The AI Playbook Jose Used to Launch a Cleaning Business

Jose started Allen’s Landing Cleaning in April. He is not a web designer and, by his own account, barely knew HTML. A few months in, the company had a brand guide, a website, and a pricing app that started as a password-protected web page and later became a phone app. Most of the heavy lifting went through ChatGPT and Claude.

In the episode, Jason pushed him for the real steps, not the highlight reel. Below is that workflow put in order, so you can run it for your own business. Everything in the “What Jose did” lines comes from the episode. The prompts are examples we wrote for you, not Jose’s exact words. Swap in your own details.

Steps 1 and 2: Research, then pick a lane

Step 1. Map the competition, close to home.

What Jose did: He used a ChatGPT agent and gave it several zip codes in the area he planned to serve. First he asked for the competition, local shops and national franchises. Then he asked it to compare them: pricing model, whether prices were posted, guarantees, how cleanings were offered, how the websites were set up, and how each one marketed itself.

Example prompt: “List residential cleaning companies serving these zip codes: [list]. Include local businesses and national franchises. Then, for each one, compare pricing model, whether prices are on their website, guarantees, service types, and how they market themselves. Put it in a table.”

Step 2. Decide who you want to be.

What Jose did: Instead of trying to beat everyone on everything, he asked which companies he wanted to be more like. His answer was the big, consistent, scalable names, not the cheapest guy in town. His analogy: are you the bargain pizza buffet or the Italian place with the stone oven?

Example prompt: “Here is my competitor table. I want to be known for [premium, consistent, insured service]. Which three companies are closest to that? What do they do that I should learn from, and where is there a gap I could own?”

Steps 3 and 4: Brand guide first, then the website

Step 3. Build a brand guide and make it the rule.

What Jose did: His first website attempt was not working, so he stepped back and had AI build a brand guide: colors, fonts, messaging, how the name and logo sit on the page. It picked some colors and fonts, he changed what he did not like, and then he told it to use that guide for everything from then on.

Example prompt: “Create a brand guide for [business]: color palette with hex codes, two fonts, tone of voice, five words we use and five we avoid, and logo placement rules. From now on, follow this guide for everything we make together.”

Step 4. Build the website in rounds.

What Jose did: He told it the company name, location, goals, and what he was picturing, then told it to follow the brand guide “to the T.” He pointed it at other websites he admired and had it borrow ideas. It took multiple versions. He checked how it looked on mobile, and then he had someone who isn’t tech-savvy try it. If they could figure it out, he knew he was on the right page.

Example prompt: “Using our brand guide, build a homepage for [business] in [city]. Goal: get visitors to request a quote. Here are two sites I like and what I like about each: [links + notes]. Make sure it works well on a phone.”

Step 5: Make two AIs argue

What Jose did: This is the part people ask about most. He would have Claude build something, ask ChatGPT to critique it, then paste that critique back to Claude and let it think. Sometimes Claude pushed back, agreeing with some points and rejecting others based on the brand goal. He also told ChatGPT which seat to critique from: a web designer, a business owner, a customer. Sometimes he gave it a best-practices article to read first.

Example prompt for the critic: “Critique this homepage as a first-time customer looking for a house cleaner. What confuses you, what makes you trust it, what would make you leave?”

Example prompt for the builder: “Here is outside feedback on your draft. Tell me which points you agree with and which you would push back on given our brand guide, then revise.”

Then Jose picked what actually felt like his brand. The AIs advise. You decide.

Step 6: Build a pricing tool from your own numbers

What Jose did: He was underbidding and pricing inconsistently, so he built a quote app with Claude Design. His own house was the test bed: he knew how long it took one cleaner and two cleaners, and he went back and forth until the app’s estimate matched reality. He built in a minimum charge for small homes, because overhead, insurance, and drive time do not shrink with square footage, and adjusted for large homes and recurring cleans. Then he had it stress-test itself: run a hundred mock quotes with different sizes, crew counts, and levels of dirtiness, find inconsistencies, and look for security flaws. He password-protected the link so nobody could mess with his numbers.

Example prompt: “Build a quote calculator for my cleaning business. Inputs: square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, clean type, crew size, distance. Real data: my [X] sq ft home takes one cleaner [Y] hours. Include a minimum job price. Then run 100 test quotes and flag anything inconsistent.”

Just imagine AI is the skilled labor. You are the guy or gal who needs to think through the process.

Two habits, and a human in the loop

Talk, don’t type. Jose dictates. You say far more out loud than you will ever type, and AI does better with more context.

Stop typing to ChatGPT. Stop typing to Claude. If you’re going to work with either one of those, talk to it.

Ask what it is missing. Jason added his own move: end with “Is there anything else you need to know about me, my business, or my goal to give me a really great answer?” Answer it, and ask again.

Keep a human in the loop. Jose’s first logo was clean and square, and he admits it looked a bit like a software icon. After talking with people in the business, he realized his brand needed softening in what people told him is a female-dominated industry, where men can struggle. That is where the yellow rose standard came from. He took real people’s feedback back to Claude and revised. No prompt would have gotten him there.

You cannot allow AI to completely build a brand without adding that personalized human touch.

Your turn

Which of these steps would save you the most time in your own business or side hustle right now? Tell us in the YouTube comments on the episode, and share the best prompt you have found so far.