A normal booking is one client and one conversation. They send a reference, you talk placement and size, you quote, you book. Nobody else is waiting on that thread.

A flash drop is the opposite. The designs are already drawn. The prices are already set. And everyone on your list shows up in the same minute, asking for the same three pieces.

A spreadsheet can't keep up with that. Two people claim the owl. Someone pays a deposit for a design that went an hour ago. The waitlist lives in your notes app, and the DMs bury it. Every one of those ends in a refund, an apology or a client who doesn't come back.

Set four things before the drop:

• A number on every design
• One countdown everyone can see
• One rule for who gets it
• A deposit on every claim

puts a numbered dot on every design on your sheet, 1 to 6. You don't write numbers on the art. Clients tap #4, not "the owl one." Nobody has to guess which design someone meant.

Then set a countdown. Post the sheet with the exact time claims open, so your list can watch the clock. Nobody gets in early: no claims in your DMs, no favours for regulars.

Pick a time your list is awake and you're near your phone. In you drop the sheet, open claims and take deposits, and every claim lands in one list.

At 12:00 the countdown hits zero and claims open. The rule is first-come: the first claim on a number gets it. Not the loudest message, not your oldest regular. The timestamp decides.

While that client pays, #4 shows as held to everyone else. If they don't finish, it goes back on the sheet.

Everyone who misses a design goes on the waitlist, in order. promotes from it automatically: if a booking drops, the next person in line moves up.

People who missed out will text your booking line. Your Assistant turns each message into a request and drafts a reply. You read it, edit it if you want, and send it. Nothing goes out until you send it.

A claim without a deposit is a maybe. Take the deposit when the client claims, so every claimed number is a paid number. Want to check each claim first? Approval-first booking lets you say yes before any deposit is taken.

If a client doesn't finish paying, their hold runs out, nothing is charged, and the number goes back on the sheet.

Every card payment for the tattoo carries one booking fee, and it covers card processing. There is no separate processing fee, and nothing comes off your price. The client pays it by default. You can split it 50/50 or pay it yourself.

The fee has a $2.50 minimum, so a $20 deposit on Free carries $2.50, not $1.98.

• Card payments go straight to your bank, deposited daily, next business day.
• The client's payment going through and the money landing in your bank are two separate events.
• Tips never carry a fee and go 100% to you.

Before the session, reminders go out by SMS and email 2 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes ahead.

2 days2 hours30 min

Close claims and look at the sheet. On Maya's, 4 of 6 went. #3 and #5 didn't: the peony and the jewel frame. That's normal, and it shows you what your clients want next time.

You have three options.

• Keep them up as open flash for walk-ins at the sheet price.
• Put them on your next sheet next to new designs.
• Take them to your next convention, where convention mode runs the booth from your phone: a line with numbers, flash claims, card payments and signed waivers.

Claimed numbers show as taken on the sheet, so nobody asks for a design that's gone.

The waitlist stays open after claims close. If a booking drops before the session, the next person moves up and the design stays sold.