Sold Out Offers

Ceels Lockley | Offer Strategy Expert
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Sold Out Offers is the industry-leading podcast for service provider experts who want to create and sell innovative and in-demand offers that build reputation and revenue on repeat.

  1. 5d ago

    3 Powerful Steps To Resetting Your Business for 2027

    Ever get the feeling that your business is starting to run you, rather than the other way around? Maybe you've outgrown the work you're doing, your life looks different to when you first started, or you're simply fed up with trying to squeeze everything else around your clients. It's completely normal to reach a point where the business you've built no longer fits the life you want to lead. In this episode, I'm sharing three powerful areas to focus on if you're thinking about resetting your business ahead of 2027. And we're starting somewhere you might not expect: with your life, rather than your business. Because before you start redesigning your offers or making big changes, you need to get clear on what you actually want your days to look like. Your non-negotiable needs, your actual capacity and the offers you're selling all need to work together. Otherwise, you can find yourself running a business that looks perfectly successful on paper but leaves you exhausted, resentful and wondering why you ever wanted to work for yourself in the first place. I genuinely believe there's a business model that can work for your individual circumstances, expertise and income goals. One that allows you to do brilliant work, earn a consistent income and have plenty of space for the life you're building outside of it. And that's exactly what I want to help you start figuring out. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy it's normal to outgrow your business and want something differentHow to identify your non-negotiable needs outside of workWhy your actual capacity matters more than the gaps in your calendarHow to choose offers that support your lifestyle and income goalsWhy working in your level three masterful talent can make earning money feel easierHow to build a more sustainable business that works around your life "You don't have to feel like your work has to be hard." Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  2. Oct 20

    Are You Okay? A Q4 Business Check In

    Has 2026 left you feeling a little bit... fed up? Maybe your business is doing well on paper, but something feels off. Or perhaps you're working harder than ever, questioning your next move and wondering whether you even want the version of success the online business world keeps selling us. Because I don't know about you, but this year has felt different. In this episode, I'm having a candid conversation about the growing sense of disillusionment I'm noticing amongst business owners, and why so many of us are questioning what we actually want from our businesses. After 16 years of selling my services online, I've never experienced a year quite like this one, and it's made me rethink what really matters. I'm also reflecting on the changes I've made to my own business, why patience and resilience still matter, and how to recognise when you've genuinely outgrown a business model. Sometimes you need to give something more time, but sometimes you've evolved and the business needs to evolve with you. As we head towards 2027, I want to encourage you to look beyond the revenue goals, follower counts and things you think you should be doing. Because life is far too short to spend it running a business you don't enjoy, chasing somebody else's version of success. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy 2026 has felt different for so many online business ownersHow to recognise when you've outgrown your current business modelThe difference between needing more patience and needing a changeWhy business success doesn't always translate into personal fulfilmentHow to reflect on what's gone right, even when the year hasn't gone to planWhy it's worth reconsidering what you want from your business in 2027 "I really believe that life is too f*****g short for you to be running a business that you f*****g hate and doing work that you resent and working with clients that you don't like or." Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  3. Oct 13

    The Powerful Shifts That Stops You Overworking, Under-Earning and Wanting To Quit Your Business

    What if the reason you're working so hard, earning less than you'd like and occasionally fantasising about running back to a job on LinkedIn is actually much simpler than you think? After 16 years in business, I've learned a few things about what makes a business feel good to run, and annoyingly, some of them took me far too long to figure out for myself. In this episode, I'm sharing three powerful shifts that could completely change how you approach your business, make decisions and finally start feeling like your business has got your back. First, your business should be designed around YOUR needs. It's easy to get caught up in what clients expect, what everyone else is doing and what you think success should look like, without considering whether the business you're building actually gives you the life you want. Then there's the temptation to keep adding more. More offers, more strategies, more things to sell. But doing less can lead to more, especially when you focus your energy on one clear mission and stop spreading yourself across a dozen different directions. And finally, there's the power of doubling down on your level three masterful talent. Becoming known for the thing you're exceptionally good at can transform your reputation, your offers and your earning potential. Plus, there's a little Brucey bonus about embracing the stage of business you're in, rather than constantly trying to rush to the next one. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy your business model should be designed around your own needs and non-negotiablesHow doing less can make your business simpler, more focused and more profitableWhy constantly adding offers and strategies can leave you feeling overwhelmedThe importance of having one main mission, one main offer and one clear client goalWhat your level three masterful talent is and why you should double down on itHow specialising helps you build a stronger reputation in your industryWhy you can't skip the messy stages of business growth, and what the caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly have to do with itHow patience and resilience help you build a business that lasts "Doing less will always lead you to more." Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  4. Oct 6

    Is Your Business TRULY Giving You The Life You Want?

    You probably didn’t start your business so you could work evenings, squeeze client work into every available gap and spend your downtime thinking about revenue. And yet somewhere between trying to make money, grow, be successful and keep up with everything an online business apparently requires, it’s surprisingly easy to build something that gives you less of the life you wanted, not more. So in this episode, I’m asking a question I think every business owner needs to come back to regularly: is your business actually giving you the life you want? I’m talking about what I call the hamster wheel of more: more followers, more leads, more sales, more growth, and the belief that we should constantly be chasing the next level. I don’t subscribe to the fantasy that you should be working four hours a week from a beach in Bali, because businesses require work. But there’s a huge amount of space between that and building a business that greedily eats into your evenings, weekends, relationships, rest and the parts of you that have absolutely nothing to do with work. This one gets personal too. In 2025, I was hustling far harder than I realised and had become so consumed by my business that I barely had any energy left for the things that mattered to me. This year, my lovely dog Dorrie’s declining health forced me to slow down, be more present in my life and seriously question the way I was running my business. What followed was a huge reset, and strangely enough, slowing down hasn’t meant everything falling apart. I had my best month of the year in July, and I’ve created far more security around my baseline revenue. That’s what I mean when I talk about building a life-proof business. Life isn’t linear. There will be illnesses, griefy seasons, brilliant seasons, holidays, family stuff and days where something else simply needs you more. Your business model, offers and income need to have enough flexibility to accommodate that without every wobble in your capacity becoming a financial emergency. You can still be ambitious, grow and chase exciting goals, but none of those things need to come at the expense of your personal peace. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeHow to recognise when your business is no longer supporting the life you actually wantWhat the “hamster wheel of more” looks like and how easily we get caught in itWhy I don’t believe the answer is either constant hustle or the four-hour-work-week fantasyWhat my own experience in 2025 taught me about workaholism and being too consumed by my businessWhy slowing down this year completely changed the way I think about work and successWhat I mean by creating a “life-proof” businessWhy your revenue, offers and business model need to flex when your life doesThe success markers I care about far more than endlessly increasing revenue “Your business should be life-proof and it should enable you to not panic when you have to slow down and step back.” Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  5. Sep 29

    Here's What 5 Years of Podcasting Weekly Has Taught Me About Consistency

    Five years. 232 episodes. More than 80,000 downloads. And a frankly alarming number of hours spent talking to myself into a microphone. When I started this podcast after my sister essentially told me to stop talking about it and just bloody do it, I had absolutely no idea I’d still be here five years later. So for this episode, I wanted to do something a little different and reflect on what showing up almost every week for five years has actually taught me about consistency. Because I don’t think consistency comes from being endlessly motivated or having superhuman discipline. For me, it’s come from making the podcast an essential part of my business, building a team around it and creating a process simple enough that I can still get an episode out when it’s 7pm on a Friday and my brain has basically clocked off for the weekend. I’m sharing what has made this one of the most consistent things I’ve ever done and why having other people invested in getting your work out into the world can make such a difference. I’m also talking about why consistency absolutely does not mean doing the same thing forever. This podcast has changed names, topics and formats. I’ve interviewed loads of guests, stopped interviewing guests, experimented with longer episodes, simplified everything again and occasionally released episodes where the sound was a bit shit because the episode itself was worth hearing. Five years gives you a lot of evidence that you’re allowed to experiment, change your mind and get things wrong without abandoning the thing altogether. And perhaps most importantly, doing this every week has made me a much better communicator. Recording yourself forces you to get comfortable hearing your own voice, articulate what you actually think and keep going through the inevitable moments where you feel like a total dork. I’m definitely not perfect at it (this particular recording contains plenty of evidence), but I’ve learned that commitment matters far more than waiting until you can do something flawlessly. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhat five years and 232 episodes have taught me about staying consistentWhy making something an essential rather than a negotiable changes how you show upHow having a team has helped me keep publishing every weekWhy consistency doesn’t mean sticking rigidly to the same formatWhat I’ve learned from experimenting with guests, episode lengths and different stylesWhy simplifying the podcast made it easier to sustainHow podcasting has made me a stronger speaker and communicatorThe simple system I use to plan and produce each episodeWhat I’m planning for year six of Sold Out Offers “We don't learn if we don't try things.” Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  6. Sep 22

    The 7 Biggest Gaps Inside Broken Business Models

    More clients. More followers. More content. More offers. When your business isn’t working quite how you want it to, it’s very easy to assume the answer is more. But before you blame Instagram, the algorithm, the economy or convince yourself you need a much bigger audience, there’s somewhere else I want you to look first: your business model. Because sometimes what looks like a marketing problem is actually a structural problem underneath it. In this episode, I’m taking you backstage into the seven biggest cracks I see when I’m reviewing business models for service providers. We’re talking weak positioning, offers that aren’t pulling their weight, doing far too much bespoke work and having a collection of services that don’t actually lead anywhere. These are the things that can make attracting clients and generating revenue feel unnecessarily difficult, even when you’re doing plenty of marketing. We’re also getting into the money and capacity side of your model, because a business that makes money while leaving you exhausted isn’t exactly the dream either. Your pricing needs to support the income you actually need, your workload needs to respect your energy and your offers need to give you enough repeatability that you’re not reinventing the wheel with every new client. There’s a sweet spot between what you want to earn, the work you want to do and the life you want the business to fit around. And importantly, there isn’t one perfect business model that every service provider should copy. Yours might be designed around working 20 hours a week, staying deliberately small or scaling one main offer. The point is to build it intentionally. You want a model that attracts the right people, supports consistent paychecks, gives you work you actually enjoy and can hold your business up for years, rather than something built around whatever everyone else happens to be doing right now. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeThe seven biggest cracks I see in service provider business modelsWhy a marketing problem might actually be a business model problemHow weak positioning affects everything from your offers to your pricingWhy you need a strong Headliner offer at the centre of your businessHow too much bespoke work can keep you stuck on the freelancer roller coasterWhy your offers need a clear buyer journey rather than simply existing alongside each otherHow to balance pricing, capacity, energy and the income you needWhy a healthier business model usually requires less, not more “The clarity in your offers and how they land begins with your business model.” Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  7. Sep 15

    Why We Need to Build Sustainable Businesses VS Reaching for 'Consistent Months'

    What if the consistent £10K month you’ve been chasing is actually the wrong goal? Because I don’t think your business needs to make the same amount of money every month to be successful, and I definitely don’t think you need to keep chasing bigger and bigger revenue milestones just because the online business world tells you to. In this episode, I’m sharing the number I think we should be paying far more attention to, and a much more useful way to think about consistency, growth and what a financially sustainable business looks like. Real businesses fluctuate. You might have a bigger month because you’ve launched something, followed by a quieter month where you’re focused on delivery. What matters more is creating a sustainable range of income that gives you enough predictability to run your business and, crucially, pay yourself consistently. I’d much rather we started talking about consistent £3K or £5K paychecks than beating ourselves up because the business made £8K instead of the magical £10K. We’ll look at how to work out your own sustainable income range based on what you actually need from the business, rather than a number the internet has decided represents success. And we’re talking about sustainability beyond individual months too. You don’t have to double your revenue every year. Building a business that can reliably support you this year, next year and the year after is a perfectly ambitious goal. Of course, that kind of predictability takes time. It comes from streamlining your offers, getting clear on your positioning, building a reputation and allowing your clients and audience to get to know what you do. Constantly changing your offers, starting from scratch or chasing the next idea interrupts that process. Sustainable businesses need roots, and sometimes the smartest thing you can do is give yours enough time to grow. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy “consistent £10K months” isn’t a particularly useful business goalThe difference between consistent revenue and a consistent paycheckHow to choose a sustainable monthly revenue range for your businessWhy fluctuations in revenue are completely normalWhy your business doesn’t have to grow every single yearHow your offers and positioning create greater predictability over timeWhy constantly changing your offers makes sustainable income harder to achieveThe role patience plays in building a business that lasts “You need to choose a range that works for your life.” Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

  8. Sep 8

    How to Get REALLY Confident in Business + Lead In Your Industry

    We all know that person in business who seems effortlessly confident. They can step onto a stage, sell their offers, share a strong opinion or speak about their expertise without apparently questioning every word that comes out of their mouth. It’s very easy to look at them and think, I wish I had their confidence. But after seven years of thinking, talking and teaching about confidence, I don’t believe some people are simply born with more of it than the rest of us. In this episode, I’m breaking down where business confidence actually comes from, starting with two types of experience: contextual and practical. There’s the bigger backdrop of everything you’ve learned throughout your career, and then there are the hands-on skills you collect by actually doing the work. Both matter, and both explain why expecting yourself to feel wildly confident when you’re still relatively new to something is setting yourself an impossible standard. But experience alone isn’t enough. Confidence also comes from taking risks, getting things wrong and discovering that you can survive the outcome. The wins teach you what you’re capable of, but the failures matter too. Every mistake gives you more evidence, more experience and more knowledge to take into the next decision, which is why avoiding failure entirely is never going to be the route to becoming more confident. We also talk about the confidence that comes from knowing your people, developing your own ideas and getting really clear on how you solve problems for your clients. Because if you want to become known as a leader in your industry, you need more than expertise. You need a point of view, ideas that occasionally go against the grain, offers you genuinely believe in and the self-belief to put your head above the parapet and share them. What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeThe two different types of experience that build business confidenceWhy overcoming hard things can make you more confident than simply collecting winsHow taking risks and making mistakes builds evidence that you can handle what happens nextWhy knowing your people makes selling and messaging feel easierThe role strong opinions and original ideas play in becoming an industry leaderHow clarity around your offers, solutions and pricing strengthens your confidenceWhy self-belief is the final ingredient — and something you build over time “Failure is an important part of building your confidence because it shows you what’s possible.” Mentioned in this episode: The Big Reset I spent part of this year resetting my own business because I’d made it too complicated; I was doing too much, and I couldn’t live my life around it anymore. The reset changed everything, and now I want to do the same for you. This November I’m running The Big Reset, a week to help you figure out what you actually want 2027 to look like. We’ll get clear on how you show up, your capacity, your business model, and how you feel about the work you’re doing. The Big Reset will begin on November 9th. Join today! The Big Reset

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About

Sold Out Offers is the industry-leading podcast for service provider experts who want to create and sell innovative and in-demand offers that build reputation and revenue on repeat.

Information

  • Creator
    Ceels Lockley | Offer Strategy Expert
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    237
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Sold Out Offers 2025
  • Show Website
    Sold Out Offers

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