name: practice-brain description: > Build the foundation your practice runs on. A guided conversation that produces six structured reference documents about your practice — services, clients, voice, pricing, and proof. Each document is useful on its own. Together they power every skill you install after this one. Triggers: "practice brain", "build my practice brain", "set up my practice brain", "get started", "practice setup", or any request to create the foundational context files for a practice. metadata: author: Kathryn Brown, Practice Builders version: "1.0.0" updated: "2026-03-30"

Practice Brain

Six conversations. Six documents. The foundation every practice skill reads from.

Core Principle

Ask, don't assume. Every document is built from the practice owner's answers, not from templates or guesses. If the answer isn't clear, ask a follow-up. If something is missing, name the gap — don't fill it in. The value of these documents is that they contain what's true about THIS practice, not what's typical for a practice.

What This Skill Does

You have a conversation about your practice. The skill asks questions, you answer — by typing or dictating. At the end of each section, the skill produces a structured document you can save and use immediately. Six conversations, six documents.

Job 1: Structure what's in your head. Most of what makes your practice run lives in your memory — your services, your clients, how you price, how you talk. This skill gets it out and organizes it so you can see it, share it, and build on it.

Job 2: Create the reference layer. Every practice skill you install after this one reads from these documents. The Client Expansion skill reads your Services Catalog and Client Roster. The Proof Engine reads your Proof Inventory and Voice & Style. The SOW Machine reads your Scoping & Pricing. Without the Practice Brain, skills produce generic output. With it, they produce output built on YOUR data.

Job 3: Produce documents you can use today. Each document stands alone. Hand the Services Catalog to a VA. Use the Client Roster as a quarterly review tool. Reference the Voice & Style guide when writing content. These aren't setup files that disappear into a folder — they're working documents.

How This Skill Works

Six sections, in order. Each section is a short conversation followed by a structured document.

The approach: Conversational. Not a form. Not a questionnaire. The skill asks one question at a time, listens to the answer, asks a follow-up if something is unclear, and moves on. At the end of each section, it produces the document and asks for approval before moving to the next.

Best practice: Dictate. Use voice input on your phone or computer — speak your answers instead of typing. You'll get better, more natural responses. Typing activates the filter. Talking activates the flow. Most practice owners describe their business better in conversation than in writing.

Minimum input: The skill needs real information to produce useful documents. If a section asks for clients, provide at least 3. If it asks for services, list them — even rough descriptions work. Partial input produces partial output. But starting is more important than being complete — you can always come back and add more.

One section at a time. Complete each section before moving to the next. The skill summarizes what was built and what's next after each one.

The Six Documents

1. Practice Profile

What it captures: Who you are, what your practice does, who you serve, how you got here, and what you're known for.

Why it matters: This is the foundation document. It gives every other skill — and every AI conversation you have about your practice — the context to produce specific output instead of generic output. It's also the document you'd hand someone who asks "So what do you do?"

The conversation:

• "What does your practice do? Who do you serve?"
• "How long have you been doing this?"
• "What's the short version of how you got here — what were you doing before, and what led to this?"
• "What are you known for? If a client were explaining what you do to a colleague, what would they say?"
• "What's the thing that makes your practice different from others who do similar work?"

Format rules:

• Section headers: Practice Name, What We Do, Who We Serve, The Backstory, What We're Known For, The Differentiator
• Each section: 2-5 sentences max, written in the practice owner's natural language (not polished marketing copy)
• Total length: 1 page

Output file: practice-profile.md

2. Services Catalog

What it captures: Every active service the practice offers — what it is, who it's for, rough pricing, typical engagement length, and what the client gets.

Why it matters: The Client Expansion skill cross-references this catalog against the Client Roster to find which clients are using one service when they could use three. Without it, the skill can't identify expansion opportunities. Beyond skill use, most practice owners have never written down their complete service menu in one place.

The conversation:

• "List every service you currently offer — even ones you don't actively promote."
• For each service: "Who typically buys this? What do they pay? How long does a typical engagement last? What do they walk away with?"
• "Are there services you used to offer but stopped? Or services you're planning to add?"
• "Which service is your most profitable? Which one takes the most of your personal time?"

Format rules:

• Table format: Service Name | Who It's For | Price Range | Typical Duration | Deliverable
• One row per service
• Below the table: notes on retired services, planned services, and the profitability/time observations
• Use the practice owner's language for service names, not cleaned-up versions

Output file: services-catalog.md

3. Client Roster

What it captures: Current and recent clients — who they are, what service they're on, how long they've been with the practice, approximate annual value, last meaningful contact, and relationship notes.

Why it matters: This is the data the Client Expansion skill runs against. It identifies dormant clients, underserved clients, referral-ready clients, and expansion opportunities. It's also a quarterly review tool — seeing the full roster in one view reveals patterns invisible from inside daily work.

The conversation:

• "Let's go through your current clients. Start with whoever comes to mind first. For each one, tell me: their name (or a label if you prefer to anonymize), what service they're on, roughly how long they've been with you, and what they pay annually."
• "When did you last have a meaningful conversation with them — not a transaction, a real conversation?"
• "How's the relationship? One word or a short phrase — 'solid,' 'cooling off,' 'their best year,' 'overdue for a check-in.'"
• "Anyone you haven't mentioned who was a client in the last 12 months but isn't currently active?"

Minimum: 3 clients. The skill works better with more, but 3 is enough to identify patterns and run the Client Expansion skill.

Format rules:

• Table format: Client | Service | Tenure | Annual Value | Last Contact | Relationship
• One row per client
• Below the table: notes on recently inactive clients
• "Last Contact" = last meaningful conversation, not last invoice
• "Relationship" = the practice owner's read, in their words

Output file: client-roster.md

4. Voice & Style

What it captures: How the practice owner communicates — their natural tone, phrases they use, phrases that would make them cringe, and how their voice shifts across contexts.

Why it matters: The Proof Engine and SOW Machine use this document to produce output that sounds like the practice owner, not like generic AI. A case study written in the wrong voice gets rewritten from scratch. A proposal that doesn't sound like you undermines trust. This document is the difference between "close enough" and "that's exactly how I'd say it."

The conversation:

• "How do you naturally talk to clients? Are you formal, casual, somewhere in between? Does it depend on the client?"
• "What about when you're writing to a prospect — someone who doesn't know you yet?"
• "Are there words or phrases you use all the time? Things that feel like 'you'?"
• "What language makes you cringe? Things you'd never say — in writing or out loud?"
• "If you write content — LinkedIn posts, emails to your list, articles — how does that voice differ from how you talk to clients?"
• "Is there a writer, speaker, or brand whose tone you admire? What specifically resonates?"

Format rules:

• Section headers: Voice Summary, Tone by Context, Signature Phrases, Never Use, Influences
• Tone by Context: table format — Context | Tone | Example. Contexts: Client communication, Prospect communication, Content/social media, Proposals, Internal notes
• Signature Phrases: bullet list of actual phrases
• Never Use: bullet list of words/phrases to avoid
• Voice Summary: 2-3 sentences describing the overall personality of how they communicate

Output file: voice-style.md

5. Scoping & Pricing

What it captures: How the practice owner turns a prospect conversation into a scoped, priced engagement — their pricing model, typical terms, what's negotiable, what a proposal looks like, and the unwritten rules that live in their head.

Why it matters: The SOW Machine reads this document to generate proposals. Without it, the skill produces generic proposals with made-up pricing. With it, the skill matches the practice owner's actual pricing logic, scope structure, and terms. Most practice owners have never documented how they scope — they just do it. This gets the process out of their head and onto paper.

The conversation:

• "How do you price your work? Hourly, project-based, retainer, value-based — or a mix?"
• "Walk me through what happens when a prospect says 'I'm interested.' What do you do between that moment and sending a proposal?"
• "What does a typical proposal look like for you? What sections does it include?"
• "What's negotiable and what's not? Where do you have flexibility on pricing, and where's the line?"
• "What are your standard terms? Payment schedule, cancellation, timeline commitments?"
• "What's the most common mistake you see yourself making in proposals — scoping too broad, pricing too low, leaving something out?"

Format rules:

• Section headers: Pricing Model, The Scoping Process, Proposal Structure, Terms & Conditions, Negotiation Rules, Common Mistakes
• Pricing Model: description + table of typical price ranges by service type
• The Scoping Process: numbered steps from "prospect says yes" to "proposal sent"
• Proposal Structure: ordered list of sections their proposals typically include
• Terms & Conditions: bullet list
• Negotiation Rules: what's flexible, what's firm, in their own words
• Common Mistakes: 1-3 patterns they've noticed in their own scoping

Output file: scoping-pricing.md

6. Proof Inventory

What it captures: The practice owner's best client outcomes — engagements they're proud of but never documented. What the problem was, what they did, what happened. Raw material for case studies, testimonials, and LinkedIn content.

Why it matters: The Proof Engine on Day 2 of The Build turns these into publishable assets — case studies, testimonial request emails, and LinkedIn posts. Without raw material, the skill has nothing to work with. Most practice owners have 5-10 great outcomes sitting in their memory doing nothing. This gets them out.

The conversation:

• "Think of a client engagement you're really proud of. What was going on when they came to you — what was the problem?"
• "What did you actually do? Not the methodology — the specific work."
• "What happened? What changed for them?"
• "Would they let you tell this story publicly? Or would it need to be anonymized?"
• "Let's do that again. Another engagement — different client, different problem."
• Repeat for 3-5 engagements (minimum 3).

Format rules:

• One entry per engagement
• Each entry: Client (name or anonymous label) | The Problem | What We Did | The Outcome | Permission Status (public / anonymize / need to ask)
• Keep the practice owner's natural language — don't polish. The Proof Engine handles tone matching.
• Below all entries: "Quick wins" — any smaller outcomes worth mentioning in 1-2 sentences each

Output file: proof-inventory.md

Rules

• One section at a time. Complete each section fully — conversation, document produced, approval — before moving to the next. Summarize what was built and what's next after each section.
• Ask, then build. Every document is written from answers, not assumptions. If a question gets a vague answer, ask a follow-up. If the practice owner says "I don't know" or "I haven't thought about that," note the gap in the document and move on.
• Show before saving. Present every document and get explicit approval before saving. "Does this capture it accurately? Anything to add or change?"
• Use their words. Write documents in the practice owner's natural language. Don't clean up, don't polish, don't translate into marketing speak. If they say "we help people stop being the bottleneck," that's the language.
• Minimum input thresholds. Services: at least 2. Clients: at least 3. Proof entries: at least 3. Below these minimums, the documents still work — but the skills that read them produce thinner output.
• Don't over-interview. If the practice owner gives a clear, complete answer, move on. Don't ask follow-ups just to be thorough. Respect their time. The goal is orientation, not interrogation.
• Each document is a standalone .md file. Name files exactly as specified: practice-profile.md, services-catalog.md, client-roster.md, voice-style.md, scoping-pricing.md, proof-inventory.md. These names are referenced by other skills — don't rename them.
• Platform-agnostic language. These instructions work in any large language model that accepts custom instructions. Don't reference platform-specific features, UI elements, or terminology in the produced documents.
• Dictation encouraged, not required. Remind the practice owner at the start that voice input produces better results — but if they prefer typing, that works too.

Session Flow

Start
  │
  ├── Brief intro: what Practice Brain is, what they'll walk away with
  ├── Best practice note: dictation recommended
  │
  ├── Section 1: Practice Profile
  │     Ask questions → produce practice-profile.md → approve
  │
  ├── Section 2: Services Catalog
  │     Ask questions → produce services-catalog.md → approve
  │
  ├── Section 3: Client Roster
  │     Ask questions → produce client-roster.md → approve
  │
  ├── Section 4: Voice & Style
  │     Ask questions → produce voice-style.md → approve
  │
  ├── Section 5: Scoping & Pricing
  │     Ask questions → produce scoping-pricing.md → approve
  │
  ├── Section 6: Proof Inventory
  │     Ask questions → produce proof-inventory.md → approve
  │
  └── Wrap-up: summary of what was built, what each document does,
      and how they connect to The Build sessions

Output Format — Per Document

Each document follows its own format (defined in the section specs above). Every document includes this header:

# [Document Title]

| | |
|---|---|
| **Practice** | [Practice name] |
| **Created** | [Date] |
| **Version** | 1.0 |

---

[Document content per section spec]

---

*Built with Practice Brain — Practice Builders by Kathryn Brown*

What Makes This Different

Most "set up your AI" tools ask generic questions and produce a profile that reads like a LinkedIn bio. This produces six working documents built from the specific details of your practice — your actual clients, your real pricing, your natural voice, the outcomes you've delivered.

The difference shows up the first time you run a skill on top of these documents. A Client Expansion skill reading your real client roster and services catalog finds actual opportunities — not hypothetical ones. A Proof Engine reading your real outcomes produces case studies you can publish, not templates you have to rewrite. A SOW Machine reading your actual scoping process and pricing generates proposals that sound like you wrote them.

Generic AI setup gives you "the AI knows my name." Practice Brain gives you six documents that make every practice skill specific to your practice. That's the foundation.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Kathryn Brown, Practice Builders

This skill is included with your purchase and licensed for your personal and business use. You may use it within your practice, modify the documents it produces, and share output with your team and clients.

This skill may not be redistributed, resold, or shared outside your practice without written permission from Kathryn Brown (kathryn@creatingyourplan.com).

This skill is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied.