Offers should be built on a specific pain + desired outcome + clear process.
For the longest time, I was under the impression that a good product was all you needed to stand out. I believed that if I built something so high-quality that it left people in awe, they wouldn’t even need to ask about the price or the purpose. I thought the beauty would speak for itself.
But I soon realized a hard truth: A product that isn’t built on a foundation of specific pain is nothing more than a fancy menu. It’s nice to look at, but it doesn’t compel anyone to take action.
The 9-Month Monk Mode
When I started freelancing as a web developer, I spent nine months in a cycle of constant iteration. I was obsessed with improving my skills, building almost every type of web platform imaginable. I’d spend hours ensuring that every site I built was something a client would be happy to look at—platforms that weren’t just functional, but stunning.
I was confident. I thought that after nine months of sharpening my axe, I could jump online, start cold calling, and watch the clients queue up.
Surprise, surprise: That was not the case.
The Prospect Who Stopped Me Cold
The turning point came during a call with a prospect who liked what he saw. He’d seen my email and my portfolio. He even complimented the work. But his business was already doing well. He offered a service, and he successfully found his customers through Facebook and Instagram.
He looked at me and said, “Your website is nice and all, but why do I actually need one? My business is doing fine as is.”
I froze. I had no response. He had a social media presence that worked, and people could communicate with him directly. Did he really need a website? In that moment, it hit me: My whole approach was about offering a “fancy product” that didn’t have any substance beyond its aesthetics. I had failed to see that the essence of business is solving a problem in exchange for money.
Identifying the Motivators: Loss Aversion
During the “dip” that followed, I went back to the drawing board. I started researching what makes people actually buy. I found that humans are primarily driven by two motivators:
Pleasure: The desire to gain a reward.
Pain: The desperate need to avoid loss.
Most people won’t go the extra mile to acquire an extra $10—it’s just a “nice-to-have.” But think about what happens when you check your pocket and realize you’ve lost $10. You immediately get up. You check the couch cushions. You look under the table. Even after you’ve accepted the loss, it lingers in your mind when you walk past a shop later that day: “I could have bought that chocolate if I still had my ten dollars.”
In business, the biggest losses are the ones people don’t see. When I show a business owner that their “good enough” social media strategy is leading to a 50% bounce rate on their landing page, they realize they are losing half the people walking through their door. My job is to identify those hidden losses.
Promise: The Photographer’s Proof
Once the problem is identified, the next step is the Promise—showcasing the “after” state. Think of a street photographer. They take thousands of photos of strangers every day, hoping that the person will love the version of themselves they see in the lens. By showing previous builds and working samples, I invite a customer to imagine their own product in a high-performing environment. I show them the version of their business where the leaks are plugged.
Path: The “God View” in the Age of AI
But then I hit a new wall. We are in the age of AI, where anyone thinks they can generate a website with a prompt or two. I knew that eventually, I’d stumble upon a prospect who thought they could build their own “pretty menu” for free.
So, I went deeper. I stopped building just websites and started building intelligence.
I decided to integrate Data Analytics and BI into the very fabric of web development. My “Path” changed from simply creating a platform to creating a Command Center.
Now, I don’t just offer a site that generates leads while you sleep. I offer a “God View” of your data. Instead of a business owner jumping from a Meta dashboard to Google Ads, then over to a CRM just to track engagement, I integrate it all into one report. I build a bridge between the front-end experience and the back-end truth. This is a path most people aren’t even aware exists. It’s no longer about having a “nice website”—it’s about having a single source of truth that tells you exactly where your money is going and where your next dollar is coming from.
Your “Power Sentence” (The Framework in Action)
The next time a prospect asks, “Why do I need a website? My social media is doing fine,” hit them with this:
“The problem with relying on social media is that you’re flying blind, you can see people liking your posts, but you can’t see the thousands of dollars leaking out every month. I build web platforms that act like a command center, pulling all your scattered data into one place so you can finally see exactly what’s making you money and what’s just wasting your time..”
From Pretty Menus to Profitable Engines
The lesson I learned on that cold call years ago is one I carry into every single project I draft today. Business owners don’t buy websites because they want something pretty to look at; they buy them because they want to stop losing and start winning.
When you stop selling features and start solving the hidden pains of data fragmentation and lost conversions, you stop being a line item on a budget and start being the engine of their growth.
Looking back, that prospect did me a favor by rejecting my ‘pretty’ portfolio. He forced me to realize that beauty doesn’t pay the bills, clarity does.
Today, I don’t just build sites; I build clarity. In a world where anyone can use AI to make a site that looks ‘okay,’ the only way to win is to offer something AI can’t: a way to actually see, measure, and grow a business. Don’t build a menu. Build an engine.