Learning to Love the Machine: 4 Surprising Tips to Make AI Chatbots Work for You
- Kisha Velazquez
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 7
This post is inspired by a workshop session from Acadium Plus, featuring Lean Solopreneur Founder Bianca van der Meulen and hosted by Kisha Velazquez.
What's in this Post
Most of us approach AI as a tool to save time or automate tasks. But what if AI could be more than that? What if it could be a genuine thinking partner that helps lighten your cognitive load and improve your creative process?
In a recent workshop, multidisciplinary creator and founder of Lean Solopreneur Bianca van der Meulen shared her journey of transforming her relationship with AI from reluctant user to collaborative conversation buddy.
Here are the key insights for solopreneurs looking to make AI work uniquely for them.
Embracing AI: From Reluctance to Partnership
Like many creative professionals, Bianca initially struggled to see how AI could help with her thought-intensive work. "I'm not creating a ton of content... I work on a project basis with people. It's all about human conversation and collaboration, and then it's very personalized, very thought-intensive analysis and creativity. I just didn't understand how AI could possibly help me with any of that."
The turning point came when she realized her main challenge was cognitive load. As a solopreneur handling multiple complex projects, her brain was constantly overworked.
"I realized that all the things I do are brain work—strategy, innovation, learning, creation, communication. I don't want to automate knowledge work; my brain needs to be involved. But maybe AI could help lighten that load?"
What's Your Relationship Status with AI?
Bianca suggests there are several stages in our relationship with AI:
Enemy: Viewing AI with fear or as "cheating"
Task Rabbit: Using AI solely for productivity and automation
Collaborator: Working with AI as a partner in your thinking process
Most solopreneurs get stuck at the task rabbit stage, missing the opportunity for a more valuable collaborative relationship.
Making AI Chatbots Like Claude Work For You
Instead of following generic advice about how to use AI, Bianca recommends asking a more fundamental question: "How can AI work specifically for my brain, my work style, and my unique needs?"
Her breakthrough came from these key approaches:
1. Start by Exploring What's Possible Together
"I started asking Claude, 'What can we actually do together?' When he'd say, 'I can do this, I can't do that,' I'd be like, 'Oh, if we did it this way, could we do it?' I was figuring out AI with AI."
This collaborative exploration helped Bianca understand the possibilities without having to research or learn from multiple sources—significantly reducing her cognitive load.
2. Give Direct Feedback Without the Emotional Labor
One of the most liberating aspects of working with AI is the ability to be completely direct without worrying about hurt feelings.
"A big part of what makes the cognitive load lighter is that I can be extremely direct. I can say as much as I want, and Claude is never overwhelmed and never takes anything personally. As someone who collaborates a lot, that's really nice."
For solopreneurs who spend considerable energy managing communication with clients and collaborators, this straightforward interaction can be refreshing and efficient.
3. Project Knowledge for Context is Key
To make AI truly valuable, Bianca emphasizes the importance of building context over time:
"The biggest difference I saw between talking to Claude versus a person is that a person has memory and Claude doesn't."
Her solution was creating project knowledge bases:
At the end of each chat, ask for a session summary
Save key insights as documents within a project
Create preference documents that explain how you like to work
Reference this knowledge in future conversations
This approach ensures continuity without having to repeatedly explain your preferences or recap previous insights.
4. Use AI to Make Sense of Your Thinking
One particularly powerful application for solopreneurs is using AI to find patterns in your own thinking:
"I've taken notes my whole life. I write a notebook full of notes every month, but I never know what to do with them. So I just took all my Apple notes, dumped them in, and asked Claude, 'Help me make sense of this.'"
The result? "Claude reflected back, 'You actually only think about four things, and you really like it when they interact.' I would never have noticed that on my own."
This pattern recognition can help clarify your focus and priorities, especially if you tend to have scattered thoughts or work across multiple domains.
Surprising Benefits for Human Relationships
Contrary to concerns about AI degrading human connections, Bianca found the opposite effect:
"I have noticed my ability to think through and ask for what I need in relationships has increased because I'm forced to say what is working for me and what's not in this really direct way with Claude. I'm taking those same learnings and putting them in my other relationships."
Getting Started using Claude AI Chatbot
Ready to try this approach using Claude? Bianca suggests:
Start with an open-ended question: "How can you help me?"
Provide context by sharing notes, documents, or thoughts without filtering
Give brutally honest feedback about what works and what doesn't
Ask for summaries to capture insights
Build a knowledge base over time
The goal isn't to follow someone else's AI process but to develop a relationship that works specifically for your brain, your work, and your creative process.
As Bianca puts it: "We get to set the pace, we get to decide what to do with it. Change genuinely is scary, but I think the biggest risk is not enjoying it."
If you're still feeling timid, you can check out Bianca's prompts for Lean Solopreneurs.
What's your relationship status with AI?
Let's discuss how I can help you create strategic content for your business with AI.
