Every time you open a new AI conversation, you start from zero. You re-explain who you are, what your business does, who your clients are, how you want to sound. You paste in the same context block. You describe your situation again. And again. And again.
There's a better version of this. One where you open your AI tool and it already knows your business — your tone, your clients, your processes, your brand voice — and you skip straight to the actual work.
That's what this article builds. A personalized AI assistant that knows your business without you re-explaining it every time. No coding required. One hour to set up. Works with tools you likely already have access to.
You can build this two ways depending on which tool you use: Claude Projects (if you're on Claude Pro) or a Custom GPT (if you're on ChatGPT Plus). Both cost $20/month. Both produce the same result. The steps are slightly different — covered separately below.
What you're actually building — and what you're not
Before the steps, let's be clear about what this is and isn't.
What it is: A persistent workspace where your AI already knows your business context, has access to your documents, and follows instructions tailored to how you work. Every conversation inside this workspace starts from that foundation — no re-explaining needed.
What it isn't: A custom-trained AI model. You're not teaching the AI new information from scratch. You're giving it your specific context, documents, and instructions so it uses its existing intelligence in a way that's calibrated to your situation. Think of it as the difference between hiring a brilliant person and then briefing them thoroughly on your business, versus hiring a different person every day and starting the briefing from scratch each time.
The result feels like having your own AI — because it behaves like one.
What to prepare before you start (15 minutes)
The setup itself takes 30–45 minutes. But the quality of what you build depends on the inputs you give it. Spend 15 minutes pulling these together before you open the tool.
Your business description (write this now):
A short paragraph — 150 to 200 words — that covers:
What you do and who you do it for
What makes your approach different from others doing the same thing
Who your ideal client is (their situation, what they're dealing with, what they need)
What you never do or say (constraints on tone or approach)
Don't overthink this. Write it as if you're explaining your business to someone you've just met at a dinner and they've asked what you do. Specific and plain is better than polished and vague.
Your tone description:
Three to five adjectives that describe how you communicate. Then one or two examples of phrases you'd never use. This is what makes the assistant sound like you rather than a generic marketing department.
Example: "Direct, warm, slightly dry. Never says 'leverage,' 'best practices,' 'value-add,' or 'reach out.' Doesn't start emails with 'Hope this finds you well.' Signs off with just my first name."
Documents to upload (optional but powerful):
If you have any of these, find them now:
Past proposals you're happy with (shows the format and tone)
Your FAQ document or answers to common client questions
Your onboarding process or client-facing guides
Examples of emails you've written that sounded exactly right
You don't need all of these. Even one good example document makes the assistant significantly more calibrated to your actual style.
Path A: Building with Claude Projects (Claude Pro — $20/month)
Claude Projects creates a persistent workspace where Claude retains your instructions and documents across every conversation within that project. The 200K token context window means you can upload roughly 500 pages of documentation if needed — though for most solo founders, a handful of documents is plenty.
Step 1: Create your project
Go to claude.ai and log in to your Pro account
In the left sidebar, click Projects
Click New Project
Give it a name that describes its purpose — "Client Communication Assistant," "Content Writing Assistant," "Business Strategy Thinking Partner" — whatever fits the main job you want it to do
Click Create Project
You can build multiple projects for different functions. Start with one for the job you do most often.
Step 2: Write your custom instructions
Inside your project, click on Set project instructions (or the instructions tab — the interface shows this prominently). This is the most important part. Everything you type here applies to every conversation in this project, permanently, without you having to repeat it.
Paste in the following, filled in for your specific business:
## Who I am
[Your business description — the 150-200 word paragraph you wrote above]
## My clients
[Describe your typical client: their industry, their situation, what they're trying to solve,
what they care about most]
## My tone and voice
[Your tone adjectives + examples of what you never say]
## How I work
[Any important details about your process, your typical deliverables,
your standard timelines, anything Claude should understand about how you operate]
## What good output looks like
[Describe the format, length, and style you want. E.g.: "Emails should be under 200 words,
three paragraphs max, end with one clear next step, sign off as [name]."
"Proposals follow this structure: situation summary → what I'm proposing →
deliverables → investment → next step."]
## What to avoid
[Phrases, approaches, or formats you don't want. Be specific.]
The more specific you are, the better the output. Vague instructions produce output that's slightly better than default. Specific instructions produce output that sounds like you.
Step 3: Upload your documents
Still inside the project, click Add content or the upload button in the knowledge base section. Upload the documents you gathered — past proposals, FAQ answers, email examples, guides.
After each upload, test it. Ask Claude a question that should draw on the document you just uploaded. If the answer references your specific content, it's working. If it gives a generic response, the document may not have parsed correctly — try a different format (plain text or PDF tend to work better than complex Word documents with heavy formatting).
Step 4: Test it on a real task
Don't just ask it generic questions. Take the actual next piece of work you need to do — the email you need to draft, the proposal you need to write, the client question you need to answer — and run it through the project now.
Read the output and ask:
Does this sound like me?
Does it reflect what I actually know about my clients?
Would I be comfortable sending this with light editing?
If yes — you've built something useful. If not, go back to your instructions and add what was missing. Getting the instructions right is an iterative process. Most people need two or three rounds of refinement before the output feels genuinely calibrated.
Step 5: Save it and use it
Every new conversation you start inside this project inherits all your instructions and documents automatically. No pasting context blocks. No re-explaining. Open the project, describe the task, get a calibrated output.
Path B: Building a Custom GPT (ChatGPT Plus — $20/month)
Custom GPTs are your own version of ChatGPT, configured with your instructions and documents. The builder at chatgpt.com/create walks you through the setup with a conversation interface that guides you through each decision.
Step 1: Go to the GPT builder
Go to chatgpt.com/create and log in to your Plus account
You'll see a split screen: the Create panel on the left (where you describe what you want) and the Preview panel on the right (where you can test it in real time)
Step 2: Use the Create tab to describe what you're building
In the Create tab, type a description of what you want your GPT to do. The builder uses this to generate a starting configuration. Be specific:
"I want to build an AI assistant for my [type of business]. It should help me draft client emails, proposals, and follow-ups. It knows my tone — [describe your tone]. It knows my typical clients — [describe them briefly]. It should never use [phrases to avoid]. It should always end emails with a single clear next step and sign off as [your name]."
The builder will ask follow-up questions and suggest a name and description for your GPT. You can accept or change these.
Step 3: Switch to Configure to refine the details
Click the Configure tab. This is where you have direct control over every setting:
Name: Give it a name that describes its job — "Client Email Assistant" or "Proposal Writer"
Instructions: Paste your full instruction block here (the same format as the Claude instructions above). This is the most important field.
Knowledge: Upload your documents — past proposals, FAQ answers, email examples. ChatGPT Plus allows up to 20 files per GPT.
Capabilities: For most solo founder use cases, leave these at defaults. Web browsing is useful if you want the GPT to reference current information; image generation is rarely needed for business writing tasks.
Step 4: Test in the Preview panel
The right side of the screen shows a live preview of your GPT. Use it. Send it the same tasks you'd normally give ChatGPT and see if the output reflects your instructions.
Common things to test:
Draft a follow-up email to a fictional client (does the tone match yours?)
Answer a typical client FAQ (does it pull from your uploaded documents?)
Write a proposal introduction for a fictional project (does it follow your format?)
Step 5: Save and set sharing
When you're happy with the output, click Create (top right). Choose your sharing setting:
Only me — keeps it private, accessible only to you. Good starting point.
Anyone with a link — lets you share it with a specific person (a contractor, a VA) without making it public
Public — lists it in the GPT store; not relevant for a business-specific assistant
Your custom GPT now appears in your ChatGPT sidebar. Click it any time to open a conversation with your personalized assistant.
The three things that make the biggest difference in quality
Whether you go with Claude Projects or a Custom GPT, three things consistently separate a useful assistant from a mediocre one:
Specificity in your tone description. "Professional and friendly" tells the AI almost nothing — that describes every business communication ever. "Direct and warm, never corporate, emails are under 200 words, signs off with just my first name, never starts with 'Hope this finds you well'" — that's something the AI can actually follow.
Real example documents. Instructions tell the AI how to behave. Example documents show it. One well-written proposal, one email thread you're proud of, one piece of content that perfectly captures your voice — these are worth more than three paragraphs of tone description. The AI can pick up patterns from examples that are hard to articulate in instructions.
Iteration, not perfection. The first version of your assistant won't be perfect. Run it on a few real tasks, note what's off, go back and add the missing instruction. Most people find the assistant gets genuinely good around the third or fourth round of refinement. Don't judge it on the first output.
Three things your AI assistant is good for from day one
Once it's built, here's where to use it immediately:
All client communication drafts. Every follow-up email, proposal, status update, difficult reply — run it through your assistant first. The tone and format are already set. You're editing a calibrated draft rather than starting from scratch.
Answering questions about your own business. Upload your FAQ document and use the assistant to draft answers to client questions you haven't written templates for yet. It draws on your existing answers and produces something consistent with how you've handled similar questions before.
Onboarding documentation. If you need to brief a contractor, write client-facing guides, or document your process — give the assistant your rough notes and ask it to produce a clean version in your voice and format. It knows your business. The output needs less editing than anything you'd produce starting from a generic AI conversation.
What this doesn't replace
An AI assistant built on your business context is significantly more useful than a generic AI conversation. But it's still not a replacement for your judgment on anything that matters.
It won't know things you haven't told it. If a client situation is genuinely unusual, the assistant will default to its general knowledge unless you describe the specific context in your message. Give it the details and it performs much better. Withhold them and you'll get a plausible but not fully calibrated response.
It needs updating as your business evolves. Your pricing changes, your positioning shifts, you add a new service — the assistant doesn't know until you update the instructions or add new documents. Build a habit of reviewing your instructions every few months and updating anything that's no longer accurate.
Do this today: Open either claude.ai or chatgpt.com. Write your business description and tone description — 15 minutes. Then follow Path A or Path B above. By the time you finish, you'll have an assistant that knows your business. The next email you write will be the last one you start completely from scratch.
Next in First Wins: How I'd Use AI If I Were Starting a Solo Business Today →
Or step back to: 5 Things You Can Automate This Week Without Any Coding →
Or go back to the pillar: ← First Wins: Get AI Working in Your Business This Week
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