I’ve been coming up on five years of running this business, and lately I’ve been giving a lot of advice to people starting their own thing. And the number one piece of advice I give (the advice that sounds slightly unhinged even as I’m saying it) is:

“Start a YouTube channel.”

Which is very funny, because I am not someone who should be bragging about my YouTube channel.
(I am adding a link because my marketer will have some strong words with me if I don’t. Don’t click on it.)

It’s niche. It’s scrappy. The sound quality is… fine.
The video quality is… also fine. Everything is filmed in one take. There is no fancy editing.

And I’m still very much a little embarrassed by it.

But here’s the thing:

It is the single best business decision I’ve ever made.
It’s an inbound sales tool where the clients who find me are perfectly aligned and ready to work.

And the part that matters most?

My YouTube analytics tell me exactly where my audience is struggling.
The same problems my clients talk about every single week.
This imperfect channel became the clearest feedback loop I never knew I needed.

And none of it would’ve happened if I had waited until the channel was “good enough.”

Pilot It Before You Produce It

The right answers only show up once something interacts with the real world. The lesson is the same for your service offerings:

You cannot perfect a service you haven’t tested.
You cannot refine a tier you haven’t sold.
You cannot optimize a vCIO program you built in isolation.

The “best practice” is not to perfect your Good / Better / Best yet -
it’s to sell the imperfect version and adjust based on actual client behavior.

Why You Should Share Your Offers Earlier Than You Want To

Here’s something most of my clients underestimate:
Clients love being asked for feedback.

It makes them feel like they are a key part of your business, and their opinions and wants are valued. Surprisingly, after they give feedback once, they become more invested the next time you circle back with updates.

That’s how your offerings get shaped by the real world - not by assumptions.

So before you build perfect, polished service tiers, ask yourself:

Have I shown a draft version of these tiers to a few key clients?

If not, you’re still operating in the dark.

Have I asked them what they actually value at each level?

You will be shocked by what they care about - and what they don’t.

Have I unintentionally put “premium” items in my basic tier?

I do this all the time.

Do my middle-tier clients want something different than the tier I designed for them?

Probably. My middle tier is usually the one I have the most trouble with, and it’s just me guessing what should go between Basic and Premium.

Sharing is Caring

You don’t build credibility by presenting perfect work.
You build it by inviting the right people into the imperfect draft, and letting their feedback shape the final version.

Clients don’t want you to have all the answers.
They want you to build the answers with them.