Be Social, my first web agency: clients yes, margins no

The original idea wasn't even a web agency.

We wanted to launch an e-commerce store for car parts and tuning. Name: JAP, Just Auto Parts. In our heads it could become a younger AutoDOC, closer to tuning enthusiasts. Built by two guys who loved cars.

It was a huge idea. Way too huge for two guys with no capital, no supply chain, no e-commerce skills and no clue what selling car parts really involved.

Around that time we met someone running a large e-commerce in another sector. We approached them to understand how that world worked. It was useful. But it was a testimony, not an analysis of our project.

The message we kept: selling parts required stock, warehouse and serious investment. The estimate was over €20,000 just to start with a sensible product range.

For us that was huge. Instead of stopping to check if the model held up, we kept going with what felt more accessible: logo, Facebook page and Shopify store.

For JAP we commissioned a logo from a designer known through my partner. About €140. Back then, for us, that was a serious investment.

The result didn't represent anything we wanted to build. It was a cursive signature, closer to a beauty salon or pastry shop logo than an e-commerce for car parts and tuning. We even argued about that choice.

Today I don't think the problem was only the designer. The problem was us. We had no brief. No clear direction. No defined audience. No idea how to translate the project into a visual identity.

In the end we redid it ourselves, with Impact and GIMP. Not a memorable identity. But it was the first time I actually started working with graphics, digital tools and visual communication.

In 2017/2018 building an e-commerce was already possible. But there was no AI, no condensed tutorials, no assistants answering every technical question. To learn you had to search, try, fail, stitch together different sources.

We had about 14 free trial days on Shopify to prepare the store.

We started splitting the work: my partner was supposed to handle some parts of the project, I handled store graphics, Facebook content and manual product uploads.

As days went by, more and more of the load stayed on my shoulders. The project was never launched. We never bought stock. The collaboration ended in an argument.

At that point it looks like nothing was left. In reality I kept one practical base: I'd started to understand Shopify, graphics, product pages and the operational work behind an online store.

Between 2019 and 2020 I went through the Lyara phase and then dropshipping. Financially difficult. But formative.

I learned to build e-commerce, create graphics and content, work with advertising, copywriting, storytelling and conversion paths. Above all I started to understand that a project doesn't live on enthusiasm. It needs margins, processes, selling skills and a concrete offer.

Meanwhile my former partner had gained sales experience in real estate. When we met again we made up and decided to try again.

This time we wanted to do things better. I brought operational skills: graphics, ads, websites, e-commerce. He brought a sales approach that, on paper, was supposed to help us sell. A third person also joined, for the organisational side.

For a while it looked like a perfect combination. Like every perfect combination on paper.

We were motivated. Me and my main partner worked from dawn to late night. Sometimes until three or four in the morning. It didn't feel like a burden. We felt we were building something that could change our future.

Shortly before we started selling, the third person left the project. Moving to Tuscany. I was left with my original partner, whom I'll call J here.

We decided to build a web agency focused on marketing and social media management for small local businesses. Name: Be Social.

Simple initial plan:

• find local businesses
• offer a free trial
• manage content, social media, marketing
• turn the trial into a monthly subscription

We tested the service on a few businesses we knew or found locally: a bar, a mechanic's workshop, a laundry.

The problem: the market was getting crowded. Very crowded.

It was 2022. Small social-media marketing agencies were popping up everywhere. The pitch was easy to sell: visit local businesses, offer Instagram and Facebook management, publish posts, charge a monthly fee. In theory, an easy service to standardise.

In practice we hit two walls.

One: budget. Many small businesses didn't see digital marketing as a priority. A workshop owner preferred to invest that money in equipment, machinery or tools. And honestly he was right.

Two: trust. We were young. No case studies, no measurable results, no strong brand. We were asking entrepreneurs to entrust us with an important part of their communication without having enough proof to be seen as a safe choice.

We tried to strengthen the offer with someone with a degree in Communication Sciences. Goal: more structure and credibility.

Cost: about €600 per month. For two small sole proprietorships, a real burden.

After about eight months we'd found some clients. Mostly through flyering and direct outreach.

But we had a unit-economics problem. Clients paid around €90–100 per month for social management. In return they wanted:

• in-person visits
• photos with a camera
• post creation
• content scheduling
• ongoing management
• personal consulting

In practice, they wanted an outsourced marketing department. We were selling it at the price of a small software subscription.

Every visit was time, travel, fuel, preparation, content production, support. The harder we tried to serve well, the less the model held up.

At some point J and I asked ourselves a simple question: if monthly social management doesn't work, why not sell e-commerce projects to small businesses?

We started looking for clients with flyers too. Found two herbal shops interested in digitalising sales. Price per project: between €2,000 and €3,000. At first it felt like a leap.

Then we realised we were underestimating the work again. We weren't just selling a website. We agreed to create the store, upload 600+ products, take photos on-site and follow the client in person.

Project value: higher than a €100 monthly subscription. Time required: enormous. Every extra request, every trip, every product upload eroded the margin.

Despite that, those experiences gave us something essential: some of those clients stayed with us into the next phase.

Meanwhile I'd done a full-stack web developer course. Technical skills started to grow. The direction got clearer.

Be Social couldn't stay a simple social media management agency. The work with more value, continuity and potential was different:

• digitalisation for small businesses
• websites and showcase sites
• e-commerce
• small applications
• operational solutions built around client processes

When Spotex S.r.l. was born, we started almost from zero. Many clients tied only to social media marketing didn't move into the new phase. We brought three or four clients for whom we'd built websites or e-commerce.

That selection was useful. It forced us to understand which services we really wanted to build and which ones were just consuming time.

Be Social wasn't a perfect company. It was a real-world lab.

It taught me motivation is necessary but not enough. You can work until four in the morning and still be inside a model with impossible margins.

It taught me selling matters, but you shouldn't sell promises bigger than the price. It taught me a small client can ask for an enormous service. Not out of malice. Because they don't see all the invisible work required to produce it.

And it taught me the entrepreneurial path isn't a straight line. Before reaching a more structured project, you go through oversized ideas, collaborations that end, underpriced services, clients who force you to learn by doing.

The most important thing is to keep doing two things: stay lucid and stay consistent. Because you'll be knocked down many times. Each time you'll have to decide whether what happened is the signal to stop or a lesson to carry into the next project.

Usually it's the second. Usually.