Sell what you know

⏱ 50 min7 steps

You know things customers would pay to have written down: how a heating tech checks a furnace before winter, or how a florist plans a wedding. Turning that into a download takes a plan before it takes a . With Claude, you'll outline one product and the checklist for launching it. If you want to make it yourself, the making happens in the Build something new section. Plenty of owners stall at "but who'd buy it?" The interview in Step 3 is there for that.

file One document on your computer, like a letter or a photo. Files live inside folders. All words

Steps

Step 1 of 70 done · about 50 min left

Step 1 of 7, not done yet
Step 2 of 7, not done yet
Step 3 of 7, not done yet
Step 4 of 7, not done yet
Step 5 of 7, not done yet
Step 6 of 7, not done yet
Step 7 of 7, not done yet

Pick the thing you already explain over and over
The best first product answers a question you get every week. A heating and cooling tech might write a "before you call for a repair" checklist for homeowners. A bookkeeper might make a month-end for one-person businesses. A florist might sell a wedding flower planning worksheet. A salon owner might package the training she gives every new stylist, for other salons.

The product has to be your own work. Don't use anything from a customer's job, a supplier's manual or a course you paid for. If you learned it on a brand's course, or it's in a franchise or supplier manual, write your own method in your own words, and leave out their charts, photos and wording. Photos of customers need their OK.
1. Write down three questions customers ask you again and again.
2. Pick the one you could answer best on a few pages.
template A starting point with blanks to fill in, so you don't start from nothing every time. All words
That's not what I see
What I know feels too ordinary to sell.
It feels ordinary because you do it every day. Your customers don't. Look at the questions they ask you more than once a month. Those are the ones a stranger might pay to have answered.
My best material came from a customer's job.
Leave it out. Use only what's yours: your own checklists, your own way of doing things, written fresh. Nothing with a customer's name, details or files in it.
Start a new chat and set the rules
This sets the rules before Claude writes anything: it's your work, Claude marks its own additions, and there are no prices or income promises.

drafts and sorts; a person approves anything with a price, a date or your name on it. A product with your name on it is yours to check, line by line.
1. Open the or claude.ai and start a new chat.
2. Copy the prompt below.
```
I own a small business, [what you do], and I want to turn what I know into a product people download and pay for once, like a checklist, a template or a training pack. You'll help me plan it in this chat. The rules: the product is my own work, built from what I tell you. Mark anything you add that didn't come from me as "my addition", so I can check it, rewrite it or cut it. Never copy or closely follow anyone else's product. Write FILL IN for the price. Never suggest one. Never promise or estimate sales or income. Ask me one question at a time. The thing I know: [the thing you picked]
```
1. Paste it into the chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with what you do and the thing you picked.
2. Send it.
prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All wordsAI Short for artificial intelligence. Here it means a program like Claude that reads what you write and writes back in plain words. All wordsClaude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words
You should see:
Claude says it understands the rules, then asks its first question.
That's not what I see
Claude suggested a price anyway.
Reply: No prices. Write FILL IN. Then carry on. The price comes from your own sums, in "What to charge".
Let Claude interview you about the buyer
A product sells when it fits one kind of buyer at one moment. This prompt has Claude ask about them one question at a time, so you answer from what you've seen, not what you hope.
1. Copy the prompt below.
```
Interview me about who would buy this, one question at a time. Ask: who they are; the moment they'd go looking for it; what they do today instead; what goes wrong when they do it without help; and what they'd need to be able to do once they've used it. When we're done, sum up the buyer in five lines, using my words.
```
1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
2. Answer each question in your own words.
You should see:
Claude asks one question, waits for your answer, then asks the next. At the end, five lines about the buyer.
That's not what I see
I'm not sure who the buyer is.
Think of the last person who asked you this question. Answer as if the product were for them. You can widen it later.
Have Claude draft the product outline
This prompt turns your answers into an outline: one product, one job, a "Start here" page at the front, and the price left blank.
1. Copy the prompt below.
```
Draft a product outline from my answers. Include: a working title; who it's for, in one line; the one job it does for them; the format, like a printable checklist, a spreadsheet or a short guide; a one-page "Start here" at the front; each section or page, with one line on what goes in it; what it doesn't cover; and the price as FILL IN. Keep it to one product that does one job. Mark every line that's your addition.
```
1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
2. Read every line marked as Claude's addition.
You should see:
An outline with each of those parts, the price as FILL IN, and some lines marked as Claude's additions.
That's not what I see
The outline has grown into three products.
Reply: Cut this down to one product for one buyer. List the rest as ideas for later. A small first product is quicker to make and to check.
Check that every line is yours
Selling someone else's work as yours can cost you the business, and your name. This prompt has Claude say where each line came from, and flag anything that might be borrowed.
1. Copy the prompt below.
```
Go through the outline line by line. For each line, say whether it came from my answers or is your addition. Then list anything that might come from someone else's work, like a supplier's manual, a course I took, a standard form or a customer's material, so I can check it. Don't rewrite anything yet.
```
1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
2. Tell Claude which additions to keep, rewritten in your words, and which to cut.
You should see:
The outline with each line marked as from you or as Claude's addition, then a list of lines to check.
That's not what I see
I like some of Claude's additions.
Keep them only if you know they're right from your own work, and rewrite them in your words. If you couldn't explain one to a customer, cut it.
Have Claude write the launch checklist
Fees and rules change, and each platform has its own. This lesson doesn't list them. The Build something new section's lesson "What to build, and what you need first" explains what selling asks of you, and the platform's own pages have today's figures. Some platforms ask you to say when AI helped make something. Etsy asks for it in the listing.

This prompt writes a checklist of what to check before you list, with no fees or figures in it.
1. Copy the prompt below.
```
Write a launch checklist for this product, as checkboxes. Include: a stranger opens the file cold and can use it; I've checked the platform's current fees and rules on its own website; I've checked the platform's rules on things made with AI, and if it asks, the listing says plainly that I used AI to help; the listing says only what's true, with no made-up reviews, numbers or results; no promise of income or results; the price is set from my own sums; I've bought it once myself to check the download works; and how buyers reach me with a question. Don't name any fees or figures.
```
1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
You should see:
A list of checkboxes covering each of those, with no fees or figures in it.
That's not what I see
I don't know which platform to sell on.
The Build something new section's lesson "What to build, and what you need first" covers what each kind of platform asks of you. Check the fees on the platform's own pricing page before you decide.
Put the outline and checklist on one page
This prompt saves the plan with the rules at the top.
1. Copy the prompt below.
```
Put the buyer summary, the product outline and the launch checklist on one page called Product plan. Keep every FILL IN. Remove the "my addition" marks only from lines I've told you to keep. At the top, write these rules: It's my own work. I say plainly that AI helped when the platform asks. No made-up claims. No income promises. I set the price.
```
1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
2. Copy the page into a note or a document called Product plan.
3. To work out the price, use your own costs and the lesson "What to charge".
If you ever want to make the file and list it yourself, go to the Build something new section's lesson "Build track: a ". It uses , and the Set up Claude Code section gets you ready for it. Bring your product plan.
digital download A file people buy once and download, like a spreadsheet template, a printable planner or a guide. All wordsClaude Code Claude, working inside Terminal. It can make files and run things on your Mac, with a safety checker watching what it does. All words
You should see:
One page with the rules at the top, then the buyer, the outline and the checklist, with the price as FILL IN.
That's not what I see
The page looks messy when I paste it.
Ask Claude for it as plain text, with a blank line between sections. Then copy it again.

Your challenge

Write the product outline and launch checklist for the one thing customers ask you about most. Then show the outline to two customers who'd buy it, and ask what's missing, before you make anything.

Last checked 2026-10-20

Build something new › 1. Grow, in the app