Starter guide
Start using Claude on the right foot.
The system I use every day to run my businesses with Claude. Built on what its creators teach and on what I've learned from the people who know it best.
StartFree. Five steps and seven prompts ready to copy. By Sebastián Lecona, Kataplasma.
Before you start
First it gets to know you. Then it helps you.
Most people open Claude, ask for something and wait for magic.
That's how you get generic.
Five steps. Copy the prompts as they are and change what's in brackets.
Step 1 · 5 minutes
What you do yourself
Three things Claude can't do for you. And it's good that it can't: it doesn't create accounts, type passwords or give itself permissions.
- Create your account with my link. The first 3 get a free week to try what working with a real AI assistant feels like. It only works if you've never paid for Claude; if they're gone, sign up at claude.ai.
- Get the desktop app for Mac or Windows: claude.ai/download.
- Install Claude in Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. That way Claude can use your browser for whatever has no direct connection.
Ps. Yes, it's my referral link. Full transparency.
Step 2
Let Claude set up your account
Open the app and paste this. It guides you; you just click allow.
PROMPT 1 · Setup
CopyHi Claude. I just installed you and I want your help getting my account ready to work. Guide me step by step, one thing at a time, and tell me exactly where to click. Whatever you can check yourself, check it. Whatever needs my permission, ask me.
1. Check what I have ready: the desktop app, Claude in Chrome, connectors, memory and scheduled tasks.
2. Ask me which apps I use for work (email, calendar, files, notes, social) and tell me which ones to connect first and why.
3. Help me connect them one by one. Test each one with something simple, like reading my last email or listing my recent files.
4. Help me connect the folder where my business information lives.
5. Check that memory is on.
6. Create a project with my business name.
7. At the end, give me a short list: what's connected, what's missing and what it would be for.
Don't log into any account for me or accept permissions without asking.
What you'll have connected, and why:
Your business folder: it only reads and writes in the folders you connect.
Email, calendar and Drive: it reads what you already have instead of you copying it in. It asks before sending an email or deleting a file.
Any other apps you use (Notion, Slack, Canva, whatever): one at a time.
Claude in Chrome: for whatever has no connector. Memory: so you don't have to explain everything every time.
One detail: routines that don't touch your computer run in the cloud even when it's off. The ones that use your files need the app open.
Step 3
Let it get to know you
Inside the project you just created:
PROMPT 2 · Get to know me
CopyYou're my partner for organizing this project. Before doing anything, I want you to get to know me.
1. Go through everything I shared: the project files, the folder I connected and my connected apps.
2. Make me an inventory: what's there, what each thing is about, what's duplicated, what's outdated and what's missing.
3. Ask me up to 10 questions about what you can't tell from the files: my business, my clients, my goals and how I work. One question at a time.
4. Then write a document called "Context" with: who I am, what I sell, to whom, what I have, what I'm missing and my priorities. If something isn't in my files or my answers, write MISSING instead of making it up.
5. Suggest how to organize my files and what instructions to give this project. Don't move or delete anything without asking me.
Step 4
Ask for a plan that fits you
PROMPT 3 · Your plan
CopyRead the "Context" document. I want to [your goal] by [deadline].
Before you write the plan, tell me in 3 lines what you understood and wait for my yes.
Then:
1. Give me 3 possible routes, with what each one costs in time and money and its biggest risk. Recommend one and tell me why.
2. With the one I pick, build the plan: 3 to 5 initiatives, each with 3 to 5 tasks of 1 to 3 hours, ordered for the next 14 days.
3. Tell me what we'll measure to know it's working and how often we'll review it.
4. Tell me what I need to stop doing so this fits in my week.
If you're missing something, ask me. Don't make it up.
Step 5
Build your system
A plan without a system lasts two weeks.
These pieces get Claude working with you every day and getting better over time.
PROMPT 4 · Skills
CopyGo through the plan and our conversations. Which tasks will I repeat often?
Pick the 3 that save me the most time and turn them into skills: the steps, an example of how I like the result and a checklist to review it.
Start with one and test it with me before saving it.
PROMPT 5 · Routines
CopySuggest 3 scheduled tasks that run on their own: what they do, how often they run and what they hand me.
For example: every Monday at 8, a summary of how the plan is going and what's up this week.
Only create them once I say yes.
PROMPT 6 · Memory
CopyTell me what you remember about me and this project.
Fix whatever's wrong with what I tell you, and keep only what will still be true three months from now.
PROMPT 7 · The Friday review
CopyLet's review the week: what worked, what didn't, and what we adjust in the plan, the skills and the routines.
Suggest 3 changes at most. I pick which ones go.
Turn this last one into a routine with prompt 5 and the system improves itself every week.
Three rules
The ones that have saved me some scares
Read what it's about to do before you approve it, especially if it touches important files.
If something sounds generic, ask it where it got that from.
Don't paste your clients' sensitive data. Use initials.
Go deeper
What its creators teach
Anthropic Academy's free courses: Claude 101 and Introduction to Agent Skills.
Claude's help center: support.claude.com.
Want it handy? Download the PDF.