Web Design Business with Josh Hall
The Web Design Business Podcast with host Josh Hall is here to help you build a web design business that allows you to have freedom and a lifestyle you love. As a web designer and web agency owner of over a decade, Josh knows the challenges, struggles and often painful lessons of building a web design business without any guidance, proven strategies or a mentor to help you along the way, which is why this show exists. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of coaching, mentorship and guidance to help you build your dream web design business. All while having a good time doing it. Through interviews with seasoned web design business professionals and online entrepreneurs, solo coaching episodes with Josh and even case studies with his students, you’ll learn practical tips and strategies for web business building along with real-world advice and trends that are happening right now in the wild and wonderful world of web design. Subscribe if you’re ready to start or level up your web design business and for all show notes, links, full transcriptions for each episode, head to https://joshhall.co/podcast
Web Design Business with Josh Hall
391 - 5 Years Since Selling my Agency (what I learned and what I’d do differently)
In the Summer of 2020, I made a huge decision…to sell my agency In Transit Studios and go full-time into web design online education.
In this episode, I’m reflecting (5 years later) and sharing some lessons learned on the things I would do again and things I’d do differently.
Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/391
Hello friends, it's Josh here popping in with a special edition episode of the podcast. It just dawned on me that this month July 2025, is five years since I sold my web design agency in Transit Studios. So I wanted to take some time and answer some questions about this, being that I've had, you know, five years to kind of reflect on that and I'm happy to answer. Um, lessons learned, things I am happy I did, things I wish I would have done differently, et cetera. So this is real casual, can have some fun. I actually did a post in my community web designer pro and just ask for anyone who has some questions, and a few members ask some really good questions Plenty to get us going here. So that is what we're going to do Now. I'm going to highly recommend that you take some time and go back through. Either pause this now and go back to this episode or, after this, make sure you go back and listen to episode 53 of this podcast.
Josh Hall:Episode 53 of this podcast because I actually had Eric Dingler, the CEO of my now agency, uh, enchanted studios on the podcast and we talked through like shortly after making the sale. Uh, had him on the show and we talked through this entire experience, while it was fresh and I create. I created kind of a six phase selling the business playbook, kind of an action plan. Phase one was when you know it's time. Phase two is finding the right fit. Phase three was making the deal. Phase four was actually planning the change, phase five was handing over the keys and phase six was cleaning up the tissues, I mean, following up with your new CEO. So, yes, because it is not an easy thing, especially if you actually care about your clients and care about your work. So that is episode 53.
Josh Hall:I'm going to recommend that you go back through that. We will be referencing that a lot because a lot of the questions in here were kind of talked about there. So I'm going to try to focus on the ones that we haven't covered for this. So, first off, ones that we haven't covered for this. So, first off, justin, a Web Designer Pro member, came in with some great questions. Let me skim through some of these and hit some of the ones that I think are most worthwhile getting into.
Josh Hall:Initially, as we look at this five years later, he asked how does being the face of the business impact things when you sell it? I should say too, I'm kind of fighting like a slight cold, so apologies for that. Absolutely, being the face of a business makes it very hard to sell. I'm glad that with my business in Transit Studios that I went with that name because it made it sellable. As everyone with a personal brand knows, you can't sell you unless you just work for somebody, so a personal brand is virtually unsellable. So I'm very glad that I again went with that brand in transit studios. Now I was the face of the business to Justin's point and a lot of clients.
Josh Hall:This has some follow-up questions that we'll get into. Yes, people like I've I've talked publicly about how like 50% of my clients didn't even know the business name. They just knew Josh, their web designer. So it does make it tricky but honestly, unless you build your web design business and or agency with the idea of selling it or exiting it, it's very common that it's a lot of you, so don't think there's anything wrong with that, but absolutely it makes some challenges. So his next question was did clients buy into the business in transit studios or were they really buying you? It was about 50 50, to be honest.
Josh Hall:Again, I think a lot of my clients just like working with me and for all the reasons that I found success as a web designer, a lot of those were because I was a trusted person. I really cared about my clients and the work we did. So I don't think a lot of people really cared as much about the processes I created I mean, indirectly, those were a huge help but a lot of people did, you know, want to work with me. So, um, but at the same time, there was a lot of what made me successful. That was just a part of the business, which was the website, my chops, my processes, my the, the type of websites that I built over the years and learned to build, which were then now a part of our portfolio and a part of my SOPs, which became my courses, which Eric went through and then eventually by the way side note, if you didn't know, and you'll learn this when you go back through that previous episode, episode 53, eric was a student of mine and I saw him build a sixure business on the side and I thought this is the kind of guy who I feel comfortable because he was very care-oriented, very customer-focused and very, very entrepreneurial Pros and cons to that in transparency, but I thought that Eric's going to be the kind of guy who's going to be able to take this and not fall into the trap of just doing all the work and being a freelancer but actually being a business owner. So that's, in short, what made me feel like Eric would be a good fit. And at that time my courses were just taken off and I just I was doing it for 10 years at that point and I just wanted to focus on coaching and doing courses and eventually creating Web Presenter Pro full time.
Josh Hall:So when the business was transferred, justin wanted to know was there a negative side to clients expecting to work with you and now working with Eric? I think for sure there were a lot of people who were probably bummed and nothing against Eric, but people were. They did enjoy working with me. So I mean I, of course, who wouldn't be bummed? They're not going to get an email from me as much I would be bummed. Um, no, but in like, in serious, yeah, seriously and in full transparency. Yeah, I think a lot of clients were probably like oh dang Um, because you do build that trust up now.
Josh Hall:I w that episode previously. Episode 53 gets really in depth on the entire process of doing this. So we'll scratch the surface with some of that here, but I'm not going to take another hour just to go through the process of that, because that is why we have that previous episode. But let's just say it's not something that I rushed, it's not something that I did lightly, and I went for about a month straight. Virtually the only thing I did was work on the transition of the business and try to do it very tactfully, and it was not an easy thing to do.
Josh Hall:I think newer clients were probably the ones who are most like oh all right, I think a lot of my clients knew I was teaching and knew I had found some success on YouTube and had a podcast going, but I do think overall it was probably a surprise. Knew I was teaching and knew I had found some success on YouTube and had a podcast going, but I do think overall it was probably a surprise. So the only negative side there wasn't any negative side in the fact of like literally not one client reached out and said oh my gosh, josh, I'm very upset by this. I was expecting to work with you. I'm very disappointed. It's a testament to the amazing clients I had, and a lot of them are still with the agency because I had so much positive, like wow, josh, that's incredible. And a lot of them had never actually seen my YouTube channel and my podcast at that point and so when they checked it out they were like holy cow, I knew you were doing some stuff on the side, but I didn't realize it was at this level. So everyone was so overwhelmingly positive and I think a lot of my clients were kind of like cheering for me and rooting for me, so, um, that was huge and I also let them know like I'm not completely disappearing, like it's not like they're never going to be able to contact me, like I'm still in very close contact with a lot of those clients, so, um, through social media and through email and and I'll end through local partnerships and connections.
Josh Hall:So, um, the only negative side was, I think, probably just the feeling of you know, a bummer. Um did being in the front man of the brand create any challenges for the transition, for Eric? So there was definitely I don't know about challenges, but there was a lot of work for Eric to do to introduce himself and, um, this is going to sound so douchey, but he, he did have, you know, fairly decent size shoes to fill um with with my communication, and it's it's very hard to and this is one of the reasons I chose Eric as the CEO to step up for the agency is it's you can't find somebody and then have them like learn how to care. That is just. You just have to. And Eric, luckily, is someone who is mission focused and really does care about people and care about the work. So, you know, I didn't find somebody who was like, okay, they're really savvy. But we got to you know, stop being a hustler and actually worry about caring about clients. I, the care was like the main thing I looked for. So I think that helped in the transition for Eric and I thought about having Eric on this podcast, but we're gonna have to do a follow-up one, I think, for both of us, cause I have a lot of questions to get to and I can talk, you know, as you know, for plenty of time. So, um, yeah, I think the challenges were just, you know, you don't want to be the next Josh, but you don't want to. Um, clients don't want to have like a less version of an experience as far as client communication and feeling of being supported. So a lot of that was covered in the transition to which is how I operate, and I basically just said you got to over communicate, um, and you got to really freaking care.
Josh Hall:Have you seen other step back from their businesses intentionally to make it more brand driven or transformable? Uh, was that something you considered? Yeah, for sure I think I had. Well, it's interesting is on the broader entrepreneurial stage I'm actually seeing people double down into their personal brands. Folks like Russell Brunson of ClickFunnels. Amy Porterfield just went all into her brand. My previous business coach, james Schramko his brand used to be called Superfast Business. He's actually gone all in on his personal brand. So it is kind of interesting. But those they don't really have like sellable businesses. They may have sellable assets in their businesses but it is kind of interesting that that world may be different than actual agencies. Yeah, I have seen agency owners try to productize as much as possible and step into more of a consultant thought leadership kind of role. Um, actually, greg Merrily is the owner of studio one design. I had him on the podcast recently. They're out of Australia. He's a great example of a true agency owner and from what I see from him is he's at a point where he's still doing some sales calls and stuff, but he's really embracing being the owner of that business and he has a new book that is maybe out by the time this comes out, kind of like sharing his expertise and really putting himself as more of like the true founder and starting to step back from the day to day, from what I see. So I do think that's becoming more common. Um, good question Did Eric feel pressure?
Josh Hall:Justin asked to to fill your shoes by doing the same things like podcasts, youtube tutorials or networking. I don't know if he felt the same pressure. It helped that he was already doing a lot of these things. Um, eric is, for better or for worse, a like zip zap, zip zap entrepreneur, so he likes to do a lot of things. It's actually a challenge. I have to kind of reel him in and let him know when we do our little quarterly check-ins, like just stick with this, stick with, stick with this for a little bit first, because he's just a. You know, eric, just like a lot of entrepreneurs, likes new and likes to do a lot of different stuff. But, um, so it wasn't a problem for Eric to like do a lot of those things. It was actually a challenge to like keep him focused on just in transit studios so, or, you know, just the main offers. So, and I can say that Eric and I have a great relationship. I can anything I say here, eric will, I guarantee, would say yes, guilty, so, but again, aren't we all as entrepreneurs? Um, but it was different.
Josh Hall:Eric did have to because he's not local in Columbus Ohio. He actually has roots here and he has some clients previously in Columbus. Um, he couldn't do what I did, like he couldn't go to my networking groups. He couldn't, you know, do exactly the same thing and he didn't. He didn't do like YouTube tutorials. He did some stuff on the in transit YouTube channel, but it was more about for clients. Um, and his podcast, which does feed into in transit studios today, is more about his digital nomad lifestyle. Him and his family literally travel the world. So that was a difference there was. He's a very different kind of business owner. He's not like local boots on the ground, he's remote, but he is very good at communication and he will do as many calls as you need to kind of guy which I appreciated communication, and he will do as many calls as you need to kind of guy which I appreciated, and yeah, no, he did not. He did not continue the Josh brand, exactly which I wasn't expecting. He kind of created his own identity. For sure he created any.
Josh Hall:In transit studios has evolved in the way of it's now more of an agency than it was, more of a small studio. I purely just focused on website designs with three ranges and then our maintenance plan and then some SEO and consulting for the growth category. He's got it much more to a place where he's really kind of marketing focus first and then the website is a big part of that which some clients have really liked. I've got some clients that I keep up with who do appreciate that approach. Some probably just want a web designer and some want more marketing help. So there's always a bit of a give and go when you step into somebody else's clientele and somebody else's business and I let clients know it's not my business anymore, it is Eric, and I told him it's not my business anymore. It is Eric and I told him it's not my baby anymore, it is yours. We're handing that little web baby over. Take care of it.
Josh Hall:How did the brand transition actually work? Did Josh quietly disappear from the business or was it more of a handoff. It was more of a handoff. Yeah, I did not make it vague or ambiguous. Um, that did I say that. I'm so proud of myself for saying that word correctly. I did not, like you know, sleazily sneak out. It was a very clear. Like guys, I'm actually moving on to a different role in the business. I'm a founder, I have a new CEO. He's going to be doing all the day to day. Um, and then I really didn't get that much contact from the clients because I think there was so much time in investing in Eric and we intentionally made that period of time where Eric had a lot of time he needed to dedicate, to have calls with clients and introduce himself. So it was honestly kind of easy for me because it was kind of like the announcement and then Eric took it over from there.
Josh Hall:Was there any downside to having been the prominent personality when it came to came to an exit? So, yeah, I think we covered that for sure. Um, yeah, I mean in an ideal world what I have got myself even more out of the sales calls on day to day before exiting, for sure, but uh, it did come pretty quick in the way of like I just got to that point where I was like, oh my gosh, I think I'm. I'm not burned out, I'm just. I want my focus is is elsewhere. Like, I want to do my courses, I want to do YouTube, I want to do my podcast, I want to do coaching, I want to build a community, and I am just a mono business guy. I just cannot run two businesses at the same time. Plus, I'm a father work from home enthusiast, balance enthusiast. So I'm not working 90-hour weeks. Ain't going to happen.
Josh Hall:Looking back, do you think there's a double-edged sword in building a personality-driven brand versus a business-driven one? And again, this kind of gets into that. Yeah, for sure. The thing is, I think it's always good to build your business with your personality, even if it's whether it's personal brand or like me, where, like, I'm the very clear face of the brand. But I probably would have if I could go back. I would have started to, even if I didn't think I would eventually sell. And this is something I recommend all my Web Designer Pro members think about is to build your business as if you can sell it regardless. So, even if you're the craftsman and you love doing the work and you're a solopreneur and you're a proud freelancer. It's still good to start building a business, because you just never know what's going to happen. So it's always good to get yourself into that position or even start to dip your toe into those scaling waters. That way, if you do feel like, oh my gosh, I think I might want to like, maybe I'm just done doing the sites now I just I really have found a love for marketing and that's what I want to focus on. That gives you the leeway to do that.
Josh Hall:Great questions from Justin. We're going to move on to some questions from Alexia. Now Alexia, good ones here. What parts of selling a business surprise you emotionally versus strategically? So yeah, two camps here, or two categories.
Josh Hall:Emotionally, I was not surprised by this, but well, the surprise emotionally. There was two big emotions that happened during that period. The first emotion was the literal tears when I was sending out individual emails to clients, because I had very close relationships with a lot of clients. I am such a people-pleasing person. Letting people down is traumatic to me. So with clients, I was terrified of that. I was terrified of getting emails from somebody who'd be like Josh, I'm really disappointed in you. I thought you are a website guy. And now what are we going to do? And uh, luckily that again that was not the case. I literally didn't get one of those emails. I could sense disappointment and like, oh, just more out of like the bummer of like man, we really enjoy working with you. We're going to miss working with you.
Josh Hall:But I've learned that at that point in my career there was a lot of business owners I was working with who had been through exits and who had been through this kind of stuff. So they were like, oh well, congrats, it's business. Like, good on you, do what you love, do this new endeavor, that's awesome and thank you for just not disappearing. I think that was another thing that I was surprised by was a lot of clients were very thankful that I didn't just burn them, because I could have just said like I'm out, peace. But no, we like it was really really an intensive process to make sure the handover was as good as it could be, which is again what we covered in episode 53 of the podcast the emotion. So that was the emotion that surprised me.
Josh Hall:What did not surprise me or I should say that's the emotion that did not surprise me was the feeling of the clients. But what did surprise me was the emotion after, because I thought I would feel free as a bird and once I sold in transit, I'd be like, oh my gosh, I just wake up and have coffee and can work on my courses and just kind of not lollygag around but just have a much more like, oh, like free flowing week, like week schedule. That is not the case. In fact, I felt overwhelmed. I felt completely overwhelmed because I had built up joshhallco and my suite of courses with very up joshhallco and my suite of courses with very, very strict, regimented time, which was actually a gift wrapped.
Josh Hall:It was a blessing wrapped up in disguise, because once I had 40 hours a week to dedicate to this or more, it was like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do and I only say I have so much to do because I had so much I could do. My mind was just like it was like free, it was like you know, you know roaming free. And then I'd like really reel myself into like, okay, what do I need to do this week, what I want to get done this month? And I've had to continue to learn how to balance that Because when you are um client facing and you're doing client work, it's actually a lot easier to get stuff done sometimes because you got a deadline and your client's like, hey, we need this by Friday. So you just get it done ideally. But when you have a business like I do, where I can pretty much do whatever the heck I want it, the overwhelming nature comes when I need to be my own boss and set my own deadlines and set really, really strict timetables on stuff. Otherwise is it Parkinson's law where if you don't set an allocated deadline or time on something, that task will just expand and you'll never get it done. It could just go forever. So that was the big surprise and that came into strategically. That's probably what that led to is I had to be really strategic now about creating a clearer vision for my schedule and my outcomes as a creator and coach and community builder and course creator.
Josh Hall:Did you ever feel an identity shift or who am I now after the sale? It is kind of interesting. Luckily, I had already started realizing that like, oh my gosh, I'm a course creator. At that point courses were it. And I did realize like, holy crap, I am like doing way more course creation work and I and I love this just more just because, again, I was not burned out from my agency. I love my clients. I absolutely would have kept doing that had I not started falling in love with courses.
Josh Hall:It did feel a little weird because those first few weeks I was just like, oh my gosh, I don't have any sales calls, I'm not managing projects for clients, I'm not worried about hitting deadlines, I'm not checking subscriptions. So there was a little bit of that. It wasn't like a complete culture shock, just because I was essentially managing two different identities, as the business owner of InTransit and also course creator. But it just gave me the opportunity to 100% go to course creator. But it did feel weird. It felt weird not having those calls. And the networking group was a weird one because I went to my networking group every year for eight years, or every week for eight years. That was a weird one because I went to my networking group every year for eight years, or every week for eight years. Um, that was a weird one because I was like, oh my gosh, it's Friday morning and I'm not going to the networking group, I'm not selling web design courses to them, so I don't need to go. That was a hard one too, because I have a lot of close personal friends in there and, um, luckily, I've stayed really close with a lot of them. One of them is my realtor, one is my financial advisor to this day, one is still my auto mechanic, one is actually my daughter goes to kind of a community-driven preschool to one of those folks. So we've still stayed close. But it was weird.
Josh Hall:And then this is kind of unrelated to this but really interesting question here from Alexia what would you say are the top one to two core principles that have really made you successful over the years? I would say number one is care, because people really can sense care. And actually Alexis, who has some questions up shortly, told me at our recent in-person event, WDP con. She said that, uh, cause it was like one of the last conversations before we left and it just sticks out to me. She said I've seen a lot of web design coaches and course creators and she's like I feel like you are, the are one of the only few who genuinely care and we can sense it. She said, like you can sense it and you can see it in our over.
Josh Hall:Um, I think just a dogged persistence is also key. Um, I, and this is why I say no to a lot and don't commit to too many things, Um, but I am very persistent when I commit to something, which is why this podcast is going on its sixth year, because I knew when I started my podcast the reason I delayed on doing it for a year. A lot of people said just start your podcast. I was like I I'm not ready to commit yet and I wait until I'm ready to commit because I know it's going to be a commitment, it's going to last a long time. It doesn't mean I move on from things, but it does, uh, like it won't move on if I feel it's time. But it does mean that, like, I'm going all in on something, I'm going in on something and I'm not going to half-ass it. So I think that like I guess I don't know what to call it Persistence Um, yeah, that dogged. Like this, I'm doing this and it's going to be successful in some manner. Hopefully it's successful in the books, hopefully it's successful for people I'm teaching, and even if I just like it and consider it a success, then that would be a success.
Josh Hall:The other thing I think if I could choose a top three, it would be care, the persistence of commitment. So maybe just commitment. That's probably the second one. If I could just choose a word care, commitment and well, now I feel like I need to have a C word at principles on these, because you have to be able to adapt to market changes and fluctuations. You have to be able to adapt to new technologies, like we're dealing with AI.
Josh Hall:I went through a big adapt season when I pivoted from the course first model to Web Designer, pro and the membership first model A couple of years ago in 2023, I've talked about that extensively. It was a painful pivot but it was the best thing I could do for me, my family and all the members of Pro in the long run. So that was almost like there was more emotional swings and moving from courses to membership model than there was selling my business, quite honestly. But I learned, I. I learned like I just sensed I was like I think I'm ready to change this up, like I know my people are getting success when they have courses, community in some level of coaching, and I just realized that, yeah, I would just wanted to move to the recurring revenue membership model over the bigger one-off course sales, just because it was, I mean, yeah, recurring revenue was a big, the bigger one-off course sales, just because it was. I mean, yeah, recurring revenue was a big part to that, but it was also just like what was working and I sensed that.
Josh Hall:And I also sensed that courses were getting harder to sell. And man, was I on the money on that one? Because over the next year, I mean, when's the last time you've bought a thousand, 2000, $3,000 course, unless it was like a like a, a more cohort style thing? But you know, just as a peer and I'm just talking like a pure like people used to just sell a $3,000 course. It was like here's the access to all my information. Now, typically it's like a program or it's a live cohort style type of offer backed in with the actual course, but just pure courses, because I never did a cohort lifestyle model, pure courses.
Josh Hall:Um, that was a shift I was sensing and I'm so glad I trusted my Spidey sense on that one for sure. Um, yeah, alexia says I know my perspective of business has changed since just this first year. I can't imagine how your mindset has evolved over the years. For sure, yeah, completely different person than I was, even, you know, when I sold in transit. Um, all right, whitney. Whitney Bates, an awesome member of pro, was also on the podcast recently. Um has echoes all of the next questions that we're going to get to, which were from Dylan member, awesome member of pro and she also wondered about the need to have people on a longer term contract.
Josh Hall:All of mine are month to month, especially for recurring revenue. Yeah, so mine were month to month as well, although I did have a balance. I don't know the percentage, it was probably about 25% who were on annual monthly recurring revenue plans with our maintenance plan and about 75% month to month. I don't know the exact rate on who stayed and who dropped from that, but from my understanding we did not lose many clients over the first year in particular, like I'm pretty sure it was. I'd say I can follow up with Eric on this, but I'd say 95% folks stayed within that first year and of course, we had projects that were still being built out through that time too. So Dylan wanted to know what profit or what revenue multiple did you use when you sold the business? So I sold for three times the amount of recurring revenue I had, uh, monthly recurring revenue so, and that seems to be pretty industry standard. Now I will say Eric got a pretty dang good deal.
Josh Hall:Uh, I was just making so much more with courses at the time where I was like I I was honestly fine with devalue out, undervaluing in transit, just to free up my time to be able to go with courses, and that was still the best decision. Could I probably have gotten more? Yeah, but then I realized like how much work in time is it going to take for me to really ink out a couple extra hundred thousand? Or you know, like am I going to double this? Like I'd rather just just get me in the place where I am just the founder of the agency and I have my check-ins with Eric and I'm kind of consult like a consultant and then I can focus on courses and really grow that thing. Because, as many of you know, I went full time shortly after COVID hit, so um. So that's one reason courses were just booming for me as people were in the middle of being home and starting their businesses on the side. So I felt like that was the right time and I backed that decision five years later.
Josh Hall:So typically it's three X the amount of of revenue. From what I've seen. There may be different views on that, but essentially what I sold was our maintenance plan and a list of clients and our SOPs and our processes and our systems, which Eric had access to by being a student of mine, anywho. So that's essentially what I sold and what seems to be common. So yeah, that's how that was. The valuation of in transit studios was three X the MRR and could I have charged more? So, for example, if you're doing 50,000 with MRR, you should be able to confidently sell for one 50. And then, if you, you could probably charge more for a client list. Again, I could have done more, but I was fine to just go full full-time forces. Uh courses.
Josh Hall:Um, was it a full-time lump sum or installment plan? I would have loved for it to be a lump sum for sure, but it was not, and I knew that, and Eric's really transparent. He was like, listen, man, I don't have the capital or access to do this in one payment. So he said, if we're going to do it, it's going to have to be a percentage type thing and installment plan. I said, cool, I'm fine with that. Again, I just I didn't need the lump sum right then.
Josh Hall:So while, yes, I did lose the recurring revenue, I was confident with how much course sales I was doing, and later that year I created the first version of Web Designer Pro, which was called the Web Design Club. And so it was just a few months later, after selling in transit, that I built up recurring revenue with my, my first iteration of the membership, which was called the Web Design Club. So basically, what we worked out was the amount I sold for I get within a 10-year period and I get quarterly payments based off of a percentage of the profit of what Intranet Studios takes in. So would I love for it to be more? Yes, for sure, but I still am getting ongoing payments every quarter. That's how that works out, and I'm sure Eric would like to get me paid fully. And yeah, that's kind of what we worked out. So really the goal is, as long as in transit studios grows, and with big waves, I'm getting more in my.
Josh Hall:It's basically a quarterly um consultant type, you know, fee, uh, which is the, the, the payment for the business, uh, what financial records were important to have during the sale. I could have had better records, um, luckily, I mean it was all going through Stripe and 17 hats, so those were pretty well. I mean, eric had full access to all that stuff so and he literally took over the Stripe account for in transit. So it moved from me on there to Eric literally took that Stripe account over. I gave him ownership of that. So all the records for Stripe were there. And then anything in PayPal, anything directly through 17 hats was, was there as well, and of course 17 hats went into Stripe for one-off payments and stuff like that. Could I have had like gross and profit P&Ls better organized? Yeah, but we really didn't have that large of a suite of expenses and I had a spreadsheet that was pretty detailed with all of our expenses and then how much profit was typically in the business, how much I was paying myself and we do talk about that in episode 53.
Josh Hall:What systems and processes did you have to document before the sale? A lot of it was. I went client by client and I created loom videos and gosh, if Eric listens to this, he'll have to remind me how many I did. I mean I think I had at least 50 plus loom videos that I created and I I looked at every client and I was like, okay, here's this client. Uh, those of you who have been through my business course. You know I recommend having a uh a suite of categories for your clients a clients, b clients and C clients. I went through and said this client is in this category. They are like, they're awesome, do not mess it up. Be amazing, give this person extra attention. I absolutely did it that way. So I talked to all my A clients.
Josh Hall:First I did a little loom video overviewing how I met them, my relationship with them, who the main contacts are, whether they're local or not, overviewing their website, talked about this project, previous projects, and, of course, he could go through in 17 hats and see that. Okay, josh worked with Terrier Steel, one of my best clients. Okay, here's how much he charged for the website. This was the package he created, this is how long he's been working with them, et cetera. So those loom videos were absolutely key and again, we do dive into that in episode 53 for more detail. Um, and then, bless Eric's heart for having to list, for having to, uh, bear with me while he watched 50 plus loom videos all within the span of about a week or two.
Josh Hall:And then, how did you handle client contracts? Uh, yeah, that was just there. Really wasn't anything there. I mean month to month, folks could cancel if they wanted to, but I don't think anyone canceled right away. Anybody who has moved on is unrelated to the initial transfer. Um, we talked about some of the stuff with Eric's end of taking things over operationally. I think for Eric it was probably getting used to just working with that many clients. And then, um, because he took over my pricing and and all that, he kind of had to like be the CEO of in transit as it was for the rest of 2020. But then he started kind of making it his own and evolving pricing and we have like a master maintenance plan client list that has like all the original maintenance plan pricing and then grandfathered rates and all that stuff. So, as far as my capacity yeah, it was.
Josh Hall:It was a clean break in the sense of I was not, as I mentioned, you know, vaguely removing myself. Break in the sense of I was not, as I mentioned, you know, vaguely removing myself my capacity was as a consultant. So, especially in the in the first couple of years, eric would email me more and ping me more and I was happy to to do that. But over the past couple of years it's really trailed off to where I only I check in generally quarterly and then, um, I can't tell you, the last time he had like a client question. It's very rare, although we did have like a client pass away a couple of years ago and Eric reads out to me and said like hey, this client passed away and they're looking for some details. There's a couple of things I'm not aware of, so that's happened a couple of times, but I am not client facing at all.
Josh Hall:I am purely more of a consultant to Eric overseeing the business. So I'm I'm officially the founder, although on in in transit studioscom, my face is in the founder. Uh, like on the team page. Uh, employee transitions, yeah, so all the folks who was were working with me in a subcontract role, uh, I did hand over to Eric and he started building relationships with them. Side note my SEO guru who's who's on my team page today? Michelle Bourbonier. Those of you who are Webinar Pro members know her very well. She actually came by way of Eric. So when I sold in transit, I had never met Michelle before, aside from some interactions in my Facebook group and then. So it's kind of cool because Eric got my team and then I got some of Eric's team in the form of Michelle, who is a dear friend and one of my biggest colleagues as far as being a part of my business today. So it's kind of cool. But, yeah, he, he had to handle, yeah, getting to know them. And then there were some pros and cons and some some sticky waters through through that because, um, eric does handle things differently than I do, um, but again, it was kind of his business. So, uh, yeah, there were certainly. So I wouldn't say butting heads, but just some some.
Josh Hall:The vision that I had set out currently wasn't necessarily the vision that Eric had as far as the team goes. So there was team transitions over the period of the next couple of years. Uh, legal document wise, we did have a contract that we both sold and then I think there was a non-compete in that to say that I can't poach my current you know, you know the clients of in transit if they were to leave. I have to look back through I don't remember exactly. So there was probably a form of a non-compete in that main contract. But then there was a binding contract for the rate that was sold and for the expectations of payment and all that as well, and then we didn't actually use a broker or anything in that one. We both did it, but we both signed the contract that we had created that protected both parties. So, yeah, we did not actually use a lawyer or anything in that one.
Josh Hall:If it was like a multimillion dollar sale or something like that, for sure. But the sale was under a couple hundred thousand because it my monthly or my annual recurring revenue. So, um, yeah, it didn't feel like we needed to go that far at that point and again, I just didn't want to delay time. I was ready to move, and when I'm ready to move, we go. How long did this entire sale process take, from start to finish? It was pretty quick.
Josh Hall:We do talk about this in episode 53. It was, um, I think it was in like two months from the time I told Eric I'm thinking about selling to handing over the keys. So it was pretty quick. It wasn't a long drawn out thing. Um, see some good ones here. Uh, any deal breakers or red flags that derailed the sale? No, no, there were not.
Josh Hall:Um, obviously I would have liked to have made more and I would have liked to have had a lump sum, but the again going back to the like it was more about time for me. I just wanted to go all in on my courses. I was already making more than I was doing that than the agency at that point, so they were more like micro things that, yeah, would have been nice to, if anything. If I could go back, I probably would have arranged a larger initial lump sum that could have been attainable for Eric even with capital. Um, and then just to balance it out a little more, cause he got the better end of the deal I think it'll for sure initially, but a better deal for me long-term, just because I'm continuing to get quarterly payments. So, um, yeah, those were no like deal breakers or red flags, but those were things like yeah, it would have been nice to do a couple of things there.
Josh Hall:Um, we talked about building in transit studios with a different intention to sell it. Yeah, I just would have started to like even more so put myself in more of the founder role before officially selling. But then you're getting into like building a business and really being the true business owner and not doing anything in the business. But it happened, it did happen pretty quick. So, yeah, that would be the only thing I would have done a little bit differently leading up to it, but again, it was kind of a time thing, so it's all good.
Josh Hall:Uh, the biggest mistake I see web designers make when trying to build a sellable business is like basically just creating a job, not scaling. Essentially, if you don't scale in any way and you don't have any team members, you don't have anybody other than you building sites and doing everything it's virtually unsellable. So not scaling for sure. How early should someone start about thinking about an exit strategy? It is totally like you don't have to at all. If you love your business and you have zero interest in ever exiting, then you don't need to worry about an exit strategy. I would still put a priority on being a business owner of the business, but it doesn't mean that you need to think about selling it right away. But when you're a business owner and you run your business with the option to be able to sell one day, you could see what happens, for example, with Web Designer Pro.
Josh Hall:I have no interest or desire to sell, but I know from this experience that I'm going to create a web designer community that is not just Josh's web designer community, because in 10 or 15 years, depending on what the market looks like, depending on what I'm doing. I have no intention of selling, but will I be in a position where I don't want to do as much personal intensive coaching Maybe, and maybe I want to have like like micro coaches inside of pro and I'm the founder, just like I was within transit. Maybe I don't know, but I'm creating web designer pro intentionally, more as web designer pro, as a brand, rather than just Josh Hall's community. So that's kind of where my mindset is today when it comes to being a business owner and building an exit strategy.
Josh Hall:And then what advice would you give to someone who wants to build a business? Isn't sure they want to be the face of it? I'd say go for it. I mean, the reality is, though, if you're doing the work and you're doing the calls, you're still going to be on the website. You should, so don't be. But I would just say don't worry about being the business, but be the role that you have in your role chart. In my scaling course, I have a little org chart where I recommend that everybody like literally put your picture in the roles of the business, and if your role is the owner or the creative director, embrace that role. So you don't need to be the face of the business as a whole, but be the face of the role that you are in your business.
Josh Hall:All right, and then some final questions. I am out of water so I'm starting to lose my voice, so we're going to get through these last few questions here. But great questions, guys, and these come from Alexis, who I just mentioned a little bit ago. So she says I can't believe it's been five years. Uh, remember when you sold? Uh, she said how much do you still make from the business? If you'd rather not share, no worries, that's okay. I so yeah, it's not super sexy, but it is kind of nice.
Josh Hall:You know, residual income basically for doing at this point I really do no other work than just overseeing Eric and checking in quarterly, and just I almost treat Eric like a member of a coaching member, a pro, who is just popping in quarterly and they just want some advice and I just I get an update on where numbers are, what's working well, what's not, and just based off of what I'm seeing working with members and pro at the agency level, that's, you know, quarter million, few hundred thousand, that's what I'm relaying to Eric. So that's all I'm doing. Um, it averages out to about 500 a month currently. So, again, if, if in transit can get to the place where it's growing more substantially and there's more profit, than that could potentially double or triple per month, which would be nice. So, Eric, let's go, let's make that happen and make it a win-win. But yeah, that's about where it's at right now. On average is about nice little extra 500 bucks a month that trickles in. So, yeah, it's not like it's funding a um, you know, a helicopter or a boat. At this point it's it's funding boats and helicopters in the forms of toys for my children right now.
Josh Hall:How much do you still do in the busy? Yeah, so I mentioned that. That's really all I'm doing. I kind of answered that question before I realized it was a question. Um, it is really just a quarterly check-in at this point.
Josh Hall:Do you miss any parts of it? Do you miss designing websites and interacting with clients? I do. I don't miss designing sites as much as I thought I would, because I still design sites Now. I do a lot on web designer procom. I do a lot on my tutorial sites and test sites and I'm creating a new one right now. It's kind of a model site for web designer pro members. So I still get my itch of designing sites, but I do miss interacting with clients. Um, I don't necessarily miss the you know the pop-up calls, but I tell you what I do miss interacting with clients. I don't necessarily miss the pop-up calls, but I tell you what I do miss is networking. I do miss my networking group. That's the biggest thing I miss. And occasionally I do miss meeting some of my best clients in person at like Panera or a coffee shop and catching up like that. But those interactions have been replaced with meeting with members of pro in person and doing our meetups occasionally and talking more strategy and stuff like that. And I've I've really been intentional still about meeting a lot of my colleagues and in person network in person. So I still like I just met up with a good friend of mine last week at the coffee shop, actually one of my original mentors I'm going to be meeting with in person here. I haven't seen him in years but he was actually a big part of when I started my agency. He had an agency in town and I learned a lot from him. I connected with him recently and I'm going to meet up with him in his office here soon. So I still do. I still get my fix of interacting in person, because that's important to me and it's the way I'm wired. It's good for me to do that, but the biggest thing I miss is, for sure, my weekly networking group.
Josh Hall:And then, finally, the last question here, great one from Alexis what would happen if Eric decides to sell in the future? So I have to go back through our agreement? I think we do have a contingency in there to where I get the, the, the amount I'm owed, regardless. I will double check on that, though, alexis. That's good thinking, because I'm pretty sure we have that covered. And this is where, like, I would advise talking with a lawyer for sure on all these little things that may or may not be covered. But yeah, that would be the case, but we're already halfway through now, so I'll have to double check that. But we can always revise that and look at a contingency as well. So, yeah, make sure if you sell, add that in there for sure, for sure. Great questions, guys. I think this is enough for right now.
Josh Hall:As we look back five years later again, as a whole, I'm still very glad I did. I think it's the best, because I could not have built web designer pro up today while working. You know, even even though I was only working 15 hours or so in the agency, I just I could not do what I'm doing today and support my family and my kids and and, and, yeah, build pro the way it is today, having still be an agency owner. So a few things I would have done slightly different there, but overall I'm still really happy with it and, yeah, it was really a matter of time. A lot of it was timing and time to be able to dedicate to doing this thing and I think the reason I'm able to take web designer pro to where it is today both personally with our revenue and profit margins and then just as a whole with helping web designers a little more at scale now is because I was able to move into that founder consultant role for in transit. So selling was still, to date, the best decision I've made and I'm so glad it's working out for Eric and I'm so glad that so many clients are still having such a great time, and I'll figure out the exact number. It'd be a good thing to talk about for Eric and I's next catch up here, but it'll be interesting to see, like, what percentage of clients have stuck with in transit, knowing that clients do move on when you have an agency and again we had like a couple of clients pass away, so stuff happens I wasn't expecting, five years later, that 100% of clients are still going to be there. It's just not the way it works. But yeah, overall, there it is. There's a little reflection Five years since selling in Transit Studios.
Josh Hall:I would love to hear from you if you have any questions on this one. So let me know more details below in the description. But I hope you enjoyed this one. But I hope you enjoyed this one. I'm really active on Instagram right now more than anywhere, so if this is of interest, dm me there, instagram or tag me and I look forward to hearing from you. Web Designer Pro members go into the course Scale your Way, because a lot of what I learned in this is what's echoed in that course. Scale your Way and if you're not a member of Web Designer Pro yet, jump on in webdesignerprocom. You can get access to all my courses, which literally are the SOPs from in transit studios. My scaling course is in there. You can also join the community and at the time of recording this, we may or may not have openings for the coaching that's been out of the wait list, but I am going to be opening up more coaching spots here shortly, so keep an eye out for that. All right, my friends cheers. I hope you enjoyed this one.
