How to Use AI for Your Small Business: 12 First Prompts (Montana Edition)

Go to chatgpt.com, sign up, and pay for ChatGPT Plus ($20/month). The free tier works but uses an older model. Plus gets you the current frontier model, which is meaningfully smarter for business tasks.

In Settings → Data Controls, turn OFF 'Improve the model for everyone.' This keeps your prompts out of future training data. If you're going to paste anything that touches customer info, also upgrade to ChatGPT Business (~$25/user/month) — it's no-training by default and you get a proper admin console.

That's the setup. You're done. Now the prompts.

**1. Turn rough notes into a quote.** 'I'm a [trade] in [city]. A customer wants [scope of work]. My rough notes: [paste]. Write a clean quote email with line items, payment terms (50% deposit, balance on completion), and a friendly close. Keep it under 200 words.'

**2. Reply to a hard customer email.** 'I run a [type of business]. A customer just sent this: [paste email]. They're frustrated about [issue]. Write three reply drafts: one apologetic, one firm-but-warm, one that offers a specific fix. I'll pick.'

**3. Write a week of social posts.** 'I own [business name], a [type] in [city, MT]. Write 5 short Facebook posts for this week. Topics: [list 2–3 things going on — new product, weather, holiday, special]. Friendly, local, no hashtags except #[town]MT. Under 80 words each.'

**4. Draft a Google Business Profile reply to a 3-star review.** 'A customer left this review: [paste]. Write a public reply that thanks them, takes responsibility for [the specific thing], and invites them to call me at [number] to make it right. No corporate-speak.'

**5. Summarize a meeting.** 'Here's a transcript / my notes from a meeting with [client/team]: [paste]. Give me: (a) decisions made, (b) action items with owners, (c) anything I should follow up on this week.'

**6. Read a contract before I sign it.** 'I'm a small business owner, not a lawyer. Read this contract and tell me in plain English: what am I agreeing to, what are the three riskiest clauses, and what should I ask the other side to change before I sign? [paste]'

**7. Turn a long email chain into a one-paragraph summary.** 'Summarize this email thread in one paragraph for someone who hasn't read any of it. End with the one thing the recipient needs to do. [paste]'

**8. Write a job ad.** 'I need to hire a [role] for my [business] in [city, MT]. Pay is [$/hour or range], schedule is [hours], and the person needs to be [2–3 must-haves]. Write a job ad for Indeed that sounds human and local, not corporate. Under 250 words.'

**9. Build a simple weekly checklist.** 'I run a [type of business]. List the 10 things I should check or do every Monday morning to start the week right. Organize by: customer, money, team, equipment.'

**10. Translate something into Spanish (or Vietnamese, or…).** 'Translate this into [language] using friendly, everyday phrasing — not formal: [paste]. Then on a second line, give me a phonetic version I can read out loud.'

**11. Draft an SOP for something a new hire keeps asking about.** 'Write a one-page standard operating procedure for [task — e.g., closing the bakery, opening a new client file, prepping a hay field for cutting]. Numbered steps, plain English, written for someone on their first day.'

**12. Plan a month of email marketing.** 'I own [business]. Plan 4 weekly emails for the next month. Each one: subject line, 100-word body, and one call to action. Topics should mix: a tip, a customer story, a small promo, a personal note from the owner.'

Pick one prompt. Use it three times this week. Notice what you change about the output before sending it — that's where ChatGPT is wrong about your business. Add those corrections into the prompt itself for next time. After a couple of iterations the output comes out almost-ready, and you've built yourself a permanent shortcut.

Once two or three prompts are part of your weekly rhythm, you're ready for the next step: connecting AI to your actual tools (QuickBooks, your CRM, your inbox) so the prompts run themselves. That's where a consultant earns their fee — but you don't need one to start.

If you'd rather skip the trial-and-error, that's exactly what our half-day [ChatGPT & Copilot training](/services/copilot-training) covers: we sit with your team, build your top 10 prompts together, and leave you with a written AI use policy.

Even with training turned off, treat ChatGPT like a smart contractor you just met — useful, but not your vault.

**Never paste:** Social Security numbers, full credit card numbers, bank account + routing combos, driver's license numbers, anything covered by HIPAA (patient names + diagnoses, medical record numbers), or signed legal documents you wouldn't email to a stranger.

**Fine to paste:** Public business info, your own marketing copy, contracts you're reviewing, generic customer emails (first names are fine, mask last names if you're nervous), your notes, your numbers without account IDs.

If you're in healthcare, law, or finance and you need to use AI on real client data, you need a setup with a Business Associate Agreement (Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 + a BAA is the most common). That's a 30-minute conversation, not a project.