What do you actually deliver?

Your services are the how, not the what.

Jun 03, 2026

Image from McGill University via Unsplash

Three female founders walk into a Brooklyn cafeteria…

True story. Last week, I met up with two other fabulous women business owners for lunch at a cool, only-in-Brooklyn “cafeteria.” It was a long lunch and we closed the place at 4pm. The food and the conversation were excellent.

We talked books (we’re all avid readers) and we talked business. In terms of the latter, we all shared what’s working and what we wish was working, and what we love doing and really don’t like doing at all.

And we discussed how we talk about what we do. In that topic… gold.

Most often, when female founders say what they do, they’re really telling you how they do it. They’re not telling you the impact of their work, the outcome they deliver.

This was not just a lunch-time conversation. I see it consistently with my clients. And heck, I often fall into the “how” pit myself. Today, I want to pull this apart in order to help you think (and talk) differently about what you actually do.

What you do is the outcome you deliver.

We’re talking transformation. It’s what you help your client achieve and how you make them feel. It’s the real reason they want to hire you. They may not come out and say it, but it’s what they’re looking for.

Let’s take my business as an example. I help my clients build thriving, consistently profitable businesses in support of the life they want to be living. I help them feel empowered and confident as business owners.

How do I do this? Strategy, advisory, and coaching. Weekly calls. Ongoing support.

You get the idea. This applies whether you’re operating a B2B model, selling services to companies, or a B2C model, supporting individuals.

Always think about your work in terms of the outcome you help them achieve.

Why do we default to the “how”?

The first answer to this question is that it’s easy. And it’s understandable. When someone asks what we do, the role, the title, the “how” is what’s readily available so that’s what we go with.

The next answer gets to the layer below this. I think there’s a part of us that’s reluctant to own the impact of our work. There’s some sort of block or thin film that keeps us from accessing that next level, beyond the how.

What creates the block?

There are a few things at play:

It can be hard to get perspective on our work “from inside the jar.”
We may not believe we created the outcome.
We’re reluctant to state our impact for fear of it seeming like we’re bragging.
We can be afraid of standing out when we own what we do and thus being cut down (aka “tall poppy syndrome”).

Be honest. Do any of these sound familiar?

Why it’s important to figure this out.

Let’s start with the most obvious answer. You’re out somewhere and meet someone new. And they ask you what you do.

Most often founders default to the title they’ve created for themselves. In my case, that would be Business Strategist & Advisor for female founders of service-based businesses. Is that true? 100% yes. But does it tell the whole story? Absolutely not.

Take this scenario one step further — whether it’s meeting other women businesses owner IRL or connecting with them online — where your goal is be memorable enough to potentially get referrals. When you say you’re a branding expert or website developer for women business coaches, how do you stand out from the rest so that you’re referrable?

Then there’s your website, newsletter, and social media posts. The content you create for all of the above broadcasts to the world (and hopefully your ideal client) what you want to be known for. If you’re staying in the “how” and not the transformation, you’re missing out on potential opportunities (clients and collaborations).

Lastly, there’s the moment when you’re actually pitching a client. As I like to say, no one cares “how the sausage gets made.” They care about the sausage itself. How are you going to change their business and life?

We’re talking about positioning.

When you stay at the level of deliverables:

“Brand strategy”
“PR support”
“Digital marketing”

you become harder to differentiate.

The agencies and founder-led businesses that grow faster tend to articulate:

What decision gets made
What problem gets solved
What risk gets removed
What outcome becomes possible

when a client works you.

You’re selling the transformation, not the activity.

How to move beyond it.

Okay, so we know why it happens and the impact on our businesses. Now we need to look at some ways to get to the heart of what we do. The outcomes or transformation we deliver.

Ask “to what end?” or “so what?”

These are questions I use when I’m working with clients on their service offerings. I’ll ask them what they do. To which as noted above, nine times out of ten they’ll respond with how they do it.

Once we get clear that we’re looking for outcomes, they’ll answer again. This answer is closer to revealing the real work they’re doing. And yet often, it’s still not quite there. It’s not getting to the heart of what the client is gaining in the process of working with them.

At which point I ask, “To what end?,” often more than once. For example, “I design branding that elevates their business.” Excellent… To what end? What does “elevating their business mean”?

Another version of this question also works, “So what?”. ”I create on-brand websites for female-founded service-based businesses.” So what? What does an “on-brand website” get the founder?

The next time you’re describing what you do, push yourself to ask one of these questions and keep asking until you get to the true outcome you deliver.

And additional point here… This is the outcome/the feeling that only can deliver for them, because there is only one you with your unique set of expertise, interests, experiences, etc. They will not achieve the same result working with anyone else. Let that sink in.

Ask your clients.

Yes, really. Survey your clients — ask them where they were before they started working with you and where they are today.

Pay attention to what they tell you when you meet with them. There’s often gold in these off-the-cuff comments.

Record your online work sessions, then feed the transcripts into ChatGPT / Claude / Gemini. Ask your AI tool of choice to pull the themes that run through them and the phrases that come up most often.

Ask your close founder friends.

This helps with the “inside the jar” block. Often other founders see us and the impact of our work more clearly than we do. I’ve had this happen in my circle, and I’ve seen lightbulbs of recognition go off in the process.

I say “recognition” because the knowledge was always there inside, but the person couldn’t articulate it for themselves. Your mutually supportive founder friends are gold.