On Growing Revenue From $120K/Year To $500K/Year [Update]
This is a follow up story for Web Designer Academy. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
My name is Shannon Mattern and I’m the founder and CEO of the Web Designer Academy where we teach web designers how to package, price, position, market, and sell premium web design projects.
We help web designers that have been undercharging and overdelivering creates profitable, sustainable, and most importantly scalable web design businesses.
I started my business back in 2015 doing freelance web design on the side of my day job, and teaching solopreneurs how to DIY their websites with my Free 5 Day Website Challenge.
I’ve always coached and mentored other web designers, but it’s only been in the past year that we went all-in on our Web Designer Academy program as our flagship product and we’ve gone from consistent $10K months back in February 2020 to an average of $42K per month in February of 2022 - and we’re growing faster than ever!
I share my journey from $0 side-hustler to CEO of a profitable, debt-free $500,000 company on my podcast, Pep Talks for Side Hustlers.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
2021 was our first year running our completely restructured Web Designer Academy program at our new premium price point which enabled us to provide the high-touch service we weren’t able to provide when we were selling the program as an online course - and it was a massive success!
Our Web Designer Academy students are highly committed, highly skilled web designers that create massive success for themselves when they follow our strategies. We’ve seen our clients 5x, 10x, and even 20x their prices during their time with us and it’s incredible to watch!
We’ve also made the transition from working with contractors to hiring full-time employees since we need more dedicated support as we grow the company.
Our tried and true marketing tactics continue to serve us well. We value collaboration and relationship-building and we have continued to market our business through relationships over the past year.
That looks like actively introducing myself to other people who serve the audience I serve, seeing how I can provide value to their audience whether that’s a workshop or training or summit presentation, or even a podcast interview, and then showing up and over-delivering.
And because we’re super clear on our ideal client and we have solid sales funnels on the backend of our business, we use relationships to get introduced to new warm leads.
We’ve also seen success with running Facebook Ads bringing us qualified leads. We don’t rely on them and results can be inconsistent, but they have been profitable overall for us.
This year we’re speaking at a lot of summits, testing out paid sponsorships, and doing more podcast guests than ever before!
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned this year is the shift from working in my business to being the owner of my business.
Stop trying to figure it all out on your own, and don’t be afraid to stretch yourself. You’ll be amazed by what shifts inside of you when you make that kind of commitment and investment in yourself.
When I realized I was the biggest risk to the success of my business and our students because everything was designed around me, I knew it was time to make a shift.
My business can no longer be me, and I’m putting structures and systems in place to ensure that the business can run without me.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
Last year, I said we’d grow our revenue to at least a half-million dollars and we did exactly that!
This year, we’re putting the team in place to triple our enrollments and grow our revenue to at least a million dollars. We value sustainable growth and are debt-free, so we’ll hit that goal within those constraints. Our company-wide goal is to help our clients collectively generate $10million in revenue this year.
My focus will be on developing our team and creating the company culture I’d always wished I’d had at my corporate jobs before when I decided to start my side-hustle and quit my day job.
And by year 5, we’ll be the premier business coaching company for freelance web designers. We’ll be the first place clients go to find the best of the best web designers.
And who knows, maybe I’ll have hired a CEO to replace me! Maybe we’ll license our curriculum to others who want to use our methodology to coach web designers. Maybe we’ll have added skills training.
Now that I’ll have more time to be strategic since I won’t be in operations all day every day, I’m sure I’ll have lots of ideas but we’re taking it one step at a time!
Have you read any good books in the last year?
Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield Thomas - it’s for people like me who think they have to work hard to make money, and it’s all about exploring your money beliefs and transforming them so that you can enjoy the wealth you’ve created.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
I have two pieces of advice for anyone who’s struggling with growing their business that helped me in the past year:
#1 - Invest in mentorship. Stop trying to figure it all out on your own, and don’t be afraid to stretch yourself. You’ll be amazed by what shifts inside of you when you make that kind of commitment and investment in yourself.
#2 - If you’re scared to make “big” investments in your business, ask yourself my 5 CEO Questions:
- If making this investment were to result in me creating one new client, what is that worth to me
- Do I believe this investment will allow me to create at least that many clients or sales in the next 3-6 months
- Am I willing to do everything in my power to make sure I create a return on my investment?
- Is it true that I can’t afford it? Do I not have the money, or am I just scared to spend it?
- What risks am I willing to take to create the life of my dreams? Am I willing to risk looking stupid, not making this money back, not having things go the way I thought they would?
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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