Resource Hub

June 4, 2026 · Last updated on August 5, 2026

ChatGPT for Small Business | Workshop Resource Hub

# Work

Workshop materials, practice files, prompts, and next steps

Calvin Landrum

Start here

Welcome! Keep this page open throughout the workshop. It contains the files, prompts, and step-by-step instructions we will use together.

Open the workshop deck and participant materials in a separate tab .

Keep this Resource Hub open so you can copy prompts as we go.

If you need help, raise your hand. A mentor will come to you.

You may use your own business information when it is appropriate and safe. If you would rather practice with fictional information, use Harbor Bloom Florist throughout the workshop.

Today’s workshop

We will move through a simple rhythm: watch a demonstration, try it yourself, and share what you noticed.

Welcome + Setup

ChatGPT Foundations

Guided Small-Business Workflows

Break

From One Task to a Reusable Workflow

Solution Studio: Build, Improve, and Share

Prompting foundations

Goal — What should ChatGPT do?

Context — What should it know?

Output — What should the result look like?

Boundary — What should it avoid, flag, or leave for human review?

Try it: Choose a real task or use Harbor Bloom. Write a short prompt, run it once, and then improve it by adding clearer context and a more useful output. Compare the two results with a partner.

Improve A Rough Prompt

Help me turn this rough idea into a useful prompt. First ask up to three questions that would materially improve the result. Then rewrite the prompt using Goal, Context, Output, and one important Boundary. Keep it practical for a small-business owner.

Finished early?

Add one important boundary, such as “flag missing information,” “keep this as a draft,” or “do not invent details.” You can also ask ChatGPT what information is still missing.

Why this works

The added detail reduces guessing and makes the result easier to use. Goal, Context, Output, and Boundary are supports—not a rigid formula.

Before you share or act

Before you share information with ChatGPT:

Confirm that you are using the intended account or workspace.

Follow your organization’s rules.

Provide only the information the task requires.

Keep passwords, payment details, confidential records, and other secrets out.

Use public, synthetic, aggregated, or properly de-identified information when possible.

Before you send, publish, schedule, purchase, hire, or make a decision:

Trace important claims to a source.

Separate facts from assumptions.

Recalculate numbers that matter.

Check names, dates, prices, policies, and promises.

Keep a person responsible for the final decision.

💡

A polished answer is still a draft to evaluate.

Workflow 1: Turn feedback into action

Inspect customer feedback and sales data, identify useful patterns, recommend clear next steps, draft responses, and create one decision-useful chart.

Download the "Harbor Bloom Practice Data" workbook .

Start a new Chat and attach the workbook.

Run Prompt 1 before asking for conclusions.

Run Prompt 2 to find patterns and actions.

Run Prompt 3 to create a chart.

Review the result before treating any recommendation or reply as ready to use.

Prompt 1: Inspect The Data

Inspect the attached Harbor Bloom files before drawing conclusions. Explain what each file or sheet contains. Flag missing values, duplicate rows, inconsistent categories, unusual values, and business context that is missing. Do not fix, infer, or overwrite values yet.

Prompt 2: Find Patterns And Actions

Using only the supplied data, identify the three most useful patterns for the owner. Support each pattern with numbers and representative feedback. Separate observations, assumptions, and gaps. Recommend three actions the owner could take this week and draft two review replies for owner approval.

Prompt 3: Create A Chart

Create one decision-useful chart that shows the most important weekly pattern. Use a clear title and readable labels. Explain why this chart helps, identify any data limitation, and do not imply causation that the data cannot support.

💡

Owner review required: Confirm that source numbers, business context, proposed actions, and customer-facing language before using the result.

Discuss at your table

What pattern did ChatGPT surface?

What evidence supports it?

What would the owner still need to check before acting?

Finished early?

Ask for one additional chart, test whether a recommendation changes after excluding an outlier, or ask ChatGPT to list the evidence that would change its recommendation.

If something goes wrong

Confirm that the workbook is attached to the current chat. If uploading is slow, work with a partner. If the response skips data quality, paste Prompt 1 again and ask ChatGPT not to draw conclusions yet.

Workflow 2: Create a marketing and customer communications kit

Use a Project to keep business context together, create coordinated written assets, and develop a promotional image direction.

Create a new Project or open an existing one.

Add the Harbor Bloom Business Profile, Brand Voice, and Weekend Bouquet Bar Offer files.

Add the Project instructions below.

In one chat, run the written-assets starter.

In a second chat inside the same Project, run the image starter.

Review every factual detail and customer promise before using the result.

Project Instructions

You are helping Harbor Bloom Florist create practical customer communications. Use a warm, specific, neighborhood-friendly voice. Avoid hype, urgency that is not supported, and invented facts. Use only the supplied offer details. Flag missing information. Keep every customer-facing output as a draft for owner review.

Prompt: Written Assets

I want to create a coordinated mini-campaign for this offer. Before drafting, ask up to five questions about the offer, target customers, dates, price, channel constraints, brand voice, and required approvals. Then create: a two-sentence core message; three headlines; two Instagram captions; one Google Business Profile post; a short email plus one follow-up; one SMS or DM; and a simple in-store sign. Keep details consistent across every channel and finish with a fact-check list for the owner.

Prompt: Image Direction

I need a square promotional image for the Harbor Bloom Weekend Bouquet Bar. Before generating, propose three distinct visual directions. For each, describe the composition, mood, palette, typography approach, and what would make it feel specific rather than generic. Do not generate until I choose a direction. Use an original treatment and no logos or customer likenesses.

Prompt: Targeted Revision

Keep the composition, flowers, lighting, crop, and color palette unchanged. Replace only the headline with “WEEKEND BOUQUET BAR” in large, readable sans-serif text in the upper third. Do not add any other text.

Discuss at your table

What stayed consistent across the assets?

What would you revise before publishing?

Which business facts still need confirmation?

Finished early?

Make one targeted revision without changing the rest of the image, compare two visual directions, or ask ChatGPT to check every asset for inconsistent dates, prices, terms, or calls to action.

If something goes wrong

Confirm that the three files were added to the Project. If image generation is slow, refine the creative brief instead. If details are invented, ask ChatGPT to use only the offer file and list anything it cannot verify.

Break

Please return ready to build. Keep this Resource Hub and ChatGPT open.

Solution Studio: Choose your task

Choose one real job that would make your next week easier. Start with the task you named at the beginning of the workshop or choose one of the starting points below. Build the smallest version that would be genuinely useful.

Job — What are you trying to get done?

Context — What information or examples are essential?

Output — What should the finished result look like?

Guardrails — What must it avoid, flag, or leave for a person?

Test — How will you know the first version is useful?

Starter prompts

Local marketing and customer communications

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me design a recurring local marketing and customer communications workflow for my small business. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the offer, audience, channels, essential sources, useful first output, important boundaries, and human review. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Customer feedback to action plan

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me turn recurring customer feedback into an action plan. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the feedback sources, intended user, decisions to support, useful output, privacy boundaries, and human review. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Customer communications helper

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me design a customer communications helper for a recurring situation in my business. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the situation, audience, source information, voice, required output, promises to avoid, and approval step. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Operations checklist coach

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me turn a recurring operating task into a practical checklist. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the job, who performs it, essential inputs, normal sequence, exceptions, safety or policy boundaries, and final review. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Weekly owner brief

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me design a weekly owner brief for my business. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the decisions I make each week, available sources, useful metrics, desired output, missing-information rules, and human review. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Hiring and onboarding pack

Act as a practical workflow coach. Help me design a hiring and onboarding pack for one role in my business. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions total, to clarify the role, business context, responsibilities, required outputs, legal or policy boundaries, and human approval. Then propose the smallest useful v1 and give me a prompt I can run now. Do not add tools or automation until the first version works.

Build your first version

Run your starting prompt.

Answer the questions with only the context the task requires.

Create the smallest useful first result.

Check the result against your intended user and next action.

Save your best version before you continue editing.

Need help? Raise your hand. Be ready to tell your mentor: What job are you solving? Who will use the result? What would make it useful?

Finished early?

Add one trusted source, a clearer output format, or a stronger human-review boundary. If the job requires several sources or steps, try moving the workflow into Work.

Make version one stronger

Tighten the output so it is easier to use.

Add one important guardrail.

Test one normal case.

Test one missing-information or unusual case.

Confirm the point where a person reviews or approves the result.

Save the strongest version.

Prompt: Improvement Test

Review this workflow as a skeptical small-business operator. Identify the three most likely failure points. Then test it with one normal case and one case where important information is missing. Separate what worked, what failed, and the smallest changes that would make version one safer and more useful. Do not expand the scope beyond the original job.

Version one is ready when it helps a real person take a useful next step, facts and assumptions are distinguishable, the format is usable, the review point is clear, and the best version is saved.