How To Make More Money as a Designer, Creative, or Artist
Raising Your Prices, Structuring Your Offers, and Automated Systems to Help You Create a Sustainable Income as a Freelancer.
Maximizing Income as a Freelancer
There are two reasons we want to be freelancers: to do what we love, and to get paid well doing it. Because let's face it, we all want to achieve financial freedom. And when you can get there doing what you love, when you want to do it- it's even sweeter.
First things first, let's reset the notion that creative work is underpaid. Freelancing, my friend, is taking over the world. It's like the cool kid in school. If school was the modern work environment... and remote work doing what you love is the cool kid. When you're on the outside looking in, it's hard to see how it works: but when we see someone crushing it as a freelancer, no one can deny they want a piece of that freedom pie.
Yes: it's doable. No: it's not easy! Here's the deal: maximizing income isn’t always smooth sailing as a creative entrepreneur, or as any kind of Online Service Provider. It takes dedication to the belief that even as an individual freelancer: you're running a growing, reputable business. Creatives are notoriously sensitive souls. The idea of achieving financial stability makes our imposter syndrome flare up.
BUT, if you want to make being a successful business owner a reality as a freelancer, you have to commit to learning more than just how to sell your services. You have to use repeatable, strategic moves to make it a reality.
And then you can enjoy making it rain (in a responsible, grown-up way, of course).
How do you make more money freelancing?
Pricing Techniques for Maximizing Income
Now, let's talk dollars and cents. Setting competitive rates that reflect your skills and expertise is key. You don't want to be that freelancer who's selling their genius at bargain bin prices. We're aiming for fair compensation that makes your bank account do a happy dance.
Not only does setting firm pricing standards benefit YOU by helping you attract clients that appreciate your value, it's helping set a standard for all other creative professionals and rewriting the notion that creative skills are expendable.
It can be hard to separate your mindset from the notion that you can only be paid for your time. (Especially if you're still battling the societal beliefs that artists are poor...) That's why project-based pricing, value-based pricing, and setting up your offers in a way that allows you to generate repeat clients is essential for financial growth as a freelancer.
Whether you’re a creative consultant, designer, or artist: chances are the world has made you feel like your services are bottom rung of the ladder. The starving artist joke is SO FUNNY. You're probably pretty over hearing people say "but how do you make money?" when you refer to yourself as an artist, photography, designer, or any other creative job title...
DESPITE those negative attitudes- you deserve more than the minimum. And if you’re just starting your business, it can be really hard to see yourself as deserving of more income than what you made in your traditional jobs of the past.
My biggest piece of advice here is don't limit your income potential by quoting potential clients one set-in-stone, low-ball price. Firming up a price for your services when you don't have a solid idea of how many hours, revisions, and details a project will need is a recipe for limiting your potential.
When project scope creep happens, you’re not protected if you’ve committed to a predetermined hourly rate with your client. In your package pricing- it’s beneficial to provide an estimate range for the client rather than one firm number when providing a proposal.
That way- when a project ends up taking more time or effort than anticipated- you have a flexible range to draw from and full transparency with your client set up ahead of time so you don’t end up working for free.
The value you’re providing through your services is typically something a client will benefit from for a long time- so you should be compensated for that value. Not just the hours you put into the work.
Creating Multiple Income Streams as a Freelancer
Diversifying your income streams and creating offers that can be stacked.
Doing a one-off project is a waste when you could be supporting your clients in more ways (and creating recurring revenue for yourself.)
Creating offers that support clients at each stage of their journey. Start by creating your ICP (Ideal Client Profile) and then create an offer for each stage of their journey.
When someone reaches out to you for Stage 1, you can upsell them into Stage 2 from there. If someone reaches out to you who’s at Stage 3 already- great! They need no enticing to purchase your high ticket offer because it’s created specifically for them.
Having one signature, high-ticket offer is great when it works. But for most creative entrepreneurs just starting on their journey - it’s a disservice to your potential revenue to box yourself into just one offer.
Chances are you have a diverse skillset if you're serious about pursuing full time creative freelance work. If you're able to with your expertise, you should be creating an offer suite that allows you to serve potential clients in multiple ways, and gives them options for levels of service they can invest in with you.
For the purpose of this example, I’ll be talking more specifically to designers and artistic entrepreneurs, but the same method can apply to various niches of Online Service Providers looking to create a more sustainable income.
Tiered Offer Structuring System
Low Ticket: Your least expensive offer that someone can invest in. I.E. Custom Logo Design or One-Off Designs at an hourly rate.
Mid Ticket: A mid-level pricepoint offer that provides service in multiple ways or provides a package of deliverables. I.E. Brand Design or Website Design Package, Print & Packaging Design Suite, User Generated Content, etc.
High Ticket: Typically high pricepoint investments with on-going service provided. I.E Social Media Content Creation & Management, Website Maintenance, Brand Consulting, etc.
See how offering a diverse set of services as a designer can benefit not only your client on their journey, but also yourself in maximizing your income potential?
Automation of Business Procedures & Financial Management
Alright, let's talk money management. There are so many tools to automate and streamline your financial process these days. Here are some recommendations of ways I’d suggest creative freelancers organize their business operations to minimize time spent and maximize their potential for sustainable revenue.
Appointment Booking
People like and crave simplicity. The easier it is to book a consultation with you- the more consultations you'll book! If you have an automated system to allow them to select appointment times / dates that you've approved ahead of time, it removes the need for them to reach out to you and the time it takes between then and when you can respond / confirm a time with them, etc. Eliminating that back-and-forth communication streamlines the process for them and you, and can improve your booking rates.
Payments / Payment Reminders
​​Payment systems minimize your time spent on repetitive tasks like sending invoices or payment reminders. In your client project pipeline, you can set-up your payment system to send them automatic invoice / payment date reminders, as well as follow-up emails after a pre-designated amount of time (i.e. after 3 days of a client not opening their payment notice, they will receive a reminder about the due date, without you needing to type up an awkward email...)
Sales Funnels / Lead Generation
You can set up a sales funnel that works as a tool to drive traffic from a rotating piece (or pieces) of evergreen content such as blog posts or awareness ads in order to bring inquiries into your business. This system should support your organic content marketing efforts, not replace your manual efforts. Audience interaction / fostering genuine relationships is still important.
(PS: You can do all the above in my system of choice - Honeybook. I’ve been using this business management software for three years and never had any issues. Affordable and multidimensional: it’s like having 50 programs in one. Try it out for 25% off your first year!)
Maximizing Revenue Potential as a Creative Freelancer
You've got the tools to maximize your income and own that freelancing game. It might take some discipline and learning as you go, but treating your freelance services like a structured, formal business while strategically crafting your offer suite will help you make sustainable income a reality. And then you can kick back to enjoy that sweet, sweet, work from home life. Reminder: you are enough to succeed and you've got what it takes to rock this freelancing journey. There’s room for all creatives to grow and thrive in the modern world: with B2B freelancing being one of the fastest growing industries of 2023.
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