How to actually use Claude.

Most people's first go with AI falls flat, so they figure it's overhyped. It isn't. Once the one idea below clicks, you'll get something genuinely useful on your very first try. And no, you don't need to be techy.

Watch first · 4 min with Mark

▲ your short video sits here

New to Claude? It's just a box you type into.

Claude's a helper you talk to by typing, kind of like texting someone really capable. Head to claude.ai, type your message in the box, and hit Enter. Nothing to install.

claude.ai

You

Give me three subject line ideas for a spring promo email.

Sure, here are three: "Spring's here, let's green up your yard," "Book now and beat the rush," or "Your free spring lawn check."

Type your message here...↑

The lesson

Claude's a new hire on day one.

Here's why the first try usually flops. The moment you open Claude, it knows nothing about you. It's never met your customers, seen your prices, or heard how you talk, and it can't look you up anywhere. All it's got is whatever you type into that box.

So picture a sharp new hire on their first morning. You walk over, say "write a follow-up email," and walk off. They've got no choice but to guess:

?Who's it from, and what do they do?

?Who's it going to, and about what?

?Friendly? Formal? How should it sound?

?A quick note, or three paragraphs?

That's a lot to guess, so they play it safe and hand you something bland that could belong to anyone. They're not bad at the job. You just didn't tell them anything. And Claude does the exact same thing:

✕Hi there, just following up on my last email. Let me know if you have any questions!

A safe, generic guess. That's where "AI is overhyped" comes from.

You're not searching Claude. You're briefing it.

The more of the real situation you hand over, the better the answer you get back. That's the whole skill, honestly. And you've already got it, because you brief people all the time.

The example

Now watch Dave brief it.

Dave runs a little two-person landscaping business. He quoted a customer named Sarah $4,200 on Tuesday, and now he wants to follow up. This time he actually answers the stuff Claude would've had to guess. He types what he'd tell a coworker:

Dave's Business

To Claude, this is a total blank. It's never met Sarah, doesn't know about the $4,200 quote, and has no idea how Dave talks to his customers. So he spells it out.

Who he isI run a small landscaping business.

What he wantsWrite a follow-up email to Sarah about the $4,200 quote from Tuesday.

How it soundsFriendly, never pushy.

How longUnder 120 words.

then press Enter ↵

↓

✓Hi Sarah, it was great meeting you Tuesday. No rush at all on the $4,200 quote. I can hold that price through Friday if that helps. Any questions, just reply. Thanks, Dave

Same tool, same question. Dave just briefed it, so there was nothing left to guess.

All Dave did, and you can do it on anything:

Said who he is
Said what he wants
Said how it should sound
Said how long

One more line

Never let it guess.

Even when you brief it well, you'll forget something now and then. Tack this onto the end and Claude will ask you instead of making something up:

"If anything's missing, ask me before you guess."

⬇ The fill-in message

The four lines with blanks, plus three worked examples. Copy, fill in, reuse. Free, yours to keep.

Get the template

Try it today. Open Claude, grab one small email you've been putting off, and brief it with those four lines. That's your first win.

Next up. You'll get sick of retyping your background into every chat, so next we fix it for good: you write your business down once, and every answer already knows who you are.