There’s something I hear almost every time I sit down with an owner who’s tried ChatGPT.
“It was kind of generic.”
And they’re right. It was. But here’s the thing — that’s not the tool’s fault. It’s almost always because the question was generic too. “How do I get more customers.” “Write me a marketing plan.” “How do I grow my business.”
It’s what everyone types first. Ask a generic question, get a generic answer. The tool did exactly what it was told.
The Part Everyone’s Selling, and the Part That Actually Matters
Every week there’s something new to buy. A better tool, a prompt pack, a course on the prompts. And look, the tools are fine. Most of them are free or close to it.
But the part that makes any of it work? That’s not in the tool. That’s in you.
You already know which job in your week is the one that nags at you. You know what a good result looks like for your business, not some imaginary business in a blog post. You know what you’d never want going out with your name on it.
The tool has none of that until you give it to it. That’s the whole game.
Think of it like this — a good advisor doesn’t know more about your business than you do. They just know which question to ask next. That’s exactly what you’re doing when you set up one of these tools right. You’re giving it the knots to pull apart, and it pulls.
What Happens When Nobody Tells It the Rules
Here’s a real example of what I mean.
There’s a quote follow-up tool on this site. It writes one short message to a customer who went quiet after an estimate. And there’s a list of phrases it’s never allowed to use — “just checking in” is at the top, because every owner alive has typed it, cringed, and deleted it.
In a live run, with that rule sitting right there, it opened the message with “just checking if you’d like to move ahead.”
Capable model. Wrote the phrase anyway. Because that’s the most common way people start that message, and common is what these things reach for when nobody tells them better.
The fix wasn’t a smarter model. It was a simple check: if that phrase shows up, throw it out and try again. Six runs later — including one where I pushed it to “just check in gently” — not one message came back with the phrase in it.
The review request tool works the same way. Ask it to only reach out to your happy customers and it won’t do it. Not because the model has some moral compass, but because somebody told it what the rule was.
What you know is the valuable part. The tool just writes it down.
How to Actually Use ChatGPT in Your Business
Start with a job, not the tool.
Pick one thing you do every week, personally, that you’ve been meaning to do better. Not the biggest thing — the one that nags. (If you want ideas, here are six jobs that should basically run themselves.)
Then write down, in your own words, two or three sentences: what does a good result look like, and what must it never do? That part only you can write.
Hand the tool those sentences and the facts of the job. Leave out customer names and account numbers — on a free plan, assume what you type could be used to train the model. Read what comes back. If it sounds like a stranger wrote it, say so and tell it how you’d actually say it.
Keep what sounds like you. Throw away the rest.
That’s it. Nobody needs a course for that. You’ve already had the hard part for years.
The One Job Worth Starting With
If I had to pick one job for every owner reading this, it’s the same one every time.
Find out how much of your money actually reaches you.
Not revenue. Not the profit number you’ll see in April. I mean: what comes in the door each month, what you’ve billed, what you’ve actually collected, and what lands in your own account as pay.
Most owners I talk to have never put those four numbers side by side. Not because they can’t. Because the answer is right there, and it’s easier not to look at it on a Tuesday.
So I built a free tool that asks for those four numbers and tells you what they say — one paragraph, plain words, two minutes.
It’s the question that lands hardest. Every time.
No email. We don’t save what you type.
Here’s the shape of what it tells you (numbers below are made up to show the format):
You run about $38,000 a month through this business, and about $3,100 of it reaches you. You’ve earned $11,000 you haven’t collected yet. The money isn’t missing — it’s already in the business. It just isn’t being routed to you.
That’s what a good question looks like when it has your actual numbers in it.
What’s Next
If you want to go deeper — all the questions, not just that one — there’s a paid version you run yourself in your own ChatGPT or Claude. Takes about three hours. The tool page has the details.
But start with the one. Four numbers. Two minutes. One paragraph.
Then go back to your week knowing one true thing you didn’t know this morning. That’s what these tools are actually for.
The rest was always yours.
Common Questions
How should a small business owner use ChatGPT?
Start with one job you do every week, not with the tool. Write two or three sentences in your own words about what a good result looks like and what it must never do. Give the tool those sentences and the facts of the job, keep what sounds like you, and throw away the rest.
Why does ChatGPT give me generic answers about my business?
Because it was asked a generic question. “How do I get more customers” gets the same answer for every business on earth. Give it the facts of your shop, a specific job and your own rules, and the answer stops being generic.
What’s the best first job to give AI in a small business?
Finding out how much of your money actually reaches you. Put four numbers side by side: what comes in each month, what you’ve billed, what you’ve collected, and what lands in your own account. Most owners I talk to have never looked at those together.
Do I need to pay for ChatGPT or Claude to use it for my business?
No. The free versions handle a job like this, and a paid plan mostly removes the waiting when you hit a message limit. On a free plan, assume what you type may be used to improve the model, so leave out customer names and account numbers.
Is AI going to replace a business consultant?
It already replaces a lot of what consultants charge for: the research, the plans, the first drafts. It doesn’t replace knowing which question to ask next about your business. I’m a consultant, so weigh that, and try one of those questions yourself for free before you hire anyone.
The quote-tool run is real and is described as it happened; the money-finding example is made up to show the format. Education only—not financial, tax, or legal advice.
Get next Tuesday’s essay. One a week on the business of your business — no pitch, no course, no funnel, just the next layer of the fog, taken apart.
You’re on the list. See you Tuesday.