This is the written version of my one-hour session for small-business owners. It's built around one idea: get a little better at one real task each week, and let the small steps add up.
You'll need an AI chat tool open. The examples use Claude, because it's what I use every day, but the ideas work the same way in ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Near the end there's a table of what each one calls things.
1% better, one task at a time
Kaizen is the Japanese idea of continuous improvement: small, steady changes rather than one big overhaul. For AI, that means one task, a slightly better brief, then a little more each week.
It's a way of working, not a promise of growth. The point is to keep going through the early weeks, when the difference is hard to see.
The session climbs six steps. Each one is your next 1%:
- Brief it well. Write instructions that get a usable first answer.
- Teach it your business. Explain yourself once and reuse it.
- Make finished things. Documents, decks and small tools, not just chat.
- Connect your apps. Let it read your inbox, calendar and files.
- Put it on a schedule. Tasks that run by themselves.
- Hand over the job. Give it a goal, not steps.
Steps 1 to 3 work on free plans. Steps 4 to 6 mostly need a paid plan. Using AI safely runs through all six.
Before you start: two minutes of setup
- Open your AI tool and sign in. The free plan covers steps 1 to 3.
- Check your privacy settings. Most tools have a setting that controls whether your chats help train their models. Find it and choose what you're comfortable with.
- Pick one task you do every week: quote follow-ups, a newsletter, chasing invoices. You'll use it all the way through.
- Copy the last prompt you typed into any AI tool. That's your "before". You'll rebuild it.