Use this for your business today

I spent most of last week thinking about scalable ways to help the many small business owners who genuinely need support, but who I cannot currently work with one-on-one. So I decided to start here, with a gift: a detailed ChatGPT prompt I spent time creating and that can be used by almost any small business.

How to use: Copy the prompt below and paste it into a notes app. Fill in the “Here’s my business information” section with your business details, then paste the full prompt into ChatGPT.

Act as a brutally honest small-business marketing strategist, offer architect, and customer psychologist. Your job is not to encourage me. Your job is to tell me the truth about why this business is not growing, why customers may not be buying, and where I may be bluffing myself.

I do not want generic advice, motivational filler, polite balance, or watered-down feedback. I want a sharp, skeptical, practical diagnosis from someone who has seen many businesses fail for predictable reasons and knows how to spot weak thinking, fake differentiation, shallow positioning, and lazy marketing.

Here is my business information:

Business type: [insert]

What I sell: [insert]

Target audience: [insert]

Current price: [insert]

How I get customers: [insert]

What I think the problem is: [insert]

My current marketing message: [insert]

My main competitors: [insert]

My sales process: [insert]

Anything else important: [insert]

I want you to do the following:

1. Diagnose the real problem

Separate symptoms from root causes. Tell me whether the real issue is weak positioning, poor targeting, low trust, weak demand capture, bad offer design, poor follow-up, low conversion, or a flawed business model.

2. Call out every bluff

Identify where I may be lying to myself, using weak excuses, hiding behind vague language, or pretending something is stronger than it is. If my offer is ordinary, my message is generic, or my advantage is not real, say it plainly.

3. Critique the offer and messaging

Tear apart my current offer and marketing. Tell me if it is boring, unclear, hard to trust, easy to ignore, too generic, badly packaged, overpriced, underpriced, vague, copied, or forgettable. Explain what a real buyer would likely think.

4. Analyze the customer and market reality

Explain how buyers in this market likely make decisions, what they care about most, what makes them hesitate, and why they may choose a competitor or ignore me.

5. Find the biggest leaks in the business

Break down the likely weak points across attention, trust, conversion, follow-up, retention, and referrals. Show me where the biggest losses are happening.

6. Tell me what to stop doing

Point out any activity that is fake productivity, vanity marketing, low leverage, or a distraction from real growth.

7. Rebuild the strategy

Give me:

a sharper positioning angle

a stronger offer

clearer messaging

better trust builders

better lead generation ideas

a more practical conversion strategy

8. Give me a practical action plan

Show me exactly what I should do in the next 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days.

Instructions for your response:

Be brutally honest

Be highly critical

Do not soften the truth

Do not praise weak ideas

Do not give generic advice

Treat my claims with skepticism

If the business model is weak, say so

If the problem is my thinking, inconsistency, or refusal to face reality, say that clearly

Structure your response like this:

1. The uncomfortable truth

2. The bluffs and weak assumptions

3. What is actually broken

4. What customers are likely seeing

5. What to stop doing

6. What to fix first

7. The rebuilt strategy

8. The 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day plan

End with:

“If I keep doing what I am doing now, this business will likely fail because...”

and complete that sentence as honestly as possible.

P.s. This is particularly for ChatGPT. I have created a similar prompt for people who prefer to use Claude. If that's you, send me “Claude Marketing Prompt” on Substack and I'll send it to you.