Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Arsh Sanwarwala, Founder and CEO of ThrillX, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

ThrillX is a top web design agency based in Toronto, Canada. ThrillX was established to address two major industry issues. The first is the "leaky bucket syndrome." Investing in an unoptimized website is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. We've seen brands pour thousands into marketing budgets (or plan to) and chase more traffic, yet their websites are not properly optimized, and they convert that traffic at low or average numbers.

Second, customer acquisition costs have gone through the roof. Acquiring traffic is becoming more expensive and competitive every day, which makes it crucial to optimize your website's conversion funnel to maximize ROI on each visitor.

We help eCommerce and B2B brands turn their websites into revenue-generating machines. We do this through a data-centric approach and our rigorous discovery and strategy process. We immerse ourselves in your business and make sure we know it inside and out before we even touch a single pixel of code or design. We help write all of the main messaging on your website, ensuring it resonates with your target audience and motivates them to take action.

Clients are always astounded when I tell them they can watch recordings of users on their website, see exactly where they click/navigate, track how far they scroll, etc. It amazes me how many businesses are unaware of the gold mine that is user behavior data and miss out on massive growth opportunities. We employ various quantitative and qualitative research methods like heatmaps, A/B testing, user interviews, and surveys, combining them with human psychology and behavioral science to create conversion-focused websites.

Tell us about yourself

Ever since I can remember, I've been drawn to the world of business and entrepreneurship. The freedom to carve my own path and control my destiny was more exciting to me than anything else in life. However, starting my own UX/UI and web design agency was far from my initial plans.

My journey began at a startup called Influence Hunter as an Account Coordinator. My day-to-day tasks involved managing campaigns with influencers and handling operations – pretty far removed from anything design-related. Although my background was primarily in marketing and sales, I was looking to make a change and pivot my career into UX/UI design at that time.

One day, the team at Influence Hunter floated the idea of redesigning their website. They asked around if anyone knew good agencies to hire. It was like a light bulb turned on inside me. I saw a golden opportunity and knew I had to grab it. I made a bold move and told the co-founder that I would redesign the website for free if he allowed me to include it in my portfolio. Caught off guard yet intrigued by my proposition, the co-founder gave me the go-ahead. Just like that, I was off to the races.

I dove headfirst into the project, pouring extra hours on top of my regular duties. I was clocking in at least 70-80 hours a week, immersing myself in A/B testing, conversion-focused design principles, conducting focus group sessions, studying copywriting techniques, analyzing data through heatmaps, and more. The website redesign was very successful, with a 385% increase in conversions (booked calls), a 255% increase in monthly website traffic, and a substantial impact on revenue.

The co-founder was so impressed that he started recommending me to several people within his network. Suddenly, I found myself juggling my day job with freelance projects. But the thing was, I loved every bit of it. The projects were challenging, the clients were great, and the work didn't feel like work at all. As more satisfied clients led to referrals, I found myself in a snowballing situation with more work than I could handle on my own.

That's when I decided to hire my first employee. Fast forward to today, I'm proud to have built a talented team of designers and developers, working with clients globally from Toronto to Los Angeles to Estonia. I've always been grateful for my first client and for the co-founder trusting me. We're still in touch to this day and continue helping each other grow our businesses.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My proudest moments are watching businesses transform. Like our e-commerce client, who added nearly a million dollars to their bottom line through our Conversion Rate Optimization work in just a few months. Or Influence Hunter, who was able to finally feel confident investing in digital marketing after our website redesign, changing the course of their business and boosting their inbound leads substantially by a whopping 385%.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

The hardest thing for me as a business owner is the never-ending buzz of my business in my mind, a constant hum of ideas, tasks, and plans that pervades every waking moment—and the sleeping ones, too. This unyielding stream of consciousness is both a source of relentless stress and my greatest source of passion. There's a part of me that thrives on continuous engagement with my work, steering through an endless sea of to-dos, budget considerations, team management, and customer satisfaction. Whether I'm trying to fall asleep or I'm midway through dinner with family and friends, there's always a corner of my brain mapping out the next big project or drafting a promotional email. This internal dialogue can be incredibly taxing, yet paradoxically, I find it invigorating. I haven't mastered the art of turning it off, and I'm not sure I want to; it's the toughest part of my journey, yet also the most exhilarating. It's this always-on mentality that fuels my drive to push my business forward. My entrepreneurial spirit doesn't clock out when the 'Open' sign flips to 'Closed.' The obsession with my business is a testament to how much I care—it's woven into who I am, an intrinsic part of my identity that keeps the fire in my belly ignited. I've come to believe that to truly succeed, you must be a little obsessed, allowing your business to captivate your waking thoughts and seep into your dreams. While the weight of constant thought can be heavy, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm wholly devoted to my venture, and I firmly believe that if it doesn't challenge you, stir you, or keep you up at night, then perhaps it's not the path you're meant to walk. But for me, it's exactly where I need to be.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

The top 3 tips I'd give to anyone looking to start and grow a business are:

  1. Figure out your sales process: In the heart of every successful business lies a well-oiled sales machine. Whether you're in B2B or B2C, the principles remain consistent: understand your lead generation, nail down your closing techniques, and know your numbers—be it average deal size for B2B or customer lifetime value for B2C. Precision in these areas is non-negotiable. For our business and our clients, we focus on turning websites into revenue-generating machines. At ThrillX, we follow the same advice we preach to our clients – diversifying customer acquisition. We obtain leads through a variety of different methods, including SEO, paid review sites, cold outreach, referrals, etc. What's more important is our strategy to actually convert leads into clients. We offer a free detailed website audit with no obligations or strings attached, providing actionable conversion-focused improvements that you can make straight away. We touch on everything from structure, layout, messaging, imagery, navigation, conversion funnel optimization, call-to-action buttons, and even SEO strategies. These are items that are often overlooked, and very few people in the industry talk about them. Offering audits has been a complete game changer for our business. For our cold outreach campaigns, we send out personalized Loom video website audits. These are sent to people that we have never spoken with before. Out of the people who actually watch the video recordings, 80% of them get back to us asking to jump on a call to learn more. A large percentage of those turn into clients. In case you are interested in learning more about our free website audits, please check out our page here – https://thrillxdesign.com/free-website-review/.
  2. Outcare your competition: At ThrillX, our secret ingredient isn't just a business strategy; it's heart. We believe that the key to our growth has been our unwavering commitment to treating our clients like family. This philosophy goes beyond traditional customer service; it's about creating a bond that's as personal as it is professional. From day one, I've made sure every client knows they're more than just a name in a file. They have my personal phone number and the invitation to call me anytime. It's about being there for the late-night worries and the early-morning breakthroughs. It's about being a constant in a world of variables, ready to listen, support, and advise, whether it's over a weekend coffee chat or a quick text message check-in. It's the small gestures that carry great weight—a handwritten note congratulating a client on a milestone, remembering the little details of their last vacation, or just sending a message to say we're thinking of them. Our clients aren't just entries in a spreadsheet; they're the heartbeat of our business. We celebrate their triumphs and share in their challenges, not because we have to, but because we genuinely care.
  3. Don't be afraid to experiment: One of the most exhilarating parts of steering ThrillX to new heights has been the daring dance with experimentation. Every day is an opportunity to test a new hypothesis, tweak a variable, and observe the ripples of change across the canvas of our business. Particularly in marketing, we've plunged into a spectrum of channels, casting our net wide and eager to capture the lessons hidden within each trial. Some of these channels have blossomed, becoming steadfast pillars of our growth, drawing in clients and opportunities like a beacon. Others, however, have flickered and waned, not resonating as we hoped. Yet, there's beauty in these failures—they're not dead ends but signposts that redirect our journey, teaching us more about our business and our audience than any success ever could.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://thrillxdesign.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrillxdesign/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arsh-sanwarwala/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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