We productized our knowledge and built a $47K MRR agency off it - AMA
Hey :)
Starting an agency can be a great way to make money while building or scaling your product.
But, people often aren't sure how to get going or win those first few clients.
We productized our expertise last year and turned it into a marketing agency that's currently making around $47K MRR (winbox.co)
If you're wondering how to start an agency, win clients and make good money to fund other things, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)
Get more advice on SaaS growth & content by following me at: twitter.com/georgerterry
ps. I'm UK time, so I might not be able to answer every question in real-time as they come in. But if you ask a question, I will answer it as soon as possible.
Hey George,
Thanks for the AMA. Let's say I'm in the content business. I've got a good reputation and nice portfolio. I've got one main client, outside my 9-5, that nets me solid additional side-income. The rest of my clients all come to me for 1 off content needs - how do I go about finding clients who need multi-month or year long engagements and how do I approach them about this instead of saying I can just help with an article?
I've also got a graphic designer I teamed up with. Together, we can do graphics + content, but we're still figuring out how to pitch ourselves, and to who.
Should I just start sending 10-20 cold emails a week to potential companies seeing if they need our services? Ideally the company is already needing our services, and then I can message them with what we can offer.
What your thoughts here on how I can move forward? Between myself and the designer, I think we could offer a great service and scale, but first we need to get a few consistent clients rather then just one-offs.
Hey!
Yeah, few thoughts here that might help. I'll break the answers up.
**Going from one-offs to ongoing work
You need to get your clients onto a 'retainer'. This is an agreement that they will pay you X a month to do Y, instead of X whenever they need it and nothing in between.
Clients won't do this unless you give them a good reason to. Here's what you need to do:
If you currently charge $600 for one blog post, offer a retainer that gives them 6 blog posts over the next six months for $3,000 (or less). You'll do all the research and come up with the ideas in advance. Then you'll produce a content calendar for the next six months so they can just put their feet up while you do all the work.
You have an advantage here because regular content marketing is MUCH more effective than sporadic, so there's an added incentive there for the customer.
**Winning new clients
Your first set of clients will usually come from your personal network(s). People who know you and trust you are more likely to work with you than strangers.
Before you start reaching out cold, I'd recommend you and your designer use your personal networks. Ask if people you know are interested, but also if they know anyone that might be. Asking for referrals is the easiest and fastest way to pick up new clients.
Once you've squeezed all the value you can from your personal networks, sure, reach out cold.
**Final idea
Make sure you have an awesome portfolio of work that's quick and easy for people to skim through. Our agency works with around 10 writers at any time and I review portfolios constantly. Most of them are terrible.
A few tips:
The bar is so low in terms of how writers present themselves that if you do these three things you'll be in the top 5%.
What not to do:
Hope this helps!
Awesome. Once you exhausted your personal network, what was your strategy for approaching cold clients? theres a saying that everyone needs content - is that really true? Or is it best to target certain industries and sizes of companies? Do I present myself as one person, or a full agency?
My advice is always to present yourself as what you are.
If they want a freelancer, they will look for a freelancer. If they want an agency, they will look for an agency.
When I first worked freelance I pretended to be an agency and that was a mistake. It confused prospects. They need to understand instantly who you are and what you do.
Yes, everyone needs content to a certain extent. But not everyone is willing to pay for it.
My advice is to target one industry and build your whole portfolio around that one industry. You will learn a lot about it. When you reach out to people in that industry, they will pay attention.
You can also charge much more money if you specialise. But remember: pick an industry with plenty of money, that takes marketing seriously.
These insights are fire, George. If it's alright, I have a few more questions - but I'm feeling absolutely jazzed on the info you've shared.
All my clients are SaaS businesses - are you suggesting to then specialize within the SaaS space, like cybersecurity, digital adoption, ect.
Yes, exactly :)
A cybersecurity SaaS will want a cybersecurity expert, not a SaaS expert. SaaS is a very broad niche. Technically it's not a niche, it's a business model.
Aim to become the best content creator in the world in one aspect of SaaS. Focus relentlessly on that one thing.
This is how you build future value as a freelancer. Promotions don't exist when you work for yourself. So you need to build a portfolio that justifies higher rates and the way you do that is by owning your niche.
Hope that helps!