From layoff to $5k MRR in one month
Karl Weber lost his job, ideated for three days, then built a business in two days. A month later, he’s at $5k MRR.
Let’s take a peek at his finances. 👇
Losing his job
Karl started his subscription design service, Capsule, in January after losing his job as an iOS developer at a large financial company.
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Very interesting read. Could you help me understand your journey better?
1. Laid off.
You decided on starting an agency.
What did you do next? Build in public? Promote on Twitter/LinkedIn?
How did you get your clients?
This is something I wish the article was more clear on. The steps were not so clear cut and sudden. No success is sudden.
My first Idea was to do rapid 48 hour turnaround redesigns for folks. I grabbed my first client, I offered the service for free, and then DID IT! It was intense. The client didn't like the results, except for some buttons I designed for him. So right there I decided to pivot to offer the same service but as part of a subscription. I needed more time to make good work.
So I launched Capsule after 2 days of design and development.
The time leading up to that launch I had a GoFundMe campaign running to help me with expenses. That had been running for 2 or 3 weeks. I would post daily asking for help, and accompany my posts with Art and Design, like fake ads in a retro fashion, to try to encourage other folks and hopefully to offer something as I was straight up asking for money.
When I launched Capsule there was already momentum from that campaign and heightened awareness in my social channels. The channels I used were LinkedIn, Twitter, and Mastodon. Mastodon is my primary channel so I cross post. I also engage and try to be helpful to others that I find in those channels, either through art and design, connecting folks to jobs, or being encouraging to folks.
Most of my current clients are either immediate acquaintances, or folks that are familiar with me through social channels. Like they've seen me around, and now that I offer something tangible that is helpful, there can be a commercial exchange.
Anybody can start a business, but you have to START EVERYDAY. do things and tell people, be helpful. Daily investment leads to results, you're never sure when those results will happen, but they absolutely will.
I will say that after a month I have to now split my time between providing service to my clients, and marketing to find new clients. This is going to be more difficult for me than those initial clients. I think that growth will slow dramatically over the next few months. But that's alright. I'll just keep it up.
Nice read, particularly like the Socialism and AI section. In my opinion, AI art isn't offering anything progressive, if anything it just creates noise to detract from real creativity and graft.
It's true. I think there will be a big decline in how it's used once these services get sued into oblivion because they're just stealing everyone's work/art.
Reading this really got me thinking about how sometimes losing something big can be the kick we need to see life in a new light and dive into adventures we'd never dare to before. it hit close to for me, reminding me of those times when it felt like everything was falling apart, but those moments somehow turned into the start of something exciting and new. It makes you ponder the value of taking risks and having faith in yourself, about how crucial it is to not fear stepping into the unknown and turning challenges into opportunities. It’s a nudge for all of us that sometimes, to achieve something truly meaningful, we’ve got to brave crossing over our fears and doubts
Preach!
Karl, this is very inspiring. Oh how you turned a layoff into a massive win... thank you so much for sharing!
This is really interesting, as I never thought development could succeed as a productized service. It's very different from design work after all. But it's refreshing to read about your early success, and I can't wait to read about future updates!
Also, if you're looking to have other devs on your team to help with Capsule, I'm happy to chat. Either way, I wish you more success.
Hi Friend! Thank you, really.
I'm not yet looking for new developers to join me. I have just passed the break even point for my studio so I'm hoping to add projects to build a reserve of cash and to earn some profit. If you'll subscribe the newsletter on Capsule.Graphics, then I'll announce when that changes.
In the meantime I hope all goes well for you. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Thanks for letting me know! Already subscribed, Karl. I love the way you write, so I found myself reading all of your updates on Capsule's blog. Good sh*t! All the best, and more success!
can somebody tells me that my website recipevilla have potential to earns $1k/month
Your website recipevilla has the potential to earn $1k/month.
One of my friends got layoff. His strategy is building softwares and trading cryptos.
Building software sounds like a good idea. Trading Crypto, not so much.
Looks great
Thank you so much!
Very good article. Curious to know, how did you market your product to get first 10 customers?
I think I explained much of this in another comment, but to summarize: I posted every day on social channels that have my target market. I followed folks that could be potential customers/people I think are cool. And the things I shared, I hoped, were either helpful are cool looking. I shared Art and Design and told people about my services.
I don't have 10 customers yet, I have 5. These folks mostly came from my initial freinds/acquaintances/network. After about 6 weeks I'm starting to get attention and interest from folks outside of my network because of sharing my work and consistent promotion.
The key is to ADD VALUE however you can. Be helpful however you can, and the right clients Will be attracted to you and make a purchase.
love articles like this. Detailed description of how someone made it to where they are so others can replicate and learn! Thank you both!
No Problemo. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Its impressive to see how you identified an opportunity to thrive with, despite the professional setback. Thank you for sharing an inspiring story
You're Welcome! I'm glad that you found the interview useful. I hope all goes well for you.
I recently got laid off as well and this post gives me the motivation that I can build a revenue stream within a month or two.
I struggle with getting started and pitching my product as I'm a perfectionist and want to keep building. Actively working on putting myself out there.
Thank you for sharing your story Karl!
I know ho you feel! Perfectionism is the enemy of progress, or done. Can't get started on anything if it has to be perfect. My advice is to be satisfied with what you see as a shitty version, but still continually make improvements over time, and to share the work of making those improvements. Now your progress has become marketing pieces.
Good luck friend.
That's incredible! Good on you!!
Thank you!
How to apply : source : pakforcespk
Congratulations. Here's what I'm curious about: How did you find the customer? How did you convince the customer?
My initial customers came from my initial network. The sales process was very quick as they understood the service offering through the presentation and copy of my website. I shared my new studio continuously and they were already prepared to buy.
This is how most sales processes work. You have qualified buyers, and unqualified buyers. Qualified buyers have a need of your service and have trust in your service. Landing pages, marketing, brand, etc... All act as artifacts or tokens to help manage your Brand and its values. Once a customer needs that service, the strength of that branding will make them want to buy your service over others.
Convincing my customers was not a single event or action. I convinced them by being myself, sharing valuable insights, and by presenting my service in an appropriate manner on my website.
GRACIAS!
That's incredible! Good on you!!
Thanks!
Thanks for the valuable insights....!
I'm glad that you found them valuable! Let me know if there is anything I can do to support you.
Thanks, Karl, for the insights. Bookmarked your service.
Awesome! Thanks.
Very interested and a motivational. Same thing happened with me when i loose my job i start my own Informative website on Google about SASSA Status Check.
That's awesome. Nothing like a dramatic shift in your life to push you to pursue something new or different.
Fascinating take! The 3 month budgeting with padding is something that every early-stage founders should look through
RIGHT! I think it's good for anyone really.
I’ve honestly thought the subscription model wouldn’t work for dev work, due to the nature of how widely different the work can be. How do you manage? Or can you give an example of the type of work requests you get?
It’s been a month so I can’t give highly confident or deep answers. But I believe it works the same way as a design only agency. Offer only a focused subsection of things your great at, and do it as fast as possible.
For me that’s front end design and development. I’m a wizard at CSS and most of my clients are choosing me because they don’t have the same specialty. Front end work is mostly easy, if I run into an issue, it’s just a test of some extra time, not a show stopping blocker.
I have one client that’s a great designer, and my service for them is purely technical.
One thing that will change is the description of unlimited requests. Although it’s true, it’s not the true value or benefit that folks want or are looking for. They want success towards their goals, not just pretty pictures and some code. Delivering true value towards their goals requires an initiative that I think is more difficult with pure design as fast as much as I can agencies.
Very cool article. Love to hear more socialists starting agencies and wanting to cut people in fairly. <3
Well let’s see how it goes! I’ve thought about revenue distributions and business organizations a lot, I’m excited to put that into practice.
thanks for good iformation
No problemo! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Really interesting article - for all of these subscription design services, I'd love to hear more on how these companies get clients. Is it from a prior network or what exactly
This is a great question. I can speak to my own experience, as I'm not sure how others are doing it.
Almost every one of my clients are folks I've either met and spoken to in the past, or folks that have been aware of me on social media for a while. I've been fairly active in the Ruby community for a while and that's where the clients are coming from.
The lead generation/marketing side is to be active and helpful online in public forums where the folks I want to work with are active.
I thought it would take weeks to get my first clients, and months to be sustainable, but it turns out that I already had a pretty good audience all along. I just had to have the right product at the right price for them to buy.