Lesly Garreau
New Contributor
NDLR: Ok so, before I get started, please don’t be too hard with my english, Im not a native writer 
.
Two month ago a friend of mine published a post about Russ Perry and is membership business model; Design Pickle. The concept is to provide unlimited graphic design for a monthly fee that you can cancel anytime. And apparently based on what he say in is “business report” he doing great.
A little flashback.
A this moment (when I read the post) I’ve already been in Thailand for a year. I’m a freelance graphic designer, so it’s easy for me to travel and work. At the end of 2014, my girlfriend and I (freelancer too) we decided to leave Europe for good and ambrase the location independent lifestyle. We also wanted to do something good to giving back on the way of our travels, so we created a small NGO to crowdfunding small humanitarian projects, Omakua. We also choose to only working 3 days/weeks and spend the rest of the time between the NGO and discovering and learning. A this moment, I worked only for Greenpeace and a marketing agency. I also worked on a personal project that I wanted to launch in 2015, Myfightercard. A social network for martial artist. I’ve already get $10000 funding for develop a first beta.
So I’m in Thailand for a year, and a week ago, the very same day I losed my both job position. Greenpeace hired a in house designer and the agency decided to stop producing content and just do strategy… Best day of my life. I also worked with a developer in Chiang Mai and the “beta” process get way more time that I’ve expected. Actually, I’m still waiting. 90% is done.
Back to my friend post.
I’m thinking, damned, it’s a good idea, I can definitely do the same. And I’m a graphic designer, so I can even do the job myself at the beginning.
Let’s do this!
So first I take a look to the design pickle website. It’s definitely look like a template. The guy using Wordpress and it’s perfect because I’m good with it. Looking deeper to the code I understand that he using Infusion software for managing is clients and payment. And some investigation online reveal that is working with a team of Pilipino designer.
Well, I have my own server so I can deploy Wordpress and work with a framework template that I like (Divi).
About Infusion, hum, $300/month. That an investment. And at this moment, really, I wanted to save my money. So I looking for something else. I finally find (on a friend recommendation) Active Campaign. Which is do the same (except for the payment) but for $9/month.
Without the payment system I choose to work with Gravity form and Paypal. A Wordpress plugin that I already use with my clients.
And for the designer, well, at the beginning like I say, I can do it myself.
Find a domain name. And if possible a one related to design if I can. Doing this I discovered that finding a free domain with the word “Design” in it is almost impossible. So, I like Bear, my business is about delivery design and doing it fast. Rapid, Bear, Design, boom.
I also wanted to created a video for explaining the concept. I love video, I think they are the ideal medium if you know how to use it. My first intention was to create a video of me, in our office, in the middle of our designers, explaining what we do. But, well, I don’t have an office or a designer, so I finally choose to work with animation and for that, I using the service GoAnimate. For $34/month you can create as much animations you want and export them (with the discreet company logo). As a non english native I can’t using my voice in the video, so I pay a $5 Fiverr professional to do it for me and I’m pretty satisfied with the result.
Ok, so now I have my domain name, my website with my video and my payment system. I just need to find a solution to manage my client request.
I first founded Groove. It’s a ticket support system that announce a free version on the website. Well, it’s end up that finally they don’t have a free version, it’s just for getting interest.. So after a certain period my account get frozen and they ask me money. I exchanged few mails and they finally give me 90 days free. (I’m completely ok to pay for a service, I wanted to pay for Groove, it’s like $14/month, but at the beginning of my business I prefer save money). I started using the service but as I get problems with the interface I finaly move to Zendesk which is do the job just perfectly with no problems.
Pricing reflection.
Looking to Design pickle he as two pricing. $370 and $490. Now he even stop showing is pricing. But when you search on Google for “Unlimited graphic design” you find a lot of other competitors with way lower pricing.
I think is reflection was about; for one designer in Philippine that cost him $400 to $500, how many clients he can manage. On the perspective of making a lot of money, fast, it’s kind of ok I guess. But if you look at the design level of the creations, well, for me it’s clearly not enough.
I've take the time to look at the Philippine stuff. I find a lot of entrepreneurs working with team over there. What I learn from them is, working with south asian team is very difficult, especially if you not there to check everything they do. You constantly need to explain, repeat, teach etc.. So, no thanks. I plan to continue traveling and I want working with self learning person.
So my point of view is, Designpickle delivery an ok job for a quite expensive price comparing to the competition. All the competitors do the same (working with Pilipino). So how to make myself different?
First I propose a stand alone request for $29. It’s more expensive than taking a package but at list you can try the service without paying for a month and you still get the unlimited revisions and an outstanding creation.
And I have two package:
$79, 3 days delivery max, 5 monthly requests, unlimited revisions, cancel any time.
$199, 24h delivery max, unlimited requests & revisions, cancel anytime.
The plan.
For now I do everything myself as I want to know how many clients in average I can manage. I’m pretty sure it’s can be more than 6, so potentially $1200 revenue. For this price I can hired a European or US designer.
I want to provide a very, very good product. This way, after a year for example, I can ask for the same price than Design pickle and keep my clients because they are very satisfied and $370 is still a super price for what you get.
Now.
I've launched 2 weeks ago. For now I worked with two clients of mine.
From the social media point, I created a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Youtube channel and a Linkedin page. I plan to write some “marketing/design” post for attracting visit.
I've created a mailing list where you can get every week a free marketing design file that you can use for your business immediately.
And finally I've created a Google Adwords and Bing campaign. For now I've just testing keywords. I plan to created some dedicated landing pages in the future.
I also plan to use Linkedin as my main clients finder. On the network I can find marketing director and send them invite or message. I jsut have to find the perfect way to do this.
That it, I've get like 6/7 prospect interested by the service that I have to convert now. It’s not easy as I’m not a sale person but I'll do my best.
.Two month ago a friend of mine published a post about Russ Perry and is membership business model; Design Pickle. The concept is to provide unlimited graphic design for a monthly fee that you can cancel anytime. And apparently based on what he say in is “business report” he doing great.
A little flashback.
A this moment (when I read the post) I’ve already been in Thailand for a year. I’m a freelance graphic designer, so it’s easy for me to travel and work. At the end of 2014, my girlfriend and I (freelancer too) we decided to leave Europe for good and ambrase the location independent lifestyle. We also wanted to do something good to giving back on the way of our travels, so we created a small NGO to crowdfunding small humanitarian projects, Omakua. We also choose to only working 3 days/weeks and spend the rest of the time between the NGO and discovering and learning. A this moment, I worked only for Greenpeace and a marketing agency. I also worked on a personal project that I wanted to launch in 2015, Myfightercard. A social network for martial artist. I’ve already get $10000 funding for develop a first beta.
So I’m in Thailand for a year, and a week ago, the very same day I losed my both job position. Greenpeace hired a in house designer and the agency decided to stop producing content and just do strategy… Best day of my life
. I also worked with a developer in Chiang Mai and the “beta” process get way more time that I’ve expected. Actually, I’m still waiting. 90% is done.Back to my friend post.
I’m thinking, damned, it’s a good idea, I can definitely do the same. And I’m a graphic designer, so I can even do the job myself at the beginning.
Let’s do this!
So first I take a look to the design pickle website. It’s definitely look like a template. The guy using Wordpress and it’s perfect because I’m good with it. Looking deeper to the code I understand that he using Infusion software for managing is clients and payment. And some investigation online reveal that is working with a team of Pilipino designer.
- Wordpress website
- Template
- Infusion Software
- Pilipino designer
Well, I have my own server so I can deploy Wordpress and work with a framework template that I like (Divi).
About Infusion, hum, $300/month. That an investment. And at this moment, really, I wanted to save my money. So I looking for something else. I finally find (on a friend recommendation) Active Campaign. Which is do the same (except for the payment) but for $9/month.
Without the payment system I choose to work with Gravity form and Paypal. A Wordpress plugin that I already use with my clients.
And for the designer, well, at the beginning like I say, I can do it myself.
Find a domain name. And if possible a one related to design if I can. Doing this I discovered that finding a free domain with the word “Design” in it is almost impossible. So, I like Bear, my business is about delivery design and doing it fast. Rapid, Bear, Design, boom.
I also wanted to created a video for explaining the concept. I love video, I think they are the ideal medium if you know how to use it. My first intention was to create a video of me, in our office, in the middle of our designers, explaining what we do. But, well, I don’t have an office or a designer, so I finally choose to work with animation and for that, I using the service GoAnimate. For $34/month you can create as much animations you want and export them (with the discreet company logo). As a non english native I can’t using my voice in the video, so I pay a $5 Fiverr professional to do it for me and I’m pretty satisfied with the result.
Ok, so now I have my domain name, my website with my video and my payment system. I just need to find a solution to manage my client request.
I first founded Groove. It’s a ticket support system that announce a free version on the website. Well, it’s end up that finally they don’t have a free version, it’s just for getting interest.. So after a certain period my account get frozen and they ask me money. I exchanged few mails and they finally give me 90 days free. (I’m completely ok to pay for a service, I wanted to pay for Groove, it’s like $14/month, but at the beginning of my business I prefer save money). I started using the service but as I get problems with the interface I finaly move to Zendesk which is do the job just perfectly with no problems.
Pricing reflection.
Looking to Design pickle he as two pricing. $370 and $490. Now he even stop showing is pricing. But when you search on Google for “Unlimited graphic design” you find a lot of other competitors with way lower pricing.
I think is reflection was about; for one designer in Philippine that cost him $400 to $500, how many clients he can manage. On the perspective of making a lot of money, fast, it’s kind of ok I guess. But if you look at the design level of the creations, well, for me it’s clearly not enough.
I've take the time to look at the Philippine stuff. I find a lot of entrepreneurs working with team over there. What I learn from them is, working with south asian team is very difficult, especially if you not there to check everything they do. You constantly need to explain, repeat, teach etc.. So, no thanks. I plan to continue traveling and I want working with self learning person
.So my point of view is, Designpickle delivery an ok job for a quite expensive price comparing to the competition. All the competitors do the same (working with Pilipino). So how to make myself different?
First I propose a stand alone request for $29. It’s more expensive than taking a package but at list you can try the service without paying for a month and you still get the unlimited revisions and an outstanding creation.
And I have two package:
$79, 3 days delivery max, 5 monthly requests, unlimited revisions, cancel any time.
$199, 24h delivery max, unlimited requests & revisions, cancel anytime.
The plan.
For now I do everything myself as I want to know how many clients in average I can manage. I’m pretty sure it’s can be more than 6, so potentially $1200 revenue. For this price I can hired a European or US designer.
I want to provide a very, very good product. This way, after a year for example, I can ask for the same price than Design pickle and keep my clients because they are very satisfied and $370 is still a super price for what you get.
Now.
I've launched 2 weeks ago. For now I worked with two clients of mine.
From the social media point, I created a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Youtube channel and a Linkedin page. I plan to write some “marketing/design” post for attracting visit.
I've created a mailing list where you can get every week a free marketing design file that you can use for your business immediately.
And finally I've created a Google Adwords and Bing campaign. For now I've just testing keywords. I plan to created some dedicated landing pages in the future.
I also plan to use Linkedin as my main clients finder. On the network I can find marketing director and send them invite or message. I jsut have to find the perfect way to do this.
That it, I've get like 6/7 prospect interested by the service that I have to convert now. It’s not easy as I’m not a sale person but I'll do my best.
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