Naming the Offer (and whom it's for)

From reluctant a.f. content creator to creative business

Hi, I’m Shayna…

I have a business…

And that business has an offer.

Today I’m going to name the offer and whom it’s for.

And I’ll detail what drives me to go from reluctant a.f. content creator to a creative business. Plus what’s coming up next.

Subscribe to follow for more, or keep reading.

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Photo by Inma Blanca Photography

In June I went to Marisa Guthrie with wanting to learn the secrets of building a business ecosystem centered around one signature offer.

And then a lot shifted when I had the offer to become a web developer at a web design agency.

In 2025, I went from relying on others for income, to supporting myself solely with a full-time remote job, to earning more at the agency in only a fraction of the time. And I got a taste of stability (: and working on high-ticket projects.

Marisa saw a lot of growth and change in me as I explored the beauty of collaborating within an agency I believe in fully, in work where I was finally seen and appreciated (including financially), in rewarding work for leaders, community builders, and organizations committed to environmental and social justice.

I learned that I could do (a lot of) good and make money in work fully aligned with my values, while honoring my capacity and exploring my new philosophies around human-scale work, embodiment, pleasure, joy, relaxation, ease, and... oh yes... ditching Google and mainstream SEO.

I felt the leisure and the luxury to hold hardcover books in my hands and allow reading at local cafes to be my anchoring routine, contemplating the roles digital minimalism and deep work were bound to have destined for me.

And then, well, my stomach sank by the second week of the year in January.

The web design agency I had come to embrace and lean on as my “cash cow” client—the one that was my intention and maybe my gamble to depend on to sustain me and liberate my creative potential by freeing my money burden—well, they told me after all that they needed some time to recover the budget, and they could no longer provide the same amount of hours I was billing for.

And swiftly, within a week’s time, I was back to “famine” after five glorious months of “feast.” I was feeling instability all over again, and so quickly.

Wondering how I’d feed myself and put food on the table and remembering all too well these stress signals the body remembers.

Fortunately, although it was stressful, the body also remembers the ease and the relaxation.

I could see how far I’d come, and I knew this would only be temporary. Everything would turn out okay.

Maybe I was returning to a realistic sense of life as a freelancer getting established: cycles of feast and famine.

...

I went two weeks billing the agency zero hours and then two weeks billing five. My collaborator at the agency, fully aware of my situation, has already increased my scope as of this week, after closing some new projects.

It all looks promising, if I just have patience. We as an agency are also going through quite a restructuring. I foresee spring being back to spring, after a winter in alignment with nature and dormancy.

But something interesting has emerged from all of this...

In all of these weeks since then, I haven’t had a shortage of work.

I’ve had other projects to complete for my freelance business. In fact, I’m still working on delivery! And I still have leads I can follow up with for more work.

In January I delivered a second website ever for my freelance business, as an affiliate but not as an agency member. Then I delivered another.

And just when I thought I could get back to a podcast editing project I’ve had on backlog since about November (for a February delivery), I was blessed that two more people contacted me for possible work.

One said no; she had bought the business of a past website client, and I walked her through transferring the platform and the domain.

But the other said yes; she was a repeat client, and it looks like I could recommend a migration to hosting through the agency and potential future work here too.

In other words... In a short amount of time, I actually have built a humble portfolio.

And in my latest news, I’ve offered to build for another very aligned client: a fellow human design projector that I’ll share more about someday!

We had a chat last Monday to talk about joining forces.

So here’s what I’ve seen.

That all of these (people who identify as) women—they represent a pattern and represent something to me.

They are showing me what Marisa advocates for: my one main offer that allows me to do my best work and is the highest expression of my brilliance and expertise.

(And if you’re a believer in signs & synchronicity, this new client emailed me during the drafting of this newsletter!)

Photo by Victor G on Unsplash

Value Proposition Statement

If I had to write a value proposition today, based on the template “I help [specific client] achieve [specific result] through [your method] so that they can [bigger benefit],” then this is my working statement as of today, the Lunar New Year (in Chinese astrology), February 17, 2026.

I help hands-on healers, educators & artists achieve long-term growth through website builds, so that they can toss their computers like a rind and taste embodied, human-scale work while relying less on algorithms, ads, Google, and social media.

Or, how I phrased it for my fellow projector client:

“I love helping embodied healing artists and educators like yourself to have a website supportive of long-term growth and less reliance over time on algorithms.”

I’m revealing the pattern to you too, now, dear friends...

That I now have a humble portfolio of websites for my freelance business.

Sharing my Portfolio

I’ve been sharing my portfolio of clients—so far, through stories and website links—one at a time in my subscriber newsletter.

You can subscribe to this content for access to my newsletter archive.

Subscribing to my Substack will give you access to these archives, as well as Client Story #2 coming up on the 🌕 full moon of March.

Here is Client Story #1 in the newsletter: 🌕 “Piensa en el 80 por ciento”

Audio Testimonial: A Client Answers Two Questions

Here is a preview of Client Story #2 in an audio testimonial.

If you’ll allow me to keep yapping, there’s more...

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Naming the Reluctance, while our Threshold Times call on us to Flourish

I’ve been thinking a lot about the following snippets I’ve seen written.

Starting with Karryn Olson from her newsletter:

Next up, Sonia Simone on LinkedIn:

Finally, Toi Marie Smith in her newsletter:

Something I want to share with you is that I’ve struggled with being a reluctant a.f. content creator, inasmuch as you could say I’m a reluctant capitalist or reluctant entrepreneur.

You see, the idea that entrepreneurship “falls on” so many of us, is one I agree with.

Many of us feel as if we don’t have a choice, and it beckons a full-blown exploration of Sartre’s existentialism!

Enclosure can suggest we have to monetize every last one of our talents and thoughts, turn every last one of our arts into an income stream, and make everything we say or do related to running a business, churning content, or AI slop.

And yet, our threshold times (as Karryn Olson calls them) call on us to flourish (thanks, Rebecca Hass ;)…

“Service Provider funnel energy”

The idea of consistent messaging and marketing for a funnel to build one’s business has just seemed boring to me. And yet begrudgingly often necessary. Who are we all free to be and to create, when the day is done and we’re no longer creating for our businesses?

I’m much more interested to see who we all are when we’re not creating for our businesses. When our content doesn’t have to rely on the service provider funnel energy.

It was an edge I wanted to explore—to “finally,” as if I could, move on from money and flow into art practice—To the abundant places our bodies can take us in dance and healing and profound writing.

That’s a noble endeavor I still have in mind to share and take shape in this space ;)

And yet

I’ve been noticing something else.

That I do strongly believe in my work.

And I’m falling in love with it.

I’m realizing the power—the power of being a web developer to empower others.

And to empower those doing great work I surely can empathize with, as of course it’s work I’ve done (and need to do more of) myself.

When I shine this light to empower the embodied creators, wellness creators, and wonderful service providers in my portfolio—people who are solopreneurs or have small businesses comprised of a practitioner in the healing arts and holistic domain—I really enjoy this work.

To be continued.

But suffice it say, I think I’ve come full circle to wondering about those secrets of building a business ecosystem centered around one signature offer.

Because now I believe I have an offer.

And in fact, not endless—but actually inspiring (and potentially endless) content around it.

I have named my offer, and I have named whom it’s for.

One customer, one service, and we shall see about one eventual channel.

It shall indeed come time (fairly soon)—as I was once reluctant to do—to build myself a portfolio website as the service provider I truly am and can be.

Or at least a friggin’ landing page.

Even at the risk of “service provider funnel energy.”

See you next time,

p.s. It just gets more interesting!

When I practiced the guidance of my projector friend client from one of her videos, I’ve realized that what she leads is the key synergy to how I want to move and be in my professional work (even if that work be web design and marketing).

It also made me realize so many ripe topics here... consent & marketing, embodiment & marketing, movement & messaging...

More to come!

Thanks for reading.