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

When I moved to the Netherlands in January 2022, I had 3 months' rent money in my pocket and 6 years of social media experience. I couldn't find any clients for the first 4 months. In the fifth month, the first project came in, €800. In the sixth month, two projects, totaling €2,400. By 2024, FUTIA is handling 15-20 projects per month, 90% from Turkish brands. Starting a solo agency isn't romantic, but once you establish the system, you have control of your life. In this post, I'll share everything I learned in 2 years, the money I made, and the mistakes I made.

When people say solo agency, most understand freelance work. No. Freelance means you work hourly. Solo agency means you build repeating systems. If I went on vacation for 3 days today, FUTIA would continue serving clients because everything is automated. In the doktorbul.com project, we created 79,000 doctor profiles in 2 weeks, all with programmatic SEO. Doing this manually would take 2 years. Solo agency means systems that work in your place.

There's no theoretical knowledge in this post. Just what I experienced between 2022-2024: how to find the first client, how to do pricing, which tools work, which clients to avoid, the advantages of serving Turkey from the Netherlands. Not a classic 1,500-word blog post, but a guide full of real numbers and mistakes.

First 6 Months: The Period of Not Finding Clients

In the first week of January 2022, I sent 47 cold emails. Zero responses. Second week, I messaged 80 people on LinkedIn. 3 people responded, none became clients. Third week, I joined Turkish startup groups, wrote "I'm offering services." One person asked, disappeared when I gave the price.

By March, I had done 300+ outreach attempts. Result: zero paying clients. In April, I changed my strategy. Instead of "social media management," I started offering a "site + automation + maintenance" package. The difference: social media management is competitive, everyone does it. Automation + maintenance package requires technical knowledge and few people offer it.

The first client came in May 2022. A small e-commerce site, €800 monthly maintenance + cart recovery automation. I finished the project in 3 weeks, the money hit the account at the end of the first month. That's when I understood: to start a solo agency, finding the first client isn't enough, you need to automate the first client's system before finding the second client.

Why Was the First Client So Hard to Get?

I made three main mistakes:

• I offered too broad services: I listed "social media, SEO, advertising, content." The client got confused.
• I hesitated to give prices: I said "we can adjust according to your budget." The client didn't take me seriously.
• I couldn't show references: I said "I have 6 years of experience" but had no concrete case.

In June, the second client came, this time €1,200 monthly. In July, the third client, €1,800. In August, the fourth client didn't come because I was managing the second and third clients' work manually. I was working 12 hours a day but had no time to take on new clients.

In September 2022, I decided: I would automate repeating tasks for each client. For diolivo.com.tr, I set up the CartBounty cart recovery system, 340% traffic growth came in 6 months. The system runs automatically, I just look at monthly reports. Thanks to this approach, I took on the fifth client in October, the sixth in November.

Pricing: First Year €800, Second Year €2,500

In 2022, my average project price was between €800-1,200. In 2023, €1,500-2,000. In 2024, €2,500-3,500. How did I increase the price? I didn't change the service, I changed the packaging.

In the first year, I presented it like this: "I set up WordPress sites, do monthly maintenance, add SEO optimization." The client said "€800 is too much" because they only saw the site. In the second year, I presented it like this: "Site + cart recovery automation + monthly technical maintenance + security updates + performance optimization." The client said "€2,000 makes sense" because they saw the system.

In the futia.net project, we produced 2,000+ videos in 3 months, all automatic. If I told the client "video production," they'd want €500. If I said "content production automation + distribution + analytics," they accepted €2,500. The difference is in the packaging.

Monthly Maintenance Model vs Project-Based Payment

For the first 6 months, I worked project-based: set up the site, get the money, let the client disappear. The problem: you have to find new clients every month. From July 2022 onwards, I switched to the monthly maintenance model. The client gets the site, makes a monthly payment of €300-800 for maintenance.

I currently have 12 clients, 8 on the monthly maintenance model. About €9,000 in stable income comes in monthly. The remaining 4 clients are project-based, €6,000-10,000 variable income per month. Total monthly revenue is between €15,000-19,000. The cost of living in the Netherlands is high (rent €1,200, insurance €300, food €600) but since I work with Turkish clients, euro-based earnings are advantageous.

The monthly maintenance model covers these tasks: WordPress updates, security scanning, backup, performance optimization, small content changes. These tasks take 2-3 hours per month because they're all automated. The client pays €500, I spend 2 hours. Hourly earnings €250.

Advantages of Serving Turkey from the Netherlands

Most people ask: why do you serve Turkish clients from the Netherlands, aren't local clients more profitable? No. The cost of finding Dutch clients is very high, competition is intense, payment processes are long. Working with Turkish clients has 4 advantages:

1. No language barrier: I explain technical topics in Turkish, the client understands. 2. Small time difference: Netherlands GMT+1, Turkey GMT+3, only 2 hours difference. 3. Fast payment: Euro transfer via Wise takes 1 day. 4. Cultural fit: I know Turkish business culture, I understand client expectations.

The memuratamalari.com project has 40,400 monthly organic search traffic. We pull job postings from the ilan.gov.tr API, summarize them with Claude Haiku, publish automatically. The system processes 50+ postings per day. To present this project to a Dutch client, I'd first need to understand the local business model, then produce content in Dutch. I set it up for a Turkish client in 3 weeks.

Legal Process: Starting a Company in the Netherlands

Starting an Eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship) in the Netherlands takes 2 days. You apply online from kvk.nl, pay a €50 fee, approval comes within 2 days. BTW (VAT) number is given automatically. I pay €800-1,200 accountant fees annually for accounting.

I can't invoice Turkey because it's a Dutch company. Clients make individual payments, I pay income tax in the Netherlands. If annual income is below €60,000, 37% tax, above that 49% tax. It seems high but health insurance and pension contribution are included.

Which Tools Work, Which Are Money Wasters?

I tried 40+ tools in the first year. Most were unnecessary. I currently actively use 8 tools, total monthly cost €320:

• Cloudflare (€20): CDN + security
• Anthropic Claude API (€80): content production
• Make.com (€40): automation scenarios
• Ahrefs (€120): SEO analysis
• Figma (€15): design
• GitHub (€10): code management
• Notion (€10): project tracking
• Wise (€25): international payment

I used Zapier in the first year, paid €80 per month. When I switched to Make.com, I did the same work for €40. I used Canva Pro in the first year, €13 per month. When I switched to Figma, I can do both design and prototyping.

Biggest money waste: advertising agencies. For the first 6 months, I paid €500 per month to a Google Ads agency, 2 clients came. With organic content + LinkedIn outreach, 5-7 clients come per month, cost zero.

Automation Tools: Make.com vs Zapier

Make.com is cheaper and more powerful than Zapier. In the italyanmutfagi.com project, we produced 618 automatic recipes, all with Make.com scenarios. The scenario works like this:

1. Recipe list is pulled from Airtable 2. Recipe text is generated with Claude API 3. Visual is created with DALL-E 4. Automatically published to WordPress 5. Schema.org Recipe markup is added

This scenario processes 20 recipes per day, completely automatic. Initial setup took 8 hours, I never touched it after. The client makes a €600 monthly maintenance payment, I spend 1 hour per month.

Which Clients Should You Avoid?

I worked with 40+ clients in 2 years. I stopped working with 8 clients. Reasons:

• Client who constantly requests revisions: sends 10 messages every day saying "change this color, move this text."
• Client who doesn't pay: says "I'll pay next month," 3 months pass.
• Client with no technical knowledge but interferes with everything: says "why are you using Redis, MySQL is enough."
• Client with urgent work: says "I need the site by tomorrow," then doesn't send content for 2 weeks.

In the first year, I accepted every client because I needed money. In the second year, I started being selective. I now have 3 criteria when taking on clients:

1. Do they respect technical knowledge? 2. Is the payment plan clear? 3. Is the project scope variable?

To a potential client who doesn't meet these criteria, I say "no capacity right now." I rejected 12 potential clients in 2023, 8 in 2024. Some clients come back 6 months later, this time they're more prepared.

Red Flags: What to Ask in the First Meeting?

I ask 5 questions in the first meeting:

• What's the project budget? (If they say "no budget but lots of work," reject.)
• What's the project timeline? (If they say "need it immediately," reject.)
• Do you have a technical team? (If they say "I'll handle it," reject.)
• Have you done a similar project before? (If they say "first time," be careful.)
• What's the payment plan? (If they say "after the project is done," reject.)

A client who can't give clear answers to these questions will cause problems mid-project. I didn't ask these questions in 2022, 6 projects were left unfinished. Since 2023, I ask these questions in every project, zero unfinished projects.

Solo Agency vs Building a Team

Most people ask: why don't you build a team, you could take on more projects. Answer: building a team means management burden. I love writing code, I don't love managing people.

I did an experiment in March 2023. I hired a frontend developer and a content writer. The first month went great, communication problems started in the second month, they left in the third month. In 3 months, I paid €8,000 in salaries, completed 2 projects. If I had worked solo in the same 3 months, I would have completed 4 projects, earned €12,000.

The only situation where building a team makes sense: repeating, simple tasks. For example, content production. But I automated content production with Claude API, no need for human writers anymore. For frontend development, I use freelancers, make project-based payments.

Solo agency isn't scalable but it's controllable. 15-20 projects per month are running, all with automated systems. If I wanted to take on more projects, I'd need to build a team, but I don't want more projects. The current income level (€15,000-19,000) is enough for a comfortable life.

Real Numbers: 2022-2024 Income Statement

2022 (January-December):

• Total income: €42,000
• Monthly average: €3,500
• Number of clients: 12
• Completed projects: 18

2023 (January-December):

• Total income: €98,000
• Monthly average: €8,200
• Number of clients: 22
• Completed projects: 34

2024 (January-October):

• Total income: €156,000
• Monthly average: €15,600
• Number of clients: 28
• Completed projects: 47

These numbers are gross income. For net income, deduct 37% tax, 8% accounting fees, 2% tool costs. In 2024, monthly net income is approximately €8,300. The average salary in the Netherlands is €3,500, I earn 2.4x that.

Most profitable project type: monthly maintenance + automation. The doktorbul.com project brought in €2,800 per month for 6 months, total €16,800. Project setup took 40 hours, monthly maintenance 2 hours. Total 52 hours of work, €16,800 earnings. Hourly earnings €323.

Least profitable project type: one-time site setup. Client pays €1,500, site setup takes 30 hours. Hourly earnings €50. I no longer take one-time projects, only work with the monthly maintenance model.

Starting a solo agency isn't easy but it's not impossible either. The first 6 months are tough, the next 6 months the systems settle, the second year earnings increase. I was struggling for €800 projects in 2022, in 2024 €2,500 is the standard price. The difference is packaging and automation.

If you're also thinking about starting a solo agency, first choose a niche. Don't say "I do everything," say "I solve this problem." I said "site + automation + maintenance," the client understood. You say "cart recovery for e-commerce," or "onboarding automation for SaaS." Narrow niche means less competition, higher prices.

You can ask your questions email info@futia.net. Or email: info@futia.net. I usually respond within 24 hours, sometimes faster. I can help with serving Turkey from the Netherlands, pricing, finding clients.