No one wants to be an average entrepreneur. Dreaming up a big idea and taking the leap with starting a business takes courage. Once you’ve done the hard part, see it through. Assemble all the resources at your disposal to reach the heights that very few do.
You can read all the business books, watch all the YouTube how-tos and have coaching sessions with every expert, but improving as an entrepreneur is a constant process. Add another tool to your arsenal by enlisting the help of ChatGPT.
How ChatGPT can help you up your entrepreneurial game
Establish your values
Without a robust set of values by which you make decisions and frame your actions, you’re at risk of flitting around, copying your friends, and convincing yourself there are easier ways of making money. Your values, once defined, create the blueprint for how you operate. Find out what yours should be by looking at people you admire and dislike. Your reaction to their actions reveals the values that are right for you.
Here’s the prompt to define the values by which your every action should tally: “Please create a set of values for me as an entrepreneur, based on the information I’ll explain. I’ll use these values to make decisions and ensure I’m acting consistently. The things that are most important to me in life are: [describe what they are]. The qualities I most admire in other people are [describe what they are] and the qualities I most detest in other people are [describe what they are]. I do my work in order to achieve [describe your ideal outcomes].”
Identify your main goal
All of your energy focused in one direction will mean you go far. Align your intentions into one goal, and ask ChatGPT to define that goal in simple terms. Over the entire course of your career you can do many things, but for now just focus on one. One mission, one goal, one reason for you to get out of bed every single day.
Edit this prompt with all the details, then let ChatGPT simplify your mission. “I want to achieve lots of things for my business, including: [describe the main things you want to achieve in your career]. Can you help me simplify this into one overarching goal and accompanying mission statement, so I don’t get side-tracked and distracted by other things?”
Consider trade-offs
Optimising for revenue carries a different set of actions to optimising for profit. Maximising your customer experience might come at the expense of your revenue per person. Shorter wait times for customer service might come with more personnel requirements, and so on. Avoid being confused by competing metrics by deciding, in advance, what you’re optimising for and therefore what you’re willing to let slide.
Ask ChatGPT for more detail with this followup prompt: “Within my company we are working on the following projects [outline the projects you’re working on]. We want to achieve our one main goal of [your one main goal], and we’re optimising for [explain what metrics matter the most to you]. Can you help me consider the trade-offs involved in this focus? What should I be prepared to forgo or not focus on in pursuit of my one main goal?”
Subtract the non-essential
Most entrepreneurs are busy doing things that don’t matter. Having a full day gives them a false sense of importance. But with all that rushing around, there’s hardly any time to think about what to work on. But thinking about what to work on is a valuable exercise in itself. Enlist the help of ChatGPT in figuring out where to cut out menial tasks and clear more blank space. Use this blank space to do more of what matters, or just stare out the window and let answers find you.
Figure out where ChatGPT thinks you could subtract. “Here’s what I do within a normal week: [outline your weekly schedule with how long you spend on each item]. Given my one, overarching mission, and what I’m optimising for, can you suggest where I can remove commitments, activities and obligations that don’t contribute towards my goal in a meaningful way? I’m prepared to make big changes to my schedule based on your suggestions.”
Identify blind spots
You don’t know what you don’t know. But those current unknowns are potentially things that could derail your business. ChatGPT can take a bird’s-eye view of your work and professional capability to suggest where you might be missing some intel. By now it knows you pretty well, so it’s well-positioned to offer guidance.
Don’t miss a thing with this simple prompt: “I know my mission and I’m going to start to remove some of the day-to-day tasks that don’t contribute towards it. Given my business of [describe your business], my skills of [describe your five main skills] and my weaknesses of [highlight any potential areas of weakness], can you identify any blind spots that I haven’t considered? Consider internal and external factors and suggest a three-point plan for overcoming each one.”
Design your dream week
Be a better entrepreneur by having a healthy relationship with work. Do this by making the most of your non-work time. When you close your laptop and put your phone on airplane mode, engage in something that makes you feel grateful that you live the life you do. This all comes down to your day-to-day; those elements of a normal week that means it’s a sustainable structure you could happily live on repeat.
Put the components of your dream week into a schedule that works: “For me, a perfect week includes [list the components of your dream week] and by the end I will have achieved [list what you’d like to achieve each week]. My energy is highest [time of day] and lowest at [time of day]. Given that you already know my main goal is [your one main business goal] and that I’m optimising for [what you’re optimising for], can you plan a weekly schedule where each day is filled with my favourite things structured in such a way that I enjoy my time.”
Become a better entrepreneur with these ChatGPT prompts
Become an extraordinary entrepreneur with these six prompts. Define your values, get clear on your goal and know your mission. Identify your blind spots and eliminate the nonessential from your week for a work and life cadence you’re proud to call yours. Ask the questions that the others aren’t asking to achieve the results they can only dream of.