This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Blaze_26
Hey guys! I'm looking into starting my own small webdev agency. My goal is to find small and simple projects I can quickly design and develop by myself, without hiring anyone. All I need is to start making $2k-$3k per month, and then grow from there. I'm looking for some advice from more experienced people - how would you go about doing that?
What I'd really love to do is to help non-technical startup founders to build MVP web apps (using my React/Node/ Next skills), but there are a few problems with that:
• People who are just getting started don't have any money. • People who are already successful have better options
than myself.
• Big and complex apps have a larger scope than I, as a solo designer/developer, can handle. And I don't know where to find people interested in smaller apps I can realistically build on my own.
So I'm trying to come up with a more realistic plan that I can use to get started. I'm thinking I could start with much simpler projects, build the agency-running skills and portfolio, which I can then leverage to land more interesting SaaS clients. Here's the plan I currently have:
• Find local "boring" niche businesses (gyms, cafes, restaurants, barbers, etc) on google maps and yelp. (Do you know if there are better ways to find your first clients?)
• Make a list of the ones that don't have a website.
• Cold email them and offer my services (that seems like
the most straightforward way to get my foot in the door, are there better approaches?)
• Quickly design and develop simple landing-page style websites for them. Using WordPress, Squarespace, Ghost, or something similar (which tool would you use to make it
easy for non-technical clients to manage the website?) • Charge $1000-$2000 per website (does that price range make sense?). Build 2-3 of those per month.
• Potentially upsell them on setting up the google/facebook ads, so that I'm offering them leads and clients, not just a website (is that a good idea?).
• Build a portfolio of small projects and testimonials, and level up to more interesting projects after that.
This plan also has problems:
• I don't know whether people need this kind of service.
• I'll probably be joining the race to the bottom, since anyone can do this.
• It doesn't sound too fun or technically interesting, I don't know whether it'll result in a good portfolio.
• I don't quite see how I'd grow from there into achieving my dream of building SaaS apps for people.
But that's what I have so far.
Does this strategy sound reasonable, at least in terms of starting a small agency that makes money?
Do you have any tips or advice for me?
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Blaze_26
Blaze_26 | Sciencx (2024-08-06T20:21:10+00:00) How would you go about starting your own small webdev agency?. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/08/06/how-would-you-go-about-starting-your-own-small-webdev-agency/
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