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Filling the Downtime: 5 Ways to Earn Money Between Paid Projects

Being a freelancer designer can be described with many terms, but one that you’ll never see used is “stable”. While occasionally lucrative and very often enjoyable, it’s rare for freelance design to bring in a stable income or long-term salary. Sure, total earnings an very easily top that which someone else would earn working as a full-time design employee, but the week-to-week, or sometimes even day-to-day operation can be a roller coaster ride of unstable income.

That’s not to say that it’s impossible to earn a stable income as a freelancer. With these five tactics, you could turn your free time between projects into valuable work time. Enjoy your vacation days by all means, but if you find yourself with too much free time on your hands, these five ways to earn money between projects could be worth your time.

1. Create Adsense-powered websites.

Web designers are in a unique position for online marketing and advertising-based income. Rather than being forced into hiring designers and collaborating with others, they’re able to put their skills to work directly by building their own advertising-supported websites. With some minor keyword research, market planning, and long-term strategy, the days, weeks, and occasionally months between major projects can turn into some serious earnings.

Start by creating a one-size-fits-all website template. With the right combination of high-earning website topics and potentially valuable website templates, your downtime could turn into a valuable online empire.

2. Start your own blog.

If you find yourself with a lot of downtime between projects, starting your own blog can be a great way to put your expertise and extra time to use. By highlighting valuable design trends, showcasing case studies, and providing valuable advice and information to other designers and potential clients, you can boost your long-term business prospects and cut down on the amount of downtime between your projects.

With a simple self-hosted WordPress blog, you’ve also got another opportunity to showcase your design value. Add links back to your own design firm, create a portfolio as an extra page for your blog, and let readers become clients through convincing content and long-term sales efforts.

3. Experiment with different advertising sources.

While it’s possible to make money working for other companies between client projects, it’s much more profitable to create one major stream of income and stick to it. For most designers, this major stream is their client work and design projects. Whenever you find yourself with free time between projects, use it as a chance to experiment with different advertising options and client acquisition tactics.

For example, a week without clients is a week for you to experiment with Google Adwords for client acquisition. Of course, you shouldn’t just stop there – create Facebook advertisements, paid ads on forums, and valuable marketplace listings. One effective advertisement could cut down on your downtime and increase earnings year-round.

4. Design one-off creatives and short-term projects.

Most designers earn most of their annual income through long-term projects and ongoing work. While lucrative and relatively non-stressful, these projects can also result in occasional earnings droughts and work shortages. Sometimes clients need to take a break from design, and work can dry from a huge stream of income to a trickle that’s far from valuable.

The best thing to do in this situation isn’t to take a lot of time off and cut down on work entirely, but to take on one-off projects and smaller design assignments. While the per-project earnings might be lower, each small project gives you the opportunity to work on something that could end up longer, more lucrative, and overall more valuable than before.

5. Plan your own long-term projects.

Sometimes your own enterprises can earn more than your work for others. While client-based design can be lucrative and satisfying, especially in terms of short-term income, it rarely offers long-term security and income stability. Every work break is a period without income, but it’s also an opportunity for you to focus on the future, and plan out exactly what moves you’ll be taking to generate long-term income.

So take every work drought as it is, and use the opportunity for lucrative long-term planning. Whether that’s a network of websites or your own informational design project, planning is never a poor way to spend your non-work downtime. Think long-term, value security, and use every non-work period as an opportunity, not a hindrance.

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