Up next in 10
8 Passive Income Ideas for Designers (These WILL Work)
3K views
Jan 17, 2024
In this video, we reveal our 8 favorite ways to make passive income as a designer PLUS real-world examples of designers making passive income. Passive income, for designers who are willing to put in the work, can make business extremely exciting. Imagine not having to figure out how to get graphic design clients over and over again every month. Picture a world where at least a portion of your design income is passive, reliable, and predictable. Visit our blog at https://millo.co Read Ben Brush's 7 ideas for converting unused designs into passive income: https://millo.co/ben-brush-7-ways-i-turn-my-unused-designs-into-passive-income Listen to Chelsea Baldwin's story of building an agency as a freelancer https://millo.co/chelsea-baldwin-interview Building a $45,000/mo business from scratch in less than a year with Jake Jorgovan https://millo.co/jake-jorgovan-interview-lead-cookie 8 Passive Income Ideas for Designers (CHAPTERS):
View Video Transcript
0:00
For designers, passive income can mean extra cash every month without having to find new
0:05
clients all the time. In today's video, I'll teach you 8 passive income ideas for designers
0:10
who need more revenue in their design business. Hi everyone, I'm Dorian from Millo.co where we provide tips and tricks for freelance designers
0:23
to level up their business and today I'll reveal 8 ideas to make passive income as a designer
0:29
Making passive income as a graphic designer can create feelings of frustration and sometimes
0:34
disappointment. But with today's tips, you'll learn how passive income can create a nice low
0:40
maintenance addition to your revenue every month and how some designers master this art so well
0:45
their entire business is built on it. Whether you want to make a few extra $100 each month
0:50
on the side or build a 6-figure passive income business, you're in the right place
0:56
Let's get started. 1. Upcycle Unused Design Elements As you go about working with clients
1:02
you undoubtedly have unused design elements that ultimately get scrapped or discarded
1:08
However, when thinking strategically, rather than throwing away those unused designs, take this opportunity to upcycle them for passive income
1:15
You may be asking yourself, how can I upcycle my work to generate passive income
1:20
As a simple example, take a look at Ben Brush. Ben developed 7 ways he can personally turn unused
1:27
work into passive income. By selling them as stock art, turning them into prints
1:32
writing tutorial blogs that pay writers, and much more. If you're interested in learning more about Ben's 7 examples
1:39
go ahead and follow the link in the description below. 2. Develop and Sell Design Products One of the most common ways a designer can
1:48
generate passive income is by selling their design elements or resources on marketplaces
1:53
like creative markets or design cuts. One designer who is extremely experienced
1:58
at building passive income is Dustin Lee. In one of Dustin's videos, he recommends observing what
2:04
works best for fellow designers in the design marketplace and then simply improving on popular
2:10
items there. He even went so far as to say, There's no special award or merit badge you can get for inventing some sort of new product
2:18
that's never existed. In fact, it's probably the easiest way to fail because there's no way
2:23
to verify it makes money. Seeing what's popular on something like creative market
2:28
allows you to confidently make something and see what's doing well and improve upon that to make
2:33
money. In other words, if you're thinking to create designs from scratch in hopes of obtaining
2:38
passive income at some point, you should really familiarize yourself with that market to make
2:43
any types of sales. If you're enjoying today's video and finding this information to be helpful
2:48
go ahead and press the subscribe button and leave us a like so we can continue creating
2:52
helpful freelancing videos for designers like you. 3. Sell Your Design Knowledge Whether you realize it or not, as a designer
3:01
you have an arsenal of special skills and talents that not many others have, but a lot of people
3:07
want. Even though you may spend most of your days hanging out on graphic design blogs or other
3:12
design communities, most people aren't designers. This leaves a knowledge gap that you can easily
3:19
fill through teaching via online courses, ebooks, and many other learning platforms
3:24
Just by simply creating it once, you can sell it repeatedly. That's passive income at its finest
3:31
With sites like Udemy and Skillshare, designers can create their own courses to generate passive
3:37
income. Another fantastic idea is to recommend resources to your clients that generate passive
3:42
income. You can recommend certain services to your clients that include an affiliate payout for you
3:47
as the designer. For example, web designers could recommend their clients to use WP Engine
3:53
who has a nice affiliate program paying $100 or more for every client you sign up
3:58
Or if you work with small businesses, consider recommending FreshBooks, which gives up to $300
4:05
per referral, or Gusto, which offers $300 per referral as well. 4. Build an Audience
4:13
If you like the above ideas of referral or affiliate marketing as a way of generating
4:18
passive income, then you need to focus on building a larger audience
4:22
For example, the Miller.co blog was started 10 years ago and over time has attracted loyal
4:28
readers and newcomers who have discovered us from Google. So when we link to a resource like
4:33
Hectic or QuickBooks and people click to make a purchase, we get a small kickback
4:38
This passive income business model allows us to continue generating high-quality content
4:43
for designers on a regular basis, and you can do the same
4:47
Though growing an audience isn't the quickest route to passive income, if you stick around for the long term, your hard work and patience will pay off
4:57
5. Become an Affiliate for Design Resources If you use a certain resource constantly and recommend it to your fellow designers
5:05
you might want to consider becoming an affiliate with that resource. Similar to our last entry, by referring designers to helpful tools
5:13
you can reap some of the benefits. For example, did you know that by recommending
5:18
Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator to your friends and fellow designers
5:23
you can receive an affiliate payout? You can join Creative Market's affiliate
5:27
program so when fellow designers ask for help finding the perfect background texture
5:32
you can send them an affiliate link and build some passive income. 6. Build Passive Upsells into Your Current Workflow
5:40
Another quick way to help generate passive income is to examine your workflow
5:45
Are there any potential upsells for extra revenue you can attach to your project
5:50
A good example are additional rights. Defining what rights your clients will receive
5:54
should already be within your initial negotiation, leaving no extra effort or cost on your end
6:00
leading your client to purchase additional rights, releases, or usage permissions around the work you give them
6:06
Another more passive idea is to generate more income by offering retainer services
6:11
after projects are completed or including educational or maintenance documents like a how-to guide for WordPress designers or a brand guide
6:19
7. Capitalize on Big Design Trends and Tools Make sure to stay up to date with current graphic design trends and tools for designers
6:29
For example, our friend Ian Bernard is a very talented hand letterer
6:34
As his Instagram began to grow, he started to notice patterns in the
6:37
questions he was getting from his process videos. From that, he released tons of high-quality
6:43
brushes and grid builders to help designers excel at hand lettering themselves
6:48
Some educational trends may also be beneficial like creating a Udemy course
6:52
ebook, or other resources around switching from Photoshop to Sketch. At a minimum, you can always incorporate Dustin's advice as we discussed previously to see if you
7:03
can improve on it and release something better than what's currently out
7:07
8. Build a Reoccurring Revenue Design Business And finally, building a reoccurring revenue design business is a fantastic way to better
7:17
grow passive income. So here's a few options you can go about doing that
7:21
You can learn from Jake who pivoted from calling himself a web designer and charging hourly to
7:26
calling himself a creative director and charging on a regular basis. We'll link to Jake's story below
7:32
Or go check out our podcast below with Chelsea Baldwin who built a $300k a year
7:37
reoccurring revenue business on the back of her freelance writing career. Alternatively, you could also build a subscription-based
7:45
business focused on your skillset kind of like Russ Perry. Russ built Design Pickle and now has over thousands of customers paying
7:52
hundreds of dollars a month for his unlimited design service. And that's it! 8 simple ways to start growing your passive income as a designer
8:01
I hope this video both excited you and educated you in the process of building passive income
8:06
That's all for now, guys. My name is Dorian from Millo.co. Don't forget to subscribe for more videos to grow your business. We'll see you soon
#Affiliate Programs
#Design
#Home Office
#Performing Arts
#TV & Video
#Visual Art & Design