Axxellance was officially registered in December 2023, but the real story of year one started in early 2024 — when I took on the first real projects under the name. Looking back at those twelve months from here, the lessons are clearer than ever.

Here’s what I learned, in no particular order.

The loneliness is real

Nobody talks about how quiet the first year is. No Slack channels buzzing. No co-founder to vent to. No team to share the win when a client says “this is exactly what we needed.”

I spent entire weeks talking to no one except clients and the barista at the café downstairs. If you’re considering starting a studio, prepare for that silence. It passes around month eight, but those first two quarters are a test of whether you actually like the work — because there’s nothing else to keep you going.

You’ll overprice, then underprice, then figure it out

I started too low, because I was scared of losing the first few clients. Then I swung too high to compensate, and lost some I should have kept. Then I landed somewhere in the middle.

The mistake wasn’t the numbers — it was that I changed them too often. A price is a signal. If it moves around, clients sense instability. Pick a range and sit in it for six months.

The best clients come from the worst ones

This sounds backwards, but it’s true: every bad project taught me how to identify the next good one. The client who pays late, the one who revises every approval, the one who treats you like a vendor instead of a partner — they all sharpen your filter.

By month ten, I could spot a problematic brief from the first email. That’s a skill you cannot learn without being burned.

What I’d tell myself on day one

Just three things:

  1. Charge more, but deliver more. The clients who push back on price are never the ones you want.
  2. Write every process down immediately. The second time you do something, document it. Future you will be grateful.
  3. Say yes to the work that scares you. The projects I almost turned down because I didn’t feel “ready” are the ones in the portfolio.

That first year shaped everything that followed. Two years in, the studio is still here, still learning, still saying yes to the work that matters.

— Stephen.