❌ No-code is not cheating + 👀 It feels ILLEGAL to know about these 20 websites

​

📚 Posts

🎨 How a developer built a design service business on Webflow

"Hi, I’m Arnaud! I’m a full-time creative service manager for a French footwear brand.

I've recently launched my own side project: a subscription-based graphic design service. We provide clients with unlimited monthly graphic design and web development for a much lower price compared to freelancers or agencies.

Getting the hang of coding

I learned to code back in 2019. At this time I knew nothing about no-code.

I wanted my first coded project to be a solution to a problem I experienced at work.

A crucial aspect of my job is providing marketing assets for clients based all over the globe to promote their products. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge task requiring lots of updates, uploading tons of files, and making sure it’s easy enough to find them.

When I first joined the company, I implemented a few systems. I put together a simple WordPress platform to display assets, along with a Dropbox folder, but it was a bit of a messy browsing experience.

Keeping content up to date manually became time-consuming. We also didn't have — but wanted — a dedicated search field to browse assets by name.

With my new programming skills, I wanted to build a digital asset management platform that would automatically aggregate all marketing assets shared on Dropbox.

Introducing Crea.Guide

My own project, which is built without code(!) is Crea.Guide — a subscription-based graphic design service.

From a technical point of view, it's been quite straightforward to launch.

I created a landing page, added Stripe to take payments, and a contact link that redirects to Calendly. To communicate projects and deliverables with my customers, I simply use a shared Trello board. I also recommend Loom to any clients who want to send a brief via video.

Some of the bigger players in the design-on-demand space have their own custom-built platforms. But I don't need it; I have a collection of tools that do the job perfectly. Plus it would take forever to build a platform from scratch!

Battling Webflow

Even though the business is built without code today, I struggled to start with.

Everyone raves about Webflow and says you're at a huge advantage if you already know CSS. I also wanted to offer Webflow website development as a service, as it's growing in demand.

So I tried using Webflow — twice! — but I just couldn't get into it! I threw everything away after just 5 minutes and started coding from scratch.

I guess as a developer, it was hard to imagine spending $12/month for Webflow and $12/month for Weglot (since I need French and English), for something I could create and host for free.

But, I tried to code my own landing page only to realize, many days later, that it just wasn't attractive enough. Needless to say — for a design service, the site design must be great!

So I crafted a new design from scratch on Figma, but I didn’t have the time to code it all from scratch, nor did I have the motivation to do so.

For a final time, I forced myself to try Webflow.

Uncovering a love for no-code tools

This time, I watched a quick YouTube tutorial before diving in, to help me grasp the concept. This was a great idea.

After a few hours integrating my design I was astonished at the progress I'd made.

Then came the need for translation. I tried Weglot and it automatically translated my whole website, with barely any need for correction. It was so easy.

I’m truly amazed by how much time I ultimately saved with Webflow. Paying $24/month for 2 tools was actually totally worth every penny!

This experience has made me want to try other no-code tools to make MVPs for other side projects.

No-code is not cheating

My advice to developers who are scared of losing their time and money with no-code tools: stop being stubborn like me and just start using them.

At the very least, use them for simple projects, MVPs, and landing pages.

It won't devalue the programming skills you've worked hard to learn. Nobody will judge you for being a developer who uses no-code! It's not cheating; it’s spending your time where it matters the most."

​Read the full post.

​

​

✨ Recently added tools

​Feathery - The low-code platform for building powerful forms

​Prefix - Automate any manual process on a computer without a line of code

​Tribe - A no-code, customizable platform to build online communities

​BouncePage - Build a mobile-friendly landing page in minutes not days

​

​

💼 Jobs

​Bubble Developer – Procurified

​Low-code Freelancer – Reach Supreme

​Operations Associate – Primer

​

​

🐦 Tweet of the Week

Amy Pechacek @pechacek_amy It feels illegal to know about these 20 websites: August 4th 2022 19,477 Retweets 61,089 Likes

​

😍 Want to see your own story featured in this newsletter?

If you have a great story to tell that you think the no-code community would be inspired to read, we'll publish it on our blog and feature it in this newsletter. Send us an outline.

​

​

Cheers!
​
Ben & the Makerpad team ✌️