◆ NovaBrains
For Rachel & Gabi
Proposal · April 2026

A plan for Rachel's agency

Automation and custom tooling to take the weight off the employee side of the business, while protecting the personal touch that makes the agency work.

FromAyman Hajja · NovaBrains LLC
ForGabi & Rachel
Follow-upMonday, April 27
01

What I heard in our meeting

Before jumping to ideas, here's my understanding of the business so you can correct me if I've misread anything.

  • Rachel runs a high-touch domestic staffing agency (~1,620 candidates in the pool) placing nannies, housekeepers, and similar roles.
  • The differentiator is a personal, human connection, especially with employers, who treat their homes as sacred and won't tolerate "robotic" service. Word-of-mouth drives most of the pipeline, so reputation is load-bearing.
  • Operations today live across Google Drive, Google Contacts, Google Sheets, and a physical notebook, with zero automation between them. Rachel and one VA handle everything.
  • Rachel flagged automated follow-ups with existing employees as a major pain point. Candidates who registered months ago call for updates, and she has to manually dig through the Drive to respond.
Strategy
Automate the employee side aggressively. Keep the employer side human by default, with selective augmentation.
02

The ideas, organized

Grouped by area, with a clear read on which I recommend vs. which I'm throwing out to spark discussion. These apply regardless of which of the two implementation paths we choose (see Two paths forward below).

1

Digital application + payment (website)

Recommended

Replace the paper-based application with a digital one on a proper website.

  • A clean, simple application form candidates fill out online.
  • Payment integration (Stripe) for the $75 application fee, flowing directly to a business bank account.
  • Because the personal brand matters, the site itself can emphasize Rachel, not a faceless agency. When Gabi or Rachel shares the link (or when word-of-mouth referrals visit), the personal touch is communicated before the first call.
  • After payment, the candidate is auto-scheduled for a video call with Rachel or the VA (Calendly-style). No manual scheduling back-and-forth.
2

Automated candidate interview

Throwing out, not recommending

Technically possible: a voice agent could conduct the candidate interview and collect all the info. Accuracy is good.

But — based on how strongly Rachel emphasized meeting every candidate personally, I don't think this fits. Mentioning it only in case it sparks a related idea (e.g., a lighter pre-screen before Rachel's video call). Happy to demo if curious, but not proposing it.

3

The data home + automated follow-ups

Phase 1

This directly addresses Rachel's primary pain point.

  • All ~1,620 existing employees live in one system instead of scattered across Google Contacts, Drive, and Sheets.
  • Every candidate gets a status (new, vetted, candidate, interviewing, trial, hired, etc.).
  • Automated message sequences triggered off status and time elapsed. These are just examples — we'll agree on the actual content and cadence together:
    • After vetting: "You've been added to the pool."
    • +2 weeks: check-in message.
    • Monthly: "Just letting you know we still have you in the system, reply if anything's changed."
  • Monthly (or configurable) prompts to update availability / preferences / resume changes so info doesn't go stale.

Net effect: candidates stop calling for updates because the system already told them where they stand.

Don't rip out Google Contacts
My assumption is that Google Contacts matters because it's what makes Rachel's phone show caller names on incoming calls, and that matters for the personal-touch brand — happy to discuss further if there's a different reason. The plan is to make our new system the source of truth and set up a one-way sync back to Google Contacts, so her phone (and the VA's phone) stay as useful as they are today. She never has to maintain Contacts manually again, but incoming calls still show "Maria" instead of "Unknown."
4

Employer intake via website

Recommended · lower priority

Today employers call Rachel directly, which is fine. A couple of additions:

  • Optional booking link on the website. Employer picks a slot, joins a Google Meet (or dials in by phone number).
  • Automatic call notes/transcription so Rachel has a record without extra effort. Her handwritten notebook still works; this augments it.
  • Notes flow into the data home, tied to the employer record.

The phone-number-join-Meet approach is important: it feels like a normal phone call to the employer but gives us transcripts on our side.

Alternative worth exploring
Keep things exactly as they are, but record the phone calls themselves. Move Rachel's business line onto a service like OpenPhone or Dialpad: she keeps her number, employers call her phone like they do today, but every call is automatically recorded, transcribed, and AI-summarized into the data home. NY is a one-party consent state, so this is legally straightforward — a short recording disclosure at the top of the call is good practice regardless.
5

Candidate matching / surfacing

Recommended, with a caveat

When an employer's requirements come in, the system surfaces candidates matching obvious criteria (live-in/live-out, language, role, availability), the filtering part that doesn't need judgment.

The caveat: Rachel's "feel" for who fits is a big part of the value. The system shouldn't pretend to make the match. It should narrow the pool so Rachel only applies judgment to a short list. If over time she's comfortable letting the system do more, we expand it.

This is the one feature that requires a bit of custom work regardless of which path we pick.

6

Automated invoicing

Recommended

Once an employer-side status flips to "hired," Stripe auto-generates and sends the invoice. Stripe handles payment reminders natively, so we're not reinventing that logic. Kills the manual chasing that currently eats time.

7

Voice agent for after-hours only

Optional

Heard Rachel's dislike of AI agents on the phone. I'm not proposing one for business hours.

The pattern some agencies use: enable it only after hours / weekends, with:

  • Immediate escalation option for urgent calls.
  • Full transcripts + sentiment visible to Rachel the next morning.
  • Smart routing: caller's number matches an employer in the data home → forward to Rachel's cell. If employee → agent handles, escalates only if needed.

Easy to turn off if she hates it after a week. On the table, not pushed.

03

Two paths forward

Here's the honest part. There are two reasonable ways to build this, and I want to lay out both fairly so you can pick the one that fits the business and your appetite for risk.

Option A Recommended

Hybrid: proven platform + automation layer + targeted custom tooling

Three layers, each doing what it does best.

Data home
Airtable / ClickUp / Go High Level

Where the 1,620 employees and employer records live. I'm actively researching which of these three is the best fit for this niche — each has tradeoffs around relational data, custom UI, ease-of-use, and built-in automation — and I'll land on a recommendation before we start. All three are mature, well-funded platforms with strong ecosystems. Your data stays yours (CSV export anytime, no lock-in), and Rachel works in a clean custom interface built on top so she never sees a raw database grid.

Automations
n8n

Follow-up sequences, monthly check-ins, invoicing triggers, syncs (including Google Contacts sync). Every automation writes back to a "Communications Log" in the data home so Rachel can see exactly what went out and when.

Custom tools
Only where needed

The candidate-matching feature (#5) and the public-facing website + digital application (#1) are the pieces that genuinely need custom code. Built small and focused, reading/writing to the data home via its API.

Why I'm recommending this one

  • Lower dependency on me. All three platform candidates have huge communities. Any freelancer can pick up the automations. The custom pieces are small and scoped.
  • Easier exit story. Your data lives in a well-known platform. Worst case, you export it and walk.
  • Costs are transparent. Platform + automation tooling together run roughly $40–120/month depending on which platform we pick. Precise number once we lock in the platform.

The honest tradeoffs

  • Platform UIs are good but not infinite. Rachel might hit a UI ceiling in month 2 or 3 and want something more tailored. If/when that happens, we build a custom frontend for that specific screen. Budget for this possibility.
  • You're dependent on whichever platform we pick. All three options I'm considering are mature companies, but platform dependency is still a dependency.
Option B Alternative

Full custom build

One integrated tool, built from scratch, designed precisely around Rachel's workflow.

A small internal web app: employee records, employer records, statuses, follow-ups, matching, invoicing, all in one UI with no seams.

Why this is attractive

  • Perfect fit. Every screen designed for Rachel, not adapted from a generic tool.
  • Single tool to log into. No switching between Airtable, n8n, etc.
  • No platform fees. Just hosting (~$20-50/month) and third-party services (Stripe, Twilio).
  • Cleaner long-term. Everything's in one codebase.

The honest tradeoffs

  • Higher dependency on a developer. A custom codebase needs a developer to make changes — a standard consideration for any custom build. Day-to-day maintenance itself is minimal. One reason this option is feasible for a small business like this at all: most of the build is now AI-assisted ("vibe-coding"), which has made full custom viable for operations that couldn't have justified it a year or two ago. More small businesses are adopting this route because of it.

How I'd mitigate the dependency concern

  • You own everything from day one. GitHub repo under your account. Database under your billing. I have access as a contractor, not owner.
  • Boring, popular stack. Next.js + Postgres + standard auth. Any mid-level developer can pick this up.
  • Documentation as a deliverable. README, architecture doc, handoff video. Another dev can clone the repo and run it locally in under an hour.
  • Not a single point of failure. Bus-factor covered: codebase in your GitHub, data in your database, docs in the repo.

Side-by-side

Option A (Hybrid) Option B (Full Custom)
Time to Phase 1 ~2 weeks ~2 weeks
Ongoing platform cost ~$40–120/mo ~$20–50/mo
Dependency on Ayman Low (any freelancer can pick up) Moderate (need a developer)
UI polish Good (limited by platform's UI builder) Excellent (fully tailored)
Flexibility to change later High Highest
Rachel's learning curve Small (mature, intuitive platform) Small (tool designed for her)
My recommendation
Option A. For this business, the reduced dependency and platform stability outweigh the UI ceiling tradeoff. And if Rachel ever outgrows the chosen platform, we can evolve into Option B later — the data migrates cleanly because it was always structured.

That said, Option B is completely reasonable if you'd rather have one unified tool and are comfortable with the dependency structure above. Happy to go either direction.
04

Proposed phasing

Same phasing works for both options. The difference is what's under the hood.

Phase 1
~2 weeks

Data home + follow-up automation

  • Stand up the data home (on the chosen platform for Option A, or as a custom app for Option B).
  • Migrate all ~1,620 employees from Google Contacts / Drive / Sheets.
  • Set up one-way sync back to Google Contacts so phones keep showing caller names.
  • Build the day-to-day UI Rachel will actually use.
  • Agree on specific message sequences (text, email, cadence) and wire them up.
  • Rachel-only access.
Heads-up on one dependency
A2P 10DLC registration (required for any business sending automated SMS in the US) takes 2–3 weeks through Twilio or similar and is outside our control. We'd start this on day one so it doesn't block the texting piece. Email sequences can go out immediately.
Fair warning on migration
The existing data lives in three or four places with inconsistent formatting, so cleaning it up is itself a small project. I'll budget for that honestly rather than promising a pristine pool on day one.
Phase 2

Employer side + matching + invoicing

  • Employer records + status tracking.
  • Candidate-surfacing UI for new employer requirements.
  • Stripe invoicing tied to hired status.
Phase 3

Website, digital application, booking

  • Public-facing site with Rachel's personal brand.
  • Digital application + Stripe application fee.
  • Calendly-style auto-scheduling after payment.
Phase 4+
Optional

After-hours voice agent + ongoing automations

As the business grows and new ideas emerge.

Happy to reshuffle this — let's talk through it and decide together.

05

Commercials

Phase 1 timing
~2 weeks from the moment we agree on scope.
Working with Rachel
2–3 half-hour sessions during the first couple of weeks to walk through the system and fine-tune. Not overhead — that's true regardless of which option.
Maintenance retainer (optional)
A small monthly retainer — low-hundreds range for ~5 hours/month. Technically optional, but I've found most clients prefer it for peace of mind — someone on call without thinking about it. Cancelable any time.
Ownership and exit
Option A

Platform workspace + n8n instance under your billing. Your data, your accounts. Walking away means canceling two subscriptions and exporting your data.

Option B

GitHub repo, database, and all credentials under your accounts from day one. Written exit clause: code + docs + handoff within 5 business days if you ever want out.

I'll give you a precise build number once we agree on Phase 1 scope and which path you'd like to go.

06

Next steps

  1. 1

    Review this and push back on anything that doesn't fit.

  2. 2

    Pick a path

    Option A is my recommendation, but I want you comfortable with whichever we choose. Ask me to help pick if useful.

  3. 3

    Access to Google Drive & Contacts

    So I can start looking through the existing data, understand its shape, and prep for migration. I'll likely have follow-up questions once I've had a chance to look through it.

  4. 4

    Sync this week if helpful

    Happy to meet Thursday or Friday if you'd like to talk through this before the Monday 4/27 meeting. Otherwise we lock scope and approach then.

  5. 5

    Once scope is locked, we begin the build.

Proposal prepared by Ayman Hajja novabrains.com
Proposal · April 2026

A plan for Rachel's agency

Automation & custom tooling

Ayman Hajja
NovaBrains LLC · For Gabi & Rachel
What I heard

The business, in four lines

  • High-touch domestic staffing · ~1,620 candidates in the pool
  • Personal connection is the differentiator · word-of-mouth drives the pipeline
  • Data lives across Drive, Contacts, Sheets, and a notebook — zero automation
  • Automated employee follow-ups is Rachel's major pain point today
The strategy

Automate the employee side aggressively.
Keep the employer side human.

Protects the personal touch that built the business. Offloads the work that doesn't need Rachel's judgment.

Seven ideas

At a glance

1Digital application + paymentRecommended
2Automated candidate interviewNot recommending
3Data home + automated follow-upsPhase 1
4Employer intake via websiteRecommended
5Candidate matching / surfacingRecommended
6Automated invoicingRecommended
7After-hours voice agentOptional
1 Digital application + payment

A website that does the paperwork

  • Digital application form replaces paper
  • Stripe integration for the $75 fee · straight to the bank
  • Rachel's personal brand front-and-center on the site
  • Auto-schedule the video interview after payment
3 Data home · Phase 1

Migrate 1,620 candidates. Automate the follow-ups.

  • One system for every employee · statuses, notes, history
  • Auto-messages triggered by status + time (week 2, monthly, etc.)
  • Periodic prompts to keep availability & preferences fresh
  • Candidates stop calling for updates — the system already told them
Don't rip out Google Contacts. One-way sync keeps Rachel's phone showing "Maria" instead of "Unknown."
4 Employer intake

Notes and transcripts, without extra effort

Path A · Google Meet

Booking link on the website. Employer joins via video or phone dial-in. Transcripts flow into the data home under the employer's record.

Path B · Record the phone line itself

Move Rachel's business line to OpenPhone or Dialpad. Keep the number, keep the experience — every call recorded, transcribed, and summarized automatically.

NY is one-party consent · a short recording disclosure is good practice either way.

Ideas 5 · 6 · 7

The rest, in one view

5

Matching & surfacing

System narrows the pool by obvious criteria. Rachel's judgment does the rest. (This one requires custom work regardless of path.)

6

Automated invoicing

Status flips to "hired" · Stripe sends the invoice and handles reminders.

7

After-hours voice agent

Only outside business hours. Smart routing. Full transcripts. Easy to turn off.

The honest part

Two paths forward.

Two reasonable ways to build this. Laying them out fairly so you can pick what fits the business and your appetite for risk.

Option A Recommended

Hybrid: proven platform + automation + targeted custom

Data home Airtable / ClickUp / Go High Level

Where the 1,620 employees live. Still researching which of the three fits this niche best — final pick before we start. Rachel works in a clean custom interface built on top.

Automations n8n

Follow-ups, sync to Google Contacts, invoicing triggers. Full communications log in the data home so Rachel sees what went out and when.

Custom Only where needed

Matching logic + public website/application. Small and focused. Reads/writes to the data home via API.

Option B Alternative

Full custom build · one integrated tool

Why it's attractive

  • Perfect fit — every screen designed for Rachel
  • Single tool to log into
  • No platform fees, just hosting + services
  • Cleaner long-term · one codebase

The mitigations

  • You own everything from day one (GitHub, DB, credentials)
  • Boring, popular stack · Next.js + Postgres
  • Documentation is a deliverable
  • Written 5-business-day exit clause + handoff call

Tradeoff: higher dependency on a developer — a standard consideration for any custom build.

Side-by-side

How they compare

Option A (Hybrid) Option B (Custom)
Time to Phase 1~2 weeks~2 weeks
Platform cost~$40–120/mo~$20–50/mo
Dependency on AymanLowModerate
UI polishGoodExcellent
Rachel's learning curveSmallSmall
Recommendation: Option A. Reduced dependency + platform stability outweigh the UI ceiling. Can evolve into B later if Rachel outgrows the platform — data migrates cleanly.
Phase 1

Data home + follow-up automation

  • Stand up the data home · migrate all ~1,620 employees
  • One-way sync back to Google Contacts (phones keep working)
  • Build the day-to-day UI · wire up message sequences
  • ~2 weeks, regardless of which option
Two honest caveats:
· A2P 10DLC registration takes 2–3 weeks through Twilio — start day one so it doesn't block SMS.
· Data cleanup is itself a small project. Data lives in 3–4 places with inconsistent formatting.
Roadmap

Four phases · reshufflable

Phase 1

Data home + automations

The pain-point fix. Migration + follow-ups.

Phase 2

Employers + matching + invoicing

Employer records, candidate surfacing, Stripe invoicing.

Phase 3

Website + digital application

Public site. Stripe fee. Auto-scheduling.

Phase 4+

After-hours agent + new automations

As the business grows.

Commercials

How the money works

Maintenance (optional)
Small monthly retainer · low-hundreds for ~5 hrs/month · cancelable any time. Technically optional, but most clients prefer it for peace of mind.
Ownership
Option A: Platform + n8n under your billing. Option B: GitHub + DB + credentials under your accounts from day one.
Exit
Option A: cancel two subscriptions. Option B: 5-business-day handoff clause + one-hour handoff call.
Next steps

Five moves

  1. Review & push back on anything that doesn't fit.
  2. Pick a path · Option A is my recommendation; either is fine.
  3. Drive & Contacts access · so I can start looking at the data.
  4. Optional sync Thu / Fri · before the Monday 4/27 meeting.
  5. Scope locked → we begin the build.
Proposal prepared by Ayman Hajja
novabrains.com
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