How to Market Your Services the Right Way w/ Chris Do | Ep 411

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Futur with Chris Do

Episode: How to Market Your Services the Right Way w/ Chris Do | Ep 411
Date: January 10, 2026
Host: Chris Do

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the essentials of effectively marketing creative services, with Chris Do focusing on how to truly identify and target ideal clients. Chris shares candid insights about client profiling, pricing, value perception, and the fundamental business lessons he’s learned from his own journey. Practical advice and actionable strategies dominate the conversation, making this episode especially relevant for designers, marketers, freelancers, and creative entrepreneurs who seek to elevate both their income and impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of Time vs. Money

• Successful People Spend Money to Save Time:
  • Chris asserts, “What successful people do is they spend money to save time. Unsuccessful people spend time to save money.” (00:00)
  • He challenges listeners to focus on clients who value their time and are willing to invest, rather than those who primarily seek to save money.

2. Understanding True Client Needs: Beyond Demographics

• Importance of Psychographics:
  • Chris emphasizes digging into clients' psychographics: “So the way I like to do customer profiles is to really go deep and understand not just the demographics, which most people stop at, but psychographics, like the way they think they feel, their values and belief systems.” (00:53)
  • Deep client understanding unlocks new service ideas, messaging, and business growth.

3. Identifying and Attracting Ideal Clients

• Focus on Clients With Capacity AND Desire:
  • Chris encourages listeners to identify their most joyful and profitable past work as a template for the “best client.”
  • Practical exercise: “Think about the last 10 clients or projects you’ve worked on. Which ones gave you the most joy... was it financially good for you... are you aligned also in their mission?” (01:32)
  • Highlight on financial viability: “Remember, they have to have money. Some of you like to target broke people... that’s why they can’t afford you.” (02:03)
• Solve for Value, Not Just Alignment:
  • He points out a common pitfall: targeting only creatively aligned clients who may not have the means to pay.
  • “We like to work with people that we feel are aligned with us in terms of taste, creativity. But those same people don’t have money... because we don’t have money. Because we’re just aligned. We’re perfectly aligned.” (04:33)

4. Real-World Examples & Pricing Psychology

• Spending to Grow:
  • Chris references Alex and Leila Hormozi’s content budgets: “I saw Alex a couple years ago... he goes, I spend 50,000 myself. And then with my wife, it’s 100K. It keeps going up because they've realized something: the more they spend on their content, the bigger their business gets, the bigger the opportunities.” (03:13)
• “Math Doesn’t Lie":
  • Chris helps a participant break down typical client budgets to show where undercharging comes from: “Most companies spend about 10% on marketing annually, so their annual budget for marketing, including people, is 20K. You’re not going to take their whole budget... that would be 2K. Is that roughly the size of your projects? That’s the problem.” (08:24)
• Business Growth Example:
  • Audience member shares a story of getting “peanuts” ($3,000) from a startup client, later charging $40,000 when the client grew, illustrating both opportunity and the risk of being left behind as clients outgrow you. (05:53–06:23)

5. Tiered Competition in Business

• Ascending to Higher Levels:
  Chris describes outgrowing entry-level gigs: “When you hit this level, you think you’re at the top of the mountain. You’re actually just the bottom of the next mountain... When we would win a hundred thousand dollar jobs, we could not win $200,000 jobs. Because they're very different animals, different levels of competition.” (06:37)

6. Building a Detailed Customer Profile: Live Demo

• Chris walks a participant through constructing a detailed profile for their ideal client:
  • Role: Property development/business ops director
  • Personal life: Age 45, married, two kids (8 and 14), possibly a condo in NYC, vacations in Aspen
  • Education: Business administration and marketing
  • Income: $400,000+ plus bonuses (10:13–11:02)
• Outcome of Profiling:
  “When you understand the kind of crap they’ve had to deal with, you hate them a little less. This is why it’s really important to build a really good profile because we develop empathy for them.” (11:02)

7. The Power of Deep Focus and Work

• Chris on Preparation:
  • “I will measure a hundred times before I cut one piece of wood. This is the measuring part. You guys are busy chopping down trees. You’re killing earth.” (12:10)
  • Emphasizes thinking/planning over rushing to execution.
• Clients Value Insightful Work:
  • “When I’ve done this for clients, they have that same expression. 'I’ve never felt so seen. I’ve never felt like I’ve understood our clients before.'” (12:38)
  • The depth of prep and clarity increases perceived value and price.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chris Do:
  “What successful people do is they spend money to save time. Unsuccessful people spend time to save money.” (00:00)
• On letting go of underpaying clients:
  “You’re busy talking to the choreographers of the world when they don’t see the value in what you do. So it’s like you trying to attract a person that’s not attracted to you. It’s kind of a dead chase.” (03:13)
• Business lesson, moving up the ladder:
  “When you hit this level, you think you’re at the top of the mountain. You’re actually just the bottom of the next mountain.” (06:37)
• On ideal client clarity:
  “How many times do we have to get each one of you to kneel into one person?... When we gave him a name, he started to stick to it. This is the power of being hyper focused in serving a specific type of client.” (11:26)
• On profound client experiences:
  “You’ve done in 30 minutes what we’ve been unable to do in the last year. That’s a real statement that somebody has told me.” (12:45)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–00:53 – Setting the stage: Time vs. money & the importance of deep learning
• 00:53–02:03 – Psychographics & client profiling exercise
• 03:13–04:33 – Real-world content marketing budgets & why value trumps creative alignment
• 05:53–06:23 – Case study: Undervalued projects and breaking into higher budgets
• 06:37–07:40 – Business “mountain climbing” and competition at higher levels
• 08:24–09:19 – Breaking down client budgets and identifying the root problem
• 09:19–11:02 – Live demo: Building a customer profile
• 11:26–12:45 – Importance of focus, depth, and the emotional impact on clients

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Conclusion

Chris Do’s approach in this episode is refreshingly direct—every insight is geared toward shifting creative professionals’ mindsets from desperation or scarcity to deliberate, empowered business building. By crafting hyper-focused client profiles, understanding value, and leveling up both client relationships and self-worth, Chris lays out a clear, actionable roadmap for turning creative service businesses into thriving enterprises.

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Transcript

[A]

What successful people do is they spend money to save time. Unsuccessful people spend time to save money. You are all focusing on people who have a lot of free time. That's the problem. Most important business license. I've learned from my coach. When you hit this level, you think you're at the top of the mountain. You're actually just the bottom of the next mountain. From doing this, I started to learn and figure out how to do brand strategy, and then my prices went through the roof. Most of you don't know how to write or create content or create offers because this is blurry. I don't know who I'm talking to. And if you stick with me for the rest of this, not only will I teach you how to make money, you'll do this in the most painless, easy way possible. And if you learn how to do it, you can charge a lot of money too, for other people. I got to tell you something. The reason why I want to start here is learning. This process changed the game for me. It really changed the game because we think we're designing for someone, but we're not really doing it for anyone. So the way I like to do customer profiles is to really go deep and understand not just the demographics, which most people stop at, but psychographics, like the way they think they feel, their values and belief systems. When you do this the way I'm about to teach you to do it right now, it's going to unlock so many things in your mind about what other services you can provide, how you can communicate to them, to relate to them better. And for me, it was just a creative springboard from doing this. I started to learn and figure out how to do brand strategy, and that was just everything. And then my prices went through the roof. So would you like to learn how to do this? So what we need to do is try to figure out who your best client is. So we're going to build it for this for your best client, and then you're going to see all of a sudden things that you can do, the way you can market and speak to them, the way you can brand. So you become very attracted to this type of person. So usually what people will do is they'll ask me, well, what is my ideal client? Here's what we do. How many people have clients here? Raise your hand because there's a lot of in house people. Okay, so now we know the session's begun because the entrepreneurs have showed up, because I talked to one in house person after the L. I'm like, oh, my God, it's all in house, people. All right, so what I want you to do is think about the last 10 clients or projects you've worked on. Which ones gave you the most joy? Like, just think about, like, oh, my God, if I could just do one more project like that, I'm gonna be so happy. I would paid that person to do the work. That's how happy I was. Number two, was it financially good for you? Did you make money on that? Are you aligned also in their mission? So creatively, really cool, cool people. I made a lot of money. That's a trifecta. So just scan through your mind the last 10 clients or projects you worked on. You're like, God, if I could just get more of them, life would be so, so good. And you're going to remember this moment because we're going to design it for you. Okay? Remember, they have to have money. Some of you like to target broke people. And you're like, well, they can't afford me. I'm like, I wonder why? Because they broke is why. So don't pick someone who's broke. They got to be able to afford you. Actually afford a lot of you because you wouldn't want to keep charging more. Yes. So one thing that we have to do is we have to find someone who's hungry or starving for what it is that we do and would be happy to give us the money so that we can help them. Do you know who the Hormozis are? Alex and Lelo Hermozi. I lost track of how much money they spent for the two of them. They're both entrepreneurs. Since you don't know them, what do you imagine they pay their media teams on a monthly basis? What do you think their monthly budget is? What would you say? You talk about their monthly budget. Yeah, monthly budget for both of them. What do you think it is? I'm pretty sure it's a lot higher than what I'm charging. Well, who cares about you right now? What do you think they're paying? Let's say probably up to a thousand. I say that a th. Okay, good. Does anybody here know 200 grand? 200 grand. So between a th000 to 200,000. I saw Alex a couple years ago. He went up on stage and he goes, I spend 50,000 doll myself.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And then with my wife, it's 100K. And then I heard there was like 100K each now. And it's just. It keeps going up because they've realized something. The more they spend on their content. The bigger their business gets, the bigger the opportunities. And basically from the content that they generate, they get so many qualified leads, they don't know what to do with themselves. So you're busy talking to the choreographers of the world when they don't see the value in what you do. So it's like you trying to attract a person that's not attracted to you. It's kind of a dead chase. Sorry. I have a question. Yeah. Do you wait for these clients to find you or do you go chase them? No, no. You design this person, and then you become so attracted to this person. I don't know about you. My brother told me this dating advice when I was a little dude. He goes, you know, who is it that you would be most attracted to? Sit down there and write on a piece of paper the ideal person for you. You did that and then you forgot about it. And this is what you do. This is what you do. This is what. How we design our ideal partner. Business partner. All right, so with your interior designer, same problem. If they're doing four, five, $10 million homes, the interior design would get so much, and then they would hire you. It just works that way. Does everybody understand this concept? So what's the problem? Why are we just looking for broke clients? Why do we do that to ourselves? Is it like looking in a mirror? I see you. What's happening, guys? Why do we want to work with people who cannot afford to pay us? Okay, so what Gabby is saying, we like to work with people that we feel are aligned with us in terms of taste, creativity. But those same people don't have money. Yeah, because you know why? Because we don't have money. Because we're just aligned. We're perfectly aligned. Yeah. So what are we gonna do? Chicken and egg?

[B]

In addition to that?

[A]

Yes. I like to help small businesses and.

[C]

Help them grow so that they can.

[A]

Have, like, the business that they really want. I love that you all are good natured, creative human beings who want to better the world. Yes. Most of you. Some of you just want the money. Talk to me later. Okay, that's fine. So those of you that want to help people transform their business, what happens when they transform their business? When you take them from 1x to 5x because of some of the contributions you made, clearly they not run a business. What happens to your relationship? Well, hopefully it keeps going. Do they pay you 5x more for 5x more years? Has anybody ever had that happen?

[C]

I had a pharmaceutical company startup.

[A]

It was a.

[C]

That we did a 3D animation for. And we did it for Peanuts.

[A]

What's Peanuts? Let's get real.

[C]

Peanuts is $3,000.

[A]

Okay. That's peanuts. Go on. Yeah. And then they blew up.

[C]

And so they grew up. We actually grew up and we actually got a little bit disconnected as they were doing some things in house. But as they came back, we were able to bid much bigger project.

[A]

How much more?

[C]

40 grand.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

10 grand a month.

[A]

Okay. That relatively is a lot more. So you're talking about 10x plus? Yeah. Okay. This has been my experience. You can just hold on to mic for a sec. Okay. My experience has been this, you know, like when you're first dating your high school sweetheart and then you guys went to the big city and you went separate ways, all of a sudden she got a big job or he got a big job. You're not the same to them anymore. They trade up. Most people just trade up. So what'll happen is, and this is really sad, not always true, like if I was in competition with you and I work at a much higher level. When they have the money, like we want to work with Chris and his team, they're award winning. Look at who they work with. And most times they just leave you in the dust. And you would do the same. You know how you accepted this low level intern and then you got real big. They don't have the skills to grow with you. Not everyone is capable of going to the next level. This is what one of the most important business lessons I've learned from my coach. There are tears. You don't know it because it's all invisible to you. When you hit this level, you think you're at the top of the mountain. You're actually just the bottom of the next mountain. So when we would win a hundred thousand dollar jobs, we could not win $200,000 jobs. When we win $200,000 jobs, I could not win $400,000 jobs. Because they're very different animals, different levels of competition. And then you get to the million dollar range. Who comes cut throat at that level? Because everyone is world class. You've read them in your design books. They're winning all the awards. That's who you're competing with now I.

[B]

Have a client also my friend.

[A]

Well, it's not starting strong. Go ahead, keep going.

[B]

He runs about six or seven businesses. I'm not sure exactly.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

I'm estimating he does about 1, 2 million a year.

[A]

From six to seven businesses.

[B]

Yeah. Some of them are like passion projects. Some of Them are. So he has a coffee, he roasts coffee bags. It sells it tributes, it does all that.

[A]

Okay, yeah, that's his.

[B]

That's his bread and butter. And then he has construction.

[A]

Yes, those are his two.

[B]

Bread and butter.

[A]

Yes. Here's the problem with your friend's business. I'm sure he's doing fine. If you just take 6 and you take 1.2 each business on average is my dude, 200k each one of them is a hobby, lifestyle, business. I all respect your friend. I don't consider him an entrepreneur. He's doing too many weird things. Why don't he just focus in on the one business is making all the money and just get rid of the other ones?

[B]

I'll tell him that.

[A]

Please tell them that. And then if it works for him, tell him, send me some money. I mean, change your mind. 200k is not a lot of money for your client because they're only going to spend some percentage of that on you. So now what do you have left? Now, as a rule of thumb, most Companies spend about 10% on marketing annually. So their annual budget for marketing, including people, is 20K. You're not going to take their whole budget, so you're going to take a tenth of their budget, which would be 2K. Is that roughly the size of your projects? About 2K. That's the problem. You see, this is how it works. Just math doesn't lie. This is it. This is the problem. So we need somebody here who knows their client, who's doing decent numbers that they would be able to afford people like you and happy to pay you. Happy to pay you. That's the criteria here for an ideal customer profile. Who's your customer? What do you do?

[B]

First of all, we make beautiful living spaces by selling tile and furniture online.

[A]

Visual designer. Okay, I got you. Who's your ideal customer?

[B]

I would say like one person. Yes, like a guy who runs Marriott.

[A]

Okay, what is his title?

[B]

He's probably in charge of building the property development. So his title would be like business ops or like property developer director or somebody at a high level.

[A]

Business ops director. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Roughly. How old are they? 45. Okay. Married?

[B]

They're married.

[A]

Children?

[B]

They have at least two kids.

[A]

Two kids. How old?

[B]

Probably like 8 and 14.

[A]

I like that. So if you said 36 and like the math don't work right, it's good. Where else might they have a home?

[B]

They probably have a condo up in New York City. They probably hang out in Aspen. All the rich people hang out. Aspen, Colorado.

[A]

That's why I'm not in Aspen. Okay, this is perfect. What did they study in school?

[B]

Probably business administration and marketing.

[A]

This is the easiest part.

[B]

Yeah, easiest part.

[A]

Can you guys start to. Can you sort of envision a 45 year old man who's mar. First marriage, second marriage, divorce.

[B]

I'm usually probably. It's better if it's his first marriage because then he has better integrity.

[A]

Okay. Or you can get out of it. That's fine. Okay, first marriage. This is all good. Okay.

[B]

Stability. More stability too.

[A]

So the next part is a little bit harder. Okay. Now every step that we do is predicated on the first part being right. So when I do this for clients, I kind of like do the little logic check. Does the logic logic. If it doesn't, we got to fix something. There's a logic to you. Okay. How much income does this person make?

[B]

Let's say from the company? They probably make about between, let's just say 400,000 plus bonuses.

[A]

Okay. When you understand the kind of crap they've had to deal with, you hate them a little less. So this is why it's really important to build a really good profile because we develop empathy for them. My God, I just walked in the door. I'm a trustworthy person. I would never under prom or over promise and under deliver. But every other person has been in front of Ron has done that to him. Can you understand? So I'm going to be extra sensitive about this so that they understand I'm not here just to get money from you. Most of you don't know how to write or create content or create offers because this is blurry. I don't know who I'm talking to. How many times do we have to get each one of you to kneel into one person? Even Greg was trying to change the profile of me. But here's something real interesting. When we gave him a name, he started to stick to it. This is the power of being hyper focused in serving a specific type of client. So would you rather for the rest of your life chase people who are barely scratching at this or get three or four of these types of clients? You would have more business than you know what to do with. I think we often want to rush.

[B]

Into the work as well and not.

[A]

Really like deep dig, deep dig deep truth because it makes us feel uncomfortable and we know from, I guess a lot of practice. Well, at least we do the work. We have something to show for at the end of the day. But when you do a lot of the thinking work, you're like, well, what did I just come up with? But I'll tell you something right now. There's that expression, I will measure a hundred times before I cut one piece of wood. This is the measuring part. You guys are busy chopping down trees. You're killing earth. Yeah. That's what you're doing. You just chop away. You don't know what you're looking for. When I've done this for clients, they have that same expression. I've never felt so seen. I've never felt like I've understood our clients before. How'd you do that? Or they'll say something like, you've done in 30 minutes what we've been unable to do in the last year. That's a real statement that somebody has told me your value in their mind has gone through the roof. Now, when you see the bill, you'll understand why this. I don't know this person. But I know enough people like this that once I get enough information, I can build a wrestler profile. And all of you can do that too, because you have this beautiful thing. No matter what discipline you're in, you have this thing called imagination. Once we have enough, we can project forward.