Earning Passive Income as a Freelancer
2 Dec
If you are a freelancer of any kind, you probably have time periods in your life where clients are either slow to pay or you’re low on clients in general. There are many different opportunities available to you in order to generate something called “passive income”. I’m kind of loathe to use the word “passive” as it insinuates it’s something that can go on while you sleep. But…. Eventually, it can! Of course it will require some hard work and dedication to keep things going, but it can be a welcome relief when you are short on business. In between large projects or when I have lots of extra free time (hahahahahah), I have started a few projects in search of having an extra cushion of passive income. Well I guess the extra cushion will be going directly to my student loan companies, but hopefully you’ll be able to benefit a bit more directly from this =)
I am creating this post and the posts to follow in order to inform you and help you in your goal of creating side income, as well as to encourage myself to keep going and increase the volume of my own passive income. Lets get started shall we?
PODs
My main source of extra income is created from print-on-demand sites or PODs. Examples of these would be sites like Cafepress, Zazzle, and Skreened. These type of sites allow you to upload your designs onto a variety of products to sell and advertise through the site. When an item is purchased, the POD will print the item and ship it to your customer. You receive a commission that you set for each individual item. (Except for cafepress…) Sites are listed in order of income generated.
1. Cafepress
“Cafepress sells teeshirts, bags, mugs, wallclocks and calendars. Customers can upload their own graphics design, logo or text, which will be added to the product by CafePress. CafePress.com also offers print on demand services for books and music CDs. The site also allows the user to have a virtual CafePress “shop” including an online storefront and website hosting, order management, fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service.”
Cafepress is still my main passive income generator even after their controversial marketplace changes that has a lot of designers (myself included) pretty angry. Due to these changes I have not uploaded a single design to their site since May. If you are currently on Cafepress, there really isn’t a reason to remove your designs if they are still earning (albeit a great fraction of what they once were). However, if you have yet to upload or start and POD venture I would recommend bypassing Cafepress and placing your designs at a more ethical company that cares about their designers opinions and well-being.
Opinion aside, I feel that their user interface for uploading designs is great and they do allow some pretty advanced shop customizations with a subscription based shop ($6.95 a month). Although I am still pretty upset at their changes they do still make me the most passive income.
November
- Total Designs: 123
- Total orders: 40
- Sales: $86.40
2. Zazzle
“Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise (clothing, posters, etc), or buy merchandise created by other users. Users are allowed to open their own shop for free and set the profit they wish to make on each item.”
Zazzle is the main competitor to Cafepress and if you are new to the world of PODs in general, I think this is probably the place to focus on. They seem to have better quality shirts and printing options, and do allow you to set your own mark-up on items. They also can send your payment through paypal! Awesome! Their user interface is taking some getting used to as I worked on Cafepress for over a year, but it is actually far superior to that of Cafepress. It is hard to break old habits!
Check out my Zazzle Store – Terraformdesign
November
- Total Designs: 27
- Total Orders: 3
- Sales: $16.10
3. Skreened
“Skreened sells American manufactured teeshirts, bags, child and baby apparel. Customers can upload their own image files containing a graphic, logo or text, which will be added to the product by Skreened. Skreened.com also allows the user to have a virtual Skreened “shop” including an online storefront and website hosting, order management, fulfillment, payment processing, and customer service.”
Skreened is probably one of my favorite PODs, although my product listing on this site is so far the most limited. This site allows you to take advantage of the full printing area on a shirt 11 x 17, which is a great canvas for your designs. All designs are printed on American Apparel which are pretty cool and stylish.
Check out my store on Skreened – TerraformTees
November
Total Designs: 14
Total Orders: 1
Sales: $5.00
Photo PODs
The two main sites I have used are Imagekind and Redbubble. However I have yet to see any form of income on either of these options and have instead decided to focus my efforts on selling fine art prints through Etsy and stock-style photos through stock photography sites.
1. Imagekind
“Imagekind is an online art website where artists working in 2-dimensional art forms may upload digital files of their work. The work is then displayed on the website in “galleries” where customers may buy print-on-demand inkjet prints (giclée) of the work. After an order is submitted, the company custom prints the uploaded image. Artists set and keep their own markup from the sales of their artwork. Images are printed on large variety of substrates (including canvas and paper) using Epson large format Ultra-Chrome inkjet printers. Currently, Imagekind has over 300,000 images for sale and also offers framing services for purchased prints.”
2. Redbubble
“What is RedBubble? Essentially it’s a site that allows aspiring Australian artists and photographers to display their work for sale. RedBubble will organise prints to be made of the selected artwork for a set fee. The artist gets to set a price above what RedBubble will charge, which they get to keep.”
Art auction style sites
1. Etsy
“Etsy is a website that provides the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items as well as vintage items and craft supplies. Handmade items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, bath & beauty products, and toys. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee. It has been compared to “a crafty cross between Amazon and eBay”, and to “your grandma’s basement”
Grand Total for November: 107.50
Goals for December:
I plan on really focusing on adding more designs to both Zazzle and Skreened. I have such limited selections on both of these sites, and I feel that the more quality, well thought out designs I add, the better I will do in the coming months. Redbubble and Imagekind are temporarily on hold while I try out Etsy. I’ve had great difficulty in attempting to sell my Photography, but I guess that is just the nature of the beast =) I currently only have one print listed on Etsy but intend on fleshing it out with hopefully 20+ listed by the end of the month. In terms of stock sites I need to increase the volume to really see any income received. Lets see how it goes.
Feel free to add other sites or ideas you use in generating extra passive income, and I will add them into my test for things to try in the next month. I’d also love to hear about your own personal experiences with this. Let me know in the comments =)
Design a personalized gift at Zazzle.
