Build Your Own AI Skill
For operators who want to package their own expertise, not rent someone else's.
Definition
Building an AI skill means encoding a repeatable process as structured instruction, including the method, the judgement calls and an explicit standard for finished work, so the output no longer depends on how well you explained yourself that day.
You have a process you run in your head every week. It should be a tool. You have no idea how to build one.
The meta product. How to take a repeatable process you already own and turn it into a working AI skill: structure, instruction design, testing, and packaging. Everything else in this store was built this way.
What you get
- The extraction method for getting a process out of your head, including the judgement calls you make unconsciously
- Instruction structure that a model follows reliably, which is not how humans write documentation
- The finished-work standard, the step most authored skills skip and the reason they underperform
- Testing against real cases, and packaging for a team or for sale
The problem
Why this keeps happening
Most people using AI are still typing instructions from scratch each time, which means the quality of every output depends on how well they explained it that day.
A skill fixes that by encoding the process once: the method, the standard, the edge cases, the definition of finished. Then it runs the same way every time.
The hard part is not technical. It is that turning tacit expertise into explicit instruction forces you to actually understand your own process, and most people find they have never articulated it.
What is Build Your Own AI Skill?
Build Your Own AI Skill is building an AI skill means encoding a repeatable process as structured instruction, including the method, the judgement calls and an explicit standard for finished work, so the output no longer depends on how well you explained yourself that day.
The full authoring method: how to extract a process from your own head, structure it as instructions a model follows reliably, test it against real cases, and package it for use or sale.
Illustrative diagram. Shape of the argument, not measured data.
How it runs
How does Build Your Own AI Skill work, step by step?
Build Your Own AI Skill runs in 5 steps: extract, structure, specify, test, package. Each step is described below with what it produces and why its position in the sequence matters.
- 01
Extract
Get the process out of your head, including the judgement calls you make without noticing.
- 02
Structure
Organise it into the shape a model actually follows, which is not how humans document things.
- 03
Specify
Define what finished looks like, the step most authored skills omit and the reason they underperform.
- 04
Test
Run against real cases and find where it breaks.
- 05
Package
Prepare it for reuse, for a team, or for sale.
What is inside
What do you get with Build Your Own AI Skill?
Build Your Own AI Skill is delivered as a working skill file plus a written companion covering the method. It contains 4 parts: extraction method, instruction structure, finished-work standard, testing and packaging.
- Extraction method25%
- Instruction structure30%
- Finished-work standard20%
- Testing and packaging25%
Failure modes
What do people get wrong?
The 4 most common failures are: documenting steps but not judgement; no definition of finished; writing it like human documentation; never testing against real cases. Each one is explained below with why it happens and what to do instead.
- 01
Documenting steps but not judgement
The steps are the easy part. The value is in the decisions you make without noticing.
- 02
No definition of finished
Without a standard for completion, output is plausible rather than correct.
- 03
Writing it like human documentation
The structure that helps a person is not the structure a model follows most reliably.
- 04
Never testing against real cases
A skill that has not met a hard case has not been tested.
You have a process you run in your head every week. It should be a tool. You have no idea how to build one.
Bhavik Sarkhedi · somewhere over Australia
The alternatives
How does Build Your Own AI Skill compare to the alternatives?
There are three ways to solve this: do it yourself, hire it out, or buy the method. Build Your Own AI Skill is the third. It costs $25 once, the method stays yours, and you can re-run it without paying again.
| Consideration | Doing it yourself | Hiring it out | This system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consistency | Varies daily | Theirs, not yours | Encoded once |
| Cost shape | Ongoing effort | Per pack purchased | One payment |
| Whose expertise | Yours, unreliably | Someone else's | Yours, reliably |
| Sellable | No | No | Yes, if you want |
| Improves over time | No | No | Yes, you revise it |
Key terms
The vocabulary, defined
- Skill
- A reusable structured instruction set encoding a process.
- Extraction
- Getting tacit expertise out of your head into explicit form.
- Finished-work standard
- The explicit description of what a correct output looks like.
- Edge case
- The input that breaks a naive version of the process.
Who is behind it
Built from the actual work
Named to the Forbes 2025 list of top personal branding experts. Published twice in The New York Times. Writing for HuffPost since 2016.
Before you buy
Questions
Do I need to code?
No. A skill is structured instruction, not software. If you can write a clear standard operating procedure, you can build one.
Is this just a pack of prompts?
No. A prompt is one instruction. This is a production system: the method, the sequence, the failure modes, and the standard for finished work. It is the process I would charge a client for.
Can I use this on client work?
Yes. That is what it is for. Use it inside your own delivery, for as many clients as you like. You are buying the method, not a seat.
Could I not just ask an AI to do this?
You can ask. You will get an average answer, because the model writes toward the middle of everything ever written. Knowing what good looks like in this specific job is the part that took twelve years.
Do I need to be technical?
No. If you can use ChatGPT, you can use this.
What format do I actually receive?
A working skill file you install once, plus a written companion explaining the method so you can adapt it rather than follow it blindly. It runs inside Claude.
What happens after I click buy?
It opens an email to me, already filled in. I reply with a payment link and send the files the same day. Deliberately human, because I want to know who is using these.
Is there a refund?
Yes. If you use it properly and it does not do what this page said, tell me and I refund you. No argument.
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