u/Unfair_Demand_3979

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working as a web designer for the past few years, with a lot of my client work coming through Upwork and referrals. I mostly with Elementor and Squarespace.

I’m getting tired of constantly competing for projects and relying on a marketplace for the next client. So I’ve started building my own small web design agency and trying to bring in clients directly.

The delivery side isn’t really the problem. Client acquisition is.

Right now it’s inconsistent. Some months I’ll get 1 to 2 clients, and other months nothing comes in.

I’ve also been reading through this sub quite a bit, and one thing I’ve noticed is that many of the larger agencies seem to be very niched down, often into home services/blue-collar industries, with offers built around ads or lead generation rather than web design alone.

At the same time, AI website builders and vibe coding are getting better, and plenty of small businesses seem perfectly happy with a basic DIY website. So I’ve been thinking a lot about where web design agencies fit into the market going forward and how I should position mine.

I’d mainly love some perspective on two things:

1. For anyone who moved from Upwork/freelancing into an agency, what actually helped you build a predictable pipeline outside the platforms?
2. For those who niched down, how did you decide where to focus? Was it based more on client budgets/ LTV, ease of reaching prospects, competition, existing experience, or something else?

I know there’s no one size fits all answer here. I’m mostly curious to hear how people who are further along approached these decisions when they were at this stage.

Would really appreciate any advice or lessons learned.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working as a web designer for the past few years, with a lot of my client work coming through Upwork and referrals. I mostly work with Elementor and Squarespace.

I’m getting tired of constantly competing for projects and relying on a marketplace for the next client. So I’ve started building my own small web design agency and trying to bring in clients directly.

The delivery side isn’t really the problem. Client acquisition is.

Right now it’s inconsistent. Some months I’ll get 1–2 clients, and other months nothing comes in.

I’ve also been reading through this sub quite a bit, and one thing I’ve noticed is that many of the larger agencies seem to be very niched down, often into home services/blue-collar industries, with offers built around ads or lead generation rather than web design alone.

At the same time, AI website builders and vibe coding are getting better, and plenty of small businesses seem perfectly happy with a basic DIY website. So I’ve been thinking a lot about where web design agencies fit into the market going forward and how I should position mine.

I’d mainly love some perspective on two things:

1. For anyone who moved from Upwork/freelancing into an agency, what actually helped you build a predictable pipeline outside the platforms?
2. For those who niched down, how did you decide where to focus? Was it based more on client budgets/LTV, ease of reaching prospects, competition, existing experience, or something else?

I know there’s no one-size-fits-all answer here. I’m mostly curious to hear how people who are further along approached these decisions when they were at this stage.

Would really appreciate any advice or lessons learned.