Discover how Mike Kruglov manages multiple development projects at the same time with some grit, know-how, and Directual. Perfect case study for solo-devs and startups.
Sometimes, all a one-man-army developer needs a some no-code magic. This story covers Mike Kruglov, a full-stack developer that embraced the power of no-code and can now offer his clients the complete package: backend, frontend, SEO, design, project management, and the works.
Since childhood, I've been into programming. I've had a burning dream of becoming a programmer someday. I started learning on my own decades ago. Regular websites, various things on basic web builders, forums, and other run-of-the-mill things you could develop on your own back then.
I didn't limit myself to just websites—having learned C++, C#, Java, and some other languages, I was building just about anything. That’s what I do to this day, but much better, and much faster.
Over time, more clients slowly started coming my way. I made websites on WordPress then—a completely self-made website on WordPress for a large jewelry factory, using PHP and diving into JavaScript, and smoothly started handling projects. However, it started to get old.
Jumping between various disciplines and programming languages, it gets really exhausting having to learn every single thing just to meet the constantly shifting requirements of new clients.
Mind you, I do everything when it comes web development—branding, design, SEO, management, development, all of it. Keeping on like that was a bit too difficult.
That’s when I came across the concept of no-code on social networks. I thought it was cool. I still have two apps on the market, previously built with Sketchware - a thing similar to Flutter now, but assembled from a mobile device.
One app is a utility for housing and communal services - you enter an email, input the data, and it’s immediately sent where it needs to go. Thus, no-code has been a part of my life for a long time. I used Elementor too as well for similar purposes. I immersed myself in the no-code community and started grabbing every piece of information I could find. At that time, Bubble seemed like an unattainable niche, so I didn't even want to try it.
Somewhere then I came across Directual and decided to give it a go, see how it works. Love at first sight!
My first project was for my family. My parents have a company, and they needed a company management system. I suggested building it with Directual and Creatium. I got hooked for a month, assembled the tools, and here you go.
I built Telegram bots, did SMM, SEO, and everything else. My business model is that I'm a person who loves to bring businesses online, design them, build the logic, and organize PR. I hardly ever delegate, however.
So far, as a one-man dev agency, I think I’ve done just about any project under the moon. Small websites, big websites, CMS, internal portals, etc, etc.
I realized that working with Directual is very enjoyable, as is finding areas for improvement in it — mini-bugs and such.
Now, I can use Directual with my eyes closed. All the projects I manage are on Directual — the tariffs are not very flexible, you can exceed the limits, but it offers flexibility! It frees up backend development stress, leaving a tremendous potentia for growth.
Most importantly - I can write to platform developers in the Directual community, describe the problem, and then the CEO himself helps me out on occasion. How about that!
One of the projects I had was a real-estate customer system and website for it. Fill out 10 steps about the construction object, and the landing page is generated automatically. Give the link to whoever you want, and the building is already available to review. If you like it, you can leave an application to view there and then, view a 3D plan, etc. I also wanted to have an embedded Zoom meeting functionality, but it turned out to be a bit difficult.
Directual integrates really well with other platforms that make it shine even more as well.
The UI component. It would be great to enhance the constructor to the level of Webflow or Creatium. There's a lack of freedom; currently, you either have to use low code or integrations if you want to build something incredible.
No-code newbies, I’m sure, will want everything to be perfect, and that’s why Bubble is popular - it can do both, but its backend is terrible, it’s only suitable for basic tasks. If Directual had a cool better UI and frontend, Bubble would be completely overshadowed. Directual's backend is unmatched; I've tried just about any respectable no-code platform out there and I can say that is a fact.
I would also recommend experimenting more with the resource limits. Right now, I'm afraid to launch a bot project for testing purposes. 3-4 questions from 1,000 people, and the resource limits will immediately hit the ceiling. I'm working on the project without knowing if it will take off or not; there's a question of financial commitment. I understand that discounts could be available for me, but will they be available for less active individuals? That's the question.
Everything else is more than enough.
Similarly, it would be great to have a separate tariff for cloud storage — currently, some projects lack the amount of cloud storage that could be purchased for their needs.
I can now continue to compete with studios on my own - they have designers, marketers, programmers, project managers, and more. I have myself, and that is enough. I realize, however, that I cannot scale my own business up without delegating things to other people, so it’s likely I will transform from a one-man-no-code-army to a no-code agency, and then we’ll see how it goes.
In short: with Directual, I can create amazing projects.
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No-code platforms, like Directual, can speed up the web development process, freeing developers from having to learn various programming languages for each new project. With no-code platforms, developers can manage projects, build websites, apps, bots, and more.
With no-code, you can tackle various aspects of a project including branding, design, SEO, project management, and development, all-in-one. Platforms like Directual, can help developers create complex projects, manage them, and offer extra services to their clients, effectively competing with larger agencies.
These platforms eliminate the need to learn multiple programming languages, making web development more accessible to a wider audience. Furthermore, they offer a great deal of flexibility and efficiency, allowing developers to quickly adapt to clients' varying needs and deliver comprehensive solutions.
Join 15,000+ no-coders using Directual and create something you can be proud of—both faster and cheaper than ever before. It’s easy to start thanks to the visual development UI, and just as easy to scale with powerful, enterprise-grade databases and backend.
