Roles in a lean agency
How should a solo web designer or two person web agency split the work?
List every job the agency does, group the jobs into a few roles, give each role one owner and a weekly time budget, and make sure both partners can build and sell.
What you will be able to do
Split the work of a solo or two person agency into clear roles, each with an owner and a weekly time budget, so either partner can build and sell when the other is out.
Before you start
- You have at least a rough idea of who you want to sell to. If not, read Choose a niche and an offer first.
- A blank spreadsheet. This lesson is a worksheet.
Why this matters
A big agency has a salesperson, a project manager, a designer, a developer and someone who chases invoices. You have one or two people doing all of that. If you never name those jobs, the urgent ones (building, fixing, answering email) eat the important ones (finding the next client, sending the invoice, writing down how you did it).
The tips here come from a web design agency we know that runs with a team and brings in about $200k a month. The part worth copying works at any size: clear jobs with clear owners, and a sales sequence anyone on the team can run. The biggest risk in a two person studio is "only one person knows how to do that". Splitting roles is useful. Splitting skills completely is fragile.
Step by step
Tick each step as you do it. Your ticks are saved in this browser.
List every job the agency actually does
Spend ten minutes writing every task from the first email to the renewal invoice. Do not organize yet. You should end up with 25 to 40 small items, such as "write outreach", "build the free draft", "send the proposal", "fix the contact form".
Group the jobs into five roles
Put each task into one of them:
- Find: prospecting, outreach, follow ups, booking calls.
- Win: the free draft, the video call, proposals, closing, contracts.
- Build: design, development, content, testing, launch.
- Care: hosting, updates, backups, support requests, small edits.
- Run: invoicing, bookkeeping, tools, renewals, taxes, this planning work.
Give each role one owner
One name per role, even if both of you help. The owner does not do every task. The owner makes sure it gets done and notices when it is slipping. Solo? Every role has your name on it, and now you can see five jobs competing for one calendar.
Set a weekly time budget for each role
A common trap is giving Find zero hours while Build is busy, then having an empty month after the projects finish. Protect a small, fixed block for Find every week. Treat any split as a starting guess you adjust after a month.
Pick a backup for every role
In a two person studio, the backup is the other person. Then ask: could the backup do this tomorrow without a phone call? If not, that is a training item.
Cross train on building and selling first
That is where the money comes from and where the client feels it. The builder sits in on two or three sales calls and then runs one. The seller builds one small free draft end to end with an AI coding assistant such as Claude, following the Build Websites track. Each has to be good enough that a client is not left waiting.
Write one page per role
What it covers, the tools used, where the logins live (the location, never the password), and the three tasks that must never slip. The agency SOP starter gives you a layout. You expand these in Standard operating procedures.
Set a weekly 30 minute check in
Same time every week. Each owner answers: what moved, what is stuck, what needs the other person. Solo founders do this too, alone, with the sheet open.
Example
Two partners, Ana and Ben, build sites for home service businesses in Columbus, Ohio. Ana is the stronger designer. Ben likes talking to people. Their first role sheet:
ROLE OWNER BACKUP HOURS/WEEK (illustrative) NEVER SLIPS
Find Ben Ana 6 Outreach block Tue and Thu mornings
Win Ben Ana 5 Proposal sent within 24 hours of the call
Build Ana Ben 18 Launch QA checklist done before handover
Care Ana Ben 3 Backups verified monthly
Run Ben Ana 3 Invoices sent the day work is approved
Their training list for the next month: Ana runs the next video call while Ben takes notes. Ben builds the next free draft and Ana reviews it. Ana sends one invoice and one renewal reminder. Ben restores one site from backup on a test domain.
Bad version: "Ana does the tech stuff, Ben does the business stuff." Nothing is written down, nobody owns invoicing, and when Ana takes a week off, a client's broken form waits seven days.
Common mistakes
- No hours for finding clients. Outreach stops when you are busy building, and a month later you have nothing to build. Give Find a fixed block that survives busy weeks.
- Roles that live only in one head. If only one partner knows how hosting works, a sick day becomes an outage. Write the role page and practice the backup.
- Confusing owner with doer. The owner of Run does not have to do the bookkeeping. They make sure it is done.
- Giving every role to the more confident partner. Confidence is not capacity. Check the hours add up to a real week.
Try it yourself
Make your own role sheet: every task sorted into the five roles, with owner, backup, weekly hours and one "never slips" item per role. Then write two training actions that would let your backup cover your most important role. Solo? Write what you would pause if you were out for a week.
Deliverable: a five row role sheet plus a training list of at least two items.
Time: about 30 minutes.
Resources
- Agency SOP starter a layout for your role pages and procedures
- Standard operating procedures turn each role page into a checklist
- Choose a niche and an offer decide who the Find role is looking for
- Numbers worth watching check whether your time budgets match reality
Finished this lesson?
Mark it complete to track your progress through the course.
Last reviewed October 18, 2026. Prices, laws and tool terms change, so check current terms before you rely on any figure.