My Business Brain / Every job

Ground rules

The rules every job follows: plain words, honest claims, no fake urgency, no fake people or photos, no financing in Meta ads, and no long dashes.

12 principles

These rules apply to every ad, page, message, and file in the playbook, whether a person or an AI writes it. Check every draft against them before it goes to the approval step.

How to use this page: read these before any job. AGENTS.md and the full playbook include them for your AI. Other ways

Principles

Write in plain words a homeowner understands.
Why
Homeowners do not know trade terms or marketing terms. Words they do not know make them stop reading.
How to apply
Describe what the homeowner can see instead of naming the part. Spell out every abbreviation. If they would not say it at dinner, use other words.
GoodWater stains on the ceiling under the bathroom.
BadSigns of a failed wax ring and subfloor rot.
Write complete sentences with one fact each.
Why
Short, complete sentences are easy to read on a phone and hard to misread.
How to apply
Give each fact its own sentence. Use literal nouns: the page, the form, the calendar, the ads.
GoodWe text you a price range for your home. Then you pick a time for us to confirm it in person.
BadPrice by text, visit optional, totally up to you, no pressure ever.
Never use long dashes.
Why
A long dash joins two thoughts that should be two sentences. Many readers also see it as a sign of text written by a machine.
How to apply
Use a period or a comma. Check every draft for the long dash and the medium dash before it ships.
GoodWe text you a price range. Nobody comes to your house for this step.
BadA sentence that joins the price and the visit with a long dash in the middle.
No slogans, puns, riddles, or cute lines.
Why
Cute lines make the reader work to find the offer. In my agency's ads, plain lines get more leads.
How to apply
Read every draft out loud. If a line sounds clever, rewrite it plainer.
GoodGet a price range for a new bathtub before anyone comes to your house.
BadTub-ular savings are waiting for you.
Never invent a price, a review, a guarantee, a person, or proof.
Why
One made-up claim can get the ad rejected and the business in trouble. It also loses the homeowner the moment they find out.
How to apply
Use only facts the business owner confirmed. If a fact is missing, ask, or leave it out and mark it unknown. A job shown as proof is a real job, with its own photos and its real price. Never round that price down, and never use another company's photos.
GoodThe draft says the price is unknown and asks the owner for it.
BadThe draft makes up a price and a five-star review count to fill the gap.
No fake urgency, countdown timers, or pop-ups.
Why
Fake deadlines and pop-ups make a business look like a scam. People who feel pushed leave.
How to apply
Use a deadline only when it is real, with the date written out. Keep pop-ups, exit pop-ups, and timers off every page.
GoodThis starting price is good through March 31.
BadOnly two spots left today, with a timer that never runs out.
Never show fake people, fake crews, or fake damage.
Why
A made-up person or made-up damage is a lie a homeowner can catch, and Meta rejects misleading ads.
How to apply
Show real people only in real photos, with their permission. Show real work and real damage, or use plain graphics.
GoodA real photo of the owner on a real finished project, used with permission.
BadAn image generator's picture of a crew that does not exist.
Keep financing language out of Meta ads.
Why
Meta treats loans and payment plans as a special category and rejects or limits ads that mention them.
How to apply
Leave out no payments, monthly payments, interest rates, and loans. Explain financing on the landing page or on the phone.
GoodThe ad names the starting price. The landing page mentions that financing is available.
BadThe ad says no money down and zero interest for a year.
Say leads for what the ads produce, and say the business runs its own ads.
Why
The business runs ads on its own ad account and pays Meta directly. Writing as if someone sells it a list of names makes the leads sound shared with five other companies.
How to apply
Call what the ads produce leads. Call a booked visit an appointment. Never write as if anyone sells leads to the business.
GoodYour ads run on your own ad account, and every lead is yours.
BadGet 50 exclusive roofing leads a month delivered to your inbox.
Look up platform facts in the official help pages.
Why
Ad platforms change their settings and rules often. A guess about a setting can break a campaign.
How to apply
Check the platform's own help pages or the live product. If you cannot confirm a fact, say it is unknown.
GoodThe agent checks Meta's help pages for the current special ad category rules before writing financing copy.
BadThe agent states a setting from memory, and the setting was renamed last year.
Check the real thing before you say it works.
Why
A setting that says it should work is not proof that it works. Only a real test shows what a homeowner will see.
How to apply
Send a real test lead, open the real page on a phone, and look at the real ad in the ad account. Then delete the test lead.
GoodThe test lead arrives in the CRM, the alert text arrives, and the test lead is deleted.
BadThe form settings look right, so the campaign launches without a test.
Get the business owner's approval before anything new runs.
Why
The owner knows the business. An approval step catches wrong claims before money is spent.
How to apply
Send every new ad, page, and message template for approval in the form it will run. Change nothing the owner approved without asking again.
GoodThe revised headline goes back to the owner before it replaces the approved one.
BadAn approved ad's starting price is changed after approval, and the owner finds out from a homeowner.

See the nine jobs