A Design Subscription Service Making $25,000 Every Month
How this 29 years old turn from freelancing to a 5 figures business owner
Hello! Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your business?
Hello! I’m Will Griffiths, Founder and Creative Director at Hatchly. I’m 29 years old and from Oxfordshire, UK with a Graphic Design / Management background.
Hatchly is a design subscription service that provides clients with on-demand creative solutions.
We aim to streamline the creative process, making it easier and more efficient for in-house teams/businesses to get the design work they need: www.hatchly.co.uk.
How did you start this business? Take us through the process.
The journey began while I was freelancing on things like UpWork.
I found that a significant portion of my time was consumed by admin tasks though, which stopped me from working the majority of my time on actual creative work + the stress of fixed fee work coming to an end and not knowing where the next project was coming from was stressful!
I wanted a more reliable income and a seamless experience for both myself and my clients.
This led to the creation of Hatchly, where I adopted a subscription model to ensure consistent quality, service delivery and 20x less admin!
The initial service was started with a minimal budget (probably only about £100 in subscription fees).
How did you get your first initial customers?
In the early stages of Hatchly, I focused on offering lower prices to attract my first few customers.
This pricing strategy was essential to reduce the entry barrier for new clients and demonstrate the value of our services without a significant financial commitment from them.
Additionally, I leveraged my LinkedIn network extensively. I reached out to potential clients directly through personalised messages, explaining the benefits of our subscription model and how it could streamline their design needs. This personal approach was crucial in building trust and establishing a solid client base - which is the same to this day.
To further enhance credibility, I showcased our initial projects and client testimonials from freelance work, emphasising the quality and reliability of our services. The strategy was to prove our value and reliability through consistent, high-quality deliverables, ensuring that our clients were satisfied and confident in our capabilities. Over time, as we built a reputation for excellence, we gradually increased our prices to reflect the value we provided.
This approach not only helped in securing the initial batch of clients but also laid the groundwork for long-term relationships.
Many of our early clients became advocates for Hatchly, leading to valuable word-of-mouth referrals. These referrals played a significant role in our growth, as satisfied clients shared their positive experiences with their networks, bringing in new customers organically.
This combination of competitive pricing, personal outreach, and delivering exceptional value was instrumental in getting our first 10 subscribers on board and setting a strong foundation for Hatchly’s success.
Since launch, what are your marketing strategies or channels to get new customers?
Currently, our marketing efforts are focused on LinkedIn, referrals, and SEO. We actively engage with our audience on LinkedIn, sharing valuable content and insights related to design and business growth.
Referrals have also been a significant source of new customers, thanks to the positive experiences of our existing clients.
We then. have invested heavily recently in SEO to ensure that potential clients can find us easily when searching for design services online.
How does your business make money?
Hatchly operates on a subscription-based model.
Clients pay a monthly/quarterly fee to access our design services, ensuring they receive continuous support for their creative needs on a daily basis.
Our pricing structure is designed to be flexible and scalable, accommodating businesses of different sizes.
In the future, we plan to expand our offerings to include more specialised design services and/or sister companies with slightly different core offerings.
Currently we are making ~$25k MRR. Running costs are kept lean and low by optimising processes and utilising efficient tools but generally monthly costs are around ~$5-7k.
Where can we go to lean more about you and your business?
You can learn more about Hatchly and our services at www.hatchly.co.uk.
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn!