If you start a service business now…

You'll be making money within a week.

Maya Sayvanova

May 02, 2024

Selling knowledge works.

Selling entertainment works.

But selling “I’ll do it for you/with you and you’ll get great results?” Nothing works better than that.

We’re lazy by nature. We like saving energy. Anytime we can get someone to do something for us, it’s a YES!

Service businesses are the easiest to start. Start one now and you could start earning next week.

Unless you don’t know how to sell your services.

Don’t worry, by the end of this post, you will.

But first things first. Let’s see if a service business is for you.

What’s great about service businesses

Easy to start. No initial investment is required. The only thing you need is a certain level of a certain skill. You can start even if you’re not an expert, as long as you’re priced accordingly. Then you become an expert in the process.
Start earning right away. Service businesses don’t require a big audience. If you find a client today, you start earning tomorrow. And you can find a client today. Okay, if not today, then within a week.
Collaborative. If you prefer working in a team and getting constant direction & feedback, a service business is ideal for you. Clients will love how devoted you are, and you can see the results of your work almost instantly.

What’s not so great about service businesses

Difficult to scale. Service providers sell hours — and there are only so many hours in the day. Sure, you can optimize processes, but only up to a level. The only way to scale a service business is to start an agency, which is a serious set-up. (Although if that’s your goal, I could help. Let me know in the comments or a DM.)
You’re not in control of your schedule. As a solopreneur, you have some control over your schedule — but clients often require meetings, have urgent questions, or ask for unexpected revisions. And you need to be there.
Profit ceiling. Since a service-based business is difficult to scale, your only option to earn more is to raise your prices. But you can’t raise them to infinity.

Service business monetization

Here’s how you can make money through your service business:

One-on-one services. Examples: freelance writing, design, social media management and more.
Group services. Examples: coaching & educational services could be delivered in a group setting.
Add-ons. Examples: copywriters could add consulting to their services; coaches could add retreats, etc.

The earning potential of a service business:

Let’s look at some success stories:

Joanna Wiebe. Joanna is among the highest-paid copywriters in the world — I’m talking $60K+ for a landing page. She’s a copywriter for Thinkific and Microsoft, among others. She now has an agency + educates beginning copywriters. However, she made 6 to 7 figures even as a solo service provider. How? Her expertise in marketing and head-spinning research process allowed her to write copy that 10x the results of her clients (yes, they only changed the copy).
Kathy Caprino. A 7-figure career coach for Fortune 500 executives, Kathy offers one-on-one and group coaching programs. She’s also a frequent speaker in top career events in NYC, and a columnist at Forbes. What’s interesting about Kathy is that she started her business when she was 42, and used her corporate connections to grow it. It’s never too late to become a successful solopreneur.
Georgia Austin. Currently the owner of an agency, Georgia started as a freelance writer on Fiverr in 2020. She offered a great service so she grew quickly. A year later, she was already averaging $15K per month on the platform, but she worked 14-hour days. That’s when she started subcontracting work and created her own agency.

As you can see, most successful solo service providers choose to transition into a different business model. That’s due to the limited scalability of a service business. However, it remain an excellent way to start — and if you love the service you provide, you could remain at that level and make great money.

How to start a service business

Choose your service. Preferably something where you have experience or education.
Choose your target group. You could offer copywriting to different industries, or different sizes of businesses. You could offer coaching to different people for different goals. No need to go super specific, but if you are specific, you’ll find it easier to get clients. If you want to try different things, start with one, then switch later. Offering everything to everyone doesn’t sound very trustworthy, am I right?
Choose your platforms. Based on your service and your target group, choose two platforms that fit. If you want to offer freelance writing to small businesses, go with Fiverr or Upwork. If you want to target corporations, update your LinkedIn profile and look for opportunities with agencies. If you’re offering design services, you should be on Behance & IG. If you want me to guide you to the best platform(s) for what you offer, let me know in the comments.

How to grow a service business

Become a master in your platforms. For years, my ceiling on Fiverr was about $4K per month. I thought that was as much as this platform could generate. Then, I saw Georgia made up to $20K per month! I got furious with myself. I dived deeper, updated gigs, created automatic replies, did everything I thought was “unnecessary” and had my first $10K month on the platform within just 6 months. Go deep and make the best of the platforms you’re on.
Start an e-mail list. Use a suitable platform. If you’re already on LinkedIn, start a LinkedIn newsletter. If you want to generate subscriptions through freebies, look into ConvertKit, where you can automate the process. And, of course, there’s Substack — the ultimate platform for writers and creatives.
Build processes to speed up deliveries. Use AI in a smart way: by learning to write better prompts and edit them properly. Create templates and processes that will allow you to work quickly.
Collect testimonials. Be adamant about this. I screenshot my best testimonials and keep them in a backed-up folder. I ask all my readers/clients for testimonials. This is credibility you can’t beat.
Increase prices. Now that you’ve gained experience, gained feedback and improved your service, it’s only logical to increase your prices.
Do cold outreach. Service providers cringe at cold outreach, but when done right, it could do wonders for your business — especially for B2B. How to do it right? Be personal and consistent. I just set up a cold outreach for a client. Out of 1000 e-mails sent, we got 10 sales meetings — and it cost us nothing but some time.

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