You have your candidate. The July 16 grad is the strongest so far. Interview her after the 16th. The next couple weeks are about getting the backend ready so that when you say yes, you're not scrambling — you're deploying. Handbook, SOP, agreements, payroll, DocuSign. All of it stands up while you keep marketing for two more candidates.
The July 16 grad is the front-runner. Interview her — and get two more.
She's the strongest candidate so far. Reach out this weekend to lock the interview date once she's licensed. Don't put all your eggs in one basket — Krista's rule. Two more real candidates in the pipeline before you make a decision. Don't decide day-of the interview OR day-of the shadow day. Sleep on both.
Indeed is off. Beauty schools + direct DMs are the funnel.
Indeed pulls unemployment-mandate applicants who don't even have cosmetology licenses. Not worth your time. Real leads come from beauty school outreach, direct DMs to specific grads, and referrals. Keep posting extension content too — not just hiring.
Handbook = culture. SOP = operations. Different documents, different purposes.
Handbook is what she signs on day one. Dress code, standards, culture, non-negotiables — the vibe of your space. Legally binding after NC lawyer review. SOP is the literal "here's how we run every service" — not legally binding, just your Bible for the first 90 days. Voice-riff prompts for both are in your toolkit.
Week one is off-payroll. Cash. Trial.
Krista's hard-won rule: no Gusto, no employment agreement, no assistant agreement until week two. Pay her cash at $20/hr the first week. If she doesn't work out, part ways at week's end without a payroll paper trail to unwind. It's not personal — it's protective.
Throw her in day one. Double-book immediately.
No easing in. Krista's assistants started with a shadow day or two and got thrown in — Lexi had a WEEK before Krista left the country. Deep-end training works. It also tells you fast whether she can hang. Start double-booking your color clients from day one.
Voice-record every hard conversation. Follow up with email.
If you ever have to correct something twice, address a late arrival, or discuss anything sensitive — hit voice memo, announce the recording, save it. Then email a summary. Every time. This is your protection if it ever goes sideways.
Never do probation. Just fire.
Krista has never seen probation turn into a star employee. If you find yourself thinking "one more chance," that's the fire signal. Hire slow. Fire fast.
The bigger arc — you're building toward extensions-only.
You named it on the call: extension appointments are peaceful, color is chaos. The assistant is the lever that lets you slowly walk away from color and toward the work that lights you up. Don't need to solve year 3 right now. Just know that's the direction, and let it shape which clients you say yes to going forward.
Two more candidates in the pipeline.
Turboscribe every candidate video you've received, feed the transcripts to your Claude project, and ask "these are the people applying vs the person I want — where do I need to shift my marketing?" Then post from Claude's answer, not from your gut.
NC lawyer review of the agreements.
Employment agreement AND assistant agreement, both. Krista sent both via the portal. Don't send either to any candidate until a NC employment attorney has confirmed they're enforceable in your state.
Handbook draft (voice-riff → Claude → lawyer).
Prompts are in your toolkit. Riff, upload, draft, lawyer-review. Signed on day one.
SOP draft (voice-riff → Claude → use).
Do this IN the salon while walking around. Prompts in your toolkit. No lawyer review — SOP is yours to use, not legally binding.
DocuSign + Gusto setup.
Yearly DocuSign subscription for signatures. Ask your bookkeeper to help you set up Gusto payroll before day one of week two of your new hire.
Click any step to check it off — your progress saves automatically.
The longer arc behind this container.
Everything you need. All linked, all downloadable.