Most people download claude, open it, type a question, and think that’s it.

that’s like buying a laptop and only using the calculator app.

claude cowork is different. it’s not a chatbot. it’s more like an employee who works in your computer — reads your files, writes real documents, runs tasks while you sleep, and never has to be re-explained who you are.

but it only works if you set it up right. so here’s exactly how.

what you need before you start

that’s it. no coding. no technical background needed.

step 1: create a folder on your computer

open your desktop or documents folder. create a new folder. call it Claude Cowork.

inside that folder, create three subfolders:

  • About Me
  • Outputs
  • Templates

the About Me folder is the important one. this is what claude reads every time it starts a task. the other two are just storage — you don’t need to worry about them right now.

step 2: write your about-me file

this is where most people either skip or over-do it.

create a text file inside your About Me folder. call it about-me.md. this file tells claude who you are, what your business does, how you like to communicate, and what kind of outputs you need.

keep it under 2,000 words. seriously. one person tried a 22,000-word version and claude spent most of its “thinking” just reading the file. shorter is better here.

not sure what to put in it? open claude, go to cowork, start a new task, and type:

“you are building my about-me file for my cowork folder. interview me with questions until we have a complete document under 2,000 words.”

claude will ask you the right questions. you just answer.

step 3: set your global instructions

in the claude desktop app, go to Settings → Cowork → Edit Global Instructions.

this is where you tell claude how to behave on every task, not just one. things like:

  • always ask me clarifying questions before starting
  • save all outputs to my Outputs folder
  • write in plain language, no jargon
  • always give me a plan before executing

write this once. it runs automatically every time. no more copy-pasting the same instructions into every new chat.

step 4: open cowork and run your first task

click the Cowork tab at the top of the desktop app (it sits between Chat and Code).

pick the model. for anything complex, choose Opus 4.6. for quick stuff, Sonnet works fine.

now type a real task. not a question — a task. something like:

“create a one-page client proposal for a bookkeeping service, save it to my Outputs folder as a Word doc”

claude will show you its plan first. review it. approve it. then it runs.

step 5: schedule something (optional but worth it)

this is where cowork gets interesting.

you can tell claude to run a task every week automatically. for example:

“every monday at 8am, create a summary of my week’s priorities and save it to my Outputs folder”

you set it once. monday morning it’s sitting there. no manual trigger, no reminder to yourself.

why this matters for small business owners

most small business owners are running on limited time. you’re doing the work, doing admin, doing client communication, doing everything.

cowork doesn’t replace any of that. but it handles the time-heavy, repeatable stuff — drafting documents, formatting reports, summarizing notes, building templates — so you can focus on the work that actually requires you.

the setup takes 20 minutes. the time you get back compounds every week after that.

if you’re in fintech or professional services

this isn’t just for general admin.

think about what compliance work actually looks like day-to-day — vendor questionnaires, policy drafts, audit evidence packages, gap assessments. most of it is repeatable, document-heavy work that someone has to sit down and do manually.

cowork handles that. you describe the output you need, point it at your files, and it builds the draft. you review and refine. that’s it.

we’ve used it to cut the time on SOC 2 prep documents by more than half. not by skipping steps — just by not starting from a blank page every time.

we cover this in our workshops

if you want to walk through this live — with your own laptop, your own business context, and someone there to answer questions — come to one of our workshops.

next one is may 23 at fort erie public library, free for small business owners.

grab your spot →