On Wednesday I taught a live training where we went from zero, no account, nothing installed, to a working AI setup in sixty minutes, ending with attendees building their first AI Employee. Nobody needed to be technical. What they needed was the right order, and honestly, the order matters more than how hard you work at it.
“You don't have to be technical. You just need to show up and ask questions.”
The five steps, in order
- Step 1, Get set up on your AI. A free account is enough to start. Opt out of model training during signup: that's your privacy foundation, laid before anything else touches the box.
- Step 2, Personalize it. Tell it how you talk, the tone you write in, and how you like your answers. Until you do, you're talking to a stranger.
- Step 3, Build your AI brain. Load your business context once: what you sell, who your clients are, your voice, your standards. This is the step most people skip, and it's the reason most people don't get great results.
- Step 4, Connect your accounts. Your inbox and calendar at minimum, because that's where the real work is.
- Step 5, Build your first AI Employee. One skill, one defined job, like an inbox dashboard that tells you every morning exactly what needs you.
How it works
The five steps, in order
- 1
Get set up
opt out of model training
- 2
Personalize it
- 3
Build your AI brain
the step most people skip
- 4
Connect your accounts
inbox and calendar
- 5
Your first AI Employee
How I do it
The five-step setup, in the order that matters
- 1
Get set up
Free account, model training switched off during signup
- 2
Personalize it
Standing instructions for tone, format and honesty
- 3
Build the brain
Your business context, loaded once
- 4
Connect accounts
Inbox and calendar at minimum
- 5
Build one AI Employee
A single job it owns every day
Run these out of order and the results degrade. Step three is the one most people skip, and the reason their AI sounds generic.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Why one tool, learned deeply
People ask why I run my whole setup in one AI tool instead of a stack of ten. I'd rather learn one tool and do as much as I possibly can with it. Some tools do one specific thing a bit better, sure. But if I can do 90% of my work very well in one place, I'm going to be amazing at that place. And when it's one tool, your team can actually follow you there.
The step everyone wants to skip
Step 3 is the least glamorous and the most important. Building the AI's brain is the most work in the whole setup, and once you've done it, what you get out is tremendously different. Load it once, and you never have to re-explain your business again. Skip it, and every chat starts from zero, which is why most people's AI results feel generic.
The full sequence is what my free Travel AI Kit walks through, and it's what we build together, live, with your laptop open, in my AI Masterclass. Give it one hour, go in the right order, and you're through it.
A note before you try this
Opt out of model training when you sign up, before you load anything about your business. Then don't rush past step 3 to get to the fun part. If your results feel generic, that's usually the sign the brain isn't loaded yet.
Build it with me
This is exactly what we do live in my free AI Masterclass, laptop open, one step at a time. Come build your first AI Employee with me.
Common Questions
How long does it take to set up AI for a travel business?
About an hour for the core setup, following the five steps in order, and one focused afternoon to have your first workflow running.
Do I need to be technical to set up AI?
No. Every step is point and click. Claire teaches the setup live to travel professionals with no technical background.
Which AI tool should a travel advisor use?
Claire's rule is to master one tool rather than dabble in ten. If you can do ninety percent of your work very well in one place, go deep there instead of spreading across a stack you never learn.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in leisure travel sales.
About Claire
