Your Personal Freight Broker AI Assistant

1. Go to claude.ai
2. Click "Sign up" and create an account with your email
3. Verify your email address
4. You're now on the free tier — good enough to start

What you should see: The Claude chat interface with a text input at the bottom. Troubleshooting: If the page is slow to load, try a different browser or clear your cache.

1. Look at the left sidebar — you'll see a "Projects" section
2. Click "New Project"
3. Name it something like "Freight Broker Assistant" or your brokerage name

What you should see: A new project space with a chat interface and a "Project Knowledge" section on the right side (or accessible via Settings). Troubleshooting: If you don't see Projects, you may be on the free tier without this feature — Claude Pro unlocks Projects. Alternatively, use the "Custom Instructions" workaround described at the end of this guide.

This is the most important step. You're writing a document that tells Claude everything it needs to know about your brokerage. Open a text editor (Notepad, Notes, Google Docs) and write the following — fill in your real details:

ABOUT MY BROKERAGE:
- Name: [Your brokerage name]
- Location: [Your city, state]
- Specialties: [e.g., dry van, flatbed, reefer, LTL — what you mostly move]
- Primary lanes: [e.g., Chicago to Southeast, Texas triangle, California import freight]
- Typical commodities: [e.g., manufactured goods, food products, industrial equipment]

BUSINESS TERMS:
- Payment to carriers: [e.g., Net-30, QuickPay at 2% fee available]
- Invoicing shippers: [e.g., Net-30 standard]
- Standard rate confirmation terms: [any special terms you use]
- Insurance minimum requirements for carriers: [$1M cargo, $1M liability]

MY COMMUNICATION STYLE:
- Write all emails in a professional but direct tone
- Avoid corporate jargon — be clear and brief
- For shipper emails: friendly and solution-focused
- For carrier emails: direct and factual
- I prefer short paragraphs, not long blocks of text

COMMON EMAIL TYPES I NEED:
1. Carrier outreach for loads (I'll give you load details)
2. Shipper status updates (I'll give you load status)
3. Cold outreach to new shippers (I'll give you company info)
4. Exception/delay notifications (I'll give you the situation)
5. POD and invoice follow-ups (I'll give you the details)
6. Market rate context for shipper quotes (I'll give you rate data)

MY PREFERRED CARRIERS (optional — add if you want lane-specific suggestions):
- [Carrier name]: [lanes they run well]

1. In your Claude Project, look for "Add content" or "Project Knowledge" (it's a paper clip or upload icon)
2. Click it and paste your context document text
3. Save it

What you should see: Your document appears as a piece of project knowledge that Claude will reference in every conversation within this project.

Start a new conversation within the project. Type:

"Draft a carrier outreach email. Load details: Flatbed, 44K lbs steel pipe, from Houston TX to Memphis TN, picking up this Monday, paying $2.20/mile. We need a driver with tarps."

What you should see: An email that matches your brokerage's name, tone, and style — without you explaining any of that. It should feel like a draft you'd actually send.

If the first output doesn't match your style, go back to your context document and add notes. For example:

• "Start carrier emails with 'Hi [carrier name],' not 'Dear Carrier'"
• "Always end outreach emails with my name and direct phone number"
• "Don't use the word 'utilize' — say 'use'"