Case Study: Solo Freelancer to $1M Agency in 24 Months

Year 0: The Freelance Plateau

Founder: Tom Chen Service: WordPress development Revenue: $80K/year Team: Just Tom

The situation:

Tom had been freelancing for 5 years. Good income. Flexible schedule. But...

The problem: He'd hit his ceiling.

"I was booked solid," Tom says. "Working 50 hours/week. Turning away projects. But I couldn't grow because there's only one of me."

The math:

Hourly rate: $100/hour
Billable hours: 30/week (rest was admin, sales, etc.)
Annual capacity: 1,560 hours
Max revenue: $156K (and he was at $80K, working well below capacity on low-paying projects)

The wake-up call: A client offered him a $200K/year project. He had to turn it down because he didn't have capacity.

"That's when I realized: Stay solo, or build an agency."

Year 1: The Foundation (Revenue: $80K → $350K)

Month 1-3: Productize

Step 1: Stop custom quotes. Create 3 packages.

The packages:

Website Refresh: $8,000 (redesign existing site)
Full Build: $18,000 (new site, 10-15 pages)
E-commerce: $35,000 (WooCommerce store)

Result: Faster sales (no more proposals). Higher prices (packages command more).

Month 4-6: First Hire

Who: Junior developer ($50K/year)

Why: Handle simple tasks (updates, bug fixes, basic builds)

How: Trained them on Tom's processes (documented everything first)

Result: Tom's billable time increased (focused on high-value work)

Month 7-9: Subcontractors

Who: 3 freelance developers (only used when needed)

Why: Flex capacity without full-time overhead

Cost: $75/hour (Tom billed at $125-$150/hour)

Result: Took on bigger projects

Month 10-12: Systems

What Tom built:

Project templates (every site build followed same process)
Client onboarding checklist
QA checklist (every site went through 47-point check)
Proposal templates

Time investment: 80 hours upfront

Time saved: 10 hours per project × 20 projects = 200 hours/year

Year 1 results:

Revenue: $350K
Profit: $180K (51% margin)
Team: Tom + 1 full-time + 3 contractors
Tom's hours: 45/week

Key move: Tom didn't try to "do it all." He productized first, which made hiring and delegating way easier.

Year 2: The Scale (Revenue: $350K → $1.1M)

Q1: Niche Down

The decision: Stop being a generalist. Focus on one industry.

The niche: WordPress sites for law firms

Why:

Higher budgets ($20K-$50K per site)
Recurring maintenance (retainers)
Referral network (lawyers know lawyers)

What he turned down: Small businesses, nonprofits, anything under $15K

Q2: Hire a Salesperson

Who: Sarah (ex-law firm marketing coordinator)

Salary: $60K + 10% commission

What she did: Outbound sales (cold calls to law firms)

Result:

Tom stopped selling (freed up 15 hours/week)
Closed 12 law firms in 6 months ($420K in projects)

Q3: Build a Team

Hires:

2 developers (mid-level, $70K each)
1 designer ($65K)
1 project manager ($55K)

Total payroll: $320K/year

Revenue increase: $750K → $320K net gain

ROI: 2.3X

Q4: Add Retainers

The offer: $2,500/month maintenance + updates

What's included:

10 hours/month of updates
Security monitoring
Uptime monitoring
Priority support

Who it's for: Every client who finished a website

Result: 18 retainer clients = $45K/month recurring

The Numbers

Year 2 final results:

Metric	Value
Annual revenue	$1,100,000
Monthly recurring revenue	$45,000
Project revenue	$560,000
Gross profit	$550,000 (50%)
Net profit	$330,000 (30%)
Team size	8 people
Tom's salary	$150,000
Tom's profit distribution	$180,000
Tom's total comp	$330,000
Tom's hours/week	40 (down from 50)

Client breakdown:

Retainer clients: 18 ($45K/month)
New projects/year: 24 ($560K/year)
Average project value: $23,300

Team breakdown:

4 developers
1 designer
1 project manager
1 salesperson
Tom (CEO, still doing some development)

The Playbook: How Tom Did It

Phase 1: Productize (Months 1-3)

Create 3 service packages
Set clear pricing
Build proposal templates
Document processes

Phase 2: Hire #1 (Months 4-6)

Hire junior to handle simple tasks
Train on your processes
Free up your time for sales/high-value work

Phase 3: Scale with contractors (Months 7-12)

Find 3-5 reliable freelancers
Use them for overflow work
Test capacity before hiring full-time

Phase 4: Niche down (Year 2, Q1)

Analyze your best clients (who paid the most, easiest to work with?)
Pick one industry
Say no to everything else

Phase 5: Hire a salesperson (Year 2, Q2)

Hire someone who knows your niche
Pay base + commission (aligned incentives)
Free yourself from sales

Phase 6: Build the team (Year 2, Q3-Q4)

Hire slowly (only when revenue supports it)
Hire for culture fit + skills
Document everything before you hire

"The hardest part was letting go. I thought I had to do everything myself. Once I started delegating, everything changed. I worked less and made more."
— Tom Chen · Founder, Elevate Digital

What Tom Would Do Differently

Mistakes he made:

1. Waited too long to hire "I should've hired 6 months earlier. I was scared of the commitment. Cost me probably $50K in lost opportunities."

2. Didn't niche down fast enough "Wasted a year taking any project. Should've focused on law firms from the start."

3. Underpriced at first "My first packages were too cheap. I raised prices 3 times in year 1. Should've started higher."

What's Next

3-year vision:

Revenue: $3M
Team: 15 people
Open office space (currently remote)
Expand to 2 more niches (healthcare, finance)

Tom's role: CEO (no more coding)

"I still love development," Tom says. "But my job now is to build the business, not build websites. That was hard to accept, but it's the only way to scale."

Scale Like Tom Did

Yuktis helped Tom manage his growing team, clients, and projects all in one place—from solo freelancer to $1M agency.