Charleston AI Playbook

Directory / Prompts / Operations & SOPs

Opening checklist

Updated

Problem it solves

Opening the shop is in one person’s head. A new opener needs the steps, the order, and when to stop and call.

Best tool

  • ChatGPT (free chat)
  • Claude (free chat)
  • Gemini (free chat)
  • Copilot (free chat)

The free chat is enough for one draft. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and the free Microsoft Copilot chat can each do this. A paid plan only helps if you hit a usage limit. Copilot inside Word, Excel, or Outlook is a separate paid Microsoft 365 feature. You do not need it to try this once.

Copy-paste prompt

Turn these rough notes into an opening checklist. Keep my order. Do not add a step I did not mention. End with "stop and call" situations.

Place: [shop, office, or site]
Who opens: [role]
Notes, messy is fine: [paste]

Replace every [bracket]. If you cannot fill one, delete that line.

Template

Who: [role]
Before customers:
1. [step]
2. [step]
Stop and call [who] if:
- [safety, money, or a problem you will not guess through]
Done when: [what good looks like]

Download saves a .txt file. opening-checklist.txt

Example output

A usable draft is a numbered checklist in your order, with a short “stop and call” list. It does not add a corporate safety program you did not describe.

Tips

  • Walk it once on a real morning and fix the draft. The first version will miss a lock or a light.
  • Money in the drawer and alarms stay as explicit steps if they are part of your open. Do not leave them implied.

Time saved

Estimate: writing the list from memory is a sitting. The draft cleans notes you already made. The walk-through is extra and worth doing.

How to use it

  1. Copy the prompt. Copy the prompt on this page into a free chat.
  2. Fill every bracket. Replace each [bracket] with a fact from your own notes. If you cannot fill one, delete that line instead of guessing.
  3. Edit before you use it. Read the draft against your notes. Delete any price, date, name, or promise you did not supply. You decide what gets sent.

Where this came from

  • Original to this library.