In the beginning, you may have chosen to work as a freelance developer to enjoy the freedom that comes with this status. Flexible hours, working from home and long vacations, if desired. You have targeted your specialty well, and the business has quickly grown, to such an extent that today you have difficulty responding to all requests from potential customers. And you think more and more often that if only you had someone to help you, an associate, you would no longer miss out on sometimes very profitable projects … Here you are with the idea of opening a digital agency. Any one can manage his digital marketing by hiring any Social Media Management company.
Being a great developer is one thing, knowing yourself in sales, marketing and accounting is another. I do not try to demotivate you from your project. Quite the contrary! If you’re ready to develop new skills, starting a mobile or web agency is the next logical step in your career. In this article, you will find some tips on starting an agency. We begin !
Define your market
The first step is defining the market you want to target. The two main questions to ask yourself at this point are:
- What is your area of expertise and what types of projects do you want to work on? By clearly defining what you know and love to do, you can take a proactive approach and reach out to clients that you would be happy to work with.
- Who is your target audience? Your reputation is more important than your cash flow. It is better to refuse a major project that could be an insurmountable challenge for your team than to accept it and disappoint the client. My advice: look for projects that you are sure you can do impeccably , even if at the beginning they would only be very small projects, for example, in the non-profit sector. As your portfolio grows, your team will gain experience and skills. You can then tackle larger projects.
By choosing the projects that appeal to you and the clients that you admire, you will be motivated to put in a few extra hours of work to deliver excellent results… The happier you are at work, the better you work… and the happier you are. customer.
Define prices and methodology for project management
You will learn from each project. After sometime you will know how to evaluate the costs and adjust your prices to the needs of each customer almost instantly. But when your first major customer asks you for prices for your services, a confident response may work in your favor. My advice: estimate the cost of the project, then add 25% or even 30% . As long as you don’t have enough sales experience, there is always extra work that you forget to include in the budget. Remember: by working long weeks on a project to end up with no profit, or insufficient profit to pay your employees, equipment and premises, you are putting your business at risk.. So take precautions, because there is always something that we haven’t thought of.
To help you assess the cost, but also to gain the client’s trust, define the stages of his project . Explain to him what to expect when working with your agency. How do you start the realization of a digital project? When will he receive the deliverables? When will he have to pay? Repeat these answers aloud, if necessary, so as not to hesitate during the conversation with the potential client.
Anticipate expenses
You will be surprised how much easy it is to forget something important when planning the expenses associated with running a web agency. There are a lot of more or less obvious hidden costs that we forget, and this despite numerous revisions of the business plan. Here is a list, certainly not exhaustive, of the expenses to be expected:
1. The office
It doesn’t matter if you opt for a co-working, a comfortable home office or a professional office. Either way, you will need to make a significant investment in the equipment . Make a list of essentials and accessories that may not be necessary for the proper functioning of your agency but that you would appreciate having. A laptop, phone and office accessories are, of course, the bare minimum. On the other hand, buying a printer or a scanner may not be so urgent. Are you going to do impressions every day? A print shop next door might also be a good option.
2. Software and services
There are a few free tools that you can install right from the start of your business. Whenever you land new projects, consider investing in more advanced software… Isn’t this a good way to celebrate your success? ? Here is a list of essential software for a digital agency:
- The design: Adobe Creative Cloud, OmniGraffle, Sketch 3 or Pixelmator. I also recommend InvisionApp, a free software for prototyping mobile applications.
- Hosting and Managing Websites : This article compares several free solutions that are great for getting started.
- Accounting: Cloud apps like Wave and Xero offer free or low cost solutions. You won’t need more to get started!
- Organization: Trello is free project management software. Do not hesitate to invite your clients to use it with you, for better organization when carrying out their projects.
- Customer relationship management: For now, your web agency won’t require a large CRM, like Salesforce, but there are other ways to manage and track your potential customers. I recommend Insightly or Capsule CRM.
- Marketing: You will need to establish a marketing strategy to find potential customers and grow your business. There are multiple marketing tools out there (you could make an entire article, or even a whole book!). I advise you to take a look at MailChimp or SendGrid.
3. Insurance
You probably haven’t forgotten about insuring yourself and your employees, but if you are renting an office, you will also need to purchase liability insurance. For a home office or co-working space, it might be worth insuring your new equipment .
4. Team
Doing everything yourself can be stressful, but don’t rush to hire seven assistants right away. There are many automation tools for small businesses that help keep your time efficient. If you need a helping hand, consider… freelancers to reduce salary expenses as much as possible .
Being a freelancer yourself, you know perfectly well that it is possible to find great professionals who benefit from this status, whether for design, programming, content writing or even marketing. You can even create a whole team of freelancers !
Develop your digital agency
Once you’ve covered the basics, it’s finally time to find some clients. To begin :
- Tap into your personal network. Tell your family, friends, former clients and colleagues about your digital marketing agency. Don’t forget to relay the information on social networks.
- Register on marketplaces like Elance or Guru.com.
- Participate in conferences and trade shows for entrepreneurs. It may be more effective to go to one large event than to multiple small gatherings.
- Meet people who could potentially hire you , but most importantly don’t ask for a job. Just invite them to the cafe and absorb their wisdom about the industry. It’s a way to learn, expand your network of knowledge and promote your digital agency.
Finding new customers is not easy. Almost everyone is wary of agencies that don’t have a portfolio with at least a few successful projects. This is why I insist once again on the fact that at the beginning of your activity the size of the projects does not really matter. Today you close a 5,000 euro project, tomorrow you will have two 8,000 euro project, and so on. The first objective is to build your portfolio .
Manage your time
It is important to find your own pace and set your goals at work. As the manager of a digital marketing agency, you will have many tasks that do not fall under programming: administrative tasks, meetings with clients, management of partnerships, prospecting, marketing … To lose it, list the activities you want to do during the day by imposing a time limit on yourself, for example: “30 minutes for prospecting on social networks” . It will help you stay productive.
It’s a good idea to keep track of your time when you are working. Even if you don’t charge by the hour, it will be useful to know how long it took you to complete a task. In fact, this will allow you, the next time, to make a more precise estimate of the costs of the projects and to set realistic deadlines.
Avoid tax problems
The legal and accounting challenges faced by business leaders still need to be explored . Here are some things to consider when starting your agency:
- Don’t forget to have money aside to pay income tax and social security.
- Open a bank account for your business. Avoid using your personal account for the business and vice versa.
- Keep receipts and invoices for all your business expenses, as they are tax deductible.
Do you like it?
Creating a web or mobile agency is a career choice that presents many challenges, but the satisfaction of seeing your business grow is well worth it. Do you have the seed of entrepreneurship in you? You’ve had the courage to freelance before, so the answer is probably “yes”. ? And don’t forget: whether you are a freelance developer or a digital agency , Yeeply is always on the lookout for new talents in mobile development.
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