Here’s what’s about to happen in 2026: While you’re over here listing out deliverables and making yourself sound like a Jill of all trades, your competitor just positioned herself as a growth partner and landed a $10K retainer client.
Or they niched down so specifically on the one service they’re incredible at that they’re charging $4,000-$5,000 per client.
The words “service provider,” “virtual assistant,” and “freelancer” are about to become a liability in your business. And if you don’t make this pivot, you’re going to be stuck competing on price while everyone else charges premium rates.
Today, I’m breaking down the biggest shift I’m seeing in our industry and exactly how you can position yourself as a premium growth partner instead of a replaceable task doer.
Why Your Dream Clients Don’t Need More Doers
Let me paint you a picture of what’s happening right now with your dream clients.
They’re letting most of their people go, whether contractors or employees. We went from 2020-2021, when people had massive teams, to 2022-2025, where those teams kept getting smaller and smaller.
First, it was about the economy and profit margins. Now in 2025, it’s because AI can replace most of their employees with either cheap VAs or the AI can just pump out the content itself.
Here’s what that means for you:
If you’re writing Instagram posts for clients, AI can do a better job than most people can, and it’s cheaper. Why wouldn’t they use AI?
Same thing with copywriters and email. AI can pump out emails so fast, and they don’t have to pay a premium price.
AI has replaced a lot of podcast producers. Inbox management? Tools like Help Scout, Gemini, and Gmail’s autoresponses are handling that. Even managing inboxes is being replaced.
Here’s the problem: Your dream clients have execution handled. But they’re creating content that doesn’t convert. They’re running ads to funnels that don’t work. They’re doing all the things but getting none of the results.
So many people believe that the whole “build it and they will come” mentality works, and that’s what AI has taught them to believe.
What Clients Actually Need in 2026
Clients don’t need you to do things. They need you to lead.
They need direction. No one’s telling them what to focus on. Nobody’s looking at their business and saying, “Okay, here’s the bottleneck. Here’s what needs to be fixed. Here’s the priority.”
They’re starving for strategy and drowning in cheap execution.
This is where most of you are missing the opportunity because you’re still showing up, saying, “Hey, hire me. I do all the things. I’m the customization queen. I’ll give you exactly what you need, whether that’s writing copy, building a funnel, or putting together basic graphics.”
Even my ad managers, if you’re just saying, “I’m gonna push the buttons for your ads,” no, AI can’t replace that, but they can find someone cheaper to do it.
Those dream clients, those champagne clients, don’t need more doers. They need someone to step in and be a partner, a leader, a strategic-minded person who’s gonna give them more than just button-pushing and checking boxes.
They need someone who can look at their business and say, “Hey, here’s where we’re going and here’s how to get there.”
The $20,000 Wake-Up Call
Let me give you a real-life example of this shift.
I have a consultant client who used to pay copywriters $20,000 every single launch. $20,000 y’all. That’s how much the package was.
Now, that same copywriter is literally struggling to get $2,000 clients because everyone thinks ChatGPT can write their sales page and sales emails. They can put in what they already paid the $20,000 for and get it tweaked.
But here’s what’s wild: Those clients still have the $20,000 budget. They’re just not spending it on the copywriter anymore.
They’re spending it on someone who can strategize their entire launch, not just write copy for it.
In 2026, the “how” is cheap. AI can do the how. But the “why” and the “what”? That’s expensive. That’s where you need to position yourself, in the why and the what, not the how.
Service Provider vs. Growth Partner: The Language Shift That Changes Everything
Let me show you the difference between how service providers show up versus how a growth partner shows up.
Service Provider Language (What NOT to Say):
- “I manage Facebook and Instagram ads.”
- “I build sales funnels.”
- “I create social media content.”
- “Here’s what I deliver: three posts per week, a weekly report, and monthly strategy calls.”
You’re leading with WHAT you do and WHAT they get. You’re focused on deliverables. How many of you are guilty of this? When you work with me, you’re gonna get X, Y, Z, A, B, C—we’re so focused on that.
Growth Partner Language (What to Say Instead):
“I help successful med spas create predictable patient pipelines so they stop relying on word of mouth and start scaling with paid traffic.”
Dang. Look how much more powerful that is than “I manage Facebook and Instagram ads.” It’s niche-specific. You’re hitting their pain points and telling them exactly what the transformation is, not the deliverables.
“I architect revenue systems for course creators who are tired of launching and want evergreen income.”
Way better than “I build sales funnels.”
“I develop content strategies that turn your audience into buyers, not just followers.”
Much better than “I create social media content.”
See the difference? You’re leading with outcome and transformation, not deliverables.
The Client Experience Difference
When you position yourself as a service provider, you get clients who:
- Question your pricing
- Ask what’s included in each package
- Ask if they can get a discount because they don’t need this one thing
- Compare you to someone on Fiverr or Upwork
- Want you available on nights and weekends
- See you as replaceable
When you position yourself as a growth partner, you get clients who:
- Ask “When can we start?”
- Trust your recommendations
- Don’t nickel and dime your pricing
- Respect boundaries
- Keep you on retainer for not months, but years
The Power of Position Shifting: A Real Success Story
Let me tell you about one of our Strategist Society members, Mandy. She’s freaking incredible.
She got to $10K months by charging hourly, but she had 32 hourly clients. 32 y’all.
When she made the shift from service provider to growth consultant, she went from $10,000 a month with 32 clients to landing a $12,000 a month client as a growth partner, actually over $12,000 a month, working with ONE client with a long-term contract in place for consulting, not doing.
That’s the shift that can happen, and it can happen quickly.
Mandy spent years in that service provider role. Within months, she was able to go from service provider to growth partner. She didn’t get new certifications. She didn’t learn new skills. None of that. Same skillset, different positioning.
She landed that client using her Marketing Minutes framework.
That’s the power of position shifting.
How to Make the Shift: 3 Changes You Need to Make Starting Today
Let me give you the three things you need to change starting today to go from service provider to growth partner.
1. Change Your Language
Stop saying “I do X service” and start saying “I help [specific person] achieve [specific outcome] so they can [benefit].”
Before and After Examples:
Before: “I’m a Facebook ad manager.”
After: “I help health coaches fill their group programs without spending their entire day creating content.”
Before: “I build funnels.”
After: “I create automated sales systems for coaches who wanna make money while they sleep.”
Before: “I do podcast production.”
After: “I turn your ideas into podcasts that position you as the expert in your industry and attract your dream clients, while also landing paid sponsorships.”
You’re not changing what you do or the skills you have. You’re changing how you talk about what you do. That is the first step—we have to change our language.
2. Restructure Your Discovery Calls
Here’s what most of you do during discovery calls: You let the client tell you what they need, and then you say, “Great, I can do that. Here’s my pricing.”
That’s service provider energy. That’s “I’m the Jill of all trades” energy.
Growth partner energy looks like:
- You ask strategic questions
- You identify their REAL problem (which usually isn’t what they said on the call)
- You TELL them what they need (you don’t ASK them what they need)
- You present yourself as THE solution
Real-Life Example:
I got on a call with a person who thought they needed an SLO funnel (self-liquidating offer). I do these done-with-you SLO funnels.
When we were on the call, I identified that she didn’t need an SLO. What she needed was a launch mechanism that she had already proven, but it needed to be optimized. Then she needed more leads, not an SLO that she came to me for.
I was able to identify what her problems were, diagnose that real issue, and then say, “Hey, this is what you think you need, but I’m gonna tell you what’s actually gonna move the needle the most, and this is what you need. And this is how much it costs to work with me.”
That’s what a growth partner does. They position themselves as the leader. They lead the conversation. They’re not taking orders.
They show the client: “I hear you. I know your goals, and this is the best solution, and here’s how working with me will get you the outcome that you’re looking for.”
That’s the difference.
3. Add Strategy to Everything
Even if you’re still doing execution, like you’re still running ads, building funnels, managing podcasts, you need to add a strategy layer.
Before you touch any deliverables, you should be doing:
- An audit on what’s currently happening
- A strategic recommendation on what needs to change
- A roadmap of how you’re going to get them from point A to point B
One of our Strategist Society members, Samantha, is so good at this. She’s an ad manager, but she doesn’t just run ads for clients. She audits their entire system. She looks at their funnels. She identifies the bottlenecks. And then she implements the strategy.
This is why she can charge a premium price for her ad clients, because she’s looking at the overall journey. She knows that the customer-buying journey is gonna influence how she runs ads. She knows that ads are just one step of the whole buying journey, and if there are any breakdowns in the buying journey, those have to be fixed before she can be successful.
Does that mean she’s fixing all the broken things? No. It means she’s identifying them and then saying, “Hey, for our ads to be successful, these are the things that you need to take care of.”
That’s the difference between being an ad manager that just comes in and starts running ads versus a strategic ad manager that can charge a premium by identifying anything that’s gonna get in your way of being successful.
Growth partner, not service provider.
“But I Don’t Feel Qualified to Be a Strategic Partner”
I know some of you are sitting here thinking, “But Brandi, I don’t feel qualified to be a strategic partner, to be a growth partner. I don’t know enough to tell clients what to do.”
Y’all. You know so much more than you think you do.
I guarantee there’s someone out there charging 10x more than you who knows half of what you know. The difference? They position themselves as an expert. They stepped into the growth partner identity.
Here’s the truth: Your clients don’t need you to know everything. They need you to know more than they do and be able to guide them. That’s it.
You don’t need another certification. You don’t need to consume more YouTube videos. You don’t need more, more, more.
You need to change how you’re showing up.
Your Action Steps This Week
Here’s what I want you to do this week:
Rewrite what you tell people you do. Rewrite how you show up on your discovery call intro. How do you talk about yourself and what you do?
Use the growth partner language I gave you:
Stop saying “I do [service]” and start saying “I help [specific person] achieve [specific outcome] so they can [benefit].”
Rewrite how you help people. Stop listing your deliverables. Start leading with outcomes and transformations.
Then watch what happens to the quality of the leads you have coming in. Look at what happens to the quality of the clients you start attracting. Watch how different your discovery call feels when YOU are the one leading them and not taking orders.
Ready to make this shift, but need help actually implementing it?
If you’re thinking, “Yes, I wanna make this shift, but I need someone to look at my messaging, my offers, my pricing, and help me restructure this,” this is exactly what we do inside Strategist Society.
We don’t just teach you theory. We help you implement. We rewrite your messaging together. We audit your discovery calls. We help you step into the growth partner identity so you can land those $5K, $10K, $15K clients.
If you’re early in your business (under $3K months), start with my free training at conversionsforclients.com.
If you’re ready to scale past $5k-10K months, send me a DM on Instagram @brandimowles with the words “Growth Partner,” and let’s chat about exactly where you are in your business and what’s gonna be the biggest needle-mover for you this year.
If I feel like I can support you, we’ll jump on a Strategist Success Audit and map out exactly what needs to shift in your business to position you as the growth partner, not just a service provider.
Remember, when you message me, it’s me, not a robot. We’ll have a person-to-person conversation.
The Bottom Line
2026 is gonna be the year of the strategist, the year of the growth partner.
The question is: Are you gonna step into that identity, or are you gonna keep competing on price and deliverables with everyone else?
You’re too talented to stay small. It’s time to own your expertise and get paid for what you actually do for clients.
Go out, do the dang thing. Serve your clients, scale your business, and soar into the success you deserve.
Want More Like This? ⬇️
🎧Mastering Your Message: How to Communicate Your Value to Attract Champagne Clients
🎧You Don’t Need A Different Service. You Need Better Offers.
** This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you use one of the links to purchase. This helps keep the podcast going and I only share products I have used, tested and love.”
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Meet Brandi
Brandi Mowles is the host of the Serve Scale Soar® podcast which is a podcast dedicated to helping service-based entrepreneurs scale their online business to five-figure months so they can soar into six-figure years. Brandi is a wife, mom and in less than one year, created a six-figure business. Now she is spilling all her secrets so you can too.
