How to Diversify Your Income As a Freelance Designer
Income streams to try out as a freelancer
In the ever-changing landscape of freelance design, relying on a single client or project can be a risky move. But worry not! The digital world is brimming with possibilities and growing client needs, so freelance designers have the incredible opportunity to break free from the uncertainty of one-dimensional income.
In this article, we'll explore different income diversification methods tailored specifically for freelance designers. By diversifying your income, you can not only secure your financial stability but also unlock a world of endless possibilities for your career. Let’s dive in!
5 ways to diversify your income as a freelance designer
There are several ways to diversify your income as a freelance designer. The sky’s the limit! You can come up with new ideas for income streams to fill whatever gap you spot in the market. However, in this article we’ll focus on the income streams that have worked best for us:
Special offers and enhanced services
One effective diversification method is to offer special packages to your clients. These can range from smaller offerings — like a VIP day — to more comprehensive packages that combine various design services such as branding, web design, and copywriting.
This approach enhances your value proposition and offers many advantages for both you and your clients:
Catering to each client’s needs. Offering different packages and solutions allows you to cater to different client needs and budgets. A range of options empowers clients to choose whatever aligns with their specific requirements, whether it’s a quick design fix or a complete overhaul.
Showing versatility. Offering specialized packages showcases your expertise and versatility as a designer. By combining multiple services into a comprehensive package, you show your ability to provide a holistic and cohesive design solution, setting yourself apart from the competition.
Upselling. By bundling services together, you create an opportunity to upsell clients from a smaller package to a more comprehensive one. For instance, a client initially interested in basic logo design might be tempted by the added value of a package that includes branding, website design, and copywriting.
Some of the packages you can offer include a VIP Day (a one-on-one session where they receive personalized solutions to their design needs), a brand identity overhaul (a revamp of their brand visuals and design elements), or a social media branding package (cohesive branding elements for social media platforms, like profile banners and branded templates).
But bear in mind that offering special packages also comes with certain challenges. Creating and managing these packages requires careful planning and organization, especially when they involve several different services. You need to be able to give proper attention to each service, without compromising on quality or overwhelming yourself with an excessive workload.
2. Digital products
Freelance designers can offer more than just services — you can also sell digital products! By creating and selling digital products, such as templates, pre-made logos, presentations, or social media graphics, you can tap into a new revenue stream and reach a new audience.
Selling digital products has several advantages. First, it’s a great way to build a passive income stream. Once you create and launch a digital product, it can be sold on autopilot without the need for your continuous involvement. Also, unlike services that require your time and attention for each client, digital products can be sold to numerous customers simultaneously, increasing your chances for business growth.
However, there are some drawbacks as well. First, competition can be pretty fierce in the digital marketplace, so it's important to create products that stand out and offer unique value. This will require you to invest time in market research and understanding your target audience's needs. Plus, you’ll have to market your products effectively to reach and convert your audience, and that takes time as well.
But, all things considered, selling digital products is a great way to diversify your income! Here are some cool digital product ideas that you can explore:
Logo templates. Ready-made logo designs that clients can customize to suit their brands.
Website templates. Pre-designed templates for platforms like Squarespace, Showit, and Shopify, enabling clients to quickly set up and customize their websites.
Social media graphics. Graphics and templates optimized for various social media platforms, including posts, banners, and profile covers.
Font designs. Original fonts or font families for personal or commercial use.
Printables. Printable designs, such as calendars, planners, stationery, and art prints, that customers can download and print themselves.
Try and find what your audience needs and start working on a digital product that can fill that gap.
3. Courses and workshops
If you have a lot of knowledge to share and a passion for teaching, creating online courses can be an excellent way to diversify your income as a freelance designer. Whether you specialize in a specific design discipline, software, or niche, launching your own online course allows you to monetize your knowledge and empower others on their creative journeys.
Apart from providing you with a new income stream, selling courses and hosting workshops has a lot of pros:
A cash injection. Digital product sales tend to be pretty steady, but launching a course will give you a huge cash injection. Courses and workshops can easily bring in an income stream in the short term and boost your cash flow.
Empowering beginners. One of the most fulfilling aspects of creating online courses is the ability to help beginners. As an experienced designer, you can provide aspiring designers with the necessary skills, guidance, and resources to kick-start their careers.
Flexibility. You can create pre-recorded courses that your students can go over at their own pace or design a live and more specialized masterclass for an advanced audience. There are several ways to tap into this income stream!
But keep in mind that creating and launching a successful online course requires careful planning, preparation, and marketing. You'll need to identify your target audience, define the learning objectives, create compelling course content, and select an appropriate platform for hosting and delivering your course materials.
Courses and workshops can take different forms. You can create written, audio, or video courses. They can be self-paced or have time-sensitive tasks to complete every week. You can include quizzes or games, or one-on-one sessions with you as a tutor, and they can cover a massive range of topics within the realm of design. There’s no wrong way to do it!
4. Consulting services
Design consultations are an effective way to offer expert guidance and advice to clients. Whether it's providing strategic input, offering feedback on design concepts, or assisting with problem-solving, consultations allow you to diversify your income while using your design expertise in a different capacity.
And they come packed with other benefits as well! Design consultations give you the flexibility to charge an hourly rate or offer packages for ongoing support. Also, you get the opportunity to have direct one-on-one interactions with clients, allowing you to understand their specific needs, offer tailored recommendations, and guide them through the design process.
But every rose has its thorn. When it comes to consulting services, it's important to establish clear communication and expectations with clients regarding the scope. You need to define the duration of the sessions, deliverables, and any follow-up support, and specifically how all that will be charged.
Additionally, consulting services are more time-consuming than other types of income streams you can exploit as a freelance designer — but they also tend to be more profitable!
Here are some ideas for consulting sessions you can offer:
Design strategy consultation. It focuses on helping clients define their design goals, establish a design strategy, and create a roadmap for their projects.
Branding and identity consultation. It involves helping clients develop or refine their brand identity.
Website optimization consultation. It covers aspects such as website layout, user experience, responsive design, and overall optimization for better performance and conversion.
You can also offer clients tailored sessions to tackle any specific issues they may be facing.
5. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for freelance designers to generate passive income without the need to develop their own products. It essentially means promoting someone else's products or services through a unique affiliate link. When a person clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission from that sale.
There are different methods to promote affiliate links, ranging from active to passive approaches. For instance, you can share your affiliate links when someone seeks product recommendations in online communities or social media groups — but this requires quite a lot of effort from your side.
A more effective approach is leveraging your blog. By creating high-quality content and deploying a solid SEO strategy, you can bring in organic traffic from search engines like Google to generate affiliate sales on autopilot. So, basically: Great results, minimal time and effort.
Now, for the downsides: First, not every affiliate post will be successful. Some posts may generate huge revenue, while others may not perform well. Also, you don't have control over the product or service you're promoting. The company may discontinue the product or make changes that impact your affiliate income. Finally, you have no control over the commission rates, as they are typically determined by the affiliate program.
Despite those cons, though, affiliate marketing is the go-to passive income stream for most freelance designers. So, why not give it a go?
By diversifying your income streams and not depending solely on client work, you can solidify your financial standing despite the uncertainty that comes with freelancing. Choose the diversification method that better suits you and your business and start building a multi-stream revenue!
