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

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.

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.

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)

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

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.