Funnel Planner

Plan a complete affiliate funnel from research to revenue by chaining Affitor skills into a week-by-week execution roadmap. Output is a Markdown plan with skill sequence, time estimates, and exact invocation prompts for each step.

Stage

S8: Meta — Most affiliates fail because they skip steps or work out of order. Funnel Planner solves this by mapping the user's resources (time, channels, experience) to a personalized execution plan that chains S1-S7 skills in the right sequence. It's the onboarding wizard for affiliate marketing via AI agent.

When to Use

User is starting from scratch and wants a complete plan
User asks "how do I start affiliate marketing?"
User has a niche but no strategy
User wants to know which skills to use and in what order
User says "build me a funnel" or "plan my affiliate business"
User wants a week-by-week roadmap
Chaining: this skill recommends which other skills to run and in what order

Input Schema

niche: string                  # OPTIONAL — e.g., "AI tools", "fitness supplements"
                               # If not provided, S1 research will help identify one

product: string                # OPTIONAL — specific product if already chosen
                               # e.g., "HeyGen" or "Semrush"

experience_level: string       # OPTIONAL — "beginner" | "intermediate" | "advanced"
                               # Default: "beginner"

available_channels:            # OPTIONAL — platforms the user can use
  - string                     # e.g., ["blog", "twitter", "linkedin", "email"]
                               # Default: ["blog", "twitter"]

weekly_hours: number           # OPTIONAL — hours per week available
                               # Default: 5

goal: string                   # OPTIONAL — "first_commission" | "scale_to_1k" | "scale_to_10k"
                               # Default: "first_commission"

Chaining context: If S1 was run earlier, pull niche and product info from conversation. If the user has mentioned their channels or experience, use that context.

Workflow

Step 1: Assess Starting Point

Determine where the user is:

Has nothing: Start from S1 (full funnel)
Has a product: Skip S1, start from S2
Has content: Skip S1-S2, start from S3 or S4
Has traffic: Skip to S6 (analytics) or S7 (automation)

Ask clarifying questions only if truly ambiguous. Default to the most common case (beginner, starting from scratch).

Step 2: Select Relevant Skills

Based on channels, experience, and goal, select 5-8 skills from S1-S7:

Beginner + blog + twitter: S1 → S2 (viral-post-writer) → S3 (affiliate-blog-builder) → S5 (bio-link-deployer) → S6 (seo-audit)
Intermediate + email + blog: S1 → S3 → S4 (landing-page-creator) → S5 (email-drip-sequence) → S6 (performance-report) → S7 (content-repurposer)
Advanced + all channels: Full S1-S7 pipeline with S8 (compliance-checker) at each content step

Step 3: Estimate Effort

For each selected skill, estimate time based on experience level:

Beginner: 2-4 hours per skill
Intermediate: 1-2 hours per skill
Advanced: 30-60 minutes per skill

Fit into the user's weekly_hours to create a week-by-week schedule.

Step 4: Create Roadmap

Build a week-by-week table:

Week number
Skill to run
What it produces
Time estimate
Exact prompt to invoke the skill

Step 5: Add Success Metrics

For each phase, define measurable outcomes:

S1: "You should have 2-3 programs selected"
S2: "You should have 5+ social posts ready"
S3: "You should have 1-2 blog posts published"
S5: "You should have a bio link page live"
S6: "You should know your EPC and conversion rate"

Step 6: Self-Validation

Before presenting output, verify:

Roadmap follows logical sequence (S1→S2→S3... not random order)
Invocation prompts are copy-paste ready for each skill
Time estimates realistic for stated experience level
Success metrics are measurable and specific (not "do well")
Total weeks feasible given user's weekly hours budget

If any check fails, fix the output before delivering. Do not flag the checklist to the user — just ensure the output passes.

Output Schema

output_schema_version: "1.0.0"  # Semver — bump major on breaking changes
plan:
  niche: string
  product: string
  experience: string
  goal: string
  total_weeks: number
  total_skills: number

roadmap:
  - week: number
    skill: string              # skill slug
    stage: string              # e.g., "S1: Research"
    action: string             # what to do this week
    time_estimate: string      # e.g., "2-3 hours"
    invocation_prompt: string  # exact prompt to give your AI agent
    success_metric: string     # how to know this step is done

milestones:
  - week: number
    name: string               # e.g., "First content published"
    description: string

Output Format

Plan Overview — niche, goal, timeline, total skills
Week-by-Week Roadmap — table with week, skill, action, time, and prompt
Milestones — key checkpoints with expected outcomes
Entry Points — where to jump in if user is not starting from scratch

Error Handling

No niche or product: "Let's find your niche first. I'll plan a funnel that starts with S1 (affiliate-program-search) to discover the best programs for you. What topics interest you? (e.g., AI tools, fitness, finance)"
Unrealistic time commitment ("1 hour total"): "Building a profitable affiliate funnel takes sustained effort. With 1 hour/week, I'd focus on one channel. Here's a minimal plan using just S1 + S2 (social posts only)."
Too many channels for experience level: "You listed 6 channels but you're a beginner. I'd recommend starting with 2 (blog + one social platform) and adding more after your first commission."

Examples

Example 1: Complete beginner

User: "I want to start affiliate marketing. I have 5 hours a week and I blog." Action: Plan a 6-week funnel: Week 1 S1 (find programs) → Week 2 S2 (write social posts) → Week 3-4 S3 (write blog review) → Week 5 S5 (bio link page) → Week 6 S6 (SEO audit + tracking). Include exact prompts for each skill.

Example 2: Intermediate with product

User: "I already promote Semrush. How do I scale to $1K/month?" Action: Skip S1. Plan around optimization: S6 (performance-report to baseline) → S6 (ab-test-generator for existing content) → S7 (content-repurposer to multiply what works) → S7 (email-automation-builder for nurture) → S6 (performance-report again to measure).

Example 3: Advanced multi-channel

User: "I'm an experienced affiliate with blog, YouTube, and email. Plan me a full funnel for AI tools." Action: Compressed 4-week plan using all stages. Week 1: S1 (research) + S2 (content blitz). Week 2: S3 (blog) + S4 (landing page). Week 3: S5 (distribution) + S7 (content-repurposer). Week 4: S6 (analytics setup) + S8 (compliance-checker). Ongoing: S8 (self-improver) monthly.

References

registry.json — Skill catalog for selecting the right skills. Read in Step 2.
docs/affiliate-funnel-overview.md — Funnel stage descriptions. Read in Step 2.
shared/references/flywheel-connections.md — master flywheel connection map

Flywheel Connections

Feeds Into

All skills (S1-S7) — roadmap provides week-by-week execution plan chaining specific skills

Fed By

commission-calculator (S1) — commission projections inform funnel ROI estimates
value-ladder-architect (S4) — value ladder informs the funnel structure
multi-program-manager (S7) — portfolio data for planning
performance-report (S6) — performance baselines for goal-setting
category-designer (S8) — category framing shapes the funnel narrative

Feedback Loop

performance-report (S6) tracks funnel progress vs plan → adjust skill sequence and timeline based on actual results

chain_metadata:
  skill_slug: "funnel-planner"
  stage: "meta"
  timestamp: string
  suggested_next:
    - "affiliate-program-search"
    - "viral-post-writer"
    - "affiliate-blog-builder"
    - "landing-page-creator"