Design Yourself · START
Know what to do next — and why.
START is where Design Yourself begins: not with a website, not with technology, but with the question of which opportunity is actually worth your time.
Before you invest significant time or money in your next move, make sure it’s the right one.
Opportunity Blueprint™
$995 CAD
A fixed-fee opportunity strategy engagement. No obligation to continue into BUILD or GROW — the Blueprint is yours.
Who it's for
Two Situations. One Question.
“I want to build something of my own.”
You have experience, knowledge, skills, credibility and relationships, and no settled view of what they could become. The Blueprint looks at what you have actually accumulated and where it could be worth something.
“I already own a business.”
It works, and the question is what's next: growth, a new offer, modernization, customer acquisition, leverage, automation, AI, positioning. The Blueprint looks at the business you already have and where the strongest next opportunity sits.
Different starting points. The same question: which opportunity is worth pursuing?
The real problem
You Probably Don't Need More Ideas.
You need to know which opportunity is worth pursuing.
Most experienced people have no shortage of possibilities. They have a shortage of confidence about which one deserves the next year of their life.
The question that matters is not “could I do this?” — you almost certainly could. It is “should I do this?” That question is answered with evidence, not enthusiasm.
The principle
We Don't Start With Something to Sell You.
We don’t assume the answer is AI. Or a website. Or automation. Or marketing. Or even starting a business at all.
Opportunity first. Technology second. What gets built — if anything gets built — is decided after the opportunity is understood, not before.
The goal isn’t to sell you our solution. It’s to help you make a better decision.
What you bring
You Are Not Starting From Zero.
After decades of working and living, you’ve accumulated far more than a résumé reflects — and if you own a business, far more than the balance sheet shows. Most people have never stopped to look at it properly.
You are not starting over. You are building forward.
Judgment and knowledge
Decades of solving real problems leaves you with instincts most people are still trying to develop — you know what works, what usually doesn't, and why.
Relationships and reputation
The people who know your work, trust you and would take your call are an asset no beginner has, and one most experienced people underestimate.
Story, interests and self-knowledge
You know what you enjoy, what you're tired of, and what you want the rest of it to feel like. That clarity about yourself is the raw material of a good decision.
Your experience is an asset. START begins by treating it like one.
How it works
Five Movements, In Order.
The Blueprint is a guided engagement rather than a template. Some of it happens in conversation. Most of it happens between conversations, in the research and thinking that turns scattered possibilities into a considered recommendation.
- 01
UNDERSTAND
Structured discovery: your experience, your business if you have one, your goals, your economics, your appetite for risk, and the life the work has to fit inside.
- 02
EXPLORE
Independent research across a broad set of possible directions — markets, customers, competitors, models and adjacent opportunities you may not have considered.
- 03
EVALUATE
The strongest two or three opportunities identified through that research are examined properly against the Opportunity Scorecard.
- 04
RECOMMEND
Eric reviews the evidence, challenges the assumptions, and gives you a clear recommendation with the reasoning behind it.
- 05
PLAN
A 90-Day Opportunity Plan: what to do first, what to test, what to leave alone for now, and how you will know whether it is working.
How opportunities are judged
The Opportunity Scorecard™.
Each shortlisted opportunity is assessed across eight dimensions, so you can see why one direction is stronger than another rather than being asked to take it on faith.
It is a way of thinking, not a piece of software, and it does not pretend to be precise. It makes the trade-offs visible.
Customer Demand
Is there evidence that people want this solved?
Income Potential
What could this realistically earn, and on what assumptions?
Competitive Opportunity
Who else is doing this, and where is the opening?
Experience & Skills Fit
How well does it use what you already have?
Required Investment
What money, time and effort would it actually take?
Lifestyle & Time Fit
Does it fit the life you said you wanted?
Leverage Potential
Can it grow without consuming more of you?
Risk
What could go wrong, and what would it cost you if it did?
No scorecard can promise profitability or claim that every possible opportunity has been found. What it can do is show you the strongest opportunities the research surfaced, and the honest case for and against each one.
The engagement
What the Opportunity Blueprint™ Includes.
Personal Discovery & Opportunity Profile
Your experience, assets, constraints, goals and — for owners — the current business, written down properly.
Independent Market Research
Research conducted for your situation rather than pulled from a template.
The strongest 2–3 opportunities
Identified through the research and taken forward for deeper evaluation.
Opportunity Scorecard™
Each shortlisted opportunity assessed across eight dimensions, with the reasoning shown.
Market & Competitive Analysis
Who is already serving these customers, how, and where the opening appears to be.
Economics & Feasibility
What it would take, what it could return, and the assumptions behind both.
Eric's Recommendation
A clear position on what to do next, and why — including when the answer is not yet.
90-Day Opportunity Plan
The practical first moves, sequenced, with what to test before spending more.
60–75 minute Strategy Session
The Blueprint presented and discussed properly, so you can push back on it.
30-Day Decision Check-In
A follow-up conversation once you have lived with the recommendation for a month.
Opportunity Blueprint™
$995 CAD
Fixed fee. Enquiry-led — every engagement is confirmed in conversation before anything begins.
How the work gets done
AI Supports. Eric Leads.
AI and research systems do what they are genuinely good at: gathering, comparing, analyzing and surfacing possibilities far faster than any single person could.
Eric reviews the evidence, challenges the assumptions, discards what doesn’t hold up, and makes the recommendation. AI supports the research. Eric remains accountable for the recommendation.
AI researches. Systems analyze. Data informs. Eric leads. Design Yourself delivers.
The recommendation
Four Honest Answers.
DO IT
The evidence supports moving, and here is the sequence.
EXPLORE FURTHER
Promising, but a specific question needs answering before you commit.
NOT NOW
Sound direction, wrong moment — and here is what would change that.
DON'T DO IT
The evidence doesn't support it, and here is what does.
Sometimes the best recommendation is not to spend more money.
What happens after
Then It's Yours.
Some people take the plan and get on with it themselves, at their own pace. That is a perfectly good ending, and it happens often.
Others ask Design Yourself to build the approved opportunity. Projects from $4,000 CAD. The scope follows the recommendation rather than a package, and there is no obligation to continue.
Before you commit to anything
Think It Through With Maya.
Maya is our AI Opportunity Guide. She asks about your experience, your business and what you want next, and helps you think it through — she never pretends to be Eric, and she won’t push you toward a service you don’t need. Maya helps you explore. Eric helps you decide.
Meet Maya · Your AI Opportunity Guide
Think out loud before you write.
Maya is Design Yourself's AI Opportunity Guide. Tell her what you're turning over — a half-formed idea, a business that has stalled, or simply the sense that something should come next. She'll help you think it through and, where it's useful, point to whether START, BUILD or GROW fits.
If it would help to have Eric read this, he can pick up the conversation from here.
Tell me what you're thinking about. It doesn't need to be tidy.
Maya is an AI advisor. Her guidance is a starting point; Eric can confirm anything specific to your situation.
Questions
Before You Ask.
- Is this only for people starting a business?
- No. The Opportunity Blueprint is designed for two situations: experienced people considering something of their own, and existing business owners deciding where to put their next effort.
- Do I need to have an idea already?
- No. If you have no idea yet, the research does the exploring. If you have five, the work is deciding which one deserves your time.
- What if I already know what I want to do?
- Then we test it rather than simply agree with it. The Scorecard is applied to your direction alongside the strongest alternatives the research surfaces, so you either move with more confidence or find out what you had missed.
- Is income or profit guaranteed?
- No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. Evidence improves decisions. It doesn’t eliminate business risk.
- Do I have to use Design Yourself to implement it?
- No. The Blueprint is yours. Many people take the plan and execute it themselves, or with people they already work with. BUILD is available if you want it, never assumed.
- What does it cost?
- $995 CAD, fixed. Every engagement is confirmed in conversation before anything begins.
Eric Mallari
Founder & Opportunity Strategist
Begin
It Starts With a Conversation.
Eric created Design Yourself around a simple belief: experience should create possibilities rather than limitations. After more than thirty years building businesses, recruiting, promoting, selling and leading teams, his role is to help experienced people and owners see the opportunity clearly before they commit to it. More about Eric.
Find the opportunity. Tell Eric where you are, and what you’re weighing up.