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Your first week

About an hour in total, spread over five days. No code, no new software beyond the AI you may already pay for. By Friday your AI will know your business well enough to prepare your calls, plan your projects and review your week.

What you need

  • An AI that can work with a folder on your computer. We use Claude’s desktop app in Cowork mode, which comes with a paid Claude plan. Any AI tool that can read and write files in a folder will follow the same steps.
  • One folder. Anywhere on your computer, or in a cloud drive you already use.
  • Your Checkup score. Take it first if you haven’t, so you know where to put extra effort.
Day 1 · 10 minutes

Make the folder

Create one folder for your business, and three folders inside it. That’s the whole structure.

My Business/
  about-my-business.md
  people/
  projects/
  journal/
about-my-business.md
The one page your AI reads first.
people/
One file per person who matters.
projects/
One page per big project.
journal/
One file per day: what happened, and why.

The .md files are plain text. Any text editor opens them, and so does your AI.

Day 1 · 20 minutes

Write “About my business”

Copy this into about-my-business.md and fill it in. Rough is fine. You’ll improve it every week.

# About my business

## What we sell, and to whom
(Two or three sentences. Who pays you, and for what.)

## How we price
(Your prices, packages, and the discounts you do and don't give.)

## Who does what
(Every person on the team, and what they own.)

## Our promises
(What every customer can count on from us.)

## Decisions I'd hate to explain again
(Three calls you made, and why you made them.)

## What the AI must never do without asking me
- Send anything to a customer
- Spend money
- Delete anything
Day 2 · 20 minutes

Write down ten people

Pick the ten people your business can least afford to lose: top clients, key staff, your best referral partner. Make one file for each in people/. Five lines is enough. Here’s an example:

# Jane Rivera, Rivera Dental (client since 2021)

- Who: Owner of a three-location dental group. Direct, busy, hates long emails.
- Last conversation: May 14, about adding the new Burbank office.
- What I owe her: A quote for Burbank by June 1.
- What she cares about: Not being surprised by a bill. Her daughter starts at UCLA in the fall.
- Talk next: Before June 1, with the quote.
Day 3 · 20 minutes

Let your AI meet your business

Open your AI inside your business folder and paste this:

Read every file in this folder before you answer. Then interview me, one question at a time, about anything important you'd need to know to help me run this business that isn't written down yet. After every few answers, add what you learned to the right file, and tell me what you added.
Day 4 · 45 minutes

Run your first loop

Pick the project you keep postponing. First, think:

I want to finish this project: [describe it in one sentence]. Interview me one question at a time until you can write one page in projects/ on what "done" looks like: the goal, what success means in plain words, what's out of scope, and the steps. Don't start the work yet.

Then close that conversation and open a fresh one, so the AI that does the work has no attachment to the plan:

Read the plan in projects/ and do the first step. Check your own work against the plan's definition of success, and tell me what you couldn't finish. When we're done, write what happened and why in today's file in journal/.
Day 5 · 15 minutes, every Friday

Keep the beat

End the week with a review. Paste this:

Read this week's journal/ entries and the people/ files. Walk me through the week: what moved, what stalled, which promises are still open, and who I haven't talked to in too long. Then write a short weekly review in journal/ and list my three most important moves for next week.

Three rules for every day after

  1. If it matters, write it down. A promise, a decision or a new client goes in the folder the same day.
  2. Think and do in separate conversations. The conversation that made the plan shouldn’t be the one that grades the work.
  3. Nothing leaves without your yes. Your AI drafts. You send.
Ready for more

Go deeper, at your own pace

The first week gets the habits started. When you want more, there are three ways in, and you can move between them whenever you like.

  1. Learn. Webinars and short lessons on each part of the model, in plain business language.
  2. Coach. One-on-one sessions with a Command Room coach who knows the model and your Checkup score.
  3. Build. A coach sets up your room with you and your team, then stays with you until the habits run on their own.

Ask Matthew which one fits →