For Andy Sobchak · Project D

One tool. One step at a time.

This page walks you from a blank ChatGPT account to Project D's brief, look, landing page and first campaign. Do one step per sitting. Every step tells you what to click, gives you text to copy, and tells you when you're done.

0 of 9 steps done
Start with step 1

How this works

One tool

Everything happens in ChatGPT. No other accounts, apps or downloads until you decide you want them.

Copy, paste, go

The dark boxes hold text to paste into ChatGPT. Tap Copy, then paste it where the step says.

Check it off

Tap "Mark done" at the end of each step. This page remembers your place on this device.

The one rule: ChatGPT drafts, you decide. Nothing gets posted, sent or paid for until you've read it and said yes.

The steps

1

Get ChatGPT Plus

About 10 minutesTo do

The free plan runs out of messages fast and can't hold your files the way this playbook needs. Plus is the plan everything below is written for.

What to do

  1. Go to chatgpt.com and log in. If you don't have an account yet, click Sign up and use the email you check every day.
  2. Click your name or picture in the bottom-left corner, then Upgrade plan.
  3. Choose Plus. It has been $20 a month. Check the price on the checkout screen before you pay.
  4. Install the ChatGPT app on your phone and log in with the same account. Handy for voice notes later.

You'll also see a cheaper plan called Go. Skip it for now. It leaves out the image tools and connections you'll want by step 6.

Done whenYour account menu says Plus.
2

Make a home for Project D

About 5 minutesTo do

A ChatGPT Project is a folder that remembers. Every chat, file and decision about Project D lives in one place, so you never re-explain yourself.

What to do

  1. In ChatGPT's left sidebar, find Projects and click New project.
  2. Name it Project D. Pick any color or icon.
  3. Click Create project.

From now on, start every Project D conversation from inside this project, not from the main "New chat" button.

Done when"Project D" shows in your sidebar and opens to its own page.
3

Tell it how to work with you

About 5 minutesTo do

Project instructions are standing orders. ChatGPT reads them before every answer in this project, so you set them once.

What to do

  1. Open your Project D page.
  2. Look for Instructions (or the ⋯ menu, then Project settings). Menu names shift from time to time. If you can't find it, use the help box below.
  3. Copy the text below, paste it in, and save.

Copy this

Project D instructions
You are my working partner on Project D.

About me: I'm new to AI tools. Use plain language and skip jargon. When there are steps to follow, give me one step at a time and wait for me to say "done" before the next one.

How we work:
- Read the files in this project before answering. If a file and our chat disagree, the file wins.
- Ask me one question at a time when you need information. Push back if my answer is vague.
- Short answer first. More detail only if I ask.
- You draft, I decide. Never assume anything has been posted, sent or paid for.
- When we finish something worth keeping, give it to me as a downloadable file with a clear name (like brief.md) so I can add it to this project.
- If you're unsure about a fact, a price or a feature, say so instead of guessing.
Done whenThe instructions are saved and show on the Project D page.
4

Bring your notes in

30 to 60 minutesTo do

Your Project D ideas are probably spread across documents, emails and notes. Pulling them into one place means ChatGPT starts from what you already know instead of from zero.

What to do

  1. Gather everything about Project D: documents, notes, emails, photos, links. Don't clean anything up first.
  2. On the Project D page, find Files or Add files and upload them. You can also drag files onto the page.
  3. For emails or notes that aren't files, paste them into a chat inside the project.
  4. Start a new chat inside Project D and paste the prompt below.

Copy this

Sort my notes
Read every file in this project and anything I've pasted here. Then tell me:

1. What Project D is, in two or three sentences, based only on my notes.
2. The decisions I've already made.
3. Anything that contradicts itself.
4. The biggest open questions.

Keep it short. Don't add ideas of your own yet.

If the summary gets something wrong, say so in the chat. Correcting it now saves rework later.

Done whenChatGPT's summary of Project D matches what's in your head.
5

Write the one-page brief

1 to 2 hoursTo do

The brief is the foundation. The look, the website and the campaign all come from it. Skip it and you'll redo those later.

What to do

  1. In the same chat as step 4 (or a new one inside Project D), paste the prompt below.
  2. Answer one question at a time. Voice mode on your phone works well here.
  3. When ChatGPT gives you the brief as a file, download it and add it to the Project D files.

Copy this

Brief interview
Interview me to write a one-page brief for Project D. Use what you already know from my files, and only ask about what's missing or unclear. One question at a time. Cover:

1. Who it's for, in one sentence.
2. What we want them to do first, second and third.
3. How it makes money, if it does, and when.
4. What success looks like in 90 days, as a number.
5. What we are not doing yet.
6. What would make me stop or shelve it.
7. How many hours a week and how much money I can give it.
8. The date it has to be ready by, working back from the holiday campaign.

When we're done, write the brief in under 400 words with a heading for each point. Then list the three biggest risks you see. Give me the brief as a downloadable file named brief.md.
Done whenSomeone who knows nothing about Project D can read the brief in two minutes and explain it back to you.
6

Pick the look and the voice

1 to 3 sittingsTo do

Decide the name, colors, type and tone once. After that, every post, page and email reuses them instead of starting over.

What to do

  1. Start a new chat inside Project D and paste the prompt below.
  2. Ask for changes until one direction feels right. Then stop shopping.
  3. Download the identity file and add it to Project D files.

Copy this

Look and voice
Using brief.md, give me three different visual directions for Project D. For each one:
- A name idea, or how to use the current name
- Three to five colors with hex codes
- A headline font and a body font (free Google Fonts only)
- A one-line description of the feel
- One sample image showing it on a social post

Before suggesting a name, search the web for businesses or groups already using it in Texas and tell me what you find.

After I pick a direction, write the voice rules: how Project D sounds, five words we use, five words we never use, and two sample sentences. Then give me everything as a downloadable file named identity.md.
Done whenidentity.md is in your Project D files and shows the whole look on one page.
7

Put up a landing page with an email sign-up

1 to 2 daysTo do

One page that says what Project D is and collects email addresses. That list is what your holiday campaign talks to.

What to do

  1. Start a new chat inside Project D and paste the prompt below.
  2. Let ChatGPT recommend a website builder. It will walk you through it click by click.
  3. Before anything goes live, read every word yourself.
  4. Ask two friends to sign up and confirm they got the welcome email.

Copy this

Landing page
Using brief.md and identity.md, help me launch a one-page website for Project D with an email sign-up.

First, recommend the simplest website builder for a beginner that includes a free or low-cost email sign-up form. Give me one recommendation, its current price, and why. Wait for me to agree.

Then:
1. Write the page copy: headline, two or three short sections, and the sign-up ask.
2. Write a short welcome email for new sign-ups.
3. Walk me through building it in that tool, one step at a time. Wait for me to say "done" after each step.

Keep the page short. One ask: join the list.

If you'd like your own web address (like projectd.org), ask ChatGPT what it would cost and how to connect it. That's optional.

Done whenThe page is live and someone who isn't you has signed up.
8

Run your first campaign

2 to 4 weeksTo do

This is where people start showing up. ChatGPT drafts the posts and emails. You do the part it can't: talking to people.

What to do

  1. Start a new chat inside Project D and paste the first prompt.
  2. Approve each piece before you post or send it.
  3. After the first full round, paste the second prompt so next time takes less work.

Copy this first

Plan the campaign
Using brief.md and identity.md, plan the Project D holiday campaign.

Work backward from the campaign date in the brief. Give me a simple weekly calendar: what to post, where, and which emails go to the sign-up list. Keep it to what one person can do in the hours the brief allows.

Then draft the first week's posts and email. One at a time, so I can approve or change each one.

Then copy this

Make it repeatable
Look back at everything we did for this campaign. Sort it into: what worked, what took too long, and what I'd skip next time. Then suggest a simple weekly routine I can repeat, and give it to me as a downloadable file named routine.md.
Done whenThe first round has gone out and routine.md is in your Project D files.
9

Keep it, change it, or shelve it

About 1 hourTo do

Make the call on purpose instead of letting the project drift. Shelving something deliberately is a fine result.

What to do

  1. Gather your numbers: sign-ups, replies, sales, anything you tracked.
  2. Start a new chat inside Project D, paste the prompt, and add your numbers.

Copy this

Read and decide
Compare these results to the 90-day target and the "stop or shelve" conditions in brief.md:

[paste your numbers here]

Tell me plainly whether Project D is on track. Then give me three options (keep going as is, change one specific thing, or shelve it) and the case for each. Don't pick for me.

After I decide, write my decision as one dated line and give it to me as a downloadable file named decisions.md.
Done whenYour decision is one dated line in decisions.md.

Coming back after a break?

Open Project D, start a new chat, and paste this. ChatGPT reads your files and tells you where you left off.

Where am I?
Read the files in this project. In five lines or less: where is Project D right now, what did I decide last, and what's the single next thing I should do?

Later, not now

You'll hear about these. None of them are needed to finish the steps above.

GitHub

A free place to keep your files outside ChatGPT. Worth adding in a few months, once you have more than one project or want a second AI tool to read the same files.

Claude

Another AI assistant, good for long writing and strategy. Add it only after the ChatGPT routine feels easy.

Austin Outside

Parked on purpose. It needs a team or a pitch, not a solo build. When you're ready, give it its own ChatGPT Project so it never mixes with Project D.

One step today. That's the whole plan.