From Side Hustle to $1M+ Solopreneur

Hey UpFlipers,

Ever thought that building a million-dollar business means hiring and managing a huge team? 

Spoiler alert: It doesn't. 

Forget the myth that you need a fleet of employees. Today’s newsletter tells the story of a one-man online business pulling in $1.5m per year without a team.

Buckle up for one man’s journey from side hustle to a seven-figure solopreneur.

The story behind a 100% online, zero-employee, $1m+ business

Today’s newsletter is about the design agency DesignJoy. We spoke with Brett, DesignJoy’s founder, to learn the story behind this seven-figure, one-man operation.

Brett started DesignJoy in 2017 as a side hustle, charging $449/month. He now charges a minimum of $5,000/month. He earns around $1.5 million/year from clients while being highly selective.

His only real business costs are some software tools and maybe a few other minor things. Pocket change compared to his revenue. Besides taxes, he probably takes home a big chunk of that $1.5 million.

Here’s the short version of his success story…

The idea for DesignJoy hit Brett on a Friday in 2017, and his website was up by Saturday. His only expense was $29 for website software.

Brett figured he could offer unlimited web design on a monthly subscription model. 

Very appealing to clients. Brett had developed his skills to be good and fast at design work. With the right clients, he could make a lot without getting overworked. 

He started by charging $449/month, which, he told us, was underpricing his skills. But it worked…

Making the leap to full-time business

Brett soon had a healthy client roster.

He knocked out a lot of his full-time job during Zoom calls at work. He used other time to work on DesignJoy. But he never meant to do DesignJoy full-time.

As DesignJoy’s third year came to a close, business exploded. 

Brett stayed in his job longer to bank extra savings and further prove the model.

But he soon realized: 

This could be a full-time business. 

And so he left his job and became a full-time business owner.

The brink of burnout…

Brett’s hard work had paid off a little too much.

He was booked, yet struggled to turn down new clients. He worked 12-hour days and teetered on the brink of burnout.

We asked if he considered hiring employees. But Brett told us employees create more stress.

See, Brett considers himself a designer. Not a businessman or manager. He just wants to do what he’s good at.

“I just want to wake up in the morning and worry about myself,” he told us. 

Hiring would make him responsible for someone’s livelihood. And their schedule. And ensuring their work meets client expectations. That’s a lot of pressure…

Scaling to seven figures with no burnout or employees

Brett had to learn to say “no” to leads. But it was scary initially and took a while to get used to.

“It's hard when someone's waving several thousand dollars in your face all the time,” he told us.

However, he realized money couldn’t drive his decisions any longer. 

He had reached a “new level”.

He had to focus on client quality — working only with clients that fit his criteria and interests… while politely turning down anyone else.

As Brett puts it: “Even if they're not the right fit, I have 50 other people in the pipeline.”

Going beyond client work… and diversifying revenue streams

Brett garnered interest from aspiring entrepreneurs who wanted to learn from him, so he started taking paid one-on-one calls. 

Client work earned him plenty. The calls were to help others. The price tag screened anyone who wasn’t serious about starting a business.

The problem is, that one-on-one calls aren’t scalable. Brett can’t help that many people. And he has to trade time directly for money.

So Brett wanted to build a course about packaging and productizing your services. He put it off for years until his brother-in-law gave him that final push.

All he did was record “conversations” with himself about how he built DesignJoy, the tools he used, and so on. He added a community aspect with Discord and Circle so students could discuss things and help each other.

He named it “Productize Yourself.”

Brett still does one-on-one calls, but his course is a relatively “passive” income stream that gives his students a lower-ticket learning option.

3 steps to raising your prices… while getting MORE and BETTER clients

What’s so awesome about Brett’s story is that he went from charging $449/month/client… to a minimum of $5k/month/client.

In fact, he got more clients eager to pay thousands of dollars per month. We reverse-engineered how he did it:

1. Undercut the market first

The easiest way to land clients when you’re just starting?

Price yourself below the competition. Make it so potential clients would be stupid to say “no.”

Do good work, grab testimonials/case studies, and get referrals on top of your regular outreach.

Brett started at $449/month, underpricing his skills.

He said the hardest part was “getting clients to believe it wasn’t too good to be true.”

So he was booked with clients quickly.

2. Raise prices with demand

“Demand-based pricing” means “raise your rates until your lead flow slows down.”

Quote every new client a higher price than the last.

Rinse and repeat.

The funny thing is, business doesn’t slow down, as Brett discovered…

3. Charge insane rates and get more clients

Brett now charges $5k bare minimum for new clients. That’s a crazy number for a small-time, one-person business to fork over. 

But not for an 8-figure company used to paying a senior designer $120k/year.

$5k/month, or $60k/year, looks like pocket change in comparison. It’s a no-brainer for them.

Plus: 

You save time — giving you room for even more clients.

Client work has “levels.” There’s a certain price point where you shut the door on small gigs… but open the door to a whole new world of big companies with massive budgets.

1 silver bullet to service business solopreneur success

Brett’s pricing strategy played a crucial role in accelerating his business’s growth.

But how did he get his services and pricing in front of people in the first place?

The answer:

Building a personal brand

DesignJoy is more than just a faceless marketing agency. DesignJoy is Brett. Clients work with Brett, not a “marketing/branding/design team”.

Brett started on Indie Hackers. But after someone shared DesignJoy’s story on X, he built an X following by answering questions and sharing “behind-the-scenes” looks at DesignJoy. 

Now, he has over 70,000 X followers.

He doesn’t spend a cent on paid ads, thanks to his personal brand. If just 0.01% of his X followers become clients… that’s 5 new clients. 

Also: When he finally built his course he had a crowd ready to buy. Many of his followers are aspiring entrepreneurs.

The earlier you start building your brand, the better.

To wrap it all up…

You don’t need 20 employees to create a million-dollar business. 

It will take work, though. You have to get good at what you do and then get known for being good at it.

Solo service providers start low to pull in clients, then raise prices with every new client. Plus, they’re building a personal brand to fill their pipeline and make that price-raising possible.

One foot in front of the other. Do what you need to do every day. Stick to the plan, and you’ll get there.

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