Free guide

Turn Claude Into a Private Tutor for the Business Skill You're Weakest At

Most people use Claude to do the work for them, and never get better at the work. These 4 prompts turn Claude into a tutor: it finds the skill that would help your business most, teaches it 20 minutes a day, quizzes you, and makes you practice on your real business.

A free guide by Zach Crawford

Most people use Claude to do the work for them.

That's fine, until Claude writes something you can't judge. If you don't know what a good sales page looks like, you can't tell when Claude wrote a bad one.

Learn the skills and you can always pay the bills. AI makes good people better. It doesn't make you good at something you never learned.

So use Claude as a tutor too. 20 minutes a day, on the one skill that would help your business most, practiced on your real business.

Step 1. Find your skill and build a 7 day plan

Make a new folder on your computer called My Tutor. Open the Claude desktop app, switch from Chat to Code at the top, and pick that folder. Paste this:

Be my private tutor. I want to get better at one business skill, 20 minutes a day.

First, ask me these ONE at a time, and wait for each answer:
1. What is my business, and who do I sell to?
2. Which of these do I feel weakest at: writing hooks, writing sales pages, selling on a call, writing emails, telling stories, making offers, or something else? If I'm not sure, ask me 2 more questions and pick the one that would help my business most, and tell me why.
3. What's a real example of me doing that skill badly or avoiding it? (A post that flopped, a call that went nowhere.)
4. How many minutes a day can I practice, and which days?

Then write a file called SKILL-PLAN.md with a 7 day plan for that one skill:
- One small lesson a day, in plain words, building on the day before.
- One practice task a day, done on MY business, using my answers.
- Day 7: one real piece of work I can use this week.

Then show me the plan in short lines.

Rules:
- Teach like a patient coach, not a textbook. Plain words. Explain any tech word in one line.
- If you're not sure something you teach is true, say so, and tell me where I could check it.
- Never make up facts about my business, my numbers or my results. If you need one, ask me.

It asks you 4 questions, one at a time, then writes your plan into a file you can open any time.

Step 2. Every day: today's lesson and a quiz

Open the same folder in Claude Code each day and paste this:

Read SKILL-PLAN.md. Teach me today's lesson.

1. Teach it in under 300 words, with one example from MY business.
2. Quiz me with 3 short questions, ONE at a time. Wait for each answer.
3. After each answer, tell me plainly what I got right and what I missed.
4. Give me today's practice task.
5. Add one line to SKILL-PLAN.md: the date, the lesson, how I did on the quiz.

Step 3. Practice the hard conversation

Some skills only get better when you practice them out loud: a sales call, a price objection, asking for a testimonial. Claude plays the other person.

Read SKILL-PLAN.md. Let's practice. You play [who, for example: a mom who wants my coaching but says it's too expensive].

Stay in character and make it realistic. Push back the way a real person would. Don't make it easy.
Answer only as that person, one reply at a time, and wait for me.
When I type STOP, step out of character and give me:
1. What I did well, with the exact line.
2. The one moment I lost them, with the exact line, and what I could have said instead.
3. One thing to practice next time.

Fill in the person before you paste it.

Step 4. Check your work

When you make something for real, paste it in before it goes out.

Read SKILL-PLAN.md. Here's something I made with what I've been learning:

[paste your work here]

Grade it against what I've learned so far in my plan.
1. What's working, and why, in 2 or 3 lines.
2. The ONE biggest thing to fix. Show me the line and a better version.
3. Don't rewrite the whole thing. I'm learning to do it myself.

That last line matters. If Claude rewrites it for you, you learn nothing.

The limitations you should know

Claude can teach the basics of most business skills well, but it can be wrong. When something sounds off, check it.
The role play is practice, not the real thing. Real people are less predictable.
The plan is only as good as your answers. Give it real examples from your business, not the polished version.
20 minutes a day beats 3 hours once. Skip a day and the plan just moves.

Want the next guide? Follow @zachcrawford.ai