Most people blame the model when the output is bad. It is almost never the model. You asked a stranger to write for your business without telling them what your business is.
This is the document that fixes it. It takes about twenty minutes to fill in and you will use it for years. Work through the sections below, answer in plain language, and keep it somewhere you can grab fast.
WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO
One sentence, the way you would say it out loud to someone at a bar. Not the website version. Then the honest version of what you sell. List what someone can actually buy from you and roughly what it costs. If pricing varies, say what it depends on.
WHO BUYS, AND WHO DOES NOT
Describe your actual customer. Not a persona. Think of your last three good ones and what they had in common. Then write the bad fit line too. That one matters more than people expect, because it stops the model writing copy that attracts the wrong people.
THE QUESTIONS WE GET EVERY SINGLE WEEK
Write down the five to ten questions you answer over and over, with your real answers. This is the highest value section in the whole file. Most of what you will ask for later is some version of answering one of these.
HOW WE TALK
This is the part almost everyone skips and it is why AI output sounds like AI. Write the rules. Words you use. Words you never use. Formal or casual. Emojis or no emojis. Sentence length.
Then paste two real samples of your own writing. An email you sent, a post you wrote. Not your best work, your normal work. The model copies what it sees, so give it the real thing.
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
Show, do not describe. Paste one output you were happy with and one you were not, and say why in a line each.
RULES AND HARD LIMITS
Things that must always or never happen. Claims you cannot legally make. Numbers you do not share publicly. Anyone you should never name.
WHERE TO HAND OFF TO A HUMAN
Tell it when to stop and come get you. Pricing negotiations, complaints, anything involving a refund, anything it is unsure about.
HOW TO ACTUALLY USE IT
Fastest version. Paste the whole thing at the top of a new chat, then ask your question underneath. Works in anything.
Better version. Put it in a Project or in custom instructions so it loads on its own and you never paste it again.
Best version. Once you have used it a few weeks and know which parts you keep correcting, turn it into a skill or a saved instruction file so the corrections stick permanently.
THREE THINGS THAT MAKE IT WORK BETTER
Start a new chat per task. One long thread reprocesses its whole history on every message. That is what burns your usage limit, not the amount of real work you are doing.
Update section 3 every time someone asks you something new. That section compounds. In six months it is the most valuable page your business owns.
Do not fill this in perfectly. A rough version you use today beats a polished version you finish next month. Answer what you know, leave blanks, come back.
I publish one system like this every Tuesday. Plain English, real builds, no hype. Subscribe below and the next one lands in your inbox.