The Blueprint: How I'm Building a £0 Upfront Agency using Nuxt

I am done with "side projects."

For years, I was stuck in the Infinite Loop of starting new repos, configuring ESLint, and abandoning the project before I ever made a pound. I was a "developer," but I wasn't a business owner.

This project is different.

I am building a WaaS (Website as a Service) agency. My goal is to hit £1,000 MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) by selling high-performance websites to local businesses.

Here is the exact blueprint—the stack, the business model, and the sales strategy—that I am using to get there.

The Model: Why WaaS?

Most freelancers trade time for money. You build a WordPress site for £2,000, hand it over, and then you are unemployed again until you find the next client.

WaaS changes the calculations. Instead of charging a huge upfront fee, I'll charge £0 upfront and £25/month.

The "Tax-Free" Target

My initial target is 42 Clients.

• 42 Clients x £300/year = £12,600/year.
• This matches the UK Personal Tax-Free Allowance.

Once I hit this number, I effectively have a tax-free salary that requires almost zero maintenance.

The Tech Stack: 100% Profit Margins

I'm done with WordPress. With this in mind I no longer need to pay for generic WordPress hosting. My stack is designed for Performance, Zero Overhead and Developer Experience.

• Framework: Nuxt.
• Design: Nuxt UI and Tailwind CSS.
• Hosting: Cloudflare (workers & pages) (Free Tier).
• Forms & Logic: Cloudflare Workers + Postmark API.
• CMS: Nuxt Content - I'll handle updates (Client sends updates via email, I push to Git).

Why this stack wins:

1. Cost: My operating cost per website is effectively £0.
2. Speed: Cloudflare Edge caching makes these sites faster than any WordPress build.
3. Security: No databases to hack. No plugins to update.

Every £25 subscription is ~98% profit.

The "Godfather" Offer

The hardest part of selling websites is convincing a plumber or a dog walker to trust you with £1,000. So, I removed the risk entirely.

My Pitch:

"I will design and build your website for free. I build it on my private server first. You view it on your phone. If you don't love it, we walk away and you owe nothing. If you do love it, it's just £25/month to keep it live."

This is "Risk-Free Professionalism."

The Pricing Tiers

1. The Standard (£25/mo): 5-Page Site + Hosting + SSL + Standard Support (48hr turnaround for updates).
2. The Business (£40/mo): All of the above + Professional Email + Priority Support (Skip the queue, 12hr turnaround for updates).

Note on Email: I anchor this against the market. A business owner would pay Google/Microsoft ~£7-£10/mo just for the email address. For a small extra fee, I bundle it in and handle all the technical DNS management for them.

The Marketing: £0 Ad Spend (The Facebook Strategy)

I am not burning money on Google Ads or cold calling. My target audience—plumbers, dog walkers, cafe owners—hang out in one place: Local Community Facebook Groups.

But I’m not going to spam them with "Web Design Services." That gets you banned.

Instead, I am using the "Portfolio Build" strategy.

The Logic

I need 3 solid reference clients to validate the business. To get them, I am trading upfront profit for trust.

I will post in the local community group with a very specific, humble approach. I am not selling; I am asking for help building my portfolio.

The Exact Script

Here is the post I’m using to get my first 3 clients:

Headline: "I want to build a website for your business for free."

Body: Hi people of xyz town 👋

I'm a local web developer building up my portfolio here in town. I’m looking for 3 local businesses that need a new (or better) website.

Here is the deal: I will design and build your website completely for free. I'll send you a private link to view it on your phone.

• If you don't like it: We shake hands and you owe me nothing.
• If you love it: You pay £25/month to keep it live (includes hosting and SSL).

No upfront cost. No risk. I just want to build some great sites for local people.

Drop a comment below if you're interested, or tag a business owner who needs this. — John

Why this works:

1. Risk Reversal: The client literally cannot lose money.
2. Algorithm Hacking: Asking people to "Comment below" boosts the post in the Facebook feed, meaning more business owners see it.
3. Local Trust: By saying "I'm a local dev," I differentiate myself from the spammy overseas bot accounts.

The "Live on Day One" Philosophy

I used to suffer from "Localhost Paralysis." I would tweak pixels in private for months.

For this agency, I have one rule: Live on Day One.

1. Deploy Immediately: The moment I create the repo, it gets connected to Cloudflare.
2. Templates, not Art: I am not designing from scratch. I will be using the templates provided by Nuxt UI. When a client says "Yes," I create a new Nuxt site with a Nuxt UI template, change the colors/content, and deploy.

Follow the Build

I am not selling you a course. I am documenting the reality of building this business from scratch.

I will be sharing:

• The raw Nuxt code and Templates.
• The exact Facebook posts I send out to get new business.
• The Stripe revenue numbers (even when they are £0).

If you are tired of building side projects that die on your hard drive, join me.

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