Learn / Courses
Sign In Sign up free

Stage 1 · free course · your own pace

SiliconRoshi AI Small Business Quick Start

From your first conversation with AI to summoning AI heroes, finding the people you can help, building a website that introduces you plus a free resource, and having your first person try it and tell you what they think. No tech background needed: if you can send a text, you can finish this.

Lessons
10
Each
20–30 min
Cost
Free · sign up to start
Tool
Claude free plan

Sign up free and start See the syllabus

What you take away

This is step one: find the people you can help and have a website of your own. Next, turn it into articles and videos, and grow it into your own brand.

  • Say, ask, fill in, dig, plus the Ten Prompts for learning anything new
  • Check the dish: check sources, spot scams, catch what AI made up about you
  • An AI helper you scripted yourself and actually use
  • A direction map: who you can help and what small change you can make for them
  • A website that introduces you, and a free resource
  • Real feedback from your first user, and your next step

Syllabus

Lessons 1–4 teach you to talk to AI, lesson 5 to check its work, 6–7 to summon heroes, and the last three to make your work. Each lesson builds on the last.

Part 1 · Say it, ask itLessons 1–4

Learn to talk to AI: say it clearly, fill in your standards, ask when stuck, and have it dig for blind spots.

Part 2 · Check the dishLessons 5

AI gets things wrong, and sounds just as sure when it does. Before you summon it, learn to check its work.

Part 3 · Summon heroesLessons 6–7

Give AI a role and a set of rules so it becomes your own helper, and one other people can use too.

Part 4 · Make your workLessons 8–10

Find who you can help, build a website and a free resource, and let your first person try it.

How each lesson works

Every lesson opens with one idea that helps you understand AI; lessons 8, 9 and 10 are longer, so do them in two sittings.

  1. 1

    Get ready1 minute

    Open claude.ai in a computer browser. Lessons 1–7 also work in the phone app, though buttons sit in different places; use a computer for lessons 8–10.

  2. 2

    Use the template10–15 minutes

    Copy the gray box into the chat, replace each [bracket] with your own words, send it, and keep talking.

  3. 3

    I did it3 minutes

    Each lesson ends by telling you what “done” looks like. Tick the box, and hand in homework if you want AI TA scoring.

Stuck? Ask AI. If a lesson doesn’t make sense, paste it into Claude and let it coach you step by step. Lesson 1 teaches you how.

Three pocket cards

Screenshot them, or copy them onto a note by your computer. The whole course uses these three cards.

Card 1 · Lessons 2 and 3

Say · Ask · Fill in · Dig

  • Say: what you know and AI doesn’t, say it clearly.
  • Ask: what AI knows and you don’t, just ask.
  • Fill in: the standards you take for granted but never said out loud.
  • Dig: what you don’t know you don’t know, have it dig out your blind spots.

Skip one of the four and you only get part of what AI can do for you.

Card 2 · Lessons 1, 3, 4, 5

The Ten Prompts for learning anything

  1. Explain it like you’re teaching a ten-year-old, then quiz me
  2. Turn this topic into eight flashcards
  3. Teach me just the 20% that matters most
  4. Draw a map linking the key ideas
  5. Quiz me one question at a time
  6. Do a deep research on this topic for me
  7. What is the best practice in this field?
  8. What are the three most common beginner mistakes?
  9. Give me three frameworks to understand it
  10. What does the other side say? Lay out the facts and arguments against it

No need to memorize them. Pick one or two when you learn something new.

Card 3 · Lessons 6 and 7

The four layers for summoning a hero

  • Role: who it becomes. A specific person, not a job title.
  • Rules: how it works. Concrete and numbered: “under 100 words,” not “keep it short.”
  • Limits: the lines it must never cross.
  • Example: show it once how you want it done.

Miss a layer and the hero doesn’t show up.

Five safety rules

  1. Never type passwords, verification codes, Social Security numbers or bank card numbers. Before a photo or screenshot, cover names, addresses, account numbers, barcodes and QR codes, and zoom in to check before you upload. Don’t upload medical records, or anyone’s information they haven’t agreed to share.
  2. Claude makes mistakes, and sounds sure even when it’s wrong. Check important facts yourself.
  3. Got a suspicious message? Don’t rely on AI alone; look up the official number yourself and call.
  4. Your website is for other people to see: no home address, home phone or birthday, and no promises of results or income.
  5. Stuck? Take a screenshot and ask: “I’m a beginner. Where do I click next?”

What it costs

Course

Free

All 10 lessons are free, no paid Claude plan needed. The free plan has usage limits: long chats, photos and web pages use more. If you hit the limit, come back at the time the page shows.

AI TA scoring · optional

$9 once

Hand in each lesson and the AI teaching assistant scores it and gives feedback. One payment covers homework in this course and both Track 1 courses (Chinese and English). Every AI review costs tokens, so it is a one-time $9. Free for members. You can hand in without buying; your homework is kept.

Practice material. Practice with your own life, or with the made-up retired teacher Mingde Chen. You’ll find his material on the first practice page of each lesson.

From quick start to your own small business

Our academy exists to help you build your own small business in the AI era. Three stages, one after another. This free course is step one.

  1. Stage 1 · Free Small Business Quick Start Learn AI, find the people you can help, and make your first set of work. “I know who I can help, and I have work to show.” You are here
  2. Stage 2 · $29 Small Business Advanced: make your small business run faster 10 lessons: a promo video, workflow automation, taking payments, consulting, your own agent, and SRlink. “My small business has promotion and helpers, and runs faster.” Learn more
  3. Stage 3 · Members Join the academy The weekly Tuesday member class (taught in Chinese): learn from and help each other, and keep your small business going. “I’m not doing this alone; a group of us move forward together.” Learn more

Sign up free and start