Passive income is the golden goose of the freelance world. As a graphic designer, it allows you to make money while focusing on your own creative projects or just enjoying your free time. However, most designers aren’t tapping into this lucrative source of income.
In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn why passive income is so valuable for graphic designers and how you can start earning it yourself.
Why Is Passive Income So Powerful for Graphic Designers?
Passive income provides graphic designers with three highly-desirable benefits:
Complete Creative Freedom
When you work traditional design jobs, you have to create what the client wants. This can leave you feeling unfulfilled if their vision doesn’t align with yours.
With passive income streams, you have 100% creative control. You get to make exactly what you want to make and then sell it directly to your audience. No middleman needed.
Financial Freedom
Passive income gives you the ability to walk away from unfulfilling client work and stressful jobs. When you build multiple streams, you can replace your full-time salary and become self-sufficient.
The key is consistency. Passively earning a few hundred dollars a month allows you to leave lower-paying jobs. After a year or two of scaling up your income streams, you can ditch salaried positions as well.
More Free Time
Once your passive income streams are established, they run themselves. You might spend 10 hours a month managing them. This frees up your schedule dramatically compared to freelancing or a 9 to 5.
You can take months off at a time, travel the world, focus on passion projects, or spend more time with loved ones. The money keeps rolling in regardless.
Why Aren’t More Graphic Designers Pursuing Passive Income?
Passive income offers graphic designers immense freedom. So why don’t more designers create streams of their own?
There are two primary reasons:
It’s Not Taught in Design School
Business, sales, and marketing are rarely covered in design programs. Most curriculums focus solely on honing your technical skills.
While this education is invaluable, it leaves many designers unaware of lucrative opportunities like passive income. The concept simply isn’t on their radar.
It’s Misunderstood as a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
When people hear “make money while you sleep,” it sounds too good to be true. Like you can get rich with no effort.
In reality, it takes consistent work over months or years to build profitable passive income streams. There’s no such thing as easy money.
However, with patience and perseverance, the returns are well worth the effort.
How Can Graphic Designers Start Earning Passive Income?
If you want to escape unfulfilling client work and constant financial stress, passive income is the solution. Here are three proven ways designers can start earning:
Create Online Classes
Platforms like Skillshare and Domestika let you create classes to teach graphic design skills.
- Make courses on topics you specialize in like branding, design software, motion graphics, etc.
- Film educational videos explaining key concepts and techniques step-by-step.
- Once published, you’ll earn royalties each month as students enroll in your class.
This income stream is great if you enjoy teaching and want flexible hours.
Sell Digital Design Assets
Graphic elements like fonts, templates, actions, mockups, and graphics packs can all be sold online through marketplaces like Creative Market.
- Make design assets centered around trending aesthetics and themes.
- Price items from $5-$50 depending on complexity.
- Earn a 50% commission each time someone purchases your work.
- Build a passive income library by adding 2-3 new products per month.
Selling digital assets lets you completely outsource fulfillment and focus purely on the creative process.
Promote Affiliate Products
Sign up as an affiliate marketer for platforms like Creative Market, Envato, and Design Cuts.
- Get a custom affiliate link for each marketplace.
- Promote products you genuinely like through social media, email lists, etc.
- Receive 5-15% commission on any purchases made through your link.
If creating assets isn’t your strength, affiliate marketing provides effortless passive income from your existing audience.
Turn Your Design Skills Into Passive Income Streams
As a graphic designer, you have the skills to earn an income outside of traditional jobs and clients. Passive income provides the freedom to focus on what you’re truly passionate about.
By consistently putting in the work, you can build multiple streams that allow you to live life on your own terms. Financial independence is closer than you think.
What passive income stream are you most excited to start building?