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Many service businesses price themselves into a corner.
Charge too little and you're a commodity. Charge what you're worth, and most businesses can't afford you. It's a trap I've been sitting in with my ghostwriting agency, and I didn't realise it until this weekend.
I came across a video from a guy named Klay Lawrence breaking down what he calls the "Hybrid Sprint Model" for local SEO services. The economics made me stop and rewind three times.
Here's why:
My Model's Reality Check
My ghostwriting agency runs on three tiers: $2,500, $3,000, and $4,000 per month. About 90% of clients pick the middle.
Five clients at these rates. Solid cash flow and location independence that I’d been dreaming about for over a decade.
But it’s not a perfect model:
The price point excludes 95% of businesses. Series A founders and fundraising companies can afford it. Your average business owner can't.
The delivery never stops. Even with AI and contractors, someone needs to manage every piece of content. That someone is usually me.
Clients expect continuous output. Fresh content every week. Fly to Amsterdam for a conference, and you’re playing catch-up over the weekend. Moreover, this is a market which has an average customer retention of just 3 months.
It’s working. But it doesn't scale without hiring a team or accepting thinner margins. (though I do have some juicy client acquisition strategies bubbling away that I’ll share soon).
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The Model That Made Me Stop
Here's what caught my attention: charge high upfront for the heavy lifting, then low recurring for maintenance.
As an example where this can work: Local SEO services for small businesses (plumbers, dentists, roofers, lawyers).
Instead of $2,000/month indefinitely:
$2,000-$3,000 upfront for a 45-day "sprint"
Then $150-$200/month for software and maintenance
The insight behind it: About 90% of local SEO results come from one-time setup tasks, not ongoing monthly work. You front-load the effort, the client owns the asset, and you just maintain it.
The economics: 10 clients in 45 days = $25,000 cash injection + $1,750/month recurring.
Compare that to traditional retainers where you need months to stack up that kind of revenue.
How This Works
Who you target:
Good niches: Plumbers, roofers, HVAC, dentists, lawyers. One customer for them = $500-$5,000 in revenue. Paying you $2,500 is logical.
What you sell (the 45-day sprint):
You're getting them ranked on Google Maps and flooding them with customer reviews:
Google Business Profile optimization - every field filled, right categories, map pin adjusted
Review generation - an automated SMS campaign to their past customers generates 50-150 reviews
Citation building - their business name, address, phone number listed consistently across the web
Website optimisation - homepage headers updated with target keywords
Call tracking - tracking number proves you're generating leads
What you need (tech stack):
GoHighLevel ($97/month) - automation platform for SMS campaigns and tracking
Twilio phone number ($1-5/month) - call tracking
Citation service (Fiverr $50-100 or Yext) - web listings
How to start:
Find one business you know - a friend's plumbing company, your dentist, a local roofer. Do it cheap or free for a testimonial showing results (reviews generated, calls tracked, rankings improved).
That case study lets you pitch strangers with proof (and actually, this works for just about any digital service business).
The hybrid model: "I don't do monthly retainers. We do a 45-day sprint, you own the results, then we maintain the system for $150/month. Fair?"
It might sound complicated but actually super simple if you search “local SEO go high level” on YouTube.
The Comparison
Factor | My Ghostwriting | Hybrid Sprint |
|---|---|---|
Upfront cash | First month only | $2K-$3K |
Monthly recurring | $2.5K-$4K | $150-$200 |
Delivery effort | Ongoing high | Front-loaded |
Price resistance | High | Lower |
Client expectation | Continuous content | Clear deliverable |
Maintenance | Manual | Automated |
When each works:
My model: Series A founders with budget, ongoing content needs, relationship-driven
This model: Local businesses, "I want to own it" mindset, lower monthly commitment
Neither is "better." They serve different markets with different buying psychology.
Staying Open-Minded
I'm not pivoting. My ghostwriting model works for the market I target.
But watching this breakdown made me think I've been thinking too narrowly about service income. I built a model that works for one type of client and assumed that was the only way.
The sprint structure solves problems mine doesn't:
Lower price resistance makes sales easier. Front-loaded work is easier to systematize and hire out. Maintenance is mostly automated, not manual delivery. And it could run alongside ghostwriting without cannibalizing it.
The bigger lesson: Different markets need different structures. Your high-ticket service could fund the lower-friction model. The sprint model could free up time for the newsletter.
Don't marry one business model just because it's working. Study what works in adjacent markets. Your "perfect" business might be a hybrid of multiple approaches.
That's what Anywhere Income is about - finding what actually works and being honest about the trade-offs.
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