You don't need more employees, you need a better business model.
I know people who make $1M/year+ with no payroll.
One way to do it is something called "Productized Services."
Ever heard of Designjoy?
Here's how he leveraged this framework (so you can steal his homework):
In 2017, Brett Williams decided he wanted more than his 9-5 design job.
But he didn’t want to be another freelancer fighting for penny-pinching clients.
Nor did he want to start an agency managing people and sending all profit to payroll.
But what's the other option?
Productized services.
You take a service, and standardize your offering to all customers:
• Same price
• Clearly defined scope of work
For Brett, this was Design-as-a-Service:
It's like Netflix for design: You pay a monthly subscription – but instead of unlimited Stranger Things re-watches, you get unlimited graphic design requests.
The keyword here is “unlimited.”
Whether you make 5 requests a month or 50, the price stays the same (but only one request at a time).
Why does this model work so well?
The cost of finding, interviewing, training, compensating, and managing new graphic designers is through the roof.
But with Designjoy?
All you have to do is buy a subscription, then forget you ever did.
So how does Brett swing being Designjoy's ONLY employee?
1. NO meetings.
Aside from a 15min discovery call before signing up, you never see Brett’s face again. Ever.
You might be wondering how a company doesn't implode if it has zero contact with its clients...
It all comes down to leveraging tools.
To field design requests, Brett uses a method so simple it’ll make you cry…
Trello. That's it.
On signup, clients get their own Trello board where they log design requests.
On the backend, Brett views these requests and fulfills them in 30 minutes to 48 hours – completely async.
2. Cutting out red tape
A traditional agency's onboarding process:
Visit website > Book call > Wait 1+ days before meeting > Set follow-up call > Finalize price/scope of project > Sign contract > Begin project.
I lost my patience just writing that...
But with DesignJoy?
You go from 1st-time visitor to paying client in 30 seconds.
No meetings. No contracts. No bullsh*t.
3. Speed
Brett is good at what he does. Period.
He services ~20 clients every month, solo. At $5k per client, that’s up to $1.3M in ARR.
So… How can you replicate this?
3 things you need:
• A skill/service.
• SPEED in performing that skill.
• A niche offer within the skill to set yourself apart.
Check out this list to get the gears turning:
PS – If this kind of stuff interests you, highly recommend following @BrettFromDJ to watch along as he builds.
I know people who make $1M/year+ with no payroll.
One way to do it is something called "Productized Services."
Ever heard of Designjoy?
Here's how he leveraged this framework (so you can steal his homework):
In 2017, Brett Williams decided he wanted more than his 9-5 design job.
But he didn’t want to be another freelancer fighting for penny-pinching clients.
Nor did he want to start an agency managing people and sending all profit to payroll.
But what's the other option?
Productized services.
You take a service, and standardize your offering to all customers:
• Same price
• Clearly defined scope of work
For Brett, this was Design-as-a-Service:
It's like Netflix for design: You pay a monthly subscription – but instead of unlimited Stranger Things re-watches, you get unlimited graphic design requests.
The keyword here is “unlimited.”
Whether you make 5 requests a month or 50, the price stays the same (but only one request at a time).
Why does this model work so well?
The cost of finding, interviewing, training, compensating, and managing new graphic designers is through the roof.
But with Designjoy?
All you have to do is buy a subscription, then forget you ever did.
So how does Brett swing being Designjoy's ONLY employee?
1. NO meetings.
Aside from a 15min discovery call before signing up, you never see Brett’s face again. Ever.
You might be wondering how a company doesn't implode if it has zero contact with its clients...
It all comes down to leveraging tools.
To field design requests, Brett uses a method so simple it’ll make you cry…
Trello. That's it.
On signup, clients get their own Trello board where they log design requests.
On the backend, Brett views these requests and fulfills them in 30 minutes to 48 hours – completely async.
2. Cutting out red tape
A traditional agency's onboarding process:
Visit website > Book call > Wait 1+ days before meeting > Set follow-up call > Finalize price/scope of project > Sign contract > Begin project.
I lost my patience just writing that...
But with DesignJoy?
You go from 1st-time visitor to paying client in 30 seconds.
No meetings. No contracts. No bullsh*t.
3. Speed
Brett is good at what he does. Period.
He services ~20 clients every month, solo. At $5k per client, that’s up to $1.3M in ARR.
So… How can you replicate this?
3 things you need:
• A skill/service.
• SPEED in performing that skill.
• A niche offer within the skill to set yourself apart.
Check out this list to get the gears turning:
PS – If this kind of stuff interests you, highly recommend following @BrettFromDJ to watch along as he builds.
I wrote about Designjoy & productized services in my newsletter:
contrarianthinking.biz
contrarianthinking.biz
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