Two weeks ago you installed Claude Code. It's on your machine, ready to go. From today, we actually use it.
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The approach
We build around you
There's no fixed script. We shape the modules around where the group is. Three phases across the weeks.
Phase 1 / now
Foundation & personal
Understand how it works and make it your own.
we start here
Phase 2
Smarter & more powerful
More than asking: agents, files, your own setup.
Phase 3
Your own business
Build and automate a real task from your work.
The plan adapts to you.03 / 16
Check-in / let's hear from you
Two questions
What's your goal for your business?
How far are you with AI so far?
Your answers shape the plan. No right or wrong.
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Where do we work?
The terminal, and why you work in it
The barrier is the point. Here you see everything AI can do, not a closed-off window that hides most of it.
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The language
Four words, and how they fit
Terminal · the window you type in
Claude Code
The AI that lives in the terminal and just did that.
It is anagentit acts in a loop, not just answers.
It used askillyour saved way of asking.
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How AI works
AI is a pattern-completion engine. It guesses the most likely next word, again and again.
The cat sat on the
It always picks what's most likely. That's why it's generic, until you get specific and steer it.
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How AI works
You can't see inside
?
We see what goes in and what comes out, not how it got there. So you check the result, every time.
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How you work with it
AI is a very smart intern. Brilliant and fast, but just arrived. It doesn't know your goal.
It forgets between chats. It won't remember yesterday's feedback.
It's confidently wrong, not carefully unsure. It won't flag its own gaps.
Its skill is uneven. Brilliant at one thing, clueless at the next.
So: give a clear goal, the context, and small steps.
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Its memory · CLAUDE.md
One file it reads every chat
The intern forgets between chats. CLAUDE.md is the fix: write your preferences once, and Claude loads them at the start of every conversation.
CLAUDE.md
# About me
I run a catering business.
Write warm and simple, in my voice.
# How to work with me
Always ask before deleting anything.
CLAUDE.mdevery new chat
Loaded at the start of every chat. Write it once, stop repeating yourself.
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Give it context
Give AI enough context
"make a website"
"a one-page site for my catering business: name, bio, 3 dishes, contact button. warm, simple."
Too little context and it stays generic. Same tool. The difference is how much you tell it.
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How you ask
Break it into small steps
Build my dashboard
List what data it shows
Lay out the page
Wire up the filters
Handle empty & error states
One big ask drops things. Small steps stay solid, and you check each one.
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A skill in action
What a skill actually does
Describe a job once, then one word runs it your way. A few your team might build:
/brand-voicewrites any email, post or newsletter in your tone
/proposalturns a client, a service and a price into your standard proposal
/deep-researchfinds the key facts with their sources, and checks them
The skill holds the context. You just say what you need.
Up next: what's actually inside one.13 / 16
What's inside a skill
A skill is just a prompt you saved
It's how you'd brief a good freelancer:
Who it should bethe role it plays
The taskwhat to do, and why
Contextwhat it should know about you
The outputwhat the result looks like
Examplesgood work to copy
Your tonehow it should sound
brand-voice / SKILL.md
name: brand-voice
description: write in my voice
# Who you are
My copywriter. Warm and playful.
# Context
I run a catering business.
# How to write
Short sentences. No jargon.
End with a friendly nudge.
That's exactly what your homework collects.
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The slash menu · live demo
Type / and your tools appear
/emma-writeswrite in my voice
/skill-creatorbuild a new skill
/smartgirls-slidesmake a session deck
/planlet Claude plan first
Every command and every skill you have, one keystroke away. Pick one, and Claude runs it your way.
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Three ways to use a skill
A skill gives an agent its context
A skill is a long, structured prompt. Three ways to put it to work:
1In the chat
You ask directly. The skill shapes the answer.
"Make a slide deck for my client pitch. Use my brand-guide skill."
2Hand it to an agent
The agent goes off and works on its own, guided by the skill.
"Send an agent to research passenger-comfort trends with the deep-research skill."
3Agents in a pipeline
One agent's work feeds the next. You review in between.
"Run two agents: one researches with deep-research, the other builds the deck with my presentation skill."
research→presentation→your deck
From a chat prompt to an orchestrated workflow.15 / 16
The most important habit
Confident is not correct
100% sure
"The 2024 report shows revenue grew 23%."
✓ TRUE
100% sure
"Smith et al. (2021) proved this in Nature."
✗ MADE UP
It can make things up, fluently. Most dangerous for numbers, sources and bookkeeping. Always verify. You stay in charge.
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Homework / next week we build it
Your own DNA skill
A good skill starts with good examples. Collect material in a Google Doc:
Your business + how you want to use AI
Texts you're proud of + a style you admire
How you sound and your brand style
Tell us what you do, and we think along while we build.15 / 16
How we do this together
A community, not a lecture
This is the first time we do it this way, so we build and share knowledge together.
Stuck or curious during the week? Post your question on the forum.
Friday, 9:00 · forum session. We answer the week's questions together.
This week: open Claude Code once and try one small thing toward your goal.