Section 01

Why you would want one.

The takeaway
A master prompt is not a prompt. It's a document about you that every AI conversation inherits.

People kept asking to see the real thing instead of hearing me describe it, so here it is. Structure first, then what goes in each part.

A master prompt is not a prompt. It's a document about you that every AI conversation inherits, so you stop introducing yourself from scratch ten times a day.

Here is why that matters. When AI hands you generic advice, it is not because the tool is stupid and it is not because you are. It is because the tool knows nothing about you, so it gives you the average of everyone. Writing this down once ends that. It takes about an hour.

Section 02

What's in mine, section by section.

The takeaway
Seven parts. The specific ones do more work than the impressive ones.

1. The person. Where I live, who's in my house, my kid, my partner, my health constraints. Mine literally says my capacity is part-time and that this is a design requirement, not a temporary state. That one line changes every single answer I get back.

2. What the business is. Not my title. The actual spine of the work, in a sentence I'd say out loud. Mine is: extract how someone really works and sounds, build the system around that reality, then teach them to run it themselves.

3. How I talk about it. Two versions of my pitch, because I need a different one for a room of moms than for a room of founders. Written in my words, not polished marketing words.

4. What I sell and what it costs. Every offer, every price, and honestly whether each one is real or still an experiment. Mine has a column that just says live, experimental, or retire this one.

5. Who I say yes to, and who I don't. The clients that energize me and the specific signals that mean decline even when money is on the table. Writing that down changed how fast I say no.

6. Capacity and money. What a good month looks like, what I'm aiming at, and what's actually true right now instead of what I wish were true.

7. How to work with me. My rules. Don't propose rebuilding things that work. Don't delete anything without showing me the list first. Small and reversible over big and impressive.

Worked example  ·  not mine, but the right shape
1. THE PERSON
Maya, 41, Portland. Two kids, 6 and 9. I have about 22 working hours a week and that is not temporary, it is the design. Chronic migraines mean I cannot commit to same-day turnarounds.
2. WHAT THE BUSINESS IS
I help bakeries that are busy but not profitable figure out which items are actually losing them money, and then fix the menu.
3. HOW I TALK ABOUT IT
To bakers: "I find out which of your best sellers is quietly bankrupting you."
To investors: "Unit-economics consulting for independent food retail."
4. WHAT I SELL AND WHAT IT COSTS
Menu audit, $2,400 — live
Monthly retainer, $900 — live
Group workshop, $300/seat — experimental, ran twice
Full ops rebuild, $9,000 — retire this one, I hated every hour
5. WHO I SAY YES TO, AND WHO I DON'T
Yes: owner-operators who already track their numbers badly but track them.
Decline: anyone who says "we just need more marketing," anyone whose spouse is the silent decision-maker, any business under a year old.
6. CAPACITY AND MONEY
A good month is 3 audits or 6 retainers. Aiming at $11k/mo. Actually true right now: $6,200, three retainers, one audit.
7. HOW TO WORK WITH ME
Give me the number before the recommendation. Never reorganize a system that is working. If you are guessing, say you are guessing.
NEEDS MAYA  —  open questions
What do I want this to make possible in five years? I do not know yet. Do not fill this in.

Notice how specific the useless-sounding parts are. "22 working hours a week and that is not temporary" does more work than any description of my services. So does naming the offer I want to retire.

Section 03

The section I left blank.

The takeaway
Mark the questions you cannot answer yet as open. Do not fill them with something that sounds good.

Mine has a section called needs Eleah. It holds the questions I have not answered yet, like what I actually value, and what I want this business to make possible in my life.

I leave those blank and label them open, rather than writing something that sounds finished. Every agent I run reads this file. I would rather they know a question is still unanswered than act on an answer I invented to fill the space.

Also, keep it separate from your day-to-day status. I have one file for who I am, which barely changes, and a second for what's true this week, which changes constantly. When I mixed them, both went stale.

Section 04

Easiest way to write it: don't.

The takeaway
Talk it out loud for twenty minutes and have AI draft it. Correcting is easier than starting from blank.

Everyone hears "write a document about yourself" and their whole system kind of goes tight, because now it's homework and there's a right way to do it.

So talk out loud to your AI about your life and work for twenty minutes and have it draft the thing, then correct what it got wrong. Correcting is much easier than starting from a blank page, and the corrections are where it actually gets good.

Section 05

Copy this and let it interview you.

The takeaway
Paste this into a new conversation. Answer for twenty minutes. You will have a draft at the end.

You do not have to start from a blank page, and you do not have to copy my structure. Paste the block below into a fresh conversation with whatever AI you use and let it pull the answers out of you.

You are going to help me write a master prompt: a document about me that every future conversation with you will inherit. Interview me for about twenty minutes. Ask one question at a time and do not move on until my answer is specific. Push back when I am vague. Cover these: 1. Who I am, including the real constraints on my time and energy. 2. What my business actually does, in a sentence I would say out loud. 3. How I describe it to two different audiences. 4. What I sell, what it costs, and whether each offer is real or still an experiment. 5. Who I say yes to, and the signals that mean I should decline. 6. My capacity, and what a good month looks like. 7. How I want you to work with me. My rules. When we are done, draft the document in my words, not in polished marketing language. If I could not answer something clearly, do not fill it in. Mark it as an open question so we both know it is unanswered.

The last instruction is the one that matters most. An AI will happily invent a plausible answer for a question you have not resolved, and then every conversation after that inherits the invention.

Section 06

Who I learned this from.

The takeaway
Three people worth your time, and the one who gave me the term.

Dan Martell for the framework. He's a little bit the classic AI tech guy, but he put language to something I'd felt and hadn't named: the shift from AI answering you to AI working with you. Chat, connectors, agents. He's also where the term master prompt comes from for me.

Brock Mesarich (AI for Non Techies) for keeping it simple. No jargon, no assumed background. His Claude Cowork walkthrough covers the exact tool most people are asking about right now.

Nate Herk (AI Automation) for when you want to build. More technical, agent building and workflow tools. Useful once you're past "what even is this."

I wrote the longer version with the specific videos and why each one earns the click over here: Who I actually learn AI from.

And I talk through the three levels in my own voice in episode two of my podcast, if you'd rather listen than read. I started it because I think more women should be talking about AI out loud and imperfectly.

One hour. Go talk it into existence.