DPW #006: How to Create a Custom Plan in 5 Steps
This is a great way to offer consulting to your audience.
Welcome to the sixth edition of Digital Products Weekly.
Last week we looked at creating a Carrd template. The votes are in, this week we will create a custom plan.
A custom plan is something you create specifically for someone to help them achieve a goal.
It’s a more specific way to offer consulting services.
As long as you’re knowledgeable about a topic and can help someone accomplish something, you can create a plan to help them do it.
Let’s get to it!
Custom Plan Recipe
Step 1 - What will you help someone accomplish?
This is the most important part of creating your custom plan. You need to know exactly what you will help people accomplish.
If they follow your plan which benefits will they get or what transition will you take them through?
It could be anything from earning more money, getting more traffic, growing their audience, eating better, building muscle, organizing their lives, and more.
Making the transition specific can help make your offer more appealing. Make sure you don’t promise anything you can’t deliver.
I will create a plan to help people launch, grow, and monetize their newsletter.
Step 2 - Write out your questions.
Before you can create a “custom” plan, you need info from your client to adapt the plan to their needs.
You’ll want to list out all the questions you need answered, it’s better to have too much information than not enough to make sure you give them a plan that can work for them.
The questions will vary based on what you’re trying to help them do, and as you build custom plans, you’ll figure out more or different questions you’ll want to ask.
These are the questions I need answered:
Have you started a newsletter yet?
Which topic do you want to start a newsletter about?
What’s your budget?
What are your expectations?
How much time do you have daily or weekly to put towards it?
How often do you want to send out your newsletter?
Which format of newsletter are you interested in?
Do you have any monetization options in mind?
Step 3 - Pick a platform to get the answers.
The ideal way to get the answers you need is via a video call or even just an audio one, because it will help you get to know the other person better and make a conversation happen that may reveal more information you need. You can use Google Meet, Zoom, or Pensight.
Not everyone (you or the customer) is comfortable with calls, so another option is a form (Google Forms, Tally Forms, etc) or directly within an email.
I will offer both the video call and form options to gather answers.
Step 4 - Create a plan template.
Before you start offering this service, I believe you’re better off creating a template for the plan you will provide.
You can even run yourself or someone else you know through the questions and create them a plan for free to help you create the template and see how the process works.
You can use Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Canva, Notion, or anything else you would like to create your template and plans.
I will create my plan template in Notion.
Step 5 - List it for sale.
If you’re using a video call, you can use an e-commerce solution that has integrated call scheduling and video hosting like Pensight, or just scheduling like Gumroad.
You can also use any other e-commerce platform out there.
I would suggest pricing this as high as you’re comfortable and then maybe offer it for free (using coupon codes) to some people to see how it goes and get some feedback and maybe even some reviews or ratings.
I will sell mine on Gumroad.
Examples
Some examples of custom plans out in the wild.
Minimalist Hustler Newsletter Review for sale on Gumroad.
Custom SEO Growth Plan by High Voltage
Resources
These are some resources you can use to help you create and sell your custom plan.
Canva (Create your plan.)
Google Workspace (Create your plan.)
Gumroad (Sell your custom plan.)
Notion (Create your plan.)
Pensight (Schedule and host your video chat to collect answers. Sell your plan.)
Tally Forms (Collect your answers.)
You Decide What’s Next
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Great article Jamie. I'd like to comment on the visual cohesiveness of this article though. All of the visual elements on the page -- the indent bar, the buttons, the hyperlink, and the infographic -- all have the same colors. That shows an unusual intention to detail.