The Free AI Setup That's Genuinely Enough
Not 47 tools. Five things to use properly before you pay, the fifteen minutes of setup that doubles all of them, and a test for anything new.
Somewhere right now someone is publishing “47 FREE AI TOOLS YOU NEED”, and a sole trader is opening tab after tab, signing up for things she’ll never open again, deciding AI is exhausting.
One free tool set up properly beats five half-used.
So: five things to use properly before you pay for anything, the fifteen minutes that doubles all of them, and one test for anything new.
Do this first (fifteen minutes, once)
- Settings → Profile. Fill it in properly. What you do, who for, how you write.
- Settings, then the memory option. Turn it on, so it stops needing the same briefing weekly.
- Settings → Privacy. Find the toggle about helping improve Claude and set it how you want. Read it rather than trusting me, it has changed before. Most people comparing “free AI tools” are comparing blank versions of each. The setup is the tool.
The five things
1. Pasting in the real thing. The actual email thread, the actual notes, the actual quote you sent last time. “Help me write an email” gets you something generic. “Here’s the thread, reply the way I usually do” gets you something you’d send.
2. A saved briefing. The prompt further down writes a short paragraph about your business. Keep it in a note and paste it at the top of any chat that matters. Same effect as Claude knowing your work, for the cost of one paste.
3. Real files. Ask for a spreadsheet and you get one you download, not a table in a chat window. Quotes, trackers, expenses, a proposal as a document. It eats the allowance faster than chatting, so if it asks you to come back later, you’ve been productive.
4. Voice mode on the phone app. Talk instead of typing. Its habitat is anywhere your hands are busy: driving between jobs, walking, cooking. It’s also the best cure for blank-box paralysis there is. Nobody freezes mid-sentence out loud the way they freeze at an empty box.
5. Web search. Claude reads live results and tells you the sense of them, which beats a raw search for anything needing assembly from several places. Ask for sources on what matters.
What the free plan includes shuffles over time, so check what’s on yours. Projects, connectors, Skills, scheduled tasks and bigger usage limits are what the paid plan (Pro, around £20 a month) is for. The free plan is fine for trying Claude, and these five get you a long way first.
One non-Claude entry: Canva’s free plan includes its AI features on a monthly credit allowance. Words first, design second. Have Claude write the poster copy, then hand it over. People start in the design tool, freeze at the blank canvas, blame themselves.
Teach it your business once
The prompt that makes everything above land. Run it once.
Nick this one:
You're helping me write the short briefing that goes in my Claude profile and at the top of important chats, so I stop explaining my business at the start of every chat.
What I do: [e.g. "mobile dog grooming, one town, solo, about 25 regulars"]
Who my clients are: [e.g. "owners who work full time and want the van to come to them"]
How I sound writing to them: [paste two real messages you've sent, good ones]
Jobs I most want help with: [e.g. "enquiry replies, chasing no-shows, monthly accounts"]
Never do this on my behalf: [e.g. "never promise a slot, never quote a price"]
Give me:
1. A briefing paragraph under 150 words, in the second person, so I can paste it straight into my profile.
2. A two-line note on my writing voice, based on the messages I pasted, not on how you think my trade should sound.
3. The three standing rules that apply to everything you write for me.
4. The one thing you'd still need to ask me before doing real work.
5. Finish with the final text only, ready to paste. No commentary.
Rules: British English, plain, specific. Use only what I've told you. Don't invent services I haven't mentioned, don't make me sound more corporate than my messages do, nothing aspirational.
Ask me up to three questions before you start.Paste the result into your profile, and keep a copy in your notes for pasting. Everything afterwards improves for free.
The test for anything new
New tools keep arriving with a video swearing they change everything. Ten minutes settles it.
Nick this one:
I'm deciding whether you deserve a place in my working week. Skip the demo, do real work.
My actual week: [4-6 honest lines, e.g.
- three days on site, two on admin
- quoting two new jobs, always takes ages
- invoices go out late because I do them last
- Sunday night, chasing the two who never pay on time]
Give me:
1. The three jobs there you could genuinely take off me, and the ones you'd be no help with. Be honest about the second.
2. The one with the biggest payoff, done now, or exactly what you'd need from me to do it.
3. What doing this weekly looks like: how many minutes of my input, for what.
4. One sentence on what you're for, in my words not marketing words.
Rules: British English, no sales language. Don't claim capabilities you can't demonstrate in this reply.A tool that survives this might earn a spot. One that answers with waffle and a link to its pricing page just saved you a subscription. Works on Claude too.
The honest bit
Free means capped, not crippled. There’s a usage limit, on a heavy day you’ll meet it, and it resets in a few hours. Plans shuffle over time, so treat the list as a snapshot and the test as the permanent bit.
No free tool fixes a vague ask. Depth means briefing properly, which costs nothing but practice.
Wondering whether to upgrade? What To Pay For And What To Skip is that decision, made properly.
Tonight
Do the fifteen minutes. Profile, memory, privacy toggle. Then ask it something about your real work.
Where this goes next. That’s the free setup done. The Claude Kickstart is what you do with it: a playbook for your trade, five real jobs handed over, one weekend. £47.