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Hey future-proof friends 💜
If you're new to Claude, you're probably mostly just using Claude Chat.
It’s GREAT… but there’s something even better if you really want to 10x your productivity and get stuff done.
That's where Cowork comes in.
Instead of just answering, Claude Cowork executes.
You describe the outcome, walk away and come back to finished work.
I wrote a whole issue on Cowork here that you can read here, but the short version is:
Chat = conversation
Cowork = execution
And inside Cowork is where Claude Skills live.
A Skill is a repeatable workflow you write once, so Claude runs it the same way every time without you re-explaining the process
And that’s what we’re diving into in this newsletter.
But before we dive in:
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One Serious Deep Dive 💡
Let’s Build Your First Claude Skill in 20 Minutes
Screenshot this infographic if you need a quick setup reminder
3 Important Layers
There are 3 important layers you need to understand before we build anything:
Profile Preferences = how Claude behaves across everything. Go to Settings, and under "Profile Preferences" tell Claude who you are, what you do, how you like things written. Set it once and this applies everywhere across Claude.
Projects = a dedicated workspace where Claude permanently knows the context for a specific area of your business. You load it up with documents, examples, guidelines, past work, reference material - and every chat you start inside that Project has all of that built in. Claude also remembers your previous conversations within the Project, so it builds on what you've discussed instead of starting from zero.
Skills = Skills are repeatable workflows that Claude runs on command - like an SOP that actually gets followed. You write the instructions once and from then on, you just trigger it. For me for example, instead of prompting Claude from scratch every time I write my newsletter, I’ve built a "Write My Newsletter" Skill that knows my structure, checks my tone rules, and outputs a draft in my format every time. The difference between a good Claude setup and a great one is that the great one runs like a system - you're not re-explaining the process every time, you're just saying "go."
So quick cheatsheet:
If it's something Claude should know about you no matter what you're working on: your name, your tone, your "never use this word" rules - that's Profile Preferences.
If it's reference material for a specific area of your business - brand docs, past examples, audience notes - that's a Project.
If it's a repeatable process you want Claude to run the same way every time - that's a Skill.
And if it's about how Claude's output sounds - that's a Style.
Ok, now the fun part.
The 20-Minute Skill Sprint
Minute 0–2: Pick a simple, task you repeat regularly
Not your biggest or most complex, just a simple one you explain to Claude over and over again. If you've copy-pasted instructions for it more than twice, it's a skill candidate.
Switch over to Claude Cowork inside the Desktop app and simply ask Claude to create a skill (there’s a prompt you can use in the One Powerful Prompt section below).
Then you can view and edit existing Skills from the left-hand sidebar > Customize > Create new skill:
Minute 2–7: Describe it to Claude (badly, on purpose)
You don't need perfect instructions. Start vague (use WisprFlow to just voice type and brain dump your thoughts and explanation):
"I need a skill that helps me write weekly client update emails. Professional but warm, include a progress summary, next steps, and blockers. 200–300 words."
Claude will then ask you clarifying questions:
Once you answer all questions, Claude builds the SKILL.md file based on your answers (It's literally just a file with your instructions).
You can later access and tweak that Skill from the Customize menu as we covered above.
Minute 7–12: Test it with real tasks
Test your Skill on an actual task you need done. The first run probably won't be perfect - the point is to keep refining and tweaking your Skill.
Minute 12–18: Give specific feedback
This is where most people get stuck.
"Make it better" is useless feedback.
Instead, use WisprFlow to speak your natural thoughts about the results: "The opening is too formal. I'd never say 'I hope this message finds you well.’"
Point at the exact sentence and explain what you'd change and why.
Minute 18–20: Save and test again
Run it one more time with different data. If it's 80% there, you're done and you can keep tweaking over time.
Now every time you say your trigger phrase inside Cowork (which you can ask Claude to customize for you), Claude loads those instructions automatically and does the task the way you want. No re-explaining needed!
I've built quite a few skills so far, including:
Newsletter formatting, newsletter repurposing, infographic design (as you can see in this newsletter), weekly content batching. ..
Each one started as a 20-minute sprint to get the baseline Skill going, but the compound time savings are wild once you start stacking them, tweaking and refining your Skill.
20 minutes = one repeatable workflow you'll never explain again - Go build it now!!
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One Powerful Prompt 🤖
The Skill Builder
Copy this into Claude Cowork and just replace the information in the brackets with your details:
I want to create a skill for [YOUR REPEATED TASK].
Here's roughly what the process looks like when I do it manually:
1. [FIRST STEP YOU USUALLY DO]
2. [SECOND STEP]
3. [THIRD STEP]
4. [ADD MORE IF NEEDED]
The output should be [DESCRIBE THE FORMAT/LENGTH/TONE].
A good result looks like [DESCRIBE WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE].
A bad result would be [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WANT TO AVOID].
Please create a SKILL.md file for this.
Ask me any clarifying questions before you start building it.If you enjoyed today's newsletter AND got to the end of it, I’d love a quick click on the poll below to let me know what you think 💜.
See you next week,
Jess xx
