Your First 10 Minutes With AI
Before AI came along, I spent about 20 years building websites and selling products online, including on Amazon. These days I use AI every day, in my own business and for my clients.
I know the people reading this are all over the map. Some of you use ChatGPT every day, and some of you have never opened it. A few of you would be just as happy if AI went away. That's fine. I know some parts of it pretty well and I'm still learning others, because it changes every few weeks.
So I'm starting at the very beginning. If you're past the basics, skip down to "Tell it about yourself," because that part helps at every level.
What these tools are
ChatGPT is the one most people have heard of. Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot are the same kind of tool. You type to it the way you'd text a person, and it types back.
The big difference from Google is what comes back. Google gives you a list of links to go read. An AI tool reads your question and writes you an answer in plain sentences, and then you can keep talking to it. Tell it "shorter" or "friendlier" or "now make it a Facebook post," and it rewrites the whole thing.
How to try it today
You need a computer or a phone and about 10 minutes.
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Go to chatgpt.com, or download the ChatGPT app on your phone.
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Sign up for a free account. The free version is fine for learning.
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Type in a real job from your week, something you've been putting off. A real job teaches you a lot more than a trivia question does.
Which AI tool you pick doesn't matter much. I use several, and they all work the same basic way.
What to ask it first
Copy any of these, change the details to fit your business and see what comes back.
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"A customer emailed, upset that we were closed when our website said we'd be open. Write a short, friendly apology I can send back."
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"Write a job posting for a part-time front desk clerk at a family-run hotel. Keep it friendly and under 150 words."
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"Give me 10 ideas for a fall special at a coffee shop in a small Iowa town."
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"Explain this in plain English, and tell me if anything in it should worry me." Then paste in the confusing part of a contract or letter, with names and account numbers taken out.
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"Turn these notes into a to-do list, most urgent first." Then paste in your notes from a meeting or a phone call.
You're typing the way you'd write an email, nothing more technical than that.
Tell it about yourself
AI knows an amazing amount about the world, and nothing about you or your business until you tell it. I think of it as a genius child. You have to give it attention, tell it exactly what you want and keep talking to it.
Compare these two requests.
Vague: "Write a Facebook post about our sale."
Better: "I own a hardware store in Fairfield, Iowa. Most of my customers are homeowners and farmers who can't stand hype. Write a short Facebook post about our fall sale, 20 percent off all paint through October 15. Keep it under 60 words, with no exclamation points."
The first gets you a post that could have come from any store in America. The second sounds a lot more like you, because you told it who you are and who's reading.
If you don't like what comes back, say why. A lot of people try it once, get something bland and say, well, AI is not really good. Tell it what's wrong instead: too long, too stiff, wrong price, sounds like a robot. In my experience it gets there within a try or two.
When you're not sure what to tell it, let it ask you. Type "Before you write anything, ask me five questions about my business, one at a time," and then answer them.
Two things to watch
First, it can be confidently wrong. AI sometimes makes up a fact, a number or a quote, and it says it in the same tone as the true stuff. The tech crowd calls this "hallucinating," which basically means making things up. So check anything that matters before you use it, like prices, dates, rules and anything with your name on it.
Read the whole answer, too. AI likes to add stuff you never asked for. I've read things it wrote for me and thought, I didn't ask you to pretend I do nuclear fusion on the side.
Second, be careful what you paste in. Free accounts can use what you type to train the AI, though most let you switch that off in the settings. For client work I only use paid business accounts that don't learn from what I type. On a free account, a simple rule works: don't type anything you wouldn't want a stranger to read. That means no customer lists, no Social Security numbers, no passwords and no bank details.
Your homework
Pick one small, real job this week and hand it to AI. Maybe a reply you've been putting off, or a description you hate writing. See what comes back, then tell it what to fix.
In future columns I'll get into making AI sound like you instead of a robot, checking its work and picking the right tool for the job. If there's something you'd like me to cover, or something that went sideways when you tried it, send it through the contact page on my website. I may answer it here.
Andrew Voskov
Cherry Pi AI, Fairfield
Marketing, bookkeeping and custom AI tools for small businesses
(641) 276-6999
cherrypiai.com
