People claim to want to do something that matters, yet they measure themselves against things that don’t, and track their progress not in years but in microseconds. – Perennnial Seller

Probably the biggest idea that comes across my desk is the idea of a 2 week website. This is the idea that you standardize your process and then set a site up for people at a fairly low rate. It’s profitable because you’re doing 90% the same work on the same host and you can automate it all.

I’ve had no less than 5 people bring this idea up in 2018, and we’re not even 1/2 way through yet. Maybe 2 people actually sold a site like this. One other actually wrote up a pricing sheet and started to standardize a process. The last two, talked about it.

Not one of them is actually doing it. In fact, I can only think of one person out of the 15 that have mentioned this idea that is actually doing it with some regularity.

It’s a pipe dream people

The thing is most of these developers are used to selling higher priced services. People balk at their prices sometimes1.

They get a few prospects that balk at pricing and they start to long for some golden goose. Some service that’s high value and lower priced, because people will of course go for something that costs less money…right?

Nope, they won’t. You’ve changed markets going from custom development to quick site setups with little customization. That type of customer is just as price conscious as any other level of customer. They just have less money at the outset many times so they’re price sensitive at $500 instead of $5000.

Just because you start offering something at a cheaper price doesn’t mean you’ll get any more projects.

Financial Incentives

Many of these freelancer’s are coming up with this idea of a quick site setup because money is tight. They’re looking for some magical rainbow unicorn that will fix the problem.

I get it, things are tight for me too. This is not the first time and it will not be the last time. That is the natural cycle of business. I used to get way more stressed about it. Today, I just keep plugging forward testing little tweaks to what I’m doing and sticking with what works.

I’ve started a YouTube channel about membership sites to see how that works to bring in more clients. I’m not writing stuff about membership sites that isn’t in video as well. This is a 6 month test to see what type of traction I have on that and to see if it brings me business.

I’ll be evaluating it based on Seth Godin’s questions out of The Dip.

  1. Am I panicking (and it’s really not that bad)
  2. Who am I trying to influence (and can I reach bigger)
  3. Is there any measurable progress

Specifically the last one. Did I get a single client in 6 months for the service that came from YouTube? If the answer is yes, I tweak it and keep going. If the answer is no, I look back to the second question. Am I reaching a large enough audience to find my customers?

Trust me, I could use the money of a membership site setup per week. My bank account isn’t full and I’ve got a tax bill to pay.

But that instant validation isn’t going to happen. I’ve got to start building now for a business I want to kick ass in the long term.

You have to be in for the long haul

The same idea goes for BootCamp, it’s a slow burn right now. Every time I launch a new session I tweak it a bit to see what gets a response from people. I’d love to sell out all 5 spots for the coached version of it every time, but I don’t.

I started with the BootCamp idea 2 years ago with the base coaching material. Then I used it for at least 20 people 1 on 1. Then I opened up a slightly cheaper version with a few people in a group.

I tested the material through two or three groups and tweaked it every time.

Only then did I release the video course that everyone could take alongside the membership.

That’s two years of planning and testing and I’m still not done. I’m still testing the way I pitch the material that I know works.

I’m in it for the long haul, but are you? That idea for a 2 week website, are you going to test it over the next 2 years and tweak it? Are you going to keep building it and finding how to market to the right clients that value it?

Or are you going to test it for 2 seconds and then throw your hands up in exasperation?

I get it you need money now, maybe you go get a job? I’ve looked seriously at working for a well known productivity site doing coaching and training as a way to help bridge the gap to between my today and where I want to be. Seriously enough that when I reached out to them last week I was told that they’re finding a marketing person and then they want to talk to me.

So that’s it. You’ve got a great idea, but are you in it for the long haul? Are you going to keep at it, testing and tweaking? Are you going to keep at it in the face of less traction than you dreamed of?

If you’re not. Get a job to bridge the gap. No one else is thinking about you. Just because you freelanced once, doesn’t mean you have to stay there forever.

Have an awesome day

Curtis

PS: If you’re feeling stuck and want to talk about how your business is doing, book a FREE call and we can talk about the issues you’re having with your business.

Photo by: edwicks_toybox


  1. I think this is 99% a problem with how they’re selling their services not with their prices. They are more valuable than their charging in every case. They just frame it bad.