Christi Loucks Field notes
Cover of the guide Getting Started with Claude

Getting Started with Claude

Set Claude up once. Stop explaining yourself every morning.

My actual setup, start to finish. 28 pages, a screenshot for every click, and the standing instructions I use to stop it writing like a robot.

Get the guide for $9

10 settings, 2 hours

  • 10 settings most people never turn on
  • 28 pages
  • A screenshot for every click

Everything I know about making Claude actually useful.

This is the configuration underneath every piece of software, every automation and every launch I built this year.

Get the guide for $9

A page from the guide showing a finished profile example

So what's actually inside?

The 10 settings most people never turn on.

You opened Claude, typed a question, got back something fine but bland, and never went near the settings again. 2 hours fixes that. Every step lists the clicks, the place people get stuck, and how to tell it worked.

Get the guide for $9

10 steps. 2 hours. In order.

Every page earns its place, and you don't have to be technical to follow any of it.

  1. 01 The setup, where you work from

    The desktop app reads the files already on your computer, and the model picker decides how good your answers come back. Takes 5 minutes. Everything after it goes faster.

  2. 02 The profile, so it stops answering a stranger

    The settings field Claude reads before every chat. You get my finished one to copy, the 4 parts every profile needs, and lines you can borrow for each.

  3. 03 The connections, your email and your files

    Hook up the 2 or 3 apps you live in, then put the work in a project so you stop re-explaining the client, the launch or the kid's schedule every time.

  4. 04 The builds, skills and tools you can send to a person

    1 toggle turns on the building half. Then you teach it whatever you explain most often, publish a tool, and send somebody the link.

  5. 05 The automation, 1 job that runs without you

    A task on a schedule. Mine fills my grocery cart every Tuesday at 8am and I hit checkout.

Plus a 1-page tracker, an ideas page after every step, and what to do when something doesn't work.

Get the guide for $9

Read a page of it

Step 02, straight out of the guide

Part 1 Setting 02

02 Write your profile instructions

Why it matters

There's a settings field Claude reads before every single chat, before it even sees your question. Right now it's empty, which means Claude is answering a stranger every time. Spend 20 minutes filling it in and Claude starts answering you instead, and you stop re-explaining who you are every morning.

Keep it short, because a long profile buries what matters. Write it the way you'd brief a smart new assistant on her first morning, and be sure to include what annoys you, because that section changes how Claude sounds more than any other.

The exact path

  1. 1Click your initials, bottom left
  2. 2Click Settings
  3. 3Find the field labeled Instructions for Claude. It has also been called preferences or personal instructions, so the name may vary.
  4. 4Write your profile using the ideas on the next page, then paste it in
  5. 5Click Save

The mistake that makes it fail

Writing something like "I'm a mom who wants help with everything," which Claude can't do anything useful with. Say what you do for work, what you're focused on this quarter, how you want it to behave, and what it should never do.

Specific helps it more than warm does. The next page gives you a finished example you can copy, and after that the 4 parts every profile needs, with lines you can borrow for each one.

That's 1 of 10 steps. The other 9 are in the guide.

Get the guide for $9

By the last page

  • Claude knows who you are and what you do

  • It can see your email and your files

  • It runs 1 job for you every week

Get the guide for $9

Christi Loucks in a white tee in front of a painted mural

But why should you listen to me?

I run my companies on this setup.

I'm Christi. I spent 10 years in tech making salespeople good at their jobs fast, and got named Sales Enablement Leader of the Year for it in 2017. Then I founded Howdy Sales from zero and did $300,000 in year 1 before merging it into a bigger agency. Every site, automation and product I built this year runs on what's in this guide, all of it from my kitchen table with 2 kids in the house.

Get the guide for $9

Still deciding?

The straight answers

I've barely used Claude.

Then start at step 1. Every step lists every click from the first one to the last, so there's nothing to already know. The first 5 are settings, and they take about an hour together.

I don't have time to read a guide right now.

Most steps take about 2 minutes. Do the first 5 and stop if you want, and you'll already have a Claude that knows who you are. The building half will still be there next week.

Do I need a paid Claude plan?

Not for the first 5. A few of the builds in part 2 need a paid plan, and each page says so at the top before you start.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. Every build in here is done by describing what you want in plain English, and the guide shows you exactly how to ask.

Is it worth $9?

You already pay for Claude, or you're about to. This turns on the part of it that builds things. If 1 page changes how you work, it paid for itself.

Get the guide for $9