AI CEO LabLead Magnet Ideas People Actually Want
Not a PDF nobody opens. The thing I give away is the thing I run: a skill file, a prompt, a checklist my own agency uses that week. Here is how I pick it, how I package it so it works in one sitting, and how it feeds the funnel behind the keyword.
The average lead magnet is a PDF the owner would never read themselves. Ten pages of general advice, a stock cover, a form asking for a phone number. It gets downloaded, it gets forgotten, and the owner concludes lead magnets do not work.
What I give away is what I run. The ad account audit my agency does on day one of a takeover. The comment funnel rules that came from things that fired at the wrong people. The judgment file interview I used on myself. Every one of them is a skill file a reader can paste into their own agent and run in the same sitting.
The rules I hold to come from a simple test. Would I be annoyed if a competitor got this? If not, it is not valuable enough. Can someone finish it in one sitting and have something changed in their business? If not, it is a course, not a magnet. Does it solve the whole of one small problem? If it solves half of a big one, it is a tease.
This guide is how I pick the magnet, how I package it, and how it plugs into the rest. Delivery is in Comment To DM To Email In One Afternoon. The newsletter it feeds is in The Newsletter That Runs Itself. This is the thing in the middle that has to be worth wanting.
The three levels
A generic PDF with a cover, gated behind a five field form, promoted once, never mentioned again.
One real problem, one complete answer, packaged as a guide page plus a copyable skill file plus a prompt. One word to get it. It ships already wired to the keyword funnel and the newsletter.
Every system you build for yourself becomes a magnet on a cadence: the agent drafts the guide page and skill file from your own notes, you approve, the keyword goes live with the post, and the funnel numbers tell you which magnets to make more of.
The mental model
Write something general enough to appeal to everyone, gate it, and hope the list grows.
Take one thing you already do for money. Give away the whole method for that one thing, in a form they can run today. Sell the doing.
| Role | Talks to you | Job |
|---|---|---|
| The problem | First | One specific, complete, painful problem your ideal person has this week |
| The package | Second | Guide page, skill file, runnable prompt. Finishable in one sitting. |
| The word | Third | One keyword, obvious, tied to the promise, unique across your library |
| The funnel | Always | Comment, DM, email, resource, newsletter. Built before the post. |
From process to package
1. Pick the problem, not the topic
List the five things clients pay you for. For each, write the one question they ask right before they pay. That question is the magnet. Not the topic around it. The audit skill exists because every new client asks where they are wasting ad spend. The comment funnel skill exists because every creator asks how the comment WORD thing works. Nobody asks for a guide to marketing.
2. Run the four rules
Does it solve the whole of that one problem, so they finish and something is different? Would I be annoyed if a competitor had it? Can it be done in one sitting? Does it lead naturally to the thing I sell, because the doing is harder than the knowing? The idea that the free thing should feel worth more than the paid one comes from Hormozi. It is true. The people who never buy still tell everyone.
3. Package it three ways in one
A guide page that explains the mental model and the steps, a skill file they paste into their own agent, and the one prompt that does it alone in a chat window. For an audience that uses AI, the skill file is the magnet. An ebook describes a method; a skill file is the method. It also proves you actually do this, because nobody can fake a working skill.
4. Give it a word
One word, obvious from the promise, not a word people type in ordinary comments, unique across everything you give away. AUDIT for the audit skill. GROK for the Grok Bot guide. Check the list before you pick, because two magnets on one word fire together.
5. Wire it before the post
The keyword funnel and the resource email exist before the video goes up. The magnet's page carries the newsletter's promise at the bottom. Coming soon kills trust and there is no second chance at a first impression, because for most people the free thing is the only thing of yours they will ever read.
6. Keep only the ones that move
Each magnet gets its own keyword tag, so you can see comments, taps, emails and newsletter adds per magnet. Make more of the kind that captures emails. Retire the kind that gets comments and nothing after. The number decides, not the amount of work it took to make.
Starter prompts
Paste these as written. They are short on purpose, because the long ones drift.
Act as my lead magnet strategist. Interview me one question at a time: (1) the five things clients pay me for; (2) for each, the exact question they ask right before they pay; (3) which of those I could answer completely in one sitting with a method I already use; (4) what I sell that the method makes them want done for them. Then score each candidate against four rules: solves the whole of one problem, I would be annoyed if a competitor had it, finishable in one sitting, leads naturally to what I sell. Pick one and produce: a guide page outline with a mental model, steps and failure modes from my answers only; a skill file with a name line, a description line with trigger phrases, and instructions an agent can follow alone; one prompt a reader can paste to get the result in a chat window; a one word keyword that is obvious and not a common comment word; a delivery email under 120 words. Use only numbers I gave you. Never invent a result.
Here is a lead magnet I am about to publish: [paste]. Check it against four rules and answer pass or fail with one sentence each: solves the whole of one specific problem; I would mind a competitor having it; finishable in one sitting; leads naturally to [what I sell]. Then tell me the one change that would turn a fail into a pass.
Turn this process I use into a skill file an AI agent can run without me: [paste the steps as I do them]. Output only the file: a name line, a description line that says what it does and lists three trigger phrases, then instructions in the order I do them, with the checks I run and the things I refuse to do. Keep my words where they are specific. Do not add steps I did not describe.
One prompt, then the real package
Layer 1 is the prompt below in a chat window: it interviews you and hands back the outline, the skill and the keyword. Layer 2 is the package as it has to exist for people to actually use it.
Skill file with frontmatter
A name line and a description line at the top that says what it does and what phrases trigger it. Then instructions an agent can follow without you.
A page with a copy button
The skill lives on the page as text with a copy button, not as a download. Downloads get lost. Text gets pasted.
The prompt is the first thing they can run
One paste, in any chat app, produces a result. That is the sample of the method that earns the rest.
No invented numbers on the page
A number is one you measured or a placeholder inside the prompt. A made up result is the fastest way to lose the reader who would have paid.
The word is unique
Keep one list of every keyword you have ever used. Check it before every new magnet.
Give it to your agent, three ways
Same skill, three worlds. Pick the one you actually use. The skill file at the bottom of this page is the instructions in every case.
An agent with connectors (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Grok Bot)
No connector is needed. The agent's job is to interview you, turn your process into a skill file and a prompt, and check the package against the rules. Claude Projects hold the skill as instructions; Claude Code can save it as a file and run it to prove it works.
- Paste the skill at the bottom of this page as project instructions, or save it as a skill file in Claude Code.
- Say the trigger and answer its interview with real specifics from your last five paid engagements.
- Take the skill file it drafts, open a fresh session, paste it, and run it on a real case. If it does not produce the promised result, fix the skill, not the promise.
- Hand the keyword and resource to the funnel guide's prompt to wire delivery.
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/my-magnet && $EDITOR ~/.claude/skills/my-magnet/SKILL.md # then, in a fresh Claude Code session, say the trigger phrase from the description line
ChatGPT (a project or a custom GPT)
Same thing in a Project. A ChatGPT Project holds the interview skill as instructions, and a custom GPT can carry the finished magnet's skill for readers who live there.
- Create a Project, paste the skill file as instructions, say the trigger.
- Answer the interview. Ask for the finished skill file as plain text in a code block so it copies clean.
- Test it in a fresh chat with the file pasted at the top before you publish.
- If your readers use ChatGPT, publish the runnable prompt on the page and keep the skill file as the copy block; both work there.
Anything with an API (a token and a curl call)
There is no API to a lead magnet. The honest route is a script that keeps your keyword list unique and checks the package for the things that break trust.
- Keep one JSON list of every magnet: slug, keyword, resource link, funnel tag.
- Before publishing, check the keyword is unique, the link returns 200, and the page has no em dashes and no number that is not marked as measured.
- Store the skill file next to the entry so the page and the download never drift.
- Run the check in the same command that builds the page.
# keyword uniqueness and link check before a magnet goes live
python3 - <<'EOF'
import json, urllib.request
ms = json.load(open('magnets.json'))
kw = [m['keyword'] for m in ms]
assert len(kw) == len(set(kw)), 'duplicate keyword'
for m in ms:
assert urllib.request.urlopen(m['link']).status == 200, m['slug']
print('ok', len(ms), 'magnets')
EOFFailure modes
Every one of these has happened to me or to someone I set this up for.
| Failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Downloads, no replies, no bookings | It solved half of a big problem. Pick one small problem and solve all of it |
| A twenty page PDF nobody finished | One sitting. Cut to the method and put it in a skill file |
| The free thing is thinner than the sales page | Give away the secrets. Sell the implementation |
| Comment WORD posted before the resource existed | Wire it, test it, then post |
| Two magnets on the same keyword fired together | One list of every keyword, checked before each new one |
| A result on the page you never measured | Delete it. A placeholder in the prompt or nothing |
| The skill file did not work when a reader ran it | Run your own file in a fresh session before publishing, every time |
The tools I use for this
| Tool | What it is for here | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | Interviews me, turns the process into a skill file, and runs the file to prove it works. | Open |
| Wispr Flow | How I talk the process out before the agent shapes it. Faster than typing a method. | Get it |
| GoHighLevel | Where the magnet's email and the newsletter hand off live. | Get it |
| Dr. Lead Flow skills library | Twenty of my magnets, packaged exactly this way, free. | Browse |
The free skill
It interviews you for the one problem you solve on repeat, scores candidate magnets against the four rules, then produces the package: a guide page outline, a skill file with frontmatter and instructions, the runnable prompt, the one word keyword, and the delivery email. It refuses to invent numbers or results.
--- name: lead-magnet-people-want description: Interviews the owner for the one problem they solve on repeat, scores candidate lead magnets against four rules, and produces the package: a guide page outline, a skill file an agent can run, the one prompt a reader can paste, a unique one word keyword, and the delivery email. Never invents numbers or results. Trigger on "pick my lead magnet", "what should I give away", "turn this into a lead magnet", "package this as a skill". --- # A Lead Magnet People Actually Want The magnet is the thing the owner already runs for money, given away whole, in a form a reader can use in one sitting. For an audience that uses AI, the skill file is the magnet: a method they can paste beats a method described. You interview, score and package. You never invent a number, a result, a client or a testimonial. If the owner has no real number, use `[X]` inside the prompt and nothing on the page. ## Step 1: The interview (one question at a time) 1. The five things clients pay you for. 2. For each: the exact question they ask right before they pay. That question is the magnet, not the topic around it. 3. Which of those could you answer completely, in one sitting, with a method you already use? Ask for the steps as they actually do them. 4. What do you sell that this method makes people want done for them? Push on vague answers. "Marketing help" is not a problem. "Where am I wasting ad spend" is. ## Step 2: The four rules Score each candidate pass or fail, one sentence each: 1. Solves the whole of one specific problem. Half of a big problem is a tease. 2. The owner would be annoyed if a competitor had it. If not, it is not valuable enough. 3. Finishable in one sitting. If not, it is a course. 4. Leads naturally to what the owner sells, because the doing is harder than the knowing. The free thing should feel worth more than the paid thing. The idea comes from Alex Hormozi's writing on leads: give away the secrets, sell the implementation. Most people never buy, and all of them judge the free thing. Pick the candidate that passes all four. If none does, go back to the interview. ## Step 3: The package Produce all five, from the owner's answers only: 1. **Guide page outline.** Mental model (wrong way, right way), steps in the order the owner does them, the failure modes they have actually seen, what done looks like. 2. **Skill file.** A `name:` line, a `description:` line that says what it does and lists three trigger phrases, then instructions an agent can follow without the owner, including the checks they run and the things they refuse to do. Keep the owner's words where they are specific. 3. **The prompt.** One paste, in any chat app, produces the promised result. This is the sample of the method that earns the rest. 4. **The keyword.** One word, obvious from the promise, not a word people type in ordinary comments (never yes, love, this), unique across every magnet the owner has ever published. Ask for the list and check it. 5. **The delivery email.** Under 120 words, preheader, short paragraphs, one button, one reply question, one line on why they received it and how to stop. No em dashes. ## Step 4: Prove it before publishing The owner opens a fresh session, pastes the skill file, and runs it on a real case. If it does not produce the promised result, fix the skill, not the promise. Do not publish a file that has not been run. ## Step 5: Wire before the post The keyword funnel and the delivery email exist before the video goes up. The magnet's page carries the newsletter's promise. "Coming soon" is a broken first impression. ## Step 6: Keep only what moves Each magnet carries its own keyword tag. Report comments, taps, emails captured and newsletter adds per magnet. Make more of the kind that captures emails. Retire the kind that gets comments and nothing after. The number decides, not the effort it took.
What done looks like at thirty days
- One magnet published as a guide page, a skill file and a prompt
- You ran the skill file yourself in a fresh session and it produced the promised result
- The magnet has its own keyword, wired to the funnel and the newsletter before the post went up
- Comments, taps, emails captured and newsletter adds are counted for it
- At least one reader ran it and told you what happened
- The next magnet is chosen from the same five problem list
Want your first magnet built and wired this week?
Inside the AI CEO Lab we take one thing you already do, package it as a skill people can run, and connect it to the keyword funnel and the newsletter in the same session.