I typed four lines into Claude. It sent back the whole welcome pack.
The welcome email, the kickoff agenda, the first week checklist, and the folder list, every time a new client says yes. Not out of a blank chat: out of one Claude Project that already knows your method and how you sound. Below is the Project instruction I used on screen, the two files I uploaded, and the prompt that turns a wall of text into something the client can actually click.
The afternoon you lose every time a client says yes
Onboarding is the one part of the business that keeps coming back, and it is the client's first impression.
I keep meeting business owners who lose an afternoon building a welcome pack by hand, from scratch, for every new client. If you sell your time, whether through coaching, design, bookkeeping, or photography, those are hours you do not get back.
So I rebuilt the whole thing on camera in one Claude Project. Four pieces come back every time, and you can copy each one below.
The welcome email
Written in the voice of your sample, with the start date and the terms already correct.
The kickoff agenda
Five items across thirty minutes, with a time on each, so nobody wonders what this call is for.
The first week checklist
Split into two lists: your tasks, and the client’s tasks.
The folder list
The folders you will work in, with the client’s name already filled into the names.
Why a Project beats a blank chat
First things first, because this is the part most people skip.
A Project is a space in Claude where your context lives permanently. Instructions it always follows, files it always remembers. Every chat you open inside the Project starts already briefed.
A lot of business owners use Claude like Google: a blank box every morning where you explain your business from scratch, get a generic answer back, and decide that AI is average. AI is not average. A Project is the opposite of that blank box. You explain yourself once, in writing, and it stays explained.
Think of it as a kitchen you already stocked. The containers are where you left them, the spices are labeled, and you do not buy salt again every time you cook. A plain chat is a rental kitchen. A Project is a full kitchen, and today you fill yours.
Set it up once, in two parts
Part one is the instructions, where you write your method down. Part two is the files, where Claude learns how you actually sound.
Write your method once
In Claude, click Projects, then New Project.
Name it Client Onboarding, then click Create Project.
Under Instructions, click the plus button, then Set project instructions.
Paste the instruction below, then click Save instructions.
The Project instruction
You run my new client onboarding. Every time I give you a new client in a few lines (their name and business, what they bought, the price and terms, the start date and the kickoff time), reply with the complete welcome pack in one message, in this order: 1. The welcome email. Write it in the voice of the sample welcome email in this project. Confirm what they bought, the price and the terms, and the start date. Keep it short and warm. 2. The kickoff agenda. Five items, thirty minutes total, with a time on each. Follow the shape of the sample agenda in this project. 3. The first week checklist, split into two lists: my tasks and the client's tasks. 4. The folder list I will set up for this client, with their name already filled into the folder names. Use the details I gave you everywhere they belong. If something is missing, make a sensible assumption and flag it in one line at the end instead of asking me a question first.
The move: name the four things you want back, every time. That list is what makes the output identical for client number one and client number forty.
Teach it how you actually sound
Instructions tell Claude what to produce. Files tell it what your work actually looks like. I uploaded exactly two: a welcome email I really sent and liked, with every client detail stripped out, and a kickoff agenda that worked. Claude writes from those samples.
Under Context, click the plus button.
Choose Upload from device.
Pick your real welcome email and your real kickoff agenda, and open them.
Strip the client details out first. The sample is there to teach Claude your voice and your structure, not to carry one client’s private information into the next client’s file. Two good samples beat thirty.
Run it on a real client
Now open a new chat inside the Project and paste the client. That is it. No re-explaining the business, no re-explaining the format. In the video the new client is Priya, a solo brand photography studio, and the whole message is four lines long.
The new client, in four lines
New client: Priya, solo brand photography studio. Sold: a two week automation setup. Price: 2,000 dollars, half upfront. Start date: Monday the 14th, kickoff call Tuesday at 10.
What comes back, in one reply: the welcome email in the voice of your sample with the start date correct, the agenda with five items across thirty minutes, the checklist split into your tasks and Priya’s, and the folder list with her name already filled in. One message.
Turn the agenda into something they can click
We can all agree that most kickoff documents are a wall of text, and nobody likes reading long text. So ask for an Artifact instead: a small interactive page Claude builds right beside the chat.
Make it an interactive one-pager
Turn the kickoff agenda into a clean, one-page interactive I can share with the client: title, date, the five agenda items, and the two things they need to bring. Make it an artifact.
What you get is a one-page kickoff the client can actually click: the title, the date, the five agenda items, and the two things they need to bring. That page goes into the welcome email, and it is the first thing the client sees from you after the yes. First impressions matter.
Download it as an HTML file if you want to keep it or put it on your site.
Publish it as an Artifact to get a link you can send straight to the client.
Let Claude send the welcome email itself
There is an option where Claude sends the welcome email straight out of your Gmail, so the package does not stop at your clipboard. That is a Connector, and I walked through connectors in an earlier build-along.
The onboarding setup checklist
Tick these off as you build it. It saves in your browser, so you can close the tab and come back. Print it if you want it on the desk.
If you remember one thing from this video: create a Project in Claude, paste in the instructions, and import your previous work. If the sample files have to wait until tomorrow, let them wait. The instructions on their own already change what comes back.
Onboarding handled. What should you automate next?
The free AI Audit looks at how your business runs and tells you where to start. Two minutes, no call, no pitch, just the readout.