# Sell Your Service

[^note]:
    Recommended reading:
    [Landing Pages](https://www.julian.com/guide/startup/landing-pages),
    [patio11's guide](https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/services_vs_products),
    [minimum legal consulting setup](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10553746)

## Pricing Structures

$1,000 is not always $1,000:

- $1,000 paid upfront (via cash)
- $1,000 paid upfront (via credit)
- $1,000 paid afterward
- $500 paid now, $500 paid later
- $83/month (0% APR) financed over 1 year
- $21/month (0% APR) financed over 4 years
- $100 per session for 10 weeks
- $25/hour, invoiced for 40 hours
- $110 application fee and $890 paid before delivery
- choose your price (recommended donation of $1,000)
- $250 paid upfront + 30% of revenue
- $0 (funded by supporters)
- $800 from services and $200 from advertisements
- $970 + $30 processing fee
- $799 for basic package; $1699 for luxury package
- a-la-carte mini-services totaling $1,000

Given a fixed amount, you have one major knob to turn: **risk**.

If you dump too much risk onto customers, they will avoid your service. But
removing risk from your customers may make your revenue unpredictable.

## Productizing Your Pricing Package

To turn your service into a product, standardize everything. Eliminate unknowns.

To create consistency, split deliverables into a-la-carte services.

When your service takes longer than 1-2 days, you impose risk on yourself and
your client. The larger your deliverable, the further it can stray from
expectations.

Don't set prices based on the complexity of requests. Instead of "building an
app", charge separately for deliverables like "database schema", "frontend
prototype", "end-to-end test suite", "deployment/hosting", etc.

## Becoming a Business

You are already a business -- take people's money and report it in your taxes.
This is called being a "sole propietor".

You will likely need to file quarterly tax returns. Be kind to yourself and hire
an accountant.

Record all incoming and outgoing transactions. Create an email address for your
business so that all digital receipts are clearly recorded in one place. Email
yourself physical receipts to ensure everything is stored in one place. Make
sure to _archive_ emails rather than _trash_ them permanently (also update your
default settings). Backup your email every 2-3 months by downloading your data
from your email provider and storing it on an external harddrive.

Make accounting easy. Open up a business account at your bank. Put revenue
directly into the account. Set aside 20%-50% of revenue for future taxes. Use
the account for business expenses _only_. Pay yourself a regular amount each
month by transferring money from the business account to your personal account.
Pay yourself as little as possible; store money in your business account to
reduce tax headaches.

As a sole proprietor, you probably want to request a "Doing Business As" (DBA)
name. Changing your DBA is annoying, so pick something straightforward and
memorable.

Forming an LLC is overkill for most people. LLCs are helpful when (1) you're
splitting income with people, (2) you might receive lawsuits, or (3) your
services profit more than ~$60,000 annually.

## Joining a Marketplace

Marketplaces are the easiest way to find customers (and competition).

Gig marketplaces handle payments, generate tax forms, provide spam control, and
standardize your search results. They shoulder your risk and complexity.

|                                  |                                    |
| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| [Fiverr](https://www.fiverr.com) | 5.5% of revenue + small order fees |
| [Upwork](https://www.upwork.com) | 5%-20% of revenue                  |

## Joining an Agency

Freelancing agencies share similar benefits to gig marketplaces with some extra
hurdles.

Freelancing agencies pair you with clients, but will likely push you to use
flexible billable hours rather than your own producized service packages.

- [Toptal](https://www.toptal.com)
- [Gun.io](https://gun.io)
- [lemon.io](https://lemon.io)
- [Turing.com](https://turing.com)

## Going Independent

As an independent business, you take all the profits, risks, and challenges for
yourself.

It's easy to create your own website:

- [SquareSpace](https://www.squarespace.com)
- [Wix](https://www.wix.com)
- [Wordpress](https://wordpress.com)
- [Airtable](https://www.airtable.com)
- [Canvas](https://www.canva.com/create/websites)
- [Univer.se](https://www.univer.se)

Websites are easy to make, but discoverability is _difficult_. Marketplaces and
agencies make you searchable, but independent websites force you to build an
online reputation from scratch. SEO is a hellish race-to-the-bottom, so
prioritize word-of-mouth and direct communications. When in doubt, find an
online community and _be helpful_. People notice helpful people.

There are many ways to transfer money: Shopify, Squarespace, Square, Spiffy,
Venmo, Cash, Bitcoin, PayPal, Zelle, Apple Cash, Quickbooks, Finli, Bonsai, etc.

Remember, always file your taxes. And consider hiring an accountant.

---

[^note]:
    This essay is part of [How to Productize Yourself](/productize-yourself).