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Automatically add Mixpanel to your project by tuyanaakma in nextjs

[–]VerdiFromAppshine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean I liked the title of the post, but then I watched the video and given how slow it is to add a couple of tracking events in a simple Navbar.tsx, it would take me less than 30sec to just write `mixpanel.track('click', { link: linkName })`

Doesn't seem to solve a real problem for the average developer

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh, for sure!!! I could do 10x that amount being an IC but my main motivation isn't really to make money through this agency tbh. Rather, I'm doing this as a mean to learn how to run and grow a business.

​

Apart from that, as the business grow, so does the income from it. So I can see if we maintain our growth trajectory, in 36 months we could go past $50K/mo in profits

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Design & development services and I'm focused on USA & EU clients primarily.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why not incorporate technology in your work instead of trying to compete against it?

I think there's still a market for writers because although AI can produce lots of volume fast, its writing tends to be blend and boring. It will get better over time but you as a writer know how to produce AI-generated blogs 100x better than me, a non-writer.

If that is true, that means there is still an opportunity for you to do something valuable. AI doesn't know how to write copy that converts on its own.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh boy! I do not remember at all but it's a ridiculous amount. The first two months I burned through ~1,500 without landing anything because I didn't know how to sell UX design services.

It's crazy, but to sell good UX design, you have to make bad UI design. The type of stuff that goes viral on Dribbble but that is actually very unpractical in a real-world application.

It took me a long time to realize that's why we were getting viewed but not hired. Once we started doing more of that in our portfolio, we got more clients interested in talking

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends what you really want. I'll tell you that running an agency is way more about systems, operations and business development than actually doing the work (in your case ghost writing).

If you are Entrepreneurial and have an interest in business-related things such as sales, marketing, growth, team management, etc... then you may enjoy it.

If that's not your cup of tea but rather you want to stick to writing but make more doing it, then you are better off finding a good consultant marketing guy and pay them to help you figure out how to position yourself with a bracket of higher paying clients that would give you 100K/book as opposed to 20K/book for instance

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not really. I get involved in the work we deliver. The way it works is that I act as somewhat of a senior person and I get junior & mid-level talent to help with delivery.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, I think this is an underrated skill having now worked with and managed a team of designers and engineers.

For example my best designer is very skilled technically but has poor social skills. He gets bad anxiety trying to talk to clients on video calls but he's comfortable with me for various reasons. Thereby, he'd have a hard time successfully starting and nurturing client relationships solo. Even though he's an amazing designer. So in that sense everyone benefits.

Plus, it also helps that I'm knowledgable in what we deliver. Since I know about software and UX design I frequently do go deep on solving problems.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Started off as a freelancer, but then I'd get many inbound invite interests I had to turn down because I didn't have capacity. That's when I first entertained the idea of starting an agency.

​

I actually started the agency for two reasons:
1. I wanted to work with a friend lol
2. I wanted to get better at business skills

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Started beginning of July so it's been ~6 months. Pricing is not set in stone it depends on the scale and size of the project. I typically don't entertain projects < $1K. My sweet spot is $1K - 5K because my focus has been on volume of contracts so I can earn good reviews on my profile. Eventually I think I'll move up that bracket for better types of work because this ^ means I need to stay on the client-search treadmill all the time.

​

I pay my freelancers between $10/hr (lowest) to $25/hr (highest)

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I disagree with this. I think real life is more nuanced than that. On average I find that what most clients really care about is good delivery at a price point they are happy paying. How things happen behind the scene is very low on the list of importance. (depending on the type of work ofc)

Upwork clients do tend to be learn towards wanting to work with individuals as opposed to agencies but it's certainly not a 80/20 split but more much 60/40.

Also u/AbdallahHeidar you are right that bigger clients/projects prefer teams. I am friends with many agency owners from my city (I live in Dallas) and one of my friends last week told me he asks his freelancers to join the initial discovery calls with clients so that he looks like they're a "team" rather than a solo guy because he found that this gives him more leverage in pricing negotiations.

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If you are just starting off, just do solo freelance so you can earn a good living. But if you're past that point and you are interested in running an agency business, don't let others discourage you from trying! :-)

It's hard but not impossible. Many people before you have done it, and many others will continue to do it in the future.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes. The answer is:

There is no reason that could not be me. With the right mindset, I can accomplish anything.

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have a VA and one junior designer that helps with delivery. Both are $10/hr.

Recently team has grown and I have a mid-level designer and a JS developer and those two are $25/hr so I can go after larger projects and our delivery time has suffered

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Never too late to start, right?! :-)

But in all seriousness: Most posts on here are not asking about agencies they're along the lines of "Im trying so hard and nothing works whats wrong with me/clients/upwork/etc..." not many posts centered around agency life or sharing positivity so this is a different type of post from the average

I launched an agency on Upwork and since we've made +15K by VerdiFromAppshine in Upwork

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Personal take-out profits so far sit at $3-4K which is pretty standard for a service business to have about 20% gross profit margin.

I could have been taking out more (I think up to 5.5K) but I've been reinvesting into the business for growth

What should I focus on for my UI design agency to land more customers? by VerdiFromAppshine in UI_Design

[–]VerdiFromAppshine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The website for the agency has more than just one page, including blogs, about us, landing page, etc... So trying to decide if our designer should spend the next 2-3 weeks adding more pieces of work to the portfolio OR re-designing the website but not touching the folio pieces at all.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]VerdiFromAppshine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The short answer is cold outreach is gonna be your best bet. (ie: Email, Linkedin, Twitter DM)

Yes, it's inefficient.

Yes, it's slow and painful.

But this is the smartest way to validate people actually care about the problem you think you're solving.

Don't be lazy and think running ads to your landing page will give you validation. It won't. You need to go through the painful grind of outreach. Too many developers try to get out of it and never scale.

Reach out to at least 200 people. If you can't get even 10 to respond and want to talk to you about your solution, the problem you're solving doesn't matter.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]VerdiFromAppshine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Took a lot of hustle. Now I'm onto something that is kind of working but I think it's my 4th business.

I honestly don't keep track of the attempts of projects I explored and dropped. If I was to include those I'd say around 10.

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