Three ground rules for the table
Whoever's running the session reads these out loud before anything else. They're not manners ... they're the machinery that lets two hours do what six months of talking couldn't.
The agenda ... 2 hours
| Time | Conversation | What you leave with |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:10 | 1 · Open the room | Hopes and worries said out loud; what's settled vs. still open |
| 0:10–0:28 | 2 · The one thing we sell first | ONE main offering for the season |
| 0:28–0:40 | 3 · Who it's for first | Who we serve first ... and who can wait |
| 0:40–0:52 | 4 · What's actually included | What comes with it ... and what doesn't, yet |
| 0:52–1:02 | 5 · What success looks like | Three outcomes ... no more |
| 1:02–1:14 | 6 · Ready-to-open list | Must-do-first vs. can-improve-later |
| 1:14–1:30 | 7 · Who owns what | One name on every area of the work |
| 1:30–1:42 | 8 · What could sink us | The risks ... and the #1 roadblock, named |
| 1:42–2:00 | 9 · The first 30 days | A short, dated list with names on it |
The times are a guide, not a cage ... but don't let an early conversation borrow more than five minutes from a later one. The last one (the first 30 days) is where plans become real. Protect it.
The script, conversation by conversation
For each part below: the exact questions to ask, and the one follow-up you're not allowed to skip. Write the answers on the worksheets in your Workshop Kit ... the recording catches the rest.
Start with why you're all here. Then ask each question out loud, and let every owner answer:
- What would make this feel like a win by day 90?
- What would make it feel like we wasted three months?
- What's already decided ... and not up for re-opening?
- What still needs deciding before we start?
The third question is quietly the most important. Saying out loud what's settled ... we bought the building, the partnership is happening, the foundation is what it is ... takes those topics off the table and shrinks what's left to argue about.
Don't ask what this dream could become. List the three or four realistic ways it could make money, then push the table to a single answer:
The follow-up you can't skip: "Which ONE is the main thing we sell for the next 90 days?" This is the most important decision of the whole session.
"A bit of both" is allowed only if one is clearly the main thing. Everything else becomes a bonus that grows out of the main thing ... or goes to the parking lot as a version-2.0 dream.
Two spouses were quietly pulling different directions ... one toward the dream they were most in love with, the other toward the version that paid the bills. Instead of picking a winner between two people, the workshop reframed it: think of a hotel ... the rooms pay for everything, and the beautiful event space is the bonus that makes it special. The steady thing became the main offering for 90 days; the beloved thing became what grows out of it. Both got their dream. The season got its focus.
Teams that can't decide end up saying yes to everyone ... which is exhausting and convinces no one. List the kinds of people who might actually pay, then choose who you're building for first. "Whoever shows up and loves it" is a fair answer ... but even then, say who you're not chasing yet.
The follow-up you can't skip: "Who are we NOT trying to win over in the first 90 days?"
Describe the first thing a real person can say yes to and pay for ... then draw its edges. Three columns on the worksheet:
- The offer ... one sentence a stranger would understand.
- What's included ... keep it simple. Resist stuffing in everything you're proud of.
- Not included yet ... say out loud what you're not promising at the start, so you don't sell what you can't deliver yet. This little column is what keeps your first customers from becoming your first apologies.
Dream up everything that would feel like proof by day 90 ... a first sale, a price you believe in, a simple website, ten people who said "tell me when you open," a glowing thank-you note, knowing your numbers. Then cut the list to three. These three become the spine of your plan ... and the test you'll grade yourselves against at day 90.
Three ... not nine. The cutting is the point.
Keep the near-misses on a "we also talked about" list. And name anything that's deliberately not being counted ... money that belongs to someone's separate work, numbers that just flatter you.
One family's three: (1) a dead-simple way for a customer to actually say yes and pay, (2) one practice customer whose honest feedback became a glowing story they could share, (3) a written "this is what every customer should experience here" checklist. Bigger sales targets got kept as hopes, not promises. And the money one spouse earned from her own separate craft was deliberately left off the scoreboard ... different dream, different scoreboard.
List everything that feels like "we can't open until…" ... then interrogate each item: is it truly a must-do before taking anyone's money, or can it get better after you open? This split is where most teams discover they're closer than they feared.
The gap between those two columns is your first 30 days. The left column gets names and dates in conversation 9; the right column gets scheduled for weeks 5–13, or parked.
Break the work into areas ... usually some version of: the offer & the price · rules, permits & insurance · money & the books · getting the word out · the customer's experience · photos, words & the look. Then put exactly one owner's name on each, using your team map to match jobs to wiring wherever you can.
Say the definition out loud: the owner makes sure it gets done ... rolling up their sleeves and pulling in help as needed. Owning isn't doing it all alone; it's not letting it fall through the cracks. Helpers help; they don't own.
The follow-up you can't skip: read every area and its owner back to the table. If any area has two names on it, the table picks one. Now.
Go around the table: what could genuinely derail this? Write down everything ... a permission that doesn't come through, two founders wanting different things, nobody following up with interested people, the paperwork nobody loves, waiting for perfect, family feelings leaking into business choices. Then force a ranking:
The follow-up you can't skip: "Which single risk blocks everything else?" That's your #1 roadblock ... and it needs a plan B today, while everyone's still at the table.
A plan B isn't pessimism; it's what keeps your biggest risk from being the end of the story. If the permission is denied, if the platform says no, if the key person falls through ... what's the version of this that still works? Write it down. Your plan can now survive a punch.
One family's #1 roadblock: an official permission they couldn't even apply for yet, couldn't assume they'd get, and couldn't open without ... with customers already booked five weeks out. The table built plan B on the spot: if the answer came back no, they'd pivot to a different kind of customer on longer arrangements ... different paperwork, same dream, still alive. The scariest thing about their launch became a to-do with a name and a date, instead of a cloud over every dinner.
Turn everything above into a short list of what will be finished ... not started, finished ... in the first 30 days. Every item gets a name, a date, and a tag from your time-or-money call: moved with our hours, or with our dollars? If it has neither, it's a wish ... cut it or fund it. The principle: do less, but finish it. Typical items: sort the #1 roadblock · run the practice customer · settle the offer and the price · make it easy to say yes and pay · write the experience checklist · start the list of 10–20 people who might actually buy · tidy the money records · get the insurance looked at · reach out to first partners · good-enough name and a simple web page · one phone-shot photo or video a week.
Close by reading the whole list out loud ... item, name, date, tag ... and put the plan-reading dinner on the calendar before anyone stands up.