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Meet Daniel Griggs of ATX Web Designs in Downtown

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Image credit: FE International

 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Griggs.

Daniel, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I began my web design agency, ATX Web Designs, in 2015 with only $9.90, no background in tech or even the slightest understanding of how to code. That $9.90 went to Wix.com. While that doesn’t seem like much, it definitely was for me. I was living by ends meet at that time. Growing a business while broke didn’t seem like the best choice but my vision, faith and work ethic was my strength.

The reason I began designing drag and drop websites on Wix.com is because of my lack of knowledge in coding. But I wanted to be a major presence in the web design industry. So as I self-taught myself code, I used Wix to build websites to pitch small brick and mortar businesses. My marketing strategy is what, today, people would consider old-school. I made cold calls.

I’d visit the website of every business listed on the local chamber of commerce site, businesses with ads in the newspaper, and anyone driving with a sign on their vehicle. If I felt I could design them a better website, I’d write down the name of the business, website URL, phone number and decision maker name if I could find it. I would make a cold call list on Sunday of at least 100 businesses, and make calls on Monday to set appointments throughout the week. Anytime during the week, I didn’t have an appointment with a business I was adding to that cold call list, and making more calls.

This was the start for me. I didn’t have the finances to invest in any paid advertising or marketing. So as I like to put it, money = time and time = money. Both are very valuable. Sometimes you may have one and not the other, but how you invest either your time or money can be the deciding factor of your success.

In that first year, after I built up enough clientele and had more coding skills, I contracted out my first developer. Fast forward four years later in 2019 I now have a solid team of almost 30, virtual office in Houston, headquarter Austin, and second office in Miami Beach.

A few of the major actions that’s allowed me to grow so quickly with a solid foundation:

1) You can’t do it on your own: I reached out to a random agency that I google searched and spoke with the founder and CEO. I mentioned to him that I was only a freelancer and had the vision of building a real agency. I asked if I could take him to lunch and hear his story. He blessed me with six figures worth of information. I say six figures because I met with him at the end of my first year in business, which I only grossed $17,000. That second year I grossed $117,000. Taking the information he gave me and immediately applying it was part of what helped me reach that goal.

2) Dream big but start with the basics: As I mentioned, I didn’t have much money and lacked knowledge for the skills needed for me to reach my goals and build my business. So I obtained the knowledge first and the growth came along with it. I learned coding on YouTube, as well as by hands-on experience. I started with the basics. I was patient enough to understand that I needed to learn more but aggressive enough to invest tons of time gaining the knowledge I needed to accomplish my goals.

3) Stay lean until it’s necessary to hire more: When I began my agency it was only me. Once I was able to contract out a developer, it was only him and I until we got so busy that we needed more help. I then hired on two more developers because we had too many projects for one man to handle – plus more coming in. From then I hired on my first project manager, and the rest continued to add up as we grew. The point is, I didn’t hire until it was absolutely necessary. I didn’t jump the gun based on any hypotheticals, but realistic facts of new business and clients.

ATX Web Designs is now recognized as one of the best web design companies, with startup and corporate companies all over the nation.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Most definitely not. One of the biggest struggles for me was entering into an industry that I didn’t have the skills and knowledge to dominate in and grow. It took a lot of time reading, reaching out to others in the industry, and watching tutorial videos on how to code and develop websites. While this was tough, one of the things that gave me peace of mind to keep at it is a guy who already had built an agency like I wanted. He too began with no coding knowledge and was self-taught as well.

Another challenge was keeping up with the growth. My agency has grown very fast and every year we gain more demand and more clients. I never wanted to jump the gun and hire too quickly, but with so much demand, it was necessary. Therefore I became very strategic with our internal systems. There’s a protocol and process for almost every part of our agency from when a new lead comes in, how we follow up, closing on new projects, getting new clients started, handling client miscommunications, milestones, deadlines, post-launch process, etc. A strong structure has allowed us to bring on lots of new clients as well as new staff to the team and have a streamlined process for us to continue to grow and not lose any quality in our customer service.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We’re a web design agency that specializes in website and mobile app design and development, as well as SEO. But it gets deeper than simply building websites and mobile apps. We’re marketers first, designers and developers second. Our goal for every client is to help them grow their business, which means making them more money. A website alone doesn’t accomplish that. Therefore, we dive deep into understanding the target audience of our clients, what service or product our client is marketing, and then creating a website or app that connects to that audience and converts them into qualified leads.

We love working with and taking startup clients from nothing to a profitable business and building a stronger brand and brand identity for corporate companies.

What makes us most proud and sets us apart from others is that we’re business and marketing-minded for our clients. Companies present us with problems and we implement a solution. Our goal is to help grow your business. We use websites, mobile apps and google ranking as tools to help accomplish those goals.

What were you like growing up?
I’m from a small town about an hour south of Houston called Van Vleck, Texas. Growing up I was a very hyper and energetic kid both physically and mentally. I was an athlete and stayed involved in at least three sports. Always laughing, cracking jokes, running fast, and interested in learning something new.

Pricing:

  • Our pricing for website design begins at $8,000 and ranges up from there
  • Our pricing for mobile app design and development begins at $25,000 and ranges up from there
  • Our marketing services: SEO & Social Media begins at $2000/monthly and ranges up from there

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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