Design your offerings

In the last steps, you figured out what you should prioritize, what sorts of goals would make your life align with those values, and what types of clients would help you meet those goals.

In this step, you’re going to take a look at what you can offer those clients in a way that still aligns with your values.

If you already have clear offerings, review them and ensure they service your client’s needs. Then add them to the Services half of the “Services and Pricing” section of the business plan. We’ll cover pricing in Step 6.

Finding the services that’ll bring you the most success

Pick your services

It’s time to get specific — what can you do? Consider where you have experience and can market yourself and how they serve your clients pain points.

Create a list of at least five services you can offer. Include some where you have a lot of expertise, and somewhere you don’t have as much.

For example, I’m a writer. But writing breaks down into tons of subcategories, such as writing features, content marketing, branded journalism, social media management, and more. These services can be further parlayed into fact-checking (which utilizes my reporting and research skills from producing journalism), producing podcasts (navigating the logistics of producing something in audio), and coaching (asking probing questions can be seen as an extension of asking pointed and often nosy questions as a journalist). 

Note: We’re going to start broad and narrow down as we go. Don’t rule anything out just yet. Try to add as many examples and details as possible.

Remember to diversify your services, too. Diversification is good for a few different reasons:

1. Job stability. For example, when video advertising grew, tons of social media writers were laid off in favor of video producers. If you have a wide array of services, you have more stability among market shifts that are outside your control.

2. Different revenue streams.

3. Intellectual stimulation. I get bored doing the same thing every day, and I bet you do too. 

4. Experiment and grow. Offering multiple services means you can try out different projects, skills, and niches where you want to improve.

5. Double-dip. If you have a client you love working with, working on different types of projects means you can work with the same great client on multiple projects.

Align your top services with your client list

From the list you just created, select three to four services that align with:

• Your values from Step 1.

• Client interests and pain points.

• The markets’ needs.

Now, revisit your list of clients and their pain points from the last section and align each with one of your offerings. 

Example: Maybe you can match that B2B company that was struggling to reach their customers, with your video creating services. 

Quick reminder, this isn't permanent. Consider reevaluating your offerings when the timing feels right — we’ll cover this later. 

In the next step, we’ll cover how to price your services so you can continue doing work you love, in a way that your clients will be happy to pay for.