Lesson 3 · Your first ten minutes with a chatbot

A real, hands-on walkthrough — not a demo video. Do this alongside the lesson, not after it.

Step 1 · Pick one and create a free account

Don't agonize over this — Lesson 2 already told you it matters less than you'd think. If you write a lot, try claude.ai. If you want the most familiar, widest-used option, try chatgpt.com. Either way: an email address and a password, no credit card. Two minutes.

Step 2 · Stop treating it like a search engine

This is the single biggest habit shift. A search engine wants three keywords. A chatbot wants a real sentence, with context, the way you'd explain something to a smart colleague who's new and hasn't seen your work yet. Compare these two:

Search-engine habit (weaker)

newsletter ideas small business

Conversation habit (stronger)

I run a small candle business and send a monthly newsletter to about 200 subscribers. Give me 5 topic ideas for this month that would feel genuinely useful to someone who already bought from me once, not just "here's a sale."

Same underlying question, wildly different result. The second version gives it something to actually work with.

Step 3 · Have an actual conversation

The other habit worth building on day one: don't stop after one message. Chatbots are built for back-and-forth. If the first answer is close but not quite right, tell it what's off — "make it shorter," "that's too formal," "assume the reader already knows the basics" — the same way you'd redirect a person. This is faster than starting over, and it's how every experienced user actually works.

The simplest starting formula

When you're not sure how to phrase something, try: who you are + what you need + who it's for + how long/what format. That's it — four ingredients, in any order, in your own words. You'll meet a more detailed version of this in Level 1; for now, this alone will outperform most of what people type.

Try it now — a real starter prompt

Starter prompt · adapt freely

I'm [what you do — e.g. a freelance photographer, a shop owner, brand new to all this]. I need help with [the actual thing you're stuck on today]. Explain it to me like I'm smart but new to this, and keep your first answer under 150 words — I'll ask for more if I need it.

Do this now · 8 minutes

Copy the starter prompt above, fill in your own details, and send it.
Read the answer. Then reply with one honest note — too long, too generic, missing something — the way you'd coach a new hire.
Notice that the second answer is better. That loop — ask, react, refine — is the entire skill. Everything else is vocabulary.