Kady Sandel Review: What Is Her Floating Agency Model?

Kady Sandel: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Kady has been actively involved in Aventive Studio operations since its launch
• Kady has worked with over 300 clients

Cons

• Creative agencies ‌depend heavily on personal brand and reputation
• The floating agency model requires strong personal management skills
• The high-ticket pricing strategy may not be effective for new agencies or for all markets

What Is Kady Sandel’s Floating Agency Model?

Kady Sandel’s floating agency model hires project-based contractors instead of full-time employees. The “floating” team structure brings in specialists for specific projects.

Three principles of the floating agency model:

1. Project-based contractor system: Hire project-based contractors for specific projects to minimize overhead costs. You only hire web developers, copywriters, and designers based on the project’s need.
2. Profit margin optimization: Contractors handle fulfillment, and you take a percentage of the profit. Kady suggests that agencies take 60% to 70% of the entire project price.
3. Lifestyle flexibility: The business operates through systems and contractors. This frees up a huge chunk of your time. Kady says she works about 15 hours a week.

Here’s an example of Kady’s agency model in practice:

Aventive Studio landed an $18,500 branding project. Kady handled the initial consultation and developed the brand strategy. She assembles her team once the strategy is approved. She hires a visual identity specialist, a graphic designer, and a web developer. While the contractors work on the project, Kady handles the client relationships and project oversight. After the project is completed, she distributes $5,850 to the contractors. This leaves $12,650 for Kady to keep as profit.

What Is Kady Sandel’s Story?

Kady Sandel was born in Serbia and earned a degree in graphic communications. She moved to the United States in 2005 to pursue a career in graphic design. At only 16 years old, Kady started freelancing as a graphic design artist in Austin, Texas. She charged $65 for designing logos for car wraps, flyers, and websites. She experienced the typical challenges of freelancers. This includes exhaustion from juggling multiple low-paying projects and inability to scale.

Kady started experimenting with outsourcing specific parts of the projects, like web development and copywriting. She realized she could scale offering to full-suite brand strategy and design services instead of one-off designs. Outsourcing lets her get larger projects and focus on the business aspects while keeping her overhead costs low.

Kady founded her brand Aventive Studio in 2014. Her portfolio includes companies featured in Forbes, CVS, and Shark Tank. Her services went from $65 logos to $20,000 packages. Kady founded Aventive Academy in 2020 to teach other struggling freelancers. after recognizing other designers faced identical freelancer limitations.

What Is Kady Sandel’s Aventive Studio?

Aventive Studio is Kady’s Austin, Texas-based branding agency. They work with a network of contractors, including web developers, copywriters, graphic designers, and packaging specialists. Notable clients include Earth’s Organics, Crane Fitness, and Nature of No More.

Aventive Studio offers:

• Brand strategy
• Visual identity design
• Packaging design
• Website development

What Are Kady Sandel’s Claims About the Floating Agency Model?

Kady Sandel claims that the floating agency model lets you:

• Scale without full-time employee overhead costs.
• Profit at a 60% to 70% margin.
• Achieve 6-figures annually with 1-2 clients a month.
• Create a passive income business.

Actual Data of Creative Agency Outsourcing

• Capital on Tap found that freelancers get higher hourly rates in 29 of 30 job roles compared to agency employees. Gusto confirms that contractors often charge more per hour than employees because they need to cover the cost of their own benefits (like health insurance and self-employment taxes). Agencies with regular projects may find it cheaper to hire permanent employees instead.
• Starter Story reports that contractor-based creative agencies average 50% profit margins. Kady’s claim of 60% to 70% profit margins is higher than industry standards. Aiming too high makes your agency less competitive.
• Blue Gift Digital says that creative agencies earn $250,000 to $1 million annually. They average 5 to 10 clients monthly at $5,000 to $15,000 each. Earning 6-figures a year with 1 to 2 clients might be possible at $8,500 to $16,000 per client. However, you still have to consider your advertising spending.
• Contractor-based businesses are not passive. You still handle client management and oversee projects. Even Kady spends about 15 hours a week. Outsourcing your management duties is possible but will eat into your profit margins.

What Is Kady Sandel’s Aventive Academy?

Kady Sandel’s Aventive Academy is a training platform. It helps students start or transition from freelancing to the floating agency model. There Academy offers workshops, webinars, and the Fully Booked Designer Program. These tackle the business model, profit margin optimization, marketing, and automation.

How I Earn Passive Income Without Outsourcing

I earn passive income without outsourcing with my local lead generation business. I create and rank websites on Google and rent them out to local businesses. Businesses get unlimited leads, and each site earns me $500 to $3,000 a month. I do all of the initial work but take all of the recurring profits. Since there is no outsourcing and no advertising campaigns, my profit margin is as high as 90%.

In the creative agency business, you need to compete with hundreds of other, more established agencies. This creates risks, as you may need to spend a lot on advertising and lower prices to be competitive. With local lead generation, I often only have to outrank a handful of sites. There are hundreds of niches and thousands of local areas to market to. Scaling creative agencies involves an increase in advertising spending and outsourcing, which leads to increased risks. To scale a local lead generation business, just repeat the rank-and-rent process as much as you want. I scaled to dozens of sites that earn me over $52K a month.

Learn all of this from our local lead generation program. You can even earn while getting practical experience. You can earn commission by selling leads to my high-ticket client.