From User To Builder: How To Bottle Your Best Work Into A Skill | Patreon Premium Guide

VIDEO + SLIDES + WORKBOOK

This drop includes the team training recording, the full slide deck, and this interactive workbook. Use all three together.

01Why This Team Class Is On Patreon
02Watch This First: The Live Demo
03Seven Steps From Three Words
04Layer 1: A Command Anyone Can Run
05Prompt vs Skill
06Layer 2: Standards and Brand
07Layer 3: Live Systems and MCP
08Layer 4: Team, Guardrails, Autopilot
09Real Team Wins (April, Desi, Tara)
10Build Your Morning Update Skill
11From User to Builder Mindset
12User vs Builder Diagnostic
13Your Builder Checklist
14Declaration of Builder Faith
15Video, Slides, and Related Guides

WHY THIS TEAM CLASS IS ON PATREON

This is not a curated video from someone else. This is Rick teaching his own Inspired Solutions team, live on camera.

I run AI training for my federal IT company every week. Module 2 of the Rick Pina AI Academy is called From User to Builder. I recorded this session with April, Tara, Desi, Eric, Stuart, Kim, and the rest of the team while we walked through skills, live systems, and the Morning Update.

Patreon members get what my team gets: the recording, the slides, and this workbook so you can build alongside us.

Bottle what you do well. Share it. Let it run. That is how a team compounds.

Download the slides Rick used on the call (PDF) →

WATCH THIS FIRST: THE LIVE DEMO

At the start of the call I typed three words, walked away from the keyboard, and let Claude do the work.

I found a Belvoir VTC opportunity (SDVOSB set-aside). I downloaded eight files from bidspeed, dropped them in a folder, and told Claude: run the new opportunity skill against this folder.

While we taught, it built the folder structure, ran GO/NO-GO, checked past performance, created the deal on Monday.com, and handed me a one-paragraph brief on a $32-room video teleconferencing modernization at Defense Health Agency.

That is not a chat. That is a skill.

SEVEN STEPS FROM THREE WORDS

Reads the solicitation: agency, set-aside, NAICS, due date, value, contract type.
Builds the folder: Source Documents, Response, Pricing, Research, change log.
Writes the tracker: the CLAUDE.md quick-reference table with every deal fact filled in.
Runs GO / NO-GO: size, fit, certifications, competition, recommendation.
Pulls past performance: executed work only, never a bid.
Creates the Monday.com deal on the deals board automatically.
Hands you a brief: folder, recommendation, due date, top match.

LAYER 1: A COMMAND ANYONE CAN RUN

A saved prompt helps one person once. A skill helps the whole team forever.

The new-opportunity skill is a file. Type the name, the file runs. Rick, April, or a new hire gets the same steps, same quality, every time.

20 minutes of setup work at the start of every bid: gone.
Nobody forgets a step because the steps are written down once.
The skill does not get tired, distracted, or rushed at 5 PM.

You stopped doing the task. You now own the task.

PROMPT VS SKILL

If Tara had to repeat my checklist every time, quality would drift. Humans are not machines. Skills fix that.

A prompt

Lives in your head and chat history. Retyped slightly different every time. Quality drifts.

A skill

Lives in a file the team shares. Same steps, same quality, whether Rick or a new hire runs it.

I created new-opportunity by working with Claude on real opportunities. Claude watched what I did daily and said, "I could do all of that for you." I said yes. Now I just say run new opportunity.

LAYER 2: STANDARDS AND BRAND

A skill does not just do steps. It remembers our rules. Every rule we learned the hard way lives inside the skill.

Past performance: only cite work we actually executed. Never a bid.
ADB means ADB Companies, not Asian Development Bank.
Never list a customer POC on a Sources Sought or RFI.
Always run GO/NO-GO, even when you are in a hurry.
Brand baked in: Montserrat Bold titles, Avenir body, Inspired Orange #FA5D2A, Inspired Navy #202D64, BLUF on every section, no em dashes.

April ran two RFI responses with the skill. Output came back fully formatted because the Inspired Brand folder was connected. She said, "This was completely different from before."

LAYER 3: LIVE SYSTEMS AND MCP

Most people upload a file and ask a question. A skill reaches into the systems where work actually lives.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the new universal standard for AI to talk to software, like USB for data transfer. QuickBooks, Monday.com, and others built MCPs so Claude can read live, act, and write back.

Monday.com: deals, leads, tasks created automatically.
QuickBooks: Desi asked Claude to review AR vs AP before finance calls. Done in minutes.
Outlook, SharePoint, Otter: calendar, documents, meeting transcripts.
Fishbowl: team is testing MCP connectivity for inventory insights.

Desi's CFO project goes further: world-class CFO personas review QuickBooks through a lens of Ernst and Young-level analysis. Same data. Completely different output.

LAYER 4: TEAM, GUARDRAILS, AUTOPILOT

When a deal is a GO, new-opportunity hands off to specialists:

Capture manager builds win strategy.
Compliance analyst reads Section L and M.
Pricing analyst builds the cost volume.
Editor and brand checker clean the final document.

$1M+ auto second-opinion trigger

On any deal over one million dollars, the skill fires a second-opinion review before you decide. It catches high-stakes work even when you forget to ask.

REAL TEAM WINS: APRIL, DESI, TARA

April (RFI responses): Before skills, she redirected a Command Center folder constantly. With the skill + Inspired Brand folder, responses came back fully formatted. Claude also gave her directed questions to verify with Rick.
Desi (QuickBooks): Connected CFO project to QuickBooks. Claude reviewed receivables vs payables for the Tuesday finance call in minutes.
Tara (SOPs): A year ago, building SOP templates for every proposal type took enormous effort. Skills make turnaround faster and output more professional.

Tara's homework from the call: grab the Belvoir deal off Monday.com, reach out to Ruben at partner company, and explore SDVOSB teaming. The skill did the intel. The human relationship closes the deal.

BUILD YOUR MORNING UPDATE

New-opportunity is a heavy skill. Morning Update is light. Anyone on your team can own it. Set it once. It runs before your alarm.

It reads, live: calendar, both inboxes (triaged), Monday.com pipeline, QuickBooks numbers, tasks and deadlines inside 7 days.

It writes back: one briefing saved to your notes, pushed to your phone, posted to a live dashboard.

Fifteen minutes of clicking across five tools every morning: gone.

Morning Update Prompt (Part 1)

Build me my own Morning Update skill: one command I can run, and that can run on a schedule, so I stop clicking across five tools every morning.

About me: I'm [your role]. The first thing I check most mornings is [what you look at first].

Do this in order:
1. Check which of my tools you can reach: calendar, email, Monday.com, QuickBooks, Drive, Otter. Tell me what is connected and what is not.
2. Interview me one question at a time to design my briefing: what I want to know before I start, which tools matter, what a great briefing looks like, how I want it delivered, what time it runs.
3. Build it as a reusable skill named morning-update. Write the exact steps it runs and the rules it must never break. Mine: [your non-negotiables].

Morning Update Prompt (Part 2)

4. Run it once right now on today's real data so I can see it, and fix it with me until it is right.
5. Once I approve it, schedule it for [time] and deliver it to [where], so it is waiting before I sit down.

Keep our standards: lead with the bottom line, no em dashes, and if a fact is not available say so instead of guessing.

Fill in the three orange blanks: your role, your morning, your non-negotiables. Run it once. Tweak it. Then schedule it for 6 AM or 7 AM every day.

Slides 24 and 25 have the same prompt →

FROM USER TO BUILDER MINDSET

Users ask for help. Builders package repeatable work so the team compounds.
Systems before scale. Skills are how the anointing gets systems. See The Anointing Needs Systems Before Multiplication.
Closed loops. Skills that read live systems and write back are closed-loop workflows. See How To Think In Systems.
AI-native building. Pair this with How To Build An AI-Native Company for org design context.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 TPT

"Whatever you do, do it with all your might and strength! For there is no work, planning, knowledge, or skill in the grave where you're going."

USER VS BUILDER DIAGNOSTIC

Answer honestly. Your responses save in your browser.

YOUR BUILDER NEXT STEP

Pick one workflow. Bottle it. Share it with your team.

YOUR BUILDER CHECKLIST

I watched the full team training video. Open video
I downloaded the slide deck. Download slides (PDF)
I can explain the four layers of a skill.
I understand prompt vs skill and why quality drifts without skills.
I know the seven steps new-opportunity runs automatically.
I identified standards I should bake into my first skill.
I checked which systems I can connect via MCP.
I pasted the Morning Update prompt and started building mine.
I ran the User vs Builder diagnostic honestly.
I declared faith-filled stewardship over how I will build with AI.

DECLARATION OF BUILDER FAITH

SAY IT WITH FAITH

Father, I shift from user to builder. I package what I do well so others can run it.

I bottle my standards once. My team runs them the same way every time.

I connect my AI to live systems with wisdom and security.

I build skills that read, act, and write back without me re-explaining.

I steward technology for multiplication, not distraction.

My Morning Update runs before I sit down. I start from clarity, not chaos.

I teach my team to compound. We stop doing tasks and start owning them.

Grace gives me clarity to build systems before I chase scale.

I walk out with a skill running, not homework on a sticky note.

Greater is coming through wisdom, systems, and obedience.

I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!

VIDEO, SLIDES, AND RELATED GUIDES

Teaching credit: Rick Pina AI Academy Module 2: From User To Builder. Live Inspired Solutions team training recorded June 26, 2026. Companion workbook by Rick & Isabella Pina Coaching.