The Baseline Self-Audit
Every later exercise builds on this one — you can't redesign a service you haven't measured. Fill it in for your work as it exists today, not as you wish it were, starting by listing each distinct thing you sell ("blog articles," "brand identity," "monthly bookkeeping").
Are You Reading the New Math Correctly?
Run yourself against these. Honest "no" answers are the point — they show you where the book does its work.
- I can name, for each service, what the client is actually paying me for beyond the deliverable.
- I know my real effective hourly rate, not my quoted rate.
- I can identify at least one task I still charge for that a client could now get free.
- I have at least one part of my service that AI cannot replicate or replace.
- My pricing is not the first thing that drops when a client mentions AI.
Case Study: The Same Skill, Two Outcomes
Two freelance copywriters with identical writing ability, both using the same AI drafting tools. The first treats AI as a faster typewriter: she takes the client brief, generates copy, lightly edits it, and delivers.
Run your leverage inventory
Set a timer for twenty-five minutes and work against your baseline audit. For each service line, fill the four reservoirs with specifics, not categories, then score each on two axes from 1 to 5 — starting with defensibility: how hard is this for AI or a generalist competitor to copy?
Before you move on
- I filled all four reservoirs with specifics, not categories.
- I scored each item on defensibility and demand, and circled my 4–5/4–5 items.
- I placed my advantages on the matrix and identified at least one Lead Advantage.
- I paired each chosen advantage with an AI workflow, keeping the judgment column human.
- I wrote a one-sentence positioning statement a competitor couldn't copy verbatim.
- I know which of my services are Commodity and slated to be automated or dropped.