How do you get started with ChatGPT and Claude? A first-week plan for owners
By Capital Growth Studio · Published · 6 min read
Pick a plan, change a few settings, then give the tool one real task a day.
Pick one tool and a plan whose data terms fit your work. On day one, turn off model training on a personal plan, set up two-step login and write a few lines about your business. Then give the tool one real task a day for five days, and check every answer before it reaches a customer.
Which ChatGPT or Claude plan should you start on?
Prices per person, per month, from the official pages on October 13, 2026:
| Plan | Price | Trains on your chats? |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free, Claude Free | $0 | Yes, unless you turn it off |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20 monthly | Yes, unless you turn it off |
| Claude Pro | $20 monthly, or $17 a month billed yearly | Yes, unless you turn it off |
| ChatGPT Business | $25 a seat monthly, or $20 a month billed yearly; 2 seats minimum | Not by default |
| Claude Team | $25 a seat monthly, or $20 a month billed yearly; 2 seats minimum | Not by default |
Sources: OpenAI (pricing, Business, Plus, data use) and Anthropic (plans, Team).
- One person: a free plan is enough for the week below.
- Two or more people: a business plan, with one admin for billing and accounts.
- Medical practices: Anthropic says that to process protected health information, "you need the HIPAA-ready offering with a BAA" (a Business Associate Agreement), and that offering is Enterprise only (Claude Help Center, October 2026). OpenAI offers no BAA for ChatGPT Business (OpenAI Help Center). Keep patient details out of both.
What should you change on day one?
Menu names change, so yours may differ.
- Turn off training on a personal plan. In ChatGPT: Settings, Data Controls, "Improve the model for everyone" (OpenAI Help Center). In Claude: Settings, Privacy, "Help Improve our AI models" (Anthropic). On personal ChatGPT plans, OpenAI may still train on a whole conversation if you give it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down (OpenAI).
- Turn on two-step login. In ChatGPT: Settings, Security and login. Admins can't enforce it yet, so each person turns it on (OpenAI). Claude signs you in through Google or an emailed link (Claude Help Center), so protect that email account.
- Decide on memory. Claude's memory is on by default on Free, Pro and Max (Claude Help Center). ChatGPT's is under Settings, Personalization (OpenAI). For a sensitive one-off, a ChatGPT Temporary Chat or a Claude incognito chat isn't used for training and is kept for 30 days (OpenAI, Anthropic).
- Describe your business: your trade, area, customers and tone, in ChatGPT's custom instructions (OpenAI) or "Instructions for Claude" (Anthropic). Our guide to getting better answers from ChatGPT and Claude shows what to include.
What does a five-day plan look like?
In the owner forums we read, nobody described a first week step by step. Owners describe one narrow job instead. An esthetician on Reddit uses ChatGPT "only for Instagram and social media post descriptions" (r/Esthetics, December 2025). Start with one real task a day:
- Day 1, a customer reply. Paste an email with names removed and ask for a reply in your tone. Edit it and send it yourself.
- Day 2, a quote follow-up. Give the job, the quote date and the customer's question. Check every price and model number in the draft.
- Day 3, a job post. Give the role, hours, location, pay and must-haves. Then check the pay range rules for DC, Maryland and Virginia yourself.
- Day 4, a document summary. Upload a contract or spec you may share. Ask for the payment, warranty and deadline terms with page numbers, then read those pages.
- Day 5, a checklist. Turn your notes on a routine job, such as a job closeout, into a checklist. Save the requests that worked in a Project.
On Friday, keep the tasks that saved time, and keep checking: an electrician on Reddit who uses ChatGPT almost daily reports catching it giving false information a few times (r/electricians, February 2026).
Where can you get free AI training?
- Anthropic and PayPal: AI Fluency for Small Business is a free, on-demand course (PayPal, May 2026). It covers privacy habits for business data and drafting an AI use policy, and any chatbot works for it (Claude Academy). Pair it with our simple AI policy for a small business.
- OpenAI: its small business program runs webinars, in-person events and guides (OpenAI, July 2026). In September, it announced three-hour workshops with America's SBDC, aiming to reach at least 1,000 small businesses, but named no states or dates (OpenAI, September 2026).
- Maryland SBDC: no-cost, one-on-one AI advising to "vet tools for cost and data safety", plus a six-part Applied AI curriculum (Maryland SBDC).
- Virginia SBDC: no-cost workshops, such as "AI Fundamentals: The Small Business Owner's Playbook", online on December 2, 2026 (Virginia SBDC).
- DC SBDC: one-on-one consulting at Howard University, with "AI & Operational Efficiency" among its areas of expertise (DC SBDC).
What could a first week look like in three businesses?
A real practice: Dr. Cory Annis runs Unorthodoc, a direct primary care practice in Carrboro, North Carolina (Unorthodoc). In her own article, she recalls being "genuinely startled the first time" she used an AI scribe: it turned a 45-minute visit into a clinical note. But it dropped the talk about dogs, grief and children leaving for college. "From a documentation standpoint, it was completely correct. From a human standpoint, however, it was completely wrong" (DPC News, June 2026). Her tool is a medical scribe, but the lesson carries over: check what's missing.
A made-up example: an HVAC company in Silver Spring. The owner and the office manager share ChatGPT Business, and both turn on two-step login. The manager's custom instructions give the company name, Montgomery County service area and tone. On day two, she drafts a heat pump quote follow-up with the customer's name removed, then checks the model number and price. By Friday, a "Quote follow-ups" Project holds the requests she'll reuse.
A made-up example: an electrical subcontractor in Fairfax County. The owner starts alone on Claude Pro, with training off. On day four, he uploads a subcontract that has no confidentiality clause and asks for the payment, retainage and insurance terms. He reads those pages before signing. The bid drawings stay out, because they came under a nondisclosure agreement. More jobs like this: AI and trade office paperwork.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Business?
Plus is for one person at $20 a month, and OpenAI may train on your chats unless you turn that off. Business costs $25 a seat billed monthly, or $20 billed yearly, with at least two seats. OpenAI doesn't train on Business data by default, and an admin manages the accounts.
What's the difference between Claude Pro and Claude Team?
Pro is for one person at $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly, and your chats can be used for training unless you opt out. Team is for 2 to 150 people at $25 a seat billed monthly, or $20 billed yearly. Anthropic doesn't train on Team data by default. Neither plan is HIPAA-ready.
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