I sold a service I had not mastered. I was lying.

If you sell a service without mastering your craft, you’re lying to your client. I’ve made that mistake myself, and I want to share what I’ve learned about serving clients by first knowing how to do the work.

Purpose of Service

The text I read from St. Josemaría Escrivá says, “If you want to be useful, serve.” To serve properly you must know how to do what you’re offering. When you can serve effectively, you become useful, and usefulness is the biggest goal of our work. Being useful creates value, and that value lets us exchange our time for money. I’m not saying money is the only goal, but being useful opens more opportunities to earn.

Duty and Talents

I see this as a duty. In the Catholic view, talents are gifts from God, not something we earn. We don’t deserve them; we receive them. Growing those gifts is an act of gratitude. If you want to explore this idea further, read Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Laborem Exercens, chapter 5.

Starting as a Beginner

When you’re a beginner you might wonder if you’ll always be lying to clients because you’re not yet skilled. The solution is honesty and pricing yourself as a beginner. Many freelancers start by charging high rates, thinking online work equals high income, but that’s the wrong approach. First, do a project for free to prove you can deliver results. Then, on the next project, you can say, “Based on the free work I did, I can achieve these results for you, so I’ll charge $200 instead of the typical $500.” This lets you start without pretending to be an expert.

Learning Over Money

You need to set aside ego and pride. It can feel uncomfortable to charge nothing or less than you think you’re worth, but every opportunity is a learning experience. In those early stages you’re paid with experience, not money, and that experience compounds. The better you learn, the better you can serve, and the more meaning you find in your work. Meaning often outweighs money, and in my experience, as the meaning grew, the compensation grew alongside it.

AI Changes the Game

Now I’m working with AI, which lets me operate much faster. I’m still learning to become advanced with AI, and I’m also learning more about how businesses operate and grow. AI handles execution, so my clients now expect me to handle planning. Planning has become the core work, which is harder because it requires deeper expertise. Think of a junior developer who can finish tasks that were planned by a senior; now I’m the one who must plan. That’s why I’m focused on building that experience.

Collaboration and Focus

I also work with a business partner who is stronger in sales. This lets me concentrate on the technical aspects of planning without having to sell every day. With AI handling routine work, I can focus on mastering my craft.

Obligation to Serve

Getting good at what you do is an obligation to the people you serve, clients, family, colleagues, or your boss. It’s not vanity; it’s a duty. I’ll put the source text in the description. See you in the next video.