How I Use AI to Build Faster

I'm not an AI expert. I'm minoring in it, but I'm still learning how it works. What I do know is how to use it, because I use it for almost everything.

When I started Saltline Studios, Claude became the coworker I didn't have. I knew the steps to starting a business from my classes. I knew you needed marketing, a legal structure, and a plan. What I didn't know was how any of that actually worked in the real world. That's where AI changed everything for me.

My own personal tutor

Every time I hit something I didn't understand, I asked Claude to explain it to me. When you're starting a business, that happens constantly.

What's the difference between a single-member and a multi-member LLC? What should a cancellation policy include? What does it mean when an insurance policy excludes watercraft? How do I price an experience that doesn't exist yet?

I also didn't know anything about boats, and my entire business happens on one. Claude helped me learn enough to talk to charter operators like I knew what I was doing.

Instead of getting stuck or waiting weeks to find the right person to ask, I could get a clear explanation right away and keep moving. It didn't replace learning. It made learning faster. I understand contracts, insurance, and pricing so much better now because of it.

From an idea to a website

One of the biggest things AI helped me with was building the Saltline website. I had never built a website before. I used Claude to help me write a PRD, a product requirements document that lays out everything a website needs to do, page by page. Then I used that PRD to build the site in Lovable, an AI tool that turns written instructions into a working website.

That process taught me to think like a product manager. Before anything got built, I had to decide who the site was for, what customers needed to see, and what would make them want to book. AI did a lot of the building, but the decisions were mine.

Claude also helped me work through pricing, draft contracts, and structure partnerships. Things that would have taken me weeks of research, or money I didn't have to pay a professional, became something I could work through on my own.

Where I draw the line

There's one thing I always do myself, and that's write my own emails.

I use AI to help me figure out what to say, how to structure a tough message, or what questions to ask a potential partner. But I always write the final version myself. When I'm reaching out to a boat operator, an instructor, or a customer, I want it to sound friendly and human. In a small business, relationships are everything.

AI is a great starting point, but it doesn't know the person I'm talking to. I do.

Why it matters

I think the people who will stand out in the next few years aren't the ones who know everything. They're the ones who know how to learn anything quickly. AI makes that possible.

It let me build a real business as a full-time student without a team, a big budget, or years of experience. It filled in the gaps between what I learned in class and what I needed to know in real life.

I'm still figuring it out, and the way I use it will keep changing. But I've learned that the most powerful way to use AI isn't to let it do the work for you. It's to let it help you do work you never thought you could.