# Hourly vs Per Project vs Agency (With Examples)

- Channel: [Ali Abdaal – Lifestyle Business Academy](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfo46ZNOV-vtehDc25A1Ug)
- Published: 2026-11-03
- Source video: [Watch on YouTube](https://youtube.com/watch?v=J1eJ_hjyKDY)
- Read on ReadTube: https://www.read.tube/p/videos/J1eJ_hjyKDY
- Language: English

## Summary

**From Freelancing to Agency Scale**

A freelance service business is a second wealth-building ladder that begins with selling a specific skill directly to clients. It can progress from hourly work to fixed-price projects and eventually to an agency where others deliver the service. Each step requires new abilities in client acquisition, pricing, sales, operations, hiring, and business management, allowing income to become less dependent on the founder’s personal time.

The second wealth-building ladder is a freelance or service business, where people earn by providing a specific skill directly to clients rather than working within an employer’s system. The speaker describes learning web design and basic coding as a child, then finding clients through platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and PeoplePerHour.

Progression up this ladder requires increasingly different business skills:
- Hourly work involves finding clients, pitching or preparing proposals, and setting an appropriate rate for the service.
- Per-project work shifts the focus from selling time to selling an outcome, such as charging a fixed price for a website; greater efficiency can then increase the provider’s effective earnings.
- Agency work involves selling the service while other freelancers or employees deliver it, allowing the business to handle more projects and scale beyond the founder’s own time.

Moving from individual service delivery to an agency also requires operational skills, including company formation, accounting, finance, recruiting, and managing a team. These abilities differ from the reliability and role-specific performance generally needed in a wage or salary job, because the freelancer or agency owner must build and manage the system that delivers the work.