Do you recommend productizing services with set prices that can vary in complexity and value?
I don't recommend productizing at the very beginning because you usually don't know what you don't know yet. To productize effectively, you need to fix your margins, understand your cost of goods, know how to hire people, and know what you can expect to pay for certain services. You can estimate some of these, but I still wouldn't recommend productizing right away. You're better off hitting the ground running, talking to people, and filling their needs rather than worrying about all that later. Once you're making about three or four thousand dollars a month, then you can start thinking about productizing.
I would absolutely just keep doing what you're doing—it's clearly working, so just do more and better of it. But I wouldn't allow that to stop you from experimenting with other approaches. Spend 80% of your time on the two models that have been working for you so far, and 20% on something else, like cold outreach or email. I would also significantly improve my prices: in Maker School, people sign $1,500 for one project in their first two weeks, then the next product is $3,000, then $5,000. So, just price more with every deal.
If your goal is to scale to seven‑ or eight‑figure monthly revenue, first consider what you're selling. Moving into enterprise with large, intimately scoped contracts often means custom software development and would require scaling the team far beyond nine people, bringing a whole different set of problems I don't enjoy. Instead, I recommend what every lean agency does at the million‑dollar‑a‑month mark: productize the hell out of your offer—think Fat Joe level productization where fulfillment cost is near zero and you charge based on outcomes like placements or deliverables. For example, an old client of mine productized SEO to the point where you just order a $7,755 campaign on their platform with zero fulfillment cost. For your specific model—$10K up front and $35K over six months (about $4‑$6K monthly plus upsells)—you could increase the monthly retainer to $5‑$8K and average $60‑$70K per client. Also, consider niching down: sell outcomes, not the systems, and use automation just to deliver those outcomes (e.g., a cold‑email agency enabled by automation). As an unofficial note, Lewin’s white‑label GHL approach is a massive revenue ad with little effort, but I prefer to focus on creating high‑quality content rather than pushing software on everyone.
The core issue is that you’re short‑changing yourself. Hourly or monthly retainers make sense when you’re still learning to sell, but once you’re proficient you should flip the model. Instead of $500‑$1,000 per month, charge a flat $7,000 for the entire project with a 4‑6‑week scope. That eliminates the problem of working longer for less money. Many people in Maker School run custom builds that bring in $20‑$30 k per month, so capping yourself at $3‑$4 k is far below your potential.