How to earn $250+ in a week working as a freelancer Graphic Designer-Student Edition

For high school and college students, learning graphic designing can open up a world of money-making opportunities. If you are a beginner graphic designer, or an intermediate one not making much money, this article will help you navigate the free-lancing world, helping you secure a healthy weekly and monthly income.  

What is a graphic designer? you might ask. Well, in simple words, a graphic designer is someone who creates custom artwork and designs for customers. For this article, though, we will talk about how you can create custom banners, posters, and logos, for PAYING customers. 

First off, you will need to have appropriate graphic designing skills; hop over to YouTube or take a couple of courses on Coursera or edX, and then practice practice, and practice. When you are skilled enough, to form basic professional-looking logos, you can move over to Upwork and Fiverr. 

Upwork and Fiverr, are two of the biggest online freelancing websites in the world.

Here you can connect with potential clients, and build your portfolio for bigger clients. On Fiverr, you will have to create custom jobs, which people can then view and purchase. On Upwork on the other hand, you will create your custom page, from where you will then search for jobs on your own.

For beginners, I suggest trying Fiverr, since you don’t have to write cover letters and the buyer will come to you. When you have built a strong portfolio and resume, you can then shift to Upwork and apply for higher-paying jobs and clients. 

An extremely important part of online freelancing in graphic design is the portfolio. The portfolio will be the artwork that potential clients will see: it will do the talking for you. You can build a starting portfolio, by making custom logos and banners, taking inspiration from google, and giving these logos your twist, which can help you get started.

After you score your first few jobs, on the other hand, you can display the artwork and designs you made for those clients on your portfolio on your profile: this will not only make your page look professional but will give your freelancing skills greater credibility. 

Now that we have gone through the entire process, you might be wondering. 

 How much will I get paid?

Well, the answer varies. IF you have built a nice-looking portfolio for yourself, consisting of 10-15 varied designs and logos, you are responsive, you deliver on time, and you have great cover letters, then I would tell you that you can expect to make anywhere from $200-$500 per week.

The reason the range is so high is that freelancing is an unpredictable world; you might get four extremely high-paying clients in one week, and two small startup clients in the next week. This being said, you can still expect to make a decent amount of money every month.

People who spend a significant amount of time working can even expect to make a full $3000-$5000 salary wage every month. For the average student though, a nice number to aim for is $200 every week. This will be a great goal, and you will have to spend just one or two hours each day working. This way you will have time to deal with your schoolwork in high school or college. 

Since you set your hours and work from the comfort of your own home, you can lower your working hours when your workload at school or college is increased. Freelance graphic designing is a great way to start saving money for yourself and building a professional ongoing portfolio.

Even if you stop freelancing, you can use your portfolio and skills in graphic designing to help you land jobs in professional studios. You can even save the money you make and start investing in other e-commerce businesses such as drop shipping and Amazon FBA.

With a little bit of hard work and time investment, you will be well on your way to making more than a thousand dollars, every month!