Got to $1k in MRR with my Unlimited Design Service- 50% off for life for IH
tl;dr
Stopped Freelancing, took the plunge to launch a design subscription business.
50% off for life for Indie Hacker Readers interested in the service. ($199 p/m Unlimited Graphic Design)
Hello,
My name is Barry and I'm a freelance designer - Well used to be, I seen the rise of design subscriptions and have decided to take the plunge and completely pivot. I want to build a business that doesn't rely directly on...well me.
I've been freelancing for about 5 years and quite frankly got burnt out. At my peak I was able to make about $30k-35k per year doing just graphic design work but the inconsistency was frankly horrific. A huge feast or famine cycle happened, I'd earn 60% of my yearly income in about 3-4 months and then barely scrape for the rest of the year.
I saw all these design subscription businesses pop up and thought this could be my out. It's small but I've managed to sign two clients in a month and reach $1k MRR.
It's not much yet but here are the takeaways I've learned from the experience.
1. Hiring is hard, but processes and procedures beat all.
I've always been one who is savvy in most technical tools (besides coding) I can edit videos, build websites, do all Graphic design and I'm handy enough at animation. Any project I ever won I thought I can do that why give someone else half the profit. I think this is what's was holding me back. I needed to let go. It took literally months but I finally found a designer I can trust and rely on. It was hairy at first, things were not at the standard I wanted and work was slipping but the problem was me. I realised what was needed was processes, structure and a way of doing things, I couldn't expect someone to be able to read what was going on in my mind. I created a full set of operating procedures right down to how to write emails to clients, What fonts work well together and noted every little detail I could. It worked wonders and now that it's done I don't have to repeat it. My designer can always reference it and things have never worked this well for me. Still a work in progress but now my clients are actually happier because we just follow procedures so they know what to expect.
2. Charge upfront, Get that Credit Card
Late payments were the bain of my life, I actually did my masters thesis on figuring out how to try and stop them. Anyways I used to spend literally months, and even a year in one case chasing payments from customers. I so badly wanted them to hire me again that I wouldn't pester too much meaning I was always out of pocket. I decided to feel the fear and do it anyways with the first opportunity I had to sell this thing. Told my client I couldn't complete any work without Payment and it had to be via stripe. I can't code so ended up just using Recurring Invoice on Zoho books integrated with Stripe. Worked wonders, I woke up the other morning with an email saying my client had been charged for their second month. No need for me to email, call chase or pester it was all done and the money was on the way to my bank. I made the mistake of not upgrading Zoho books before my trial ended and charging my other customer. Which brings me to the second point. Once I had their card details once I was able to bill their card automatically (kind of like direct debit payment). Zoho Books + Stripe = No cashflow problems, no late payments.
3. Never burn bridges
3 years ago I entered a local entrepreneurship competition with a digital recruitment platform idea. Whilst I got nowhere I was sitting beside an agency owner and got chatting to him. We eventually grabbed a couple coffees and I was pitching him for work. He said he had some and I was all ready to start. It unfortunately got cancelled at literally the last moment and I was out of work ad pocket for Thousands. I felt infuriated and gutted, but instead of getting angry I wrote an email back saying "Don't worry things happen, Thanks for even considering me for the project". I didn't hear from him for two years until I got an email from him out of the blue a month ago asking if I still do design work. Bam perfect opportunity to try and sell this subscription thing. One email, One quick call explaining the concept and that was it. He's been with me since the start of this and has been delighted with the service thank god.
I've a long way to go but that's a start. Next goal is $5k p/m. Would really love any advice you guys have. I'm a designer so happy to review landing pages and help in any design related way I can in return, just post your site in the comments below and I'll give it a review :)
PS.
Doing an IH offer for anybody who may need help with their Graphic Design. 50% off for life , $199 p/m vs $399 p/m. No commitments, No contracts, Unlimited Design Projects.
Landing page I built for this thing: https://www.getupfront.ie/unlimited-graphic-design
