A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Claude as a Food Blogger with Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju

Using AI to run a smarter food blog, understanding the different Claude tools, and moving beyond using AI as a chatbot with Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju from Urban Farmie. \----- Welcome to episode 584 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju from Urban Farmie. ## A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Claude as a Food Blogger Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju recently made the leap from a successful career in management consulting to become a full-time content creator with Urban Farmie. Her background in business strategy didn't disappear when she made the switch, and it has become one the most valuable tools in her toolbox, especially when it comes to how she uses AI in her business. In this episode, Shruthi shares how she's moved well beyond using Claude as a chatbot and has started treating it as a genuine business partner — delegating tasks, building custom skills, and creating systems that let her spend more time on the work only she can do. If you've been curious about AI but aren't sure how to actually integrate it into your workflow in a meaningful way, this episode is a great place to start. ## Three episode takeaways: - **There are different stages to incorporating AI into your workflow — and most people stop too early** — Using Claude to answer a question or draft a caption is just the beginning. Shruthi walks through what it looks like to move from using AI as a chatbot to using it as a true assistant: one that handles mundane, repeatable tasks on your behalf so you can focus on the work that brings you joy. - **Custom skills are one of the most powerful AI features for food bloggers** — Shruthi has built a library of Claude skills tailored to her business — including one that creates a virtual board of advisors to help her think through decisions. She breaks down what a skill actually is, what makes a good first skill to build, how to workshop and iterate on a skill until it does exactly what you want, and how she uses skills to write and refine standard operating procedures for her team. - **Understanding your AI tools makes all the difference** — Knowing when to use Claude Chat vs. CoWork vs. Design vs. Code can save you a lot of frustration. Shruthi explains the differences between the tools, walks through how connectors like QuickBooks work, and shares why auditing your AI workflows on a monthly basis is key to getting the most out of the tools available to you. **Resources:** - Urban Farmie - TED: The unsung heroes fighting malnutrition - Mise en Claude - TextExpander - Inside Crowded Kitchen's Strategy for Growing to 2.4 Million Followers on Facebook - How Mika Kinney Turned Her 480,000 Instagram Followers into Site Traffic and Revenue - WisprFlow - Airtable - Shruthi's AI Challenge for Food Bloggers — use code "FBP" for $45 off - Follow Shruthi on Instagram - Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group ## Thank you to our sponsors! This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Raptive. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [podcast@foodbloggerpro.com](mailto:podcast@foodbloggerpro.com). Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.