Everything we hand out, in one place. Open on your phone; print what you need.
The ladder
You move when you reach a rung, not when the calendar says so. Some people take one Saturday, some take a month. Both are fine.
1
A real idea
One specific thing you sell, to specific people, for a reason they would pick you.
Reached when You can say in one sentence what you sell and to whom. You can name one concrete thing that makes someone choose you instead of the people already doing this. You can name three real people who might pay you.
Before you spend a dollar, find out if anyone will buy. Most businesses that fail skipped this.
Reached when You have talked with five people who are not family about whether they would pay for this. You can quote what two of them actually said. At least one said yes, they would buy.
A practice run, free or cheap, for a real person. You cannot price a job you have never done.
Reached when You have delivered the work once, for a real person, start to finish. You know how long it actually took. You have a photo and one sentence of honest feedback from them.
Time plus supplies plus profit. We do not guess, and we do not price by what feels polite.
Reached when You have written down what three competitors charge. You have your own price sheet with three services. You have done the arithmetic out loud: at these prices, your monthly target is this many jobs a week.
A stranger, or someone who was not doing you a favour, handed you money. This is the line between a plan and a business.
Reached when Real money from a real customer is in your hands or your account. You know exactly how you will take payment every time, and you gave them something that shows what they paid for.
Someone who has never met you can learn what you do and reach you in under a minute.
Reached when Your flyer or one-page site is live, with what you do, where, and your number. It is somewhere your customers actually are — not just with friends. Someone you did not already know has contacted you through it.
Not one lucky job. A thing you can repeat without starting from nothing each time.
Reached when Three customers have paid you. You write down what comes in and what goes out. You know what you say and do on every job, the same way each time.
More work than your first few customers — people coming back, and people sent by them.
Reached when Customers have come back, or someone reached you because another customer sent them, without you asking. You have asked for reviews and have at least one in writing. You know which of your services makes the most money per hour.
When the work grows, memory and a phone full of texts stop working. Your customers have to live somewhere you can see them.
Reached when Every customer is in one list — name, contact, what you did for them, when, what they paid. Upcoming jobs are on a calendar you actually check. You can pull up who you have not heard from in three months.
One pair of hands has a ceiling. Getting past it is a skill, and doing it badly costs more than staying small.
Reached when Someone other than you has done paid work for a customer. You agreed in writing what they get paid and when. You have a checklist so their work matches yours, and you know what a job costs you once you pay them.
You own a business instead of a job. You can look at last month and know, not guess.
Reached when You can say last month’s money in, money out, and what was left, without guessing. Your prices are set to leave a margin, not to stay busy. You have turned down work that did not pay enough. You could miss a week and the business would still run.