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The Recommended Setup

The no-research version of getting started, exactly as I prescribe it.

This page exists so you never have to compare tools, read reviews, or wonder if you bought the wrong thing. Six steps, in order. Names current as of mid-2026; when they change, this page changes with them - the principles in the Field Kit never do.

1. Pick ONE provider and standardize #

For most business owners starting now: OpenAI’s ChatGPT subscription. Two reasons: you tend to get more capacity for the money, and its app is currently better at computer use, period. Start at $20/month; when you hit usage limits (you will know), move up a tier - the capacity jump is far bigger than the price jump, and you are still being subsidized.

Already standardized on Claude? Stay. Everything on this page works the same way with the Claude app and Cowork, and the subscription tiers are the same. For honest color: I find ChatGPT better at workflows and getting things done, and Claude better at conversations and planning - and as a whole I enjoy working with and speaking with Claude more. Both are right answers. Pick one and standardize.

Why one provider: your team learns one tool, your workflows live in one place, and your context folder (below) keeps you portable anyway. You do not need to run three chat apps in the beginning. (You’ll grow into this later and likely use both ChatGPT and Claude, but start simple first. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.)

2. Install the desktop app, not just the website #

Download the ChatGPT desktop app with Codex (or the Claude app with Cowork) on the computer where work actually happens. The chat side is what you know; the Work side is where the agent layer lives: workflows, file handling, scheduled jobs.

  • It only runs on the computer it is installed on. Install it on a machine that stays on, and set it to launch at login.
  • The Work side also runs in the cloud. Jobs can run there even when your machine is closed; your walkthrough shows both, and where each makes sense.

3. Create your context folder (15 minutes, the highest-leverage step) #

A folder in the drive you already use (Google Drive, Dropbox), named something like “Our Business, for DI.” Inside, start ONE document:

  • Who we are, what we sell, who we serve
  • How we sound (paste two examples of writing you love)
  • Our rules (things we always do, things we never do)
  • The decisions that live in your head and nowhere else (start with three)

Point every DI conversation at this folder. And keep growing it: add documents and subfolders as they earn their place, organized however makes sense to YOU. You do not need a perfect structure, because your DIs search it and find what they need. That is the philosophy in one word pair: retrieve, rather than stuff. This folder is what makes you portable when vendors change, and it is where your skills live.

4. Your first workflow: by hand, then a skill, then a schedule #

In the app’s Work side, one low-consequence recurring job. Run it by hand until you trust it. Then two more moves:

  1. Have it write the skill: “Interview me about how this should be done every time, then write the skill for yourself.” It drafts its own SOP; you edit for judgment.
  2. Then schedule it: “Every morning at eight, run the tracking skill.” This is the moment work starts happening without you.

By hand, then a skill, then a schedule. That is the whole blue-belt ladder, and you just climbed it on one job.

5. The backup (the sovereignty move that costs less than you think) #

If your business lives in Google Workspace or similar: add a cloud-to-cloud backup that copies everything daily to an account with your name on it. The move is worth $100 a month; in practice it usually costs a fraction of that.

The current prescription: Afi.ai - about $3 per user per month. Set it up right:

  • Enable administrator MFA and backup-failure email alerts
  • Protect every active account AND every Shared Drive
  • During the free trial: delete a harmless test file, wait for a backup, restore it
  • Repeat a documented test restore every three months

(This spec came from Rigger, my IT agent. Yes, my IT department is a DI. That is rather the point.)

6. Voice: two different jobs, two different tools #

Dictation (talking instead of typing): on Mac, FluidVoice - free, runs entirely on your computer, no subscription, more private than the built-in options. Otherwise WisprFlow (subscription, less private).

Recording conversations, meetings, and transcription: Plaud - $30/month for unlimited transcriptions, optional hardware, and an app that records online meetings WITHOUT sending a note-taking bot attendee into everyone’s room. I like it better than Fathom, Fireflies, and the usual suspects.

Why voice matters at all: your conversations, drives, and walks become searchable text your DI can work with. More of your thinking, captured where it can compound.

Questions about any of this? Bring them to our session - that is what it is for.

Rent the frontier. Own your context. Ignore the rest.