AI Foundations Masterclass

You are helping me build a permanent "About You" context file about me, the business owner.

This file will be saved and reused forever - every time I ask you to write something or help me with my business, you'll read this file first so you understand who I am, my background, and where I need support. Treat it as the source of truth about me as a person and operator.

Keep this file focused on ME. Don't capture how my content should sound (that's my Voice & Tone file) or the details of what my business sells and charges (that's my About Your Business file). Just me.

Interview me to build it. Ask ONE question at a time, wait for my answer, then ask the next - never dump a list of questions on me. Use plain, warm English, and briefly tell me why each question matters. Keep your questions concrete and easy to answer from real memory, not abstract - I should be able to picture real moments rather than guess at big-picture labels. If I give you a thin or vague answer, don't just move on: reword the question, give me an example of the kind of detail you're after, and gently ask again until the answer is real and specific.

This file is shorter than my others, so don't over-interview me - aim for roughly 8–12 questions, and use fewer if my answers are already rich.

Work through it in this order:

1. GET YOUR BEARINGS - quickly: my name, my role, and what my business is in one line.

2. MY CAREER JOURNEY (spend the most time here) - draw my professional story out of me, as a story. How did I end up here? What's my background and expertise? What did I do before this? Why did I start my own business - what was the reason or the moment? What do I actually know deeply from all of that? Ask follow-ups like a good interviewer would, so we capture a rich snapshot of my professional life and hard-won knowledge. This context is what makes everything you write for me later sound like it comes from someone who's been there.

3. STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES (keep this brief) - what I'm genuinely great at, and the tasks I'm not good at or don't enjoy, so you know where to step in and carry the load for me.

4. THEN A FEW SHORT PRACTICAL QUESTIONS (my suggested "guaranteed asks" - tweak as needed):
   - Who else is in my business with me, if anyone? (Solo, a VA, contractors, a small team?)
   - How comfortable am I with tech and AI right now, honestly?
   - What's the one thing I'd most love your help with going forward?

When you're done, write the finished file as a clean, lean context file in markdown, with clear headings and short, skimmable sections - no long essays, no padding. Keep it to these sections only:
  1. Who I am - role and business in a line
  2. My career journey - the professional story, background and expertise
  3. Strengths & weaknesses - what I'm great at, and where I need you to step in
  4. Working context - who's in my business, my tech comfort, and what I most want help with

Write it so it's genuinely useful for you to read before helping me, not padded.

You are helping me build a permanent "About Your Business" context file. This file will be saved and reused forever - every time I ask you to write something, plan, or make something, you'll read this file first so you understand my business inside out. Treat it as the source of truth about what my business is and does.

Keep this file focused on the BUSINESS. Don't capture my personal background and story (that's my About You file) or how my content should sound (that's my Voice & Tone file).

Work through this in three stages.

STAGE 1 - INTERVIEW ME (one question at a time) 
Interview me to understand my business. Ask ONE question at a time, wait for my answer, then ask the next - never dump a list of questions on me. Use plain, warm English, and briefly tell me why each question matters. Keep your questions concrete and easy to answer from real experience, not abstract. If I give you a thin or vague answer, don't just move on: reword the question, give me an example of the kind of detail you're after, and gently ask again until the answer is real and specific.

Aim for roughly 10–15 questions, and use fewer if my answers are already rich.
Cover:
  - What my business is and what I actually sell - get a clear, plain description.
  - My offers and pricing - walk me through each of my products or services and what I charge for them, and capture this CLEARLY and specifically (the actual offers and the actual prices). This matters, so take the time to list them properly. Don't ask me about costs, margins or profit - just what I sell and what I charge.
  - Who I sell to - a quick sense of the kinds of customers I serve (keep this light).
  - What makes me different - why people choose me over the alternatives, in my own words.
  - My market and industry - what world my business sits in, so you have context.

STAGE 2 - LIGHT RESEARCH
Once you understand my business, do some light research on my industry and market to round out the picture - the state of my industry, how the market's moving, and anything relevant to how a business like mine operates. Prioritise New Zealand context first, then useful global context. Keep it light and relevant - this isn't a full market report. Never invent a statistic or a source; if you're not sure, say so.

STAGE 3 - WRITE THE FILE
Write the finished file as a clean, lean context file in markdown, with clear headings and short, skimmable sections - no long essays, no padding. Keep it to these sections only:
  1. What my business is - one line, plus what I sell
  2. My offers and pricing - each offer and its price, listed clearly
  3. Who I sell to - a short overview of my customers
  4. What makes me different - my positioning in my own words
  5. My market and industry context - the relevant picture, informed by your research

Write it so it's genuinely useful for you to read before helping me, not padded.

You are helping me build a permanent ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) context file for my business. This file will be saved and reused forever - every time I ask you to write content, plan marketing, or make something for my business, you'll read this file first so everything you make speaks directly to the right person. Treat it as the source of truth for who I sell to. So it needs to be accurate to the real human I'm trying to reach.

Work through this in four stages. Do not skip ahead or rush me.

STAGE 1 - INTERVIEW ME (one question at a time)
Interview me to understand my ideal customer. Ask ONE question at a time, wait for my answer, then ask the next. Never dump a list of questions on me. Use plain, warm English - no marketing jargon - and briefly tell me why each question matters so I know what you're digging for.

If I give you a vague or thin answer (like "professional women" or "small businesses"), don't accept it and move on. Reword the question, give me an example of the kind of detail you're after, and ask again to draw out something richer and more specific. Keep gently pushing until the answer is concrete.

First, get your bearings: ask me what my business does and who I sell to. If I've already made an "About Your Business" context file, tell me I can paste it in here to save time.

If I'm fuzzy about who my ideal customer is (this is normal), don't leave me staring at a blank page - take what you know about my business and propose a starting persona, then refine it with me from there.

Then anchor the whole persona in my REAL best clients. Ask me to think of the clients who fit ALL THREE of these at once - not just one of them:
  1. the ones I genuinely love working with, AND
  2. the ones who bring in the most money, AND
  3. the ones who come back / stay the longest.

Make it clear this is NOT just my highest-paying client, or just my favourite, or just my most loyal - it's the person who sits in the overlap of all three. Ask me to name up to three of them, and for each one, pull as much detail out of me as you can: who they are, what their business or life looks like, why they came to me, what they were struggling with, why they stay, and what they have in common. These people are the blueprint for the ICP.

Now the important part: don't ask me abstract questions about my customers' "deep fears" or "psychographics" - I won't know how to answer those, and that's exactly what you'll research in Stage 2. Instead, ask me concrete, observational questions about what I've actually NOTICED across these clients, so I can picture real people rather than guess at psychology.

Ask things like:
  - What do they say when they first get in touch with me? What words do they use to
    describe their problem?
  - What do they complain about, or seem stressed or embarrassed about?
  - What have they usually tried before me that didn't work?
  - What makes them hesitate right before they commit? What objection comes up most?
  - What do they say once I've solved it for them - how do they describe the relief?
  - What do they have in common - age, life stage, type of business, situation?
  - Where did they find me, and where do I actually see these people (which platforms,
    places, events, groups)?

Draw out the patterns I've seen firsthand. Treat my answers as raw observations - you'll use them as clues and research the deeper psychology, fears, motivations and money mindset yourself in Stage 2.

Tailor EVERY one of these questions very specifically to my exact business and my exact demographic - not generic, templated questions. Where I'd find my customer, what they worry about, and what reaches them depends entirely on what I sell, so make each question feel like it was written for my business and no one else's.

Aim for roughly 15–20 questions, but be smart about it - if my early answers are already rich and detailed, you need fewer follow-ups; if they're thin, dig deeper. Assess what you've got and decide as you go.

STAGE 2 - RESEARCH

Once you understand my customer from what I've observed, research the parts I can't tell you myself - the deeper layer. Find real facts, figures and behavioural insights about this type of person: their underlying fears and motivations, what they truly want, how they think about and spend money, their broader psychology, and where and how they consume media and buy. Fill in the gaps beyond what I noticed firsthand, and use my observations to point you in the right direction. Prioritise New Zealand data and NZ context first (including Kiwi
realities like tall-poppy discomfort and reluctance to self-promote where relevant), then layer in strong global research that also applies. Only skip the NZ focus if I've told you my target market isn't in New Zealand.

Do a genuine hunt for this - but never invent a statistic or a source. If you can't find something solid, say so, and mark anything shaky as "directional." This isn't an academic paper that anyone will fact-check; the goal is that it FEELS true and accurate to the real person I'm selling to, so that everything I later create with it genuinely lands with them.

STAGE 3 - LINE IT UP
Bring the research back to me and compare it against what I told you in Stage 1. Where the research confirms, adds to, or challenges what I said, tell me - then ask me another round of questions to reconcile the two, so the final profile matches the real person I see, not just the averages. Keep this conversational.

STAGE 4 - WRITE THE FILE
Write the finished ICP as a clean, lean context file in markdown, with clear headings and short, skimmable sections (no long essays). Keep it to these core sections only:

  1. One-line ICP - a single sentence capturing who they are, including their key demographics
  2. Who they are - a short demographic snapshot
  3. Their problems and fears - what frustrates them and what they're afraid of
  4. What they want - the outcome they're really buying
  5. Their relationship with money - how they think about spending and deciding
  6. How they buy and what stops them - their buying behaviour and main objections
  7. Where to find them - the exact channels, platforms and places to reach them, specific to
     my business

Do NOT include archetypes, an anti-persona, an appendix, or a sources list inside the file - keep it tight, because I'll be feeding this file into other tools and every extra word costs me. Write it so it's genuinely useful, not padded.

Then, SEPARATELY in the chat (not in the file), give me the list of sources you drew on and a short note on how confident you are in the data, so I can see where it came from. That part stays in the chat only.

You are helping me build a permanent "Voice & Tone" context file. This file will be saved and reused forever. Every time you write something for me (emails, posts, content), you'll read it first so it sounds like ME, not generic AI. Treat it as the source of truth for how I write.

We'll keep this quick.

STEP 1: Ask me to paste in 2 to 3 things I've actually written myself, like an email, a social post, a newsletter, or a message to a client, ideally a couple of different types. Tell me they don't need to be perfect. You just need real samples of how I naturally write.

STEP 2: Read my samples closely and work out my actual voice: my tone, how long and how formal my sentences are, the words and phrases I reach for, my quirks, my formatting habits, and how I open and close things. Notice what makes my writing recognisably mine.

STEP 3: Ask me just two quick questions:
  - Are there any words, phrases or styles I hate and never want used?
  - Do these samples reflect how I want to sound, or is there anything about my writing I'd like to change or lift?

STEP 4: Write the finished file as a clean, lean context file in markdown, short and skimmable. Keep it to these sections only:
  1. My tone: how I come across, in a line or two
  2. My style: sentence length, formality, structure and formatting habits
  3. Words and phrases: ones I use naturally, and ones to avoid
  4. Never use these: include the full banned list below, exactly as written, so nothing you
     write for me ever sounds like AI

Put this banned list into the file word for word under "Never use these":

BANNED WORDS AND PHRASES (never use these in anything you write for me):
here's the thing, let that sink in, the hidden tax, the gap between, the quiet shift, this changes everything, a masterclass in, unlock your potential, what if I told you, read that again, stop doing X, harness the power of, the future is here, but here's the kicker, let's unpack this / unpack, make no mistake, the takeaway, buckle up, plot twist, dive in / dive deep / dive deep into / let's dive, delve, game-changer / game changer / game-changing, move the needle / moving the needle / needle moving, low hanging fruit, best in class, double edged sword, the bottom line, elevate your game, take it to the next level, transformative / transformation (only if literally true), seamless, robust, leverage (as a verb), navigate (as a metaphor), landscape / in today's landscape (as a metaphor), journey / on this journey / entrepreneurial journey (as a metaphor), ecosystem (unless a real product
structure), shift (as a metaphor, e.g. "a quiet shift"), quietly (as a metaphor, e.g. "quietly building"), at the end of the day, in today's world / in today's fast-paced environment, it goes without saying, I hope this finds you well, circle back, touch base, reach out (use "get in touch" or "contact us"), going forward, pain points, value proposition, hustle / grind, boss babe / girlboss, tribe (in a business context), empower / empowerment, passionate about, excited to announce, thrilled to share.

BANNED CONSTRUCTIONS (never use these sentence patterns):
"it's not X, it's Y"; "no X, no Y, just Z"; "not just X, but Y" used repeatedly.

STRUCTURAL RULES:
- Em dashes: never use them, in any context. Use a full stop, a comma, or rewrite the
  sentence.
- Don't start sentences with "And" or "But" as a running pattern.
- Don't stack rhetorical questions back to back.
- Don't open with "So," as a conversational crutch.
- Don't use lists of three adjectives as a sentence ("Clear. Confident. Capable.") as a
  formula.

You are helping me build a reusable Claude skill. A skill is a saved, reusable ability. Once it exists, you load it automatically whenever a task matches it, so I never have to re-explain how I want that job done.

Interview me briefly, one question at a time. Wait for each answer before the next, use plain English, and if an answer is vague, reword it and ask again until it's clear. Keep it to around 3 to 5 questions. Cover:
  - What I want this skill to do (the task it handles for me).
  - When it should kick in, so you know when to load it automatically.
  - Whether I have any examples of this task already done well that you can use as a benchmark
    for the quality and style I want. Ask this, because most of the time a good example makes
    the output much better, but it's optional, so if I don't have one, carry on.
  - Which of my context files in my Context Files folder it should use as the source of truth
    about me and my business.

Then build the skill. It MUST include all of the following:

1. Use my context files: reference the relevant ones so every output knows me, my business and my customer.

2. Follow my banned language, always: every single time this skill produces any text, you must read the "Never use these" banned list in my Voice & Tone context file and follow it exactly. This is non-negotiable, it applies to every output with no exceptions, so nothing ever sounds like AI.

3. A "Never do" list: include one inside the skill, and start it empty.

4. Progressive updating: after you give me an output from this skill, ask me for feedback. If I'm happy (for example "that's perfect" or "that's really good"), note what worked so you keep doing it. If I'm unhappy or point something out, add that lesson to the "Never do" list in this skill so you never repeat it. Over time that list grows and the skill gets better and more like what I want.

If I gave you examples, use them as the benchmark for what a good output looks like.

Finally, give the skill a clear name and a short description of when it should trigger, so it loads automatically at the right moments.