The Claude newsletter for people who don't code
Stop reading about AI. Put Claude to work.
Everyone else sends AI news. We send finished tools. Every Tuesday: one change that matters, in plain English, plus ready-made skills that teach Claude a whole job in five minutes.
Less than a cup of coffee. You get the Hot Rod Setup and all 9 skills the minute you join. Cancel any time.
How much horsepower is your Claude making? Take the 2‑minute test →
Built and run with Claude by one former real estate broker
- WellheadMap4.8 million oil and gas wells, mapped
- Tax FighterTexas property tax protests, do-it-yourself
- DealMasonIncome property underwriting
- B4U BuyFlood, taxes and schools before you buy
- Engage The Beast3D printing toolkit
The skills in this newsletter come out of the same toolbox that runs these sites. Click any of them; they're all live.
Sound familiar?
Most people drive Claude like a rental car.
Only 6% of American adults say they use Claude at all (Pew Research, Feb 2026). If you're one of them, you're early. But most people still use it stock: open a chat, ask a question, start over tomorrow.
You explain yourself every single chat.
Your business, how you like answers, what you already tried. Again.
Every guide is written for programmers.
You want help with invoices, listings and the school calendar. Not Python.
You redo the same jobs every week.
Same follow-up email, same report, same post, typed from scratch each time.
AI news never tells you what to do.
Forty things changed this week. Which one matters to you, and what do you click?
The part most people miss
A skill teaches Claude a whole job. Once.
A skill is a small file you upload to Claude. It holds the know-how for one job: the questions a pro would ask, the steps they'd follow, the mistakes they'd avoid. After that, Claude does the job that way every time you ask. Same question, very different answer:
Write the homepage for my plumbing company.
Welcome to [Company Name], your trusted partner for all your plumbing needs! We pride ourselves on quality service, honest pricing and customer satisfaction…
Generic. Sounds like every other plumber in town.
Write the homepage for my plumbing company.
Three quick questions first, so this sounds like you:
- Who calls you most, homeowners or property managers?
- What do they get from you that they can't get down the street?
- Which towns do you cover?
Homeowners. We answer at 2 a.m. and price before we start. Tulsa and Broken Arrow.
Headline: The Tulsa plumber who picks up at 2 a.m.
Under it: Upfront prices before we touch a wrench. Tulsa and Broken Arrow.
Button: Call now, a real person answers
Specific. Sounds like the owner. Ready to paste.
Shortened for space. The skill also checks the page for the questions customers ask before they call.
---
name: hot-rod-setup
description: Guided setup that takes a stock Claude account to 2,000 horsepower, one level at a time…
---
# Hot Rod Setup
You are the pit crew. The person in front of you is usually NOT technical. Your job is to take their Claude from stock to 2,000 horsepower in one sitting…
## The rules of the garage
- Plain English. No jargon.
- One level at a time. Ask at most 3 questions at once.
- Ask before spending money, sending messages or deleting anything.
- Never ask for or store passwords, PINs…That's what a skill is: plain instructions you can read before you upload. Nothing hidden, nothing that runs on its own.
Why this is different
News is free. Finished tools aren't. Until now.
The big AI newsletters tell you what happened. The AI clubs and courses that hand you working tools charge $29 to $97 a month. Hot Rod My AI sits in the gap.
Daily AI news emails
Free
- What changed in AI today
- What to click, step by step
- Tools you can install
- Written for your business
Paid AI clubs
$29–97/mo
- Skill libraries and courses
- Calls and community
- Priced for regular people
- Assumes you already know Claude
Hot Rod My AI
$5/mo
- One change a week that matters, and what to do
- Finished skills, ready to install
- Plain English, every click written out
- Tested on a real working business first
How it works
Ten minutes a week. A smarter Claude every Tuesday.
Install the Hot Rod Setup
Upload one file and type /hot-rod-setup. Claude walks you through five levels, from memory to jobs that run on their own, and does most of the clicking for you.
Read one email on Tuesday
One AI change that matters to regular people, and exactly what to do about it. Five minutes, tops.
Bolt on new skills
Several new or updated skills land in your garage every week. Download, upload, done. Your Claude keeps getting stronger while you get on with your day.
Your first download
The Hot Rod Setup takes Claude from stock to 2,000 horsepower.
It's a skill that turns Claude into your own pit crew. It asks a few questions about your life and work, then sets up each level with you, one at a time, in plain English. Run it again later with /hot-rod-setup checkup and it finds what's fallen out of tune.
It's waiting in the members' garage the second you join, with the rest of the Full Package.
- Level 1Memory and house rules. Claude learns who you are and how you like answers.+300 hp
- Level 2Projects. A home base for each big thing: your business, your house, your paperwork.+300 hp
- Level 3Connectors and computer. Claude works with your email, calendar and files, so you stop copying and pasting.+500 hp
- Level 4Skills. The know-how for the jobs you do most, installed.+400 hp
- Level 5Jobs on autopilot. Claude runs work on a schedule, like a Monday-morning list of what's due.+500 hp
- TotalFully hot rodded.2,000 hp
See it before you join
Read Issue 001 before you join.
The whole first issue is open, so you know exactly what lands every Tuesday:
- Check the numbers your AI quotes you. A new study found only 40% of AI-quoted stats lead back to a source that says the same thing. One sentence to type so you don't get burned.
- Let AI hunt the deal. You press the buy button. How to use Claude for holiday price shopping without handing over your card.
- The Marketing Kit. Eight skills that write your website, plan your posts, run your emails, set your prices and get you found on Google and in AI answers.
This week's bolt-on: the Marketing Kit
Your new marketing department installs in five minutes.
Do this: before you repeat a number to a customer, ask Claude, “Show me the original study for that number.”
Pricing
One membership. A Claude that keeps evolving.
Monthly
- The Hot Rod Setup, five levels from stock to 2,000 hp
- The weekly issue: one AI change that matters, and what to do about it
- Several new or updated skills every week, ready to install
- The Full Package: every skill we've shipped, kept current (9 today)
- Cancel any time, in two clicks
Yearly
- Everything in Monthly
- Two-plus months free compared with paying monthly
- One payment, no monthly charges to track
- Cancel any time; you keep access through your year
About the price of one cup of coffee a month. One skill that saves you an hour pays for the year.
Who's behind this
I'm not a programmer. That's the point.
I'm Jeff Goldware. I sold real estate in Houston for 30 years. Today I run seven websites and apps, and Claude does most of the grunt work: the research, the writing, the reports, the fixing.
I didn't get there by learning to code. I got there by setting Claude up properly and giving it skills, one job at a time. Every skill in this newsletter is one I built for my own businesses, used, and fixed until it worked. I only send you the ones that earn their keep.
— Jeff
Questions
Straight answers
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Installing a skill is a download and an upload, like attaching a photo to an email. Every step is written out, with the exact buttons to click.
Which Claude plan do I need?
Skills work on every Claude plan, including the free one. You upload them under Customize > Skills, with one setting on: Create and edit files (in Settings). A few upgrades need a paid Claude plan, mainly jobs that run on a schedule. The setup checks your plan and skips anything you can't use.
What is a skill, exactly?
A plain text file with instructions for one job. You can open and read every one before you upload it. Nothing hidden, nothing that runs on its own.
Is it safe?
Our skills never ask for passwords, card numbers or account numbers, and they tell Claude to check with you before it sends, buys or deletes anything. Claude also runs a quick security check on every skill you upload.
Is this made by Anthropic?
No. Hot Rod My AI is an independent newsletter by CS Digital Media, LLC in Spring, Texas. Claude is made by Anthropic; we just help regular people get more out of it.
What happens when Claude changes?
That's the job. When Claude adds a feature or moves a button, we update the skills and tell you what changed. Members always have the current version in the garage.
Does it work with ChatGPT or Gemini?
Everything here is built and tested for Claude only. If you use another assistant, the weekly news still applies, but the skills are made for Claude.
What do you do with my email address?
Send you the weekly issue, your sign-in links and your receipts. That's it. We never sell or rent it. Details in the privacy policy.
Can I cancel a membership?
Yes, any time, from the members' area. You keep access until the end of the month or year you paid for, and you keep every file you already downloaded.
Join the crew
Your Claude could be doing more by tonight.
Join now, install the Hot Rod Setup in two minutes, and get a new upgrade every Tuesday.
Cancel any time in two clicks. Secure checkout by Stripe.