Read this once
Everything below gets pasted into the same place: the chat in the Claude desktop app, the one where your second brain is connected.
That chat is how the brain is fed. Paste something into it and the brain keeps it. There is nowhere else to put anything, and nothing to save yourself.
Three of the eight are not typed. Ray's notebook is handwritten, and those three pages have been left exactly as they are. They go in as pictures, the same one press as everything else, and the brain reads the handwriting off them.
Before you start
0The only setting up there is
Get the second brain and connect it
Download it, unpack it onto your desktop, and connect it in the Claude desktop app. You only ever do this once.
Download the second brainMeet the business
Goats for hire · Hollow Ash
Goat It Covered
Five goats, one Ray, and absolutely no lawnmower. Which goat goes to which job is the whole
of his business, and that judgement is the thing you are about to hand over.
Nothing to do here yet.
Everything starts at file 1 below.
His eight papers, in this order
1Read what it is and why it matters.
→
2Press the blue button.
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3Paste it into the chat and send it.
→
4Wait until it is filed, then take the next.
The order matters. Each one leans on the ones before it, which is exactly how a real business is learned. Feed it properly and what comes out is properly built.
1
notes about the business.txt
Who Ray is
Ray describing his own business, in his own words. What he does, what he refuses to do, and how he likes to sound.
Why the brain needs it
Before it can answer as Ray, it has to know who Ray is. Otherwise everything it writes sounds like a company, and he is a man with five goats.What it can do once it has it
Every reply from here on comes out in his voice instead of a borrowed one.notes about the business - Ray
right. writing this down because I keep saying it and forgetting it.
Im Ray Herd. five goats. field outside Hollow Ash. people pay me to bring them
round and eat the stuff they cant get a mower near. brambles mostly. nettles.
the sort of ground that has got away from someone over two summers.
goats turn up in the morning
eat all day
go home at night
thats it. thats the whole business. 11 years now.
before this I fitted kitchens. I was worse at that.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY BUYING (I always forget this bit)
they think theyre buying goats. theyre not. theyre buying not spending a
saturday in a bramble patch with a strimmer and a bad back.
things I DONT do, because Im asked all the time
- tree surgery. if it needs a chainsaw its not a goat job
- lawns. a goat is not a lawnmower and will make that very clear
- boarding goats, selling goats, goat yoga (asked 3 times this year. three!)
how I talk to people
friendly. short. bit dry. Im a bloke with five goats not a corporation.
if a quote sounds like a solicitor wrote it Ive got it wrong.
and I dont oversell. if goats are wrong for the job I say so and lose the
money. it comes back round.
2
THE GOATS.txt
The five goats
Five goats, what each one is like, and the trouble each one has caused.
Why the brain needs it
The whole business is which goat goes to which job. That is a judgement, and a judgement cannot be made from a list of names.What it can do once it has it
It can choose the right goats for a job it has never seen, and tell the customer why.THE GOATS ***MOST IMPORTANT PAGE***
(pictures of all five are in the photos folder)
people always ask which goats are coming. every one has a reason.
--- BRENDA ---
eats ABSOLUTELY anything. fastest in the herd. brambles, scrub, the lot.
lot of ground + not much time = Brenda.
> cleared a patch by lunchtime once and then spent the entire afternoon
staring at a chicken through a fence. neither of them moved. customer took
a photo. its on my wall.
--- GARY ---
eats twice his share. CANNOT be trusted near a flower bed.
*** GARY DOES NOT GO TO A JOB WHERE ANYTHING IS GROWN ON PURPOSE ***
this is a rule not a preference and it cost me money.
spring last year. Larkspur Cottage. Mrs Pennyworth.
Gary ate her prize roses. ALL of them. she had them in a show the
following weekend.
I paid for new ones, drove them over, planted them myself, in the rain.
Gary was not sorry.
so if anyone mentions vegetables, roses, anything with a little label stuck
in the soil next to it - Gary stays home and I tell them why. they find it
funnier than I did.
--- DUCHESS ---
the pretty one. will not touch nettles. not "would rather not". WILL NOT.
took her to a job that turned out to be mostly nettles. she looked at it.
looked at me. got back on the trailer. I drove her home and came back with
Kevin.
so - nettles in the ground, Duchess isnt on the list.
--- KEVIN ---
the ugly one. fears nothing on a steep bank. ground that makes me nervous
doesnt register with him at all.
last autumn he did the bank above the stream at Cobbs Farm. I wouldnt have
walked down it. customer filmed it on his phone. THREE people rang me that
month because of that video and every one of them said "is that the goat on
the cliff"
anything steep = Kevin.
he is also why I now carry a first aid kit. for me. not him.
--- MABEL ---
old. slow. never misses a patch.
Brenda does 4x the ground in a day. Mabel is the only one who properly
finishes a corner. fussy customer = Mabel, and I add a day.
shes on every job. people ask after her by name at christmas.
--- and the one thing they all did together ---
june. all five got into a caravan parked next to a job at Ferris Lane.
I do not know how. the door was shut when I left.
they ate a cushion, a road atlas and most of a curtain. Kevin was standing
on the table.
I paid for the curtain. customer said the atlas was out of date anyway.
>>> TRAILER GATE HAS TWO BOLTS NOW <<<
And their faces, in one picture. All five stand in a row with their names written underneath, left to right. One press hands over the lot, and from then on it knows which goat is which.
3
a page out of the notebook
What he charges
Four prices, and the five rules that sit behind them.
Why the brain needs it
A price it has not been given is a price it would have to invent. This is the file that makes inventing one impossible.What it can do once it has it
Quotes with real money in them, and the travel charge worked out rather than guessed.This one is not typed anywhere. It is the page itself, out of the notebook in his coat, and it is going in as a photograph. The brain reads the handwriting.
4
how I write back to people.txt
The shape of a quote
The seven parts of every quote, in order, plus the tone and the one-joke rule.
Why the brain needs it
Knowing the price is not the same as knowing how to write it down. This is the shape the words go in.What it can do once it has it
Every quote comes out the same shape, so they all look like they came from the same person.how I write a quote - same 7 things every time, in this order, nothing else
1. what the job is, in THEIR words handed back, so they know I read it
2. the price as a SUM. day rate + travel if any + total. never one big number
3. which goats are coming and why each one
(Kevin because its steep. Mabel because she never misses a corner.)
4. which goats are STAYING HOME and why
<- this is the bit people write back about. also proves I read the message
5. what happens on the day. arrive morning, eat all day, home at night
6. when I could start
7. one plain question so they only have to say yes
TONE
short sentences. no fuss. ONE small joke and only one - usually whichever
goat is being kept at home and why.
three jokes in a quote doesnt read as friendly. reads like someone not
taking your bramble patch seriously.
never:
- promise a day I havent checked
- quote a price I havent got a rule for
- say "up to" or "starting from". if I dont know enough to price it, I ask
5
a page out of the notebook
What jobs actually cost
Five jobs from this year with the real totals, including the one that lost money.
Why the brain needs it
Rules say what should happen. History says what does. It needs both before it can judge a job it has not seen.What it can do once it has it
It can hold a new enquiry against one it has seen before, and price it with a straight face.This one is not typed anywhere. It is the page itself, out of the notebook in his coat, and it is going in as a photograph. The brain reads the handwriting.
6
a page out of the notebook
The seven traps
Seven things Ray has got wrong, written down so he stops learning them twice.
Why the brain needs it
Mistakes are knowledge too, and they are the part nobody ever writes down.What it can do once it has it
It asks about the way in and the water before it quotes, instead of finding out on the morning.This one is not typed anywhere. It is the page itself, out of the notebook in his coat, and it is going in as a photograph. The brain reads the handwriting.
7
when someone complains.txt
How he puts it right
Six rules for the day something goes wrong, and what the last one cost him.
Why the brain needs it
The hardest letter anybody writes is the one written in a temper. This one was written calmly, in advance.What it can do once it has it
It answers a complaint the way Ray would on his best day rather than his worst.when someone complains
happens 2 or 3 times a year. nearly always something eaten that nobody
mentioned. how I answer it is worth more than the job it came from.
THE SIX RULES
1. say sorry in the FIRST LINE and mean it. no "if". no "unfortunately".
and never "as stated in the terms"
2. dont argue about whose fault it was EVEN WHEN ITS THEIRS. a goat cant
read a garden. arguing wins nothing and costs a customer
3. replace the thing. same kind. and put it in MYSELF. not a voucher. not a
credit note. the actual thing, in the actual hole, by me
4. add one small thing they didnt ask for. costs me almost nothing and its
the bit they tell people about
5. say what Ive changed so it cant happen again. one line. turns an apology
into a promise
6. NEVER take it off the bill instead. money back feels like the end of
something. putting it right keeps them. the ones Ive put right have sent
me more work than the ones who never complained
the one joke rule still applies. one. small. at the goats expense and never
at the customers. the goat did it so the goat takes the blame. nobody stays
cross with a goat for long.
what its cost me:
Larkspur Cottage, may. $85 of roses on a $60 job.
shes since sent me three neighbours.
thats the whole argument for this page.
8
what I want the website to look like.txt
The website he wants
Ray's own brief. How it should feel, his colours, his typefaces, and what he will not have on it.
Why the brain needs it
Taste cannot be guessed. Said plainly once, it never has to be.What it can do once it has it
One sentence builds his site, in his colours, with none of the things he said he did not want.website - what I want it to look like
my daughter says I need one. she is right. Ive got no website and no
computer, everything is in the notebook in my coat, which is fine until it
rains.
HOW IT SHOULD FEEL
like a hand printed farm shop label. or one of those craft cider bottles.
warm. bit old fashioned. made by a person and not by a committee.
NOT like a lawn care company. NOT shiny.
COLOURS - my daughter measured these off a label I liked
dark green #2F5D3A
amber #F2B705
cream paper #FBF6EA
oat #E8DCC0
brown lines #4A3F2F
near black #1A1A17
TYPE
headings in Fraunces
everything else in Nunito Sans
WHAT GOES ON IT, roughly in this order
- the name. Goat It Covered. and that were in Hollow Ash
- something at the top that says what it is in one go. overgrown ground?
send in the herd. that sort of thing
- a line under it. five goats, one Ray, and absolutely no lawnmower.
- the five goats with their pictures and one line each about what theyre
like. this is the bit people will actually read
- what it costs. all of it. Im not hiding the prices, people hate that
- what happens on the day. arrive morning, eat all day, home at night
- how to get hold of me
WHAT I DONT WANT
- stock photos of somebody elses goats
- the word "solutions"
- a form with eleven boxes on it
- anything that makes it sound bigger than five goats and me
Now ask it to do the work
All eight are in. Everything below uses only what you just handed over. Nothing is set up and nothing is invented.
1
Build him a website
One sentence. His colours, his prices and his five goats, out of file 8 and file 2.
Say Build Ray a website.
What comes back
A finished page in his cream and green, with all five goats
on it and the prices in the open. You never typed a price twice.2
Answer a customer
A real enquiry, and it does not say enough to price the job.
Hello,
I was given your name by a neighbor. I have a piece of ground at the back of my house that has got completely away from me. Brambles mostly, and it slopes down towards the stream at the bottom, quite steeply in places. I have not been able to get a mower anywhere near it for two summers.
Is this something your goats could deal with, and what sort of money are we talking about?
Thanks,
Tom Ferris
Say Answer him.
What comes back
Short, plain questions — and it asks about the way in
before it asks about the size, because that is Ray's own rule out of file 6.3
Write the quote
Here are his answers coming back. Paste them, then ask for the quote.
Thanks for coming back so quickly. Answers below.
1. What is growing on it — brambles mostly, and a good patch of nettles down by the water.
2. How big — about the size of a back garden.
3. Flat, sloped or steep — steep in places, especially the last twenty feet down to the stream.
4. Where — Marbury, twenty six miles from you.
5. Can a trailer get within fifty yards — only along a narrow track down the side of the house.
6. Water on the land — yes, the stream.
7. Anything to leave alone — my wife's vegetable bed at the top.
8. When — as soon as you can manage.
Tom
Say Write him a quote.
What comes back
$180 for the day, $40 travel because he is past twenty miles,
and Kevin coming because the bank is steep. Gary stays at home, because Tom mentioned a vegetable bed.
Nobody told it to pick a goat.4
Handle a complaint
The day something goes wrong. This is the one worth watching.
Mr Herd,
Your goats came on Thursday and I will say first that the bank looks better than it has in nine years, so thank you for that.
However. One of them has eaten my swimming costume off the line. Also most of a beach towel, and there is a sock somewhere in the field that I have decided not to look for.
I fly to Portugal on Saturday. I do not have another costume. I did not think I needed to bring the washing in for a goat.
What are you going to do about this.
Ada Whitlock
Bell Hollow
Say Answer her.
What comes back
Sorry in the first line with no excuses, a replacement in her
hands before Saturday, and one small joke at the goat's expense. It knew about Saturday because she said so, and
it knew what Ray does because file 7 told it.5
Ask what he earned
Nothing was ever put into a spreadsheet.
Say What have the goats earned this month?
What comes back
The total, out of the jobs it has watched go past. The books
wrote themselves out of the work.