How to Build Your First Freelance Offer That Clients Actually Want to Buy
Creating freelance offers that clients genuinely want to purchase remains one of the biggest challenges for new freelancers. Many spend weeks crafting elaborate packages only to discover that nobody wants them, leading to frustration and wasted effort.
The Fatal Mistake Most New Freelancers Make
I've seen it happen countless times. Someone decides to become a freelancer and immediately gets caught up in creating the "perfect" offer. They spend weeks building a beautiful sales page, crafting three different pricing tiers, and designing a glossy PDF proposal. Then they sit back and wait for the clients to come rolling in.
Except they don't.
The problem isn't with their skills or their presentation. It's that they've got the whole process backwards. They're building offers in isolation, without any real understanding of what their potential clients actually need or want to buy.
I learned this lesson the hard way with my Moonshot program. I spent months developing what I genuinely believed was the best web design course ever created. It was comprehensive, well-structured, and based on over 15 years of real-world experience. I was convinced it would fly off the shelves.
It didn't sell.
The product itself was strong, but the offer was weak. I pitched it as a route into a career in web design, but many potential students thought that meant coding and development work. If I'd just added a simple tagline like "Become a professional web designer without writing a line of code," I probably would have got several more sales with that one small change.
The Backwards Approach That Actually Works
Here's what I should have done, and what you should do instead: start with the people, not the product.
Find someone with a problem that you can solve. Talk to them. Understand their situation. Then create an offer that directly addresses their specific needs. This isn't just theory. It's how I built my first successful agency, and it's how the most successful freelancers I know got started.
When I started my agency in Cardiff back in 2004, we didn't have a grand business plan or a perfectly crafted service menu. We had a friend who needed a website, so we built one for him. He was happy, told his friends, and we got another job. Then another. Each project taught us something new about what clients actually wanted.
What Makes an Offer Irresistible
An offer isn't just a description of what you do. It's a way to package your help so that it's clear, valuable, and easy to say yes to. Let me show you what I mean.
Bad offer: "I'll design websites for small businesses." Good offer: "I'll design you a one-page website for £195. You'll get three social media templates and a 30-minute call to walk you through everything." Great offer: "I'll write and schedule five email campaigns for your product launch. £250, delivered within one week, so you can focus on preparing your product while I handle getting your audience excited about it."
The difference is specificity and value clarity. The client knows exactly what they're getting, how much it costs, and why it matters to them.
The Value Equation That Changes Everything
I'm going to share something that transformed how I think about offers. It comes from Alex Hormozi's work, adapted for freelancers who are just starting out.
Value equals dream outcome times perceived likelihood of success, divided by time delay times effort and sacrifice.
Let me break that down:
Dream outcome: What does the client really want? More bookings for their restaurant? A professional brand that doesn't look like it was designed by their nephew? To stop spending three hours a day manually posting on social media?
Perceived likelihood: Do they actually believe you can deliver it? This is where testimonials, case studies, and clear communication about your process become crucial.
Time delay: How fast can they see results? If you can deliver something in three days instead of three weeks, that increases the value dramatically.
Effort and sacrifice: How much work do they have to do? The less involvement required from them, the more valuable your offer becomes.
Here's this in action. Let's say you're offering logo design for a new coffee shop:
Dream outcome: The brand looks polished and ready to launch
Likelihood: You show three recent logos you've designed for other local businesses
Time delay: You promise first concepts within three days
Effort: They fill in a quick form and meet with you for 15 minutes
You've made it incredibly easy to say yes.
The Freelancer Launchpad is your 30-day program to getting your first clients, setting up simple systems, and building real momentum - without needing fancy tools, a huge network, or a perfectly polished portfolio.
The Three-Point Triangle Strategy
There's another framework I use that's especially helpful when you're trying to position your services against competitors. I call it the product triangle, and it's based on three points: faster, cheaper, better.
Clients usually want all three, but they can typically only get two. Your job is to be clear about which two you're delivering and why that makes sense for them.
Using tools like Flowlance or other streamlined platforms, you can often deliver websites faster and cheaper than traditional agencies. Because you're a solo freelancer with lower overheads, you can offer competitive pricing while still delivering quality work. That's your positioning: faster and cheaper.
Or you might choose to compete on better and faster. You charge more than the bargain options, but you deliver superior results in less time than your higher-end competitors.
The key is being deliberate about your positioning rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
Simple Offers That Sell
When you're starting out, simple wins. Here are some examples of offers that work:
For graphic designers: "I'll create five social media templates for your business in your brand colours. £75, delivered within 48 hours."
For writers: "I'll write three blog posts for your website, optimised for search engines. £180, delivered within one week."
For web designers: "I'll build you a professional one-page website using your existing branding. £295, live within five days."
For social media managers: "I'll create and schedule one week of social media content for your business. £85, posted during your busiest hours."
Notice how each offer is specific about what's included, how much it costs, and when it will be delivered. There's no confusion about what the client is buying.
The Conversation That Sells
Most freelancers panic when it comes to actually selling their offers. They think they need to be pushy or use high-pressure tactics. The opposite is true.
The best sales conversations don't feel like sales conversations at all. They feel like problem-solving sessions.
Start with questions: "What's your biggest challenge with your current website?" "How are you handling your social media at the moment?" "What's working well, and what isn't?"
Listen more than you talk: Let them explain their situation. Most business owners love talking about their business. Your job is to understand their problems before you try to solve them.
Diagnose, don't pitch: Instead of launching into your standard sales presentation, respond to what they've told you. "It sounds like you need a way to automate your social media posting so you can focus on running your business. I might be able to help with that."
Be honest about fit: If you're not sure you're the right person for the job, say so. "I haven't solved this exact problem before, but let me look into it. If I'm confident I can deliver what you need, I'll come back with a proposal. If not, I'll let you know and maybe point you towards someone who can help."
This approach builds trust because you're being genuine rather than trying to close every conversation into a sale.
Following Up Without Being Annoying
Here's what to do when someone shows interest but doesn't immediately buy:
Offer the next step: "If I can put together a solution for this, would you like me to send you a quick outline with the costs and timeline? I'll keep it simple but thorough."
Set expectations: "I'll need a couple of days to research the best approach for your specific situation. Can I get back to you by Friday?"
Keep it low pressure: "There's no obligation to go ahead. I just want to make sure I'm proposing something that actually makes sense for your business."
Most people will appreciate this consultative approach because it shows you care about getting it right rather than just making a quick sale.
The Digital Product Opportunity
While you're building your service-based offers, don't overlook the opportunity to create simple digital products. These can provide additional income and showcase your expertise.
I created a tone of voice guide in about two hours using ChatGPT and Canva. It wasn't perfect, but it solved a real problem for small business owners who wanted their AI-generated content to sound more human. At £9.99, it was an easy purchase for someone who needed that specific help.
The key is solving a genuine problem with a simple solution. Don't try to create the comprehensive course right away. Start with something small and valuable.
Testing Your Offers
Before you invest weeks building the perfect service package, test your ideas with real conversations.
Post helpful content in online communities. Answer questions on forums. Share insights on social media. When people respond positively, follow up with a simple offer.
"I see you're struggling with X. I actually help businesses solve that exact problem. Would you be interested in a quick call to discuss what that might look like?"
Half the people won't respond. Some will say they're not ready. But some will be genuinely interested, and those conversations will teach you more about creating offers than any amount of theorising.
Common Offer Mistakes to Avoid
Offering too much: Don't try to solve every possible problem in one package. Pick one thing and do it really well.
Competing on price: Unless you're deliberately choosing to be the budget option, don't make price your main selling point. Compete on value instead.
Making it complicated: If you need more than two sentences to explain what you're offering, it's probably too complicated.
Perfectionism paralysis: Your first offer won't be perfect. That's fine. Launch something simple, get feedback, and improve.
Ignoring the market: Just because you can do something doesn't mean people want to buy it. Pay attention to what potential clients are actually asking for.
The 48-Hour Offer Test
Here's a challenge for you. Pick one service you can deliver confidently. Write a one-sentence description of what you'll do, how much it costs, and when you'll deliver it. Share it with five people who might be interested.
Don't spend a week crafting the perfect sales page. Don't create a detailed PDF proposal. Just have five conversations about your simple offer and see what happens.
If three of them say "that sounds interesting" or ask follow-up questions, you might be onto something. If all five seem confused or uninterested, try a different approach.
This is market research in its simplest form, and it's how you avoid building offers that nobody wants.
"The best offers solve real problems for real people. Everything else is just noise." Elwyn Davies
Making Your First Sale
Your first sale won't come from having the perfect offer. It will come from having a good enough offer and the persistence to keep putting it in front of the right people.
Focus on one type of client and one type of problem. Become known for solving that specific thing really well. Once you've got some momentum and testimonials, you can expand.
Remember, you're not trying to build a million-pound business overnight. You're trying to help one person solve one problem. Do that well, and the rest will follow.
What Success Really Looks Like
Success in freelancing isn't about landing the perfect client or creating the perfect offer. It's about consistently helping people solve problems they care about.
Some weeks you'll feel like you're making great progress. Others will feel like you're going backwards. That's normal. The key is to keep showing up, keep having conversations, and keep improving your offers based on real feedback from real people.
Most importantly, remember that every successful freelancer started exactly where you are now. They had the same doubts, made the same mistakes, and wondered if they were good enough to make it work.
The difference between those who succeed and those who give up isn't talent or luck. It's the willingness to start before they feel ready and to keep going when things get difficult.
Takeaway Notes
Building freelance offers that clients want to buy starts with understanding your clients' problems better than they do. Focus on creating clear, specific solutions to real problems rather than trying to showcase everything you can do.
Use frameworks like the value equation and the product triangle to position your offers strategically. Keep your first offers simple and test them with real conversations before investing time in elaborate sales materials.
Remember that selling is really about problem-solving. The better you understand your potential clients' challenges, the easier it becomes to create offers they genuinely want to buy.
Start with one clear offer, test it with five potential clients, and refine based on their feedback. Your perfect offer will emerge from real market feedback, not from isolated brainstorming sessions.
Ready to start building offers that sell? Join our free Pixelhaze Academy membership, which includes access to our free Skool DIY community where you can get feedback on your offers and connect with other freelancers. Get your free membership here.
Want to see how easy it is to build and sell digital products? The transcript shows exactly how to create offers using Flowlance - a platform that lets you build everything from simple digital downloads to booking systems without any technical knowledge.
