Session Overview
Date: April 7, 2026
Duration: 31 minutes
Format: One-on-one Campus VIP coaching session
Video: https://vimeo.com/1180910377/736896b5c4
This session covered Claude’s recent API changes and credit limits, clarified the Dean/agent/employee/skill mental model for beginners, walked through the recommended course learning sequence, demonstrated the Study Buddy agent powered by a vector database, announced pricing changes for new members, and explained how MCP connectors enable agents to chain actions across multiple platforms.
Key Concepts
The Dean / Agent / Employee Mental Model
- Skills = Employees. Each skill file is a digital employee that is really good at one specific thing.
- Dean = The Boss. Dean is the chief orchestrator agent. You talk to Dean; Dean figures out which employees to deploy and coordinates the work.
- MCP Connectors = Tools. Connectors give employees permission to act on external platforms (WordPress, FluentCRM, FluentCommunity, Google Calendar, etc.).
- You = The CEO. You give Dean a goal and a brief. You don’t manage individual employees.
The key insight: You don’t talk to each employee individually. You tell Dean what you want done and Dean handles which agents to use and how.
How Connectors Work
A single agent task often involves a chain of actions across multiple platforms. For example, "check how many students logged into lesson 4" requires:
- Connect to FluentCommunity
- Query lesson completion records
- Filter by date and lesson ID
- Format and report back
An agent can only complete that chain if it has a connector to each platform involved. Each connector defines: what platform, what actions are possible, what parameters to pass.
Connector flow:
- Agent receives a goal
- Agent identifies which tools it needs
- Agent calls each connector with specific parameters
- Connector runs the action and reports back
- Agent uses the result in its next step
- Loop continues until the task is done
Current Connector Toolkit (TrainingSites)
- WordPress
- FluentCRM
- FluentCommunity
- BetterDocs
- File System
- Web Search
- Google Calendar
- Spreadsheets
Recommended Course Sequence
| Course | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Build Your First Employee | CLAUDE.md setup: mission, ICP, voice, products, tools, rules | Published |
| Meet Your AI Team | Org chart, departments, Dean model | Published |
| AI Agent Connectors | What connectors are and how to use them | Draft (final review) |
| AI Blueprint Bundle | All three courses packaged together | Available |
Best starting point for beginners: The AI Blueprint bundle — gets you all three courses in one place.
Study Buddy Agent
A new AI agent built on TrainingSites content stored in a vector database. Currently in testing.
How it works:
- You ask it a question (e.g., "How do agent connectors work?")
- It searches the vector database (TrainingSites website content, FAQs, docs)
- Returns a structured answer with dive-deeper options
- Can generate infographics from the same content
- Slower than desired right now due to database size — being optimized
What it demonstrates: A vector-database-powered AI assistant trained on YOUR content. Same model can be applied to any course or knowledge base.
Announcements
Pricing Change (April 2026)
- Campus VIP membership: $97 → $197 for new members
- Existing members: grandfathered in at current rate
- Individual AI courses: $47 each
- As more courses and agents are added, existing members get access to all of them
Bi-Weekly Monday Sessions
- 3-hour live class every two weeks
- Replays published in the campus
- Next session: Monday April 13
Messaging Repositioning
- Shifting from "online campus" to "agent-powered teaching business"
- Reason: market questions are all about agents now, not the campus infrastructure
- New materials being released this week reflecting this positioning
Claude API Changes (Early April 2026)
Two issues surfaced:
- OpenClaw / multi-agent access: Previously could run independent agents using a standard monthly Claude subscription. This access was cut — now requires the API (business connector). Caused frustration for users who were mid-workflow.
- Credit depletion: Heavy users running complex agent sessions burned through credits faster than expected, even on expensive plans.
Practical guidance: Use Sonnet for most tasks; switch to Opus only for complex reasoning. Don’t run Opus for every step — it burns credits quickly.
Step-by-Step Workflows
Building Your Agent Infrastructure (Beginner Path)
- Complete Build Your First Employee course
- Write your CLAUDE.md: mission statement, ideal customer profile, brand voice, product list, tool access, rules
- Complete Meet Your AI Team course
- Map your departments (Community, Education, Marketing, Sales)
- Identify top 3–5 recurring workflows — what would you hand to a VA?
- Document each workflow as a flowchart or numbered step list
- Pick the highest-ROI workflow and build the first skill/agent for it
Workflow-First Approach
Before building any agent:
- Ask: "What recurring task would I hand to a capable virtual assistant?"
- Write it down as a step-by-step process
- Identify which platforms each step touches
- Those platforms = the connectors you need
- Then build the skill or find the existing one in the library
Q&A
Q: I heard "don’t use agents" — what changed?
A: The terminology shifted. "Agents" now specifically means the orchestration layer (like Dean). Individual skills/employees are still the building blocks. The advice was to not think of every skill as a standalone agent — instead, let Dean orchestrate them. Each skill is an employee; Dean is the boss who coordinates.
Q: Which course should I start with?
A: Build Your First Employee first (sets up your CLAUDE.md — the foundation everything else sits on), then Meet Your AI Team (org chart and Dean model), then the connectors course when it’s published. Or grab the AI Blueprint bundle to get all three at once.
Q: What is the Study Buddy and when will it be fully live?
A: It’s an AI agent trained on TrainingSites content. Ask it questions, get structured answers with infographics. In testing now — slower than desired while the vector database is being optimized. No confirmed launch date yet.
Q: Should I switch from LearnDash to FluentCommunity?
A: No need. Your current platform works fine. LearnDash integrates via the WordPress connector. You don’t need to change platforms to use agents — agents connect to whatever you already have.
Q: How do I know what connectors I need?
A: Start with a workflow. Map every step and every platform that step touches. Each platform = one connector you need. The connector toolkit (WordPress, FluentCRM, FluentCommunity, BetterDocs, etc.) covers most common education business needs.
Teachable Moments
"You have to go slow to go fast."
Mapping workflows before building feels like a delay. It isn’t. Your automations are already running in your head — you just need to slow down enough to make them visible on paper. Once they’re mapped, building the agent is fast. Skipping the map means rebuilding later.
Dean is the boss, not the doer.
The mental shift that unlocks everything: you don’t manage individual employees. You brief Dean on what you want and he coordinates the team. Your job is clarity of goal, not management of execution.
Connectors = agent permissions.
An agent can only act on a platform it has a connector for. Without the connector, the agent knows what to do but can’t do it. Think of connectors as giving your employee a login and a set of permissions to a specific tool.
Related Resources
- Course 185 (Campus VIP Live Sessions) — Lesson 2846
- Build Your First Employee course
- Meet Your AI Team course
- AI Blueprint Bundle
- Study Buddy agent (testing link shared in session)