My Process For Crafting Custom GPTs

Let’s be honest – most people’s first reaction to AI prompting is skepticism. “Couldn’t I just do this myself faster?”

When I first showed someone how to turn a podcast transcript into a LinkedIn post using chain prompts, they looked at me like I was crazy. “Dan, I could write that post myself in half the time it took to engineer all those prompts!”

They weren’t wrong… for a single post.

But here’s where most people miss the magic of AI: it’s not about doing something once – it’s about building systems that save you massive time in the long run.

The Real ROI of Custom GPTs

The math is simple:

• If it takes you 2 hours to build a Custom GPT…
• And 10 minutes to use it each time instead of 30 minutes doing the task manually…
• You’ve broken even after 6 uses
• Everything after that is pure time profit

This is why I’ve been obsessed with building Custom GPTs lately. They’re the perfect balance between powerful AI capabilities and practical, everyday use cases.

What Makes a Great Custom GPT?

After building dozens of these, I’ve found the best Custom GPTs share a few characteristics:

1. They solve repetitive tasks – Look for anything you do more than twice a month
2. They have clear step-by-step processes – Break everything into distinct phases
3. They lead the conversation – Always end each step with a question so the user doesn’t have to think

The Custom GPT I showed in my latest tutorial follows exactly this pattern. It transforms podcast transcripts into LinkedIn posts by walking through a simple, guided process:

• First, it identifies 5 potential post ideas from the transcript
• Then it lets you pick which one to develop
• It breaks that idea into 3 key points
• Finally, it crafts a complete post following my template

The real magic? I can now create social content from any podcast episode in about 3 minutes flat. What used to take 30+ minutes now happens while I’m waiting for my coffee to brew.

Finding Your Custom GPT Opportunities

Want to build something useful? Start by asking: “What task do I repeat that follows roughly the same process every time?”

Some ideas that might spark inspiration:

• Email response templates for common customer questions
• First-draft feedback on team members’ work
• Campaign analysis reporting
• Transforming one content format into another (blogs to social, podcasts to newsletters, etc.)

Even if you’re in leadership, there are opportunities. Imagine a GPT that gives the first pass of feedback on your team’s work based on your specific criteria before you even look at it.

The truth is we’re all doing repetitive tasks that could be mostly automated through a well-designed Custom GPT. It just takes spotting those opportunities and investing a little upfront time to build your system.

If you’ve been skeptical about AI marketing tools, I get it. But Custom GPTs are where the rubber meets the road for practical business applications – they’re worth exploring, even if you’re just dipping your toes in.

What repetitive task would you love to automate with a Custom GPT? I’m betting you can think of at least three right now.