Your business probably doesn't need more stuff.

PROMPT BEGINS

The Feel Good Way · Sweet Little Business Canvas

This strategy exercise and canvas were created by Lori Mercer of Feel Good Work.

What it means to build a business The Feel Good Way

A business built The Feel Good Way creates meaningful results for the people it serves and works well for the human running it.

We start with the end goal, identify the real constraint and build only what helps the business Grow, Sell or Run better.

People, systems, AI and technology each have a role. We use them where they create value, without adding complexity for its own sake.

The goal is not to build the biggest or most sophisticated business possible.

The goal is to build the right business for:

* the impact you want to make;
* the life you want to live;
* the people you are equipped to help;
* the work you want to be known for.

Your assignment

Help me complete my Sweet Little Business Canvas and prepare it for review with Lori.

Review everything I provide before asking questions, including my website, offers, testimonials, client stories, sales-call notes, content, intellectual property and business information.

How to work with me

1. Ask no more than 10 high-value questions.
2. Ask one focused round of follow-up questions when needed.
3. Use exact customer language when available.
4. Do not invent facts, results, proof or differentiation.
5. Label unsupported ideas [Hypothesis].
6. Label claims requiring evidence [Needs proof].
7. Preserve language that sounds like me.
8. Challenge contradictions between what I say I want and the business I am building.
9. Keep the completed canvas short enough to understand on one page.

Push past words such as transformation, clarity, confidence, alignment, empowerment, authentic, breakthrough, holistic, unique, proven and results.

When an answer is vague, ask:

* What does that mean in real life?
* What was happening before?
* What changes afterward?
* What can the customer now do, decide, experience or avoid?
* Why does this matter enough to act now?
* What evidence supports it?

1. Mission-driven impact and end goal

Determine:

* Why is this business worth building?
* Whose life should change?
* How should their life or business change?
* How will we recognize or measure that impact?
* What purpose keeps the founder motivated and focused when the work becomes difficult, distracting or temporarily less profitable?
* What revenue, profit or owner compensation should the business create?
* How many working hours, clients and delivery commitments can it require?
* What should the founder spend more time doing?
* What should the founder no longer carry?
* What are we deliberately not building?

Do not treat revenue as the mission.

Revenue should fund the impact, compensate the founder and keep the business healthy.

2. Right person + buying moment

Describe the buyer by situation, not demographics alone.

Identify:

* what is happening now;
* what they want;
* what they have already tried;
* what is no longer working;
* the decision or transition making this important now;
* the exact language they use.

Do not accept a broad audience such as “women who want more” or “entrepreneurs who feel stuck.”

3. Value proposition

Write the meaningful change the buyer receives.

Do not describe program contents.

The value proposition must explain:

* who the buyer is;
* what is happening when they become ready;
* what meaningful change they receive;
* what they can do, decide, experience or avoid afterward;
* why the change is valuable now.

Produce:

1. One clear value-proposition sentence.
2. Three to five concrete forms of customer value.
3. The costly consequence of leaving the problem unresolved.

Reject any statement that could describe hundreds of businesses.

4. Unique selling proposition

Identify the strongest credible reason the right buyer would choose this business instead of another specialist, a generalist, doing it alone or waiting.

Look for differentiation in:

* what the founder sees that others miss;
* how the founder defines the problem differently;
* the people or situations the founder understands unusually well;
* earned experience, judgment or perspective;
* disciplines or abilities the founder combines;
* how the method changes the result;
* how clients experience the work;
* repeated evidence from buyers and client results.

A branded framework name is not automatically a USP.

Test every proposed USP:

1. Could five competitors honestly say it?
2. Does the buyer care about the difference?
3. Does it affect the outcome or buying decision?
4. Is it supported by evidence?
5. Can the buyer understand it immediately?

If it fails, revise it.

If it is promising but unsupported, label it [Hypothesis].

Produce:

1. One strong USP sentence.
2. Why the distinction matters.
3. The evidence supporting it.
4. What remains a hypothesis.

5. Distinctive mechanism

Explain how the business creates its result.

Identify:

* the essential steps or sequence;
* the diagnostic lens or method;
* the delivery feature that changes the outcome;
* why this approach should work;
* where human judgment matters;
* what technology, AI or systems support;
* what the client must contribute.

Do not confuse a clever name with an actual mechanism.

Separate what has already worked from what is still being tested.

6. Offer path

Design the fewest offers needed to move someone from first help to deepest help.

For each offer, define:

* the buyer’s situation;
* the result it owns;
* the delivery model;
* the price or price range;
* what it does not include;
* why someone would naturally move to the next offer.

Do not add an offer merely to fill a perceived gap.

7. GROW

Explain how the right people discover, understand, trust and remember the business.

Define:

* the core message;
* three to five recognizable ideas;
* channels;
* a sustainable publishing or outreach rhythm;
* the path into the front-door offer;
* existing audiences and partnerships that can be used;
* one or two measures of qualified demand.

Growth should create recognition and buying readiness, not merely reach.

8. SELL

Explain how interest becomes a clear yes, no or not-yet decision.

Define:

* the conversion path;
* the primary sales mechanism;
* what sells directly;
* what requires a conversation;
* follow-up;
* how buyers choose the correct offer;
* one or two measures of sales quality.

Do not use sales calls to compensate for an offer people cannot understand.

9. RUN

Explain how the result is delivered well without unnecessarily consuming the founder.

Define:

* the client journey;
* delivery rhythm;
* founder role;
* client role;
* team role;
* role of systems, automation and AI;
* capacity limits;
* minimum systems required;
* measures of client results;
* measures of founder and business sustainability.

Do not create a corporate operating system for a Sweet Little Business.

10. Proof

A new product does not mean the founder is unproven.

Separate proof into:

Expertise proof

Experience, judgment, previous results, credentials, lived experience and testimonials demonstrating relevant ability.

Problem proof

Evidence that the intended buyer has this problem and wants help solving it.

Mechanism proof

Evidence that important parts of the method have already worked in prior client work.

Product proof

Evidence from this exact promise, format, sequence, duration, delivery model and price.

Never use expertise proof to claim that a new product is already proven.

Use this bridge when appropriate:

The founder’s expertise and ability to create this type of result are supported by previous work. This exact product is a new way of organizing and delivering that expertise.

Identify:

* what the evidence supports;
* what is inferred from repeated patterns;
* what remains unproven;
* what claims should not yet be made;
* the smallest paid pilot capable of producing useful product evidence.

11. NOW / NOT YET

Name the single constraint that should be addressed during the next 90 days.

Explain:

* why it is the current constraint;
* what evidence supports that conclusion;
* what should be built, changed or tested;
* what result would indicate progress;
* what ideas should deliberately be postponed.

Do not create a giant simultaneous improvement plan.

Final output

Create two sections.

Section One: The one-page canvas

Use this structure:

1. Mission-driven impact
2. Business and founder end goal
3. Right person + buying moment
4. Value proposition
5. Unique selling proposition
6. Distinctive mechanism
7. Offer path
8. Grow
9. Sell
10. Run
11. Proof
12. Now / Not Yet

Keep this section concise enough to understand on one page.

Section Two: Evidence and decisions

Include:

* supporting evidence;
* exact customer language;
* unresolved questions;
* the three strongest strategic conclusions;
* the three most dangerous assumptions;
* the five decisions Lori should review with me.

Keep this title and attribution on the finished document:

The Feel Good Way · Sweet Little Business Canvas
Framework and canvas designed by Lori Mercer, Feel Good Work

PROMPT ENDS