Hey, it's Cindy 🌱
Here they are: 11 free ways to go from opening Claude for the first time to running it like a power user. I have done all of them, and I grouped them into 3 levels so you know exactly where to start instead of randomly watching AI videos for months. The whole path is about 2 hours, and every single resource is free.
A quick note on the links. Resources 1 to 10 are all from Ruben Hassid's free newsletter, How to AI, at
ruben.substack.com. I could not find a stable standalone URL for each individual guide, so the link below takes you to his newsletter, and I have told you the exact guide title to search for once you are there. Resource 11 is Anthropic's own free learning platform and has its own direct link.
🟡 Beginner: start here tonight
Three resources, about 45 minutes total. Do them in order. By the end of tonight Claude will already be working on your actual files, not just answering questions in a chat box.
- 🟡 Claude for Dummies · 18 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude for Dummies"). Open the app tonight and let Claude work directly on your files. That one shift changes how you think about AI.
- 🟡 Claude Cowork · 14 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude Cowork"). A setup method, not a product. Three simple files in one folder do the work of 500 words of prompting. The shortcut most people never find.
- 🟡 Claude Projects · 11 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude Projects"). One project per recurring task, and Claude remembers everything inside it. No more re-explaining yourself every time.
next up
🔵 Intermediate: level up your workflow
Four resources. This is the level where Claude stops feeling like a chatbot and starts feeling like a teammate that builds things for you.
- 🔵 Voice in a file · 9 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Voice in a file"). Two hours of questions get compressed into one file, and any AI starts to sound like you. The fastest way to build your brand voice into Claude.
- 🔵 Claude Skills · 5 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude Skills"). Your most repeated task becomes a /command. Type it once and Claude runs the whole workflow. This is the one that feels like magic.
- 🔵 Claude Code · 13 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude Code"). Drop in a screenshot of what you want built, describe it in a sentence or two, and Claude builds it and hands you a real link you can open in your browser.
- 🔵 Slides with Gamma · 12 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Slides with Gamma"). Claude does the research, Gamma does the design, you edit for 10 minutes. A finished presentation in under an hour.
power user
🟣 Advanced: go deeper
Four resources. This is the power-user tier: connecting Claude to your own knowledge, rolling it out to a team, and squeezing more out of every conversation.
- 🟣 Obsidian + Claude · 13 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Obsidian"). Connect Claude to your Obsidian notes vault. Point it at your second brain and it already knows everything you have ever written down.
- 🟣 Claude for teams · 16 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Claude for teams"). Five days, whole team on Claude. The trick: convert one drowning teammate first, then let the results spread on their own.
- 🟣 Get more from every conversation · 17 min · ruben.substack.com (search "Get more from every conversation"). 23 tricks to stop Claude from losing context mid-task. Including: plan first then build, and always edit instead of starting over.
- 🟣 Anthropic Academy · self-paced · anthropic.skilljar.com. Anthropic's free official learning platform, with self-paced courses that each come with a completion certificate. Start with Claude 101. This is the sleeper pick: real certificates, and almost nobody knows it is free.
short on time
⭐ If you only do 3
Short on time? These three give you the biggest jump, one from each level, and total about 30 minutes. You will feel the difference by tonight.
- ⭐ Claude for Dummies (beginner, 18 min): get hands-on with your first real file today.
- ⭐ Claude Skills (intermediate, 5 min): save your first workflow as a /command.
- ⭐ Anthropic Academy (advanced, self-paced): pick up a free official certificate while you are at it.
🧮 The full picture
11 resources. About 2 hours. Completely free. Most people spend months randomly watching AI content and still feel behind. This is the order. Do it over one weekend and you will be ahead of almost everyone using AI at work.