No-Code Agency Dilemmas and Growth Discussion | This Week in No-Code

In this episode of 'This Week in No-Code,' hosts, JJ Englert and David Pal, unpack some key dilemmas and growth influence factors affecting their no-code agency. They highlight the importance of refining operational tactics, including pricing plans, managing objectives, and maintaining a balance in servicing the clients. They touch on the challenges associated with fixed-pricing models, client relationships, demand fluctuation, potential growth directions, and the importance of aligning the agency's evolution with personal goals. As they compare note on the realities of running a no-code agency, actionable insights around spec work, client selection and effective business models are discussed.
00:00 Introduction and Casual Banter
00:24 Welcome to This Week in No Code
02:09 News Segment: Zero Code Acquires Minimum Studio Plugins
05:15 Discussion on Apple Vision Pro and Future of AR
11:58 Reflecting on Studio NoCode's Journey
14:46 Challenges and Learnings from Running a NoCode Agency
23:21 The Challenges of Client Expectations
23:50 The Importance of Setting Expectations and Learning from Mistakes
24:25 The Struggles of Meeting Pixel-Perfect Standards
25:24 The Importance of Client Understanding and Compromise
25:57 The Value of Choosing the Right Clients
26:40 The Shift from Project Completion to Ongoing Support
28:33 The Challenges of Scaling and Hiring
30:29 The Dilemma of Agency Growth
35:56 The Risks and Rewards of Productized Services
44:08 The Importance of Enjoying Your Work and Choosing Your Path
46:42 The Potential of Diversifying Skill Sets and Platforms
47:21 Conclusion: Embrace Your Journey and the Opportunities Ahead

[@dhillroy2525]

A very insightful conversation, thanks for putting this up guys!

[@nocodealliance]

Glad to hear!

[@richardbinnington9740]

Thank you guys for talking about the nitty gritty of agency life. I am a bit earlier on in my journey, but I love this Design Joy approach.

[@nocodealliance]

Yeah, great idea. We're discussing everything at the moment! Thanks for suggesting.

[@baskaranm5385]

Great video, guys. I appreciate your honesty about the challenges of running a studio. I'm on the verge of starting a small no-code studio focusing on Bubble and other no-code tools. This video provides a valuable perspective for shaping the future of my studio. Really appreciate it.

[@nocodealliance]

So great to hear, my friend!

[@gobbledegook1]

Interesting video. Easiest way is to just have a bunch of freelancers on call and pay them a fixed price per project I would think? Seems to be what most agencies do

[@nocodealliance]

A bit more complicated than that. What if you don’t want to manage those people? What if they aren’t trained in your ways, or build the way you want them to do it? Or they do it wrong, and you have to redo it for them. Or you forcast wrong and they go over budget and now you’re loosing money out of your own pocket?
Sure it’s easy to hire someone, but hiring someone who can reliably do the job with your name attached to it is hard, and requires much more work, and at that point, why not just do it yourself?
Benefits and negatives too each. Not saying one is better than the other, just that it’s there’s a lot that goes into it and you shouldn’t let you push it in a direction that you don’t want to

[@gobbledegook1]

​@alliance Sure, you'd want to vet the freelancers. Airdev and others have a fairly comprehensive vetting process then pay fixed cost per project. There's no going over budget as you are paying the Freelancer a percentage of the budget.
That's assuming you want to scale your agency or build less yourself of course. Was more meaning in comparison to hiring a full timer. Great insightful video btw

[@nocodelife]

I’ve been speaking to some massive code dev agencies recently and their minimum price for anything is over $100k. I’m sure it’s no better than anything you guys build.
A higher price point will bring you sophisticated clients who understand working with software and will ironically be more tolerant to bugs and dev cycles.

[@nocodealliance]

Thanks Kieran! That is naturally happening for us. At the same time, we have no outbound sales process, and all of our leads pretty much come from my network so its harder to be picky in that sense.