Build your assistant · the foundation
Let's build your assistant — in a single conversation.
No software to install, nothing technical. Just a free Claude account and about half an hour. You'll teach your assistant your business, your voice and your way of working — and walk away with a handful of blocks you can keep and reuse any time.
How long
About 30 calm minutes. You can stop and come back — your place is saved.
What you need
A free account at claude.ai. That's it. Step one gets you started.
How it works
Each step gives you one message to send. Copy it, send it, answer her questions.
What you end with
Clean blocks for your business, voice, instructions and routines — yours to keep.
Keep what she gives you
In this version everything lives in one conversation. As she hands you each block, keep it somewhere safe — and if you have Claude Projects, paste it in so it sticks. We'll point out exactly what to keep, every time.
Open the conversation.
One quiet conversation where you'll build everything. If you have Claude Projects, start a Project — it remembers between chats. If not, a normal new chat is fine.
Do this first
- Go to claude.ai and sign in (a free account is fine to start).
- Start a new chat — or a new Project if you have them.
- Then send the message below to set the plan.
I'm setting up a business assistant with you, step by step, over this one conversation. We'll build it up — my business, my voice, my routines, and how I want you to behave. Don't run ahead. Wait for each step, ask me anything you need, and keep everything we agree in one place so I can reuse it later. Ready?
She'll say something like
"Ready. I'll take it one step at a time and won't get ahead of you. Where shall we start — would you like me to get to know the business first?"
Let her interview you.
Everything else comes from this. Don't write it for her — let her draw it out, one question at a time.
Before you write anything, interview me about my business — one question at a time, and wait for my answer each time. Cover: what the business does in one sentence, who it's for, the problem it solves, what makes it different, what it charges, and the one action I want a customer to take. When you're done, summarise what you heard and ask me to confirm.
She'll start with
"Let's start simple. In one sentence — what does your business actually do? …and keep going, one at a time, until she's got the picture."
Builds: the raw material for everything · Behaviour: one question at a time
Capture your knowledge.
Turn the interview into two clean write-ups you can keep — what your business is, and how it sounds.
Now pull what you learned into two clear write-ups I can keep and reuse. First — my business: who we are, our services and pricing, who we're for, and our proof points. Then — my voice: how I want to sound, plus these short samples of my real writing as examples: [paste 2–3 things you've written — a post, an email, anything in your voice]. Give me each as a clean block I can copy and save.
Note: Keep both blocks. Save them somewhere you can paste back. If you have Claude Projects, paste them into the project's knowledge so she always has them.
She'll reply with
"Here's your business write-up — read it over and tell me what's wrong or missing. Then the same for your voice, each as a clean block to copy."
Builds: your knowledge · Behaviour: clear, reusable blocks
Set the standing instructions.
How you want her to behave on every task — so you stop re-explaining yourself in every new chat.
Write me a set of standing instructions for how you behave on every task, as one block I can paste in and reuse: — Before any task, check what I'm assuming about audience, format and scope, and ask before guessing. — Deliver exactly what I asked for, at the size I asked for. Don't expand it. — Tell me what a good result looks like, then check the work meets it before you call it done. — Always use my voice. Never use: [words you hate — e.g. leverage, unlock, game-changer]. Also add a few quick commands: /brief (3–5 lines, strongest point only), /critic (flaws only), /checklist (turn it into steps). Give it to me as one clean block.
Note: Keep this block. If you have Projects, paste it into the project's custom instructions. If not, paste it at the top of each new chat — that's what makes her behave like yours.
Why this is the big one
Most people re-explain themselves every time. This block means you explain once — she asks before assuming, stays in scope, and sounds like you.
Builds: your standing instructions · Behaviour: ask · stay in scope · check
Make a process card.
Pick one thing you do again and again. Turn it into a card she runs the same way, every time you name it.
Here's a task I do regularly: [describe it — e.g. writing a proposal for a new client]. Turn it into a process card I can keep: the word I'll say to trigger it, what you should ask me for, the steps in order, a quality check, and the final format. From now on, when I say the card's name, run those steps exactly. Give me the card as one clean block.
Note: Keep this card. Add it underneath your standing instructions, so it travels with them.
After this
"You just say "Proposal draft" and she runs every step in order — asks for the inputs, follows the structure, checks it, hands it over. No re-explaining."
Builds: your first card · Behaviour: same steps, same order
Give her a notebook.
An assistant that never learns is just a faster stranger. Give her the habit of noticing — and writing it down.
Keep a running notebook for me with three sections: Observations, Working theories, Confirmed rules. When this conversation reaches a natural end, look back and tell me if there's anything worth keeping — a pattern you noticed, a decision I made and why, something that worked or fell flat. If I agree, add it to the notebook, dated, and give me the updated notebook as one block I can save. Don't let a real session end without offering. If nothing qualifies, say so in one line — don't invent something.
Note: Keep the notebook. Each time she updates it, save the latest version and paste it back next time — that's how she stays sharp.
At the end of a session she'll say
"Before we stop — one thing worth keeping: you always want the price framed as a saving, not a cost. Shall I add that to the notebook?"
Builds: your notebook · Behaviour: offer to learn, unprompted
Run it — for everything.
She now knows your business, your voice, and your rules. Put it to work.
Using everything we've captured, write a one-page overview of my business: what we do, who it's for, the problem, why us, and how to get started. Plain language, my voice. Before you write, tell me if anything's missing.
The tell
"Notice she used your voice and your details without being reminded, and asked before assuming. That's the whole difference — she's working from what you taught her, not from a blank slate."
Done · the foundation is in place
You've configured your assistant in one conversation.
In half an hour you've taught her more than most people ever do. Keep the blocks she gave you, and here's what she now does for you:
- She asks before assuming, stays in scope, and checks her work — on every task.
- She sounds like you, because you gave her your voice and your real writing.
- She runs your routines the same way every time you name a card.
- She learns — and offers to write it down — so next time she's sharper than today.
Make it permanent
Right now this lives in one conversation. To stop copy-pasting: keep your blocks in one document, and if you have Claude Projects, paste your instructions and knowledge in so she has them every time.