Briji AI Masterclass — Lesson 1

Get Claude Ready
for Real Work

Most people open Claude and start typing. That's why most people get average results. This setup takes 20 minutes. It changes every session after it.

By the end of this lesson you will have:

A Claude account configured for business use
Memory enabled so Claude learns your context over time
Global instructions that shape every response automatically
A response style Claude follows by default
Your first project workspace set up
Proof it works — a real output from your first structured prompt

Create Your Account

The right foundation from day one

Go to claude.ai and create your account. You have two options:

Free Plan

Good for exploring Claude and running occasional prompts. Conversation length and file uploads are limited. Fine to start with — upgrade when you're ready to go deeper.

Recommended

Claude Pro $20/mo

Required for serious business use. Unlocks Projects, longer context windows, file uploads, and priority access. This masterclass is built assuming you're on Pro.

Desktop App vs Browser

Either works. The Claude desktop app (available at claude.ai/download) opens instantly, stays out of your browser tabs, and makes it easier to build a daily habit. We recommend it for everyday business use.

→Action: Create your account at claude.ai before continuing. If you're managing a team, explore claude.ai/teams for shared workspaces and admin controls.

Enable Memory

Let Claude learn who you are

Without memory, every Claude conversation starts from zero. You re-explain your role, your business, your preferences — every single time. Memory eliminates that entirely.

What Memory Actually Does

Claude doesn't record or store your full conversations. It extracts useful facts and preferences from them and builds a running summary — things like your role, your communication style, and recurring context. You can view exactly what it stores, edit it, or delete anything at any time.

How to turn it on:

Click your name or avatar in the bottom-left corner of Claude
Go to Settings
Click "Memory" in the left menu
Toggle it on

That's it. From this point forward, Claude builds a profile of you across sessions. The longer you use it, the less setup each conversation requires.

Write Your Global Instructions

The standing orders every conversation follows

What Are Global Instructions?

Global Instructions are rules Claude applies to every single conversation — regardless of topic or task. Think of them as the onboarding document you'd give a new employee: your preferences, your communication style, your non-negotiables. Set them once, benefit from them forever.

How to set them:

Go to Settings
Click "Profile" or "Personalization"
Find "What would you like Claude to know about you?"
Paste and customize the template below

Your Global Instructions — Starting Template

My name is [Your Name]. I am [Your Role] at [Your Company Name].

What I primarily use Claude for:
- [Use case 1 - e.g., drafting client-facing communications]
- [Use case 2 - e.g., reviewing contracts and flagging key clauses]
- [Use case 3 - e.g., building automations and internal workflows]

My clients are: [describe in one sentence - industry, size, typical need]
Industry: [your industry]

What I need from you:
- Be direct. No filler phrases like "Certainly!" or "Great question!"
- When you're uncertain, say so explicitly - don't guess and present it as fact
- Format long responses with headers and bullet points
- Match my tone when writing: [professional / concise / conversational]
- Skip disclaimers unless there is a genuine legal or safety reason to include one

Set Your Response Style

Control how Claude communicates with you

Why This Matters

Without response style settings, Claude defaults to whatever it thinks is appropriate — which often means long, hedged, over-explained responses you have to trim down. These settings fix that at the source.

How to set it:

Go to Settings → Profile
Find "How would you like Claude to respond?"
Paste and adjust the template below

Response Style Template

Keep responses concise unless I specifically ask for depth.
Use headers and bullet points for anything longer than 3 paragraphs.
Never open a response with "I" or with affirmations like "Sure!" or "Of course!"
When I give you a task, complete it - don't ask clarifying questions unless something is genuinely ambiguous.
If I share a document or paste text, analyze it without summarizing back what I just gave you.
Skip filler transitions and lead with the actual answer.

Customize, Don't Copy Blindly

These templates are a starting point. The most effective global instructions are specific to your real workflow. As you use Claude over the next few days, note what you keep having to correct — then add those corrections to your settings permanently.

Create Your First Project

A dedicated workspace for every recurring workflow

What Is a Project?

Projects are Claude's dedicated workspaces. Each project has its own instructions, file library, and conversation history — completely separate from everything else. Use one project per client, per department, or per recurring workflow you manage. Your global instructions still apply; project instructions add a second layer on top.

How to create one:

In Claude's left sidebar, click "New Project"
Give it a specific, descriptive name (e.g., "Client Intake Process" or "Contract Review")
Click "Project Instructions" and add your context
Upload relevant files — SOPs, templates, brand guidelines, past examples

Project Instructions Template

This project is for: [specific workflow, client type, or department]

Background context:
- [Key fact 1 - e.g., client industry, relevant regulations, workflow stage]
- [Key fact 2 - e.g., common deliverable types, recurring challenges]

Output rules for this project:
- Default format: [bullets / prose / email / memo / structured report]
- Tone: [formal / conversational / client-ready]
- Always include: [e.g., a one-sentence summary at the top]
- Never include: [e.g., passive voice, hedging language, legal disclaimers]

Run Your First Structured Prompt

See the difference immediately

Most people prompt like this:

"Write me an email to a client about the project update."

That gets you generic output you'll rewrite from scratch. Here is the structure that gets you something immediately usable:

The Structured Prompt Framework

Task: [What you need - be specific about the output type]

Context:
- Who this is for: [audience]
- Background: [1–3 sentences of relevant context]
- Any constraints or history: [deadlines, prior conversations, sensitivities]

Output requirements:
- Format: [email / bullet list / memo / summary / analysis]
- Length: [short / under 200 words / as long as needed]
- Tone: [formal / direct / warm / persuasive]

Deliver the output directly. No preamble.

Why This Works

The difference between a vague prompt and a structured one isn't just output quality — it's the editing time afterward. A structured prompt produces something 80% ready to use. A vague one produces something you'll spend 20 minutes rewriting. At scale, across dozens of tasks per week, that gap compounds into hours saved.

Briji AI Masterclass — Lesson 2

Brief Claude on
Your Business

Claude was trained on the entire internet. It knows accounting, marketing, customer psychology, and supply chains. But it has no idea your business exists. This lesson fixes that.

By the end of this lesson you will have:

A plain-English business brief Claude can reference every session
Your ideal customer described so Claude can write for them — not at them
Your communication voice captured in writing
All of it loaded into Claude so it works immediately
Your first real business task completed with personalized output

Why Claude Gives Generic Answers

The blank slate problem — and why it's your fix, not Claude's

Most people open Claude and ask something like: "Write me an Instagram caption for my new product." Claude writes something technically correct, mildly enthusiastic, and completely forgettable. They assume AI just isn't that good yet.

That's not what's happening. Claude gave a generic answer because you gave it nothing to work with. It doesn't know what you sell, who your customers are, what your brand sounds like, or what makes your business different. So it defaults to the middle — which is what every average result looks like.

The Real Problem

Claude isn't generic by default. It's generic when it lacks context. The moment you give it a complete picture of your business, the outputs change entirely. This lesson is about building that picture — once — so every conversation you have from here forward starts from a place of actual knowledge about you.

Without a business brief

Claude writes like a marketing intern on their first day. Technically fine. Sounds like nobody in particular. Requires heavy editing before you'd ever use it.

With a business brief

Claude writes like someone who's worked with you for months. It knows your industry, your customers, your tone, and your goals. First draft is usually 80% usable.

Personal Use vs. Business Use

Not running a business? Swap "business" for "life context." Tell Claude your situation, your goals, your constraints. The same principle holds: context in, quality out.

Write Your Business Brief

The one document that changes everything

Think of this as the one-page overview you'd hand a new employee on day one. What do you actually do? Who do you serve? What does a normal week look like? Write it in plain language — no corporate speak, no buzzwords. Just honest, specific information about your business.

What Makes a Good Business Brief

Specifics beat generalities every time. "I run a bakery" is less useful than "I run a custom cake business that specializes in weddings and milestone birthdays, mostly for customers in their 30s who care about presentation as much as taste." The more specific you are, the more useful Claude becomes.

Business Brief Template — Fill This In

My business: [What you do in one or two plain sentences]

What I sell: [Products, services, or both — be specific]

My customers are: [Who they are, what they want, what they struggle with]

What makes my business different: [Your actual edge — not "great service", something real]

My busiest periods or seasons: [When things get hectic, what drives it]

Tools and platforms I use daily: [e.g., Instagram, Square, Mailchimp, Shopify, QuickBooks]

My biggest time drains right now: [Where you lose hours every week]

Goals for the next 6 months: [What you're actually trying to accomplish]

→Action: Copy the template above, fill it in for your business, and keep it open — you'll paste it into Claude in Step 5.

Describe Your Ideal Customer

Claude can't write for your customer if it doesn't know who they are

Every piece of content you create, every email you send, every social post you write — it's all aimed at a specific type of person. When Claude knows that person clearly, it stops writing for everybody and starts writing for them.

Customer Profile Template

My ideal customer:

Who they are: [Age range, situation in life, what they do — paint a picture, not a demographic]

What they're trying to accomplish when they hire me or buy from me: [The real goal underneath the purchase]

What they worry about before buying: [Price, quality, reliability — what's the hesitation?]

How they find me: [Instagram, Google, referrals, local foot traffic]

What they say after a great experience: [Paste real reviews or testimonials here]

What they would never respond to: [Pushy sales language, corporate jargon, overly formal tone]

Use Real Reviews, Not Guesses

If you have Google reviews, Yelp reviews, or Instagram DMs from happy customers — paste them directly into the "What they say" field. Real customer language beats anything you'd write yourself.

Capture Your Voice

You have a way of communicating. Tell Claude what it is.

Your business has a personality — even if you've never written it down. Claude will default to safe, professional, and forgettable unless you define it. Short and honest is better than polished and vague.

Voice Guide Template

My communication style:

In three words, my tone is: [e.g., warm, direct, no-fluff]

What I always do: [e.g., use first names, keep things conversational, lead with the point]

What I never do: [e.g., use exclamation points everywhere, say "I hope this email finds you well"]

An example of something I actually wrote that sounded like me:
[Paste a real email, caption, or message you wrote — even just a few sentences]

When writing for my business, Claude should sound like: [e.g., a knowledgeable friend, a trusted local expert]

The Easiest Way to Define Your Voice

Find an email or message you sent recently that felt like you. Paste it into Claude with this prompt: "Read this and describe my communication style in 5 bullet points. I'll use these to brief you on how to write for my business."

Load It Into Claude

Where your brief goes so Claude uses it automatically

Memory (for ongoing personal context)

Start a new conversation. Paste all three documents and say: "Remember all of this about my business. Use it as background context in every future conversation."

Project Instructions (for recurring business tasks)

In your main business project, paste your business brief and customer profile directly into the Project Instructions field. Every conversation inside that project will have this context from the first message.

File Library (for detailed reference material)

Inside your project, upload your completed documents as a file. This gives Claude something to pull from when it needs full detail — useful for longer tasks like website copy or email sequences.

Test It With a Real Task

See the difference between before and after your brief

For small business owners:

First Real Business Prompt

Using everything you know about my business, write three Instagram captions for this week.

Context:
- I want to promote [product or service]
- My goal is to get people to [DM me / click link in bio / book a call / visit the shop]
- Upcoming event worth mentioning: [add if relevant, or delete this line]

Requirements:
- Sound like me — not like a brand agency
- No generic openers like "Exciting news!" or "We're thrilled to share"
- Three different angles: one informational, one personal, one direct offer
- Include a call to action in each

Deliver all three directly. No preamble.

What You Should Notice

The output should feel different from anything you've gotten from Claude before — more specific, more relevant, and a lot closer to something you'd actually use. If it still feels generic, go back to your brief and add more specifics. Vague brief → vague output. Specific brief → specific output.

Get Claude Ready
for Real Work

Create Your Account

Enable Memory

How to turn it on:

Write Your Global Instructions

How to set them:

Set Your Response Style

How to set it:

Create Your First Project

How to create one:

Run Your First Structured Prompt

Brief Claude on
Your Business

Why Claude Gives Generic Answers

Write Your Business Brief

Describe Your Ideal Customer

Capture Your Voice

Load It Into Claude

Test It With a Real Task

For small business owners:

Your First Workflows

Tools & Agents

Automation

Build Your System

Masterclass Complete

Get Claude Readyfor Real Work

Create Your Account

Enable Memory

How to turn it on:

Write Your Global Instructions

How to set them:

Set Your Response Style

How to set it:

Create Your First Project

How to create one:

Run Your First Structured Prompt

Brief Claude onYour Business

Why Claude Gives Generic Answers

Write Your Business Brief

Describe Your Ideal Customer

Capture Your Voice

Load It Into Claude

Test It With a Real Task

For small business owners:

Your First Workflows

Tools & Agents

Automation

Build Your System

Masterclass Complete

Get Claude Ready
for Real Work

Brief Claude on
Your Business