AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 7 min read
Ask an AI how to make extra money and you get a menu: freelancing, a newsletter, a template shop, affiliate links, a course. It reads as help and works as stalling, because you now have five options and no way to choose between them. The fix is not a better menu. It is a sequence of prompts that is only allowed to return one answer.
The rule: one offer, one channel, one paying customer, one 90-day plan. If a prompt hands you a list, send it back.
| Step | What it does | Cost | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The One Path | Forces a single offer and a single channel, with the runner-up rejected in writing | Free in any chat assistant; Claude Pro is $20 a month (about £15 at time of writing, check the £ price at checkout) | Anyone with a skill and a few spare hours | Only as good as the facts you give it |
| 2. The Pressure Test | Role-plays an experienced practitioner to expose the first mistake | Same | Spotting the trap before you pay for it | The "practitioner" is invented; treat it as a checklist, not testimony |
| 3. The 90-Day Plan | Turns the choice into week-by-week actions aimed at a first sale | Same | Getting out of research mode | Plans are guesses until a real customer replies |
| 4. The Block Interview | Finds the reason you have not started | Same | People who keep re-planning | Not therapy; stop if it gets heavy |
Memory features exist on all current Claude plans, including Free, and are on by default for individuals. They are managed under Settings > Memory (per Anthropic's help centre). ChatGPT has a comparable Settings > Memory page (per OpenAI's help centre). Do not rely on either. Paste your facts into the prompt every time, so the answer rests on what you typed and not on whatever the assistant happens to have stored.
Gather four facts first: your real skills, the hours you can give each week, your current income, and the money you could lose without harm. Write them honestly. A skill you "might learn" is not a skill.
You are a pragmatic small-business adviser based in the UK. Your job is to pick the single most realistic way for me to earn extra income, not to list options.
My situation:
- Skills I can use today: [SKILLS]
- Hours available per week: [HOURS_PER_WEEK]
- Current income and commitments: [CURRENT_INCOME_AND_COMMITMENTS]
- Money I could lose without harm: [BUDGET_IN_GBP]
- Target: [TARGET_MONTHLY_INCOME_IN_GBP] a month by [TARGET_DATE]
Do the following in order:
1. Check my inputs. If anything is missing or too vague to judge, ask me questions and stop. Do not guess.
2. Choose exactly ONE offer (what I sell, to whom, at roughly what price) and exactly ONE channel (where I find the first buyer).
3. Name the most obvious second choice and give two reasons you rejected it.
4. State the biggest assumption your pick depends on, and how I could test it this week for under [TEST_BUDGET_IN_GBP].
Format: four short headed sections, under 300 words. No alternatives, no lists of ideas.
Before answering, check that you have named one offer and one channel only, and that nothing you said depends on facts I did not give you.
Fill in the square brackets with your own details. If the answer comes back with three options, reply "One offer, one channel, as instructed" and rerun it.
The usual version of this prompt asks the model to impersonate a named real person. Do not do that. The model can produce a convincing monologue in the voice of a real founder, and none of it is that person's actual advice. Ask for an archetype instead.
You are an experienced practitioner who has built a small income from this exact offer and channel: [OFFER_AND_CHANNEL_FROM_STEP_1]. Do not name or impersonate a real person.
Context: I am [ONE_LINE_ABOUT_ME] with [HOURS_PER_WEEK] hours a week.
Tell me, in this order:
1. The first thing you would do in week one.
2. The three most common mistakes beginners make with this offer, ranked by cost to them.
3. The one mistake you think I specifically am likely to make, given my context, and why.
4. What would make you advise me to drop this path entirely.
Keep it under 250 words. Where you are stating a general pattern rather than something certain, say so. If you would need more information about me, ask before answering.
Check before replying: have you avoided invented statistics, quotations and named people?
Fill in the offer and channel from Step 1, plus one honest line about yourself. Point 4 matters most. A path with no stated exit condition is a hobby.
Act as the practitioner from the previous answer. Build a 90-day plan for me whose only goal is my first paying customer.
Inputs: offer and channel [OFFER_AND_CHANNEL]; hours per week [HOURS_PER_WEEK]; total spend limit [BUDGET_IN_GBP]; start date [START_DATE].
Output a table with one row per week: the week number, the three actions, how long each takes, the cost in £, and a "done when" test that I can check as yes or no. Put a decision point at the end of week 4 and week 8: what result means continue, change the offer, or stop.
Constraints: stay under budget; no action without a "done when"; no tools or subscriptions unless the plan fails without them. If my budget or hours make the goal unrealistic, say so before writing the table.
Check before replying: does each week end in contact with a real potential customer, and does the total cost stay under my limit?
Print the table. Tick rows off. The week-4 decision point is the part most people delete, so keep it.
Use this only if you have a plan and still have not started.
You are a calm, direct coach. I have a plan to [ONE_LINE_PLAN] and I have not started. Find what is actually stopping me.
Ask me ONE question at a time and wait for my answer each time. Ask no more than eight questions. Use my answers to ask the next one; do not repeat yourself. Stay practical, about behaviour and next actions, and do not diagnose me.
At the end, give me (a) the block in one sentence, (b) a single sentence I can use when it appears, and (c) one five-minute action for today. If I mention anything serious about my health or finances, pause and suggest I speak to a qualified person.
Begin with your first question only.
Run the chain in order, once. If Step 1 gives you a path you can start in the next fortnight, keep it. If it depends on a skill you do not yet have, go back and tighten the inputs rather than asking for a different answer. Run Step 4 only when Step 3 stalls.
If this becomes income, two things from GOV.UK are worth knowing. The trading allowance is a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year for trading income. If your gross trading income goes over £1,000 in a tax year, you generally need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October after that tax year ends. Confirm your own position on GOV.UK or with an accountant, because employment, existing Self Assessment and other income change the answer.