Your ChatGPT is Basic. Here’s How to Fix It

ai marketing ai prompts business bestie Jan 23, 2026
Deb Szabo Marketing Strategist

Stop settling for vanilla, robotic responses. Steal the exact Custom Instruction script that turns your AI into a strategic thinking partner in under 5 minutes

You open ChatGPT and ask a question like: “I need lead generation ideas ” and it confidently delivers five paragraphs of fluff. Generic. No personality, no questions and no push back. Just eagerly spits out the answer to your question.

It writes with words like unlockelevate, and game-changer. It talks about the ever-evolving landscape of your industry and sounds more like a corporate press release.
It’s ok, but it just doesn’t really get you. It robotic.

My first question is have you trained your ai? Have you set up an ai assistant who knows you and your business? Have you primed it with your business and brand DNA?

The Golden Retriever of AI

If AI models were dog breeds, ChatGPT would be the golden retriever.

Friendly. Keen. Eager to please.
It wants to be a good dog, so it brings you answers to your questions. But are they good answers?

I didn’t just want answers from Chat GPT I wanted an assistant who understood me and business and who challenge me on my thoughts and ideas.

Meet My Business Bestie

My Business Bestie is what I call my strategic thinking partner inside ChatGPT and other ai models (more on that later). I use it everyday for business thoughts and ideation.

It’s a simple setup that changes how your AI behaves so it stops defaulting to polite generic answers and starts responding like a strategic business twin.

My Business Bestie is designed to:

  • challenge me when I’m being vague

  • push back when an idea is weak

  • help me decide faster instead of spiralling

  • keep me focused on outcomes not busywork

  • sound like a human, write in UK/AUS English (I’m an Aussie)

The point is to make your AI “smarter” and turn your golden retriever from the cute friendly eager to please pup into the working dog “hunter” it was bred to be.

I realised after setting up Ai Markting Blueprints for business owners, that many people lacked this one thing.

So it was doing what domestic golden retrievers do best: fetching whatever you throw with a wagging tail and acting like every idea you have is brilliant.

But we don’t need fluffy encouragement. We need outcomes.

I was sick of starting from zero and re-explaining my business every time I opened a new chat. Which is why I built my ai twin.

How to Upgrade Your AI in 5 Minutes

I set up a a custom GPT and give it role, a personality, and guardrails so it stops acting like a people-pleaser and starts acting like a sparring business partner. My higher self.

Over time I have powered up my custom instruction and upgraded it to the CEO of my ai team of assistants that are trained to do specific marketing tasks. Every question is filtered through my Business and Brand DNA. It has all of my business knowledge including my goals, my ideal audience, messaging, content pillars, SEO keywords. It knows my voice, tone, writing and video style. So every answer considers all of these points of infomation so my Business Bestie can give me a tailored “no fluff” answer.

Watch the tutorial here

I recorded a step by step walkthrough how I set up my Business Bestie inside ChatGPT.

Other AI models

I have my “Business Bestie” set up on Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Same instructions and knowledge files.

So now when I alternate between ai models, the answers I get are based on the nauance of what the ai model does best for example I use Perplexity as my search hound to dig for answers across the web with citations. It can search from social media conversations to academic papers in real time.

I am loving Gemini for the creator tools it does so well, including image and video generation. I think this is my favourite ai model right now. The right amount of sass and push back when I am in deep strategic marketing mode. This model has had a major upgrade over the past year it went from a Jack Russel to a Border Collie; sharp, focused and doesn’t sugar coat answers. It gives me the Boarder stare if go off on tangents (See my previous post)

Claude reminds me of the impeccably dressed standard Poodle; articulate and deeply analytical. Its famous for its reasoning, coding ability, and more “human-like” writing style.

Setup instructions

If your ChatGPT (or other ai models) sounds beige, grab the custom instruction and configure it to think like a strategist.

Download the FREE Business Bestie Setup Guide here

Have you set up a Business Bestie yet?

If you do, tell me what changes first:
the voice, the strategy, or the speed.

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