Are you a talented designer and would like to diversify your source of income? It’s never a bad idea to earn an extra coin doing what you love. Besides, freelance designers have plenty of avenues to explore. Whether your expertise is in designing t-shirts, branding, or creating templates, you can make some good money as a freelancer.

As an ever-growing industry, companies are always looking for professional designers. But, not everyone is willing to work in traditional 9-5 jobs. So, if you are one of those and want to become your own boss, there are many ways to generate passive income. You just need to polish your creativity and use your skills to gain that extra cash.

But how can you get the ball rolling? Here are five ways and best strategies to monetize your mastery.

1. Craft Images for Pinterest

Looking for an easy way to start as a professional designer on the internet? You won’t go wrong combining your creativity with Pinterest to make money. The main job here is to offer and create custom images for websites and blogs that rely on Pinterest for traffic to their sites.

What makes it even more interesting is that you can add the images you create to your design portfolio. So, if you’re starting your freelance journey as a designer, this will be great for you. Put your original ideas into action today and start earning some money.

2. Create and Sell Templates

Dealing with templates is one of the most profitable ways to earn as a designer. With this method, you can pocket a lot of money making templates of any kind. Some of the templates to sell online include posters, ebooks, Pinterest graphics, or invitations.

Take advantage of bloggers and business owners who are always in a crunch time or don’t have the skills to create their own designs. They will be happy to get ready-made products. Because of how simple they are to customize, they won’t hesitate to purchase.

Set up your online template shop and put in the hard work. You’ll be bowled over how much you can make with little effort besides marketing your brand.

3. Share your Bandwidth

You might find sharing your internet for cash impossible, but it has become popular today. As a fundamental part of our lives, readily available bandwidth is always in demand. Businesses are willing to pay some money to support their operations. Hence, don’t allow the extra internet to go to waste anymore.

Consider sharing it with other users to earn extra money whenever you’re connected and working on your projects. This idea needs little effort to earn since you install an app that gathers the unused internet. Once you set up everything, your money will start to rake in.

And the good news is that such an app runs in the background. You will keep working on your designs as usual. What is more, it does not compromise your security or privacy.

4. Sell your Design Course

Another effective way to earn money online as a designer is by selling your own course. If you have experience working with programs like Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and others, record how to use them. Note that focusing your course on a specific market niche will generate more money.

For instance, you can only create and optimize a course for printed material layouts. And if you’re great at photo retouching, give it your best. This way, you’ll attract a key audience willing to buy the course. Many people are always ready to learn new skills from online courses.

So, as a pro, you can take advantage and make money teaching them. To get started or wonder which are the best online platforms to sell courses, there are plenty. Try out as many as you can before jumping in with both feet. Most offer free trial days for you to test out the waters.

5. Become a Design Consultant

Don’t let your experience and knowledge go down the drain. You can offer professional design advice to businesses or even individuals who need it. And whenever they consult, you can charge your services per hour.

To win clients’ hearts, make sure to showcase your past work. If you’ve any design project, put it in your portfolio and highlight your successes. Also, you can use your social media platforms to network with potential clients. It would also be a great place to post your best designs so that people can get an idea of what you can create.

Conclusion

As long as you’re a creative individual, you can make a killing from the above methods by doing what you love. You just need to ensure your work is original and stands out from everyone else’s. Don’t forget that most clients are willing to go deep in their pockets for the finest designs.

About the Author

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Mirko Humbert

Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.