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You’ve nailed down the perfect service-based offerings, but now how can you scale those? Christina Scalera joins us in this episode to share how you can turn your service based offerings into scaleable digital products.
Listen in as Christina explains the impact and longevity of adding a digital shop to your business, along with walking us through what to consider when building out digital products from your services.
Meet Christina:
Christina Scalera is the attorney and founder behind The Contract Shop®, a contract template store for creative entrepreneurs, wedding professionals, and coaches.
In 2014, Christina found herself dreaming of pursuing a more creative path, and she started to look for alternatives to her in-house legal job. She explored everything from teaching yoga to becoming a freelance graphic designer to opening an Etsy shop.
In the process, she ended up coming full circle by creating a business that brought the benefit of her legal training to help her fellow creatives. She’s now teaching others how they, too, can create an online shop phenomenon, create daily income, and get out of the client-getting hustle with her course, Products on Tap®.
When she’s not staring at a computer or awkwardly standing on cafe chairs for the perfect overhead latte photo, you can find her in the woods doing things that are sometimes dangerous but always fun, like riding horses, skiing and reluctantly camping.
Build Shop Data by Simply Starting
One of the biggest hurdles that entrepreneurs face in starting a project is not knowing what their audience will want. In this episode, Christina starts by highlighting the fact that you don’t have to sit and wait for clients to tell you want they want—you’ll get more data and ideas by getting started and testing it out yourself.
In launching her shop, she has released items that were super successful and others that flopped, which have now been archived. Had she waited because she simply wasn’t sure, her shop wouldn’t be as successful or streamlined as it is now. She used the data from her shop launch to build out future products, alter what she created, and learn! This has allowed her to scale from her 115 products she’s created down to her best 42 products currently live in the shop.
Offering Digital Products to Scale Your Business
Many of us as designers are offering a service in our business that we think may not be scalable for products, but let’s talk about what this looks like. We can find different ways to scale our services into products for our business, especially when it comes to design. There are a few steps you can begin taking today to scale your business with digital products based on your existing services:
- Determine what results you want to get for people.
- Look at what you’re already creating in your business.
When you’re giving your clients the resources they need to accomplish their goals based on things you’re already doing in your business, this thought process will easily lead into products for your business.
The Longevity & Impact of a Digital Product Shop
When we think about digital products, oftentimes we immediately go to courses. With a course, there is so much preparation and education that goes into it, not including the work that goes into keeping it updated.
When we talk about what a digital product shop can do for your business, we need to consider the longevity and impact it has on your brand. Once your digital product shop is set up and promoted, your products pretty much run on their own and are self sufficient.
Additionally, a digital product shop allows for you to give an immediate impact versus a course that requires more time for them to complete. With a digital product shop, your clients are getting the immediate solution to their problem.
Mistakes Service Providers Should Be On The Lookout For
With every new venture comes new learning opportunities, including both technical and mindset. Two major mistakes many shop owners make with their digital shop include:
- Spending too much time picking a platform.
- Make it hard to buy from them (ex. accessible cart).
There are so many platforms to sell on, so if you’re not ready to fully build your own shop, you can start on a platform like Creative Market or Etsy. When you’re ready to get your own shop up and running, pick one that is simple and easy for you to understand. You always have room to change this later.
Additionally, make sure that you’re making it simple to buy from you on your shop, more specifically if you’re hosting your own online shop. Many shop owners make the usability mistake of not including a shop cart somewhere on their site for a user to check out when they’re ready to complete their order!
Now if you’re ready to scale your business with digital products make sure you take Christina’s advice into consideration. If you need a little more guidance, Christina can give you more insight in Christina’s Product on Tap Course!
Catch the Show Notes
Get to Know Christina (2:12)
Getting Started with Creating a Digital Shop (8:19)
Christina’s Contracts During Her First Year in Business (11:52)
Steps to Turning a Service Into a Product (16:02)
The Impact of a Digital Product Shop (22:31)
Mistakes Service Providers Should Be On The Lookout For (30:05)
Why People Aren’t Buying From You (33:40)
RESOURCES MENTIONED
facebook.com/christinascalerallc
instagram.com/christinascalera
View Bonnie’s favorites from the Contract Shop: https://bisforbonniedesign.com/contract-shop
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Review the Transcript:
Bonnie (00:07):
Hi, friends and welcome to the brand strategy podcast. A show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity. You need to build the brand of your dreams. I’m your host, Bonnie Bakhtiari brand designer, strategist, and founder of the Lumetri from sustainable strategy to heartfelt encouragement. Each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams, because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way. So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey. Won’t you
Bonnie (00:47):
Welcome back to the brand strategy podcast, where today we’re talking about how to turn your services into scalable products with Christina Scalera. If you haven’t met Christina before, I’m so excited to introduce you to her today. She is an attorney and the founder behind the contract shop a contract template store for creative entrepreneurs, wedding professionals, and coaches. You also might have seen her incredible course products on tap, where she teaches others, how to create online shops that turn into a phenomenon so that you can create daily income and get out of that client getting hustle. And I have to share that she is also an alum of the Illume treat, which is how we first connected many years ago. And I’m so excited to really just share her story and her expertise with y’all today and this episode. So, Christina, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast and for coming on to talk about how we can go from, uh, you know, offering one-on-one services or one to many services and really growing them into a scalable product. So thanks so much for joining me today.
Christina (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me Bonnie.
Bonnie (01:55):
Well, I know that those who are tuning in are going to want to know a little bit more about you and the incredible work that you do in your business. So if you’re up for sharing, I love it. If you could tell us just a little bit more about you, what you do, how you got started, any of that juicy stuff that you want to share today.
Christina (02:12):
Sure. I think it’s so fun to have this conversation with you because you were such a huge part of the beginning of this journey. So if you don’t know my story, which I don’t expect your listeners to, I went to a loom. It was the first saloon back in 2015, and it was such an amazing experience. I am so lucky that I got to partake in that. And what happened when I came home is I felt so inspired that all of these like months and really years at that point of trying to just have something available online for sale, it all clicked together after that event. And I CA I was able to come home and within the weekend I had launched a Squarespace site using the template, using that as my branding. Obviously I highly advocate for investing in branding, but at the time I had like less than no money.
Christina (03:03):
And so I got that site up and live. I designed a freebie in Photoshop with my very terrible design skills. I was awful. Um, but it had decent content Canva didn’t exist by the way back then. So I was like really put into a corner. Um, and I got that into an automation with five emails from MailChimp. So Squarespace, we’re talking about what $8 a month MailChimp was free at the time with an automation. And then the freebie was whatever that $9 creative cloud subscription. So for less than $20, I was able to get my business up and running within that weekend. And I think that’s the power of, uh, so that, that was what eventually became the contract shop, by the way. So that’s the power of connecting with people that are, you know, ahead of you are listening to shows like this or following people like Bonnie.
Christina (03:57):
Clearly she taught me because she was able to curate that experience. That finally was the launching pad that I needed after going to so many other events and, you know, taking courses and things like that. I took your Instagram course. I remember right after that, too. So that was really helpful. But anyway, long story short, that was how I got started. And then within the next year I had a booked out service-based business, which was a law firm that provided legal services. And then I had the contract shop, which obviously is downloadable legal templates. And then within three years of that, I was looking at ditching my services, which just seemed outrageous because as anybody who’s listening knows your services are so profitable. Um, I mean, there’s really not much overhead if any, just kind of software costs. And it’s just the time that you’re putting in that you’re losing and not necessarily like, you know, you’re not paying for any costs of goods or, um, you know, just the typical like brick and mortar costs that you might have when you think of starting a business.
Christina (05:00):
So it was really, really interesting to see the shift away from my services, which I always thought would be the most profitable, most lucrative part of my life and career. And then watch my shop, overtake them in terms of revenue and then profit, um, and really provide me the opportunity to then ditch my services, which allowed me more time to focus on the shop. Um, and once I focused on the shop, it just completely took off and it’s now running so well without me. Like, I literally don’t do anything except for log into Shopify and check out our stats, um, and record a couple of videos here and there. It’s doing so well without me, that it’s allowed me to launch what I now do. Um, you know, as a service-based business, which is like teach people how to start their own kind of shop using that information that they’ve gained as a service provider.
Bonnie (05:50):
I absolutely love hearing how you, with the clarity that you gained at the island retreat, we’re able to go home and take such quick action. And one thing that I really love, and I kind of want to like continue to sort of highlight this from what you just shared for those who are tuning in, but the concept that you, you did not let the fact that you didn’t have, you know, like a custom website stop, you, you didn’t let you know, like any of these things that so many of us, and like I’m over here raising my hand because I’ve definitely let you know, a lot of self-imposed roadblocks keep me stuck for longer than I care to admit, but what I, what I so respect about how you dove in that weekend and really started to take what now is the contract shop life is, is you really leaned into this idea of taking imperfect action, but pursuing action that propelled you forward.
Bonnie (06:45):
And, uh, just kind of building on that momentum. And I know that it wasn’t the easiest journey, and I know that it didn’t happen overnight. I mean, you know, no success happens overnight, but just, you know, knowing you and having followed along with your journey, I feel like on my end, I’ve seen that momentum continue to build over the years and propel you towards what you do now today, where you have gleaned so much incredible expertise and so much incredible experience that now you show service providers, how they can go from taking on, you know, a handful of one-on-one clients and how they can take that information and then turn that into a product or a course or some kind of scalable offer like that. So anyway, just wanted to kind of like celebrate that and highlight that for those who are tuning in, because sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in those sort of self-imposed delaying tactics where you tell yourself like, okay, when I eat, I don’t know, I have this many Instagram followers and when I have
Christina (07:43):
Like the perfect website or when I have, you know, I don’t know, my
Bonnie (07:47):
Skin looks a certain way. That’s what I’m going to start showing up. That’s what I’m going to start doing the thing. That’s what I’m going to launch my business. And I don’t know the cool thing about the cool thing about our journeys as entrepreneurs is I don’t think any of us waited until the perfect moment. I think all of us saw growth because we took that imperfect action. So a little bit of a tangent there to kick us off, but wanting to highlight that, because I felt like that was such a nugget of wisdom that you dropped there, but
Christina (08:16):
Well, thank you. And I’m so appreciative. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think you, you hit on something, that’s really two things that are really important. One is getting started with that imperfect action and then, you know, the, the momentum is exponential. So it does just take that little tiny push, um, to, to have something out there. And honestly, if I hadn’t put anything out there, I never would have been able to create the product. So let me just back up. One of the things that I ended up teaching in one of my programs, products on tab is how to create the perfect product and digital product, um, which by the way, does not include courses. We can talk that I’m specifically talking about digital products sold through online storefronts. So not necessarily courses, but when I teach people how to do that, a lot of times they have a couple ideas and then they never put them out there.
Christina (09:09):
And the problem with that is that we’ve had over a hundred, probably about 115 ish products over the lifetime of the contract shop existing. We have about 42 products or skews in our store right now. And so the problem is if you don’t take those first steps and start to gain that momentum, you won’t have any of the information or data available to you to show you what’s working and what’s not. And it doesn’t start out with like a runaway success. Like you were saying, it’s not an overnight thing, but if you see that somebody has responded more or that you see your audience has responded more favorably to one Instagram post over the rest of the, all the other stuff that you’ve created, you can look at that and you can say like, what was it about that, that they resonated with? Maybe you talked about a certain topic and that’s like something that they they’ve, they would get to know you for.
Christina (09:59):
And that’s something that you could create a product around. So if you didn’t just try these little things every single day, you’d never be in the position to know what is going to be like that little tiny thing that kicks you off, which I just, I just want to see people getting out there and like putting their products and their content out there because it’s, you, you just never know, like you never know what that, like lottery ticket is that you’re going to send out into the universe and it’s going to come back and deliver for you.
Bonnie (10:25):
That’s a really great point. I, something that you said just then kind of sparked a, kind of like a fault question in my mind, do you from, you know, talking through about how you over, you know, the lifetime of the contract shop you’ve had about, you know, I think you said like 115, uh, products, and right now you’ve got about 40, 42 ish somewhere around there. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, kind of, you don’t have that full 150 in the shop right now. So, uh, or 115, I should say, excuse me. So do you believe that getting out there and taking that imperfect action and trying a lot of different digital products over the years gave you the clarity and the data that you needed to refine your best and most profitable offers?
Christina (11:11):
Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, we never would have seen we, so our best selling product, we never would have seen that that would have been a bestseller. And I mean, it literally sells at least once a day, every day, which, you know, at $277, that’s not a bad gig to have in life. So, um, but like we never would have seen that if we hadn’t started poking away at some of the other products. So when I first got started, for example, most of the products in my shop were catered towards the wedding industry, because that was, you know, who I met through a loom who I was connecting with. I had a background in floral design and I was trying to like, maybe be a calligrapher at the time. I was a very lost and confused person if you haven’t gotten that idea already.
Christina (11:52):
So you, that, that was where the clarity came in for the site. And then, you know, we, I just told you that journey, but basically what happened was that first year of business, I was really connecting well with the, the wedding industry. And we had tons of people buying our wedding photography templates. Um, we had another alum, uh, Kirsty Murray, who’s like a famous equine photographer. She was at that retreat. And so I create, and I’m into horses too. So I created an equine photography template for people that wanted to take photos of horses and, you know, their owners and things like that. I created a floral design template, um, or not like floral design template, but, you know, floral design client contract template, I should specify for people, uh, what else? Wedding planner, like DJ entertainment, like these are all catering cake decorator. Like by the way, almost none of these are in my shop anymore.
Christina (12:44):
Um, and it’s because like that we needed that information. We needed to connect with those people and see what feedback they had on those types of products in order to see where we needed to change, you know, what were people not happy with? What did they really like? And that eventually helped us to come out with better and better products. And then as the world has moved progressively more online in the last six years that we’ve existed, we’ve also moved towards more online industries. And so actually primarily right now, our main PR like our main customer base are all online based businesses and we almost never sell our wedding stuff anymore. So that’s been an intro and that was even before, you know, the pandemic and all that. So it’s been an interesting shift away from that, but it was just these little subtle shifts every day.
Christina (13:35):
And especially at the beginning every day, and then, you know, taking a look more seasonally, and then now we only review things about, you know, once or twice a year. Um, so it’s, I think it’s a little bit more acute. It’s kind of like, if you think of a plane, like two planes leave from an airport, and one of them takes off at like a one degree angle and the other one takes off at like a two degree angle. Well, in six hours, like one plane isn’t like North Dakota and then the other planes and like, you know, Washington state. So it’s, it’s like these little tiny adjustments that you’re making at the very beginning that will change your trajectory down the road. Um, but you know, like using that analogy, the plane actually has to take off you can’t just sit there on the runway and hope that one day, like the wind will be strong enough to pick you up.
Bonnie (14:22):
I love that analogy. And you’re so right. Like if we’re, if we’re just, you know, like these big old planes, or even like a little baby plane, like sitting on a runway and we’re just like hoping and praying that the wind is going to pick up and like lift us up into the air that is so unrealistic. Like we know that’s
Christina (14:37):
Not how it would be at the ground. And so if we’re taking that and we are like, like letting that motivate
Bonnie (14:44):
Us as individual entrepreneurs, taking that action, even if it’s scary, even if it’s imperfect, that action is going to breed that clarity and like, exactly like you were saying in your own experience, it’s going to give you that insight, even if it’s not the biggest success, even if it’s something maybe that on the flip side is way more successful than you thought it would be either way. It’s going to give you the insight to, to understand how your products, how those digital products are resonating with your audience. And so I love that you share that with us and kind of help to reframe that mindset around getting started and taking those first steps, even if they feel a little bit intimidating, which actually kind of brings me to my next question, which is really, you know, okay, if we’re, if we are thinking about taking our services, so let’s say someone’s tuning in today and they’re a service-based entrepreneur and they like what you’re talking about. They like this idea of having some digital products that leverage their expertise and their experience. So they don’t have to keep taking on one-on-one clients, you know, all of the time, what are some practical steps they can take, or where do, where do we recommend that they get started in that journey of taking an existing service and actually turning it into some kind of scalable
Christina (16:02):
Offer? Yeah, really good question. The first thing I always try to help people understand is what results they want to get for people. And I think a lot of marketers who don’t understand the concept of ideal clients and customers have really done people, a disservice by focusing on avatars so heavily. And so one of the things that sometimes happens is you’ll hear, oh, like you need an ideal client avatar for reasons that we can get into or not. Um, I’m not a huge fan of avatars. I like to think of actual people, but I realized that avatars can also be helpful at the beginning of your journey, as you’re thinking about who you’re serving. So if you are a service-based business, you should have actual people in mind that are coming to you for help. And you’re either having to turn them away because you’re too busy or because they can’t afford your services, or because, you know, your wait list is so long that they don’t want to wait until you you’re actually available whatever the reason might be.
Christina (17:00):
So this is a really good fit for those of you who are what I would consider time for products that is there’s a really good fit for time for service-based entrepreneurs. And so if they’re looking to get started, I would come back to either that ideal client avatar, or like I said, the actual people that you’re seeing, that you’re not able to help for one way or the other, and look at what results they need in their life or their business. So if you’re B2B, obviously it’s business, if you’re like a mindset or health coach or something, it’s more lifestyle. Um, but look at what it is that they actually want to accomplish, that they would have been doing with you. If you were to able, if you were able to provide services for that person. And I would love for you to look and see what smaller results that you could get.
Christina (17:43):
So like maybe you only offer, if you’re a designer, you only offer like a full branding and website package, but maybe with a product you’re able to take a little bite out of that and have some sort of like beacon or logo kit. So you’re not creating a whole brand for them. And I know that’s not as helpful. Like we both know like the best case scenario is that they invest in a brand it’s really professional, but, you know, for somebody like me back in 2015, um, who’s using a template, like just having an understanding that like, these are two free fonts that you can use consistently to start to have a consistent look like even something that’s simple. It could have been a product that I would have used and then understood, um, you know, oh, like I can use whatever, like Playfair, and like, uh, some other kind of like sanserif font.
Christina (18:31):
And that would be a good fit for me as I get started. So we’re just giving them like a little tiny bite size chunk of the actual end result that they need to have. Um, but that’s also because they’re not ready either financially time-wise or, you know, we don’t have the infrastructure to support another client on our roster. And so they’re still able to learn from us. They’re still able to get something from us, but they didn’t need to go and take like a course about fonts in order to get that small result. They just needed to have the actual result in like five minutes or less, and they’re able to move on with their day. So you’ve really, really helped that person in a very small way, but in an impactful way. So that’s the first thing I would look at. And then the second thing I would look at are what are you already creating in your business?
Christina (19:18):
And this is how I came up with my templates and what I was doing, because with every client that I had, remember, I was a lawyer who had my own law firm and that kind of thing. Um, but this works for any service-based business because I guarantee you, there’s a process that you’re using with your clients every single time. And if there’s not that that might be something you want to check out, Bonnie’s other episodes, but as you do this and you go through the same process, you’re using certain templates and scripts and emails and prompts and questionnaires and things like that, that you’re using to help that client get the result. You’re not creating this from scratch every single time, that would be exhausting and a waste of your time. So look at the things that you already have available, use that as the foundation for what your product will be.
Christina (20:04):
So for example, when I was working with clients, I had a base client contract agreement that I could use, which is now our independent contractor agreement in our store. Um, and then I would really flush it out and help Neesha to their particular circumstances and add in any kind of nuances that they needed. And so I, wasn’t starting from scratch every single time. And I had that foundational piece of content that I could then take and turn into a product. So that was really helpful. Um, one last thing I’ll say about all that it’s really, really nice to, as a service provider, not to have to give away your whole system. So even if you give away like your SOP about how you onboard clients, and that’s how you, you know, like someone gets a checklist or an, a sauna or Trello board or something of how you’re onboarding your clients, you as the service provider, haven’t had to teach your competition through like an a, to Z course, exactly what’s happening.
Christina (21:00):
Like maybe it’s somebody who you would consider to be, you know, your competition or something. They download the SOP, they have a checklist now of like the things that you do to have a launch or on board or clients or whatever that process is that you’re selling as a template, but they don’t have the whole system in place. Um, and so I know there’s like literally drinking out of a rising tide mugs. So I know there’s lots of different approaches to community and competition and that kind of thing. But I think one of the scariest things as a service provider is like, knowing that you’ve worked so hard to build this business and feeling trapped by either turning into an agency or creating a course. And I just want to help people see that there’s actually a third option of creating products, um, which are much more, bite-sized usually easier to produce because they’re already things you have available to you or, you know, very well.
Christina (21:51):
Um, you’re not creating like course content from scratch, for example. And, you know, if, if it helps you at all to get over that fear of like, someone’s stealing everything from you, which I promise won’t happen either. But, um, I know I definitely have had thoughts like that. It feels much more aligned with who I am to put out little pieces of my process in terms of templates, rather than to have like an entire program where I teach people how to do what I do a to Z. Um, so yeah, I, those are the things that I would be looking out for, if you are a service writer or you’re really time poor, and you’re looking to add some passive income to your business,
Bonnie (22:31):
That makes so much sense. And that’s like, those steps are so fantastic. And those things to think through in order to, uh, you know, really paint that picture and make it clear that like, that there’s so much possibility when it comes to stepping into a, you know, a season of growth in your service-based business, you don’t have to max out your capacity for a one-on-one clients. You don’t necessarily have to go to an agency model unless that fires you up and you love that. And you also don’t necessarily have to create a course, which seems to be, um, you know, in my experience and Christine, I’m sure you’ve seen this too. It seems like that’s usually what a lot of well-intended experts out there are pointing service providers to is like, okay, are you maxed out with your one-on-one clients create a course, but creating a course, like, like you’re saying, that’s a massive undertaking. I have created several over the years and it is something that whenever I’m done, I’m always glad that I’m done. And so the idea of having something that, like you said, that it’s bite-sized and smaller and something that shows people little bits of your process as a service provider helps to create another, you know, channel for consistent income in your business. But it’s not something that has necessarily the tech or the community component or the, you know, kind of, uh, intricacies that having a course or a membership site would.
Christina (23:56):
Right. For sure. It’s, I mean, it’s hands off completely. They go, I mean, think about how you shop for anything. Um, I was shopping for candles last night at a local store online, and, you know, you just, you browse around the site, you see what you want, you add it to your cart and you check out and, you know, like last night I forgot to check out. So I got an email this morning that said, Hey, don’t forget to check out. That was the automated that wasn’t the shop owner who was emailing me. That’s just an abandoned cart email. I was getting to remind me about what I wanted, why I wanted it and how to make that final purchase and finish it up. Um, so yeah, it it’s, it is honestly the most hands-off once it’s created. And like you said, I love that you don’t have to take all of this time to create a course, which is, it’s just, it’s hard to administer.
Christina (24:46):
I think a lot of people kind of gloss over the fact that like, oh, like courses are great. They’re so easy. And like, yes, once they’re created, but it’s a lot of work and not, everybody’s a natural born teacher. Like I definitely, I struggle hard with teaching. Like just, I want to throw everything and the kitchen sink in, and it’s so hard because you have to really peel that back and take things out. Um, kind of like I did with my shop when we got rid of, you know, over 60 products over the years, and it’s like one of the hardest things that you’ll have to do in business. Um, but the other thing I just mentioned about courses is like, are you really like, how, how well are you actually serving the person who needs your help? Because with the course, they become somewhat of an expert on the same topic, but like it took them all weekend.
Christina (25:31):
So for example, if you’re teaching them how to write a perfect Instagram caption, like sure you’re teaching them how to fish like that whole analogy. That’s great. But like, if someone just needs 20 Instagram captions for the next month, they could also have just downloaded a pack of 20 Instagram templates from your shop that, you know, you had available for a limited time for, you know, spring of 20, 21 before you put your summer, pack it up there or something. So would you rather them have the result in a weekend learning the content or would you rather have them get the result like immediately copy and paste the captions into plan only, or plan or whatever, mirror it with their photos or their designs or whatever, and then put those on Instagram immediately. So in my mind, um, this is also a really good way to serve people in not just like a bigger capacity, cause obviously like we’re just talking about it’s, it’s much easier to deliver products.
Christina (26:22):
And of course there’s not as much onboarding, there’s not as much tech, there’s not as much of a learning curve to understanding the backend platform or the course portal because there is none typically, but then also they’re getting that result in a much faster way. So another really good example of this is like, actually right after I left a loom, the first thing I did was I went on what’s that site I think, called the event. Right? Yeah. And I put up a contracts, 1 0 1 workshop and I had one person sign up for that. And, um, it didn’t end up panning out. I just, because I just ended up giving her a template because as I was creating the curriculum for the workshop, I was like, this is ridiculous. Like I just spent, you know, three years of law school and two years of working in corporations and like law firm work and clerking and all like all this time, right.
Christina (27:09):
Working up to learn how to create a perfect contract. And I’m, uh, I’m about to attempt to teach this in a three hour workshop. I’m like, it just, it didn’t make sense to me. And then on top of it, I was like, well, she really doesn’t want to wait three weeks to have this workshop. She really just wants a contract today. And so when I told her, you know, because I only have one person signed up, so I was like, I’m not going to do this. Um, when I told her I was going to give her a template and said she was so thrilled, so excited because she got the results she was looking for immediately instead of three weeks later. And she would have had to do all the work herself. So I’m not saying that it’s a perfect substitution for like a lot of course learning teaching topics. Um, even myself, I have programs and courses in, excuse me, how I, where I teach people how to create products or like have a better shop. Um, but at the same time, like there, there’s definitely a place in most service-based businesses to have this, like, I guess like a surrogate service in a way where it just, it takes care of you in a way that, um, you know, you’re not able to, for, for each of the individual people that walks through your door as that service provider, that
Bonnie (28:22):
Makes so much sense. And, um, you know, I think that if, if, you know, for those who are tuning in today, the idea of taking their services and, you know, elevating that and turning that into a scalable offer is something that obviously resonated with them. That’s why they’re tuning in today. And I think that just what you’re sharing with us today, about how we can create, we can take our expertise and we can create bite sized products that deliver the result that our ideal clients or our ideal customers are searching for. That creates the possibility for so much impact through the work that we’re doing without the same amount of effort it would require to take on, you know, 20, 30, 40 however many, a hundred plus clients to deliver that same result. So I think what you’re doing here, you’re, you’re showing, you’re showing this great path forward if we’re wanting to go in that direction.
Bonnie (29:20):
So I love what you’re sharing. I love how you’re breaking it down and making it so accessible for the service providers out there. But I have one question that I’m super curious to get your thoughts on. Just kind of based on like all of the, like, just pearls of wisdom that you’ve been dropping today, what kind of mistakes do you see? And especially since you teach service providers, how to make the transition and how to take their expertise and turn it into, you know, a great digital product, what kind of mistakes should service providers be on the lookout for when they start this journey of going from, you know, one-on-one service provider to service provider slash digital shop owner.
Christina (30:02):
Yeah, for sure. I see way too much emphasis on where you’re going to be selling yourself. If you don’t want to start a store like there’s creative market, there’s Etsy. Um, you know, I did some digital downloads actually before, before we met, I, uh, my first digital product was a $2 download on Etsy. Um, and it it’s now what is just like a resources page with affiliate links on my website. Um, but at the time that was like real forever. This is like 60 years ago. Um, but like six years ago it was like really groundbreaking to share what tools and things you were using behind the scenes. Like, I don’t know why people would have wanted that for my failed yoga blog that I had at the time, whatever, that’s a different story, but it’s soul, you know, I had this $2 download on Etsy.
Christina (30:46):
And so I think the biggest mistake is people spend so much time overthinking where and how and what they’re going to sell. And, you know, we just covered like how to get over the, what you’re going to sell. But if that’s, what’s hanging you up just literally starting to count on Etsy or take, you know, I know you guys are shopping for jewelry and stuff. It’s the pandemics, like, just open up your Etsy, um, create a seller portal like off of your account and put your, your digital products in there. Um, it doesn’t like this doesn’t have to be something complicated and that’s actually another reason I love digital products is because you don’t have to create a whole sales page. Like you can just create that little, um, you know, like Eileen from Seinfeld blur. I think that’s what she did is she wrote like those little product descriptions for the catalog.
Christina (31:32):
Um, that’s all you need is something like that. And then it’s digital. So it obviously will save you a lot of time. Headache heartache. If you give people a quick little PDF that is included as, as a file with your digital product, uh, that just explains like this is a digital product. You’re not going to get anything in the mail. Here’s, you know, here’s how to access it, even though they’ve already unzipped it to get the PDF. Um, just like really simple things. If you have any questions, here’s our support and like give them a way to contact you because if you don’t like, they’re going to try to get in touch with you on your Instagram, on your Facebook page, on your abandoned Pinterest account that you haven’t looked at in six months. Like whatever it is, people will try to contact you in all kinds of weird ways.
Christina (32:13):
If you don’t guide that journey for them and tell them exactly what to do. Um, so those are just some of the mistakes that I see when people aren’t getting started and like what’s hanging them up. And then the, well, the other thing that hangs everybody up is like, well, this already exists. And like, even at aluminum, I was saying that to you and everybody else that was there. Cause they were like, oh my gosh, you have this great idea. Like, why aren’t you selling these legal templates? And I was like, well, legal zoom already exists. And like this other person is doing this thing. And like there’s other person has some templates for wedding people already. And, and yeah, they did like that all existed that whatever, but like, it’s so cliche, but I was able to put my own spin on it. Um, I took like a much more crass approach to it, you know, like on, in big letters on my website, it says legal that doesn’t suck and we put our own spin on it.
Christina (33:05):
We made it this like professional, but fun brand. And just start just talking to people in their own language. Like I remember, uh, my freebie actually came about because it was named something else. And then in a Facebook group, someone dropped like, I’m just looking to legalize my bids. And I kept seeing that phrase over and over and over again. And so that’s where I need my freebie legalize your biz. Because even though I hate that phrase myself, I never would have come up with that. That was the phrase that everyone else was using. So taking that language and mirroring it was really helpful. Um, and then the last thing I’ll say, this is for anyone that has an online store, one of the biggest reasons people aren’t buying from you is because it’s really, really, really hard. So for example, uh, I would say that unlike 10% of the online stores, I go to, especially creatives who have these beautiful websites, you know, like just designed to the Hilton, like or guilt, what’s the phrase, I don’t know, like very well designed and they’re beautiful.
Christina (34:07):
And they’re like, you know, dynamic and there’s things like loading and moving and things like that. And they have shop products and you can add them to your car, but like one of the biggest things is there’s no actual cart icon, so you can’t get back to the car. So if someone adds something to their car and then they go back to look at your about page, which is a very common thing, um, you know, they want to learn more about you. Maybe they don’t know you, they need a little bit more trust built there before they’re making a purchase. Now they have no way to get back to their cart because you forgot that as like an icon, um, or you’re using like a third-party service, like Thrivecart or SamCart or something. And so once it gets added to the cart, like the traditional mechanism is like a funnel where they check out and they leave, but with a shop, like we need to allow people to flow back and forth between your content and, um, your, your store and your site and everything. So those are just some of the really, really quick fixes that I’ll see. It’s almost like, you know, asking is a computer plugged in, but that’s the first thing. Um, and you’d be surprised at how many people it’s just that the cart is not accessible or like it’s not accessible on mobile, but they can see it on desktop. So just those little things are really helpful if you’re finding that like you have products, but they’re not selling it.
Bonnie (35:25):
Those are such things to think about. And you know, like those, those little shopping carts, they can be sneaky. Like you, you know, that’s, I’m so glad that you brought that up because even from a designer standpoint, when, you know, for example, if I’m designing a website, I need to be thinking through all of those little details from a user experience. And so, you know, for those who are tuning in today who are web designers or brand designers and you offer web, this is, you know, absolutely something that we can keep in mind for future client projects as well. It definitely something, of course, if you’re a shop owner, but also from, you know, kind of a service user experience standpoint as well, like that is such a great thing to keep in mind because you’re right. It does not ease the user experience whatsoever from, you know, if I’m like, you know, putting myself in that person’s shoes, if I’m trying to, you know, like buy something like some, you know, gorgeous jewelry or some candles, or, you know, like some cozy slippers, because let’s be real, I’m not going anywhere because of the pandemic.
Bonnie (36:29):
I want to be able to see what I’m adding to my cart. And I want to be able to, you know, kind of engage with that unless, you know, very, very rarely are people like going somewhere, they buy one thing and then they just check out straight away. And so we need to also be thinking through, you know, that kind of like user experience as well. But what you said earlier about, uh, getting, getting started, you know, not overthinking it, focusing on showing up and a simple, easy way, like Etsy or creative market, something like that means that you do not have to, you can start serving people well through your digital products faster, and you don’t have to have the headache. And, you know, the struggle that goes into say customizing a Shopify template from scratch when you have no coding experience or anything like that. Right. So all that to say, I love what you just shared there. I do want to know one question. I always love asking with every conversation that I have here on the podcast, uh, what kind of encouragement would you share to those who are tuning in today and are ready to actually turn their services into that scalable product? They’ve been hearing what you’re sharing. They’re excited about the possibility that a digital product has to offer, uh, what kind of encouragement would you want to share to them to get them on that journey?
Christina (37:50):
I would encourage anybody listening, who is getting started with this to, to start listening really deeply and intensely with the people that they would like to serve. So whether that looks like tapping into an existing audience, via Instagram stories, with poles on them and questions, if you don’t have an existing audience, it might mean leaning on someone else to let you go in front of their group and teach about a topic that you think about turning into a product. It might also mean you going into like your, I mean, I would love to see people doing more market research and seeing who’s watching their content. Who’s engaging with their content and looking at those people in a more objective way and asking what kinds of problems that they have, um, that you as the service provider could actually solve or help them solve. Um, and then the last little thing is I just want to encourage people to start trying to take people from like M to N or like end, oh, like not a to Z, you know, like you don’t have to always create a resource that’s at the very beginning of the journey for someone, I think that’s where we just tend to start off and you don’t also have to take them on the entire journey.
Christina (39:07):
Like you can just give them a little bite of, of that process. And that is going to be really helpful. I think that’s, you know, like a mindset thing, learning how, or I guess, feeling that we actually are helping people, even if it’s not, you know, like the entire experience, like you don’t need to take them on a trip to Disney world. You just maybe sit next to them on a ride, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Bonnie (39:32):
Yeah. That makes total sense. And I love kind of that picture in my mind of, you know, meeting people where they are on their existing journey, not asking them to like start all over again, but instead, like you said, showing up and taking them, you know, a little further in that journey. I think that, that, that just makes it so much more, um, so much more attainable and so much easier to get started. So thanks for sharing that encouragement. I absolutely love that.
Christina (40:00):
Yeah. Thank you. What
Bonnie (40:02):
I love to know where people can find you online. So I know that you’ve got your incredible website, you’ve got all kinds of fantastic free resources and trainings out there, but for those who want to connect with you more and learn more of what you’re doing, but also follow along on your journey and see all the great things that you do and this incredible life that you’re living out there in beautiful Colorado, where can people find you?
Christina (40:26):
Yeah, for sure. I’m at Christinasclera.com on Instagram everywhere. And the nice thing about having a weird name is you might notice when people just kind of have type your name in that you’re going to pop up. So try to get it as best you can, and you’ll find us. Um, Christina Scalera is just where I’m at everywhere.
Bonnie (40:48):
Awesome. And friends who are tuning in as always, I’m going to have all of Christina’s links in the show notes. So if you just go to brand strategy, podcast.com and click on the latest episode, you’re going to see all of the resources and the notes and everything that we talked about today in today’s episode share notes. So Christine, I thank you so much for hanging out with us and for talking us through what it looks like to go from being a service provider, to having scalable digital offers in place. I’m so grateful for your expertise. And I so appreciate you sharing all of your wisdom with us here today. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Bonnie (41:32):
Thank you so much for joining me today, friend, before you go, I would be so grateful to receive your feedback on the brand strategy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or the podcast in general has helped you grow your brand and really appreciate it. If you left us a review in iTunes, your positive reviews enable the brand strategy podcasts to continue to grow and reach like-minded creatives. Just like you. Plus I’ll be randomly selecting a handful of lucky reviewers each month. Thursday’s a little, thank you. Surprise for me in the mail. Thank you for all your support and encouragement as together. We pursue building brands with purpose and intention, and until next time I’m cheering you on from Waco.
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