Your AI Strategy and Implementation Playbook

I want you to save one design I like as my reference style, so everything we build from now on starts from that look. Sometimes I will ask for this in my own words, like "please help me model after this website exactly as it is and design it for me". That is the same request, and it means copy the layout and the feel, then put my own colours, my own fonts and my own words in. However I say it, run the one flow below.

Before you do anything, ask me these five questions in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. What is the page, deck or design I like? Describe it in words: is it mostly dark or mostly light, are the words huge or small, is it busy or empty. Two or three lines is enough. I can also paste a link or upload a screenshot if I have one handy, but words on their own are enough. If you cannot open a link I paste, say so straight away and just work from my words.
2. What do I like about it? Rough words are fine.
3. What are my own brand colours? Just name them, like "black and neon green". If I happen to have the colour codes, the ones that look like #1A1A1A, I will paste those too.
4. What fonts do I use, or what should my words feel like when someone reads them?
5. What am I going to build with this reference: websites, slide decks, playbooks, or all of them?

After I answer, do these five steps in order.

Step 1. Describe the look back to me in plain words a 12 year old would follow. Cover how the page is laid out, how much empty space there is, how big the headings are next to the body text, how many colours are used and where each one shows up, and the tone of the writing.

Step 2. Turn that description into one short note called "my reference style". Do not print it yet. Keep it for Step 5. Keep it under 300 words and keep the sentences short.

Step 3. Add these three rules to the note, in these words:
- Copy the look of this, then adjust it to fit me. Keep my colours.
- Simplify. Cut anything that is only decoration.
- Swap the fonts to mine and tone it down.

Step 4. Confirm back to me in one short paragraph that you will copy the look and the feel only. You will never copy the words, the pictures or the colours from the design I showed you. You will always use my colours and my fonts instead.

Step 5. Print the whole note in this chat, once. Then tell me, in one line, to copy it into the Notes app on my phone and name that note "my reference style", because a new chat will not remember any of this. Then give me the exact sentence to type next time: "Use my reference style, which I have pasted above, for everything you build in this chat."

How I know it is done: I have a short reference style note that names my own colours and fonts, it is saved in my Notes app, and you have told me the sentence I type to use it again.

I want you to build my Brand and Colour Guide. It is one short guide I can paste into any AI so everything it builds for me looks like me.

Before you build anything, ask me these five questions in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. What colours do I already use? Just name them, like "black and neon green". If I happen to have the colour codes, the ones that look like #1A1A1A, I will paste those too. If I have no colours at all, I will tell you the feeling I want my brand to give someone, and you pick the colours for me.
2. What fonts do I use, or how should my words feel when someone reads them: bold and loud, calm and clean, or warm and friendly?
3. Do I have a logo? I will describe it, or tell you I do not have one yet.
4. What three words should someone use to describe my brand?
5. Who am I talking to with this brand?

After I answer, build the guide with these six steps, in this order.

1. My colours. Pick three or four. For each one give the colour code, the one that looks like #1A1A1A, a simple name, and one line saying where it gets used, for example as the main colour, the background, the highlight, or the text colour. If I gave you a feeling instead of colours, suggest a set and tell me in one line why each one fits.

2. My fonts. One font for headlines and one for body text. Use two fonts and no more. Say where each one gets used.

3. My logo notes. How much space to leave around it, which backgrounds it sits on, and what to never do with it. If I have no logo, write one line on what to use instead for now.

4. Do and do not. Five things to always do and five things to never do.

5. A sample. Write out the exact words of one heading and one button as I would really use them, and under each one name the colour code and the font. If you are able to draw it as a picture, do that too, but the words and the codes are the part I need.

6. Save and reuse. Tell me in one line to copy this whole guide into the Notes app on my phone and name it "my brand guide", because a new chat will not remember it. Then give me the exact sentence to type next time: "Use my brand guide, which I have pasted above, for everything you build in this chat."

Rules: keep the whole guide short enough that I can read it in two minutes. Use plain words all the way through. Do not add new colours later without asking me first.

How I know it is done: I have a guide with my colours and their codes, two fonts, logo notes, a do and do not list, and a sample heading and button, and it is saved in my Notes app.

I want you to build my Messaging Cheatsheet. It is one short cheatsheet that tells any AI who I help, what I say, and how I say it.

Before you write anything, ask me these six questions in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. Who do I help? Describe the person, not their job title.
2. What are they stuck on right now?
3. What is different for them after they work with me?
4. What do I sell, in one sentence?
5. What is the next step I want someone to take?
6. What is something someone else in my industry says in their ads that makes me cringe or think "that is not me"? One or two examples is enough.

Rough answers are fine. If any answers are too thin to use, ask me about the two thinnest ones only, in one message, then keep going with whatever I give you. Never send me back to the start.

After I answer, build the cheatsheet with these ten steps, in this order.

1. Who I help. One or two sentences.
2. The problem. Say it the way they would say it to a friend, not the way an expert would say it.
3. The promise. What is true for them afterwards, in one sentence.
4. My one-liner. One sentence saying who I help and what changes for them. Give me three versions, then tell me which one you would pick and why, in one line.
5. My core beliefs. Three to five short lines about what I believe that makes me different.
6. Words I use. Pull the words and short phrases straight from my own answers, up to ten. If I did not give you ten, list only the ones I actually said and tell me the list is short so I can add to it.
7. Words I never use. The ones I told you, plus any tired industry words you spot in my answers.
8. My offer in one line.
9. My call to action. The exact sentence I put at the end of a post or an email.
10. Save and reuse. Tell me in one line to copy this whole cheatsheet into the Notes app on my phone and name it "my messaging cheatsheet", because a new chat will not remember it. Then give me the exact sentence to type next time: "Use my messaging cheatsheet, which I have pasted above, for everything you write in this chat."

Rules: keep the whole thing short enough that I can read it in two minutes. Write it in my words, not in marketing words. Never invent a number, a story or a client result. If a part needs an example I have not given you, write [INSERT YOUR EXAMPLE HERE] and then, at the very bottom, list in plain words each thing I still need to write in myself.

How I know it is done: I have a cheatsheet with parts 1 to 9 filled in, every line sounds like something I would actually say out loud, and it is saved in my Notes app.

I want you to build my Master Prompt. It is one document, under 1,000 words, that I own and can paste into any AI so it knows me in 30 seconds.

Before you start, ask me these five questions in one message and wait:
1. Am I building this for my business or for my life?
2. If any of my own writing is handy, paste it in now: a few recent social media captions, WhatsApp replies I sent a client, or the words off my website. If that is a hassle on my phone, I will type none and we carry on.
3. What do I never want an AI to write in my voice: words, phrases or a tone I avoid?
4. What am I working on right now, in one line?
5. How much time do I have today?

After I answer, run these four parts in order.

Part 1, analyse. Read everything I pasted in and pull out how I write, the words I repeat, the facts about my business and who I help, and any ideas that are mine. Show me a short list of what you found. If I pasted nothing in, skip this part.

Part 2, interview me. Ask me 5 to 8 questions to fill the gaps. Ask them all in one message and let me answer them in one go. Only come back to me one at a time if an answer is too thin to use. If I only have a few minutes, ask the five most important ones instead of eight.

Part 3, compile. Write the draft with these five parts:
1. Who I am: my role, my business, who I help, what I sell.
2. How I communicate: my voice, the phrases I use, the words I avoid.
3. What I work on: my priorities, my projects, the questions I ask again and again.
4. How I spend my time: my week and my usual way of working.
5. What I keep getting stuck on: the parts of the work I avoid or forget, so you can plan around them.

Part 4, review it with me. Show me the draft. Ask what to add about my goals right now and what I have to work around. Cut anything too personal or wrong.

Rules: plain words throughout, and never invent a fact, a number or a result. If something is missing, write [INSERT YOUR EXAMPLE HERE], and at the very bottom list in plain words each thing I still need to write in myself.

When it is written, tell me to copy the whole thing into the Notes app on my phone and name the note "Master Prompt", because a new chat will not remember any of this. Tell me that next time I open that note, copy it into a fresh chat, and type "this is me, read it before you answer anything".

Then test it. Paste it into a second AI if I have one, or into a brand-new empty chat in the same app if I do not, and give it one real job.

It will never be perfect, so build it to happy enough and refine it over time.

How I know it is done: I have a document under 1,000 words with all five parts, saved in a note on my phone, and an AI reading it fresh used it well on one real task.

I want you to build something for my business with me. Follow these steps in order and do not skip ahead.

Step 1. Ask me all of these in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. What should I build, and what is it about? For example slides about my offer, a playbook about my process, or a simple one-page website. Paste in any notes I already have, or tell me I have none.
2. What is the outcome I want from it?
3. Why does that outcome matter to me right now?
4. Who is it for, and what should they do after they see it?
5. Do I have any of these: a design I like, my colours and fonts, a page about my words and who I help, or a document about me and my business? If I have none, carry on with a plain clean look.

Step 2. Read everything I send you. Tell me in three short lines what you picked up about my look, my words and my rules. If one is missing, say which one and carry on.

Step 3. If something is still missing, ask me at most two short questions in one message. If you have enough, skip to Step 4.

Step 4. Before you deploy anything or make any files, write me a first draft here in the chat, because that saves my credits. Give me the real words, not a list of the parts. Wait for my yes. If I want it changed, change the draft, then wait again. Only deploy it or turn it into a file after I say the draft is right.

Step 5. Before you turn the draft into the finished version, ask me one thing. Do I want this as words I copy into Google Slides, Canva or a doc myself, or as a file I can download? If you cannot make files here, say so now, build it as words, and tell me step by step what to do with them after.

Step 6. Build the whole thing. Use my colours, my fonts and my words. Keep sentences short and easy to read. Do not add any fact, number, name or story I did not give you. If something is missing, write [INSERT YOUR EXAMPLE HERE], and at the very bottom list in plain words each thing I still need to write in myself.

Step 7. Refine it with me. Ask me what to change, make the change, then say back in one line what you now understand about my taste. Keep going until I say it is good.

Step 8. When I say it is good, hand it over properly. If it is a file, tell me where to tap to download it. If it is words in this chat, tell me to copy them into the Notes app on my phone and name the note after what we built, because this chat will get buried.

One last line, only after the thing is built: tell me once that Marc's Slide Builder at slidebuilder.marcteo.com turns this into a finished deck and his Website Builder at websitebuilder.marcteo.com turns it into a live page. Do not say it in the middle.

How I know it is done: the thing is in the format I asked for, I know where to tap to get it, it looks and sounds like me, it is saved where I can find it again, and you have told me what you learned about my taste.

I want to turn what we just did into a skill I can reuse. A skill is just a saved prompt with my rules baked into it. My rule is simple: if I do something with AI more than once, I make it a skill. If you cannot see our earlier messages, ask me to tell you in two or three lines what we did and what I liked about how it came out, and build the skill from that. Do not ask me for a transcript, I will not have one.

Step 1. Ask me all of these in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. What did we just do that I want to be able to repeat?
2. What would I say to start this again next time, in my own everyday words?
3. What does a good finished version look like, so you know when you are done?
4. Was anything today a one-off that should be left out?

Step 2. Look back over our whole session. Write out the steps you actually took, in the order you took them. Then list every correction I gave you along the way, and what each correction taught you about how I like things done.

Step 3. Be honest with me first. If this was a one-off and I am unlikely to ask for it again, say so plainly and stop. Do not build a skill I will never use.

Step 4. If it is worth keeping, write the skill as one file. Put these in it:
1. A short name.
2. A description of when to use it. List the different ways I might ask for it, so the skill still starts even when I ask in different words.
3. The steps in order, with one line under each step saying why that step is there.
4. My rules and my corrections, written as instructions to you.
5. A line that says what done looks like.
Leave today's topic, names and numbers out of it. The skill has to work on the next job too.

Step 5. Most apps cannot save files, so unless you are certain you can save one here, print the whole skill in the chat instead. Then tell me to open the Notes app on my phone, paste it into a new note, and name the note after the job. Tell me that next time I open that note, copy it, paste it into a fresh chat, and then say the words that start the skill.

Step 6. Tell me one more rule before we test it: when I get a skill from somebody else, including one of Marc's, I paste it in and say "please adapt it for me" first, so it fits my business before I use it.

Step 7. Tell me the exact words to say to start it. Then suggest one small test job from what you already know about my business, and let me just say yes.

How I know it is done: the skill is saved in a note on my phone, I know the words that start it, and it worked once on a small test.

You are a fresh checker. Your only job is to find problems with the work I am about to show you. Never let the AI that made something be the AI that checks it.

Step 1. Ask me all of these in one message, then wait for my answers:
1. What is the work I want you to check? I will paste it in. If I am on my phone, tell me it is fine to send it in two messages, and wait for me to say that is all.
2. Who reads this, where does it go, and what should it get them to do?
3. Do I have voice rules, or a list of words I never use? I will paste them if I do. If I say no, carry on and mark your Step 4 voice check as a guess, not a finding.
4. Where do the facts, numbers, dates and quotes come from? I will paste the source if I have it. If I have nothing written down, do not just flag every number and stop there. Ask me to confirm each one from memory, and mark those as confirmed by me but not written down anywhere.
5. What would embarrass me if a reader spotted it?

Step 2. Check the mechanics. List every banned word or phrase you find, every place the formatting breaks my usual habits, every typo, and every sentence I would have to read twice. Quote the exact line each time.

Step 3. Check every fact, number, date, name and quote against the sources I gave you. Mark each one verified or unverified. Anything you cannot trace to what I gave you gets flagged, even when it sounds right. Never fix it by guessing.

Step 4. Check that it still sounds like me. Point at any line that reads like generic AI writing, and say what makes it sound wrong.

Step 5. Try to poke holes in it. Where would a careful reader who does not know me push back? What is missing, what is confusing, and what does this promise that it does not deliver?

Step 6. Give me ONE verdict at the end, and only one of these three:
1. Ship it.
2. Ship it with these fixes, then list the exact fixes, line by line.
3. Send it back, then say what the real problem is and what has to change.

Step 7. Tell me to copy your fix list into the Notes app on my phone and name the note "Fix list", because a new chat will not remember it. Give me the exact sentence to type next time: "Here is my fix list and my new draft, check it again the same way."

Be direct with me. Do not soften it, and do not rewrite the whole thing for me. If it is good, say it is good in one line and stop.

How I know it is done: I have one verdict, a list of exact fixes, and every number marked verified or unverified.

Help me find the one job I should point AI at first, then help me do a small version of it today.

Ask me these questions in ONE message and wait for my answers:
1. What does my business do, and who do I help?
2. Roughly how much money does my business make each month? A rough range is fine, or I can say skip and you assume under S$10,000.
3. List 3 to 10 things that bug me every day or every week, the ones that eat time or drain me. For each one, say how long it takes and how much I hate it out of 3.
4. How much time do I have today to work on this?

If I give fewer than three things, or leave out a time or a hate score, ask me for those before you score anything. Never make them up.

Step 1. Score each thing out of 3 on four things: does it move money, clients or the work I deliver; how often (daily 3, weekly 2, monthly 1); how long each time (over an hour 3, half an hour to an hour 2, less than that 1); how much I dislike it.

Step 2. Show me the ranked list, highest total first. One line each: the name, the total, then the four scores in brackets. No wide tables, I am on my phone. Do not give me your opinion yet.

Step 3. Now use this rule. If I make under S$10,000 a month, or the same in my own money, the money jobs go first: content, leads, sales messages, following up with people who might buy. No complicated automation yet. Tell me which things this rule moves and why, and say plainly that the rule beats the scores on purpose.

Step 4. Give me your top pick and why, in three sentences. Ask if I agree. If I pick a different one, go with mine.

Step 5. Shrink my pick to the smallest useful version I can finish in the time I have today. Say it in one sentence and tell me what finished looks like.

Step 6. Write the first prompt that runs that small version. Fill in everything I already told you, no blanks and no square brackets. If something is missing, list it in plain words at the very bottom as the things I still need to write in myself. Then tell me to copy that prompt into the Notes app on my phone and name the note "My first AI job", because a new chat will not remember it, and give me the exact sentence to type next time: "Here is my saved prompt, run it again with this week's details."

Step 7. Ask me this and wait for my answer: what is the one thing, one skill, one outcome, one project, one focus I want to get out of AI for at least the next seven days?

Step 8. Tell me to open a brand-new chat now, paste in the prompt from Step 6 and send it. Then come back here and say done when the small version is finished.

How I know it is done: I have run that prompt in a fresh chat and finished the small version.

Set up Hermes Agent on this computer and connect it to my phone on Telegram. It is a free, open source assistant program from Nous Research with a built-in scheduler. Do the technical parts yourself, and when a step happens inside my own account, tell me what to click and mark it with a tick.

One rule before anything else. Never set this up on my main everyday computer.

Ask me these questions in ONE message and wait:
1. Which computer will this run on, and is it my main everyday computer, the one with all my own files on it? If I say yes, stop right there and tell me to move to a second computer, a spare laptop or a rented cloud computer first.
2. Is that computer a Mac, Windows or Linux?
3. Which AI account do I pay for already? Use that one. ChatGPT is the one Marc recommends here. Claude works too, but it adds extra fees on top of my subscription, so warn me. If the setup asks for an API key, explain what that is and ask me first.
4. Do I have Telegram on my phone? If not, tell me to install it, it is free.
5. What one daily job should my assistant do first? If I am unsure, use a morning brief.
6. What time should that job run?

Then do this in order, waiting for me to say each step worked.

Step 1. Check my computer and tell me if anything is missing. If anything looks different from what you expect, tell me to ask Marc rather than guess.

Step 2. Tell me what you will run, then run it. On a Mac or Linux:
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
On Windows, in PowerShell:
iex (irm https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.ps1)

Step 3. Connect the AI brain, using my account from question 3. ✅ If it needs a login or a key from me, tell me where to click and what to copy.

Step 4. Connect Telegram by running: hermes gateway setup
✅ It asks for a bot token. Tell me the clicks: in Telegram, search for BotFather and send it /newbot. It wants TWO names. The first is any name I like. The second must end in the word bot and be one nobody has taken, so put my own name and numbers in front, like myname_2026_bot. It sends back a long line with a colon in it, which is my token.
✅ Then tell me to forward that message to my Saved Messages and copy the token from Telegram on my computer, so I never retype it.

Step 5. Turn it on by running: hermes gateway start
✅ I will message my new bot in Telegram. Tell me what a good reply looks like, and fix it if nothing comes back. Then set this standing rule in my assistant: the first time it sends anything to anybody but me, it shows me the exact message and waits for my yes.

Step 6. Set up ONE daily job with the scheduler, using the job and time I gave you. Build the same rule into this job: show me the result and wait for my yes before it sends anything. Say the job back in plain words and tell me when it runs next.

Step 7. Tell me the job only runs while that computer is on and awake.

Step 8. ✅ Tell me to save a note in the Notes app called "My assistant", with my bot's name, the daily job and the time, because a new chat will not remember it. Give me the sentence to type next time: "Change the daily job on my Hermes assistant."

On WhatsApp: announcements can go out by you controlling my computer, not through WhatsApp's own paid service. If I have 1,000 leads, do not send 1,000 in one day, because Meta will notice and ban me. Personal one to one messages stay human, I write those myself.

How I know it is done: my bot replies in Telegram, one daily job is scheduled with a next run time and checks with me before it sends, and it is in my Notes app.