How to make money with Graphic Design

S-P-E-C-I-A-L-I-Z-E!

Position your business in a way that allows you to be creative and stay original and unique.

Graphic design is a creative field, like writing, photography, art, music and other disciplines that rely upon the creation skills of the principal.

Those that have the talent and can produce to meet the demands of the target audience get paid. Those that choose to offer their services but don't produce anything special usually end up competing with many, many others at places like Fiverr and many of the freelance work-for-hire sites.

I think the initial entry into the field requires that you build a web site platform to "show off" and promote your talent and unique work in the graphic design arena. Show what you can do. Specialize and position your business to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Steve

Thanks Steve!

That's good stuff. Yeah I agree. The portfolios I look at usually just look pretty weak and everything looks the same.

I've seen graphic designers charge anywhere from 20-150$ per hour... What do you think is a reasonable start?

Thanks again!

JT

I think its the fastest way is by following a design contest for starters, because it does not have to wait for orders or design projects to come, but we as designers picked out orders with a design contest, as well as doing the design of our test whether it is good enough or not.

for the design contest can crowndesign, 99 design etc.

Have you tried Forums? Find some people that are looking for a new design in a ''looking to hire'' section. You are right about Fiverr. It's great if you want to get some work done cheap but not if you are selling something yourself.

JT,

The answer is all around you: WF. Steve mentions specialization. Good suggestion. In your shoes, I'd setup a business aimed at building a strong relationship with the IM community. Everyone from newbies, unable to even use Photoshop and Illustrator, to veterans without the time to do so, will need ongoing work in the field of graphic design: logos, social branding, eBook covers, and dozens of other areas I could mention.

A simple, Phase 1, means of tapping into this market:

• Portfolio website aimed at the IM crowd.
• PayPal payment mechanism.
• Add a signature.
• Grab yourself an image signature on WF.
• Work the War Room and classifieds.
• Setup JVs.
• Use a blog to talk graphic design, and syndicate.

In regards JVs. This is actually more of an affiliate deal, but we'll call it JV because you'll be working closely with the marketer and sharing profits. Think about how your business will sky-rocket with even one decent JV. You setup a basic affiliate plugin on your website (CodeCanyon.net) and offer him an affiliate deal. Give him a discount coupon to pass onto his audience (and imagine if he has 50,000 subscribers) and work out a nice commission structure.

The trick is not to go after one-shot deals, but to foster strong ongoing relationships with clients.

Just some provisional ideas.

- Tom

A good starting point is exactly where you have started, freelancing websites.

As a newbie you will need to build up your portfolio and gain reviews and feedback, so you may have to work for lower rates.

Once you get some honest feedback, you can start to increase your rate of pay. Make your profile attractive, and take a look at some of the profiles of experts in your field.

Also, if you impress a client with your work for low pay, the may decide to keep you on. At which point you could indicate a raise in fee, since your schedule is becoming more busy, you have more projects less time etc.

After a number of projects, you could suggest to your client about moving away from these sites to avoid fees. Set up a regular paypal payment, contacting them via email or just forward them to a website (if you have one) where the can order.

If you don't have a website, creating one around your niche would also be a good idea. That way you can show off your portfolio, testimonials, promote services at your own price and have an interactive blog.

All the best.
-David

Start your own website and start to brand your business/niche. Once you are up and running time to do some marketing and go after your first client!

You can make the graphics design & a Web site also. Place the design file, if someone choose your design, they will buy the raw file from you. It may a good way for you. Thanks for your advance.

be creative. also try to be unique.
for a starter you will need to work for less benefits as this will help you develop your portfolio

Really good stuff!

I want to thank all of you for all the info. This is perfect, just what I needed. I think I know exactly what I need to do now.

Thanks guys!

JT

Hi,

You might consider setting up a few profiles on sites that specialise in graphic design - I would probably suggest Freelancer as a start and upload your portfolio - while there are tons of international people on there willing to do jobs for cheap - there are also lots of people charging $50 to $100 per hour for solid design skills.

I use two graphic designers and we have an affiliate partnership system, they recommend work to me via their client contacts and I do the same. They offer me around $15 per hour off their rack rate and I can charge them out at their premium rate and keep the difference.

Both designers charge between $60 and $80 per hour - this is in AUD. However other designers I have used in Australia have been anything from $30 per hour to $150 per hour. It really depends if they are the big end of town or not.

If you would consider partnering in this way with web developers, copywriters, business development contacts and other industry affiliates, it might be a good way to get some regular leads.

With one contact, we give him 10% of every job he gets for us, which is both a good incentive for him and also an easy way for us to get work.

Lots of options if you think outside the square, I think WOM and letting your colleagues know you are available for new projects and setting up regular EDM's or similar could be a good way to get in front of people as well.

Some easy and fast ways;
- Design your site and do good SEO
- Join some facebook group and search for projects. This will be the direct clients so no commissions.
- Join IT leads providers. They will charge fix monthly nominal fees and provide business leads for big projects

Fiverr is very good for earning a buck, even though they take a 20% cut. It helps you streamline your work, get a system in place and you have a small stream of income coming in. And it helps building a good portfolio too for the future!

Sell your knowledge! Create a lot of short video tutorials about graphic design! Sell them on udemy or skillshare. I can guarantee that you will make money very soon on such platforms. You only need to join a group of people with the same interest to support each other. You don't even need to spend any money if you want. And you don't need to build your own site, list building, funnel, etc... Just learn more and you will be there! Good luck!

If you want to be a graphic design lifetime use freelancing site like Fiverr, Upwork, freelancing.com, etc.
If you want earn a passive income lifetime use your talent to build a list. Create graphic products that you can sell: avatar, svg for videos, banner, etc.
You can earn a lot of subscribers releasing a free product with PLR rights so your contact informations can travels with your work and your list will growth.