“The only failure is if you don’t like something and you don’t do anything about it.”

Colie James

I’m not here to be cute about it. Tiny offers are draining the life out of service providers who should be leading with their real value. In this conversation with Colie James, we get into the messy middle: systems that simplify or suffocate, pricing that actually fits your goals, and why selling low-ticket to grow your list is often the fastest way to tank your core service. If you’ve felt stuck on the hamster wheel of “more products, more funnels, more platforms,” this one’s for you.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

I unpack why tiny offers cannibalize your best container and stall real growth.
Colie and I dig into the reality of switching platforms (Flowdesk, Kit, InCharge, Showit, Squarespace) and how to make those decisions without chaos.
The math behind low-ticket vs high-touch services, and why the numbers rarely pencil out for most service providers.
How to keep teaching and sharing generously without building a second business by accident.
A cleaner path to demand: webinars, guest teaching, referrals, and an offer ecosystem that leads to your core.

The Tiny Offer Trap (and How You Get Caught)

Here’s the pattern I see all the time. You’re great at your service, leads are coming, delivery is heavy, and you’re told the answer is “build low-ticket, run ads, grow your list.” Sounds smart. Until you’re juggling support for a dozen mini-products, fielding confused buyers who don’t know what to pick, and quietly starving your core service because you split your focus. That’s not leverage, that’s dilution.

Colie’s story is relatable. She’s premium by default, then dipped into a template shop and low-ticket assets because people kept asking. The work sold… just not at the volume needed to feel sane. Worse, the low-ticket offers cannibalized her bigger program and course, and the admin load ballooned. When she shut the little stuff off and pointed everything to her core container, the business felt simple again.

Systems Should Serve the Strategy, Not the Other Way Around

We went deep on platform fatigue: bouncing between Flowdesk and Kit, getting tempted by lifetime deals, and my short-lived romance with Showit before crawling back to Squarespace. The rule now is simple: your tools should make it easier to deliver the one result you’re known for. If a platform blocks your process, it’s a no, even if it’s “prettier” or popular.

Pro tip from Colie: you’re not stuck. If a tool isn’t working, change it. She can flip platforms in 72 hours because she keeps her system lean and documented. You don’t have to cling to something just because you’ve used it forever.

Teach Freely, Sell Simply

Neither of us believes in gatekeeping. I’ll show you how I think and what I do. Colie’s the same. The difference between the free content and the paid work is not secret buttons, it’s the path. Paid gets you packaging, templates, order of operations, and my brain on your specific situation. No fluff. No busywork.

If you love to teach, teach. Just don’t accidentally build a second company to support low-ticket deliverables you don’t even enjoy. Channel that energy into a podcast, guest workshops, webinars, or a tight evergreen sequence that ultimately points to your core offer.

A Simpler Way to Scale

You don’t have to pick between “mass audience” and “no growth.” There’s a middle that works beautifully for service providers:

Aim for steady, small list growth from warm sources: webinars, guest trainings, referrals, and your own show.
Keep one clear, high-value container as the destination. Everything else should either prep someone for it, deepen one sub-skill, or support them after.
Track lifetime value and conversion pathways, not just launch spikes. If your ecosystem does its job, people find their way to the right container without you shouting on the internet all day.

What I Really Want You To Hear

If your low-ticket offer isn’t clearly supporting your core container, it’s siphoning attention and confusing buyers. Let it go or fold it in. Focus your marketing on the places you actually enjoy showing up, and sell the thing you’re proud to deliver. That’s how you build a profitable, burnout-free, service-led business that still leaves room to experiment.

Chapters

00:00 – Cold open and topic: tiny offers vs service
05:45 – Systems talk: Flowdesk, Kit, and switching tools on purpose
08:21 – Lifetime deals and moving fast without the chaos
10:58 – Showit vs Squarespace, why I switched back
14:16 – When a platform blocks your process, it’s a no
17:32 – How low-ticket started and why it didn’t scale
20:53 – The math: volume needed vs service capacity
22:18 – Getting called out and choosing simplicity
23:53 – Cannibalization: when offers confuse buyers
25:20 – Turning off the small stuff and refocusing
27:16 – The real options to scale a service business
29:24 – Data joy vs audience growth obsession
32:00 – Product highs, Shopify drops, and experiments
36:02 – What Colie’s offer lineup looks like now
37:51 – Referrals, webinars, and realistic lead gen
38:21 – Guest teaching > shouting on social
41:05 – No gatekeeping, just better packaging
46:24 – Content libraries, blogs, and refreshes
47:03 – Advice to the at-capacity service provider
51:08 – The only failure that actually matters (pull quote)
57:03 – Where to find Colie and wrap

Resources & Mentions

About the Guest

Colie James is a Client Experience Systems Strategist for photographers and creative service providers who are exhausted from manually managing every part of their client journey. She focuses on helping business owners streamline their workflows, automate with purpose, and elevate client communication — so they can deliver a rave-worthy experience that increases retention and referrals. She firmly believes no one should leave their 9 to 5 only to end up working 24/7 inside their own business — and that the right systems and messaging can create more ease, consistency, and freedom without sacrificing the client experience. When she’s not building strategic automations or recording episodes of her podcast, Business-First Creatives, you can find her hanging with her husband and daughter — or living her best life at Disneyland.

Connect with Colie:

Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?

Are you a service provider with a bold perspective to share? Apply to be a guest.

Ready to transform your service into a productized, scalable offer? Apply for Sold Out Services.

If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.

Ep: 12 Systems, Pricing, and the Service Provider Trap of Tiny Offers with Colie James

Colie James