The Truth About Your Offers (And How to Get Them Right)

Most advice about creating offers is a ticking time bomb for your business. It’s made for businesses that look nothing like yours, churned out by people who either sneer at offering services or haven’t seen an actual client since Instagram was just for filters and brunch pics.

These folks just don’t understand what running a solo service business here in 2025 is like. Their advice? Overhyped, overcomplicated, and completely out of touch.

From the mythical “signature offer” to the endless “offer ladder,” it’s all designed for someone else’s goals, not yours. And following it? That’s how you end up overworked, overwhelmed, and wondering where it all went wrong.

Tune in as we dismantle the standard offer advice that doesn’t work and share practical tips for creating simple, compelling offers tailored to your skills, strengths and values.

The Truth About Offer Advice: Overcomplicated and Out of Touch

Most advice for service business owners comes from two kinds of people.

First, there are the celeb entrepreneurs. You know the ones: they’re busy selling courses and coaching “containers,” raking in six figures a month by telling you how to run your business while looking down on service work. They treat service providers like we’re stuck in some beginner stage of business, pushing us to “level up” into products or passive income.

Spoiler alert: they don’t get us or respect what we do.

Then there’s the second group—the folks who used to run service businesses but haven’t had a client in years. They’ve forgotten what it’s like to deal with scope creep, tight deadlines, or clients disappearing for weeks. They’re out of touch, and their advice reflects that.

What do these two groups have in common? They keep dishing out the same “typical” advice that doesn’t work for solo service providers. It’s a lot of fluff and fancy language, but at its core, it’s just lousy advice that overcomplicates things, burns you out, and doesn’t respect your goals.

Shiny Promises That Sabotage Your Success

Let’s break it down, starting with the signature offer trap. This is the idea that one shiny, polished offer will define you and your business, making everything magically fall into place.

At first glance, this advice seems harmless, even logical. But here’s the problem: the focus is on selling you the “magical” result…a shiny, one-size-fits-all solution that promises to transform your business overnight.

This advice is designed to sell you on the idea and will not always help you sell your services effectively. It prioritizes the dream of a signature offer that instantly attracts clients and makes you stand out. However, it’s based on dated, one-size-fits-all frameworks.

By focusing so much on the idea of the offer itself, you can quickly lose sight of what your business truly needs. You might end up with an offer that’s beautifully packaged but poorly aligned with your audience, overcomplicated, or impossible to deliver effectively. And that can wreak havoc on your business—wasting time, money, and energy while leaving your clients confused or disappointed.

On the flip side of the idea that you need one signature offer is a “suite” of offers that all flow together perfectly, creating this mythical “funnel” that makes you money while you sleep.

This advice might work for business owners with big teams or who are selling coaching or group programs, but this is a lot of needless overcomplication for someone selling done-for-you services as a team of one.

This kind of advice—whether it’s pushing you to create offers at every price point, slap together a DIY product when you’re booked out, or constantly upselling to squeeze more money out of clients—sounds good in theory but falls apart in practice, especially for solo service business owners.

Managing multiple offers spreads you thin, DIY products require a lot of marketing you may not have time for, and constantly upselling can feel transactional and erode trust.

Instead of overcomplicating your business with unnecessary layers, focus on crafting offers that solve your client’s problems and align with your skills, strengths, values and capacity.

Crafting Offers Your Clients Will Love (and Buy)

Now that we’ve dismantled this lousy advice let’s focus on what works. The first step is to reframe how you think about offers. They’re not rigid, pre-built packages that need to look flashy or fit into a cookie-cutter template. Instead, offers are flexible solutions to specific problems—tools you use to solve your client’s pain points while delivering real, tangible value.

This is where the Strategy Stack comes in. It’s your guide to creating offers that work, helping you avoid distractions and stay focused on what matters:

• People: Start with your ideal clients. Who are they, and what do they need? What specific problem do they have that they’ll pay you to solve? This is the foundation of your offer, and without it, everything else falls apart.
• Positioning: Next, explain why you’re the best person to help them. What unique skills, expertise, or experience do you bring? Your positioning should make it obvious why clients should choose you over anyone else.
• Packaging: Keep your delivery model simple and aligned with your capacity and clients’ needs. Don’t overcomplicate it—focus on a structure that’s easy to deliver and effective for your clients.
• Pricing: Charge based on the value you’re providing, not some arbitrary market average. What transformation or outcome is your client paying for? Price your offer accordingly.
• Promotion: Market your offer in ways that feel authentic to you and resonate with your audience. Skip the gimmicky funnels and pressure tactics. Instead, focus on clear messaging and outreach that builds trust and highlights the value you deliver.

It’s easy to create offers and hope they’ll sell. But creating offers your clients want and are excited to pay for requires intention and strategy.

The Strategy Stack keeps you grounded, helping you focus on the essentials and refine your offers over time. By using this framework, you’re not getting distracted by shiny objects or trends that don’t serve your business.

Instead, you build offers that align with your goals, capacity, and clients’ needs, leading to better results and a service you enjoy delivering.

Do an O.F.F.E.R.S. Audit

Now, take a step back and critically evaluate your current offers. This isn’t just about looking at what’s selling—it’s about understanding how your offers fit into your business.

Here’s how to break it down:

• Outcomes: Does this offer align with your clients’ needs and problems?
• Fit: Which offers align perfectly with your skills, strengths and values?
• Financials: What’s adding to your bottom line?
• Energy: What gives you energy and feels effortless to deliver? What’s draining your capacity and leaving you exhausted?
• Requests: What are people asking you for?
• Strategy: Does this offer align with your overall business strategy?

The O.F.F.E.R.S. Audit helps you evaluate your offers to ensure they align with your client’s needs, business goals, and capacity. By refining your offers, you can focus on what brings the most value to your clients and your business.

Simplicity is key.

When your offers are clear and focused, they’re easier for clients to understand and more sustainable for you to deliver. But too often, we overdo it—overwhelming, overcomplicating, or overextending ourselves.

Here’s what to watch for:

Overwhelm

Am I giving clients too many options or deliverables? Your clients have a problem that they want solved. Overwhelming them doesn’t help them feel confident or clear about their next steps. Instead, show them that you can solve their problem effectively and efficiently.

Overcomplication

Can I streamline your process without losing quality? Where are you adding complications for you and your client? Don’t fall into the trap of adding things to look like it’s more valuable. 

Overextension

Am I stretching myself too thin by offering too much? Instead of trying to do everything, focus on fewer, well-crafted offers that deliver real results. Remember, quality beats quantity, and a clear, concise offer is often more valuable to your clients—and less exhausting for you.

Simplifying isn’t a step back—it’s a smarter way forward. By focusing on fewer, more substantial offers, you can deliver better results for your clients while making your business easier to manage.

Remember, you want a boring business that’s predictable, profitable, and peaceful. Creating offers that work for you and your clients helps you achieve this.

Offers Built for Your Business, Not Someone Else’s

Having the wrong offers doesn’t just drag your business down; they suck the life out of you, your time, and your energy. All the shiny advice out there might sound impressive, but for solo service providers, too often, it’s a one-way ticket to burnout and confusion.

Here’s the bottom line: your offers don’t need to look like someone else’s perfectly curated “signature system” or an elaborate suite of products with all the bells and whistles. They just need to work—for you and your clients.

That means keeping it simple, aligning with your strengths, solving real problems for your ideal clients, and ensuring you enjoy it. The more focused your offers are, the more apparent your value becomes, and the easier it is for your clients to say, “Yes, I need that.”

So, if your offers feel heavy, complicated, or stressful, it’s time to strip them down. Do an O.F.F.E.R.S. Audit, get back to basics, and prioritize what matters: creating a business that’s sustainable, profitable, and, most importantly, works for you.