Build First.
You can build and publish a basic site. You haven't landed a paying client yet. Start with one contractor and a message asking if he wants to see a better direction. Build the demo after he replies yes, show the work, then discuss price. You get the prompts, message, pricing sheet, and 14-day action plan.
Save $10
$27 $17
until Friday
Not my words.
“Got the book and its the truth!”
“A practical, insightful approach to getting clients. Quite useful. Easy to digest and actually apply.”
I came out of a bootcamp broke.
Did everything they told me to do. Applied everywhere. Not a single job offer. Starting my own agency felt too early, too risky. But when your back is against the wall, you stop overthinking and start doing.
I started charging $250 for basic sites. Plumbers. Landscapers. Electricians. People who needed to show up on Google and didn't need some bloated $10k setup to make it happen.
I stopped pitching and started building.
Here's the historical version. I used to build the demo before the first message. This is what I sent then:
"Hey, I saw your website had some issues and is probably not bringing in any new clients on its own. I built you a demo site, wanna see it?"
What I teach now: ask if he wants to see a better direction, then build the demo after he replies yes. The old message above described work I'd already done. Don't send it when you haven't built anything.
What started as desperation turned into an agency that paid the bills. I hit a $15,000 month. Not because I got lucky. Because I kept improving the system.
This book is that system.
Same Stripe dashboard, five weeks apart.
My agency's gross volume, 4-week windows, dates on every screenshot. The left side of each is the window before it.
The tools you can run tonight.
This isn't a book you read and think about. These come with it, ready to use.
The Prompt Pack: Build Demos at AI Speed
Three exact prompts I use to build and personalize contractor demos. Build a demo from scratch, swap it for the next contractor, and tighten the outreach message. Copy, paste, run.
Your First $500 in 14 Days
A day-by-day action plan with a $500 target, not an income promise. Find a contractor, send the first message, build after a yes, then show the demo, name the price, and handle delivery.
The One-Page Pricing Sheet
Steal my exact pricing tiers. Ready to hand over in a conversation or drop in an email. No more guessing what to charge.
Plus the full playbook.
6 parts. 17 chapters. The whole machine from first demo to recurring revenue, so the tools aren't just tricks.
Pick Your Lane
Why I started with contractors, and how to find a business whose website needs work.
The Demo Method
Ask if the owner wants to see a better direction. After a yes, use AI to build the demo and give him something to judge.
Get the Yes
Free leads, no ads. The outreach system. How to follow up without being annoying.
Close Without the Sleaze
The no-BS close. Kill every objection. The pricing staircase that scales your income.
Build and Hand Off
Sites that just work. How to deliver, hand over the keys, and keep the relationship clean.
Turn It Into a Business
One-off to recurring. Make them come to you. Own the platform so you stop starting from zero.
Start with one question.
Find a contractor with a weak or missing website. Ask if he wants to see a better direction before you spend time building it.
Here's the first message I recommend now for a business with an existing site:
"Hey, I noticed your website has a few issues and probably isn't bringing in many new customers on its own. I have a better direction in mind. Want to see it?"
Build the demo after the prospect replies yes. If he has no site, change the opening to match what you found. Don't say you've built something that doesn't exist.
Then send the link. He can see his business, town, and services on a screen. Name the price, agree on the scope, and close before you finish and deliver the site.
Same business. Two screens.
Left shows the problems you're looking for. Right shows the kind of demo you build after the owner says he wants to see it.
Both of these are figures out of the book. Neither one is a real client.
Will Ray. The Tech Dad.
Former criminal. Recovering addict. Self-taught developer. I came out of a coding bootcamp with no job offers and built a web agency from scratch to support my kids, serving contractors and tradespeople.
I'm not a guru. I'm a guy who figured out a system that works and wrote it down so somebody else doesn't have to figure it out alone.
Why $17?
You get the method, demo prompts, first message, pricing sheet, and 14-day action plan for $17. My first site paid $250. That was my starting point, not a promise about yours.
It's priced so the person it's written for can actually buy it. The guy at the kitchen table after the kids are asleep. That was me.
This week it's $17 instead of $27, through Friday. After that it goes back.
Who this is for.
This is for you if
- You can build and publish a basic site but haven't landed a paying client
- A freelancer doing one-off projects with no recurring income
- Someone who wants their own income and is tired of asking permission
- Someone with basic HTML/CSS skills who doesn't know how to turn that into money
- A guy in recovery trying to build a business while life is still messy
Not for you if:
- You want to build SaaS products or land corporate clients
- You're looking for a get-rich-quick shortcut with zero work
- You already have a full agency roster and know the system
The questions I get most.
Do I build the demo before I message him, or after?
After he replies yes. Ask if he wants to see a better direction, then build it for the owner who answers. You don't need a demo for every name on your list.
Build First means you show the work before asking him to buy. The historical message in my story came after I'd already built a demo. The current first message makes no such claim.
Who pays for the hosting?
The demo is on you, and it's pennies. Cheap static hosting for a few demos costs almost nothing, and you're only carrying it while he decides.
Once he says yes, hosting is inside the monthly. My tier one is $600 to build it, then it starts at $149/month to host it and keep it running. If he'd rather own it outright, you hand him the files and he hosts it himself. Both routes are in the book, with the pricing sheet.
What about the contact form? A static site can't email anyone.
Correct, it can't on its own. On a demo an unwired form is fine. It only has to look real.
On a live site you run it through a free form service like Formspree, Web3Forms or Netlify Forms, or a small mail script, so the lead lands in the owner's inbox the second they hit submit. A form that goes nowhere is worse than no form.
Does this work outside the US?
The method does. The numbers might not. Everything I charge was set in a US market selling to local contractors.
You can use the same sequence: ask, build after a yes, show the demo, discuss the price. Check the market where you live instead of converting my sheet into your currency and expecting the same result.
Do I need an LLC before I start?
I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice. I didn't have one when I took the first $250, and nothing in the book needs one.
Get a paying client, then set up whatever your state or country expects once there's money moving. Sorting paperwork before you've sent a single message is the most comfortable way to never start.
Build First
Through Friday. Then back to $27.
The No-BS Blueprint for Starting a Web Agency. One price. Everything included.
- The Prompt Pack (3 ready-to-run AI prompts)
- Your First $500 in 14 Days action plan
- One-Page Pricing Sheet
- The full 17-chapter book (PDF)
Instant PDF download. Questions? Email will@heywillray.com. Buying also puts you on one useful email a week about building sites, finding clients, and running the business. Unsubscribe anytime.
Numbers are US local contractors. Elsewhere the price is different, the method isn’t.
Book plus the working files, $34
$17 more than the book alone. After the owner replies yes, use the Demo Site Loop to build and grade the demo against my 10-point client checklist. The Outreach Swipe File gives you first messages, follow-ups, and examples from past client conversations.
Get Both, $34Both land in one checkout, nothing to tick. Want the book on its own? That’s the $17 button up the page.
Not buying today? Take this instead.
The Second Brain Starter Kit is the setup I run behind the whole agency: a blank vault plus a prompt that interviews you and fills it in, so you stop re-explaining your business to your AI every session. Free, and it stays free.