Getting Access

Claude is available at claude.ai. Plans (as of 2026):

Free — limited daily usage, basic models. Fine for occasional tasks.
Pro (~$20/month) — higher usage limits, access to the more capable models, file uploads, Projects, and Artifacts. Right for most individual business owners.
Team (~$25/user/month, 5+ users) — everything in Pro plus shared Projects, central billing, and stronger data-handling guarantees (your conversations aren't used to train models).
Enterprise — for larger orgs needing SSO, audit logs, and contractual data terms.

Claude is also available via API for developers who want to build it into their own tools or workflows.

Choosing a model

Inside Claude.ai you'll see a model picker. The names change over time, but the pattern is consistent:

Opus — the most capable model. Best for nuanced writing, long document analysis, complex reasoning. Use this when quality matters more than speed.
Sonnet — fast and capable. The default workhorse for most business tasks.
Haiku — fastest and lightest. Good for quick rewrites, summaries, and simple Q&A.

When in doubt, start with Sonnet. Switch to Opus if the output isn't good enough.

Your First Conversation

When you open Claude, you see a simple text box. There is no complicated interface to learn. Type your request and press Enter.

Start with a context-setting message:

"I'm a small business owner. I run a 20-person electrical contracting company in Phoenix. I'll be asking you for help with business writing, HR documents, client communications, and general business questions."

Claude will remember this context throughout the conversation. You don't need to repeat it with every message.

How Conversations Work

Claude uses conversation history — everything said in the current conversation is context for each new response. This means you can:

Refine your request: "Make it more formal" or "Shorten it to three paragraphs"
Build on a previous response: "Now write a follow-up version for a client who hasn't responded"
Ask follow-up questions: "What do you mean by XYZ in the second paragraph?"

When you start a new conversation, Claude starts fresh with no memory of previous chats.

Practical Tips for Business Use

Give Claude a Role

Telling Claude what role to play often improves results:

"Act as an experienced HR manager. Help me write a performance improvement plan for an employee who has been missing deadlines."

Ask for Multiple Options

"Give me three different versions of this email — one formal, one casual, one in between."

Request a Specific Format

"Format this as a bulleted list." or "Write this as a table with two columns: task and deadline."

Paste In Documents

Claude can read content you paste directly into the chat. Paste a client email, a contract section, a review, or any document and ask Claude to analyze, rewrite, or summarize it.

Upload Files and Images

You can also attach files directly: PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, images, and screenshots. Click the paperclip (or drag and drop) and Claude will read the file and use it as context.

Common SMB uses:

Drop in a PDF contract and ask "What are my obligations and any red flags?"
Snap a photo of a bill and ask "What is this charging me for? Anything unusual?"
Upload a CSV of expenses and ask "Categorize these and flag the top 3 surprises."
Paste a screenshot of a confusing report and ask "Explain this in plain English."

Artifacts

When you ask Claude to write something substantial — a proposal, a one-pager, a chart, a simple webpage — it may open it in a side panel called an Artifact. You can keep refining the artifact in the same conversation ("make it shorter," "add a section on warranty," "switch to bullet points") and Claude updates the side panel rather than re-pasting the whole thing in chat.

Iterate

Your first prompt rarely needs to be perfect. If the response isn't right:

"Too long — cut it in half"
"The tone is too corporate. Write it like a friendly local business."
"Add a section about our 30-day guarantee"
"Remove the part about pricing"

Projects Feature (Claude.ai)

Claude.ai offers a Projects feature that lets you save context that persists across conversations. This is ideal for:

Keeping your company's tone and voice consistent
Storing your standard disclaimer language
Saving details about your business so you don't re-explain them every time

To use it: create a project, add a set of instructions (your company description, tone guidelines, recurring context), and all conversations within that project inherit that context.

Useful Prompts to Try First

Rewrite a client email:

"Rewrite this email to sound more professional but still friendly: [paste email]"

Summarize a document:

"Summarize this contract in plain English, focusing on payment terms, cancellation policy, and any unusual clauses: [paste document]"

Create a checklist:

"Create a new employee onboarding checklist for a restaurant. Include first-day tasks, first-week tasks, and 30-day milestones."

Draft a response to a negative review:

"A customer left a Google review saying our technician was late and didn't explain the problem clearly. Write a professional, empathetic response that acknowledges their experience and invites them to contact us directly."

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shift + Enter — new line without sending
↑ arrow — recall previous message (to edit and resend)

When to Use Claude vs. Perplexity

Task	Best Tool
Writing, drafting, editing	Claude
Long document analysis	Claude
HR, legal, and policy writing	Claude
Current events and news	Perplexity
Research with citations	Perplexity
Competitor and market research	Perplexity
Looking up current prices	Perplexity

How to Use Claude