How DesignJoy grows

Instead of hourly billing, quoting projects or writing proposals, offer off-the-shelf packages clients pick and subscribe to (about $5,000/month). Every plan includes unlimited requests; the client pays the same whether they use it a lot or a little, so the effective hourly rate ranges from ~$300 to ~$5,000. Distinguishes it from a retainer, which still tracks time. Advice: pick pricing that is attractive to clients but worth your time.

Ran DesignJoy for 3.5 years alongside a full-time job, doing client work during his team Zoom calls. Out of insecurity he waited until it made $80K/month before quitting. The month after going full-time, revenue doubled. In hindsight he says the double workload and stress held him back and he could have reached his current level about 2 years earlier.

Each subscriber immediately gets their own Trello board (instant access is pitched as a key selling point) and adds design requests to a queue. Requests are worked one at a time: about one request per client every couple of days, each taking 30-60 minutes, then feedback rounds and repeat. No Zoom calls or meetings after onboarding and little to no Slack; everything is async so the whole day goes to design work.

Saw a subscription agency doing graphic design; applied the same model to his own skills (web/landing page and product design) and aimed to be the highest-quality option. Built it in one Saturday, 6-7 hours: a one-page Webflow site plus a Trello board structure. He applies the same minimum-effort approach to side projects (a 6-hour app, a course recorded as audio in his car): release something minimally viable and see if it bites before investing weeks or months.

As a designer he could do many things but only offers what he is good and fast at: branding, product design and landing page design. Advice: in any skill (writing, video, thumbnails, design), find what you are fast at, bundle it into a package, price it attractively but worth your time, and put up a website.

Posted the new one-page site on Product Hunt at launch; the upvoting system and daily traffic brought early interest and clients. Followed by building in public and joining communities.

After the Product Hunt launch he started building in public and joined communities. He joined Twitter about a year before the interview (late, by his account), built a modest following, and now gets most leads whenever he tweets.