Lesson 11 of 11
Cheat Sheet, Prompts & Glossary
Your reference kit. Keep this section handy as you work — the task-to-tool cheat sheet tells you where to start, the 40 prompts give you a running start, the mistakes list keeps you out of trouble, and the glossary means you'll never be lost in a conversation about AI again.
Task-to-Tool Cheat Sheet
"I need to ___ → use ___." Categories, not brands, so it stays true as tools change.
| When you need to… | Reach for… |
|---|---|
| Write, edit, plan, brainstorm, analyze, summarize | Your chat assistant (the workhorse) |
| Create a graphic, ad, or product visual | An image generation tool |
| Make short video, add captions, or transcribe | A video/audio tool |
| Get current, sourced facts or research | A research/search tool (or your assistant's web mode) |
| Connect your apps and run tasks automatically | An automation platform (Zapier, Make) |
| Summarize meetings automatically | An AI notetaker (specialized tool) |
| Work from your real email/calendar/docs | Your assistant + connections (agent mode) |
| Do one recurring job exceptionally well | A specialized/vertical tool — but only for a real, repeated pain |
40 Starter Prompts for Business Owners
Fill in the [brackets]. Paste your context card first for best results. Grouped by need.
Marketing & content
- Give me 20 social post ideas for
[business]that would resonate with[customer]. - Write a week of captions about
[topic]in my brand voice:[paste voice/examples]. - Turn this
[video/podcast/article]into 3 posts, an email, and 5 captions:[paste]. - Write 10 headline options for
[offer], each a different angle. - Draft a welcome email for new subscribers to
[business], warm and inviting. - Write a product description for
[product]that speaks to[customer]'s desires. - Give me 5 content hooks that would stop
[customer]from scrolling. - Draft a month-long content calendar for
[business]around[theme].
Sales & customers
- Draft a friendly follow-up to a lead who went quiet after
[context]. - Turn these call notes into a proposal for
[client]:[paste]. - Prep me for a sales call with
[prospect]: likely objections and smart questions. - Write responses to my 5 most common objections:
[list them]. - Draft a warm reply to this customer message:
[paste], in my tone. - Turn this frustrated customer email into a calm, resolving response:
[paste]. - Create an onboarding sequence for a new
[customer/client]. - Write a message asking a happy customer for a review or testimonial.
Admin & operations
- Summarize this long email thread and tell me what needs my decision:
[paste]. - Turn these messy meeting notes into decisions and action items:
[paste]. - Draft a follow-up message to everyone who attended
[meeting]. - Write a simple SOP for how I do
[task]:[describe your steps]. - Give me a briefing for my week based on these notes/calendar:
[paste]. - Draft a polite email declining
[request]while keeping the relationship warm. - Clean up and format this rough document:
[paste]. - Create a checklist anyone could follow to do
[recurring task].
Finance & strategy
- Explain what these monthly numbers tell me, in plain language:
[paste data]. - If I raise my prices by
[X]%, walk me through the likely effects. - Help me think through whether to
[decision]— pros, cons, and what I'm missing. - Categorize these expenses and flag anything I could cut:
[paste]. - Argue the strongest case against my plan to
[plan]. - Help me set one clear goal for
[timeframe]and the steps to reach it. - Brainstorm 10 new offers or services
[business]could add. - Summarize what my customers seem to want from this feedback:
[paste].
Learning, research & personal leverage
- Explain
[topic]to me simply, as if I'm smart but new to it. - Research
[topic/competitor]and give me a decision-ready summary (cite sources). - What questions should I be asking about
[situation]that I don't know to ask? - Act as my advisor on
[challenge]: ask me questions, then advise. - Rewrite this to sound clearer and more like me:
[paste]. - Help me prepare for
[difficult conversation]with talking points. - Turn this vague idea into a concrete action plan:
[idea]. - Give me 5 ways AI could save me time this week that I haven't thought of, given
[my business].
The 15 Biggest Beginner Mistakes with AI
- Waiting to "understand it all" before starting. AI is learned by using it.
- Giving no context and then judging AI as unimpressive.
- Expecting perfection in one shot instead of refining in a conversation.
- Tool-hopping — collecting subscriptions instead of mastering one.
- Publishing the first draft unchanged and unreviewed.
- Trusting confident answers on facts they can't check.
- Pasting sensitive data into free tools without thinking.
- Sounding generic by never adding their own voice.
- Trying to adopt everything at once and burning out.
- Never saving good prompts and rebuilding them every time.
- Staying on free tiers for tools they use daily and seriously.
- Skipping straight to automation before proving a workflow by hand.
- Handing agents too much autonomy too soon.
- Following affiliate hype instead of genuine need when choosing tools.
- Letting the habit fade after the first burst of enthusiasm.
AI Readiness Check
Score each 1 (not yet) to 5 (yes, solidly). Total /40. Re-score after your 30 days.
| Statement | 1–5 |
|---|---|
| I use a chat assistant regularly (a real habit) | ___ |
| I have a saved context card about my business | ___ |
| I can write a clear R-C-T-F prompt | ___ |
| I've handed at least three real tasks to AI | ___ |
| I have at least one saved, reusable workflow | ___ |
| I've connected AI to at least one of my tools | ___ |
| I have simple rules for accuracy and privacy | ___ |
| I choose tools by need, and my stack is lean | ___ |
8–20: Beginning — focus on Weeks 1–2 of the plan. 21–32: Building — you're integrating; push into workflows and connections. 33–40: Fluent — you're ready for the advanced AI workflows & automations course.
Plain-English AI Glossary
AI (Artificial Intelligence) — software that performs tasks that normally need human intelligence: understanding language, recognizing patterns, generating content.
LLM (Large Language Model) — the technology behind chat assistants; trained on vast text to predict and produce language. Your "best-read assistant."
Prompt — what you type or say to AI. The instruction.
Context — the information AI can currently see and use. More relevant context = better output.
Hallucination — when AI states something false with confidence. Manage by verifying facts that matter.
Chat assistant — a general-purpose conversational AI (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini). Your daily workhorse.
Agent — AI that doesn't just answer but takes multi-step actions toward a goal, often using your connected tools.
Connection / integration — linking AI to your apps (email, calendar, docs) so it works with your real data.
Workflow — a repeatable sequence: trigger → steps → output. The unit of real leverage.
Automation — a workflow that runs on a trigger without you doing each step (often via Zapier or Make).
Token / context window — roughly, how much text AI can consider at once. Rarely something a beginner needs to worry about.
Model — a specific version of an AI (tools offer several); newer/stronger models generally give better results.
The Vault
How to use this section
- Keep the cheat sheet open so you always know which tool a task calls for.
- Pull from the 40 prompts whenever you're not sure how to start — then customize with your context.
- Read the 15 mistakes now and again at day 30 — most only become visible once you've begun.
- Score the readiness check today and after your 30 days to see how far you've come.
- Return to the glossary any time a term trips you up. You belong in every AI conversation now.