Free course

7 Steps of AI
for small businesses.

Seven short steps. Take one a day by email, or dive in right now — every step is live on this page, no signup required. By the end, you'll know whether to hire Bearing, do it yourself, or wait. All three are valid answers.

2–5 minutes per step
One 60-second action per step
No theory without a thing to do
Start with Step 1Or get it paced by email, one step per day ↓

The curriculum

Personal. Private. Programmable.

Built on Balaji Srinivasan's three-word test for what AI should be. Each pair of steps drills one of the three ideas into a concrete exercise you can do from your phone. Step 7 is the honest integration — you decide what to do with what you've learned.

Steps 1–2
Personal

Your voice, your customers, your fingerprint.

Steps 3–4
Private

Who sees your data. Who doesn't. The 4-question test.

Steps 5–6
Programmable

Workflows, not chatbots. Your first folder.

Step 7
Integration

Three honest paths. Pick the one that fits you.

Step by step

Click any step to start.

No signup required. No secrets. Do them in order, or skip ahead.

Step 1 of 7
Personal

The fingerprint test.

Start with what makes you, you.

60-second action
Paste this into ChatGPT or Claude

What you'll get: A generic welcome email that could have come from any bakery, any plumbing shop, any dental office. No voice. No specifics. Nothing that sounds like the owner.

Start Step 1
Step 2 of 7
Personal

Your voice on paper.

The way you greet a regular is the reason they come back.

60-second action
Pick one voice. Paste that whole block. Watch the delta.

What you'll get: A welcome email that sounds like someone who actually works at your business. Same AI, same task as yesterday — radically different result, because the AI finally has a piece of your fingerprint to work from.

Start Step 2
Step 3 of 7
Private

Where does your data go?

The question most AI vendors hope you don't ask.

60-second action
Pick one tool. Let Claude read the privacy policy for you.

What you'll get: A plain-English data story for one of the tools you depend on every week. Sometimes a clean answer. Sometimes buried legalese. Sometimes a polite THEY DON'T SAY — which, as you'll see tomorrow, is also an answer.

Start Step 3
Step 4 of 7
Private

The 5-question test.

The fastest vendor screen that exists.

60-second action
Three audits. Three vendors. Pick one. Watch what they won't commit to.

What you'll get: Five clear answers — or five dodges. Either tells you everything. Honest vendors will answer plainly because they've already written the answers down. Dodgy vendors will offer marketing copy, deflect to their AE, or quote the privacy policy word-for-word without answering the actual question.

Start Step 4
Step 5 of 7
Programmable

Workflows, not chatbots.

Your business is a flowchart. Your AI should be too.

60-second action
Pick a flow close to yours. Let Claude interview you. Walk away with your first real workflow.

What you'll get: Your most valuable business process, written down for the first time — adapted specifically for YOUR business, not a generic template. That sketch is worth more than any AI tool you'll ever buy, because without it, no tool can actually help.

Start Step 5
Step 6 of 7
Programmable

Your first folder.

Files, not dashboards.

60-second action
Three files. One folder. All yours.

What you'll get: A folder. A real one, sitting on your laptop. Three files inside. Everything in it is yours. Nobody can turn it off. Nobody can raise the price. Nobody reads it unless you hand it over.

Start Step 6
Step 7 of 7
Integration

Three honest paths.

No pitch. Just the truth.

60-second action
Pick the path that fits. Then do the next step.

What you'll get: A clear decision. That's the only thing I wanted you to have by Step 7.

Start Step 7
Want the daily rhythm?

One step per day,
delivered to your inbox.

Every step is live on this page already — but if you'd rather pace yourself, drop your email and I'll send one step a day for seven days. No pitch. Unsubscribe with one click if you change your mind.

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Or text me your question: (408) 893-6886