The AI Consultant · 1-to-1 Coach Guide

The 4 Claude Projects — Working Playbook

Built around Austin Marchese's "4 projects." Tab 1 is tonight's focus (Board of Advisors); tabs 2–4 are ammo for future sessions; Tab 5 is the 30-minute setup foundation from the short he just sent — the floor the other four stand on.

🔒 Coach copy — not for sharing. Work through it together, live.

1 The Video, in 90 Seconds Austin Marchese · 13 min

Stop watching tutorials — build four compounding Claude projects, each usable today, no coding required. Together they form a personal operating system.

PROJECT 1 · TONIGHT

Board of Advisers

Clone real experts so you can ask a "board" before high-stakes decisions.

PROJECT 2

Niche Command Center

A private tool for a job you do daily — the real win is sharper thinking.

PROJECT 3

AI-Optimised Profile

A site built so AI describes you well to buyers & referrals.

PROJECT 4

Internal Operating System

Knowledge / Skills / Project folders + a CLAUDE.md brain + self-improve loop.

Why he sent this: he flagged a comment about making the board think critically rather than agree — a "devil's-advocate" layer. Built into Prompt 4. Project 1 is the natural start because he already owns a deep sales library to clone from.

2 The Session Plan 60–90 min · hands-on

By the end he'll have a working /ask-the-board skill and will have asked it a real question about a live case. Have Claude Code open and one current case in mind.

0–10 MIN · WARM-UP

Frame the outcome & pick the board

Choose 2–3 sales minds he wants first — people whose full body of work he can feed in (books/courses he owns). Start with 2.

✔ 2–3 advisors shortlisted
10–25 MIN · INTERVIEW

Let Claude interview him

Run Prompt 1 — grounds the board in his book of business & goals, not generic theory. Answer by voice if possible.

✔ Saved profile of goals & context
25–50 MIN · CLONE ADVISORS

Ingest each advisor into a persona

Run Prompt 2 per advisor — feed book notes, course summaries, or public links. Claude builds a persona file.

✔ One persona file per member
50–70 MIN · BUILD SKILL

Create the /ask-the-board skill

Run Prompt 3 — loops every advisor, returns each take + a synthesis. Test on a live case.

✔ Working /ask-the-board skill
70–85 MIN · SHARPEN

Add the devil's-advocate layer

Run Prompt 4 — forces challenge & disagreement. Re-ask and compare.

✔ A board that argues back
85–90 MIN · LOCK IN

Save & plan the next add

Save to a board/ folder. Note the next 1–2 advisors and one real decision to bring this week.

✔ A habit + a folder to grow
Zenith link: the "interview you" step is the same move behind his Zenith Signature Profile — if he got that far, he's felt how much better output is when AI pulls context from him instead of guessing.

3 The Prompts copy · paste · run in order

Run in Claude Code, in order. Replace the [highlighted] parts. Nothing assumes a specific author — he supplies advisors from his own library.

Step 1Let Claude interview you
You are helping me build a personal "board of advisors" inside Claude that I can
ask for guidance on my sales work. Before we build it, I want you to INTERVIEW ME
so your future advice is grounded in my real situation — do not guess or assume.

About me: I sell [life insurance / your product] to [your typical client, e.g. high-net-worth families in Canada].

Interview me one question at a time. Cover:
1. My book of business today — what I sell, deal sizes, close rate, where deals stall.
2. My ideal client and the cases I want more of.
3. My biggest sales challenges right now (prospecting, discovery, objections, closing, follow-up).
4. My goals over the next 1, 5 and 10 years.
5. My natural selling style and where I want to grow.

Ask follow-ups where my answers are thin. When we're done, write a concise
"Sales Profile" summary and save it as board/my-profile.md so you can reuse it.
Step 2 — repeat per advisorClone an advisor into a persona
I want to add [ADVISOR NAME] to my board of sales advisors.

Here is the source material I have on them (I'll paste/attach it now):
[paste book notes, course summaries, transcripts, OR their public
YouTube / podcast links — whatever you own or can access]

From this, build a persona file at board/advisors/[advisor-name].md that captures:
- Their core philosophy and how they see selling.
- Their signature frameworks, methods and language (name them).
- The questions they'd ask and the advice they'd give a life-insurance advisor.
- Their tone of voice, so you can answer AS them convincingly.
- What they'd push back on or warn me against.

Read it against my board/my-profile.md so their coaching is specific to MY practice.
Confirm when saved, then I'll give you the next advisor.
Step 3Create the /ask-the-board skill
Create a custom Claude skill called "ask-the-board".

When I run /ask-the-board followed by a question or a case, it should:
1. Load my profile from board/my-profile.md and every persona in board/advisors/.
2. Answer my question IN CHARACTER as each advisor, one at a time — using their
   own frameworks, language and priorities. Label each clearly by name.
3. Where advisors would disagree, show the disagreement — don't blend them.
4. Finish with a "Chair's Synthesis": the strongest combined recommendation,
   the key trade-offs, and the single next action I should take.

Keep each advisor's take tight and practical — this is for real decisions on live
cases, not theory. Build the skill now and then show me how to call it.
Step 4 — the one he flaggedForce the board to think critically
Enhance the /ask-the-board skill to force the board to think critically instead of
just agreeing with me or with each other.

Add these rules to the skill:
- Every advisor must include at least one honest challenge, risk, or blind spot in
  my thinking — not just validation.
- Appoint one advisor each round as "devil's advocate": their job is to argue the
  strongest case AGAINST my proposed approach and against the emerging consensus.
- Before the Chair's Synthesis, add a "What we might be wrong about" section listing
  the biggest risks and the assumptions we haven't tested.
- If the board is converging too easily, say so and stress-test the weak points.

The goal: sharper decisions and real pushback on my cases, especially before I
present to a client. Update the skill and re-run my last question so I can see
the difference.
Pro tip — screenshots count as input. Any prompt he sees in a video, just screenshot and paste — Claude reads it the same as typing. And answering the interview by voice-to-text is ~10× faster.
👥 Coach note: lead here. If he says "I'll just do it myself," anchor on the devil's-advocate layer and the persona-quality — that's the bit that's hard to get right solo and where his library becomes an unfair advantage.

2 Niche Command Center Ammo · ~30–45 min

A private tool that helps with something he already does daily. For an insurance advisor, the obvious build is a Case & Client-Prep Command Center — model estate/tax scenarios, compare products, and prep the meeting narrative.

Why it lands (his four reasons)

  • He'll actually use it — solves a real case-prep problem, not a hypothetical.
  • Skips analysis paralysis — the problem's already chosen (his own workflow).
  • Sharpens the craft — forces him to map how he actually structures a case.
  • Zero audience pressure — no polish, no marketing; build fast.
Insurance angle: this is where the estate-value / JLTD-style scenario modelling he already does by hand becomes a repeatable tool — "given assets, age, tax exposure → show estate value with vs. without cover, and the meeting talking points."

Mini-plan & prompts

STEP 1

Choose what to build

Let Claude propose options from his past chats, then pick one (e.g. a case analyzer).

STEP 2

Plan the MVP, then build

Plan before building — interview-style planning prompt with guardrails.

STEP 3

Iterate live

Use it immediately; paste/screenshot errors; add features as needed.

Step 1Decide what to build
I want to build a private tool ("command center") that helps me with something I
already do every day in my [life insurance] sales work — just for me, no one else uses it.

Based on what you know about my work, propose 5 options I could build that would
save me time or sharpen my case prep this week. For each: what it does, the single
biggest job it removes, and how simple a first version would be.
Then ask me which one to build.
Step 2Plan the MVP before building
We're building: [e.g. a case analyzer that models estate value with vs. without life cover].

Before writing any code, interview me to lock the plan:
- What inputs do I have (assets, ages, tax rates, product options)?
- What outputs do I need to SEE for a client meeting?
- What decisions should it help me make faster?
Keep it to the minimum version that's useful THIS WEEK — no nice-to-haves yet.

When the plan's agreed, build the MVP, then let me start using it and add features
as I hit them.
👥 Coach note: only open this tab if he wants to build rather than clone. It's the strongest "I get a tool AND sharper thinking" pitch if the board feels too abstract for him.

3 AI-Optimised Profile Ammo · ~30–45 min

A personal site built so AI — not just Google — describes him well. Increasingly a referral or HNW prospect's first move is to ask an AI "who is this advisor?" This shapes that answer.

Two goals

  • Humans land and think "credible, specialised, I'd trust him with my estate."
  • AI looks him up first — recruiters, referral partners, prospects — and gets the right story.
Insurance angle: position around his niche (e.g. HNW estate protection, JLTD, tax-efficient wealth transfer) so the AI summary reads as a specialist, not a generic agent.

Mini-plan & prompts

  1. Set the page goal — what should a visitor think/feel? Reverse-engineer from that.
  2. Pull inspiration — sites/brands he admires.
  3. Scaffold a Node.js site — so it deploys easily (Cloudflare/Hostinger).
  4. Add an "Ask AI about me" block in the footer — provider links with a preloaded prompt.
  5. Deploy.
BuildScaffold the AI-optimised site
Build me a simple personal website in Node.js for my work as a [life insurance
strategist specialising in HNW estate protection].

First, interview me to fill the copy: who I help, the outcomes I create, proof/
credibility, and the ONE impression I want a visitor to walk away with.

Then scaffold the site optimised for AI discovery:
- Clear, structured "about", "who I help", and "how I work" sections.
- Machine-readable summary metadata so an AI can describe me accurately.
- A footer "Ask AI about me" block with buttons to the main AI providers, each
  opening a chat pre-loaded with a prompt that returns an accurate summary of me.

Keep it clean and credible. We'll deploy it after.
👥 Coach note: lowest priority of the four for an insurance advisor mid-pipeline — but great "future session" material, and a natural follow-on once he has a Command Center to show off.

4 Internal Operating System Ammo · the container

"A bunch of files that take AI from good output → hyper-specific great output." It's the container that holds the board, the command center and his knowledge together — so he never re-explains himself each session.

The structure

  • Knowledge/ — everything Claude should know: product info, objection playbooks, his voice, saved frameworks, meeting notes.
  • Skills/ — repeatable processes (the /ask-the-board skill lives here).
  • Project/ — what he's actively working on (a live case, the command center).
  • CLAUDE.md at root = the brain — tells Claude how to use the folders.
Why it matters for him: his sales knowledge (products, carriers, objection handling, his own winning language) becomes a system that compounds — every case makes the next one sharper.

Mini-plan & prompts

STEP 1

Set up the structure

Create Knowledge / Skills / Project + a CLAUDE.md brain.

STEP 2

Build a /improve system skill

Captures feedback so output gets better every time — the most important part.

STEP 3

Build an /ingest resource skill

Files new articles/transcripts/videos into the right place.

STEP 4 (optional)

Put it on GitHub

Version control — treat his OS as the IP of his practice.

Step 1Set up the folder structure + brain
Set up a personal "internal operating system" for my [life insurance] work in this folder.

Create three folders and a brain file:
- Knowledge/  → things you should always know (my products/carriers, objection
  playbooks, my ideal client, my voice, trusted frameworks).
- Skills/     → my repeatable processes (e.g. ask-the-board).
- Project/    → what I'm actively working on (a live case, a tool).
- CLAUDE.md at the root → explains how to use these folders so I never re-explain.

Interview me briefly to seed the Knowledge folder with the essentials, then create
the structure and the CLAUDE.md.
Step 2The /improve system skill
Create a skill called "improve-system".

When I run /improve-system after we've landed on a good result (e.g. a client email
or case narrative I liked), it should:
- Ask what made this version good vs. earlier drafts.
- Capture that as a durable rule/preference in the right Knowledge file.
- Confirm what it learned, so next time the output starts closer to my standard.

The point: every time I use it, the system gets sharper at sounding like me and
making the calls I'd make. Build it now.
👥 Coach note: this is the "AI will change the world" project in the video — the biggest wow, but also the most abstract. Best positioned after he's felt value from the board, as the thing that ties it all together. Strong candidate for a dedicated future session.

Where it all connects

PieceLives in
Board of advisors (personas + skill)Knowledge/ + Skills/
Command center toolProject/
His products, objection playbooks, voiceKnowledge/
The brain that runs itCLAUDE.md
Board → this sessionCommand Center → nextInternal OS → ties it togetherProfile → when ready

5 The 30-Minute Foundation AI Bri · 57-sec short

The video Agostino just sent. Its whole argument: Claude out of the box is "mid" — and that's a setup problem, not a model problem. It has zero memory between sessions, so it doesn't know who he is, what he sells, or how he likes things done. Three moves fix it — the same three that quietly sit underneath everything in tabs ①–④.

Why it matters here: the board, the command center and the Internal OS all assume Claude already knows Agostino. This tab is the 30 minutes that makes that true — do it first and every other prompt on this page lands twice as hard.
MOVE 1

Global Instructions

Role, formats, tone — loaded into every session automatically.

MOVE 2

A CLAUDE.md file

Project-specific context Claude reads on launch. (Same file as Tab ④'s "brain".)

MOVE 3

Chunk your skills

Separate focused files, not one giant doc — e.g. three writing skills, not one.

Do it with him — live ~30 min · once

Three short moves. The video is about Claude Cowork, but these apply identically to the Claude Code setup on the rest of this page — same three levers, same payoff.

MOVE 1 · ~5 MIN · GLOBAL INSTRUCTIONS

Tell Claude who he is, once

Settings → profile / global instructions. His role, preferred output format, and tone. Loads on every session so he never re-introduces himself.

✔ Claude opens knowing he's an insurance advisor
MOVE 2 · ~15 MIN · CLAUDE.md

Drop a brain into the working folder

A CLAUDE.md with his products/carriers, his ideal client, his voice and his tools. Claude reads it on launch. This is the exact file Tab ④ builds — start it here.

✔ Project context loads automatically
MOVE 3 · ~10 MIN · CHUNK SKILLS

One focused skill per job

Instead of one giant instructions doc, split into small skills — e.g. discovery-call, objection-handling, case-summary. Each stays sharp because it does one thing.

✔ Skills that don't dilute each other
Bridge to the rest of the page: Move 2 is the CLAUDE.md brain in Tab ④, and Move 3 is why /ask-the-board (Tab ①) lives as its own skill file. This tab isn't a fifth project — it's the floor the other four stand on.

The prompts copy · paste · run

Two copy-paste starters so he leaves the session with the foundation already laid — not a to-do.

Move 1Draft his Global Instructions
Help me write my Global Instructions (the profile that loads into every Claude
session automatically). Interview me briefly, then draft a tight version covering:

- Who I am and what I do: [life insurance advisor, HNW estate protection, Canada].
- My clients and the outcomes I create for them.
- How I want you to respond by default: format, length, and tone
  (e.g. direct, practical, no fluff, plain English not jargon).
- What you should NEVER do (e.g. give generic advice, invent numbers, assume a
  product without asking).

Keep it under a page — it loads every session, so it must be tight and high-signal.
Move 2Start his CLAUDE.md brain
Create a CLAUDE.md file in this folder — the project brain you read on launch so I
never re-explain my work. Interview me to fill it, then write it with sections for:

- My products & carriers, and the cases I handle most.
- My ideal client and my typical deal.
- My objection playbook and the language that actually works for me.
- My voice: how my emails and client notes should sound.
- My tools and where things live.

This is the same file my "Internal OS" uses — build it so it can grow as we add
the board and my command center.
Move 3Split one doc into focused skills
I want to chunk my Claude skills into separate focused files instead of one giant
instructions doc, so each stays sharp.

Look at the sales jobs I do repeatedly and propose 3–5 small, single-purpose skills
I should create — for example: discovery-call prep, objection-handling, case
summary, follow-up email. For each, tell me the one job it owns and what it should
never try to also do.

Then create the first one with me and show me how to call it.
Anthropic's own line on this: the model is only as good as the context you give it. Thirty minutes here is the difference between "AI is overhyped" and a system that sounds like him and makes his calls.
👥 Coach note: use this to reframe impatience. If Agostino's ever felt Claude is generic or overhyped, this is the honest answer — he skipped the setup. Position it as the 30 minutes that pays back on literally every session, and lead straight from here into Tab ④ (they share the CLAUDE.md). Great low-friction opener if the full board build feels like a lot tonight.