjong experience." VISUAL WORLD Palm Beach country club, modernized. Slim Aarons photography energy. Rattan, linen, white painted wood, fresh citrus, clay courts. Vintage tennis whites, navy blazers, butter yellow cardigans. Hosting tablescapes — never cluttered, always inviting. Natural light, slight film grain. COLOR PALETTE Grass court green (primary) · cream / oat · navy · butter yellow (accent) · warm tan · white. Avoid: black backgrounds, neon, Vegas casino aesthetic, cluttered graphics. PRODUCT LINE AT LAUNCH [List your tile sets — name, materials, tile count, case, price] Plus: sweatshirt, tote, hat, towel. INSPIRATION BRANDS (TONE & VISUALS) Tuckernuck, Sail to Sable, Lake Pajamas, Hill House Home, J.McLaughlin, Smathers & Branson, Mark & Graham. WHAT I USUALLY NEED HELP WITH Captions, product copy, email sequences, content planning, homepage copy, FAQ answers, launch strategy. iii. The four prompts that run everything Once your project knows your brand, your prompts get tiny. Three blanks and a request. Save these four — they're 90% of what you'll ever need. Master content prompt Use this for any single Instagram post. Caption, photo direction, hashtags, story idea — all from one prompt. COPY Create an Instagram [POST TYPE] for our brand. Theme: [WHAT THE POST IS ABOUT] Goal: [WHAT IT SHOULD ACCOMPLISH — email signups, education, engagement, anticipation] Stage: pre-launch, [X] days from launch Give me: 1. Caption — in brand voice, no emojis unless they fit 2. Photo direction — props, surface, lighting, composition, detailed enough to hand to a photographer 3. Hashtags — 6 to 8, mix of niche, mid-size, and broad 4. Story idea — one quick story to support the feed post 5. Best posting time Reel prompt For shareable short-form video. COPY Create an Instagram reel concept for our brand. Theme: [WHAT IT'S ABOUT] Goal: [WHAT IT SHOULD DO] Length: 7-15 seconds Give me: 1. Shot list — every shot with timing, in order 2. Text overlay for each shot 3. Audio direction — sound type, pace, trending or original 4. The hook — first 1.5 seconds, what makes someone stop 5. Caption + 6 hashtags Carousel prompt For educational, save-worthy content. COPY Create an Instagram carousel for our brand. Topic: [WHAT IT TEACHES OR SHOWS] Goal: [SAVES, SHARES, EDUCATION] Number of slides: 5-7 Give me: 1. Slide-by-slide breakdown — headline + body for each 2. Visual direction for each slide (what to design in Canva) 3. Caption for the post 4. 6 hashtags Quick caption prompt When you already have the photo and just need words. COPY I have this photo: [DESCRIBE IT IN ONE SENTENCE]. Give me 5 caption options in our brand voice — range from very short (under 10 words) to medium (2-3 sentences). Include 6 hashtags at the end. "Don't accept the first draft. Treat Claude like a coworker you're giving notes to." iv. Fourteen days before launch Don't wait for samples to start posting. The pre-launch is an email collection operation — every post funnels to the link in bio. Week one — build the world 01 Mon FEED POST The introduction Styled hero image — tile set, tennis ball, linen napkin, citrus. CTA: join the email list. 02 Tue REEL Moodboard reveal 7-second moodboard reel set to soft instrumental. Text overlay: "the world we're building." 03 Wed STORIES ONLY Behind the scenes Sample boxes arriving, tile detail shots, "cream or tan?" poll. Stories build the parasocial pull. 04 Thu CAROUSEL What is tennis mahjong, anyway? Educate the tennis crowd who hasn't met mahjong yet. Ends with email list CTA. 05 Fri FEED POST Lifestyle photo A tile or two on a country-club-coded surface. Caption: "Found between the second set and lunch." 06 Sat FEED POST Hosting tablescape The set styled into a tablescape. The post that gets saved. 07 Sun FEED POST Slow Sunday Quiet, atmospheric — morning light, coffee, half-shuffled tiles. Week two — build urgency 08 Mon FOUNDER POST The why Selfie or behind-the-scenes of you. Tell the origin story. People buy from people in this niche. 09 Tue REEL First look — tile reveal Slow-motion close-up of tiles being laid out. The post that gets shared in group chats. 10 Wed CAROUSEL Five things you didn't know Light, fun facts about American mahjong. Ends with founding member CTA. 11 Thu HOSTING POST How to host an afternoon Snacks, drinks, music, what to wear. Position the brand as the authority on the ritual. 12 Fri FEED POST Funny / relatable Quote graphic on cream: "Texts after a tennis match: 'wine or mahjong?' 'yes.'" These travel. 13 Sat COMMUNITY POST Tag your group "Tag the friend who'd host this." Activate the group chat effect. 14 Sun FEED POST Launch tease Most polished hero image you have. "One week. Founding members get first access. Link in bio." v. Your weekly rhythm Roughly two and a half hours a week, total. The system runs the same every week — that's the whole point. Monday Generate the week's content with Claude 30 minutes · all 7 captions, photo directions, hashtags Tuesday Shoot or style photos 1 hour · whatever needs to be captured fresh Wednesday Build graphics in Canva 45 minutes · save templates after week one Thursday Schedule the week, write any emails 30 minutes · then off until next Monday The rules that make it work 1 The link in bio drives to the email list, not the shop. The whole pre-launch is an email collection operation. Your launch day is only as good as the list you send it to. 2 Stories every day, even when there's no feed post. Stories are where the parasocial relationship gets built — polls, BTS, "this or that," packaging shots. 3 Every caption should sound like a text, not an ad. If you'd be embarrassed to read it out loud to a friend, rewrite it. 4 Engage in DMs. The first 500 followers are the founding community — they'll tell their friends if you make them feel seen. 5 Batch on Mondays. Generate all seven posts in one session, not one at a time. You'll write better copy and save hours. vi. Why this beats hiring help Before you DM a social media manager, run the math. Then read the part below the math — that's the part that actually matters. HIRING A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER $1,500–$3,500 PER MONTH • Has to learn your voice • Bottlenecked by your approval cycle • Sounds like a brand, not a friend • Can't adapt mid-week without a meeting $18,000–$42,000 a year before you've sold a single tile set. THIS SYSTEM $35 PER MONTH, ALL-IN • Knows your brand from day one • Adapts in seconds, not weeks • Sounds like you, because it learned from you • Two and a half hours a week Claude Pro + Canva Pro. That's it. $25,000+ saved in your first year The part that has nothing to do with money The first thousand followers decide what this brand feels like. They need to feel a real person — your taste, your jokes, your eye. A social media manager, however good, sounds like a brand. You sound like a friend. In this niche, the friend wins every time. Tuckernuck didn't outsource their voice. Hill House didn't outsource their voice. The founders posted the early stuff themselves. That's why it worked. When to actually hire someone • → You're doing $20K+ months consistently • → You can't reply to DMs within 24 hours • → You have 3+ months of content that proves the formula • → You're hiring them to execute a system that already works A social media manager costs $30,000 a year to learn your brand. Claude costs $20 a month and already knows it. PRINT THIS. TAPE IT TO YOUR DESK. The one-page cheat sheet Everything that matters, on one page. THE FIVE TOOLS • Shopify storefront • Claude creative director • Canva design • Klaviyo email • Printify merch WEEKLY RHYTHM • Monday generate content • Tuesday shoot photos • Wednesday design in Canva • Thursday schedule + email BRAND VOICE Warm. Witty. A friend who hosts beautifully. Sounds like a text, not an ad. Never salesy, hashtag-heavy, or "shop now!!" energy. THE VISUAL WORLD Palm Beach country club, modernized. Slim Aarons. Rattan, linen, citrus, clay courts. Grass green, cream, navy, butter yellow. PRE-LAUNCH GOAL Every post drives to the email list, not the shop. The list is the launch. CAPTION TEST Would you be embarrassed to read this out loud to a friend? If yes, rewrite. THE FOUR PROMPTS • 1. Master content prompt • 2. Reel prompt • 3. Carousel prompt • 4. Quick caption prompt WHEN TO HIRE HELP • Not at launch • Not at month three • At $20K months • When the system already works "Start simple. Stay consistent. Improve over time." MADE WITH CARE, FOR A BRAND WORTH SHOWING UP FOR Now go shuffle the tiles.

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