How to Use ChatGPT or Claude

Pick One. Either One.

ChatGPT and Claude both work great. We'll show you both. Pick whichever one feels easier. You can always switch later.

Both have free versions that are good enough to start with. If you get hooked (you will), the paid version is $20/month.

Option A: Sign Up for ChatGPT

1. Go to chat.openai.com on your phone or computer
2. Click "Sign Up"
3. Use your Google account or enter an email and create a password
4. That's it. You're in. You'll see a text box at the bottom that says "Message ChatGPT"

Option B: Sign Up for Claude

1. Go to claude.ai on your phone or computer
2. Click "Get started for free"
3. Use your Google account or enter an email
4. Same deal. Text box at the bottom. Ready to go.

Both also have phone apps. Search "ChatGPT" or "Claude" in the App Store or Google Play. Same account, works on your phone.

Your First Conversation

Here's the thing that trips people up: it's not a search engine. You don't type keywords. You talk to it like a person.

Type this into the text box (change the details to match your business):

Hit enter. Watch it write a complete, professional email in about 5 seconds.

That's the whole trick. You just saved yourself 15 minutes of staring at your phone trying to sound professional.

How to Talk to It

There's no special language. Just be specific about what you want. Here are the three things that make a good request:

1. Tell it who you are. "I run a roofing company" or "I'm a landscaper in Dallas." This helps it give relevant answers.
2. Tell it what you want. "Write an email," "Create a social media post," "Explain this contract," "Compare these two machines."
3. Give it the details. Customer name, job specifics, your prices, your timeline. The more details you give, the better the answer.

Bad request:

Too vague. It'll give you generic garbage.

Good request:

Specific. It'll give you something you can actually post.

Try These Right Now

Copy and paste any of these into ChatGPT or Claude. Change the details to match your business:

It Remembers the Conversation

One huge benefit: it remembers what you said earlier in the same conversation. So you can say:

1. "I run a fencing company in Portland."
2. "Write me a quote for a customer who wants 200 feet of cedar privacy fence at $45/foot."
3. "Now make it friendlier."
4. "Add a line about our 5-year warranty."

Each message builds on the last one. You're having a conversation, not starting over each time.

Start a New Chat for New Topics

When you switch to a completely different task, start a new conversation. There's a button that says "New chat" (ChatGPT) or "New conversation" (Claude). This keeps things organized and prevents the AI from getting confused about what you're working on.

Free vs Paid: Is $20/Month Worth It?

The free version has limits -- it cuts you off after a certain number of messages and uses a less powerful version of the AI.

The $20/month paid version:

• Uses the smartest version of the AI (much better writing quality)
• No message limits during normal use
• Can handle longer documents and more complex requests
• Keeps your data private (not used for training)

If you use it more than once a day, the paid version pays for itself by the end of week one. That's less than a tank of gas.

You Just Learned AI

Seriously. That's 90% of what you need to know. Everything else is just learning better ways to ask questions and finding more uses for it in your business.

The people charging $500 for "AI courses" are teaching you what you just learned in 5 minutes of reading.