How to Start a Solo Agency: My 2-Year Experience from the Netherlands

Most people see starting an agency as requiring a big office, team, and investment. I founded FUTIA from my living room in the Netherlands in 2023, and today I have 7 active clients with five-figure monthly income. No team, no office, just a MacBook and good internet. Starting a solo agency doesn't require large capital or years of experience, but proper positioning and automation are essential.

In this post, I'll share the solo agency setup process based on my 2-year experience in the Netherlands. What services I offered, how I found clients, how I built the technical infrastructure, and what the costs were. I'll also share how moving from Turkey to the Netherlands affected my business model. If you're considering starting a solo agency, this post will give you real numbers and concrete steps.

Why a Solo Agency? The Logic of Working Alone Instead of Building a Team

Before moving to the Netherlands in 2022, I worked at social media agencies for 6 years. Team management, client meetings, budget planning were always there. But I noticed most agencies make the same mistake: they increase the number of services and lose specialization.

I have 3 main reasons for choosing the solo agency model:

1. Near-Zero Operational Costs

Without a team, there are no fixed expenses like payroll, office rent, or insurance. FUTIA's monthly fixed cost is approximately 200 euros: domain, hosting, AI API subscriptions (Claude, OpenAI), Notion, Figma. While an agency in Turkey has monthly fixed costs of 50-100 thousand TL, I can provide the same service at a cost of 7 thousand TL.

2. Niche Selection Is Easier

Large agencies have to be generalists because they need to take every client to feed the team. I focused only on the WordPress + AI automation + SEO triangle. My clients like Diolivo.com.tr, doktorbul.com, memuratamalari.com are all within this triangle. I've rejected 10 projects because I don't do social media management or graphic design.

3. Deeper Client Relationships

Without a team, the client talks directly to me. I have a 30-minute call every week with Ahmet Bey, the founder of Diolivo, and we analyze cart recovery rates together after the CartBounty integration. This level of relationship is impossible at large agencies.

First 6 Months: Narrowing the Service Package and Finding the First Client

When I founded FUTIA in March 2023, my first mistake was writing too broad a service list. A generic portfolio like "web design, SEO, social media, e-commerce." 0 clients in the first 2 months.

I changed my strategy in June:

Old service list: Website design, SEO consulting, social media management, content production.

New service package: WordPress site + AI automation + monthly maintenance. Fixed price: 2,500 euros setup, 250 euros/month maintenance.

Thanks to this narrowing, my first client was italyanmutfagi.com. Recipe site, 618 automatically generated recipes, Schema.org Recipe markup. Organic traffic tripled in 4 months. Thanks to this project, I had a concrete case study in my portfolio.

Where Did I Find the First Client?

I sent direct messages to Turkish entrepreneurs searching for "WordPress developer Netherlands" on LinkedIn. 3 meetings from 50 messages, 1 deal. The first client is always the hardest because there's no portfolio. I took the italyanmutfagi.com project at 50% discount in exchange for the right to create a case study.

Technical Infrastructure: What Tools Do I Use?

The biggest advantage of starting a solo agency: you can choose your own stack. I stayed in the WordPress ecosystem because 60% of the Turkish market uses WordPress.

Essential Tools (Monthly ~200 Euros)

• Hosting: Hetzner Cloud (20 euros/month, 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM). 3 times cheaper than Turkish hosting companies, 2 times better performance.
• AI API: Claude Haiku (80 euros/month), OpenAI GPT-4o mini (50 euros/month). Daily automation of 50 job listings for Memuratamalari.com runs on these.
• Notion: 10 euros/month. Client CRM, project management, documentation all here.
• Figma: 15 euros/month. For design presentations to clients.
• Domain + SSL: 25 euros/year on average.

Optional But Work-Simplifying Tools

• Make.com: 20 euros/month. For API integrations, especially the ilan.gov.tr API connection on kamupersonelhaber.com.
• Ahrefs: 100 euros/month. SEO analysis, but I didn't get it for the first 6 months. Ubersuggest's free version was enough.
• Grammarly: 12 euros/month. For English client communication.

Total cost: Essential tools 200 euros, 330 euros with optional additions. Turkish agencies' software subscription expenses are 10-15 thousand TL monthly, I set up the entire stack for 12 thousand TL.

Finding Clients: LinkedIn, Referrals, and Content Marketing

The biggest problem with a solo agency: no sales team. I used 3 channels:

1. LinkedIn Outreach (First 6 Months)

Direct messages to 20 Turkish entrepreneurs every week. I didn't use templates, I personalized after reviewing profiles. Example:

"Hello [Name], [company]'s WordPress site has a page speed of 4 seconds. I reduced a similar e-commerce site in the Netherlands to 1.2 seconds, organic traffic increased 340% in 6 months. Are you available for a 15-minute meeting?"

Response rate 15%, conversion to meeting 20%, deal 30%. So 1 client from 20 messages.

2. Referrals (After 6th Month)

2 months after delivering Diolivo.com.tr, Ahmet Bey recommended me to 2 e-commerce sites from the same sector. Referral clients are the highest quality clients because trust already exists. Onboarding time is cut in half.

3. Blog + SEO (After 12th Month)

I started Futia.io/blog in September 2024. 2 posts per month, each 2000+ words. Niche keywords like "WordPress automation," "AI content generation," "programmatic SEO." 3 inbound clients came in 4 months, all by reading the blog.

The cost of blogging: just time. Each post takes 4-5 hours, but 1 client from 1 post means 10 thousand euros in revenue.

Advantages and Challenges of Working from the Netherlands

My move to the Netherlands in 2022 affected my business model in 3 ways:

Advantages

1. More Predictable Tax System: As a ZZP (freelancer) in the Netherlands, 37% tax up to 75 thousand euros annually. Much simpler than withholding tax, VAT, and social security calculations in Turkey. I don't even hire an accountant, I file quarterly declarations through the online portal.

2. Euro Pricing: I give Turkish clients TL prices but costs are in euros. Thanks to the exchange rate difference, profitability is 20% higher. For example, a 2,500 euro setup fee is 95 thousand TL today, but my hosting cost is 20 euros (750 TL).

3. Proximity to European Market: I don't have European clients yet, but networking is very easy. I go to startup events in Amsterdam, 2 people I met there are potential clients.

Challenges

1. No Time Difference But Different Working Hours: Turkish clients can call at 8 PM, which is my dinner time in the Netherlands. It took me 6 months to clarify my working hours. Now I'm available 09:00-17:00 Turkey time, except for emergencies.

2. No Face-to-Face Meetings: Some clients want to come to the office, I show them via Zoom. I lost 2 clients in the first 3 months because of this. Solution: make the onboarding process more detailed and build trust.

3. Bank Transfers: Receiving euros from Turkish clients sometimes takes 3-4 days. I use Wise, 1.5% commission. While agencies in Turkey receive same-day transfers, I wait 3 days.

Real Numbers: Income-Expense Statement for the First 2 Years

I'm sharing the net figures for 2023 and 2024:

2023 (First Year):

• Total revenue: 28,000 euros (3 clients, 8 projects)
• Total expenses: 3,200 euros (hosting, AI API, tools)
• Net profit: 24,800 euros
• Working hours: Average 35 hours per week

2024 (Second Year):

• Total revenue: 67,000 euros (7 clients, 14 projects + 5 monthly maintenance)
• Total expenses: 5,800 euros (same items + Ahrefs)
• Net profit: 61,200 euros
• Working hours: Average 40 hours per week

Second year revenue increased 139%, expenses only increased 81%. Because cost per client decreases, as automation increases, manual work decreases.

Most Profitable Project: doktorbul.com

Programmatic SEO project, 79,000 doctor profiles. Setup fee 4,500 euros, monthly maintenance 400 euros. We worked for a total of 9 months, total revenue 8,100 euros. Time spent: 60 hours first month, 4 hours per month thereafter. Hourly earnings: 180 euros.

Least Profitable Project: Futia.net (My Own Site)

I built the MVP in 3 months, produced 2000+ videos. Revenue: 0 euros. But thanks to this project, I proved my AI automation expertise, 2 clients came from here. It will be profitable in the long run.

5 Mistakes I Made When Starting a Solo Agency

1. I Accepted Every Client for the First 6 Months: I took jobs like social media management, logo design. Waste of time, low profit. After the 6th month, I focused only on WordPress + AI projects.

2. I Kept Pricing Too Low: I charged my first client 1,200 euros setup fee, worked 80 hours. 15 euros per hour. Now minimum 2,500 euros, 50 euros per hour.

3. I Didn't Make Contracts: I didn't sign contracts with the first 2 clients, only got email confirmation. One didn't pay in the 3rd month, the legal process took a long time. Now I send every client a contract compliant with Dutch law.

4. I Neglected Backups: A client's site was hacked, we lost 2 weeks of content. Now daily automatic backup for every site, 30-day retention. Cost: 5 euros/month, peace of mind: priceless.

5. I Didn't Set Up Client CRM: In the first year, I kept client notes in Apple Notes, chaos. Now in Notion, a separate page for each client, all meetings, projects, payments there.

2025 Plan: Triple Monthly Maintenance Revenue

At the end of 2024, I have 5 monthly maintenance clients, total 1,250 euros/month. 2025 goal: 15 clients, 3,750 euros/month. 2 strategies for this:

1. Offer Maintenance Package to Existing Clients: I currently have 7 active clients, 2 don't have maintenance. I'll offer them "50% discount for the first 3 months." I estimate a 70% acceptance rate.

2. Focus on Programmatic SEO Projects: Large database projects like doktorbul.com require monthly maintenance. Finding 3 such clients is enough because each pays 400-500 euros/month.

Monthly maintenance revenue is the most predictable revenue. Setup projects are one-time, but maintenance clients stay 12+ months. By the end of 2025, 40% of my revenue will come from maintenance.

If you're also considering starting a solo agency, the first step is to narrow your service package. Then be active on LinkedIn to find your first client. Technical infrastructure is simple: WordPress, good hosting, a few AI API subscriptions. I earned 60 thousand euros in 2 years, you can do it too. You can ask your questions via WhatsApp at +90 532 491 17 05 or email info@futia.net.