5 cool side gigs for full-time designers.
Are you a hustler and a designer, like me? Or, your salary gets spent on the household and you have parties to go, or trips to go? These are 5 easy side gigs you can do to earn a little more money, by just spending 2–3 hours in a week.
1. Blogging on Medium
There are designers, who are good at UX writing. Why not try content writing and articles about your experiences that may help other people? Blogging on Medium (no hyperlink here since you’re already here) can be a good side gig since some of the top writers on the platform make over $25,000 per month. When you enroll in the Medium Partner Program (which is free and open to the public), you can start earning money with your Medium content. When Medium Members clap, a portion of their $5 monthly subscription fee is paid directly to the author. This way, you can make at least $100 dollars, if you’re good at blogging. This only takes an hour for an article, and 2x a week, will be a good gig to earn & learn.
2. Vlogging on Youtube
Do you have awesome cameras at home, or a show-worthy interior, and captivating design skills? Then vlog them! People love to see your videos on youtube, for which you can easily open a channel, and vlog yourself giving design tips, or classes, or little tutorials for using software or a particular design, or just your portfolio walkthrough. According to stats, people, when curious about a new career or any new thing, go to youtube, more than Google search or Wikipedia. If your vlogs are filled with design, information, and visuals, they will reach millions of people, and with increasing likes and views, you will get paid for it. Taking a video takes an hour or so, and editing takes another hour, which is 2 hours per video, and 2x a week with consistent schedules, can fetch you money!
3. Mentoring aspiring designers
Are you good at designing, and you teach friends at school, which makes them pass their exams? Try mentoring! Many aspiring designers are in search of friendly and informative tutors. Superprof helps you to connect with other designers or aspirers from any domain, and you get paid to teach them. A tutor can earn $30 for every class, on an average scale. You can give masterclasses with a bundle of courses and schedules, or just give individual classes, by batch or alone. If you are good at designing, and make people good at designing, try mentoring here.
4. Offer to design
Freelancers put themselves on websites, where there is a competition happening. Have you ever tried reaching out to a company, who is in need of a revamp? It doesn’t have competition, only convincing them about the rate and the need to revamp. There are many small startups and companies, whose services may be effective, but they lack presentation and branding. If you know a company like that, don’t hesitate to reach them on your own, shoot them an email and offer your help, and make them understand how rebranding and renovation can increase sales and how the cost spent on renovation can be earned back with profits. People have self-doubts when someone says they do something wrongly and are always willing to get help from them in that situation. So a simple email of an offer to help in branding and renovation can give you the money you need, and the business the company needs.
5. Create your own brand
Do you have any favorites like bikes, mochis, plants, journaling, food, etc.? Or do you create cards, calendars, posters, stickers, etc for friends, family, or commission works? Start your own e-commerce site on Shopify, Etsy, or a part of your portfolio. You can choose any niche, like bike stickers, journal supplies, washi tapes, posters, greeting cards, etc, design 100s of them, and put them up on these websites, and sell them. For selling out more, create specific merchandise of famous shows, or celebrities, or a famous thing, and sell it out. (If the designs are good enough, you can even get an official partnership from them 😁)
These are the 5 side gigs that are pretty good to start with, for creating your own place in the vast field. You earn money, followers, and an entrepreneurial position by just spending 3–4 hours in a week, even while doing a full-time job. Keep hustling!
