Most people use ChatGPT wrong when it comes to creating a product. They go to it first. The product that sells is always built on lived experience. ChatGPT’s job is to help you organize that experience into something someone else can follow.
Before you open ChatGPT
Spend 30 minutes writing a brain dump. Every detail you know about the problem your product solves. Write it the way you’d explain it to a smart friend. No formatting. Just the information in the order it comes out of your head. That document is your raw material.
Prompt 1: Find the structure
Paste your brain dump and add: “Based on what I’ve written, help me organize this into a clear, logical structure for a guide aimed at [specific person] trying to [specific outcome]. Don’t add any information that isn’t in my notes — just help me organize what’s already there.”
Edit the output. Move sections that feel out of order. Cut redundant ones. Add what it missed. After two rounds: you have your outline.
Prompt 2: Find the gaps
“Here’s my outline: [paste outline]. What questions would someone still have after reading this? What might they be confused about? What common beginner mistakes does this outline not address?”
The questions it generates are the things to add to your outline — not as AI-generated content, but as prompts for you to write from your own experience.
Prompt 3: Draft the section introductions
“Write three different opening paragraphs for a section called [section name]. Conversational, direct style. Short sentences. I’ll pick the best elements and write the final version myself.”
You’re not accepting any of these as-is. You’re using them as starting points to react to. That reaction process is faster than starting from a blank page.
Prompt 4: Write the listing copy
“My product is [describe it]. It’s for [specific person]. Main problem: [specific problem]. Result: [specific outcome]. Key things included: [3–5 bullets]. Write: five headline options, three descriptions at different lengths, and ten potential Etsy tags.”
You will use none of these verbatim. You’ll read them, recognize which words capture the idea correctly, and write the actual copy in your voice using the AI output as a vocabulary prompt.
The rule for all of it
Anything that comes from ChatGPT gets rewritten before it goes out. Not lightly edited. Rewritten. The version that builds trust and sells products is your voice, your specific examples, your honest account of what worked and what didn’t.
Use AI to organize and articulate it. Don’t let AI replace it.
Anyway.
Brain dump first. Then use ChatGPT to organize, find gaps, and generate listing copy options. Rewrite everything in your voice before it goes anywhere.