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- Jan 18, 2022
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Hello,
Out of respect for both your and my time, I'll do my best to keep this brief. This is here as another win on the forum for web design/digital marketing agencies. I will also detail my processes regarding achieving semi-early success. Furthermore, this will serve as an accountability thread, as well as an information hub for individuals following similar paths.
Agency
My previous business was in a hobby niche: card games, to be specific. Think Magic: the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, not poker. Nevertheless, my partners and I found success in it, however I could no longer tolerate 90+ hour work weeks dealing with pissed off nerds. It is the quintessential "you're not starting a business for yourself, you're simply creating a job." After 4 years of owning a business in the industry, and over 20 years of industry time, I've met countless store owners that have spent the last 20-30 years working 80+ hour weeks to either break even, or worse, close shop. I made money and dipped, promising to return to help the industry when in a position to do so. Decided to further build on my web developer path, so I launch an agency.
I launched 08/22, and despite only having been open for about 6 months now, I have the freedom I never thought I'd have, doing something that interests me. Everything said, my agency is currently generating about 9k/month, which is about 3x more than I've ever made in my life. I launched this via two primary "attack points." Here's how I did it.
Attack Point 1
Decided early that cold calling/emailing wasn't for me based on math alone. I couldn't afford a staff, so hiring commission-based made the most sense, starting with sales, because if you aren't landing contracts, you aren't a business. I made a post on my social media, and created a "careers" section on my website to allow people to submit resumes. I quickly began receiving resumes and interview requests (mostly friends of friends, and a few previous co-workers), and upon realizing it was real, I started creating sales training material and figuring out an onboarding process. This was rather daunting initially, but after keeping in mind the whole "we're helping business owners, we're providing a valuable service, etc." it started to flow.
Provide value, communicate pain points, and bridge the gap between their pain points and the arsenal of potential solutions you already have. If none of the potential solutions you have seem to be an excellent (because again, you DON'T want "ordinary") solution, you simply research. And you will be researching a lot. By the beginning of 11/2022, I had 5 sales staff working 100% remote. Most of the job can be completed with nothing more than a cell phone.
While all of this was going on, I landed a small gig at a local marketing firm (end of 11/2022). After discussing doing web design through the company, they ultimately decided "we aren't that type of company." I asked if they would be open to sending me leads here and there. They agreed. I was able to get it in writing - from the CEO/original owner - that they were okay with sending me leads, and/or me taking down leads, just in case.
I landed my first client (via lead through my then job) 12/2022 on a retainer in the real estate niche. 8 websites, complete redesign of their brand, hosting, SEO, security, etc. Everything. They were my first client at 5500$/mo. They are still with me. That client wrote me a review, the owner handed out a few hundred of my business cards, and boom. This client has landed me tons of business, unfortunately most of it has been one-offs.
Attack Point 2
Despite knowing day 1 I wanted to be 100% remote-based (unless it grows to a certain point), I knew my location would inevitably be important. I moved about 50 miles out of Chicago. Where I'd eventually launch my business, there were only 2 tech companies attempting to fill demand:
Company A: Owner is a scumbag. Charges you "fair" prices but doesn't actually provide value. Doesn't do the work, and if he DOES produce work, he produces low-quality work, may charge you 2-3 times and say, "oh, sorry, it was an accident." Except this "accident" occurs with nearly every customer.
Company B: Owner is within the family of a major, so the business is successful based on reputation/connections alone. That said, they do provide solid work, but they charge obnoxious prices. The vast majority of locals cannot afford their services, thus this company remains afloat via 3-5 city contracts.
Small town people are easy. They like to see you in-person, or at the very least, they want to be able to call you directly. My path was clear and simple. I hopped on Vista Print and created both business cards and flyers. I then cherry-picked through Chamber of Commerce business lists for 6 different cities, all within 50 miles of my location (distance is based on how far I'm willing to drive; I typically avoided franchise businesses and big box stores on the commerce stuff). I proceeded to snail-mail 500 business cards/flyers to these businesses.
Ended up landing quite a few contracts with this, however most of them are no longer working with me, though a lot of the local businesses are struggling to keep up/maintain.
Current Day
As it stands now, my team consists of the following:
1x Sales Manager
1x Developer
1x Accountant
1x Client Relations (AKA customer support)
6x Sales People
As I said, simplicity is key for me, so my formula for hiring developers is 1 developer = 5 sales people. We are slowly growing to the point of my next hire will more than likely be some sort of "Office Manager" to handle everyone. I upped my commission to a flat 25% for all leads that end with a contract. Our work flow and communication are excellent, but I'm always looking for improvements.
I believe at this point, my biggest goals for the agency would be to potentially look into adding an additional service and clean up some of my pricing structures. I'd also like to eventually re-evaluate my onboarding process for new employees.
Early on, a found a niche service to offer as well. The concept itself has gotten bigger over the years, and I haven't found anyone really offering it. This service has landed us about 15k$, but it is something I'd like to continue exploring and expanding upon. Unfortunately it's a matter of time and as you can tell, I'm already torn a handful of directions.
Additional Information
Technology/Stack/Etc. Used
* Quickbooks
* Asana
* Vecteezy
* Elementor
* WordPress
* MERN Stack (+ PHP and Python)
* Zoom
* Google Voice
Start-up Costs (US)
Hosting (1 year, VPS): 350$
Vecteezy: 10$/mo.
Quickbooks: 25$/mo.
LLC: 160$
Domain: 23$
Business Cards: 60$
Flyers: 115$
Envelopes: ~25$? (can't recall 100%)
Stamps: 315$
Total: 1,083$
I feel I'm missing 1-2 things here. I'll update it if so.
Future Projects
At the moment, my agency is steady and I primarily put time into growing its network and generating leads. It's enough money to sustain myself and reinvest into itself. I've decided to work on my next project, which will relate back to my original industry: card games. The goal of my TCG company is to eventually create my own trading card game, completely revamping the typical systems within said games. But, as with everything, you have to start at step 1.
For me and my company, that is creating an application to serve the card games and those that play them, before branching out to then serving business owners and their stores. Furthermore, I will also be branching out to a trading forum (solving some issues past forums have had for decades), etc. This wrapper will hopefully branch out to gaming in its entirety, including stream/streamer sponsorship, sponsoring teams across multiple genres, hosting tournaments, etc.
So, first up, I'll be documenting my process of creating the application for the trading card game industry. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I will.
Thank you!
Out of respect for both your and my time, I'll do my best to keep this brief. This is here as another win on the forum for web design/digital marketing agencies. I will also detail my processes regarding achieving semi-early success. Furthermore, this will serve as an accountability thread, as well as an information hub for individuals following similar paths.
Agency
My previous business was in a hobby niche: card games, to be specific. Think Magic: the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, not poker. Nevertheless, my partners and I found success in it, however I could no longer tolerate 90+ hour work weeks dealing with pissed off nerds. It is the quintessential "you're not starting a business for yourself, you're simply creating a job." After 4 years of owning a business in the industry, and over 20 years of industry time, I've met countless store owners that have spent the last 20-30 years working 80+ hour weeks to either break even, or worse, close shop. I made money and dipped, promising to return to help the industry when in a position to do so. Decided to further build on my web developer path, so I launch an agency.
I launched 08/22, and despite only having been open for about 6 months now, I have the freedom I never thought I'd have, doing something that interests me. Everything said, my agency is currently generating about 9k/month, which is about 3x more than I've ever made in my life. I launched this via two primary "attack points." Here's how I did it.
Attack Point 1
Decided early that cold calling/emailing wasn't for me based on math alone. I couldn't afford a staff, so hiring commission-based made the most sense, starting with sales, because if you aren't landing contracts, you aren't a business. I made a post on my social media, and created a "careers" section on my website to allow people to submit resumes. I quickly began receiving resumes and interview requests (mostly friends of friends, and a few previous co-workers), and upon realizing it was real, I started creating sales training material and figuring out an onboarding process. This was rather daunting initially, but after keeping in mind the whole "we're helping business owners, we're providing a valuable service, etc." it started to flow.
Provide value, communicate pain points, and bridge the gap between their pain points and the arsenal of potential solutions you already have. If none of the potential solutions you have seem to be an excellent (because again, you DON'T want "ordinary") solution, you simply research. And you will be researching a lot. By the beginning of 11/2022, I had 5 sales staff working 100% remote. Most of the job can be completed with nothing more than a cell phone.
While all of this was going on, I landed a small gig at a local marketing firm (end of 11/2022). After discussing doing web design through the company, they ultimately decided "we aren't that type of company." I asked if they would be open to sending me leads here and there. They agreed. I was able to get it in writing - from the CEO/original owner - that they were okay with sending me leads, and/or me taking down leads, just in case.
I landed my first client (via lead through my then job) 12/2022 on a retainer in the real estate niche. 8 websites, complete redesign of their brand, hosting, SEO, security, etc. Everything. They were my first client at 5500$/mo. They are still with me. That client wrote me a review, the owner handed out a few hundred of my business cards, and boom. This client has landed me tons of business, unfortunately most of it has been one-offs.
Attack Point 2
Despite knowing day 1 I wanted to be 100% remote-based (unless it grows to a certain point), I knew my location would inevitably be important. I moved about 50 miles out of Chicago. Where I'd eventually launch my business, there were only 2 tech companies attempting to fill demand:
Company A: Owner is a scumbag. Charges you "fair" prices but doesn't actually provide value. Doesn't do the work, and if he DOES produce work, he produces low-quality work, may charge you 2-3 times and say, "oh, sorry, it was an accident." Except this "accident" occurs with nearly every customer.
Company B: Owner is within the family of a major, so the business is successful based on reputation/connections alone. That said, they do provide solid work, but they charge obnoxious prices. The vast majority of locals cannot afford their services, thus this company remains afloat via 3-5 city contracts.
Small town people are easy. They like to see you in-person, or at the very least, they want to be able to call you directly. My path was clear and simple. I hopped on Vista Print and created both business cards and flyers. I then cherry-picked through Chamber of Commerce business lists for 6 different cities, all within 50 miles of my location (distance is based on how far I'm willing to drive; I typically avoided franchise businesses and big box stores on the commerce stuff). I proceeded to snail-mail 500 business cards/flyers to these businesses.
Ended up landing quite a few contracts with this, however most of them are no longer working with me, though a lot of the local businesses are struggling to keep up/maintain.
Current Day
As it stands now, my team consists of the following:
1x Sales Manager
1x Developer
1x Accountant
1x Client Relations (AKA customer support)
6x Sales People
As I said, simplicity is key for me, so my formula for hiring developers is 1 developer = 5 sales people. We are slowly growing to the point of my next hire will more than likely be some sort of "Office Manager" to handle everyone. I upped my commission to a flat 25% for all leads that end with a contract. Our work flow and communication are excellent, but I'm always looking for improvements.
I believe at this point, my biggest goals for the agency would be to potentially look into adding an additional service and clean up some of my pricing structures. I'd also like to eventually re-evaluate my onboarding process for new employees.
Early on, a found a niche service to offer as well. The concept itself has gotten bigger over the years, and I haven't found anyone really offering it. This service has landed us about 15k$, but it is something I'd like to continue exploring and expanding upon. Unfortunately it's a matter of time and as you can tell, I'm already torn a handful of directions.
Additional Information
Technology/Stack/Etc. Used
* Quickbooks
* Asana
* Vecteezy
* Elementor
* WordPress
* MERN Stack (+ PHP and Python)
* Zoom
* Google Voice
Start-up Costs (US)
Hosting (1 year, VPS): 350$
Vecteezy: 10$/mo.
Quickbooks: 25$/mo.
LLC: 160$
Domain: 23$
Business Cards: 60$
Flyers: 115$
Envelopes: ~25$? (can't recall 100%)
Stamps: 315$
Total: 1,083$
I feel I'm missing 1-2 things here. I'll update it if so.
Future Projects
At the moment, my agency is steady and I primarily put time into growing its network and generating leads. It's enough money to sustain myself and reinvest into itself. I've decided to work on my next project, which will relate back to my original industry: card games. The goal of my TCG company is to eventually create my own trading card game, completely revamping the typical systems within said games. But, as with everything, you have to start at step 1.
For me and my company, that is creating an application to serve the card games and those that play them, before branching out to then serving business owners and their stores. Furthermore, I will also be branching out to a trading forum (solving some issues past forums have had for decades), etc. This wrapper will hopefully branch out to gaming in its entirety, including stream/streamer sponsorship, sponsoring teams across multiple genres, hosting tournaments, etc.
So, first up, I'll be documenting my process of creating the application for the trading card game industry. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I will.
Thank you!
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Last edited:
