Create a download someone can use

Outcome: an editable resource that helps a particular reader complete one task, with a real export when your tools support it. Use Lead Magnet Build. You can finish the core exercise with local text files; PDF rebuilding is optional.

Copy the Margin Press exercise folder into your practice project. This is a separate fictional business. Start a new context so Fold's location, clothing services and appointment language do not enter the print worksheet.

Pick a useful job for the resource

Read BRIEF.md. A reader is preparing a first print enquiry. Useful completion means they have notes about purpose, format, quantity, colour ideas, artwork readiness and unanswered questions. It does not mean they have print-ready artwork or an accepted quote.

Compare two ideas:

• “Ten reasons our studio is the best” mostly advertises the studio and needs unsupported evidence.
• “Plan your first small print run” helps the reader assemble an enquiry using facts the brief actually supplies.

Choose the second. A good free resource remains useful before someone buys anything or joins a mailing list.

Produce the files

Invoke $lead-magnet-build in Codex or /lead-magnet-build in Claude Code, then:

Read BRIEF.md. Create my-work/worksheet.md: a compact, original preparation worksheet with actionable fields, one clearly fictional worked example and a next step. Also create my-work/download-description.md and my-work/checks.md. Preserve the business's supplied formats and run sizes. Keep unknown production requirements and prices unknown. If you can produce and inspect a printable PDF, include it and record the export/check method. Otherwise finish the editable source and explain the remaining export step honestly. Do not create a mailing list or publish anything.

Open the actual files. A message saying “PDF attached” does not establish that a PDF exists. If it does exist, read every page at normal size: check clipping, awkward page breaks, writing space and the business facts. If export is unavailable, the editable resource still constitutes useful work; the PDF remains outstanding.

Compare with the worked example

Follow WALKTHROUGH.md for the source-to-result decisions and repairs. The supplied worksheet-source.md and two-page first-print-run.pdf are an original, reviewed answer. The PDF is printable, not a fillable form. The Markdown is editable.

The included build_pdf.py is an optional ReportLab implementation of this particular layout. It does not automatically typeset Markdown: changing the Markdown alone will not change the generated PDF. Follow EXERCISE.md for the exact rebuild route and preserve your copy before running it. You can also use your own exporter and inspect the resulting pages.

Check what you are promising

“Run sizes of 25–250” comes from the brief. “Every job is ready in 48 hours” does not. “Which paper would you like to discuss?” leaves a decision open. “Choose from our six paper stocks” invents an inventory. A useful preparation worksheet need not become a technical manual.

The download description should state the task, format and included example. It should not claim increased sales, automatic quotes or expertise that the source does not establish.

Complete the changed-input exercise, then compare with its answer. Use the delivery checklist on the actual files.

Complete when: the source is editable, the resource helps the stated reader, the worked example is labeled, every business promise has a source, and export status matches what actually happened. You can explain which of the new brief's facts replaced the old ones.

Use the service guide to turn a practiced deliverable into a bounded offer. Finding a buyer, agreeing a price and delivering real client work remain separate steps.