Building A Large Clientele Through Our $90K/Year Digital Service Business
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hi. I am the founder of The Web Factory, and we have been serving over 500 companies digitally for the past 10 years in the industry.
I and my proficient team’s data-driven expertise allows us to meet the needs of our clients to the fullest.
Digital services such as logo creation, web design, brand design, creative writing, and digital marketing are the focus of my business.
The top-selling digital services at The Web Factory are logo and web designing services.
My company sets itself apart from the competition with its successful and unparalleled digital strategies. Client satisfaction is an important part of my business; hence I go out of my way to satisfy clients.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
The continuous growth in satellite and web-based channels with a growth rate has led to the development of media management as a field, leading to the establishment of The Web Factory. The media industry can survive with creative players like us.
Before starting my brand, I saw several businesses fail because entrepreneurs usually need more knowledge, skills, and operational capabilities to scale their start-ups.
On the other hand, I learned to be open to learning, improving, and adapting to leadership qualities. These are a few of the standards I stuck by. They helped me become an inspirational and positively influential leader because I was willing to confront and overcome my shortcomings. I seek input and feedback from my team to shift their outlook and mindset and take steps toward improvement.
I always perceive feedback as an opportunity to grow as a business. Throughout our history, we have always operated as a team, brainstormed ideas, and built strategies in a way that has produced successful results. I support individuals, seed-sized and monster-sized businesses with the services necessary for a successful and scalable online business.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
I was very fortunate to come across a team of highly specialized individuals when the idea of starting 'The Web Factory' first came to mind.
I didn’t limit myself to thinking about recruiting as an activity that only applied to filling vacancies with full-time salaries; instead, it was about bringing good opportunities to others for their growth and to improve their career.
Rather than waiting for the right people to find me and limiting my range of possibilities to resume banks, I directly reached out to those who seemed capable in the field via email marketing and posting vacancies with clear job descriptions on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Meeting with relevant people and having discussions, accelerators, trade groups, industry referrals, and collaborative workspaces helped me come across members who are now part of my team.
Together we started our prosperous digital services company after sketching out a business plan to achieve our goals as a leading digital firm.
I focused majorly on longevity, timelessness, uniqueness of designs, and what customers demanded value.
Together we started our prosperous digital services company after sketching out a business plan to achieve our goals as a leading digital firm.
Recognize that no company's original idea began with the finished product you see today.
Our design process begins with understanding your perception of your brand. You explain to us what you want so we can deliver it as per your expectations or better.
Every industry has its individuality. We research it, your competition, and how you can stand out better from the rest.
You get to work with us and get equally involved throughout the process, as it is your vision we work on. Here we will explain and show how we visualize your imagination as we did with our very first clients.
The steps involved the creativity, art, and magic of our expert design team, after which the client decided if they were satisfied with the quality of our work or if they wanted to make it more appealing.
The final result was better than what they initially perceived it to be.
A critical part of managing client expectations is understanding the factors that influence their perceptions. In my experience, I have learned that being unable to meet consumers’ standards translates to low conversions and customer retention rates.
My approach to exceeding client expectations was spread across conducting proper market research, focusing on their previous experience with other brands, a well-developed omni-communication strategy to engage customers consistently across various touchpoints, proactive handling of customer complaints and feedback, using social media trends to comprehend customer expectations, providing fast real-time solutions, and building customer trust and loyalty.
Upon approval of the final draft, we delivered the desired format of the logo design, UX-friendly web page designs, and other services the client had opted for from us such as printing and branding of merchandise.
Our client's information is secure as it is protected during transmission by using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Software which encrypts the information added by the client.
We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect our client’s personal information, both during transmission and once we receive it.
Anyone with any questions about security on our website can email us at [email protected].
Describe the process of launching the business.
Several multinational e-commerce companies like Fiverr, Upwork, Facebook marketplace, and Shopify made launching my website easy and got the digital services up and running. Before our team expansion, having to code was definitely out of the question. That was a major difficulty I faced only because it was the most time-consuming.
The Web Factory is proud to enjoy one of the largest portfolios of clientele. As the online design industry leader, I am proud to create a brand portfolio spread over thousands of brand clientele.
The first couple of clients started rolling in after running Google ad campaigns which were strategized to target consumers with customized needs which were not catered to by other companies in the digital industry.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Due to the widespread accessibility of digital devices like cell phones, tablets, and many others, my main focus was on platforms like iOS and Androids and digital media channels, including social media platforms.
You have to spend some money to earn money. It's a huge risk, particularly considering that the money will pay for one month in a specific niche where I am confident in my ability to generate strong sales and develop fruitful new client relationships.
I make it a point to run paid daily advertisements on Google and other social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn that accurately reflect the company. This creates awareness, generates leads, and increases user engagement with the trending hashtags and targeted keywords used.
I take great pride in offering services that meet most of a brand's online web requirements and I am dedicated to fulfilling my vision to deliver clients seeking to maximize the Internet's marketing potential with bespoke online web-marketing solutions of the highest caliber.
Inventory and cash flow are major concerns, whereas a lack of demand or sales would be undesirable.
Our design, development, marketing, content creation, and copywriting teams are extremely skilled. My brand’s online services include media management, application development, and professionally crafted custom designs for the web and logos.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
My company’s gross margins on average before advertising campaigns were 40%.
This is after deducting the cost of the services. The ad expenditure of the firm, which varies month to month depending on how competitive the audiences I am targeting during that particular time, is the real determinant of my bottom line.
The website receives an average of 400–1,000 visitors per month, converts about 2% of those users into actual customers, and has a 15% rate of repeat visitors.
With thousands of followers and comments on every post we make, my social media platforms are the most valuable assets as well as my highly proficient team.
I generate about $5,000 in monthly online sales, including those from small and renowned businesses through my website-attached online portal, and about $2,500 through supplementary outlets and bigger retailers like networking, word of mouth marketing, trade groups, industry referrals, Fiver, Upwork, and Shopify.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I have seized every chance that has presented itself, regardless of whether I am serving a small or large business. I never wanted to reflect on the past and consider whether taking that risk would have been beneficial.
Even if things didn't work out exactly as I had intended, I tried, and hopefully, I learned something.
I'm especially motivated. I put in odd hours. To prevent casual errors, I maintain organization and discipline in my work.
If I make a mistake, I'll take the lesson seriously and try harder again. I strive to be as effective as possible and do everything from the heart, even if it means addressing commonplace small issues experienced by my staff, which I regard as family.
You will constantly experience issues. Some difficulties are good, and problems are bad. Inventory and cash flow are major concerns, whereas a lack of demand or sales would be undesirable.
Issues with inventory and cash flow are easy to fix and indicators that you are onto something. It can be exhausting to attempt and solve the problem of low sales and demand for services.
Almost everything has a market, but finding that market can be challenging. Cash flow and inventory problems were the biggest problems I faced as a business.
For instance, this year's post-Christmas sales and demand were low due to the year-end holiday season.
The thought of losing weeks of business was far worse, so I accepted the 2% hit from our sales decline.
Being an entrepreneur, every day presents a challenge. If this is your first business venture, enter it knowing that Murphy's Law will be stacked against you.
As you progress and look back, you'll see it was all worthwhile. It is stressful, and you'll wonder why you chose this course of action out of all your options.
There are many things I did incorrectly and many things I did correctly, but there is one thing I believe most people can agree on all the mistakes and wrong turns you make as an entrepreneur mold you not only as a person but also ultimately help form your business.
Everything that happened had a purpose and contributed to where I am now. It only counts if I am content with where I am as a person and where the business is overall.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
The following tools have helped me with the easy and systematic flow of my business:
- Shopify
- Woocommerce
- Etsy
- PayPal
- Mailchimp
- G Suite
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Dropbox
- Slack
- Trello
- Stripe
- Google Analytics
- Google tag manager
- Facebook ads
- Instagram ads
- Google AdWords
- Google AdSense
- Twitter ads
- Linkedin ads
- Google ads
- WordPress
- Adobe Suite
- Figma
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Ahrefs
- Screaming Frog
- Yoast
- Moz
- Seranking
- Alexa
- Rankmath
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
How I built this: the origins of some of the most well-known businesses in the world. How I Built This spins a story about inventors, businesspeople, and idealists—and the revolution they brought about.
Entrepreneurs on Fire: JLD has elevated Entrepreneurs on Fire into mainstream media with his 3000+ episodes, which have been listened to by over 100 million people.
The Tim Ferriss Show is frequently rated as the top business podcast.
These podcasts taught me an important lesson to never give up on my goals. Besides that, I generally only love reading about new technology if I am engaged in work-related activities.
Although it may not be the conventional response, spending time reading or listening to other people's success stories would be better utilized by actually trying new things yourself to gain firsthand experience.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
The best piece of advice I can give you is to begin. You don't have to have everything sorted out before starting.
I talk to many people with excellent ideas, but when I meet them a year or two later, they still need to take action because they fear failure and the unknown.
If you still believe in what you're doing after hitting a few bumps in the road, keep going.
I was about to give up so many times, but each time, something positive occurred, which motivated me not to give up.
Be prepared to put in a lot of effort and work continuously. The times when you don't have a day off in a few months will make you despise your life, so make sure it's something you genuinely love doing.
The other piece of advice I have is to maintain the quality of the products. People are attentive and aware of the product and services a business sells.
There are no simple solutions. Have faith in your concept, put in the effort, and persevere!
Recognize that no company's original idea began with the finished product you see today.
The ability to adapt and change direction is the most crucial talent. It depends on how demanding you're going to be on yourself when you go through the changes because the notion you start with won't be the idea you end up with.
No amount of reading, listening to podcasts, or e-courses will teach you what experience does.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I am currently looking to fill the following positions at The Web Factory:
- Sales Professional
- Social Media Executive
- Front End Developer
Experienced and interested candidates can send their resumes to the following email address: [email protected]
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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