Journal
Field notes on running a consulting practice with AI in it. No hype, no benchmark recaps — just what holds up on client work.
New here? Start with these
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The three categories of consulting work — and which ones AI should never touch
Where the line sits between work AI should touch and work it shouldn't.
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Stop prompting, start briefing: delegating whole deliverables to Claude
The habit change that fixes most bad AI output: brief it, don't prompt it.
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Stop pasting into chat. Point Claude at a folder.
The setup post — where your files live and how Claude gets to them.
An 8-step proposal walkthrough on a real (fake) engagement
From discovery call to signed proposal in eight chained AI prompts — walked through end-to-end on a fictional but realistic consulting engagement.
The non-numeric outcome — what stops case studies from reading like marketing fiction
The one section that separates real consulting case studies from the ones that read as fabricated — and why every case study needs it.
I picked Claude — here's the one task ChatGPT actually wins
An opinionated take on Claude vs. ChatGPT for consulting work — what Claude does better, the one task that goes the other way, and how to pick.
Why most consulting proposals lose — and the one shape that closes
The structural reason most consulting proposals fail — and the eight-section shape that converts. Specific examples, no template SEO.
The actual Claude workflows of a solo consultant, six months in
Six months in, here are the workflows that compound — and the ones I tried and dropped — for a one-person consulting practice.
Why outcome-specific AI products beat 100-prompt megapacks
The reason "100 prompts to 10× your business" packs don't work — and what to look for in an AI product instead.
The client-meeting workflow that turns transcripts into next actions
Pre-brief, debrief, follow-up email — the three artifacts to produce around every meaningful client meeting, in 12 minutes total.
The quarterly retrospective for solo consultants — a 90-minute exercise that compounds
A 90-minute end-of-quarter exercise that tunes your ICP, your pricing, and your pipeline — without team-retro overhead.
The 90-second discovery dossier (when you don't have an SDR)
Three artifacts to produce before any consulting discovery call — company brief, decision-maker brief, fit flag — in three minutes total.
Why your AI prompts feel generic — and how solo consultants fix it
The four reasons Claude and ChatGPT keep producing forgettable output — and the prompt structure that fixes all four for consultants.
The three categories of consulting work — and which ones AI should never touch
The rule for deciding which consulting tasks to give AI — and which to keep yourself. Specific examples across the three categories.
Every article, by topic
The complete Journal index. Bookmark this page — new pieces land here on publish.
Setting Up Claude
- Stop pasting into chat. Point Claude at a folder.
- How to keep a client's context across Claude sessions (without re-pasting)
- Claude Projects vs. skills vs. raw prompts — when to use which
- Claude skills for solo consultants: what they are, and the first three to build
- The actual Claude workflows of a solo consultant, six months in
Working With AI
- What's left to review when the AI checks its own work
- The effort dial: how much thinking does a task deserve?
- From transcript to deliverable: the AI-assisted research-report workflow
- The one-pager you should write before every AI-assisted task
- The context-window mistake most consultants make with Claude
- Stop prompting, start briefing: delegating whole deliverables to Claude
- Why your AI prompts feel generic — and how solo consultants fix it
Winning Work
- The case-study harvest: one wrap, three marketing pieces, thirty minutes
- An 8-step proposal walkthrough on a real (fake) engagement
- The non-numeric outcome — what stops case studies from reading like marketing fiction
- Why most consulting proposals lose — and the one shape that closes
- The 90-second discovery dossier (when you don't have an SDR)
Running Client Work
- The client update email template (steal this one)
- The scope-creep conversation: four scripts for the conversations you've been avoiding
- The five-section Friday update that keeps clients quiet
- The first hour after a deal closes: what to ship a new client
- The client-meeting workflow that turns transcripts into next actions
Practice Systems
Model Watch
- Which Claude model you actually get now depends on your plan
- Claude Cowork left the desktop. Here's what that buys a consultant.
- Don't build your practice on one AI model
- Fable 5, Opus, or Sonnet: which Claude for client work
- Claude Fable 5 for solo consultants: what actually changes
- I picked Claude — here's the one task ChatGPT actually wins