6 Ways to Package your Process

This week, I want to share a spark to help you package your process as a product so you can leverage your expertise and deliver your solution at scale.

You have experience in getting results but no way to leverage your knowledge.

If you are working on creative projects for clients, it might feel like you are working hard and making good money, but in reality, you are probably trading your time for money and not leveraging your knowledge or expertise.

If you are like the majority of creative professionals, you are getting great results for your clients but have no real way to scale your income.

If you are like most creative professionals, you're solving problems one at a time.

Working on one client project at a time can be exhausting and unsustainable.

The freelancer model is standard amongst the creative professions, with the gig economy and portfolio careers becoming more commonplace with the casualisation of the workforce.

Even if you have a full-time job, such as a graphic designer, you're still being paid for the time you spend working on individual client projects, not the value of the results you achieve for them.

"Knowledge is no longer power. Sharing knowledge is power."―Michael R. Hunter

You can package one of your step-by-step processes into a product.

If you're a creative professional who regularly delivers results for your clients, I bet you already have a signature process you can turn into a product.

The key is to shift your focus from the client and brief to the process and the result.

For example:

• If you're a logo or web designer, and you've created five or more client projects, you already have enough information about each step to systemise the process.
• You can teach your process if you create lettering artwork on the iPad.
• If you're a children's book illustrator, you can share the process of publishing a book from idea to finished product.

If you want help structuring your results process into a framework, click here.

Once you have a knowledge product, you can deliver your results in a scalable way.

Once you have systemised your process, you can package it into a knowledge product such as a book or a course.

Your knowledge product can then be delivered automatically or to multiple people. The scalability of knowledge products makes them an excellent choice for any creative expert, as they allow you to effectively reach a wider audience and deliver your results in a systemised and automated way.

You are essentially turning your clients into customers.

Here are six ways you can package and distribute your process:

1: Productise your service

You can approach this method in several ways, but this is often the easiest way for a creative service provider to package a product.

You might package your time into a product, so VIP design days are an example. Customers can buy a fixed amount of your time for a fixed price.

Another idea is to package a result for a fixed price, so a logo or three-page website—anything with a predictable process and finite result.

2: Write about your process

One of the easiest ways to explain a process in-depth so that someone else can replicate your result is to write about it.

A book is the most common way experts package their knowledge into a product, but if that sounds too daunting, a series of blog posts can achieve the same result with much less pressure.

3: Talk about your process

Another way experts package their knowledge is to talk about the process. For example, remember all of those Tony Robbins CDs and audio programs from the 90s?

These days, people might look at you strangely if you offer them a 10-disc CD package, but podcasts and audio downloads are the new versions of the "learn in your car" model.

If you don't mind public speaking, consider giving keynote presentations at conferences and summits.

4: Create a course

A common way for experts to deliver results is through an online course. Technology used to be a considerable barrier but now, thanks to COVID, we all have beauty lights and a Zoom account, and the idea doesn't seem so daunting.

If a full-blown signature course is too much of a mountain to climb, you can start with a mini-course or a workbook with a walkthrough video.

5: Deliver a workshop

The problem with courses and books is you don't always know if your process is easy to follow or understand.

Workshops are a great way to deliver your content to groups of people, either live or via Zoom, and receive immediate feedback. They also allow participants to ask questions and go deeper with the process.

6: Offer coaching

Coaching might be the best way to share your topic and expertise if you want to combine the in-depth detail of a course with the immediacy of workshops.

One-on-one coaching is a great way to get high-quality results; whilst it's not very scalable, your expertise is valued more highly if you are a coach than a service provider.

Group coaching is another great model if you want to reach more people at once because the participants can learn from each other and from you.

Takeaways

1. Productise your service by packaging your time or results
2. Write about your process in a book or blog format
3. Talk about your process on a podcast or stage
4. Create a self-study course with worksheets and activities
5. Deliver a workshop, either in-person or via Zoom
6. Offer to coach, either one-on-one or as a group.

⚡ I hope this sparked for you different ways to leverage your expertise and package your process as a product.

Please tag me on Instagram and let me know if you found this list helpful.

Which delivery method will you try first?