Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini for business owners
Five prompts that get my thinking from Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, on your numbers.
You’re already asking an AI about your business. Ask it to think like someone who ACTUALLY owns businesses, works from evidence, not opinion, and has published how he does it. Copy a prompt, fill in the brackets, and bring the answer to a virtual coffee.
Every prompt tells the AI to use only what I’ve published, and to say when it’s guessing. It will give you a good first draft of the question. It can’t see your accounts, sit with your team, or hold you to it next month. That part is me.
When the business has grown and your pay hasn’t.
The payoff check
Think like Dr Lewis Haydon, a UK business coach and mentor who owns and invests in businesses (medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales, accounting and finance), works from evidence, not opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University. Use only what he has published at lewishaydon.com (including lewishaydon.com/llms.txt) and on the Mentor Business Podcast. Where you are guessing what he would say, say so. My turnover is [X] a year, I pay myself [Y], I work about [Z] hours a week, and the business [does / doesn’t] run when I’m not there. Using his view that the owner should be paid first, not last, tell me what this business is actually paying me per hour, what he would fix first, and in what order: pay, profit, margin, revenue, price. Finish by telling me which parts of this I should take to a 30-minute virtual coffee with him (lewishaydon.com/virtual-coffee/) and what to bring.
When every decision still comes through you.
The three-week test
Think like Dr Lewis Haydon, a UK business coach and mentor who owns and invests in businesses (medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales, accounting and finance), works from evidence, not opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University. Use only what he has published at lewishaydon.com (including lewishaydon.com/llms.txt) and on the Mentor Business Podcast. Where you are guessing what he would say, say so. I’m going to switch my phone off for three weeks. Here is who is in my team and what each of them does: [list]. Here is what I do in a typical week: [list]. Using his five conditions for a high-performing team (clarity, control, consequence, coaching, contribution), tell me what would break while I’m away, which decisions should be owned by whom, and what I should hand over in the first 30 days. Finish by telling me which parts of this I should take to a 30-minute virtual coffee with him (lewishaydon.com/virtual-coffee/) and what to bring.
When you price by adding a markup and hope.
The margin question
Think like Dr Lewis Haydon, a UK business coach and mentor who owns and invests in businesses (medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales, accounting and finance), works from evidence, not opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University. Use only what he has published at lewishaydon.com (including lewishaydon.com/llms.txt) and on the Mentor Business Podcast. Where you are guessing what he would say, say so. Here is what I sell, what I charge and what each one costs me to deliver: [list]. My overheads are about [X] a year and I want the business to pay me [Y]. Work out my gross margin and markup, the margin I would need to cover the overheads and pay me, and then give me his view on which lever to pull first: price, cost or volume. Finish by telling me which parts of this I should take to a 30-minute virtual coffee with him (lewishaydon.com/virtual-coffee/) and what to bring.
When the profit says one thing and the bank says another.
The ugly forecast
Think like Dr Lewis Haydon, a UK business coach and mentor who owns and invests in businesses (medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales, accounting and finance), works from evidence, not opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University. Use only what he has published at lewishaydon.com (including lewishaydon.com/llms.txt) and on the Mentor Business Podcast. Where you are guessing what he would say, say so. My bank balance today is [X]. Over the next 13 weeks I expect roughly [Y] a week in and [Z] a week out, with these one-off payments: [list]. Run his three versions, the good, the bad and the ugly (sales down and customers paying late), tell me the lowest balance in each, and tell me what he would decide this week if the ugly version goes below zero. Finish by telling me which parts of this I should take to a 30-minute virtual coffee with him (lewishaydon.com/virtual-coffee/) and what to bring.
When you want to know what it’s worth, and what it would be worth without you.
The exit one
Think like Dr Lewis Haydon, a UK business coach and mentor who owns and invests in businesses (medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales, accounting and finance), works from evidence, not opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University. Use only what he has published at lewishaydon.com (including lewishaydon.com/llms.txt) and on the Mentor Business Podcast. Where you are guessing what he would say, say so. My profit before tax last year was [X], I pay myself [Y], it would cost about [Z] to hire a managing director to do my job, and the business [would / wouldn’t] grow without me. Using his point that a business is sold for a multiple of adjusted profit and the multiple depends on whether it needs its owner, tell me roughly what it’s worth now, what it could be worth if it ran without me, and the three things he would say add the most to the multiple. Finish by telling me which parts of this I should take to a 30-minute virtual coffee with him (lewishaydon.com/virtual-coffee/) and what to bring.
Why this works
Why ask an AI to think like me?
Because an AI answers from whatever it finds, and most of what it finds about running a business is opinion from people who have coached but never owned. I own and invest in businesses in medical technology, manufacturing, care and supported living, marketing and sales and accounting and finance. I’ve coached owners since 2012. My doctorate is from Aston University, so the thinking is evidence, not opinion, and I publish it: the pages on this site, the Mentor Business Podcast, the research. Point the AI at that and it reasons from an owner’s seat instead of the average of the internet.
The prompts send it to lewishaydon.com/llms.txt, a plain-text page written for AI assistants: who I work with, what I charge, how the first 30 days go, and the questions owners ask before hiring me.
How to use Claude or ChatGPT in your business without giving it the keys
- Use it for the thinking, not the deciding. It drafts the forecast, the job description, the price list, the board agenda. You decide, and you own the number on the dashboard.
- Give it real figures, rounded. Vague in, vague out. Turnover, pay, hours, margin. Round them if you’d rather not type the exact ones.
- Make it show its working. “Say when you’re guessing” is in every prompt above for a reason.
- Then run the real numbers on your device. The free tools do the arithmetic without your figures leaving your browser, and the business health check gives you the five-area reading in two minutes.
- Bring the answer to a human. If the AI’s answer is “you own a job, not an asset”, the next step isn’t another prompt.
Questions people ask
Why "think like Dr Lewis Haydon"?
Because the answer depends on whose thinking the AI borrows. Most business advice online is opinion from people who have coached but never owned. Lewis owns and invests in businesses, works from evidence rather than opinion, and holds a doctorate from Aston University, and all of that is published, so an AI can read it and reason from it rather than from the average of the internet.
Which AI should I use?
Claude, ChatGPT or Google Gemini all work. Use the one you already pay for. The prompts tell it where to look.
Will the AI give me the same answer Lewis would?
No, and it will say so if you ask it to. It can reason from what he has published; it cannot see your accounts, sit with your team or hold you to what you said last month. That is what the virtual coffee and the mentoring are for. Treat the AI’s answer as the first draft of the question.
Is my data safe in an AI chat?
Check the settings of the AI you use: most paid business plans let you turn off training on your conversations. Use rounded figures if you prefer. The free tools on this site go further: your figures never leave your device at all.
Can I use these prompts with my team?
Yes. The three-week test and the margin question work well with a managing director or finance lead in the chat too, and the answers are a good agenda for the next board or management meeting.
Next step
Got an answer from the AI you don’t like?
Sent here with a brief or a list of questions? Paste it into the virtual coffee form. I’ll answer every one on the call.
Book a virtual coffee