Build First · The book by Will Ray
How I get a website client, A to Z.
The first message, the prompts AI builds the demo with, my pricing sheet and a 14-day plan with a $500 target. Word for word.
- $250
- my first site
- 1 text
- to start
- 14 days
- the plan
Instant PDF download. No account needed. Buying also puts you on one useful email a week about building sites, finding clients, and running the business. Unsubscribe anytime.
Not my words.
See the commentGot the book and its the truth!
A practical, insightful approach to getting clients. Quite useful. Easy to digest and actually apply.
★★★★★
I got a solid SOP for how to run a WaaS agency. It's a breath of fresh air from all the GHL gurus and goes to show that all you really need is the will to make it work. … Will Ray goes straight to the point and skips all the fluff. I love the book.
★★★★★
For a year it took me over 2 days of back and forth with Claude to get a website to look the way I wanted. It was very painful. Once I got the prompts Will Ray uses, I kid you not, just as I bought it a potential client wrote me back wanting to see a demo. … I followed the prompts and I stepped away for a bit. I came back to the screen seeing the first round was better than anything I had done in that limited time. I was excited, I even called my wife over, she was blown away as well, and the client liked it. Hands down the best thing I've done was get this.
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 and too risky. But I had no offers and kids to support, so I started anyway.
I started charging $250 for basic sites to plumbers, landscapers and electricians. They needed to show up on Google. They didn't need a $10k setup to do it.
Back then I built the demo before I sent anything. This is what I sent:
"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?"
Now I ask first. If he wants to see a better direction, I build the demo after he says yes. That old text says the demo's already done, so don't send it unless it is.
What started as desperation turned into an agency that paid the bills. Then it hit a $15,000 month. I kept fixing the system until it did.
This book is that system. It's why I don't clock in anywhere. I'm a stay-at-home single dad and I work from wherever I want.
People want to be educated, not sold.
Before any of this, I did in-home sales. That job taught me something I still use every day. People want to feel connected. They don't want to be sold. They want to be educated, and educating people makes them feel good about deciding.
That's why the first message asks a question, and the demo does the talking.
He said no. Then he came back.
A landscaper told me no. I'd pointed out a few issues on his website, more than once. He asked the company he already had to fix them, and they moved too slow. He figured out he was with a bad company and that there were better ones. He came back and paid me.
Just because they don't buy now doesn't mean they won't buy later.
I want to buy a Legit Course, that teaching me how to make my first penny
Reddit post
What you can do after you read it.
You'll know exactly what to do next. Step-by-step instructions, in the order you use them, from picking a trade to the first message to the price.
Ready to use
The tools you can run tonight.
All three come with the book.
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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.
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Your First $500 in 14 Days
A day-by-day plan with a $500 target. Find a contractor, send the first message, build after a yes, then show the demo, name the price, and handle delivery.
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The One-Page Pricing Sheet
My pricing tiers on one page. Hand it over in a conversation or drop it in an email, so you're not guessing what to charge.
Plus the full book.
Six parts, 17 chapters, in the order you'll use them. It starts with picking a trade and ends with clients who pay every month.
- Part 1
Pick Your Lane
Why I started with contractors, and how to find a business whose website needs work.
- Part 2
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.
- Part 3
Get the Yes
Free leads, no ads. The outreach system. How to follow up without being annoying.
- Part 4
Close Without the Sleaze
The no-BS close. What to say to the objections you'll hear. The pricing staircase from one-off sites to monthly work.
- Part 5
Build and Hand Off
Sites that just work. How to deliver, hand over the keys, and keep the relationship clean.
- Part 6
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.
For a business that already has a site, this is the first message I'd send now:
"Hey, I noticed a few issues on your website that could be costing you new customers. 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.
His site, then yours.
Watch his site turn into the demo you build after he says he wants to see it.
A made-up paver company, not a real client.
Both screens are figures from the book. Made-up company, not a real client.
Who this is for.
The guy at the kitchen table after the kids are asleep. That was me.
This is for you if
- You've never sold anything and the first message scares you
- You can build a basic site, but nobody's paid you for one yet
- You know some HTML and CSS and don't know how to turn it into money
- You want your own income and you're tired of asking permission
- You're in recovery and building something while life's 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 system for getting new leads
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 old text in my story went out after I'd already built the demo. The message I send now doesn't say there's a demo.
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. Starting over, I'd go straight to $1,500 and $500 a month. 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
The No-BS Blueprint for Starting a Web Agency. One price, the book and all three tools.
- 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.
Most common add-on.
Book plus the working files, $44
Brand new? Start here. The book and the Demo Site Loop is what I'd buy first.
$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.
Both land in one checkout, nothing to tick. Want the book on its own? That’s the $27 button up the page.
Not sure yet?
This isn't the only way to do it. It's what I did to get where I'm at today: six figures, very little work through the week, and the freedom to do what I want.
Not buying today? Take this instead.
The First Client Playbook is six sections: one trade, one town, ten names, and the two messages I send. Every section ends with a sheet you fill in. Free, and it stays free.