Why I Recommend Offering Services

Offering services is one of the best businesses to have.

That seems to be an unpopular position right now. I lost count of how many people have told me that advocating for it is making a mistake or, worse, giving bad advice.

While no single business model is perfect, I can say that service-based businesses do have some advantages over other models. Also, remember that you can mix and match different income streams into your business. I certainly do.

Yeah, it is definitely nice to have money show up “on autopilot” (two unexpected PayPal payments today are going to help me get my broken teeth repaired!), but getting that income stream up and running is rarely an overnight thing, and it can be vulnerable to outside forces, such as Google.

I like offering services. Let me start with the most controversial reason. This will be the one that stops some people from reading or triggers angry responses.

Loving What You Do and Caring About Your Clients

I don’t believe the idea that money naturally follows doing what you love, I know too many brilliant struggling artists, but I do think that if you can get paid to do something you enjoy, that gives you immense satisfaction and joy, then you are extremely privileged.

I’ve also worked in jobs that were highly paid but made me unhappy.

Why do I choose the word ‘Love’ rather than ‘Passion’ or ‘Enthusiasm’? Feel free to make your own substitutions, but for me calling it love fits the best because when you love something, or you love working with certain clients, it transcends “enjoying your work”; it fills your heart.

It’s worth thinking about what you naturally do when money is not a consideration. What makes you light up when you think about it or discuss it?

For me, I love to figure things out, create things, and solve problems. I code in my spare time, I’m a maker, and I am a notorious “geeksplainer”. Being a nerd for hire has been my happy place numerous times over my career for this reason!

Business is by its very nature transactional, and that can lead to some guilt or icky feelings, but we can always detect and appreciate when a person cares about what they do and who they do it for. Fixing something, building something, or improving something for another person is pretty special in that regard.

A large percentage of my clients lean toward the ‘woo’ side of things, whether that is spiritual, religion, or the niche they are in, so it is particularly important for the people I work with to feel like they are having a positive impact and not purely focus on making money.

Working closely with clients gives you enormous job satisfaction because you can see for yourself the impact that your hard work has had. Something I definitely missed when working for larger organisations.

This also translates into getting better at what you do – you gain immediate insights into what works and what might need tweaking in the future.

If you are like me and love to figure things out, it is kind of getting paid for on-the-job training!

Getting Started

The next benefit is the tiny gap between wanting to start and getting your first clients. If you wanted to start a business and have your first sale, today then a service business would be a great choice.

No inventory is required, you don’t even need a business name or website.

Of course, it definitely helps if you are outgoing and willing to have some doors shut in your face, literally or metaphorically.

It helps to have some specialist knowledge, experience, or skills, but even those are not required because there are a lot of services that people are happy to pay for simply to save having to do it themselves.

Sales Advantage

Despite me saying it helps if you are outgoing, even us more shy folks have an edge when selling services over other kinds of offers and that is because services usually require less imagination. Rather than try to convince your market that they need what you do, they already know what they need, they might even come to you and ask you to do it:

• “Our grass is too long but I don’t like gardening, please mow it”
• “My teeth hurt, OMG please fix them asap”
• “I need a sales page but I don’t have time to learn, please make me one”

Profitability

Depending on the specific services you offer, there are often higher margins to be found because of how much of the overhead can be taken on by the client or at least spread across your entire client base.

One example that I particularly enjoyed was training programmers. The client would pay for my travel, hotel accommodation, meals, and even supply the venue. Their ROI was huge so they would also pay me well. As my reputation and case studies grew, so did my rates.

What about more entry-level services? Doing virtual assistant work might not seem worthwhile if you only look at the initial hourly rates, but consider that you probably have a computer and internet connection, the majority of the software will either be free or have trial periods, and you can work for multiple clients simultaneously. Again, the better you get, the more you can charge.

“Selling Time”

Sometimes an hourly rate is the best way to charge for something. I disagree with people who warn against selling your time.

When I do white-label work for agencies or other service providers, for example, freelance programming, then hourly is how I operate. If they are long-term or repeat clients I might offer a discount because if I can keep my business growing with few sales calls or proposal presentations then I am all for it.

Once you have done a particular kind of project a few times, you might switch to “product” or “project” pricing. This is easier for a client to budget for, and it does not punish you for getting quicker at your job!

An example from my own business is when I do a complete website review. Each client is different but the process that I follow is highly structured and the tools I have developed to help me with my coaching and SEO clients are a lot of help to keep the manual effort to only where it is most valuable or required.

The boilerplate kind of work also lends particularly well to finding efficiencies and automation for aspects, and this allows you to be more profitable or scale.

Services might also be tailored to each client’s needs, which not only sets you apart from competitors but also add to how much you can charge (bespoke is almost always more expensive than off-the-rack).

After you have a few clients come back time after time, you can switch to monthly-based models, like retainers or subscriptions, allowing you to build predictable, ongoing income streams and help your clients budget. My monthly WordPress website care plan only makes sense as a subscription, otherwise I would spend too much time invoicing for every 20-minute task I do!

Stronger Authority

Authority grows by being known for something valuable. By getting a good reputation for delivering high-quality services, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field, attracting more referrals and repeat business.

Another aspect of being an authority is keeping on top of the news and latest developments. As things change in your niche or community, it is also easier to pivot service offerings in response to market changes compared to a product-based business, which might be tied up with inventory or production cycles.

Bottom Line

As I mentioned, no business model is perfect, but also you do not have to stick with any single business model forever. You can evolve, mix and match, and also test.

That said, if you are stuck on where to start, and you would like a business that offers rewards, both financial and personal, and is quick and cheap to start, it is difficult to think of a better option than services.

Let me know if you agree but I’m also open to feedback if your experiences have been different to mine. Let me know if there are downsides that I have not considered or reasons you would NOT recommend service-based businesses.