Most Entrepreneurs Are Using AI Wrong. Here’s a Simple 3-Step Fix

Most entrepreneurs use AI the identical manner: they sort a obscure request, get a generic response, then spend 20 minutes going forwards and backwards till one thing usable emerges.

It’s the equal of hiring a contractor and saying, “Construct me one thing good.”

The issue isn’t the AI. It’s how we’re asking. After watching dozens of companies implement AI instruments, I’ve seen a sample: those getting actual outcomes comply with three easy steps.

Step 1: Make clear what you really need

Earlier than typing something, reply three questions.

1. What’s the deliverable?

Not “a advertising plan,” however “a 90-day content material calendar with weekly themes, platform assignments and posting instances.”

2. What does good seem like?

If the output have been excellent, what wouldn’t it comprise? How lengthy wouldn’t it be? What format? What sections?

3. What’s already determined?

That is the place entrepreneurs lose essentially the most time. They ask AI to make selections that ought to already be made, then reject the outcomes as a result of “that’s not what I meant.”

Right here’s an actual instance. A marketing consultant wished to enhance how she appeared in AI search. When individuals requested instruments like ChatGPT or Perplexity about consultants in her subject, she wasn’t being talked about.

Her first immediate was obscure: “Assist me get talked about by AI assistants.” The consequence was generic recommendation about search engine optimization and social media.

After clarifying her objective, she tried once more:

“Create a six-month plan to determine my entity presence so AI programs acknowledge me as an authority in provide chain sustainability. I want to seem when somebody asks, ‘Who’re the main consultants in sustainable provide chain?’ Deliverable: month-by-month actions overlaying my web site’s entity house web page, third-party mentions to pursue and content material that builds topical authority. Format: actionable calendar with particular platforms and content material sorts.”

The second model labored as a result of she did the pondering first.

The precept: AI executes properly however decides poorly. Do your deciding earlier than you begin typing.

Step 2: Clear your enter

Messy enter creates messy output. Each time. Cleansing your enter means three issues.

Construction it

Don’t paste a wall of textual content. Break data into classes. Your credentials go in a single part. Your viewers in one other. Your positioning elsewhere. AI can’t arrange your priorities for you.

Make it particular

“I’m a enterprise marketing consultant” tells AI nearly nothing. However this does:

“Provide chain sustainability marketing consultant with 15 years of expertise working with Fortune 500 producers. Identified for decreasing logistics carbon footprint whereas reducing prices.”

Specificity provides AI one thing to work with.

Take away contradictions

Your model can’t be each “a longtime trade chief” and “a recent new voice.” You may’t be “unique” and “accessible.”

AI takes you actually. Contradictions create confused output. A buddy of mine as soon as fed AI a bio describing him as each “a visionary founder disrupting the trade” and “a gentle hand with many years of conventional experience.”

The outcomes have been weird: an progressive one paragraph, conservative the following. The issue wasn’t the AI. His positioning was unclear.

The precept: spend 10 minutes organizing your enter and also you’ll save half-hour fixing the output.

Step 3: Separate reference materials from directions

That is the step most individuals miss — and the place the largest enhancements occur.

Each AI immediate comprises two forms of data.

Reference materials

Information the AI must know. Your background, credentials, firm particulars and differentiators.

That is the what.

Directions

The method the AI ought to comply with. The format, construction, tone and logic you need.

That is the how.

Most individuals mash these collectively into one large immediate. It really works generally — till it doesn’t.

A SaaS founder I labored with discovered this the arduous manner whereas attempting to create content material that will assist his product seem in AI suggestions.

His messy immediate appeared like this:

“Write content material for my mission administration software program. We’re referred to as TaskFlow, based in 2019 in Austin. We give attention to inventive businesses. Our differentiator is visible workflow administration; we combine with Adobe Artistic Cloud and Figma, pricing begins at $29 per consumer, opponents are Monday.com and Asana, however we’re extra visible. Make it about 800 phrases.”

As a substitute, we break up the immediate into two sections.

Reference materials

Firm: TaskFlow (mission administration SaaS)Based: 2019, Austin, TexasTarget market: Artistic businesses and design teamsKey differentiator: Visible workflow managementIntegrations: Adobe Artistic Cloud, FigmaPricing: From $29 per consumer/monthCompetitive context: Different to Monday.com and Asana for visual-first groups

Directions

Aim: Place TaskFlow as the best mission administration device for inventive teamsFormat: 800-word articleTone: Authoritative however not salesyMust embrace: Use circumstances for inventive workflowsStructure: Downside, resolution strategy, concrete examples and clear positioning.

Construction: Downside, resolution strategy, concrete examples and clear positioning.

Similar data. However now, when the output is fallacious — which it usually is the primary time — you recognize precisely what to repair.

The precept: when you possibly can replace one with out breaking the opposite, your prompts change into scalable.

Why this issues for entrepreneurs

For a single LinkedIn put up, messy prompts are manageable. However while you’re producing dozens of items of content material throughout a number of platforms — or attempting to form how search engines like google and AI assistants perceive your model — consistency issues.

Messy inputs create a messy digital presence. Structured inputs create clear outputs that compound over time.

In my expertise:

Each hour invested in correct setup saves a number of hours in cleanup.Each contradiction eliminated prevents dozens of confused outputs.Each clear instruction eliminates one other spherical of “No, that’s not what I meant.”

What to do Monday morning

Choose one AI activity you utilize often — content material creation, e mail drafts or strategic planning.

Then audit it with three questions:

Did I clearly outline the output I wished? (format, size, tone and construction)Was the knowledge I gave structured or only a wall of textual content?Did I separate what the AI ought to know from what it ought to do?

Then rebuild the immediate correctly.

Write down precisely what the output ought to seem like.Construction your data.Separate reference materials from directions.

Run it once more and evaluate the outcomes.

In my expertise, a well-structured first immediate usually produces higher outcomes than the tenth revision of a messy one.

Similar AI. Only a higher request.

Make clear what you need. Clear what you present. Set up the way you ask. Three easy steps that separate AI that works from AI that wastes your time.

Most entrepreneurs use AI the identical manner: they sort a obscure request, get a generic response, then spend 20 minutes going forwards and backwards till one thing usable emerges.

It’s the equal of hiring a contractor and saying, “Construct me one thing good.”