We arrive a bit later than usual to update you all but there's a good reason for that: we're finally busy.
So let's dive into what happened to Uzumibi Agency during April 2024 and what we can look forward to in May 2024.
Ready? Buckle up and let’s go!
The lows
Clients want to pay low but are asking for too much
Any agency out there will complain about the same thing. When starting, you take almost everything that comes your way to create a portfolio.
Among "everything" are proposals from clients who want complex things for a meager price.
We would be pretty much okay if the price was fair and we'd been asked what we were being asked.
But when the client starts by saying they want to negotiate our price - something we don't do, we have standards as well as mouths to feed, and our experience certainly didn't come cheap for us - and then when they accept, they are constantly making us do more and more.... that's when things get tricky.
We are navigating this type of client for the very first time and for sure we hope it's the last, at least, that it's the last time we have a client like this for... such a low pay.
This is draining our team a bit, but it is a valuable lesson.
We made a mistake with our pricing... and barely will get any money off one gig
Yup, you read it right. So we are currently practicing cheaper prices than usual to get our portfolio going.
But when we set a specific price for our work, we added the VAT into the price and forgot... that we had to subtract our expenses from it (basically the hosting of this website <- perks of being a 100% remote agency). Also, we had to pay ourselves.
We paid for the website hosting, put the VAT aside in an account to pay to the tax office when asked, and then noticed that...
... we are barely getting paid for this gig.
And while we're excited we're getting some portfolio going on, it is frustrating to see that our hard work needs to be rewarded accordingly.
As such, we will be raising our prices to accommodate our expenses, pay off our tools, and first and foremost, reward our expertise.
That's only fair.
At the same time, our quality continues to be a given. We don't deliver something we wouldn't use. Never.
The highs
Creating a massive Webflow website for a client
We're currently working with a client who's quite excited about what we can do by completely revamping their website.
Their website will no longer be in a no-code builder with limited SEO possibilities. It is being developed on Webflow by our team.
This has been a behemoth of a project to develop as there are a lot of new pages to build from the ground up, API integrations and more.
And of course, most of the copy on that website is new, which has also raised the bar on what we can do as a team of content creator + web development team.
So far it has been our #1 priority and it's shaping up to be our best work ever when it comes to Webflow design + development.
Wait a bit for our case study because we have this one locked in to join our portfolio in June!
Improved our blog section
Recently, we've updated all our blog posts to have a unified branding that reflects us. At the same time, we are ensuring the images don't sound as "stocky" as they are.
So we started using Adobe Firefly, the AI that creates awesome photos if you give it a good prompt.
We also revised the copy we had written as it was too generic at times or even downright sounding like an AI.
You will find all our blog articles are now easier to read, more actionable, and even less salesy.
Our LinkedIn page is growing
It is taking its time but our LinkedIn page is now with a healthy 32 followers - you will say "that's too low!" but it's actually okay, believe me.
We have been having engagement here and there, playing around with memes and events (the Met Gala provided us with so much content).
Slow growth can be painful to watch but we are sure it'll be worth it.
If you haven't followed us on LinkedIn, come on over: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uzumibi-agency/
1 new client
In April, we were in talks with a new client to help them set up their store online and prepare everything around Google Mybusiness.
They own a small store, so this was our first time working on such a micro-scale project but believe it or not, it was a lot of fun!
We've said it before, we love to help small projects thrive, and seeing this one starting out and now being ready to shine... put a big smile on our faces.
If you know someone/company that'll benefit from working with us, put us in touch! We have a sweet 15% final fee referral fee.
We will give this referral fee to anyone who refers to us a client who signs a contract and pays for a service.
And that’s all for this update! We made mistakes, we wished we'd learn some things first, we've dealt with clients looking for cheap services... but we're having fun growing.
And if we want to make this dream come true of working full-time at Uzumibi Agency - instead of having our daytime jobs - we need to move this way.
Thanks for reading this update until here!
See you in the next one!
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