How I Productized My Business… Twice.
I’m Brian Casel. Here’s the story of how I transitioned out of freelancing.
A few years back, I made my living as a freelance web designer, selling my time for money and living project-to-project. I was comfortable enough (or perhaps lucky enough most months of the year). But I knew this wasn’t sustainable.
I felt a growing, urgent need to somehow transition to a product business. I was sure that was the key to building a real business that can scale.
First, I tried to build a software product. A web design product for restaurants. But like most freelancers building software “on the side”, my little startup struggled to gain traction.
But then something clicked: I figured out that customers not only need the tools, but they need it done-for-them too. That’s when I transformed my SaaS into a productized service.
I built systems that enabled me to delegate all of the work to my small team. It even got to the point where I was spending less than 3 hours per month on this business! Then in 2015, having built an valuable asset that runs itself, I was able to sell the business for my first six-figure exit.
Then the question was, what’s next?
The choice was obvious: I went back to my playbook and launched my 2nd productized service business, a marketing company called Audience Ops. And within it’s first year, it went from 0 to $30K in monthly recurring revenue. By it’s second year, it grossed more than half a million in annual recurring revenue. Today it has opened the door to a line of new products.
Every step of my journey has been self-funded and powered by the Productized Service model.
The Productize course not only draws on lessons from my own work building two successful productized service businesses, but also the lessons from others who I continuously research and interview. There’s nothing I enjoy doing more than talking shop with fellow freelancers who are turning the page and becoming business owners.
The Training
30+ self-paced video lessons
Comprehensive training for starters and seasoned founders alike. Whether you’re launching your first idea productized idea or you’re deep into scaling mode, this guide is for you. It delivers both strategic high-level guidance and actionable, step-by-step tactics.
Topics include:
Planning & Execution
Systems & Processes
Positioning
Onboarding
Value Propositions
Hiring
Pricing & Business Models
Marketing Funnels
Getting First Clients
Sales Process
Building Traction
Metrics & KPIs
Productized Consulting
Standardizing
Expansion
And more…
Ready-to-use Templates
Gain access to processes (SOPs), spreadsheets, templates, scripts, worksheets, and questionnaires—All designed to be ready for you to plug right into your business and put to use.
Guided lesson discussion in our community
Each lesson links to a dedicated discussion in the private forum where you can ask questions and share notes with others who’ve gone through the training.
Access from anywhere
All lessons are desktop, mobile and tablet-friendly. Stream HD quality videos instantly or download the video or audio-only files to take with you.