Three years ago Design Pickle didn’t exist. It wasn’t even an idea in founder Russ Perry’s head yet.
That’s why it seems crazy to me that today the unlimited graphic design service is doing $400k in monthly recurring revenue!
Back in 2014 Russ was running a creative agency, but he started to hate everything about it. “I felt like I was in a prison of my own creation,” he said.
By January 2015, he’d shut down his agency and started working as a freelancer. Not wanting to build a similar prison again, he sought out a different business model — one with a simpler service offering that was designed to scale.
From taking on a friend as his first client to now completing more than 800 design jobs a day, it’s been an incredibly quick ascension and a great example of how to scale a service business.
Tune in to hear how Russ grew his business from zero to $410k+ in monthly recurring revenue in less than 3 years.
We cover his marketing strategies, his hiring best practices, and what Design Pickle does to keep customers coming back month after month.
Related: Interested in graphic design but don’t want to go down this path? Check out these top spots to score remote graphic design jobs.
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Learn:
- How the book The 7 Day Startup helped Russ realize the direction he needed to take his business.
- How he grew his business from $0-410k/month in just over 2.5 years.
- How he landed his first client.
- How he secured 15 clients in the first month without paid traffic.
- The unusual marketing strategies Russ used to raise brand awareness.
- Why Russ says charging more was better for his business.
- Why he changed to one simple monthly fee over different pricing plan options.
- How he manages a team of 100+ in the Philippines.
- Russ’ #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
- Design Pickle (affiliate link; 14-day risk-free trial, then use promo code VA30 for 30% off your first month.)
- JarHQ
- The Sober Entrepreneur
- Gabe Arnold (Copywriter Today) on The Side Hustle Show
- The 7 Day Startup by Dan Norris
- Dan Norris on The Side Hustle Show
- The Dynamite Circle
- ICON (Infusionsoft’s conference)
- Zencastr
- 99designs
- Fiverr
- Box.com
- Asana
- Trello
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
Enter your email to access it now:
Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
(If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, check spam/promotions.)
You'll also receive my best side hustle tips and weekly-ish newsletter. Opt-out anytime.
Thanks for the conversation Nick!
You bet — thanks for being awesome!
This was really cool!
Will check out the Copywriter Today podcast episode to see if it’s possible for me to productize my freelance writing biz.
Looking forward to reading the book!
Thanks,
Joe
Just noticed the link to the book goes to Click Funnels!
Hey Joe, there were some CNAME issues, should be back up!
https://soberentrepreneur.com
Best of luck!
Hi Nick,
How come you’re not on Spotify?
You have a great show, I’m sure you’d reach more people being on Spotify.
Hello – I am in the same general industry as Russ – not the creative side though – and loved this episode. I would love to connect with Russ and ask a few questions!
I love Design Pickle – my designer I work with is incredible!!! We’re making some fantastic designs together!
Heard about Design Pickle before but awesome to hear about JAR as well. Just signed up for their relaunch, excited for it! I think it would help a lot given my current freelance client setup lol