James Sowers' The Productize Course is an online course aiming to guide service providers into productizing their services and scaling. The course is for freelancers, consultants, agencies and other service providers who want to get out of “billable hours.” Brian Casel created the course in 2014 and James Sowers acquired it in 2022.
The service industry is part of the tertiary sector of the economy. According to Statista, the service industry contributed 77.6% to the GDP of the US. It's the top contributing industry to the US economy. The Business Research Company is even expecting the global service market to rise to $20 billion by 2027. However, productized service requires entrepreneurs to innovate how they offer their service. And according to ADP, 70% of efforts to change fail.
Reviews on The Productize Course are positive highlighting the course’s community. Although they’re mostly on the course’s website. In this review, you’ll find out more about James Sowers, the course’s pros and cons, its inclusions, and student success testimonials. And if there’s a better business model with less risk and effort.
The Productize Course Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
Discussion Thread for Lessons: Every lesson, you get a link to a discussion thread. It shows you valuable questions and insights of everyone who took the lesson before you.
Options for Lesson Files: Lessons are downloadable as videos or audios. It makes them accessible whenever and however you need them.
Lifetime Access: You’ll get access to the curriculum and its updates for a single price.
Self-pace: You can go through the lessons at your own time.
Cons
Lack of External Reviews: There are a lot of student reviews on the site, but almost none from other sources.
Changed Owners. The Productize & Scale changed owners three times already. Yet most contents and reviews still mention the founder, which can create confusion.
Price
The Productize Course costs $299 or $100 in 4 payments for a lifetime access to the course.
Refund Policy
The Productize Course has 30-day money back guarantee.
Origin
The Productize Course was created by Brian Casel in 2014.
Just finished the Productize course—fantastic material! It provided really helpful content!
Can It Help You Scale Your Business?
Yes, The Productize Course can help you scale your business if there's a repeatable process in your service. The course can help you standardize that process and offer it as a product to your clients. The Productize Course will assist you in understanding your clients. Then, provide options of how you can productize your service. And eventually hire people to deliver the productized service to your clients.
According to a course student, Denny Cave, it’s the first to put all productized service information in one resource. It helps starters and seasoned entrepreneurs create a stable source of income. They offer productized service business rather than living paycheck to paycheck.
What is The Productize Course?
The Productize Course is an online training program aiming to guide founders, freelancers, consultants and service providers productize their services and get out of billable hours. It covers identifying the service you can productize, how to launch, and marketing.
What Do You Get With The Productize Course?
You get templates for SOPs, scripts and worksheets. Lessons that are downloadable as videos or audio files. You'll have access to lesson discussions and a private community. The community has a private forum by Discourse and a chatroom in Slack. They also pair members through a Mastermind group matching.
The Productize Course Structure
The Introduction preps you to get started for the productization of your services.
Launch is divided into 6-parts. From why you should productize and how to identify your potential customer. It also helps in setting pricing and packages. The module includes gaining traction through social proof and content marketing.
Scale focuses on the expansion and stabilization of the productized service. It revolves around building your SOPs, checklists and system for training. It includes strategies for hiring employees.
Grow is all about the metrics and KPIs. Marketing strategies, sales process and tracking of KPIs are all explored in this section.
Who is The Productize Course For?
The Productize Course is for service providers, freelancers, consultants and agency founders looking to scale their business. The course will help them standardize their process, so it can be taught to employees for scaling.
What Do Students of The Productize Course Say?
The students of The Productize Course say that the course provided them a way to get out of the billable hours. According to student reviews, the community is a vital support. Students also mentioned how productizing saved them time for other things.
Jared Gold, founder of Website by Tonight, highlighted the pairing within the community. He said they’re meeting every Tuesday to share their wins and ideas with each other.
Reach & Make Million’s Katya Sarmiento mentioned the course saved her time in negotiating and client nitpicking.
Who Is Brian Casel?
Brian Casel created The Productize Course in 2014. He is also the founder of Audience Ops, Restaurant Engine, and ProcessKit. Brian is currently a web developer working on his latest business venture, ZipMessage. He has two podcasts called Boostrapped Web and Open Threads.
Brian created Productize as a side business. It was meant to teach the lessons he's learning at his productized businesses. In 2020, Brian sold the course and the brand to Sam Shepler. According to him, he sold it because it's still attracting people and he no longer have the time to teach. Brian is now focusing on software and consultation.
Brian studied Music, Telecommunications, and Media at Indiana University Bloomington. Then, he took a Bachelor of Art in Arts and Acoustics at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. He currently lives in Orange, Connecticut since his second daughter was born in 2016.
Who is James Sowers?
James Sowers is the owner of Productize & Scale. He acquired it last October 2022 from Sam Shepler, founder of Testimonial CEO. James is also the founder of Castaway, a service that turns podcasts into blogs and newsletters, and Waypoint Consulting. He’s also currently the director of The Good, a CRO offering service. James also has a podcast called Working Sessions with John Doherty, an editor and SEO expert for 13 years.
James was a First Lieutenant Medical Officer in the Florida Army National Guard for 6 years. He finished his BS in Health Policy and Administration at Penn State University at University Park, Pennsylvania. Then he moved to Tampa, Florida. He completed a graduate certificate in public health policy and programs at the University of Florida in 2013. James earned an MBA from Florida State University in Tallahassee in 2014.
Productize and Scale’s Other Programs
The Productize Crash Course
The Productize Crash Course is a free crash course on productized services. The 4-part program is available in video and text if you subscribe to their email list. It guarantees a transition to productized service and 10x for your service business.
Monthly Coaching
Monthly Coaching program lends the coach's expertise to guide you to your goals and solve your problems. The program has a 30-day money-back guarantee with 2 coaching options:
James Sowers’ Claims
James Sowers claims The Productize Course helps cut billable hours and custom projects. This is possible by building a scalable service business. The course claims to help you sell results rather than time.
James Sowers’ Claims DEBUNKED
Productized service can help you scale, but it also risks losing clients. Especially those who value customization and flexibility for their business needs. Thus, service providers often combine the traditional and productized business model. This is evident through successful productized businesses like Lianna Patch’s Punchline Copywriting. She still offers a custom project tier for her price plans.
What is a Productized Service?
A productized service ties a specific scope of services at a fixed price. Clients know what they will get at what time with the amount they spent. Since the service is standardized, business owners can hire people to repeat the process and deliver every purchase.
Can Services Like Copywriting Be Productized?
Yes, services like copywriting can be productized. Copywriters can offer specific packages. It includes a fixed rate and scope of services. Clients can avail through subscription or one time payment.
Productized Service Examples
How Do You Create a Productized Service?
What are the Benefits of a Productized Service?
What are the Drawbacks of a Productized Service?
Is a Productized Service Profitable?
Productized service is profitable if there's a repeatable part in the service you provide. You can standardize this process, then ease your clients into the new business model. After that, you can hire employees to match the demand.
Reddit user, petebowen, said productized service doesn't have to be at a massive scale. It can sell with a defined purpose and a scope of work like Google Ads campaign and lead generation.
JakeHundley and his partner said the main problem to solve for a profitable productized service is to make sure the tasks are done within the timeframe.
Conclusion: Is a Productized Service Better Than Other Online Businesses in 2023?
A productized service is profitable and scalable but you'll have to outsource the more you scale. Local lead generation doesn't have that problem and it's passive. It is better than other online businesses in 2023. While a productized service is profitable, it runs into managing, transitioning and quality work problems. The major hurdle of a productized service is finding a repeatable process in the service. Then, once you decide to scale, you’ll have to hire people. And you’ll have to train these employees to deliver the productized service to your clients.
In contrast, scaling in local lead gen is easy because the business model is repeatable. You create a website out of 50+ services available in your city, rank it, and rent them to small businesses. Scaling this business model will simply require you to create more websites. Then these websites as digital real estates can be rent out more businesses.
For instance, this website for a tree cutting service was set up 8 years ago. It still generates me a passive income of $2k per month. With all the digital real estates I own today, I get $52k passive income every month. So, local lead gen is the better business model online to create a life of financial freedom for yourself.
