This is the beginners's guide to

actually setting up Claude Skills. I'm

going to make it super easy for you to

understand how to use it, why it's

important. I'll start by important. Like

you will be able to get way more out of

Claude if you use skills. It's just

going to get way way more consistent,

higher value stuff. So, who doesn't want

that? This episode is for you. Um, and

it's it's for the beginner. I'm not

going to be using Claude Code. I'm just

going to be using the website or if you

want to just have the Mac app, we're

going to talk about how you can create a

custom skill.

>> So, the first thing you're going to want

to do is actually enable skills. So, it

doesn't enable it by by default. So, if

you go to settings and then you click

capabilities, if you scroll down, you

actually could see that there's this

skills preview feature, repeat

customizable instructions that Clo can

follow in any chat. Um, and you can

actually add them over here. If you want

to create a new skill, it, you know,

gives you three options. It says create

with Claude, build complex skills

through conversation, write skill

instructions, great for skills that are

easy to describe. Um, and then upload a

skill. So this is if you actually have a

zip already or a skill, you can just

upload it already. But for the vast

majority of people, you actually want to

just hit uh you know, let's create a

skill together and says it basically

onboards you to this idea of how to

create a skill. So it says let's create

a skill together using your skill

creator skill. First ask me what the

skill should do. It says I'll help you

create a custom skill. Let me first

review the skill creator documentation

to guide us through this process. So

then it says perfect. Let's create a

custom skill. What functionality should

this skill provide? For example, it

could help with working with a specific

formats or data, following particular

workflows for workflows for your work or

projects, integrating with specific

tools or APIs, applying domain specific

knowledge or pro uh procedures or

something else entirely. So what do I

have in mind? So, hm, that's a good

question. I'm going to say, "Hey there.

I run a design agency called LCA.

I'm constantly creating new apps and

websites. I'd love a skill that reviewed

my

uh designs

actually uh reviewed my

viewed my copywriting

on my apps and websites and and

critiqued it to get the highest

conversion rate possible. Basically, I

want to ship apps that drive revenue,

etc. And copy

helps do that. So, basically what I'm

trying to do is I want to have almost

like a copywriter that specializes for,

you know, apps and and websites, and I

want to see if I can create a skill that

can go and do that. Um,

and it says, "Great idea. A conversion

focused copyrightiting review skill

would be really valuable for your

agency. Let me ask you a few questions

to understand exactly how you do this.

What kind of apps are you and websites

are you typically building?" So, I'm

going to say,

um, I'm typically building mobile apps

that have AI embedded in it.

um or

SAS.

Number two,

uh how would you provide the copy for

review? Would you share URLs, HTML

shots, HTML files, screenshots? I'm

going to say I would share screenshots

or Figma files

or just paste text, whatever is easiest

for you. So, I literally treat it like,

you know, I I'm talking to an employee.

What specific elements do you want

critiqued? Headlines, CTAs, value

propositions, product descriptions, hero

sections, pricing pages, onboarding

photos, all the above. All of the above.

And what does a helpful review look like

to you? Do you want specific suggestions

with before and after, a scored

assessment, prioritize issues to fix, or

something else? Actually, that all

sounds great.

If you have a business that's doing at

least $50,000 a month in revenue, I've

got something interesting for you. It's

called offline mode. It's a 2-day event

that me and my team are putting on at a

20,000 plus foot square foot mansion.

Yes, this is what it looks like on

January 23rd and January 24th in Fort

Lauderdale, Florida. I'll include a link

in the description if you're interested

in coming, but it's basically for people

who have a business that's kind of

cranking, but they really want to put it

in rocket ship mode. They want to create

a set of businesses that generate tons

of money, tons of cash flow, tons of

product market fit, tons of impact. Um,

but they're not just quite there yet.

It's also about, you know, making your

business AI first. how you can actually,

you know, build not just one product but

multiple products. And you're going to

leave with, you know, tactical, uh,

answers to your questions. So, um, if

that's you and this sounds interesting,

uh, I'll see you there.

So, you answer it. Um, and it's actually

a really good like before you create I

mean you should create your first skill

but I think that you should be asking uh

Claude like which you know telling it

what you do and giving and asking it to

tell you what are the 10 skills that you

should be creating. Um, so this would

just be one of the skills. So you can

see here it says I have a clear picture

now. I'm creating a conversion

copywriting review skill for your AI and

SAS mobile apps. I'll build a skill that

reviews all copy elements, headlines,

CTAs, value props, provides scored

assessments with specific before and

after suggestions, prioritizes issues by

impact on conversion, works with

screenshots, Figma files, and past. Let

me start up start by setting up the

skill structure. And it's gone and it's

like it's it's building out building

this out. So, uh, why this is so

important is, you know, yes, you could,

um, obviously have this within within

Claude, um, in like one chat, but you

lose the context with the skill. You're

getting the consistency

uh, and you're just getting better

output ultimately because you're getting

consistent output that you want, right?

You're giving it the right amount of of

context and now knows about my business.

A common question is, well, why wouldn't

I just use a project within Claude?

Well, um, you could use a project, but

projects are context specific for a

specific like, you know, there's a

beginning, middle, and an ending date to

the project. So for example like maybe

you're working on a you know Christmas

campaign but after that you know the

type of uh copy that you know you you

would do for Christmas campaign you know

might be might be different you know if

you're doing something for Valentine's

Day. So, I think, you know, think of

skills as like you're building like your

team a little bit and you need a set of

skills that are going to work regardless

if you're working on a campaign or if

you're working on just, you know, your

it's it's sort of like your daytoday

operations. So, let's just check in on

what's happening here. Um, it says it's

building, you know, it's building the

skill. It's starting it's starting by

setting up the skill structure. Uh now

let me build out the skill with

conversion copyrightiting expertise.

I'll remove the example files we don't

need and create reference materials.

Great. And now it let it says now let me

uh let me write the main skill MD with

the review workflow.

So it's uh you know these are markdown

files.mmd

um which is really simple and I saw I

think someone from uh from anthropic

actually you know someone asked them uh

hey like why did you do markdown files

like that's like literally the most

basic files ever like why didn't you do

something a little a little you know

more complex and they just said that

like it works right uh files workdown

files are super easy to understand. If

you're non-technical, obviously you can

really understand it. So, I'm happy that

they that they, you know, picked such an

easy way to actually uh to to get

involved.

So, um you can see here now it's it's

sort of at work. You can you can

actually go and see what it's doing. So,

you know, it's it's you know, key

principles, quality standards. I mean,

this is really insane, you know, like

that that that this is possible. And um

and and and it's gone and and I think

it's I think we've got it. So, it says,

"Hey, I've created your LCA uh

conversion copy review skill. Here's

what it includes. Provide expert

conversion copywriting reviews for your

AI powered mobile apps and SAS. It works

with screenshots." Exactly what we said.

So, um it says, "What's inside?" Okay,

so it's got the markdown file skill.md,

which is the step-by-step review

workflow with scoring system and output

template. It's got a conversion

framework.mmd. So it's got the core

frameworks like iata. Uh I think that's

attention, interest, desire, and action.

PA, PAS, BAB, these are different

frameworks that I'm happy exist in here.

And value proposition formulas like any

good copywriter knows those things.

Element guidelines on MD. So it's

specific best practices for every copy

element, headlines, calls to action,

pricings, etc. Um, so how it works, when

you ask me to review copy, I'll

automatically load the conversion

frameworks and guidelines, analyze each

element with specific scoring,

prioritize fixes by conversion impact,

critical, high, medium, low, and provide

before and a after examples with

psychological rationale. And then it

says to use this upload this.kill file

to code. Then just share any app website

and ask for conversion review. So uh

we're going to go ahead and do that. I'm

actually going to go download it. Um

download it here. Copy. I click copy to

your skills. So I believe we need to go

back to

the settings. We're going to go ahead

and click settings. And then we're go

back to capabilities. And here uh you

can see the skills. We have to add the

skills. And now is when we upload the

skills. So we're going to go ahead and

drag and drop that from downloads. Um so

actually when I click copy, it put it in

there. I wasn't sure about that. Um so

you actually, you know, if you click

copy, it automatically puts it there,

but I've gone and uploaded it uh there

again. And let's go and start a new chat

and see if this works. So, I mean, we're

going to need something for it to

review. So, I'm actually just going to

go to like, let's say, Calai, which is a

popular

app for tracking your calories.

I'm just going to,

you know, screenshot this. Actually,

maybe I'll screenshot. Yeah, I'm going

to screenshot these

App Store previews.

I'm going to go back.

So, I'm going to say, "Hi, please use

the conversion

review skill to look at these app store

screenshots and provide better copy."

Actually, I'm also going to give it the

website. I'm literally just going to

copy and paste. I've also included

the website copy,

which needs a copy uh review

as well.

So, I'm going to go and see if this

actually uses the skill. Hopefully, it

does. So, it says, "I'll review your app

store screenshots and website copy for

conversion optimization. Let me start by

examining the conversion copywriting

best practice for your app." Um, so now

you can see the agent really is going

and working with the skill to get to

give the best possible outcome. Think

about if we didn't have the skill. If we

didn't have the skill and you were like,

"Make it better, you know, make it sound

fresh, make it sound clean, make a

conversion rate optimized." You just

wouldn't, you know, it wouldn't get the

best output. So here, let's see what

happens. Um, Cali's current copy relies

heavily on generic AI messaging without

explaining concrete benefits or

differentiate for competitors. The app

store screenshots use vague headlines

and don't communicate the value

proposition while the website copy

burries chamele compelling features

under technical descriptions. Top

priorities rewrite headlines to focus on

specific outcomes. Clarify the unique AI

capability depth sensor for volume

calculation and lead with transformation

rather than features. So it goes and

tells you the critical issues. It says

the app store screenshots and let's

actually go um and let's look at the app

store screenshots. So it says make easy

calorie tracking easy with AI. Just snap

a picture of your food then let us do

the rest. You can see you know it's it's

it's taking a picture of pancakes and

then it says track your progress as you

go. Protein, carbs, and fats. So it says

the issues is it's too generic. Every

cal calorie tracker claims to be easy.

There's no specific benefit or

differentiation.

Then let us do the rest is nothing

meaningful. So then it gives these

alternatives. Option one, track calories

in 3 seconds. I actually like the 3

seconds. I think that's uh really good.

Oh, it did include, by the way, the the

score. It's pretty harsh. Three on 10,

but um yeah, track calories in 3

seconds. No manual logging. Get exact

portions using iPhone depth sensing.

Like it's it's it's obviously better.

Why it work? Specific time frame 3

seconds. Emphasizes the elimination of

friction points. Users hate. Highlights

unique tech capability. Includes

concrete multiplier. I've written copy

for some of the largest SAS businesses

apps on the planet. And I could not

agree more with this statement. Option

two. So it gives you another option

where it's transformation focused. Lost

17 lbs without counting a single

calorie. Your counter calculates

everything instantly. See calories,

protein, carbs in real time. Join 5

million users hitting their goals daily.

So leading with success. I think that

could be really cool, too. Um let's

let's let's see how it did on um the

website copy. So the current copy says

meet Cal AI. Track your calories with

just a picture. Um, it has a lot of

issues with it. It says it wastes

precious headline space. No emotional

hook. The recommended alternatives, the

only calorie tracker that actually knows

portion sizes. Your iPhone depth sensor

meas measures exact food volume. So,

this I mean, and then it, you know,

gives you the high priority

improvements. Um, and you can just, you

know, see this on screen, but the point

here is it's done an incredible job

here. It goes into medium priority

refinements. It says what's working well

here.

It gives you product considerations and

then a summary of what to do. Now, this

this is awesome, but I saw a tweet um

from my my friend uh boring marketer uh

this morning and he said something

that's really smart around how you can

get the most out of Claude skills. So he

said the trick to creating effective

skills to make your AI think like an

expert, not just to follow steps. So he

had is a 10-step process that I think

you know is really great. So we've gone

ahead and great. Now anyone listening to

this can great can create a claude

skill, but how do you actually make the

skill 2x better, 3x better, 4x better,

5x better? You do something like this.

And if people want I can go and do an

episode with with James the boring

marketer um where we can actually you

know go deeper on this understand what

skill what problem

step one right so we we did that but

could we have gone deeper uh you know

with with with the LLM probably explore

see where cloud fails without guidance

step three research go deep on the

domain step four synthesize extract

principles from research. Step five,

draft. Write initial skill. Step six,

self-critique. Review against quality

criteria. Step seven, iterate, fix gaps,

get feedback, improve. Step eight, test,

use skill on a real scenario. Step nine,

finalize, codify into uh an optimal

structure. What does this mean? It says,

you know, make cloud claude think like

an expert, not follow steps. Produce

output, not intermediate documents.

Sounds like a pi pra p p p p p p p p p p

p p p p p p p p p p practitioner, not

documentation. Constrain ruthlessly.

Every section earns its place. The point

here is that once you've created your

first skill or your second skill or your

third skill, skills aren't something

that you aren't, you know, making better

over time. So, as you see the output,

let's say I didn't like the output of

what I got. I can go ahead and edit the

skill, you know, now that I have it, I

can just go and and edit it and add to

it and change it and iterate from there.

So, I want to keep this episode short

and and it's, you know, cuz today today

was just about like how you can create

your first few skills and and but once

you have that, the second step is

iterating on those skills. Uh so that it

really really it's like an employee that

knows you. you don't even need to like

tell it what to do, right? Um that's

like what you want to get to that it's

just constantly delighting. And that's

step two. You're iterating on the

skills, getting the most out of them. Um

and then step three is using it within a

platform like Cloud Code. Um we've we've

shown today around, you know, just using

it on uh on the web on the Mac app. Um

but you could use it within uh the

terminal. And that's really where you're

going to get the most amount of control

in it. So, hope this was helpful. You

know, I I do these practical AI

tutorials because, you know, I think

that uh we have a lot of ideas and, you

know, this is this is the startup ideas

podcast and it's about how you can get

those ideas out of your head and

actually create something that people

love. Um, and I think a big part of that

is having, you know, using things like

skills to your advantage. So, hope this

was help helpful. Please like, comment,

and subscribe. I I literally read every

single comment and respond to most. So,

um, hope this was helpful. Happy

holidays and have a creative day.