Start with a problem you already know how to solve. Think about the work people ask for help with: organizing a process, writing something clearly, setting up a tool, or handling a task they keep putting off.
Make the offer smaller.
Choose one person, one problem, and one useful outcome. "I'll organize your customer follow-up process" is easier to understand and test than "I can help with your business."
Your next move
Write a one-sentence offer. Ask three potential customers how they handle that problem today, what it costs them in time, and whether they would consider paying for your proposed help. Use their responses to revise the offer before making a website.
Look more closely.
Before offering the pilot, define which files you need, what you will deliver, how many revisions are included, and what is outside the scope. Estimate the time to do the work and the time to communicate with the customer. Your first price needs to make sense against both.
A working example
Imagine that people in your network regularly ask you to tidy up their spreadsheets. "Spreadsheet help" is broad. "I will turn your monthly sales exports into one reusable summary" describes a result someone can assess. This is an illustrative offer, not a revenue claim.
Questions for your notebook
- Who has this problem often enough to care?
- What are they doing instead, and what is frustrating about it?
- Can I deliver the result with the skills and time I have now?
- What would count as a useful response to this offer?
Watch what they commit to.
A compliment can be encouraging without proving demand. A request for scope, a booked conversation, or a paid pilot gives you different information. Record the difference. If nobody responds, examine who saw the offer and whether it was clear before deciding the whole idea is wrong.
Ready to put this into action? Waymaker helps you go from idea to your first paying customer, with AI doing the heavy lifting alongside you.
Start building free
