We're Making $15K/Month With Our Agency Through An Unlimited Design Revisions Model
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
I'm Nevilson Christian, founder, and CEO of SeekThem.
SeekThem is an unlimited design service. My team and I have waged a silent war against the sameness on the Internet.
We don't like the monotony and dullness of the internet. Every business deserves to have a unique online presence. We're breaking the mold and making sure every design we create is fresh and tailored to the specific needs of each business.
It's a silent war, but we're determined to make a difference. Just like a soldier in a war, we're ready to face any challenge and always looking for new ways to innovate and improve.
Our goal is to bring excitement, energy, and uniqueness to the internet. With designs like the breath of fresh air in a sea of sameness, we want to be remembered as the company that brought originality to the internet.
Success is in knowing what works, as told by numbers. So, you’re letting a dozen versions of what you call beautiful, stand the test of time.
I'm not claiming that most UX design agencies peddle this nauseating sameness. Instead, the model is to blame. A client faces two barriers. First, they can't articulate their design needs. Second, they don't want an invoice tickling their wallet every time they want a new design.
So SeekThem has become one of the first movers in the industry, by offering an unlimited designs model.
We've bundled every design service into our flagship unlimited bundle.
People don't feel words, they feel stories.
I've seen a bakery become the busiest in its street, by covering its window panes with cartoons making fun of home-baking misadventures.
I've seen a data analytics company pitch successfully to Fortune 500 CMOs by creating minimalistic presentations.
And because I've worked for almost a decade in this field, I also know that if you ask a business 'what design service do you need?', they can't answer (rightly so).
Our unlimited design service eliminates this barrier. I see design as the bridge between info and understanding. Whatever a client has to inform us, we have a design for that. Right from a logo to a whole web experience. This encourages a business to think design-first in everything they do.
This is the 10th month of business for us, and we’re booking $15K per month (the last 3 months, with 35% month-on-month growth).
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
My childhood and teenage years were marked by ups and downs like everyone else's. I was just a typical kid, full of energy and a bit of a rebel. But one experience stood out for me and set me on a path toward my passion.
I won a Scholastic gift voucher, which opened up a whole new world for me. I discovered the poetry of Rumi, a Persian poet, and was struck by the beauty and depth of the human experience he captured in his words. It was like a lightbulb went off in my mind. Humans are hardwired to reward beauty. And there is a common denominator to what’s beautiful. And I don’t mean it in the sense of attractiveness. More about simplicity, pithiness, and timelessness.
Around the same time, my dad gifted me an iPod, and the idea of having a kilogram of CDs worth of music in my pocket was groundbreaking. I became enamored with technology and was fortunate enough to find a mentor in my first boss at Uplers, where I started as part of the digital branding team.
Fast forward to today, and I've found my sweet spot in SeekThem. My three passions intersect, and I’m right at that sweet spot.
To me, it's like hitting the jackpot. I get to explore the beauty of design and creativity, harness the power of technology, and run a successful business all at the same time. It's a dream come true, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
In a nutshell, my journey has been a rollercoaster ride filled with twists and turns, but I've landed in the right place. I've found my calling and I couldn't be happier. I'm grateful for every experience that has led me to where I am today, and I can't wait to see where SeekThem takes me next.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
Can I be honest?
We learned on the go. My first customer was a growth experience for me. It came from a referral but stayed forever.
That was Travel-o-deal – a travel bookings website.
The company's website was lagging. The site was overly transactional, and nothing else.
Visiting the homepage was like sniffing the circuitry behind a cathode-ray television.
That's where SeekThem came in.
Travelodeal.com has to speak to the modern traveler who wants information, education, the confidence that they’re getting a great deal, add-ons, and overall – a travel booking experience that’s quick, easy, and rewarding.
The project involved a comprehensive overhaul of the website's user interface, user experience, iconography, illustrations, user research, user testing, mobile web design, and user acceptance testing. For my early team, this was like flipping through the pages of the UX design dictionary.
The redesign of Travelodeal.com posed three significant challenges for the SeekThem team:
- Inspiring travelers from the moment they landed on the homepage,
- Providing a clutter-free search experience without limiting their options, and
- Transforming the website into a well-oiled funnel that captures interest and nurtures it into sales.
To overcome these challenges, the SeekThem team adopted a three-pronged approach. First, we developed detailed user personas to categorize every type of website visitor. Next, we visualized ideal user journeys based on the user's intent (search, buy, consult). Finally, we identified and eliminated friction points across existing navigation journeys.
How did we measure our success?
Three key performance indicators (KPIs): average session duration, conversions, and customer retention rate.
The redesigned UX of Travelodeal.com was designed to allow users to find travel packages of interest within the first 100 seconds of their browsing session. The team was meticulous in reorganizing travel deals based on the browsing habits of end-users, signaling the premium positioning of the brand through its aesthetic appeal.
Post-redesign, the team measured the website's performance on KPIs and reported a 120% increase in average session duration, a 64% reduction in cart abandonment, and a 38% improvement in customer retention.
Travel-o-deal's founder, Maz Daruwala, had this to say about the brand refresh:
"Our website was a turn-off. I hated it but never knew how to overhaul it. My experience with design agencies wasn't great, mostly because I was expected to draw out precisely what I wanted. I wanted a website design agency that would tell me what we ought to do. SeekThem finally realized that I couldn't talk 'design'. They helped me understand the psychological aspects of their design choices, talked to me in business language, got the job done, and got it done within time and budget. I recommend SeekThem for webmasters who don't understand design themselves but know it's crucial."
It was trial by fire, and we came out strong.
For me, UX distills into 3 goals: Functionality, Aesthetics, and Empathy.
Describe the process of launching the business.
The trigger: something I read from ‘The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables That Illumine, Delight, and Inform’.
This, specifically:
For somebody toying with the idea of entrepreneurship, if this can’t jolt them into it, tell me what will…
Rumi said this: "What you seek is seeking you." We're not looking for our desires alone. They're looking for us too.”
We’re called SeekThem partly because of this.
:)
It’s magic, how I can sense a frisson down my spine, when I concentrate hard on the days that marked the transition from being a VP, Sales & Marketing to being on my own, with a certificate of incorporation, and a fever in my brain, to build something I could lose sleep over.
Starting a business is like navigating a dark and treacherous forest. I’d got borderline addicted to a monthly salary. To let it go, took something huge. When you’re on the entrepreneurial journey, you’re running, blind. You’ve got to handle uncertainty well. I was determined to reach my destination.
The first step was to assemble my team.
I sought out designers and developers. Together, we set out into the darkness, armed with nothing but our wits and determination.
Today, my UX design business is a thriving enterprise, and I am proud of what we have achieved. I know that the journey will never be easy, but I am ready for whatever lies ahead. For me, starting a business is a tale of navigating a dark and mysterious forest, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The journey began with a modest 5-page website, which has since evolved into a fully-fledged WordPress platform featuring a plethora of educational blogs. However, this progress does not culminate there. It is an ongoing endeavor to continuously enhance the website based on insights derived from Google Analytics and customer feedback.
In our efforts to boost traffic, we implement various inbound campaigns, outbound email marketing initiatives, and organic SEO strategies. Our commitment to refining the website and enhancing the user experience remains steadfast.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
If there’s one thing I can advocate, it’s this. Don’t fall for elaborate marketing plans.
My initial marketing plan would have cost me $1,000 straight, had I tried it.
Here’s what it looked like.
Budget: $1000
This was around June 2022, and I was without a salary. I had the cash, but not the confidence to burn it.
Soon enough, I wrote a cold email, bought a monthly plan for $27, built a list, and shot it.
- 250 emails
- 76 opens
- 13 (lucky) replies
- 2 conversions
- Cost of customer acquisition? $13.5
- Average order value: $1,250
Lesson: Effective marketing campaigns are simple.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
SeekThem turns one this March (2023).
I plan to rest, reflect, and review.
An entrepreneur’s mind space is divided into two parts. First, there’s the performance zone. Think of this as the ergonomic chair you settle into, where all the work happens. Second is the whiteboard, which we visit less often than we’d like. This is the learning zone.
Within the last year, a lot has happened in the world of AI.
We see all these tools as friends, not foes. But the industry hasn’t yet made up its mind. Some of my designers hate these tools, others fear them, and a select few find time to stretch these tools to their limits.
We have some tough questions. I call them tough because nobody knows how to analyze them. AI isn’t anything we’ve experienced, the computing power is beyond imaginable. The ideas of reality, intelligence, thought, originality, and ownership – they’ll all be challenged.
- What sort of a business model will accommodate these tools as – well – tools?
- How do we pass the benefit of a lower cost for the same outcomes, or better outcomes for the same cost, to our clients?
- What role do startups and SMBs see, for designers, given they’re enthusiastic (as they should be) towards these tools?
- What’s the best use of the human eye and hand, in a supervisory role for these tools?
- How do we price services that were previously priced by the hour?
I hope we’ll have answers by April.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I can answer this by citing three hard-hitting quotes from some minds I admire.
“Cognitive psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions because it relies on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics.”
- Steven Pinker
I might sound like I’m contradicting myself as an apostle of beauty. Plus, I wrote earlier that people remember stories, they don’t feel data.
Hoping I can explain without getting myself into a knot.
As UX designers, we have a dozen experiments we could try.
Every experiment comes with a cost of time and energy.
While a novice can overvalue innovation, a sticker could err on the other extreme and build unremarkable websites, adding to the sameness of the web.
Success is in knowing what works, as told by numbers. So, you’re letting a dozen versions of what you call beautiful, stand the test of time.
This balances the tightrope of design, stung tight between the poles of intuition and examination.
“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.”
― Paul Rand
This speaks to the duality of design. Now, it can seem simple and the next moment, it can be complex.
It’s all about finding the balance between art, aesthetics, and simplicity.
“Good design, when done well, should be invisible.”
- Jared Spool
For me, UX distills into 3 goals.
Functionality: Good design lets users accomplish their goals without friction.
Examples: Google search, Amazon, and Apple products
Aesthetics: Good design brings calm to otherwise complex tasks.
Examples: Airbnb, CRED, Slack
Empathy: Good design priorities utility
Examples: Spotify, Uber, Netflix
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
The ones I can remember.
- Design and prototyping tools: Adobe XD, Figma, and InVision
- Project management and collaboration platforms: Asana, Trello, Basecamp
- Email marketing tools: Mailchimp
- Social media management tools: Hootsuite
- Web analytics platforms: Google Analytics
- Accounting and invoicing software: Freshbooks
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
They are:
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
- Usability is key in website design
- Keep the design simple and self-explanatory
- Prioritize the user's needs and goals
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by Jesse James Garrett
- User-centered design should drive all decisions
- The design process should include continuous testing and refinement
- The design of a website or product should meet the user's needs and achieve the business goals
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, and Dave Cronin
- Interaction design involves creating a relationship between the user and the product
- The design process should consider the user's emotional and psychological experience
- Designers should focus on creating a product that is not only usable but enjoyable to use.
One might think that every design tome can be distilled into the axiom ‘usability is key’ but it’s not so.
These books will give you another pair of eyes: you’ll see what you never saw earlier, everywhere, in every product you use, and on every webpage, you visit.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
They saw every startup needs 3 people: a hustler (sales), a hacker (product), and a harmonizer (design).
But will you split your equity 3-way? You don’t have to.
Find a tool, learn it (you can, in less than 50 hours), and keep the boat afloat.
Book time on your calendar to completely switch your role (for example: on all Fridays, you only work on the sales and marketing strategy).
Outsource and delegate.
Prioritize. For this, I recommend the Eisenhower Matrix.
Here’s an example.
Urgent and important (do first):
- Fixing a critical bug in the current design project
- Participating in a client call to address urgent design concerns
Important, but not urgent (schedule for later):
- Conducting user research for the next design project
- Brainstorming new design ideas for the current project with the team
Urgent, but not important (delegate):
- Administrative tasks, such as booking travel arrangements for team members
- Responding to emails from non-critical clients or stakeholders
Neither urgent nor important (eliminate):
- Checking social media during work hours
- Spending excessive time browsing design inspiration websites.
Where can we go to learn more?
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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.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
