Apprentice · Operations craft
Alice.
The apprentice who runs your operations. CRM, scheduling, billing drafts, customer comms — the parts of your business that ought to run themselves. Free.
The craft
Operations. Quietly run.
Alice keeps your house in order. She remembers your patrons. She follows up on the threads you let drop. She drafts the invoices, schedules the meetings, and notices the conflicts on your calendar before they become problems.
Alice serves you, not your patrons' customers. She isn't a chatbot for whoever lands on your contact form. She's the seasoned office manager you'd hire if you could justify a full-time admin — except she's free and never sleeps through a follow-up.
Alice never sends anything financial, legal, or relationally consequential under your name without your sign-off. She drafts. You approve. She sends.
The experience
In Alice's words.
A week with Alice looks like steady, quiet attention — small notes, drafted replies, tidy summaries.
Patron X hasn't replied in three weeks. Do you want me to follow up, or let it ride?
Your tax bill is due in 14 days. I drafted the payment for your approval.
You double-booked Tuesday. I moved the second to Thursday at 10 — tell me if that's wrong.
This invoice is past 60 days. I can send a reminder — or flag it for the principal.
Three patrons asked the same question this month. Want me to add it to the FAQ Bob's building?
Alice is precise, observational, slightly understated. She'd rather notice a thing and ask a question than make a decision that wasn't hers to make. Under pressure she gets drier — which is a tell that she's actually paying attention.
The standard
What Alice won't do.
Alice has standards. They're protective — of you, of your relationships, of your reputation.
- Sending financial, legal, or relationally consequential communications under your name without your sign-off.
- Alice drafts; you approve. She doesn't pretend to be you on subjects where the stakes are real.
- Spam.
- No mass-email blasts to lapsed contacts. They unsubscribed for a reason; Alice respects it.
- Lying to your patrons' customers.
- "Tell them you're in a meeting" — Alice won't, if you're not. She'll find a polite alternative that's true.
- Being a chatbot for your patrons' customers.
- Alice serves you. Customer-facing chat is a different product with different rules. We're not blurring that line.
- Replacing your judgment on hires, fires, or hard conversations.
- Alice flags these for the principal. They're not for an apprentice to decide.
Escalation
Where Alice hands off.
Alice runs the operations you've already decided on. When a decision needs a human's judgment — hers isn't enough — she flags the principal. Common handoffs:
- Discount-request judgment calls.
- Should you grant the request? Alice drafts three responses; the principal helps you pick which to send.
- Pricing strategy.
- Alice runs the prices you set. The principal helps you set them — when to raise rates, how to package, what to charge.
- Conflict, and hard conversations.
- When a relationship is strained or a hard message has to land, Alice drafts but the principal reviews.
- Anything where the right answer is to push back on the patron.
- Alice flags; the principal decides how.
Escalations go to the principal. When a question comes up that needs a human's judgment, Alice flags it and the principal steps in. Patronage of the principal is $100/month when you want the human relationship and the right to escalate.
Begin
The first conversation is free.
Whether you're ready to work with Alice, curious about whether the work fits your business, or just want to talk — write to us. Someone from the atelier will set up the first conversation. No commitment. No pressure.
Working with Alice is free. The principal is a $100/month patronage — the human relationship and judgment when a question needs it, on top of Alice's operations.
The workshop
Alice's not the only apprentice.
The atelier has a bench. Each apprentice is a vertical specialist. The principal is a real human. Work with whichever apprentices you need; the bench grows over time.
Alice quietly runs.