Chapter 1 · Practice 3 of 4
Offer one small, clearly defined starter service
Why it matters
New clients are taking a risk on you. A small, fixed starter offer lowers that risk on both sides and makes it easy to say yes. Examples:
- Audit: "Performance audit of your web app with a written report and the five highest-impact fixes."
- Fix package: "Up to five bug fixes in an existing React Native app, delivered within a week."
- Setup: "CI pipeline with tests and automatic deploys for an existing Node.js project."
Each one has a defined scope, a fixed price and a clear deliverable. A good starter offer often leads to a larger project, because you finish it knowing the client's codebase and the client knows how you work.
On Fiverr this shape is the gig itself. On Upwork and in direct work, you can describe it in your profile and offer it as a first milestone.
Do
- Define the deliverable and the time it takes
- Use the starter offer to learn the codebase before quoting bigger work
Avoid
- Starter offers so vague that scope arguments start immediately