If you’ve ever found yourself thinking “Should I create something new?” or “Is my current offer still the right fit?”—this post is for you. In this first entry of my CEO Diaries series, I want to take you behind the scenes of a real-time business decision: how I knew it was time to create a new offer, and why I chose a membership model to support intermediate-level online business owners scaling to six figures.
This isn’t theory. This is what it actually looks like to assess demand, identify gaps in your ecosystem, and make strategic decisions based on scalability, ROI, and sustainability.
The Real Reason You Need a New Offer: Demand
Let’s get this out of the way first: you don’t need a new offer just because you’re bored. You don’t need to constantly create new things. In fact, random offer creation usually creates more chaos than growth.
The real reason to create a new offer is demand—and demand shows up in several very specific ways.
1. You’re Maxed Out in One-on-One Coaching
One of the most common signs of demand is hitting a ceiling with one-on-one coaching. You may be:
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Fully booked (or close to it)
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Getting consistent price objections
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Turning people away with nowhere else to send them
At that point, the issue isn’t your marketing—it’s your business model. One-on-one coaching is still time-for-money, and there’s a very real cap on how much you can grow without changing the container.
2. You Need to Leverage Your Time Better
Even online one-on-one coaching requires a lot of hands-on effort: check-ins, programming, calls, feedback, messaging support. If you’re thinking, “I love my clients, but I’m at capacity,” that’s another form of demand.
This is often the moment when business owners start looking for leverage and scalability, not because they want to work less—but because they want to work smarter.
3. Clients Are Asking, “What’s Next?”
This is one of the clearest signals of demand.
If you’ve run a group program and your clients get results, they will ask:
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“Can I keep working with you?”
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“Is there a next level?”
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“What’s after this?”
When people want to stay in your ecosystem and keep paying you, but you don’t have a place for them to go, that’s a massive missed opportunity. This is often where continuity offers, memberships, or level-two programs make the most sense.
4. You Have an Unserved Segment of Your Audience
Every business has different levels of clients:
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Beginners
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Intermediate business owners
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Advanced or six-figure-plus entrepreneurs
If you only serve beginners or only serve advanced clients, there’s often a huge middle group with nowhere to land. These people are already making money online—but they’re not at six figures yet, and they need a different level of strategy and mentorship.
This is where an ascension model becomes critical.
What Is an Ascension Model (And Why It Matters)?
An ascension model is a product suite that allows someone to become a different person at each stage of working with you.
For example:
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Someone starts as a beginner
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They learn the fundamentals
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They get results
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Their needs change
If your offers don’t evolve with them, they will either:
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Stop engaging
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Outgrow the container
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Or leave your ecosystem entirely
That’s exactly what I started to notice with long-time students. Even when they technically still had access, they weren’t showing up—because the content no longer felt relevant.
And that insight directly led to the creation of Strategy Lab.
Why I Chose a Membership Model Instead of Another High-Ticket Program
Historically, I’ve run high-touch, higher-ticket programs—and they’ve been incredible. But they also come with limitations.
The Problem With High-Touch Programs
High-ticket group programs:
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Cap out at a small number of people
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Require a massive amount of time and energy
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Are often price-prohibitive for intermediate business owners
At a certain point, you have to ask:
Does this model allow me to serve the people I actually want to help—at scale?
In this case, the answer was no.
Why Memberships Work So Well for Intermediate Business Owners
A membership solves several problems at once:
1. People Value What They Pay For
When someone is actively paying—monthly or annually—they’re more likely to:
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Show up to calls
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Consume content
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Implement strategies
And implementation is what creates results.
2. Memberships Allow for Scalability
Instead of capping out at 25–30 people, a membership allows you to:
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Serve hundreds (or thousands)
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Maintain quality through group coaching, community, and structured strategy
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Deliver consistent value without burning out
3. Results Don’t Always Happen on a 6-Month Timeline
Scaling to six figures doesn’t always happen in a neat container. A membership allows people to stay supported until they reach the ROI, rather than being dropped at the end of a program before they’re ready.
How to Know If Your Business Model Needs to Change
If you’re evaluating your own offers, ask yourself these questions:
Where Is the Bottleneck?
For most online coaches, the bottleneck is one-on-one coaching. Scaling that model often means:
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Hiring coaches
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Managing people
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Increasing overhead
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Taking on leadership and operational complexity
That’s not wrong—but it is a choice.
Where Is Your Revenue Actually Coming From?
This one requires honesty.
Look at:
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Revenue by offer
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Time and energy required to deliver
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Percentage of total income per product
If something takes a disproportionate amount of effort for the return it generates, it may no longer make sense—no matter how much you love it.
This is what it means to work on the business, not just in the business.
The Bottom Line: Don’t Create More Offers—Create Better Ones
The goal is not to create more things.
The goal is to create the right thing for the right person at the right stage.
A well-designed membership:
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Supports long-term growth
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Encourages consistency and implementation
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Scales without sacrificing quality
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Creates real ROI for both the client and the business owner
And most importantly—it fills a real gap in your ecosystem.
If you’re an intermediate online business owner making money but not yet at six figures, that gap matters.
Final Thought
Every offer you create should have:
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A clear audience
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A clear promise
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A clear path to ROI
If it doesn’t, it’s probably not time yet.
And if it does? That’s when you build.
If you want to see what this looks like in practice, the Strategy Lab was created specifically for intermediate-level business owners ready to scale to six figures with real strategy, accountability, and support.