February 4, 2025

Success story from reader Caleb Vainikka

Fellow list member Caleb Vainikka wrote in with a hard-won success story / cautionary tale that I think might help others here on the list (shared with permission):

Thanks Jonathan!

You’ve been an inspiration to me the last five years.

I started my design and engineering agency in 2018 using basic T&M pricing. Because that’s all I knew.

I took on several client projects and felt like I started to grow. So I hired my first few employees.

But I started feeling like our inertia stalled out when I focused on increasing billable hours.

I was seeing less profitability. More people management.

I got up to a team of seven.

I didn’t have the confidence to ask potential clients the "Why" questions because I was too desperate to work with any client (on their terms, no less)

It was a treadmill, as you say. I wasn’t growing the company. I wasn’t taking time to think about what I needed to do next...

Five years passed.

Then 2023 came around and a ’whale client’ cancelled their project.

A month passed. Then two.

Burn rate was still high, with no significant revenue.

Month three of no revenue, and I had to cut the team. I also dropped my expensive monthly office lease.

I stopped all non-critical spending. Lower overhead took the pressure off.

I hit reset. I prayed. Peace and calm came.

Things slowly began to change. The nosedive slowed.

The runway was short, but I could breathe. I started having the value conversation with clients.

No pressure. No selling. Just asking questions and learning what they really wanted.

Why were they asking for design and engineering services? Why didn’t they use internal resources? Why now?

I learned this skill from your daily email and webinars. From your daily reminders.

2024 brought new clients. Clients interested in making larger organizational changes. More expensive problems. Bigger opportunities.

I started sending out $100k proposals instead of $10k proposals. I quit offering T&M as an option.

All thanks to your repeated messaging.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount from you (albeit passively). I’ve sent your newsletter link to dozens of freelancers in my network.

Right now I’m busy developing systems to remove myself from critical operations. To give myself time to think. Also, I’m developing new offerings that are based on value, not cost.

Thanks for all your help!

Keep crushing it!

Caleb

Thanks to Caleb for sharing!

Yours,

—J