Why You Should Launch A Productized Service Company
Since 2005, I’ve been a freelance graphic designer, and I’ve been very happy with my life. When my child was born, I couldn’t serve my clients while also babysitting. That’s when I realized my company couldn’t function without me. I was the bottleneck in every aspect of it.
In search of solutions, I attempted to develop other tech products, believing that services could never be scaled. Perhaps developing a SAAS (Software As A Service) product is the only way for me to remove myself from my business and scale it while still earning a living.
Because I have decent coding skills, I thought I could create the next Facebook or YouTube without having to work forever. After a while,
I discovered that I was incorrect about how startups and businesses operate. I was mistaken in believing that coding was the only skill I required to achieve freedom. I was mistaken in believing that SAAS would be the next big thing. I was mistaken in believing that service businesses cannot scale.
After some soul-searching, I realized it all boils down to one thing. I just wanted a business that could scale, something I could build processes and systems for that anyone could run. I didn’t need to develop a SAAS or a physical product to free myself from the day-to-day operations of the company.
In 2015, I packaged up a portion of what I was doing as a freelancer and turned it into a productized service business. I was on my way to creating an asset that would allow me to help more people while also providing me with the freedom I’d always desired.
Remove any constraints on your earning potential.
I’ve been working hard not only to get rid of myself as the bottleneck in my business. I’m also working to improve my wealth, health, and overall lifestyle. I used to try everything to get more done in less time. But, as long as there is only one of me (which there will always be), something has to give.
Doing more in the freelance and consulting models may result in more profits and more of your own unique flavor to your client’s work. If you want to make more money, you can raise your prices and take on fewer clients. If you want it, freelancing and consulting can be profitable. Unfortunately, no one can multiply oneself, nor can anyone add more time to one’s life.
The good news is that there is a way to remove the constraints on your earning potential by using what you know. One approach is to identify a set of common items that a large proportion of the market would like to purchase. Then package it, build a team to produce it, and sell it to as many clients as you want.
There will be no back-and-forth with quotes.
Despite the fact that I’ve been doing this for ten years, negotiating my rates was a complete waste of time. I can’t expect to go to an Apple store and negotiate a lower price for a Mac than anyone else. Why should I allow it in my own company?
All of that changed when I started a productized business. I used to be a generalist, offering everything from brand strategy advice to full-fledged web design. All of my clients will, without fail, request one thing from this vast design space. And they will repeatedly request the same service. That is, to make changes to color schemes, fonts, spacing, images, and text.
With this knowledge, I created a monthly service that offers simple graphic edits at a fixed rate. I don’t have to spend time creating one from scratch just for one client and another for another. Furthermore, they are not required to wait for me to update them with my quote and negotiate with me for weeks. There is only one price, and they are either in or out.
