5 Ways to Make Passive Income as a Designer

Freelancing, especially for graphic artists, has undeniably enjoyed serious growth in recent times. Designers from all works have taken advantage of this new wave, and while some have used it as a profitable hobby, others have concentrated on it as a full-time job.

The popularity of freelancing as a means of passive income for designers has been unprecedented, and the growth is only expected to continue – especially in sectors such as tech and marketing, which is why every designer wants to get a piece of the cake. I mean, what’s better than getting paid for doing what you love.  Unfortunately, it’s not all ups. A freelancer’s life isn’t always as luxurious as it sounds. Some months are filled with jobs and profits come effortlessly, other times you struggle to get even a single gig as if that isn’t enough, you still have to compete with thousands of other freelancers for the scarce resources.

Passive Ways to earn as a designer

It obviously sucks when you have to go through months without getting jobs especially when it’s the main source of income. It can get frustrating pretty fast if you don’t have other means to support yourself.

Doing what you love can be a chore if there are no remunerations to keep you motivated; but what if there was a way- or in this case, ways to easily earn passive incomes to help you survive through those tough months and in fact ultimately help grow your primary business?  Let’s take a look at some of the best ones out there and how you can get started as soon as today

1. Selling Your Own Fonts

Creating and selling your font can be one of the best ways to make some extra bucks. Selling fonts is perfect not only because you can keep making your money after the initial effort of creating it, but you can pretty much sell it to anyone anywhere. All you have to do is custom-make your signature fonts or scripts and set up an online platform where you can cater to people that need them for weddings, seminars, websites, brochures and infographics, and the likes.

2. Write & sell an e-book

How many times have you wanted to pick up a new skill or learn more about a topic only to be shot down because there are no materials on the topic.  Imagine how someone else felt when they went through the same dilemma: imagine two, imagine a hundred. Now, imagine you, a seasoned designer who has enviable knowledge on the topic creating an eBook that caters to their need. You get paid and after providing a service to humanity. A win-win.  What’s more? Writing and selling an eBook doesn’t cost an arm and a leg; in fact, you can begin and start selling in mere days. Here’s how;

• Come up with a suitable name– A good title can be the difference between selling a few copies to making serious bank on your eBook when you are sure of what you’re writing on. Take your time, talk to family and friends, visit forums online and find an interesting title for your book.
• Write – Here comes the most difficult for most, writing, especially because designers are not writers at heart. Still, if you can make a complicated client’s gibberish into an amazing logo, handling this part of the book should a walk in the park. Take your time to research your topic and write to your heart’s fill. There is always an option to contract it out to a writer as well. Just make sure your thoughts are ell conveyed.
• Edit and Proofread– Okay, I know we said to write to your heart’s fill, but nobody will buy a book they can’t understand. So get everything sorted with the paragraphs, keep it short and simple, and correct all typographical error. You can also add nice images for better comprehension and readability.

Get a great cover, convert to accommodate all platforms you want to sell on and voila, you’re a best seller, and this is a juicy passive income for you as a designer.

3. Affiliate Marketing

Have you ever come across a review of great products and the link to the purchase while searching online for an item? Those are likely affiliate links. Affiliate marketing is just one of the ways to make passive income as a designer. You can make money by providing links and great reviews to other businesses and getting some sort of commission every time a purchase is made through your link.

This usually works better when you have a considerably decent following on your blog or social media. The larger your following, the more likely you are guaranteed to make more money. So you stand to make quite a lot if you can garner sizeable following online. While you can partner with various companies and businesses, Amazon Affiliate is the most popular. The rule to this is finding a trustworthy business to partner with and review top-notch products and services to build your reputation.

4. Mockups, Icons, Fonts and Templates

A great way to make passive income as a designer. As a graphic artist, you don’t have to get jobs before you get to work. You can always come up with logo and icon designs, mockups and templates and set up shop on numerous platforms to make some cool passive income. Etsy, Creative Market, Zazzle and many more are some of these platforms. There is a huge market for custom logos, vectors, mockup products, and icons, so you’re covered.

5. Selling WordPress Templates

WordPress, as one of the leading website creation tools on the internet, powers 26% of the World Wide Web. Due to its ease of usage, it has become a haven for small and medium businesses that want a cheap alternative to hosting their own website, which only translates to the market being lucrative for designers at the moment. With little experience with web templates, you can create and sell, as lots of individuals and businesses opt for templates.

Finally, you should know that as a designer, graphic design is only half of the journey. If you want to maintain a constant income stream, expand your skillset, network, and market yourself to expose yourself to more opportunities.