Secrets to Running a Successful Web Design Agency in 2024

Running a web design agency will be a fun challenge for 2024. Running an agency is something I've wanted to do for a while, and its the best step after freelancing for 6 years! In this video, I'll share my secrets to success and how I run my agency to help you achieve your business goals.
From building a strong team to managing client expectations, I'll share valuable insights on how to run a successful web design agency. Whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your business, these tips will help you take your agency to the next level. So buckle up and get ready to learn the secrets of running a successful web design agency!
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0:00 Intro
0:18 Step 1
1:15 Step 2
2:35 Step 3
3:23 Step 4
3:51 Step 5
5:20 Step 6
6:18 Step 7
7:20 Step 8
8:20 Step 9
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[@ArnauRos]

Which of these tips are you going to start implementing? 👇

[@sakibpathan4746]

All of them XD

[@ArnauRos]

Love to hear it!

[@hadiaslam7801]

Ive started learning webflow 6 months ago, my goal now is to do cold emails.

[@jibonrifat3534]

Maintennce & Retaiiner Service I like most. I belave It will help grow my agency fast. And also the notion timeframing system was cool. Client can could easily monitor what are the current progress without asking sometimes. Thanks a lot for shareing agency focused tips & processss. Hope this topic will be continue & we get more valuable videos spacially how we can building & managing team, scaleup ETC.

[@creativegabe]

As always, thank you for the agency tips! That Notion workflow is 🔥

[@ArnauRos]

No doubt!

[@mabdiosman]

This type of videos I find incredibly helpful. Very insightful. I hope your channel grows humongously this year.

[@ArnauRos]

Thank you!! Me too woop woop

[@henrythomas7112]

Thanks for the new video! I’m looking forward to seeing what other content you post! Always good to learn as much as you can!

[@ArnauRos]

Awesome, thank you!

[@carlosh1943]

Awesome video Arnau! Thank you for sharing with us all this information. I find this content of great value to me, since I am just starting out and it helps me a lot to have things clear. Also, I haven't seen many designers sharing their entire workflow with clients and also internally as an agency. It is really helpful. PS: I loved notion's workflow with clients.

[@ArnauRos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@101motivation_]

Thanks for the video gave a really good view of workings and systems. Thanks Man!!

[@ArnauRos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AndresTheDesigner]

Love these tips!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@ArnauRos]

boom

[@michaelgeraghty7132]

The timing of this video is crazy! I really want to kick off my freelancing this year. I already did my first site a couple months back and I have another lined up. I just need to figure out on how to get these projects to snowball into more

[@ArnauRos]

amazing, hope it goes well for you!

[@josepdevillaret]

fiverr son, fiverr

[@rasula9]

@@josepdevillaret Fiverr is very cheap bro.

[@patrickspiegel]

Absolute Value packed video Arnau --> And really nice Notion template from the futur!

[@ArnauRos]

Glad you found it valuable, also nice channel!

[@patrickspiegel]

@@ArnauRos oh thank you!! Really appreciate that :)

[@johanvanwambeke723]

Good overview, ours is similar. Expert designers is our bottleneck

[@davedesigns4you]

Man! I like to watch your videos!!! You should keep updating more related to auto-layout (Full auto, even the main framer) I want to see your skills ;)

[@ArnauRos]

Will do man! Just going through a small phase of advice driven videos as im enjoying them at the minute, but as soon as I'm back from vacation we're back to technical stuff!

[@otterguyty]

Thanks Arnau. Love the channel. I'm just getting my agency started too. Our minimum is 8k

[@ArnauRos]

Best of luck! Let me know how it goes :)

[@aashay.nexusone]

Hey Arnau, thank you so much for this video. I also recently just started my own agency as well. We do website designs and webflow development. This video helped me a lot in some of the aspects! Thanks for that! Let's keep learning! Hope we get to collaborate sometime in the future!

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, I'm sure we will :)

[@jacobwwarner]

Good video, short and to the point.

[@ArnauRos]

Glad you liked it

[@MaruHieta]

Great validation and inspiration to see 10k starting fees for web design projects! 😎

[@SzabatDesign]

Thanks Sir! :)

[@ArnauRos]

Most welcome!

[@Geriya]

Dude you looks exactly like Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) from Office TV series. Good tips man

[@ArnauRos]

not sure about that one!

[@Snaksbakanan]

Well done !

[@ArnauRos]

cheers!

[@gregornator]

Hi! Thank you for this wonderful video. I stumbled upon your channel by accident. Do you have any more insights on pricing and how to spec projects for clients. How do you walk them through the expensive projects with out turning them off? Would love to learn more. Thanks!

[@ArnauRos]

Yes, please check my freelance playlist!

[@chriswertz5825]

Great video. I like the retainer portion. Very timely. I just set one up for $3500/mo for brand & site management. May have been a bit too low.

[@ArnauRos]

Thats great! I recommend revising the price in 6 mo. Schedule it with them and increase value - you can always charge more on the next one too

[@fanfusful]

Great video! Loved the tips, so do you think starting with Wordpress/elementor i'ts a good idea too?

[@ArnauRos]

elementor has its place for sure! what were you thinking of doing?

[@lamineemb]

Definitely the KZbin part enlightened me

[@ArnauRos]

yessir!

[@minhnguyen-rp2es]

Great video. Can you make a video where you compare Webflow vs Framer 2024 version? Which tool is more suitable for business in 2024. I personally see my self lately doing projects more in Framer. Because of cost and develivery time for clients who most of the time, just need a simple marketing LP. And when it comes to more difficult ecomers sites. I found out Webflow still lack a lot of features and you still need developer team to join the project to work on thuse difficult sites. This is just my own experience working with both platforms.

[@ArnauRos]

This is similar to our workflow at the minute. Framer is great for fast to market and smaller, even beginner sites. I recently taught a class where students learned to build portfolios - i taught this with framer. So Webflow for me is reserved for clients that really need it.

[@inayarizvi9679]

Absolutely loved it any suggestion or advice on how to get clients without outreaching!!

[@ArnauRos]

be active on social media, showcase your work!

[@alanschouleur3424]

Hello, thank you for your insight. It is really valuable especially the retainer pricing. I am actually working as a freelance/agency. I was wondering what is according to you the most important aspect of an agency ? Do you hire people internally ?

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, it depends what you're looking for! And yes we just hired a marketing person who's killing it recently so it depends what you need in the start

[@kevynlevine]

Thanks for this! Very inspiring. Any hard lessons you’ve learned that led to things being added into your contracts?

[@ArnauRos]

50% upfront, explicit SOW, deadlines, what happens if they don't pay, how many revisions should happen, how much they can hire you for after revisions, & pay the 2nd 50% after files are handed over

[@chriswertz5825]

@@ArnauRos or before files are handed over, once they’re gone you lose leverage.

[@ArnauRos]

yup!

[@TrigannVis]

Hey Arnau! Love the way you organized the agency workflow ❤ How often do you have calls with clients after the project started? Or in most cases Looms are enough?

[@ArnauRos]

Calls are great at first to get on the same page about the SOW, timelines etc. The real important stuff. But once you're 3 weeks into the project and just need to get some feedback we use Looms

[@TrigannVis]

That's a great approach, I use a similar one. Thanks for your reply, Arnau!@@ArnauRos

[@akshaysingh548]

Thanks for the infornative video, got all the notes for the agency i'm planning for a long long time 😅. Can you please suggest how to hire a team for agency or how you met like minded people.

[@ArnauRos]

Hiring is difficult! The people I work with I've known them for a few years at least. Trust is the biggest thing for me, not so much talent as that can be built on. But who the person is and their morals

[@artificiallyintelligenthumans]

Arnau, thanks for this video! You might have covered this in another video, but is your agency niched down, or do you run a general agency? Do you have thoughts on which one you recommend? If there’s a video where you touch on the answer, please feel free to pass on the link. Would love to get your thoughts on the matter

[@ArnauRos]

We're niched down!

[@parasmanikathuria3255]

Are wordpress for development and figma for design good options ?? Or webflow and framer better than these? Also is hostinger good for hosting and managing clients?

[@NK.design]

I am planning to learn no code tools confused between Webflow and Framer. 5:36 can you explain me a bit more why u mentioned Webflow for bigger projects and Framer for smaller projects.

[@ArnauRos]

If you test both softwares youll see that webflow feels like its more prepared for larger projects, you have more ability to fine tune results

[@DrawbridgeHQ]

Hey Arnau, great video and showing steps and your process along the way. Quick question, how did you land your first client as an agency?

[@ArnauRos]

first client came from outreach

[@DrawbridgeHQ]

@@ArnauRos congrats and thank you

[@vaishnavchaudhari0606]

Hey got a small question. how you manage all the money things? like for example how clinets pay you upfront virtually. And how those contracts are made

[@ArnauRos]

Contracts are made in Bonsai, and then I create an invoice in bonsai but link out to a request a payment link in Wise. I'll send an invoice upfront, then one when its done

[@uncoded.design]

Would you do a role play on how you run the business and work with clients, would be very unique content as well for your amazing channel

[@ArnauRos]

Sure, what specifically are you looking for?

[@user-sn1wy5hi6d]

hi arnau thank you for your inspiring videos I wanted to take the concept of project management template but I am from a very small African and underdeveloped and I wanted to know if you made a reduction for this and other products that you could even sell the internet is not stable is very expensive we often have to contribute to pay for anything I live on less than 100 per month in a small room but I spend my days following your videos which are a source of inspiration. I hope this message reaches you and that you can help me I play survival on this template and I train every day to one day reach would only be 1/10th of your skills. greeting from Africa

[@ayyubali1982]

Very great video. How do you get clients to see that this is a need and have something like web design connect to tangible results? Are you selling seo or paid media on the backend?

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, what do you mean by how do you get clients to see that this is a need?

[@Novanet-l1g]

where to get lead offer list ?

[@Escape_videos]

Hi thanks for thes valuable video.Me and my friend we whant to start a design agency how we can start thes agency and how choose the right niche thanks in advance

[@ArnauRos]

It depends! Pick something that you enjoy working in and something that has a high paying niche.

[@sanchitajain9700]

Hey! I’m from India. I’m in the process of starting my own branding agency. I have a few question. I’d be glad if you can help:) -Are you a designer/developer yourself or do you run an agency ? -What’s the basis of charging so high. Like brands/companies can get a brand new high quality website under 500 dollars itself. So what exactly is your differentiator. Like why will anyone pay this much. - do you use just webflow, or shopify as well ? What does it take to become their partner. - can you add custom coding to webflow and shopify ? Is it a very complicated process.

[@ArnauRos]

Hey - both! (i find its best to be both so you actually know what goes into the projects that you're managing) - It depends on where you are in the world and what businesses you're targeting. If you're going for local shops 500 might be all they can afford. But for a large multi million dollar company that uses their website as the heart and soul of their business a 500$ site would be a liability. Paying 10k - 100k for a site is peace of mind for a large business that their investment is well worth it and their business will be better off with that website. - Personally I only use webflow, but theres lots of agencies that are shopify, wordpress, squarespace etc. - Yes custom code can be added if you know how to add it.

[@arthurdch]

For sure, post job / retainer

[@ArnauRos]

hey, not sure what you mean here

[@arthurdch]

yo! I'm just answering your question "Which of these tips are you going to start implementing?". Btw thanks for this video!@@ArnauRos

[@ArnauRos]

@@arthurdch aaaah got it! Yeah man thats a great one :)

[@FloNocode]

Hi how are you ! Have question ! Have you vidéo who speak what kind of question we ask to client during call please ? That will so helpful . Thanks

[@ArnauRos]

Not yet I dont think!

[@brianm3160]

This process is amazing! Do you think, as a freelancer I can pull of all stages by myself? Or should i get someone to help out?

[@ArnauRos]

I did until very recently, its only when it gets overwhelming with running youtube, tilebit, and creating a course that I looked for help

[@brianm3160]

@@ArnauRos I see. Thank you for the reply, If you don't mind me asking, where can I get the CRM Notion template?

[@ArnauRos]

Its in the description!

[@brianm3160]

@@ArnauRos thanks!

[@mkbusiness3561]

I wanted to know a solution to a specific problem in Figma. When I select two layers and press shift+a, the two layers separate from each other, which forced me to reduce the size of the gap, and the lower two layers flip over and vice versa. I replaced the account with another account, but the same problem is not solved. So, is there a way or do I contact the site’s technical support to fix the problem? ?

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, could you add the file in this thread? I'll take a look

[@stefanofresch8836]

What do you include in maintaince?

[@ArnauRos]

hey! take a look at the pic i added in the vid it should cover everything

[@toosharp4417]

I had a suggestion: During the "coffee/closing" session, don't you have the project manager with you, to let you know about the scale of the project, budget correctness and functionality deliverables. Because it seems inefficient to agree on something first, while the project manager is not there, and then the team trying to make the ends meet. I have a question: Are there any specific process you ask the other web agency to share their success story? What's in it for them to sit down with a small web agency, who's trying to upgrade their processes?

[@ArnauRos]

thanks for the tip!

[@ArnauRos]

For the question, they usually ask about marketing, content creation, and our processes

[@khanayan-v7z]

How much should we charge as a agency who is just starting out in a niche, and do you advice to start an agency niche specific or for general?

[@ArnauRos]

It depends! What services do you offer?

[@khanayan-v7z]

@@ArnauRos Design, development and maintenance

[@Akifwani]

Do you use WordPress for clients?

[@ArnauRos]

nope only webflow

[@weeklymindset]

Which tool do you use to edit ?

[@ArnauRos]

premiere

[@mya2227]

Great video, im looking to become a web designer freelancer, do you need to know code to design websites for clients? Also what platform do you use?

[@ArnauRos]

You do not need to know code. I dont! Learn webflow and you'll be golden

[@doudmine]

​@@ArnauRos but to be proficient in Webflow, you have to know basic html, css and Javascript

[@ArnauRos]

@@doudmine i can’t write a line of code, I would still say I can use webflow no?

[@doudmine]

@@ArnauRos For me, Webflow is only a tool that allows you to write code visually! So, for example if you don't understand how Flexbox or Grid work you won't be able to structure layouts in Webflow, let alone a pop-up that requires some basic Javascript

[@suyashoberai393]

Hey, can we just start developing websites in WordPress or firstly should we make website layout in figma or any other tools. Also there's a question in mind if i hire some developers to work with me, will not they do same with other like why do they wanna work with agency if they own can do the same!

[@ArnauRos]

it depends what you're starting with, if you want to have a complete control of your site then I'd say Figma is the place to start. And as for your second question could you rephrase I'm not sure I understand

[@suyashoberai393]

@@ArnauRos i mean that if i take a project with $1500 and i hire wordpress developer and give him $400, then will he not go directly to my client, why he'll take only 400 if he can charge upto 1000 directly!

[@dhruvchawla1226]

How to get started with learning the skills I have no prior experience of designing or development how to begin with that so that I can start my own agency

[@ArnauRos]

Well, you might want to join a course or a bootcamp or something similar to fast track your way into the skills. Then you need some time to cultivate experience and knowledge. If you join an agency as a junior or intern you would learn very quickly what works and doesnt

[@RahulYadav-yg6zh]

Any other tips can you please share to retain clients every single month as a web designer?

[@ArnauRos]

What problems are you facing?

[@MKhurram]

@@ArnauRos The problem I am facing is what we can offer them monthly? Website maintenance and then what?

[@TkrzTT]

@@MKhurram monthly SEO updates, help building a social media presence and also driving traffic to their website

[@MarchedYeti96]

how do you meet with other agency owners? what can i say to get that going? Thanks in advance

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, I recently hired a marketing lead whose sole job is to just talk to agency managers and learn from them. We mainly use twitter, say that we're so and so, want to get in touch and see if we can help each other out etc learn from each other

[@Atlantic025]

do you edit these video yourself or hired an editor?

[@ArnauRos]

editor!

[@udayverma6120]

how can beginners can find clients? (fiverr and others just start at 5 dollars)

[@ArnauRos]

You don't want to compete with fiverr, thats a race to the bottom. Read million dollar offers and you'll learn what you can do to craft a solid offer to clients. A few quick steps: 1. Create an offer so great that the services you offer more than outweigh the price a client needs to pay for it. 2. Make the offer very expensive. 3. Raise prices frequently I made a video about this about 1 or 2 videos ago lmk if you find it!

[@vaishnavchaudhari0606]

Million dollar offer what's that's. Is that a book. Can you link here.

[@ArnauRos]

@@vaishnavchaudhari0606 its called million dollar offers by alex hormozi!

[@xesbeats8180]

​@@ArnauRosI think he's talking about actually getting your offer in front of clients e.g inbound marketing

[@Company_N]

LOCAL BUSINESSES. Find a local business with a shit website, design a new one show it to them and if they want to pay, build it, if not just use it as social media content. Rince and repeat. My first 3 projects where for my local construction companies, made 1 template and sold it 3 times😂

[@jacobb315]

how many inbound leads do u get per month/video

[@ArnauRos]

honestly it varies! youtube isn't that that reliable with leads sometimes its high sometimes its slow. at our highest back in july we received 60k worth of leads in a week, then the next none...

[@GETTHEBAG64]

Hey bro how can i reach out to you for business purposes

[@ArnauRos]

you can find my twitter @arnau_design

[@mohamedahamed4862]

all or ok but what can i do if client can't pay my project price after I finished and submit the client work ? if any idea or solution to this problem ? All freelancer's are face this important problem in everyday life it is the one of the biggest problems in freelancer's journey...

[@ArnauRos]

1st. Get a contract 2nd. Get 50% payment upfront 3rd. If the relationship with the client is 'untrustworthy' only send files/transfer site after 2nd payment is complete. 4th. For bigger projects You can even do a 50/25/25 payment split to ensure you feel comfortable I'm covering these topics in my freelance mastery course coming this summer: ros-design-academy.webflow.io/

[@rijnhartman8549]

How can we get acces to that fprm template?? PLEASE

[@ArnauRos]

Which form 🤔 the email?

[@rijnhartman8549]

The form at minute 01:02 in the video 🫶🏼

[@ArnauRos]

@@rijnhartman8549 hey, so thats using cal.com and then embedding it into site directly

[@rijnhartman8549]

@@ArnauRos gotcha, and the template? Or maybe share a link to your site? 👀 really wanna build my form around that structure 🫶🏼

[@ArnauRos]

@@rijnhartman8549 theres no template really, i just added the dropdown questions needed! And site dropping soon :)

[@nabilhaouam8497]

Where can I apply with my resume to join the agency?

[@ArnauRos]

send it to hello(at)arnau.design

[@ffzz007]

Are you developing Ecom website in Webflow?

[@ArnauRos]

Do you mean right now or as in general have we ever?

[@MKhurram]

I don't know what I am doing wrong but whenever I contact someone, they are dying to even pay 2 to 300 dollars. I got few clients who never argue on price and pay whatever I ask. The maximum I have got in one go is around 900$.

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, what kind of services are you offering?

[@MKhurram]

@@ArnauRos I mostly offer wordpress/wix website development right now. The charges varies with clients but mostly aren't even willing to pay 500 on huge projects.

[@user-bv1sn9hh2m]

do you use any coding or you just use webflow

[@ArnauRos]

Just webflow!

[@the_obm]

Y’all keep saying you’ll link a video below and never really do that.

[@ArnauRos]

What is the video I mentioned? I'm sorry I forgot probably

[@PatrikLeng58]

Why are you saying that framer may not even be worth it?

[@ArnauRos]

It totally can be! Its just how I prefer to work. For massive projects I prefer to do them on webflow

[@asantamzid]

I am not geeting the clients😥

[@ArnauRos]

what is your current workflow?

[@ReachByteBurst]

What's up G, I recommend you adjust your title and add "in 2024" to it. Don't forget me if you go viral 😉

[@ArnauRos]

Updated it, lets see how it does!

[@asdf14051]

$1000 a month for maintenance!? how do u charge so much?

[@ArnauRos]

1000 really is nothing in terms of large businesses, most large agencies charge 5k - 15k per month. I recommend taking a look at flow.ninja 's site!

[@yogeshjoshi781]

You design or develop too

[@ArnauRos]

Design and webflow/nocode develop. So not a developer by any means

[@harryzaynnaz-lo7fg]

Bro look like 70% zayn malik

[@dantemcdonald6195]

Why do you guys take so long to build if you use webflow instead of building it from the ground up?

[@ArnauRos]

what is long in your eyes?

[@Laxy-nw9wh]

bro,50K for a WEBSITE??? IS WILD

[@ArnauRos]

you'd be surprised at whats out there

[@jayellwood]

50k is cheap for bigger agencies. 150k to 250k is norm.

[@ArnauRos]

Yup! lots of room to grow in the agency world@@jayellwood

[@lovehalfblack9420]

Where I work just paid almost $100k for a website.

[@lonesahilnazir]

Free Palestine bro 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[@bryanwillis7746]

Does bro have Palestine in his back pocket??

[@RajGuptaOfficial]

No free world from palestine 😊

[@mhdaashiii3643]

Free palestine 🇵🇸🖤

[@Vyaparmitraa]

Free Palestine ❤❤❤

[@ultrahumaninstinct9310]

​@@RajGuptaOfficialCome I'll free you from your misery little boy!

[@KaziAbdullaa]

Fire content, I'm a huge fan of your video 🙋‍♂ Out of curiosity, are you currently seeking video editors or a thumbnail designer to enhance your personal brand? I am capable of editing videos in any style. @ImanGadzhi @AlexHormozi etc. May I send you a previous work sample?😊

[@ArnauRos]

Hey, currently not looking for one thanks