So You Have a ChatGPT Account. Now What?

You did it. You signed up for ChatGPT. Maybe a friend told you to. Maybe you read my blog post and took me up on the $20 challenge. Maybe you're just curious. Whatever brought you here, you're in. That's the hardest part.

Now you're staring at a screen and you're not sure what to do. That's completely normal. Let's walk through it together.

What You're Looking At

When you log in to ChatGPT at chat.openai.com, here's what you'll see:

The big open space in the middle. This is where your conversation happens. Right now it's empty, and that's fine. It's waiting for you.

The text box at the bottom. This is where you type. Think of it like a text message. You type something, you hit the little arrow to send it, and ChatGPT responds right above where you typed.

The sidebar on the left. This shows your past conversations. Every time you start a new chat, it gets saved here with a title so you can find it later. If you don't see the sidebar, look for a small icon (it looks like two lines or a small panel) in the top left corner and click it.

The "New Chat" button. This is at the top of the sidebar. Click it whenever you want to start a fresh conversation. You don't have to, but sometimes it helps to start clean when you're switching topics.

That's really all you need to know about the screen. Everything else can wait.

Ignore Everything Else (For Now)

You might see mentions of things like "GPTs," model names, or other features. Ignore all of that for now. Those are tools for people who've been using this for a while. They are not important for your first conversation.

The only thing that matters right now is the text box at the bottom of the screen.

Your First Conversation

Click in that text box and type exactly this:

Hit send.

Read what comes back. Take your time with it.

What you'll notice is that ChatGPT responds in a friendly, conversational way. It's not a search engine giving you a list of links. It's more like texting with someone who's trying to be helpful.

Now Try Something Real

The best way to learn is to ask about something you actually care about. Here are a few ideas. Pick whichever one sounds most useful to you:

Yes, you can paste things into ChatGPT. Letters, emails, articles, recipes. Just copy the text and paste it right into that text box along with your question.

The Most Important Thing to Know

You don't need special commands. You don't need to be formal. You don't need to worry about asking the "right" way. Just say what you need, the same way you'd explain it to a friend sitting next to you.

If it gives you an answer that's too complicated, say: "Can you explain that more simply?"

If it gives you too much information, say: "That's too long. Give me the short version."

If it misunderstands you, say: "That's not quite what I meant. Let me try again."

It won't get annoyed. It won't judge you. It will just try again.

Before You Close the Tab

Try one more thing before you leave. Type this:

The answer will probably surprise you. And it'll give you ideas for tomorrow.

What About the $20 Plan?

If you're on the free version, that's perfectly fine for now. You'll be able to do everything in this guide without paying anything.

The $20 plan (called "Plus") gives you access to faster responses, the more powerful version of the AI, and higher limits on how much you can use it. But you don't need to decide about that today. Use the free version for a couple of weeks. If you find yourself hitting limits or wanting more, that's when upgrading makes sense.

There's also a newer $8 plan called "ChatGPT Go" that sits between free and Plus. It gives you more room than the free version without the full cost of Plus. It's a good middle ground if you want a little more but aren't ready for $20.

You Did It

That's your first 15 minutes. You've had a real conversation with AI. You've seen how it responds. You've started to understand what it can do.

Tomorrow, come back and ask it something else. Something you've been wondering about. Something you need help with. Something you've been putting off because it felt too complicated.

That's how this works. One conversation at a time.