Week 1 · Tuesday
Open the First-Gen Tax series by naming the invisible labor this audience carries, so they feel seen and follow for the rest of the arc.
Posting window: Tuesday, 7:30 PM PT
Posting times shown in Pacific Time (PT) — adjust to your audience's timezone in your scheduler.
Hook options
Pick the one you’ll use — the script opener updates to match
It's 8:47 AM and you've already worked three jobs.
One reader counted eleven roles she was playing. Eleven.
Nobody writes the first-gen job description down.
You're not bad at balance. You're working four jobs.
How many roles were you playing before your first meeting today?
Script
Opener (0:00 – 0:10)
It's 8:47 AM and you've already worked three jobs. You translated an insurance letter for your mom, you talked your younger brother off a ledge about his lease, and you answered a Slack message from a VP who thinks you start at nine.
Body
This is the first-gen tax. The family translator. The family therapist. The family banker. The person who shows up at the doctor's appointment and explains what the words mean. None of it is on your LinkedIn. None of it clocks out at six. And then you sit down at the job you got by being the responsible one, and you try to perform like someone whose morning started with coffee and a podcast. Of course you're tired. The tired is rational. You are not failing at balance — you are working a shift nobody put on the schedule, and nobody is going to put it there for you.
Close / CTA
So before you download another app, try this: name the shifts. Out loud, in your notes, on a napkin. Just see them. That's where this series starts.
≈ 178 words · about 72 s at single-take pace
On-screen graphics
Planned from the script at your reading pace. Times are approximate: drop each graphic over the line it belongs to.
| About | They say | Graphic | On screen |
|---|---|---|---|
| About0:00–0:03 | They sayYour hook, as you open | GraphicTitle | On screenIt's 8:47 AM and you've already worked three jobs. |
| About0:17–0:19 | They say“This is the first-gen tax” | GraphicTitle | On screenTHE FIRST-GEN TAX |
| About0:19–0:22 | They say“The family translator” | GraphicList | On screentranslator / therapist / banker |
| About0:29–0:32 | They say“None of it is on your LinkedIn” | GraphicKeyword | On screenNOT ON YOUR LINKEDIN |
| About0:48–0:51 | They say“The tired is rational” | GraphicHeadline | On screenTHE TIRED / IS RATIONAL |
| About1:04–1:05 | They say“name the shifts” | GraphicUnderline | On screenname the shifts |
Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI tool to build these graphics as clips.
Production paths
- 1.Set your phone vertical at eye level, roughly arm's length, with a window or soft lamp in front of you (never behind). Frame from mid-chest up, leaving a little headroom for the on-screen text.
- 2.Record on your phone mic in a quiet room — close the door, kill the fan, do one clap at the top for sync.
- 3.Read the full script in one continuous take. Deliver it conversationally, like you're talking to one tired friend. If you flub a line, pause for two seconds and pick up from the start of that sentence — you'll trim it in CapCut.
- 4.Shoot 3-4 full takes back to back so you have options. Watch them back once; pick the one where the opener lands hardest and your eyes stay in the lens.
- 5.In CapCut, trim the head and tail, cut any flubs with hard cuts, and add the on-screen graphics from the cue sheet, one per cue, over the line it belongs to. Keep the type big, high-contrast, and centered — this should be legible with sound off.
- 6.Add auto-captions, then clean them by hand (CapCut mishears 'first-gen' and names). Position captions in the lower third so they don't collide with the cue sheet text.
- 7.Export at 1080x1920, 9:16, no watermark.
Platform captions
The first-gen tax is the shift nobody put on your schedule. Translator. Therapist. Banker. Responsible one. None of it clocks out at six, and then you're supposed to show up to work like someone whose morning started with coffee and a podcast. If your tired has felt bigger than your calendar explains — this is why. Part 1 of a 3-part series on naming the weight.
Hashtags
the first-gen tax: the shift nobody put on your schedule. part 1 of 3.
Hashtags
Thumbnail brief
Build this in Canva — it's a design brief, not a prompt to paste.
Save a still of your face from the recording (Record → Save a frame) and open it in Canva — the brief builds everything around the face. Which frame: The beat right after 'you've already worked three jobs,' eyes locked on the lens, mouth closed, expression steady and tired-but-level — not smiling, not performing concern.
- Crop
- 9:16 vertical, waist-up frame of you looking straight into the lens, chin level, mouth closed or barely parted — the moment right before you say 'this is the first-gen tax.' Leave the top third of the frame clear for text.
- Words
- THE FIRST-GEN TAX / four jobs before 9 AM
- Placement
- Headline across the top third in large caps; subline directly beneath in a smaller, lighter weight. You stay centered in the lower two-thirds, eyes on the lens.
- Colors
- Olive Branch palette — warm off-white background text over the frame, with the word TAX in your deep olive accent so one word carries the eye.
- Element
- A small handwritten number '4' in olive, tucked next to 'four jobs,' as if underlined by hand.
Scheduling
Tool: Buffer
- 1.Open Buffer and connect your Instagram and TikTok accounts if they aren't already linked.
- 2.Create a new post, upload the 9:16 MP4, and select both Instagram Reels and TikTok as destinations.
- 3.Paste the Instagram caption into the Instagram field and the TikTok caption into the TikTok field — do not let Buffer cross-post the same caption; they read very differently.
- 4.Set the thumbnail: upload the Canva thumbnail as a custom cover for Instagram Reels. For TikTok, select the frame described in the still note as the cover inside TikTok after Buffer hands off.
- 5.Schedule for Tuesday 7:30 PM PT. Double-check the timezone in Buffer settings is Los Angeles.
Lead capture
Where this should drive
This piece is the series opener and the first post of the month — its only job is recognition and follow. The close asks viewers to name their shifts, which is the comment-generator; replies in the comments are the capture mechanism. No link, no DM keyword, no signup page. The series builds toward piece 6 (newsletter signup) and piece 10 (workbook link); this one earns the follow that makes those convert.